Christmas in New England by Jonah
This is a work of fiction so be aware that every character herein is also fictitious. If you think you recognise yourself, or somebody else in here - you don't. Some places, and some institutions in here are real, but the people attached to those institutions in the story are not. Most characters are my own creations, but some are the creations of another author. I want to thank Jacob Lion, in the USA, for his permission to use his characters in my stories.
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Chapter 3
For some unaccountable reason, the last day of school (even in a CTC) was Tuesday December 18th. You'd have thought we could have broken up on a Friday, but apparently not. It was also the day that Barry's passport arrived. Social Services had been prodding and stirring and stirring and prodding and it had finally been delivered by courier that morning. Ordinarily we should have been informed that we needed to go to the social services office to collect it, but Mrs. Jenkins had driven round and dropped it through our letterbox while we were at school. It was accompanied by a note to remind us to return it to her office the moment we returned. We were allowed to keep the passports for the other boys, together with our own, but Barry's had to live at the Social Services office.
Garret's last day of the term consisted of a Christmas party - I know that because three boys had been talking about it for days - four if you include Garret. Mine ended with a double period of English Language. I had erected a Christmas tree in the corner of my formroom - something that most teachers in the college had not done . I loaded it into my car after the last lesson.
Back at the house, things were decidedly otherwise. Ready-packed cases stood in the hallway, and fresh clothes were folded on each bed. We were catching the 1850 to Liverpool Street and needed to be ready in less than half an hour. We were ready in less than ten minutes and piled into Garret's 4x4 en route for Norwich Thorpe Station.
The train journey, by fast electric train, was exciting because we had three little boys who were excited. Outside the window there was only darkness, but that bothered nobody. In here Lloyd had kept hold of his Christmas Quiz and was testing the other two. Philip had devised a version where, if you got a question wrong, you got tickled. Philip got a lot of questions wrong. Barry made things even more complicated. He threw in a rule whereby you had to answer the previous question each time.
How many letters are there in Merry Christmas?
A lot.
What did Balshazar bring for the baby Jesus?
Fourteen.
What paste do you put on a Christmas cake?
Frankinsense.
What was the name of the angel who appeared to Mary?
Marzipan.
What name do we give to the day after Christmas Day?
Gabriel.
Well you get the picture. After that Philip wasn't the only one getting tickled a lot.
We arrived at Liverpool Street to find Luke and Rikki waiting to assist us. Rikki was not doing much assisting since she was in what, in more prudish times, was described as "an interesting condition". Luke took care that she didn't lift or carry things. We were staying overnight at Jonah's but, of course, Jonah didn't drive. It was an interesting job fitting all of us, including luggage into Rikki's 4x4. We had done the same earlier in Garret's car but, of course, there were two more of us in Rikki's (three if you count Luke Jr.).
Barry had never been to London before, but the others were no less excited as Rikki drove us through the streets of the city. It was very late at night when we arrived in the flat in Rayner's Lane. Jonah had hot chocolate waiting for everyone and then settled most people on airbeds around the lounge.
Luke and Rikki took their leave and we began to disperse to various parts of the flat. Peter and Adam usually slept with Jonah these days, but Adam - now eight - had asked to sleep with Lloyd. He was on an airbed in the lounge. Garret and I had my old room. I had to wonder if there would be any sort of migration during the night.
At 0630 on Wednesday morning I rose and showered. There were no boys downstairs so it was clear that Jonah had a very crowded bed.
I put on the kettle and also a frying pan, then inserted bread into the toaster. Egg, bacon, tomato and a slice of toast would suffice for man and boy alike. I didn't want anybody getting airplane-sick.
Garret was showered in time to mash the tea and Jonah was not far behind him. Peter was still asleep and there was no reason to disturb him. After a lot of wheedling from Adam, Jonah finally relented and said that he could come to the airport with us. We had ordered two taxis for a quarter to eight, and we were just breakfasted and dressed in time for them. The luggage had diminished a little since some of it had been gifts to be left in London, but we still managed to fill both cabs.
We were at Heathrow by quarter to nine, in good time for our 0930 flight.
If anything, Garret had flown more often than I had, though not usually with excited boys in tow. I daren't comment on that since Jonah could obviously remember me being an excited boy. One thing about having excited boys in tow is that it heightens the feeling of relief when you are finally on board and seated.
We took off exactly when we were supposed to and headed Westwards. The windows on our Airbus were not big but we could see Middlesex dropping away beneath us. Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Gwent, each seemingly more diminished than its predecessor, did likewise as we continued to climb. The clouds that parted above us reformed below us so the Irish Sea was visible only in patches, as was Southern Ireland. In fact we were high over the Atlantic before we got anything like a clear view below. The Captain advised us that we were no longer climbing and that our seat belts were no longer necessary. I saw Garret unclip his, but I couldn't see any point. There was nothing that I needed to do that the belt was preventing me from doing.
The three boys were playing "I-Spy" at the window, but, apart from the very occasional surface craft, it only turned into a competition to see how many different words they could use for the Atlantic, Ocean, Sea, Water, Main, Waves. I got called in to adjudicate when Lloyd tried to use "lake" on the prosaic grounds that the Sea of Galilee was a lake. I had to advise him that the Sea of Galilee might be, but the Atlantic Ocean most certainly wasn't. I had to allow his next offering - "surface" - though. Lloyd, however, did not win the prize for being a clever-clogs. That went to Philip. I don't know whether he had picked up "Di-hydrogen Monoxide" from me, or from Garret, but it certainly put the cat among the pigeons.
It was six o' clock in the evening when we alighted at Boston Logan Airport, and it was already dark. Yori Ito met us just after we cleared Baggage Reclaim and helped take our bags to his waiting vehicle - I hesitate to call what Yori drove a "car". On previous visits to the States, Jake Roberts had picked us up in a minibus but Yori had a huge people mover. I later learned that he had hired the thing as he didn't normally have a family of people to transport.
The journey through Boston was dark, but the lights of the city could occasionally be seen and even the occasional Christmas tree. On previous visits I had fallen asleep on this part of the journey as, indeed, Philip and Barry had already done.
Of course, on previous visits, I had been sitting next to the love of my life, Kori Peydon. I wondered what Kori was doing now. I had not heard from him for years. Of course he would be in his thirties now - as I was. I remembered that he had always had a thing for Jake. Only his age was a barrier - which it wouldn't be now. I wondered if...I hoped so - they deserved to be happy.
"Nearly there," said Yori from the front. I'd done it again. We were on the winding road through Ashfield. Yori pulled onto the drive to his house. I had been here before, but a long time ago.
In those days there were two boys living here. Well no boys lived here now, but the place looked exactly as it used to. The memories flooded back. This was to be our home for the next week.