---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Old Valley Road Hotel.
By Wombat. ------------------------- Any constructive comments are appreciated. I'm at 'bungala_wombat@yahoo.com.au'. ------------------------------------
Chapter 7 'A Rainy Day' Part 1:
------------------------------------ Part 61: Watching the Rain ------------------------------------
Derek stood leaning on the wooden railing of the upstairs verandah of the Old Valley Road Hotel. He was watching the rain come down. It was late July, the middle of winter and the rain was falling steadily.
He was naked despite the cold. He was a superman so he did not feel the cold at all. His nakedness was hidden from the public gaze by the recently painted cream wooden slats between the dark red verandah railing and the wooden floor. He could feel the thick warm heavy mass of his penis hanging down between his powerfully muscled thighs.
The rain was heavy enough to completely obscure the surrounding hills. All around the hotel was a misty cold dripping greyness. The gum trees in the forest on the other side of the track running along the dry stone boundary wall were heavy with moisture. With all the wet weather, the dry stone wall had a healthy covering of bright green moss.
A woman appeared walking along the track down from Old Valley Road towards the footbridge over the river to the town. She was wearing a yellow plastic raincoat with matching yellow rain hat. Underneath she wore an overcoat. With her was a little white dog with a curly coat. It was wearing a matching yellow plastic raincoat. It looked like a spoodle or cockapoo. The little dog stayed on the track with its mistress. It did not venture into the dripping forest.
The woman looked up at the old hotel and saw the young man leaning on the railing of the upstairs verandah. She saw that he was at least stripped to the waist. She wondered if he was naked but she could not see through the slats between the dark red upper and lower railings. She thought she glimpsed a naked thigh. The man was very powerfully muscled. She could see the big biceps bulging on his bare arms. How he could stand the cold at least half naked was beyond her. She herself was well rugged up.
She thought the man was watching her but he was too far away to tell. He looked up away from her at the trees in the forest. He was very good-looking, beautiful in fact. She had noticed that all the people living at the old hotel were good-looking. The men were very powerful and muscular and the women were beautiful. Quite a lot of people were living there now. She had heard there was some sort of community in the old hotel now.
She had heard that there was something "going on at the old hotel". All the men were splendidly muscular physical specimens and were very strong and good-looking. All the women were fit and beautiful. There were several older people living there and they seemed to be enjoying a very active and healthy old age. Several young children were there as well. She assumed that they were with their parents.
There was definitely something different about the people living in the hotel. They certainly did not appear to be like the average run- of-the-mill person living in Ringtail Springs. They seemed healthier and fitter than average.
The woman wondered what was going on at the old hotel. But they seemed harmless enough and they were playing some part in the community as a whole.
She had noticed that Scott Reeves, the mayor's son, had grown into a massive mountain of muscle, much bigger than his father, who himself was a gorgeous muscular hunk. She often caught herself envying Veronica Reeves. But Scott was absolutely enormous. She wondered how he did it. She remembered hearing about the Long Phat Kok stuff that everyone said he had been taking.
Scott was one of the people living in the old hotel now and was actively involved in running the place. She had heard that he taken on quite a lot of responsibility now, unusual for a young man of eighteen.
The people living there now had certainly tidied the old place up. The old hotel had fresh coats of paint on the roof and all the wood- work. The stone-work of the walls seemed to glow since it had been cleaned. She thought the old hotel looked really nice now. It would be a lovely place to stay.
The garden between the hotel and the stone wall along the track had been tidied up. The trees had all the dead wood removed. They looked much healthier. A whole lot of new plants, shrubs and young trees had been planted. Some were flowering. The garden was beautiful, even though it was the depths of winter. Colourful winter flowers bloomed despite the rain.
She could see the vegetable garden in the distance. It was reputed to be very productive. People admired it and visitors came from miles around. It looked very well-kept and it had a high fence around it to keep the kangaroos out.
The stone wall itself had been repaired. No longer a tumbledown eyesore, it looked solid and well-built. It looked like a work of art.
Derek listened into her thoughts. She seemed to be thinking the usual sorts of thoughts that people thought about the hotel.
The little dog suddenly sprang forward and scampered on ahead to the closed wooden gate in the stone wall. It stopped at the gate and barked sharply several times through the palings.
Derek heard a thump and a rattle as a big heavy dog charged through the doggy flap in the door into the garden and bounded up to the gate. Derek recognised Khan, the young German Shepherd Dog who had been given to Scott the previous January. He was about a year old now and black and tan in colouring. A barking match between Khan and the little white dog ensued through the palings of the gate.
