---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Old Valley Road Hotel.
By Wombat. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Any constructive comments are appreciated. I'm at 'bungala_wombat@yahoo.com.au'. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Nifty Readers, If you enjoy this story or others on Nifty, please send a generous donation to Nifty.org at 'http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html' to help support and maintain this free service full of wonderful stories so it may continue to remain available to everyone.
Thank you all, Wombat ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 7 - 'A Rainy Day' Part 16.
------------------------------------ Part 76: Leaving Riverside ------------------------------------
A cavalcade of motorcycles with a couple of four-wheel-drives and Scott's ute towing a trailer arrived at Riverside Caravan Park. They proceeded to the little old white fibreglass caravan in which Cave Bear had been living.
The motorcyclists dismounted and removed their denim jackets which they left hanging from the handlebars of their bikes. All the men were now shirtless but they were wearing brief workman's shorts or denim jeans shorts or brief jeans cut-offs with runners, basketball boots, high-sided workman's boots or big biker boots. Some women arrived in the four-wheel-drives. Two arrived in Scott's ute.
It was no surprise that the arrivals attracted much attention from the inhabitants of the caravan park. A small crowd soon gathered around to watch the activity.
The motorcyclists soon set to work cleaning up the caravan in which Bear had been living. Bear looked around inside the caravan and decided that there was nothing he wanted to keep. Some of the arrivals set to work cleaning out the interior of the caravan.
Derek, Fox, Red, Travis and Bat set to work cleaning the exterior of caravan of all the gum, resin and stuff that had fallen from the overhanging eucalyptus trees. As a result the caravan had taken on a mottled greyish appearance. The men poured some interesting-smelling blue liquid from the tins in the back of Derek's Pajero into buckets and mixed it with water. They then started scrubbing the caravan's exterior. The accumulated gum and stuff came off quite easily exposing the gleaming white original surface of the fibreglass shell of the caravan.
All the old bedding was taken out and dumped in the trailer hitched to Scott's ute. It was destined for the rubbish dump along with everything else put in the trailer.
Jessica went around the exterior and ensured all the fittings were sound. She used her super powers to subtly fix any that were not.
Bear, Gabriel, Paul, Zack, Luke, Alex and Gazza cleaned out the interior of the caravan both physically and by using their super powers to clean up the mess and the stains. Becky and Angela were using their super powers to make any repairs necessary to the interior fittings of the caravan. Both the women were wielding screwdrivers just for show.
Bear stood out because of his great height and heavily muscled shirtless body. He removed an apparently new double bed mattress wrapped in plastic from the back of the Land Cruiser. He ripped off the plastic wrapping with one hand while holding the mattress up with the other hand holding one of the mattress handles. The display of his huge bulging muscles working had most of the watchers open-mouthed with awe. Bear then took the mattress over to the caravan and placed it on the now spotless double bed base.
Perry sidled up to Scott. He had seen Paul but he was afraid of him because he had lost a fight with the big young man in the Prince of Wales Hotel and he had been beaten up painfully. When he saw how much more muscular Paul had become since then, he was very afraid. However, he thought that Scott was alright.
He was amazed at how much muscle Scott had gained. He said that Scott was truly awesome. He expressed his unstinting admiration for Scott and he remarked how huge and muscular all the men were with their tops off.
A little hesitantly he asked, "Do you know where's Cave Bear? I haven't seen him around for a while. Is he OK?"
"He's fine," said Scott with a smile.
Bear was just coming past after dumping a cardboard box full of rubbish in the trailer.
Scott's smile turned into a wide grin.
"That's him," he said indicating Bear's massive form walking past.
Perry's mouth opened wide, his jaw dropped and his eyes opened so wide that they nearly popped out of their sockets.
He managed to collect himself.
"You ... you ... you mean ..." he stammered.
"G'day, Perry," said Bear in his deep masculine baritone. "I'm Bear now. I used to be Cave Bear but not anymore."
Perry stared at him stupidly.
"You are fucking awesome," he managed to get out. "How ... how ... how did ..."
"How did I get like this?" said Bear.
He put his hand on Scott's shoulder and said, "In a nutshell, Perry, this man showed me how to become what I am now and I did it."
"Oh," replied Perry weakly.
His brain was approaching overload.
