Old Valley Road Hotel

The Old Valley Road Hotel.

By Wombat. ------------------------- Any constructive comments are appreciated. I'm at 'bungala_wombat@yahoo.com.au'. ------------------------------------

Chapter 5 part 14.

------------------------------------ Part 49: By the Ocean Shore ------------------------------------

A discrete chime sounded from the vestibule of Derek's suite. Derek went and opened the main door. In front of him stood an attractive young black woman dressed in a maid's uniform.

She smiled up at him. "Sir, would you like me to unpack your things?" she asked.

"Why, yes. That'd be a good idea. Thank you," replied Derek and let her in.

She laughed. He seemed delightfully relaxed and informal. She liked him instantly.

She went into the bedroom, unpacked the clothing from suitcases and put them away in the capacious cedar wardrobes.

He sat on the bed and talked to her. He beamed positive vibrations to her.

She liked very much this handsome and powerfully built young Englishman whom she thought he was. He did not put on airs and graces like many of the hotel guests. He appeared amiable, tolerant and pleasant. He moved gracefully like a warrior. He looked like a sportsman, maybe a rugby player. He must be very rich to be able to afford to stay in the grand suite for a whole fortnight. She was very pleased and just a little surprised that he took the time to talk to her. Most of the guests treated her as if she were just a piece of furniture. This man definitely was different.

Derek asked her if she was a Zulu. She replied that she was. He remarked that the Zulus were a proud nation with a long and splendid history. He mentioned Shaka, the great Zulu king. The maid was very pleased and impressed that he, an Englishman, knew anything about the Zulu nation. Most did not.

Derek asked her in a friendly fashion what her name was. She replied that she was called Elsie. She already knew him as Mr Derek Moreing, the rich young Englishman who had taken the grand suite. She was amazed that this young man was interested enough to ask her name.

Afterwards, she showed him around the grand suite pointing out its various features and showing him how to make use of them.

When Elsie left the suite, Derek tipped her a half-crown coin. She thanked him gratefully. She said that he was very kind. As she walked down the hallway to the stairs, her heart sang. She liked him a lot.

Elsie is a lovely woman, Derek thought to himself while he eavesdropped on her telepathically. She was in her early twenties, he had already ascertained. She would look after him well.

He ambled back to the study. He liked this room. It would be very pleasant in the morning with the sun coming in through the windows from over the ocean. He went out onto the balcony and watched the rollers of the Indian Ocean coming in and crashing on the shore. A warm gentle breeze blew.

Derek reached out around the world with his telepathic sense. It was clearer now that he was out of the realm in between.

He sensed a sadhu in India meditating intensely. Derek reached out to him but was brushed away like an annoying insect. The sadhu was not at all interested in the telepathic contact. He considered it a distraction from the important task of meditation. He was interested only in growing his soul.

Derek withdrew.

Once again in India Derek sensed a holy man sitting in an ashram reading sacred texts written in Sanskrit. It was evening and the holy man was preparing for his discourse to his students the following day. He was weakly telepathic. Derek swam into his consciousness and initiated the contact. The holy man reacted with fear, thinking that Derek was a demon. Derek tried to convince him that he was friendly and meant no harm but the holy man would have none of that. He denounced Derek and dismissed him with curses.

Derek withdrew. He felt saddened by the holy man's fear. His curses had no effect on Derek. Derek was God's superman.

He stood looking at the waves of the ocean crashing on the beach. The sun behind him was low in the west. A golden light was cast over the beach and the waters of the ocean. From his balcony he could see no one on the beach now.

He reached out across the world again. This time he made contact with a devout Muslim cleric in Baghdad who was intensively studying the Holy Koran. Their minds met. The cleric's mind was filled with fear. He became even more fearful when Derek informed him who he was. At that time Iraq was under British rule and the cleric thought that he was wanted by the British authorities for sedition. He had preached in the mosque against the rule of the evil English infidels. Derek tried to reassure him, telling him that he was an Australian, not English, but the cleric could not see the difference. He thought Derek was an evil English djinni sent to spy on him and torment him, although Derek was using Arabic words. Derek tried to widen the contact to show him the beautiful peaceful scene in front of him. However, the cleric's mind just froze. It locked up like a PC running an errant program. The cleric swooned. His unconscious body slumped over his desk. Derek got the equivalent of the 'blue screen of death' of Microsoft Windows. He withdrew. The man would be all right when he recovered.