Derek heard another German Shepherd Dog go through the doggy flap but somewhat more gently than Khan did. He recognised the mind of Hannibal before he saw the dog. Hannibal was about five years old and mainly black in colour with golden highlights. He was a happy good- natured dog who belonged to Don Kursky, one of the sons of Peter and Elizabeth Kursky.
The woman was worried that the old wooden gate would give way if the two German Shepherd Dogs had really thrust their weight against it. They were barking ferociously. She worried that poor little Poopsie would get mauled if the two big dogs broke through.
Derek knew that the little dog was safe. The two big dogs had no intention of breaking through the gate. They were just enjoying the sport. In any case, the gate was built strong enough to withstand them.
She called Poopsie but he took not the slightest notice. He continued barking back with his high-pitched yap. She had to go back and scoop him up. She marched off homeward with the little dog under her arm. The two big dogs whined as she strode away. She looked up hurriedly up at the big handsome brute on the verandah and wondered if he was grinning but he was too far away for her to tell.
She felt a bit embarrassed about the name. People often laughed at the dog's name. When she had first acquired the little dog as a puppy, she had asked her daughter who was four years old at the time to name him. The little girl had decided upon "Poopsie" and that was that. They were stuck with it. Her daughter was eight now. The woman knew they could not change the dog's name for it would only confuse the animal.
Derek watched the woman walk off down the track towards town and listened to her thoughts as she went.
"Huwwo!"
The salutation interrupted his telepathic scanning of the woman. Derek looked behind him and saw Kieran, a little boy of two years old riding his tricycle around on the upstairs verandah. Kieran was all dressed up in a blue teddy bear suit against the winter cold. He was the son of Fiona and Douglas who were members of the community now living in the hotel.
"Hello, Kieran," replied Derek drily. "Cold enough for you?"
Kieran looked Derek up and down.
"You got no cloves on," he observed. "Mummy won't let me do that."
"I'm a lot bigger that you are," replied Derek. "You'd get dreadfully cold and awfully sick and maybe die. When you grow up as big as your dad or me, then you can run round with no clothes on in wintertime. But until then, you've got to keep well rugged up or you'll die of cold in this cold weather."
"Bye now." Kieran rode off on his trike and rounded the corner.
Derek knew he had a few minutes of peace until the little boy made a circuit of the hotel and reappeared unless he found a distraction on the way.
He smiled as he came into contact with Fiona's mind.
Derek: << Love the teddy bear suit. >>
Fiona: << At least it keeps him warm. Thanks for giving him that little speech about keeping his clothes on in this weather. He may take more notice of you. He doesn't with me. >>
<< You're his Mum. >>
<< Yeah. Don't I know it! >>
Khan and Hannibal galloped up the garden path and into the building. Derek heard the thumps as they raced through the doggy flap.
The woman in the yellow raincoat had disappeared from view down the path.
Rex, the ancient German Shepherd Dog belonging to Peter and Elizabeth Kursky, had not made an appearance outside. He did not like the cold wet weather. Right at the moment he was sprawled out asleep and snoring in front of the roaring log fire burning in one of the front rooms. He did not stir when the younger dogs were barking at Poopsie.
Derek smiled at the name 'Poopsie'. Somehow it seemed fitting for such a silly little dog. He grinned as he remembered the time back in April when Poopsie came barking at the wooden gate. The younger dogs were somewhere else. Rex strolled over to the gate, sniffed at Poopsie contemptuously, lifted his leg and emptied his bladder through the slats in the gate all over the little dog. Poopsie was too stupid to get out of the way but stood there yowling while Rex urinated all over him.
The woman who owned the little dog started to pick him up but quickly changed her mind. Rex meanwhile scratched at the path and showered the woman and her dog with dirt and gravel. The woman was filled with a helpless fury. Rex just ambled off with a massive indifference.
Derek's thoughts turned to all the changes that had occurred in his life since the previous October, ten months ago. Hal had irrupted into his life and changed everything. It truly had been a life- changing event. So much had happened since then. Scott Reeves was now a large part of his life. Scott had grown into an enormous and wonderful young man who had developed amazing abilities.
Many changes had occurred as well in and to the old hotel on Valley Road.