Ellis de la Mare walked down from his house. Despite the warm summer weather, he moved with some care because of the arthritis troubling his joints. He had heard the cavalcade of big motorbikes rumble past his house. When he got to a window and looked out, he had seen all the people gathered around Cave Bear's caravan.
He shook hands with Bear.
"It's good to see you, Bear," he said. "Please excuse my rather strange demeanour when I saw you the other day. I was just so blown away by the enormous changes that you have undergone. I'm still struggling to come to grips with it all. Please do excuse me, Bear."
"Not a problem, Mr De la Mare," rumbled Bear cheerfully. He grinned. "You're excused."
Ellis's smile was wry. He was getting some of his own medicine back.
Scott introduced Ellis and Perry to the other people in the group.
When they came to Paul, they all sensed a certain stiffness with Paul and Perry's fear.
"I hear there's a bit of history between you too," commented Scott cheerfully.
"You could say that, mate," replied Paul looking down at Perry from his magnificently muscled height.
Perry hid behind Scott. Muffled snickers went around the group.
Ellis wondered what was going on but did not feel free to ask.
He took an immediate liking to Jessica. He admired the tall brunette with the no-nonsense air about her. She reminded him of a woman friend he had whom he had not seen in many years.
He was introduced to the five men scrubbing the outside of the caravan. Fox was standing on the roof of the caravan with a scrubbing brush in his hand. He said "Hi" from the roof. Ellis thought Fox looked like a blond god with his shirtless torso glistening in the sun.
Jessica remarked that it showed how strongly built the little fibreglass caravan was. Fox weighed 125 kilograms (275 lb.) of solid muscle and the caravan showed no signs of stress.
Ellis did a quick approximate conversion in his head.
"My goodness!" he exclaimed. "That is nearly twenty stones standing on the roof like that and the roof's not caving in."
"Yes," replied Jessica, "they're sturdy little vans, those little egg- shaped fibreglass ones and they're very much sought after because they're Australian made. They are very collectible these days because they're so rare. Your van looks really good now that it's all scrubbed up, spruced up inside and it's all in very good condition too. I was browsing through EBay the other day and I saw one that went for $28,000. It was over in Western Australia too, Perth I think, a good 4000 kilometre (2500 mile) drive from here. So if you do want to sell it, you'd get good money for it."
Ellis was impressed. So much for taking it to the rubbish dump. That was out of the question now. He thanked Jessica for letting him know.
Scott introduced him to Derek. Ellis thought that Derek was about the most beautiful man he had ever seen. He was taken aback by Derek's perfect good looks and magnificently muscled body. Derek looked like a god descended to Earth. Despite his looks and body, Derek had a friendly, easy-going manner. Ellis liked him instantly.
With Derek was a man who looked as if he had Down Syndrome. He was another of the men cleaning the exterior of the caravan. Scott introduced Bat to Ellis who saw that there was real intelligence in the bright blue eyes that seemed to bore into him. Yet Bat appeared friendly enough. He had the same lean and powerfully muscular build of the other men who certainly appeared to treat him as an equal.
Bat was a little taller than Ellis and shirtless like all the other men. His splendidly muscular torso, arms and legs were on display. Prominent veins showed on his thickly muscled arms. Bat was wearing a brief but expensive-looking pair of suede leather shorts with yellow leather work boots with khaki socks rolled down to their tops.
To Ellis he was an interesting sight, a man with the appearance of Down Syndrome but of obvious intelligence and with a lean, very strong and massively muscled build. Ellis thought he was surprisingly sexy.
A little boy of about five years old came up to Bear.
"Mister, can I have the alarm clock in the big white car with the jumping fish?" he asked.
"Sure," said Bear. "I'll just go and get it for you. It was going to the op-shop anyway so I'm glad it's going to a good home."
Bear ran with a long-legged lope over to the white Land Cruiser and picked up the old blue wind-up alarm clock with the jumping fish and two chromed bells on top from the open back of the four-wheel-drive.
He loped back to the boy. He squatted down and presented him with the alarm clock. The little boy accepted the alarm clock with gratitude and threw his little arms around Bear.
The boy's mother came over and thanked Bear.
Perry peeled away from the group. He felt intimidated by all the huge musclemen.