Derek knew that contacting the cleric again would be a waste of time. He reflected on the encounter. The cleric was paranoid and full of fear. He believed that evil spirits came and tormented him. He believed that the British were after him. He tried to find relief in the eternal love and everlasting mercy of the Lord God. Derek knew that the man was a weak telepath. He reflected ruefully that in a Western country in the twentieth century or early twenty-first century, the cleric would have been diagnosed as schizophrenic and given medications that would have destroyed his telepathic sense. Probably in truth, thought Derek, the British authorities in Baghdad regarded the cleric as mad but harmless and left him alone. He had sensed no evidence in the cleric's mind of arrests or interrogations.

It was sad. Telepaths in the twentieth century did not realise just how wonderful was the gift that they had been given by God. They were often reviled as mad. Either that or they were regarded as very holy but odd. They were often terrified of the voices and evil spirits. But in reality they were often sensing the minds of their fellow human beings. Telepathy was a glorious way to contacting God.

In a world of nearly two billion people Derek sensed only three other telepaths. Each time he made contact, the other person was filled with fear and revulsion. Surely there were more. Suddenly Derek felt very lonely. He was a superman unique in this world. Maybe he should forget about his quest for Albert and return to his own time and the glorious telepathic network of which he was part.

So much had happened since Hal had come into his life a little over two months ago. He had become so used to the company of telepathic friends that it was strange to have no contact with other telepaths at all. He felt a strange emptiness around him.

He reached up to God. He was grateful for the reassurance he received. God's Presence wrapped around him like a security blanket. God was the only sure contact he had. God encouraged him to continue.

He reached out again. This time he sensed the scent of flowers blooming in spring, of apple blossoms and pear blossoms. He saw massed daffodils dancing in the afternoon sun. He heard the singing of larks in the meadows. He saw high mountains whose snow-capped peaks shone brightly in the spring sunshine. He heard jollity and saw a nun laughing with a strong and handsome young gardener. They were speaking in German. He sensed a woman whose mind was in rapt contemplation of the glory of God. Gently and diffidently he approached her and let her sense him. She did not move but she felt his presence. She was not afraid. She was a woman of God. She thought Derek might be an angel but he informed her that he was a man albeit with supernatural powers. He too delighted in the service of the Most High God. She peered into his mind and saw his true identity. She saw that he was true. He was indeed a superhuman agent of the Lord God. She was delighted. She informed him that she was Sister Hedwig, a Benedictine nun of the convent high in the Alps at Marienfels, a town in the province of Kaernten (Carinthia) in Austria.

Sister Hedwig marvelled that Derek was linked to her from so far away in South Africa. Through Derek's eyes she could see the waves of the Indian Ocean crashing on the broad white beach. The waves were lit golden by the late afternoon sunlight. It was near sunset in Durban. She could smell the exotic aromas on the African air. It seemed so different and far away to her. She had joined the convent at the age of fourteen as a postulant many years before. She was fifty-eight years old now and she had never been out of Austria, not even in the days of the Empire.

She was full of love for God, her fellow human beings and the rest of God's creation. Ever since her early teens she was aware of her telepathic gift. It enabled her to be in direct contact with God. It also enabled her to see into the hearts and minds of other people. It was difficult for her at first to understand the nastiness in ordinary people. She found it hard to withstand the negativity and misery that filled most people's thoughts. However, her immediate family was loving and supportive. Together with the local priest, they saw her as God's special child. She was seen as having a Vocation. She had entered the convent while still a girl.

She was filled with wonder at Derek and his extraordinary powers. She was amazed that he had come from the future. She saw it as a positive sign that there was great hope for the human race despite the miseries in the aftermath of the Great War. Their minds danced together in spite of the great distance that separated their physical bodies.

A middle-aged couple came up behind her. The man spoke to her. He startled her. Her mind locked up. It went blank. The telepathic contact was lost. Derek immediately projected his astral body to the convent at Marienfels and watched the scene. He saw that Sister Hedwig had fallen from her seat and was slumped in a faint on the ground. The other nun and the gardener immediately ran over to Sister Hedwig. The gardener gently picked up Sister Hedwig's unconscious form. The other nun, Sister Perpetua, chided the couple for interrupting Sister Hedwig's contemplations. Sister Hedwig was revered as being very holy and close to God. The gardener tenderly carried the nun towards the convent. Derek saw that the gardener was a strong, good-looking young man. In the warm spring afternoon his shirtsleeves were rolled up high enough to show his big bulging biceps. He had a strong square handsome face and a very muscular build. He was very hunky. His mind was concentrated on Sister Hedwig. Derek looked into Sister Perpetua's mind and saw that the gardener, named Gustav, was married to a sweet young woman and they had two lovely young daughters. Oh well! Such is life. Sister Perpetua hurried off after the gardener leaving the middle-aged couple confused and guilty. She was not greatly concerned about Sister Hedwig. The mystic nun often had these fainting spells. They seemed to go with her divine gift.