Now a thriving community had taken root there. It was nothing like as big as the Mount Remarkable Community but it numbered about three- score souls. People started arriving in January not long after New Year. It was good that many familiar faces were now here about him.
Several young men from the town were living in the community as well. Scott was doing fine work.
The first apart from Derek and Scott to come and live in the community was Paul Hamilton-Forbes, the younger son of the local Anglican Rector, the Reverend Julian Hamilton-Forbes and his wife Helen.
Derek remembered that well. It started during the fag-end of the year, the week between Christmas and the New Year.
Derek and Scott were walking through the graveyard of St Aidan's church. The day had been hot but since it was after sunset, the edge had come off the summer heat.
They had been in an alternate world that Derek had created. It was a copy of one created by Peter Wray, Hal's son. It was an Earth-like planet and a place of beauty. Scott and Derek had been in a cabin in a forest near a waterfall. That was in a well-watered continent.
In that time Scott had been actively learning how to use the extraordinary super powers that he had been granted. His telepathic mind was like a vacuum cleaner actively sucking up knowledge, information and wisdom as fast as possible. Joyfully he rummaged through the vast store of knowledge that Hal had downloaded into Derek's mind and transferred it into his own. He became a powerful telepath.
Derek remembered his feelings of inadequacy when he was training up Fox. Now it was irrelevant. Scott was eager to learn everything that Derek knew and he learnt quickly. Derek was proud of what Scott was becoming.
In the alternate world, Derek and Scott spent much time together naked in the cabin in the forest. Derek was determined to teach Scott how to fuck a man beautifully, how to make it a transformative experience for that man. Derek had switched off his invulnerability and got Scott to practise on him many times. He had changed himself into several different body sizes ranging from a short thin man to a huge, powerfully muscled man the size of Big Dick.
During that time, Derek decided that Scott would look better with bigger and more muscular arms. With God's consent he increased the size of Scott's upper arms from 26 inches (66 cm) to a full 28 inches (71 cm). He increased Scott's weight to 397 pounds (180 kg) and refined Scott's musculature so that Scott's body literally bulged all over with muscle.
He increased the size of Scott's forearms, hands and shoulders so that they were in proportion with his huge upper arms. A network of veins covered his forearms and drained into two thick cable-like veins running up both his biceps muscles. He increased the size of Scott's waist to 34 inches (86 cm.) so that it was more in proportion with his massive wide shoulders and deep powerful chest.
Lean hard muscles bulged all over his body with not a visible trace of body fat.
Scott looked even more freakishly muscular than before. He looked like one of those photographs of bodybuilders expertly morphed so that the muscles were huge, much bigger than a normal man could achieve. But he was totally and solidly real. With his broad massively powerful shoulders, mighty arms with huge bulging biceps and triceps, deep muscular chest, thick strong neck, narrow hips, thickly muscled thighs, a perfect butt and a slim muscle-packed waist with his abdomen sporting a spectacular ten-pack of solid muscle, he looked the perfect comic book super-hero.
To Scott's amazement, God patched in Hal, who appeared as an astral projection in the alternate world. Hal looked Scott over.
Hal: << Scott, you look like a teenage boy's wet dream. >>
He echoed Derek's thoughts.
Scott threw a mind-boggling double biceps pose. His huge arms bulged with power.
<< I am a teenage boy's wet dream. I am a teenager. I have the power. >>
Hal laughed.
<< I would think with that truly spectacular physique, Scott, you will be pulling in the teenage boys and young men. I reckon you will have the power. >>
Later on, Derek was lying on the bed in the forest cabin underneath Scott revelling in the experience of having Scott's sixteen-inch (40 cm) cock up his arse. He was back to his usual powerfully muscular size of 135 kilograms (297 lb.) and 186 centimetres (6' 1.25") but with his invulnerability switched off. He had just been beautifully fucked by Scott. He had given Scott full marks for the fuck. It had been wonderful and their orgasms had lasted a long time. Derek was replete with sexual satisfaction. Scott's stiff hard penis remained up his arse. Derek relished the golden afterglow of a glorious fuck.