Ellis, on the other hand was very much impressed by the amazing athletic grace with which the massively built musclemen moved about. To him they looked like heavily muscled ballet dancers. He was wonder-struck to see all those big powerfully-built men moving with such elegant and agile beauty. It seemed to him that he had transported from Earth to some paradisiacal utopia.
Perhaps the stories about the Roadknights were right. Maybe they were all into martial arts.
Scott introduced Ellis to Zack who was helping to clean out the caravan. Ellis could not help but eye Zack up and down as he took in Zack's shirtless and truly magnificent muscular and tanned body, the spectacular thick mounds of pectorals muscles, his broad heavily muscled shoulders, the huge thick muscular arms covered with veins with mighty bulging biceps, the mountainous abdominal eight-pack and thick powerful thighs. Zack wore a brief white pair of shorts that covered a large set of genitals and on his feet wore calf-length yellow leather work-boots with thick soles and thick black socks rolled down to the boot tops. What most drew Ellis's attention were Zack's penetrating but haunting and sensitive eyes.
To Ellis, Zack looked of foreign descent but he spoke with an Australian accent. Ellis was unsure of Zack's ethnic origins but he did not appear to be of Anglo-Saxon decent. He did not feel confident about asking Zack about his origins. Zack's dark eyes appeared to bore into him uncomfortably. To Ellis Zack appeared tremendously but intimidatingly sexy and Ellis felt he could never take up with a man like Zack.
Then Scott introduced Ellis to Luke who was returning from dumping a carton full of rubbish in the trailer. Ellis looked at the huge, stunningly good-looking muscleman with bright blue eyes, a flourishing golden blond moustache and a helmet of curly golden blond hair. The man was beautiful and appeared to be in his absolute prime in his mid- twenties. His skin was a golden tan. Like all the other musclemen he was not wearing a shirt and his magnificent, powerfully muscled body was on full display. Luke had a very similar build to Zack. He wore a faded dark blue pair of Stubbies or brief workmen's shorts and big brown leather workmen's boots with thick khaki socks rolled down to the tops of the boots. To Ellis he looked remarkably sexy, a dream lover or a blond sex god complete with the outline of a big cock visible in the front of his shorts. His name rattled something in Ellis's memory but Ellis could not place him. He had no recollections of the man standing before him. Luke too moved with the same agile athletic grace as the other muscular men.
Next Scott introduced Ellis to Alex and Gazza. They were both about to enter the caravan. Ellis saw each man had a large ornate Roadknight insignia tattoo that covered most of his back. Both men were of similar height and with the same huge muscles as both Zack and Luke. They turned back and came over to Scott and Ellis. Alex put his arm around Gazza's shoulders.
Alex was well tanned and bearded with rugged good looks. He sported a magnificent wide mohawk of thick straight black hair that stood out horizontally over his forehead and formed a high ridge over the top and back of his head. The sides of his head were covered with very close-cut hair. The effect was like a stallion's mane.
Gazza was a very good-looking man with medium-length straight reddish blond hair, a moustache and a golden tan. Both men were wearing brief shiny black tight vinyl shorts and big shiny black leather knee-high biker boots. Both were heavily tattooed all over their bodies with motifs of skulls, dragons, snakes, daggers, swords and guns.
Alex was wearing his thick solid gold cock ring studded with medium- sized deep blue diamonds under his tight black vinyl shorts. The result was that his big thick cock was half erect. To a superman like Alex using his psychokinetic powers, the solid gold cock ring was easily manipulable like putty or elastic. He could stretch out to put it on over his cock and tighten it up as much as he wanted.
Alex had magicked it into existence. A jeweller had valued the cock ring at about $250,000 when Gazza had taken it in to be valued just for fun.
Ellis could not help but notice Alex's big cock espaliered across the front of his shorts. He thought he saw the outline of a thick cock ring around the base. It was difficult for him to move his eyes from the bulge. It was obviously a big penis.
He smirked when he saw a thick black snake with one eye tattooed down the inside of Alex's left thigh from the edge of the very brief shorts down to his knee.
"Is that the dreaded one-eyed trouser snake on your leg?" he asked Alex.
"Yes," replied Alex with a grin.
Ellis could not help but notice that both men had the words 'Vietnam 1969-1972' tattooed on their right arms. He had to ask but he thought he had better be tactful. There may be painful memories of lost loved ones. Both men looked far too young to have been involved in the war in Vietnam.