Derek withdrew his astral body back into his own body. He leant on the stone balustrade of the balcony watching the waves of the Indian Ocean rolling in. He rummaged through all the information Hal had dumped into his mind. Hedwig von Marienfels was an obscure Austrian mystic, little known outside the Catholic populations of the German speaking countries even at the end of the twentieth century. She had written many works. The majority were pieces written in contemplation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, His Passion, the Crown of Thorns, the Holy Cross, the Sacred Mysteries and so on. Others were written about Mary, the Blessed Mother of God, her Sorrows, and her love for mankind. However, Sister Hedwig's best works were wonderful poems of shimmering beauty that soared to the heights of the German language. In these poems she described her ineffable, ecstatic communion with God.

Hal had discovered them and used them in his talks to the seekers who came to the Mount Remarkable Community at Melrose. There had been no translations into English until Hal had prepared a book of her poetry. Hal had not known that Sister Hedwig had been a weak telepath. He had not even considered going back to her time.

In the Holy Year 2000, Pope John Paul II had canonised her as a saint. She was credited with several miracles. She had lived a life of exemplary holiness and virtue. Her works became more widely known outside the German-speaking world.

Derek reflected that Karol Woytyla, the future pope, was at this time a little boy not quite two years old living in a small town in southern Poland.

Derek understood that Sister Hedwig was singularly fortunate that her telepathic sense was recognised early as a gift from God. She managed to escape the traumas that afflicted most other telepaths and that drove many to madness. She was supported with much love by her sister nuns and the people of the surrounding district. She revelled in the unstinting love of God.

Derek strolled into the living room and went to the western windows overlooking Durban. He watched the sun set over the distant Drakensberg Range.

He had decided to eat in the hotel dining room this evening. However, it was still more than an hour before dinner.

He had a long luxurious bath then got dressed for dinner in a dinner jacket. He looked at himself in the mirror. He thought he bore a passing resemblance to Sean Connery in the James Bond movies, except he was much bulkier than the movie star. His moustache twitched as he smirked.

He took the lift down to the ground floor. As he entered the fine large dining room, he saw that it was about half full. People turned to look at him. They wondered who the huge, broad shouldered and devilishly handsome young man was.

The waiter ushered him to a table near the wall next to a middle-aged couple. The lady was staring off into space while her husband had been drinking. His face was ruddy and a half-full bottle of wine stood on the table. He had long grey shoulder-length hair and a full grey beard. To Derek, he looked like the German composer Johannes Brahms.

Derek took all this in with a telepathic flash. The man's wife did not approve of him drinking before dinner.

The man greeted Derek cheerfully with "Guten Abend".

Derek replied with "Guten Abend, mein Herr, Frau." He gave a little bow to them both.

The lady was about to tell her husband that this young man probably could not speak German. She was surprised.

The man invited Derek to sit with them. Derek accepted. The waiter set a third place at the table using the setting the table that Derek was about to occupy.

The man introduced himself as Herr Professor Doktor von Winkelheim and the lady as his wife. Derek introduced himself as Herr Moreing. He shifted the pronunciation of his name slightly in a way that made it sound German.

The waiter took Derek's order. Derek told the couple that he was a mining engineer looking around for opportunities for investment in South Africa. However, he had to be discrete. He hoped that they would understand. They both liked Derek. He spoke German so well that the couple had no idea that Derek was not a native German.

The professor told him that he was the professor of sociology at the University of Goettingen. The town was in Saxony in the middle of Germany. Currently the professor was on sabbatical leave for a year and studying the effect that colonial powers such as Great Britain and France had on the subject peoples of their empires and also the influence of their culture and religion. He had just spent six months in the British, French and Belgian colonies of Africa. Next he and his wife were going to travel to the British Indian Empire so that he could continue his research. They would be sailing to Bombay on board the 'Lochinvar' in just under a week's time. Both were looking forward very much to their stay in India.