He held Scott's beautiful, handsome head in his hands admiring it while Scott had his huge thick muscular arms wrapped around him. Derek loved Scott's big, bright blue eyes, the curve of his eyebrows, his thick dense mass of curly black hair that came down over his high forehead to his eyes and rose in a rounded mass which added about 5 centimetres (2 inches) to Scott's height of 193 centimetres (6' 4"). He loved the perfect proportions of Scott's face and head. He loved Scott's prominent cheekbones, slightly hollow cheeks, strong full sensuous mouth, strong square jaw and long black sideburns that reached down to the bottoms of his ears. He loved Scott's massive deltoids that nearly matched the size of his enormous biceps and triceps. Scott looked the perfect image of the manly, romantic, Byronic hero of a Victorian novel but with huge and mighty muscles. And he was massively cute, like a very cute and cuddly big teddy bear. He looked like Superman, but a huge hunky romantic sweet version of Superman. And he was naked - lean, hard and massively muscular.
Derek looked up at Scott and ran his fingers through Scott's thick mop of curly black hair. He murmured dreamily, "You're so fucking cute, Scott. You're as cute as a teddy-bear and you're a fucking huge great big hunky manly hyper-masculine muscly sex god. You're my dream lover. With you, I'm in a cum-soaked fantasy."
Scott: << Me, too. You are fucking glorious. >>
With that, Scott leant down and kissed Derek sensuously on the lips. It turned into a long-lasting and passionate kiss. Derek put his arms around Scott's neck and wrapped his legs around Scott's waist. Scott started thrusting his cock rhythmically up Derek's arse into his torso once again. He loved Derek, who was the most wonderful thing ever to have happened to him. He loved Derek from the bottom of his heart. And Derek reciprocated that fervent love.
The fuck continued. They both were shaken by a titanic series of orgasms like tidal waves that swamped them both with orgiastic love and lust.
They were lost in love. They had lost count of the number of days they spent together in that alternate world for there were many.
Some of the time they spent riding motorbikes naked along trails through the extensive forest. They went onto small roads and big roads. They ventured onto a highway that went right across the empty forested continent thousands of miles (kilometres) to a wild ocean shore on the other side. They rode its length just for the fun of it. That journey took many weeks.
Along the way Derek taught Scott all the skills of being a member of the Roadknights Motor Cycle club. Scott quickly learnt how to apply super-stick to the tyres of his motorbike, how to use his super powers to keep his bike in top condition and topped up 'magically' with fuel and oil. He learnt how to fight and disable opponents, just as Hal had taught Derek two months ago. Derek taught Scott how to use his psychokinetic powers and cryptoscopic sense. He taught Scott how to enhance his telepathic abilities. It was not long before Derek was satisfied that Scott had all the skills required to be admitted as a Roadknight and a lot more.
Next, Derek went back in time and took Scott on a motorbike ride around Australia. In the stub timeline Scott borrowed his brother Matt's Harley-Davidson motorcycle for the trip. In that time Scott applied the skills he had learnt from Derek.
The few days since Christmas Day had expanded into many months thanks to the side trips in time.
At Scott's request, Derek took him back to the alternate timeline when Derek had gone back in time and had his first fuck with Scott. This was when Hal's friends had come over from South Australia and admitted Derek to the Roadknights Motor Cycle Club. They did not drop into the timeline but watched it as if they were watching a 3D video that they could move around in. They watched the progress of the relationship between Derek the superman and Scott. They saw Robbie lead the charge of men who interrupted the final fuck between Scott and Derek. They saw Mick Shanahan confess to Max Reeves that he had been having sex with Max's brother Matt in Vietnam and that he loved Matt very much.
Max was very understanding. He accepted the news of the relationship well. He had suspected a relationship between Mick and his brother Matt for many years and he was glad Mick had told him at last. However, he wished that Mick had told him much sooner rather than suffer for thirty years.
Scott saw that his father had been wanting for many years to know about Mick and Matt. He saw how readily his father had accepted knowing about the sexual relationship between his dead brother and Mick. His father was not really bothered much at all. He was just irritated at having to wait so long to hear about it.
Scott was amused when Hal made an appearance in the guise of Hildegard. He was moved by Hildegard's speech about love. He saw how he had put himself in between Kym's gun and Derek. It was exactly what he would have done. He loved Derek totally.
After their visit to Derek's alternate world, the two men had flown to the Mount Remarkable Community. Scott had enjoyed flying across the desert landscape to South Australia, alternately zooming across the sand dunes at shrub-top level and soaring high into the sky.
At Mount Remarkable they had lots of fun and sex.
Hal was impressed by what Scott had grown into. He had taken Scott and Derek back in time to his 'hidey hole' in belle epoque Paris in 1901 and he took up his persona as Professor Alain de Berry again. They had an excellent time there. Hal took them both to several meals at Maxim's Restaurant. His two huge beautiful young exotic Australian guests caused a sensation.