"I'm intrigued by the Vietnam tattoos you've both got on your arms," he began carefully. "Are they in memory of someone near and dear to you who gave his life in Vietnam?"
"No," replied Gazza. "We got them because we both fought in the Vietnam War. And, yes, quite a few of mates of ours did get killed in action then. Our battalion under Peter Kursky saw a lot of action in Vietnam during the war."
"But... but... you couldn't have been born then," Ellis blurted out. "Most Vietnam veterans in their fifties or older and you two look nothing like that old, like you're both half that age."
Gazza and Alex laughed.
"Thanks for the compliment, Ellis," said Gazza, "but we're a lot older than we look."
"But... but... how is that possible?"
Both men grinned.
"Magic," said Alex.
"I don't understand."
Scott put his hand on Ellis's shoulder.
"Ellis, there're a lot of things that people don't understand," he said. "If your consciousness grows sufficiently, then I'll explain it all to you but not until then."
"Why not? Why not now?" Ellis became querulous.
"The reason is that right now you simply would not understand it if I tried to explain it all to you so I'm not going to waste my breathe," replied Scott
Ellis noticed that both Gazza and Alex were grinning but Scott looked serious.
Alex: << Well handled, Deputy Prior. >>
Scott: << Thanks. >>
Ellis said, "I still don't understand."
"No and I wouldn't expect you to," replied Scott. "If the opportunity to grow and develop your consciousness presents itself to you, you should grab it with both hands and run with it like I did."
"This consciousness-growing business, do the huge muscles you fellows have come with it?"
"If that is right for you, then yes."
Perry was still within earshot and heard the interchange. He considered asking Scott when the time was right.
Ellis still had questions but at that moment Gabriel walked past after putting some of Bear's old clean clothes that were clean in the back of the Land Cruiser ready for the op-shop. Scott introduced him and Ellis.
Ellis looked at Gabriel with interest. He was intrigued by the tall shirtless black man's powerful build, huge bulging muscles, shiny black skin, curly black hair, piercing big black eyes and stunning good looks. Gabriel was wearing a tight brief faded low-slung pair of denim jeans cutoffs that showed off his spectacularly well-developed thighs and abdominal ten-pack. He had on as well a thick leather calf-length pair of yellow workmen's boots with thick, light khaki woollen socks rolled down to the tops of the boots. He had a similar build to Scott and Paul but was slightly bigger. His spectacularly muscular torso was completely hairless.
Ellis took note of the prominent large genital bulge in the front of the shorts. He was also feeling irritated by Scott being obscure in his answers to Ellis's questions.
"How long have you been in Australia?" Ellis asked him.
"All my life," replied Gabriel.
"When did your family arrive here?"
"In the dream time about seventy thousand years ago."
"What? Are you really an Aboriginal?"
"Yes."
"I'm sorry. I didn't realise. You look too good-looking to..." Ellis's voice trailed off as he realised he was about to make a bad social blunder.
Gabriel smiled tolerantly.
"You were going to say I'm too good-looking to be an Aboriginal," he stated. "Yes, I am indeed Aboriginal. Don't worry too much. I'm used to that sort of crap. I'm a man of the Adnyamathanha nation and my country is centred around the North Flinders Ranges in South Australia."
Ellis felt embarrassed.
"I'm dreadfully sorry." Ellis was very apologetic. "I really did think that you were Indian. You look so like the statue of a black god I saw in India once. I'm sure that the statue was modelled on you. You look so Indian. In fact you look like that Black God come to life. You look like you must be an avatar of the Black God."
"When did you see the statue? How old would the statue be?" Gabriel asked gently.
"I saw the statue when I was last in India in 1969 and it was probably hundreds of years old if not a thousand years or more."
"I wasn't born when you saw the statue thirty two or thirty three years ago. I am twenty four years old. I turn twenty five this year."
"But the statue is of you. You must be..." Ellis's voice halted. The words were stuck. No more would come out.
Gabriel pinged Ellis's memories trying to bring them to the surface. The dam wall broke inside Ellis's mind. Ellis's face crumpled. Tears poured down his face. He began a high keening cry as remembered misery surged up and flooded through his brain.