Derek did not have the heart to warn them of the impending disaster that was to befall the 'Lochinvar'. In any case, it would have been irrelevant because nothing he did in this divergent time line was going to affect anything in the main real time line. Herr Professor Doktor von Winkelheim and his wife were fated to die anyway in the sinking ship, no matter what Derek did. The real past was unalterable.

During the conversation, the meals came. They ate with relish while they spoke. The wine flowed. Derek insisted on paying for two bottles of a fine French burgundy.

Derek asked if the professor found it difficult now that Germany no longer had an empire in Africa. The professor had few problems. He spoke English and French reasonably well. He had spent some time in the former German colony of South West Africa (Namibia). It was mainly desert. The native inhabitants found life hard there irrespective of their colonial masters.

When the conversation moved on to the 1914-18 War, the professor grew quite heated. He blamed it on Kaiser Wilhelm. It was all the Kaiser's fault that the war was started. If the good King Edward VII of England had still been alive, he would have talked sense into his idiot nephew. The professor was emphatic in his opinion. Germany had suffered much in the aftermath of the war and she had been shorn of her empire. One good thing was that the German monarchy had been abolished in the aftermath of the Great War. The professor stated that the republic was a far superior form of government. It was much better than having a fool as the Emperor of Germany.

Frau von Winkelheim said that Austria had suffered even more. The formerly great European empire had been broken up. Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia had been hived off to become the independent nation of Czechoslovakia. The southern Slavic regions of Croatia, Slovenia, Dalmatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina had been united with Serbia to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later to become the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The southern parts of the Austrian Tyrol had gone to victorious Italy. The northern province of Galicia had gone into the newly resurrected state of Poland. Transylvania had become part of Romania. All that was left of the once great Austro-Hungarian Empire were the separated rump republics of Austria and Hungary. Vienna was a great and noble metropolis too big for little Austria. And this new republic was facing bankruptcy.

The professor remarked on how people turn to religion when times are hard. Many Austrians were making the pilgrimage to the great convent at Marienfels in Carinthia to pray for Austria at the miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary that stood in a grotto in the craggy rock of Marienfels itself.

Both the professor and his wife were atheists. The professor explained to Derek that he considered that the churches were just power structures to extend the power of men over the people. It was just another form of regulation of people's lives. He had some sympathy with the teachings of Karl Marx who had said that religion is the opium of the people. In effect, religion was just another form of oppression. However, he would have nothing to do with the Bolsheviks who had seized power in Russia and turned that empire into the Soviet Union. He disapproved strongly of their methods.

Frau von Winkelheim said that the churches shackled the human spirit, preventing it from soaring. Eventually religion would crush and destroy the human spirit. Only through the liberation of the people from the shackles of religion could the human spirit soar to the heights. There is no God. Belief in God was nothing but a childish superstition.

Derek begged to differ. But it was difficult for him to marshal his arguments. He had all the knowledge dumped into his brain by Hal. However, Derek was hampered by the fact he could not and must not reveal the secret esoteric knowledge bestowed upon him. The professor dismissed Derek's half-formed arguments with an airy wave of his hand and said that Derek was a sweet young man. However, he should consider liberating himself from the tyranny of religion.

Derek protested that he knew in the core of his being that God existed. The professor replied that Derek was claiming special knowledge that was inaccessible to others. That was unscientific. Derek said that one could not apply scientific methods to religion. The professor replied that it was the scientific method that had liberated humanity from the shackles of superstition. He noted how the Roman Catholic Church oppressed the people in Catholic countries, binding them in poverty with the ties of superstitious rituals, while the prelates lived like lords in luxury. Derek agreed that was wrong but said that the human spirit would soar and would come to know God. The professor countered that Derek was claiming special knowledge again. He announced that they had entered a circular argument.

Derek observed that Professor von Winkelheim was treating him like one of his students. The professor saw Derek as an intelligent young man who was presenting arguments not well formed. He considered that Derek, a very muscular young mining engineer, was clearly not used to presenting philosophical arguments but he was doing pretty well nonetheless. It was clear that the professor and his wife did not understand what Derek was trying to say and they did not want to. He gave up. After all, this was not the real time-line and it was not an important argument to win.