While they were in Paris, they were having a breakfast of croissants and coffee with cream, jam and honey in the dining room of Hal's luxurious apartment.
Hal looked at Scott seriously and asked the question.
Hal: << Scott, if you were to become Emperor of Earth and Her Empire in Space, then Jesus returned to Earth, what would you do? >>
Scott replied without hesitating: << I would hand over my crown to Him. No problem. >>
Hal thought that was a good answer.
Hal: << OK, then, there is the possibility that Jesus may want you to continue as Emperor. He would reign as the High King, the King of kings, while you would rule as Emperor, or Imperator, which is Commander in Latin. He would set the guidelines and policy directions while you would be responsible to Him for the good government of Earth and her Dominions in space. How would you like that? >>
Scott shrugged his shoulders. To him, the question was purely hypothetical.
<< I guess that'd be OK. >> He had no problems with the idea. << But why me? Why would I be Emperor? >>
<< What if God decides that you are the best man for the job? >>
Scott smiled wryly. << I guess I'm going to have to do it then. >>
Hal was satisfied with that. He saw that Scott was a good prospect; he had the potential to be a good ruler, a good emperor, even though he was now only seventeen years old.
Hal: << I look forward to a time where there is no misery, no suffering, no war, no cruelty and no exploitation of others. I look forward to a world where men and women live in love, peace and harmony together, where there is no division by politics, religion, wealth, race or any other reason. >>
Scott eyes became wet with emotion. << If I did become Emperor, I would want you, Hal, to be my Grand Vizier, my chief adviser, my grey eminence, my wise old man to guide me through the perils and pitfalls of statecraft. Would you, Hal? >>
Hal: << You'd have Jesus to guide you. I am nothing beside Jesus. Compared to Him I'm just a small child. >>
Scott persisted. << But I'd want a human, a human like you to give me a human perspective and keep me connected with human reality. >>
<< If I'm needed in that role, if God wants me in that role, well then, yes, of course I'll do it. >>
Scott got up and hugged Hal.
Then he put his arm around Derek's shoulders. He felt the looming weight of destiny on his own shoulders.
<< Derek, mate, would you be my advisor and my helper? >>
<< Sure thing, mate. No worries. >> Derek was ready in his reply.
Scott kissed him.
Now that they were back on Earth in their own time on the main time- line in Ringtail Springs, Scott remembered that he had promised to keep an eye on his grandmother's cottage in Church Mews while the rest of the family was in Queensland.
Later that afternoon Scott drove himself and Derek down from Valley Road in his old orange Ford Falcon utility. They decided to go by car because Scott wanted to show off his huge magnificent body driving around the town in the ute.
However, they could not find a park nearby. Large numbers of cars were already parked for some distance around St Aidan's Church.
The summer holiday period from Christmas to the end of January is known as the silly season in Australia because there are few big news stories. As a result, the media are desperate for news content. They resort to stories like the lady in the United States who blow-dried her freshly washed poodle in her microwave oven. They love stories like the courageous American tourist who fought off a giant salt-water crocodile when he went swimming in a river in the Northern Territory or the gorgeous young blonde Danish tourist in Western Australia who had her bikini top removed by a playful dolphin.
The stories about the miraculous image of Jesus Christ appearing in the hole in the church wall left by the collapse of the memorial to Doctor Seth Forsythe as well as the giant phallus appearing out of the top of Mount Wattabang dropped like a bomb into the post-Christmas torpor. The stories made it to the international news media. Pilgrims, tourists and curiosity-seekers travelled to Ringtail Springs from all over Australia and beyond.
Scott found a park several streets away the other side of the churchyard from Church Mews. They walked to the lych-gate at the front of the churchyard. Inside the churchyard they observed the long queue of people waiting at the church door to get inside and see the image of Jesus.
Near the lych-gate a young workman was painting an iron lamp post in the churchyard dark green. He had a radio blaring nearby. When he saw Scott and Derek he stopped painting and, with his paintbrush poised in mid-air, he stared open mouthed with awe and admiration at the two musclemen. Scott knew him slightly; he had seen him around town. He nodded in greeting.
As they walked past, an advertisement blared out from the workman's radio. It asked if you had erection problems. Can you satisfy her? It then extolled the virtues of a sex clinic's new anal delivery technology that would solve all erection problems.