Immediately the telepaths homed in on Ellis's mind to pick up the chaotic torrent of memories. They worked hard as a team piecing together into a coherent narrative all Ellis's memories that were flooding in from all the forgotten corners of his mind.
Scott contacted Lovedeep who was in bed with a man in a bedroom in the Paddlesteamer Motel on the banks of the River Murray at Cobdogla in South Australia. Lovedeep had his cock firmly embedded in the arse of the man, Dustin. They had just had another round of wonderful sex that morning and Dustin was glorying in the golden afterglow. He felt so gloriously happy and relaxed. He was almost asleep after enjoying every minute of the most wonderful sex he had ever had in his life.
Scott: << Glad to see you're enjoying yourself, Lovedeep. >>
Lovedeep: << I am indeed. Dustin is one sweet fuck. >>
<< Lovedeep, I see you're making love deep inside Dustin. >>
<< Scott, that is an execrable pun and we have not even met yet. >>
Smiles ran around the group of telepaths in the Riverside Caravan Park.
Scott: << Sorry. I couldn't resist it. >>
<< You'll have to do better than that, young man. >>
<< I'm humbled. Mind you, you're doing pretty well for a man of a hundred and seven years old. And you've got your cock up a man who's less than a third of your age. >>
There was muffled laughter in the Riverside group.
Lovedeep: << Dear Scott, I'm an immortal superman just like you. And I can morph into any shape or form I choose, just like you can. >>
Scott pressed on bravely: << What I mean to ask, Lovedeep, is do you recognise the black god that Ellis was talking about with Gabriel? >>
<< Can you get me a clearer picture of the statue of the god and of the temple in which it resides? If you could find out in which town or city the temple is situated that would be helpful. >>
Gabriel wrapped his mighty arms around the crying Ellis in a comforting hug. Instinctively Ellis put his arms around Gabriel and buried his face between the thick bulges of pectoral muscles on Gabriel's chest. He took comfort in the solid mass of muscle and the hot bare sweaty back of the big man hugging him but the misery rose up inside him in a gush that could not be quelled. Gabriel could feel Ellis's tears tickling as they ran down his chest and belly.
Gabriel, Jessica, Becky, Luke, Fox, Derek and Bear got a fairly clear picture of the Black God from Ellis's memory. Jessica, Gabriel, Luke, Derek and Bear retrieved a somewhat blurry recollection of the temple itself both inside and outside. The name of the black god could not be retrieved from Ellis's memory. Ellis's recollection of the location of temple was distinctly fuzzy. The best they could do was that it was in a town somewhere in South India a long tiring one-and- a-half-day train journey south from Bombay (or Mumbai as the city is known now) covering a distance of over 1600 kilometres (1000 miles). The name of the town was lost from Ellis's memory. The information gleaned was passed instantaneously to Lovedeep.
Lovedeep: << Thank you, people. However, I do not recognise the god that Ellis is referring to. >>
Scott: << Even though Ellis thinks Gabriel looks just like him. >>
Lovedeep: << I am doubting that Ellis's memory can be relied upon. The incidents he is recalling happened a long time ago. Right now Gabriel has Ellis enveloped in a big hug and Ellis is drawing much comfort from Gabriel. I think that it is quite possible that the image of Gabriel in Ellis's mind is overlaying his recollection of the Black God. It is likely that the Black God resembles Gabriel but that does not prove to me the identity. There are many gods who are black or have black manifestations or avatars. >>
Scott was disappointed.