He asked if the professor and his wife had heard of Sister Hedwig von Marienfels. The professor snorted derisively. He dismissed her as a pedlar of pious popish piffle. His wife smirked. Derek replied that Sister Hedwig had written some beautiful poems. The professor said that he had seen nothing worth reading. Derek stopped when he realised that Sister Hedwig's best works were yet to come. They were not written until the last decade of her life during the dark days of Hitler's Reich and World War II. At that time Austria had been incorporated by Nazi Germany into the Greater German Reich. Sister Hedwig had died at the age of eighty-one in 1945, soon after the end of the war.

The professor smiled at his small perceived victory. Frau von Winkelheim changed the subject and asked Derek what part of Germany he came from. She wondered if he had come from Saxony but she had trouble picking his accent.

Derek replied, "Ich bin ein Englaender." ("I am an Englishman.")

The professor and his wife reacted with astonishment. They had both thought Derek was a native born German. He spoke truly excellent German. They complimented him on his fluency, wit and obvious intelligence.

Frau von Winkelheim expressed surprise that Derek, an Englishman, had even heard of Hedwig von Marienfels, who was not widely known even in Germany. Derek said that his friend had translated some of Sister Hedwig's poetry into English and he had proofread some of them.

After an excellent port the professor and his wife cheerfully bade Derek goodnight and retired upstairs to their room.

It was after ten o'clock. Derek left his coat with the concierge and strolled out the front of the hotel and down onto the beach.

It was a warm night but moonless and completely dark. The familiar constellations of the Southern Hemisphere shone down brightly from the night sky. Not much light came from the city of Durban. He could see the hotel clearly but it was not brightly lit. The beach was in darkness as Derek strolled along the damp sand. A normal person would have had some difficulty seeing. However, Derek's superhuman vision and cryptoscopic sense made the scene seem as brightly illuminated as if in broad daylight. He delighted in the myriad shining stars. It was a splendid display.

The rollers of the Indian Ocean crashed onto the shore with a booming roar.

Derek thought about Herr Professor Doktor von Winkelheim and his wife. They were committed atheists. They could neither see nor know what Derek could see and know. He was not happy with his difficulty in presenting a convincing argument to the professor and his wife.

God reassured him. He existed. There was nothing any human or any other being could do to change that. There was no need for Derek to defend Him. Hal presented his arguments to people who came seeking knowledge of God. They were willing to be convinced. And Hal had many years of experience. On the other hand the professor and his wife were hardened sceptics. The professor had many years of experience in presenting philosophical arguments and destroying arguments counter to his own. He was older than Hal and older than Derek's own father the major general. He was a cunning old rhetorician. There was no need for Derek to try and convince the committed atheists. He would better serve God by bringing in those needing God.

Derek ambled back to the hotel, retrieved his coat and took the lift up to his room. He opened the windows and let the balmy night zephyrs waft through the master bedroom. He stripped naked and got into bed. It was a splendidly soft and comfortable bed. Derek lay luxuriating in comfort on the silk sheets. He listened to the small sounds of the night and the waves crashing on the seashore. He fell asleep.

When he awoke, the morning sun was streaming in through the windows. Derek stretched and luxuriated on the bed like a big cat.

It was the first sleep he had in a long time. He enjoyed it.

He got up and had a quick shower. He rang and ordered a breakfast of eggs and bacon with toast. Then he put on one of the white hotel dressing gowns.

Breakfast arrived. It was brought by an elderly white man pushing a tea trolley. He laid the table in the study as requested by Derek, who tipped him sixpence. The man graciously departed. Derek leisurely ate his breakfast. The morning sun shone in through the windows from over the ocean. The sound of the waves on the shore was constant.

There was still plenty of time before Albert would arrive at Sheila's Bar. Derek took his time.

Breakfast finished, the old man arrived and cleared away the breakfast things. The maid Elsie arrived. She replaced the sheets on the bed and made the bed. She replaced the bath linen that Derek had used. She cleaned and dusted and tidied everything up. When she had finished, the suite looked very neat and tidy.

Derek called her over. He told her that he would be staying a fortnight. He pressed a gold half-sovereign coin (10 shillings) into her hand.

"You do such a good job, thank you, Elsie," he told her. "I am very pleased. If you continue to look after me well, there will be another half-sovereign for you when I leave."

Telepathically he sent her mind-glyphs reinforcing her liking, trust and loyalty.