Scott smiled wryly. << A big fat cock up your arse would certainly fix any erection problems. >>
Derek smirked.
Some of the people in the queue heard the radio advertisement. Some sniggered. Others were not impressed.
"How bloody tasteless," muttered a middle-aged man to his wife.
She agreed.
The people in the queue stared at the two musclemen walking past. Neither wore a shirt. Scott and Derek were each wearing just a brief low-cut pair of dark blue workman's shorts and a pair of black work boots. Their magnificent muscular bodies were on full display. Scott almost swaggered as he walked with his huge heroically muscular and veiny 28-inch (71-cm) arms swinging at his side. People ogled his stupendous physique. He relished the attention.
They walked through the well-shaded cemetery and saw more people making their way to the church. Many large shady evergreen trees grew in the cemetery, trees such as cypresses, casuarinas, and many different varieties of pine trees from all around the world including Aleppo pines, Canary Island pines, Norfolk Island pines, Radiata (Monterey) pines and hoop pines. The wind sighed as it blew through their branches.
Church Mews was full of parked vehicles.
The two looked around the outside of Scott's grandmother's cottage. All appeared to be in order. Scott saw that all the pot plants had already been watered; they were doing well. He had the house keys. They went into the cottage and looked around. It was very neat and tidy, just as his grandmother had left it.
Derek was interested in the photographs displayed on the mantelpiece over the fireplace in the sitting (living) room. They showed her dead husband and son, her living son, his wife and their seven children. There was a wedding photograph of Max and Veronica. The photographs of the children showed them in ages from babies through to recent ones of the children as adults and teenagers. Derek particularly liked one in colour of Scott as a laughing baby of about six months old. It showed his big bright blue eyes, black curly hair and big happy laugh. A recent one of Scott showed a big muscular teenager with a sullen expression on his face. He did not look happy. His face seemed closed up.
Scott put his arms around Derek and affectionately kissed the back of his neck. Their love resonated between each other.
Scott took Derek upstairs and showed him around. They saw Mrs Reeves' bedroom. The wallpaper had thin pale green stripes and a pattern of tiny pink roses on a pale pink background. The single bed had a pink and lavender patterned quilt. The room was very neat and tidy. The window looked out over the street. The smaller spare bedroom had an antique wooden roll-top writing desk and a single bed with just a brown and yellow coverlet over the mattress. There was a bathroom and separate toilet, both with walls painted pale yellow.
Downstairs and outside, Derek liked the cottage garden that Scott's grandmother tended. It was neat but complex; there were an interesting variety of plants. They were healthy and well kept.
An old man appeared at the front fence and demanded to know what the two men were doing in the garden. They were on private property.
"G'day, Mr Bampton," replied Scott cheerfully. "My grandmother asked me to keep an eye on her place while she's away up in Queensland. How're ya goin'?"
"Oh, it's you, Scottie," said Mr Bampton. "Sorry, I didn't realise it was you. You seem to have got a lot bigger since I last saw you. Goodness me, you do have such huge muscles these days. Who's your friend?"
Scott introduced Derek to Mr Bampton, who with his wife also lived in Church Mews. Mr Bampton was a friend of Scott's grandmother. He was interested to meet the handsome young muscleman who lived in the old motor garage next to the old Valley Road Hotel. He had heard about Scott's friend Derek.
Mr Bampton was the predecessor of Max Reeves as churchwarden. His wife still did duty as the deputy church organist and an altar server.
He invited them to high tea, which is a tradition among the residents of Church Mews between Christmas and the New Year. No, he insisted that Scott and Derek join him, his wife and the other residents of Church Mews for high tea. Scott could stand in for his grandmother who was away. Mr Bampton remarked that Scott and Derek were two splendid specimens of manhood.
Scott accepted the invitation to high tea. Together they trooped over the road to the Bampton house.
The other residents of Church Mews had already gathered in the dining room. Lavinia Longbottom and Chrissie Watson were there. Each household took it in turns to host high tea during the period between Christmas and New Year.
The dining table was laden with food. However, the lighting was dim because six of the eight light globes had blown in the eight-branch glass chandelier over the dining table. Mrs Hunter complained about the dim religious lighting. Mr Bampton said that his knees were too arthritic to climb a ladder and Mrs Bampton did not like heights.
Old Mr Fred Field gave a cackling laugh. "You know, young Scottie, we're all too old to go shinnying up ladders these days."