Lovedeep: << Scott, do not be unhappy. It is impossible for me to pinpoint the black god that has had such an impact upon Ellis. After all, the Hindu scriptures state that there are 330 million gods in Hinduism. >>
Scott was amazed. << 330 million! How on earth do you manage to keep track of them all? >>
<< You don't. People usually worship the gods that are traditional in the family and in the village. >>
<< How do you reconcile being a Hindu with being a superman who has pledged to serve the One Lord God Almighty? >>
<< That's easy. All the Hindu gods can be regarded as emanations from, manifestations of or avatars of the One Real God, the Ultimate Infinite Reality, That which contains the whole Universe and holds it all in being, That whom we Hindus know as Brahman. Most Christians believe that there are three persons in one God, the three persons being the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three persons who make up the Holy Trinity are manifestations of or emanations from the One God who is the Trinity. Looking at it another way, they are three manifestations of the Christian God, the Creator, the Word and the Wisdom or if you like, the Creator, the Sustainer and the Revelator, that who reveals or shows forth. These three manifestations are analogous to an extent to the three major gods in Hinduism, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The God to whom we have pledged ourselves to serve is but a manifestation of The One True God who is all gods and in whom are all gods and all of reality, the Atman, the Pneuma, Ishvara, Brahman, a perceived manifestation that our still as yet not fully fledged human intelligences can comprehend and relate to. However, when we pledged ourselves to God, from a Christian viewpoint, we pledged to serve the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, all three and the One. We have pledged to serve the One God in all His multitude of manifestations. Bear in mind that we all exist in something like a gigantic computer game spanning the entire Universe and running in the Mind of God. In effect we humans and everything else are all constructs in this giant computer game and therefore manifestations of the Mind of God although we humans have been given the gift of free will. We can therefore act independently of the Mind of God. >>
<< I think I understand. >>
<< You shall and as you understand more and more until the time comes when you completely understand, you fully comprehend the completeness of the One God, the Atman, you will be a great man indeed, fit to command angels and archangels. >>
Dustin stirred. He twisted around in Lovedeep's arms and planted a kiss on Lovedeep's cheek. Scott perceived that he was a plump chubby man in his early thirties with short straight sandy blond hair.
"I love you, Lawrie," said Dustin. "I love you so much."
"I love you too, Dustin," replied Lovedeep alias Lawrie.
"Let's spend the day like this just making love."
"Yeah, all right. Sounds like a plan."
"I just love having your cock up my arse. I never thought being fucked by another man would be like this. It's just so totally wonderful being fucked by you, 'specially a man as gorgeous as you, Lawrie. You're like a god, the god who fucked me."
Dustin giggled.
Scott perceived that Dustin had been divorced for about three years and he was working as a call centre operator in Sydney. His ex-wife lived with their two daughters in Ascot Park, a suburb in the south- west of Adelaide. There were no sons. Dustin lived alone in a block of flats in Blacktown, one of the western suburbs of Sydney. Every now and again Dustin would drive his car across to Adelaide to visit his ex-wife and their daughters. This time he was returning from one of these visits.
Dustin had never had sex with another man until he met Lovedeep a.k.a. Lawrie at the Paddlesteamer Motel. Since his divorce he had progressively become more and more disenchanted with women. He had had no luck with women in Sydney at all. Often their response would be something like "Piss off, Fatso!" He started noticing that he was looking at handsome muscular young men with all sorts of mixed feelings, admiration, envy and not a little sexual attraction. However, he felt totally inadequate. He had no confidence at all in approaching such a man for sex.
Then he met Lawrie in the bar of the Paddlesteamer Motel the previous evening. He found himself being strongly attracted to the powerfully muscled and gloriously good-looking fit tanned man without a shirt. He got talking to Lawrie. When Lawrie suggested they have sex together, Dustin eagerly accepted. They went to Dustin's motel room soon afterwards. They immediately stripped naked and jumped into the double bed together.
Scott withdrew and tuned in with the other telepaths stringing together a coherent story from the chaotic impressions they were able to glean from Ellis's mind.
Around the time Ellis saw the Black God, he was in love with an Indian man, Sashi, whom he had met shortly after he arrived in Bombay (now called Mumbai) from Sydney in September 1967. He had inherited a large amount of money, real estate and investments from his beloved great-aunt and had embarked on his big trip overseas.
Sashi was a fit, strong and virile man aged in his mid-twenties while Ellis was younger. Sashi had a lean, athletic and muscular build with broad shoulders, strong back and slim strong waist, very dark skin, a hairy chest and black curly hair with a luxuriant black moustache. He was tall, somewhat over six feet (183 cm.) and very good-looking, beautiful in fact with cute boyish looks.
Ellis on the other hand had a lean athletic build and was about five feet eleven inches (180 cm.) tall. He had fair skin and straight golden blond hair, big wide-set emerald green eyes with dark eyebrows and a cute little snub nose. He had very little hair on his body, mainly just the pubic hair, and he was very good-looking with sweet angelic looks. At school he used to be called things like 'cherub' or 'pretty boy' at least in his earlier years.