Elsie looked with disbelief at the small gold coin glinting in the palm of her hand. She could hardly believe her luck. This man had just given her five weeks wages. And he had promised her another one. She was overjoyed. This gentleman was a wonderful man indeed. Elsie saw him as a princely, semi-divine being who would bring her much good luck.

She departed the suite a happy young woman. Derek knew that she would look after him well. He summoned minor angels, fairies and devas to bring happiness and good luck to the people in the hotel, particularly to Elsie.

He got dressed in his cream suit with a fresh white shirt.

Down in the foyer, the concierge called a taxi for him. It took him to the wharf area and pulled up outside Sheila's Bar. Derek arrived about quarter of an hour before Albert was due.

It was cooler in the bar than outside but still warm. The double doors hissed shut behind Derek. He looked around. Ceiling fans rotated lazily. Dark wooden panels covered the lower half of the walls. The rest was white plaster. The tall narrow windows were too high up to see out of.

A few men sat on bar stools at the long wooden bar that ran along one side of the large room. The bar was nearly empty. Vacant chairs and tables filled the public area.

Derek took off his coat and hat and hung them on the coat rack. He went up to the bar and seated himself on a vacant bar stool. He neatly rolled up his shirtsleeves high enough to show off his big bulging biceps. He was conscious of the other men in the bar staring at him with open-mouthed admiration. He certainly caught the attention of Suzie the barmaid. Derek recognised her from his shadowing of Albert earlier. Suzie admired his muscles and his looks. "Wow, he's a real muscle man," she thought to herself.

She ambled unhurriedly along behind the bar up to Derek.

"Howdy," she said in a Mid-western American drawl. "What can I get you?"

"A pint of bitter, please," he replied in his pleasant baritone.

"Chilled or room temperature?"

"A cold beer? Yes, please."

She pulled him a pint from the tap and placed it in front of him. She asked for twopence three farthings (2 and 3/4 pence). He gave her a silver florin coin (two shillings). She put the change on the bar in front of him.

"Is that an Australian accent I can detect in there somewhere?" she asked.

Derek told her he had spent some time in Australia during the last war working in the coalmines in Newcastle north of Sydney in New South Wales.

"You don't look like a miner, though you sure have the build for one," commented Suzie.

Derek told her that he was a mining engineer. She was interested.

"Did you get to see Sydney?" she asked.

"Yes. I got to know Sydney quite well."

"A real nice city, Sydney. I worked there a few years. Better than back home."

When Derek enquired, she told him that she was originally from Oklahoma.

"Oklahoma!" Derek almost sang.

Suzie looked at him curiously. Derek suddenly remembered that Rodgers and Hammerstein would not write the musical "Oklahoma!" for another twenty years. He had sung in the chorus in the school production of the musical when he was in his last year of school, seventy years in the future. It seemed such a long time ago now. He grinned at Suzie. He explained to her that Oklahoma was a wild romantic sort of place with wide sweeping plains, cowboys, Red Indians and roaming buffalo and cattle.

Suzie laughed and patted his arm indulgently.

"Nah," she said. "It's nothing like that. You English sure have some strange ideas. It's just plains and wheat and beef cattle and a few mountains and not much else. It's goddamned boring if you ask me. I guess the most exciting thing there is the railroad. It sure as hell ain't romantic. And I ain't been back home for years."

"Don't you want to be home in 'Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain, And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet When the wind comes right behind the rain'?"

"Dunno where you got that nonsense from, pardner." She laughed. "You sound like you're kind of romantic yourself. You a poet?"

"Not really," Derek replied with a bashful smile.

He liked her cheerful bell-like laugh. He found himself warming to her.

The door opened and Albert walked in. He slung his suitcase next to the wall, walked up to the bar and sat on a bar stool. He stared at Derek openly, drinking in Derek's massive muscles.

"Excuse me, honey," said Suzie to Derek quietly. "This guy's one of my favourite customers."

She went over to Albert and poured him a pint of beer.

Derek took a long slow swig of his beer. He could feel Albert looking at him rapt in admiration. He turned and looked back at Albert. He smiled a slow sexy smile. He felt Albert's excitement rising. He sent mind glyphs into Albert's mind reinforcing Derek as a possibility for sex. He gave Albert's gaydar a good hard tweak.

Albert leant over the bar to Suzie and asked in a soft voice, "Got any big strong men for me?"

Suzie laughed, grinned from ear to ear and jabbed a thumb in Derek's direction.