"What about Luke the parish handyman?" asked Scott.
"Oh, the poor man is far too busy," replied Mrs Bampton. "He only works part-time and the parish really doesn't pay him very much."
"And in any case," said Mrs Hunter, "some bastard stole his ladder."
Scott and Derek offered to replace the light globes. That offer was gratefully accepted.
Scott hoisted Derek up. He held Derek up horizontally by the waist over the dining table while Derek rested his feet on Scott's shoulders. Mr Bampton passed the new light globes up to Derek who used them to replace the old ones in the chandelier. The two shirtless young men were a spectacular symphony of bulging muscle as Derek replaced the light globes. The people present were open-mouthed with admiration.
The light-globes replaced, they all sat down and enjoyed a hearty meal. There was an abundance of food. Both Scott and Derek were plied with home-made pasties and pastries and pies and rolls.
"You are both such big strong young men," commented Chrissie. "You must be hungry."
"I wouldn't want to eat you out of house and home," replied Scott.
"Oh dear boy!" exclaimed Mrs Halliday. "Of course not! We all love cooking."
"I'll bet you take a lot of feeding, Scottie," laughed Mr Halliday. "You look like one of Doug Willoughby-Wainthropp's champion stud bulls with all that muscle on you. I've never seen so much muscle on a man before. You are truly enormous."
"What a pity Mavis isn't here," commented Lavinia. "She'd be so proud of the magnificent specimen that her grandson has grown into."
"Doug Willoughby-Wainthropp, isn't he the fellow who owns the beef cattle stud out on the road to Gundagai?" asked Chrissie. "I see him and his wife at church occasionally."
"The same," replied Mr Halliday. "He's been doing rather well lately. His bulls have been winning quite a few prizes, especially at the Royal Easter Show. Young Scottie's probably on the same special diet as Willoughby-Wainthropp's bulls."
Mrs Bampton giggled. "I hear Scottie's been taking something unusual. It's got rather a rude name so I won't mention it here."
They all laughed.
Mrs May Field was deaf; she was 93 years old. When Derek said anything to her, he beamed his words directly into Mrs Field's brain so she thought she could hear clearly everything he said. Scott quickly picked up the skill from Derek. Mrs Field complimented the two young men on how clear and well-spoken they were. She said most young people mumbled incomprehensibly these days even with her hearing aid. She could never hear what they said.
Mrs Hunter remarked on the similarity between Scott and the statue of Sam Rigby in the graveyard nearby. The other old people concurred. Lavinia expounded her theory that Scott was a descendant of Sam. A lively discussion ensured. Scott said that it might be possible but he was not sure. He did not wish to appear disloyal to his grandmother and said so. The old people understood.
Mrs Field looked at Derek and said that it was interesting that Beatles haircuts were coming back into fashion. Mrs Hunter said she like Derek's hairstyle. It gave him an animal appeal.
Lavinia said that Derek was the most beautiful man she had ever set eyes upon. Mrs Hunter and Mrs Halliday agreed.
High tea finally over, Scott and Derek took their leave and departed.
"I'm as full as a tick," remarked Scott as they walked up Church Mews back towards the churchyard.
"I'm so full I could crack a flea on my stomach," replied Derek.
On their way back through the graveyard, they passed the memorial to Sam Rigby over his grave. The last rays of the sun setting over the western hills illuminated the muscular white marble statue of Sam Rigby set high above the surrounding gravestones. It was an excellent piece of sculpture. They admired it.
The statue reminded Derek of a picture of a statue of Hercules as a shepherd that he had seen in a book somewhere. However, the statue of Sam was a lot more muscular. It was of a man with a build of a champion bodybuilder. The muscles were massive. The chiselled, well- defined musculature was magnificent. Obviously the sculptor knew the human anatomy very well and gave reign to his fantasies.
Scott patted the tall brown granite plinth supporting the marble statue over the grave of Sam Rigby. The plinth was as high as he was.
"All hail to thee, O mighty great-great-grandfather," said Scott with a grin.
Derek looked at Scott and then at the statue above him.
Derek: << The old people at Church Mews are right. You do look like the statue of Sam Rigby. >>
Derek considered that the statue was an idealised, improved depiction of Sam Rigby. They had both seen Sam in the flesh in the vision of what happened on Mount Wattabang. Scott resembled both Sam and the statue. However, Scott was better looking than the real Sam was.