Sashi and Ellis had an excellent relationship. It was the best relationship that Ellis had been in and it was the first long-term relationship that Sashi had with another man. When Ellis was at school, he was often fucked by the other boys but there was no real love in the sex even though he enjoyed being fucked.
It was sheer joy for Ellis to have Sashi powering up his arse while making love. It was energetic and beautiful with guaranteed orgasms.
Ellis used to love Sashi's body odour, the strong and musky masculine smell of a strong, fit and vigorous man. He used to love it particularly after Sashi had been doing one of his heavy work-outs in the gym downstairs on the first floor of the apartment building where they lived. Sashi used to arrive in the apartment all hot, sweaty and smelly and fuck Ellis into a state of delirium. For Ellis it was the sweetest thing.
Sashi insisted that they kept their relationship secret. There was to be no kissing or holding hands in public. Sashi said that if their relationship had become public knowledge, it would bring much shame upon Sashi's family. People would stop doing business with Sashi's father and that would drive the family into bankruptcy.
Not only that, but sexual activity between men was then and is now totally illegal in India. Those prosecuted under this law, a hangover from the days of the British Raj, faced up to a lifetime sentence in prison. There have been moves to reform this law but they faced stiff opposition from conservative religious groups, Hindu, Muslim and Christian alike.
Ellis and Sashi lived together in a spacious and well-appointed apartment that they both rented in a tall tower block in Bombay overlooking the Arabian Sea. Sashi kept a separate bedroom in which he could pretend to sleep so that his family and friends would not suspect anything unusual was going on when they came to visit. A very few of Sashi's closest and most trusted friends were let in on the secret.
Sashi had a job in the financial district to which he drove his Mercedes-Benz 560 SL V8 hardtop sports car while Ellis was able to live comfortably off his income from Australia. Often they were able to meet for lunch. Ellis felt frustrated at not being able to get close to Sashi during lunch but Sashi forbad any close contact in public. To the world they were just friends. However, it did not really matter to Ellis for he was head over heels in love with Sashi.
Just for fun and much to Sashi's merriment Ellis bought himself a new Hindustan Ambassador to get around in. The car was just like the 1958 Morris Oxford that belonged to his dear departed great-aunt and that Ellis had kept. The Morris was still in good condition. Sashi considered Ellis delightfully eccentric and so English to buy the Ambassador.
In June 1969 Sashi decided to visit the temple dedicated to the Black God to perform the observances for the summer solstice. Ellis could remember neither the god's name nor the name of the town in South India where the temple was situated.
Sashi refused to drive his Mercedes-Benz sports car all the way to South India. Villagers in rural areas were prone to throwing rocks at very expensive foreign cars and the Mercedes was worth more than ten thousand times the average villager's annual income. It stank of money, lots of money.
Ellis was very hesitant about driving his Ambassador over India's variable rural roads for the 1600-kilometre (1000-mile) journey. Sashi strongly discouraged him from considering the idea.
Instead, Sashi booked them both into a twin-bed sleeper on a luxury train going through to their destination. He also booked them into a two-bedroom suite in a luxurious hotel in the town.
On boarding the train hauled by two diesel-electric locomotives, Ellis noted that there were few Indians as passengers. Most of the passengers were European, British, American or Japanese tourists. The fact that Ellis, a white Australian, was travelling with a dark- skinned Indian friend was noticed by the other passengers. Some considered it most unusual. Sashi felt out of place and somewhat paranoid. He regretted the idea of travelling on a luxury train with a whole lot of foreign tourists who regarded him as an exotic creature. Ellis and Sashi did not have sex that night.
When they arrived in the town early in the afternoon after a day and a half travelling from Bombay, they were both tired. They took a taxi to the hotel and left their luggage in their suite. Sashi knew the town because he had attended the temple a number of times before with his family. He took Ellis to a pleasant little restaurant near the hotel where they both had lunch. They both enjoyed their meals. The restaurateur greeted Sashi like an old friend even though Sashi had not seen him for several years. He asked after Sashi's parents and siblings whom he knew well. He was very interested to meet Sashi's Australian friend Ellis and wanted to know all about Australia.
That night they had sex briefly and afterwards Sashi went to sleep with his arms around Ellis. He was tired after the train journey.