"Well, there's him. He's a honey," she said. "And he's got real nice eyes."

"Ooh, goodness!" exclaimed Albert quietly. "He looks beautiful. He looks like a god. Do you think he'd mind talking to me?"

"Dunno. I guess you could try. I could take you over to meet him if you want."

"Ooh, yes, please."

Suzie walked back along the bar to Derek. Albert accompanied her on the other side like an excited puppy.

"Hi," she said to Derek. "I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine, Albert, except we all call him Buck around here."

"Hullo, I'm Derek. How do you do?"

"I'm well, thank you," replied Albert.

They shook hands.

Albert was tongue-tied. He loved Derek's big open smile. He was overwhelmed by the physical beauty and muscularity of the man.

A morose-looking man sitting on his own further down rapped a coin sharply on the bar.

"Hey, barkeep," he said loudly. "Another whisky if you please."

Suzie raised her eyebrows. "See you guys later," she said quietly. "I'd better see to this guy."

She strolled down to the morose man and got him his whisky. She then started talking to a small group of men further down the bar.

"Golly, you got big muscles," remarked Albert tentatively.

Derek smiled at him and flexed his arm. His biceps bulged hugely. His skin glistened as if covered with a film of sweat. His moustache twitched sexily. Albert felt tremors run all over his body.

"Have a feel," invited Derek. "That's real muscle."

Albert reached over and put his hand on Derek's biceps. He cupped the mighty bulge of muscle in his hand. It felt as hard as a granite boulder. He trembled with excitement.

"Golly, you got the biggest muscles I ever seen," said Albert struck by wonder. "You must be as strong as a horse."

"Maybe a bit stronger," rumbled Derek.

Albert got goose bumps. He grasped Derek's upper arm with both hands. He delighted in feeling the huge mass of rock hard muscle. Quivering with excitement, he ran his hands over Derek's biceps and triceps.

"Would you like to come back to my room and get to know me better?" asked Derek in a slow, deep and very sexy voice. "I'm staying at the Ozone Plaza."

Albert gasped. "Y...y...yes, please," he managed to stammer.

He could not believe this was happening so easily.

They finished off their beers and left the bar. Derek left his change on the bar for Suzie. He retrieved his hat and coat. He slung his coat over his shoulder. Albert looked back towards the bar and Suzie winked broadly at him. Albert got his suitcase. Suzie watched Derek's broad back retreat through the double doors. Albert followed him outside.

Not far away from the bar, the men saw a Zulu rickshaw puller. The muscular man wore a fantastically decorated headdress with long horns like a giant antelope. Colourful pieces of material were strung between them. He wore a short tabard decorated with colourful tribal designs that covered his chest and shoulders, leaving his arms and waist bare. His black skin glistened in the hot sun. He wore a lap- lap to cover his genitals and his lower legs were covered in white latex up to his knees. His rickshaw was richly decorated with colourful pieces of material. Brightly coloured cloth streamers hung from the canopy that shaded the seats.

Derek hailed him and he came over. He was willing to take the two men to the Ozone Plaza Hotel. Derek and Albert climbed into the rickshaw and sat down. The black man hoisted up the bars of the rickshaw and trotted off at a good pace. Albert was entranced by the man's muscular buttocks, back and thighs. The interplay of muscles as the man ran fascinated Albert. He sat up right next to Derek's powerful body. He loved the feel of Derek's muscularity. He felt as though he was in heaven.

They arrived at the hotel. The rickshaw puller wanted one shilling and threepence. Albert thought that was an outrageous sum. Derek, however, gave the man a silver crown coin (five shillings) and told him to keep the change. The man looked in astonishment at the big silver coin in his hand. He recovered himself and thanked the kind sir profusely. He sang melodiously as he trotted away back towards town, pulling his rickshaw behind him.

"You're very generous," remarked Albert.

"He does have a nice arse," replied Derek with a grin.

Albert giggled. He looked up at Derek admiringly.

He picked up his suitcase and made towards the hotel steps. One of the hotel's black bellboys came down the hotel steps and Albert gave him his suitcase to carry.

In the hotel foyer, Derek informed the concierge that his friend would be staying with him in his suite for a few days. They went up to the top floor in the lift. When they reached the door to Derek's suite, Derek thanked the bellboy for carrying the suitcase and tipped him threepence. They went inside and closed the door.

---------------------------------- Continued in Part 50. ----------------------------------