Together with their arms around each other's shoulders, they read the inscription on the granite plinth. Sam Rigby was born in Ringtail Springs on the 8th of December 1861. He was foully murdered by persons unknown on top of Mount Wattabang in November 1888 at the age of twenty-six years. The epitaph read: "A brave and valiant soul taken too soon to God."
A shiver went through Scott's body. Derek gave him an affectionate hug. Scott understood the enormity of what was done to Sam Rigby.
They remembered the story that the Archangel Michael had told them. They knew that the grief-stricken Archibald McBride had commissioned a remarkable monument to mark Sam's grave in the graveyard of St Aidan's Church. Atop the granite plinth was placed a heroically muscular marble statue of Sam holding a shepherd's crook and leaning against a rock. Archibald McBride had paid 538 pounds sterling for the memorial, a huge sum for those days. The statue became well known and admired. People said that the Sydney sculptor was a genius; he was the colonial Michelangelo.
The sun set. The light faded quickly from the summer sky. The lights on the lamp posts in the church-yard flickered on. They appeared only to intensify the darkness.
Derek looked around the cemetery in the gathering tree-shaded gloom. Tombstones were all around them. Many were topped by crosses.
Derek: <+ Cemetery looks kind of spooky, like a set out of a horror movie. +>
Scott: << Feel like spending the night here? >> <+ With an impish sense of humour +> He was feeling better now.
Derek grinned at Scott lecherously. << As long as it's with you, lover boy. >>
Scott laughed.
Nearby was the looming black granite mass of the McBride family vault. In it were buried all of George McBride's dead ancestors and most of his dead relations. Inscriptions to their memory covered the walls of the vault.
Scott: << I remember Mrs Hunter saying once that George McBride was like a potato - all his goodness was underground. >>
Derek laughed. << That wasn't very nice of the dear old lady. She sounds like a real old cynic. >>
They heard the sound of laughter and talking nearby.
"God! This place is so spooky," said a girl in an accent from the Mid-West of the United States.
"Yeah, you can kinda see all sorts of horror things happening here," said a teenage boy in a similar accent.
"It sure feels like it's haunted, like that guy said," said another girl.
The party of teenage tourists approached. There were a number of them. They were flashing electric torches in all directions. Derek and Scott were illuminated like wildlife in spotlights.
"God, look at them! They're huge," said a teenage boy.
"I wonder if they're ghosts," said a girl fearfully.
"G'day," said Scott cheerfully. "You lot looking for the image of Jesus in the church? It's been closed for a few hours now."
The party came up to them.
"You guys not ghosts, then," said another teenage boy, one of the party.
Scott and Derek laughed. "Do we look like ghosts?" asked Scott.
"Nah, I guess not."
"We heard this cemetery was haunted and full of ghosts," said another of the tourists.
Scott and Derek laughed.
"Well, I've lived in this town all my life and I never saw any ghosts here," said Scott in an easy Australian drawl.
"Where did you hear it was haunted?" asked Derek.
"At The Ringtail Possum, the hotel we're staying at," said a teenager.
"Well, you never believe what you hear in pubs," said Scott with a laugh, "particularly what people tell tourists."
A loud cry rang out across the graveyard through the darkness, followed by a wail of despair.
The girls clutched the boys in fear.
Scott and Derek immediately reached out with their telepathic sense.
"What was that about no ghosts?" asked one of the boys in a shaking voice.
"That's no bloody ghost," declared Scott. "Sounds like someone's in a bad way."
He strode off purposefully through the trees into the darkness in the direction of the cry.
"Golly, he's brave," commented one of the girls.
"Do you think it's a ghost?" one of the boys asked Derek.
"No. I think I know who it is," replied Derek. "I might just go and see if there's anything I can do to help."
He started moving off in the direction that Scott had taken.
The tourists made to follow but Derek stopped them. He explained to them that it was a very private matter and it was best that Scott was left alone with the mourner. He knew what to do. Having a curious audience would be no help at all, a hindrance in fact.
The party looked at one another then at Derek and decided not to pursue the matter. One of the boys asked when the church was open again. They had travelled down from Sydney to check out the Jesus apparition.
Derek replied it was open the next morning. They could try then but he warned them that there was often a long queue of people waiting to get in. The church opened at nine o'clock in the morning, so the tourists should be there early.
The tourists walked away towards the lych-gate.
Derek followed after Scott into the deepening gloom.
-------------------------------------- Continued in Part 62. --------------------------------------