The following day they both walked around to the temple of the Black God, a huge and splendid building. Ellis was fascinated by all the ornate and highly coloured statuary ornamenting the exterior of the temple. The statues were of gods, goddesses and other beings known in Hinduism and many of the figures were depicted in openly sexual poses including actual sexual intercourse. The couples were either the same sex or the opposite sex.
Ellis reflected that the explicit sexuality of the statuary would cause grave offence to most Christians and Muslims. They would be unacceptable in most Western countries, especially in the United States. In most Muslim countries they would have been destroyed.
Inside the temple was a large cathedral-like space that was richly decorated with even more explicit sexual imagery than outside. The space was full of worshippers, many of whom were lined up to pay their obeisance to the Black God, whose idol or statue stood at the end of the space in a kind of sanctuary. Sashi joined the queue and Ellis accompanied him. A flower vendor came along the queue selling garlands of flowers. From him Sashi bought two garlands of mixed orange and yellow flowers.
The statue of the Black God was a magnificent work of art. It appeared to be made of a highly polished black metal like waxed black oxidised iron. The god was depicted as a big, totally naked and massively muscular man built like a superhero with shiny polished black skin and curly black hair. His huge muscles bulged mightily. Every detail of his chiselled anatomy was perfect. His wide deep chest, broad powerful shoulders, thick heavy-lifting arms, rippling abdomen, bulbous buttocks and mighty legs were all thickly packed with heroically sized muscles complete with anatomically correct networks of veins on his arms, legs and belly. His muscular abdomen sported a mighty ten-pack bulging with muscle. His realistic-looking eyes had whites and black irises. The thing that really grabbed Ellis's attention was sticking out from the front of the statue's groin was a majestic thick black erect penis well over a foot (30 cm.) long. It was richly detailed with shaft, cock head, slit, folded-back foreskin and a network of veins.
In the Riverside Caravan Park the Black God had come to life and had wrapped his mighty arms around Ellis and enveloped him in a firm and comforting hug. Ellis was sure that the black man was an avatar of the Black God despite what the black man told him and even though the man said he was Aboriginal. The black man looked exactly like the Black God that Ellis had seen in the temple in South India. The black man and the Black God were identical. Every detail was exactly the same.
In the Hindu temple Ellis watched absorbed by the rituals the worshippers were performing for the Black God. Most of them kissed the mighty cock of the idol. Some took the cock head into their mouths while other just kissed the end or the shaft. When they had completed their obeisance, they would hang one or two garlands of flowers from the base of the penis. Whenever there were more than a few garlands, a temple attendant would appear, remove them and place them reverently on a nearby table already piled high with garlands.
The queue inched slowly forward. Ellis could not help but be reminded of the queues lined up to receive Holy Communion when he attended Mass at the Sacred Heart Parish Church at Pymble, a suburb of Sydney and later at Saint Innocent XIX College when he was a teenager. The rituals being performed by the worshippers of the Black God seemed to him a bizarre variation on Holy Communion.
Ellis was fascinated to see a woman clad in a colourful sari kneel down and kiss the end of the god's huge black penis. She opened her mouth wide and took in the entire head. She then proceeded to take the entire length of the penis into her mouth and down her throat like a professional sword swallower. She remained in position for a few minutes looking up in rapture at the god's face. Then she slowly withdrew. The saliva-slicked penis slowly emerged from her mouth.
Ellis watched the whole performance open-mouthed.
"Wow!" he whispered. "That's just amazing!"
Sashi ignored him.
The queue inched forward.
"I wouldn't mind taking that magnificent cock up my arse," Ellis whispered to Sashi in front of him.
Sashi immediately whirled around and glared at Ellis. His eyes blazed with fury.
"How dare you, Ellis," he hissed angrily. "How dare you utter such blasphemy!"
"I... I'm sorry," muttered Ellis. "I'm so sorry. I didn't realise that would cause such offence."
"Then you're a fool, Ellis, a complete fool!"
"But... but I..."
"Just shut up, Ellis. Just shut up and don't utter another word!"
With that Sashi turned his broad back on Ellis.
The queue inched forward with painful slowness. Ellis could feel the cold anger radiating from Sashi.
Eventually it was Sashi's turn. He instructed Ellis to wait off to one side while he paid his devotions to the god.
Ellis watched while Sashi made his act of worship. First Sashi put his hands together and uttered some prayers in a language Ellis could not understand. Then Sashi opened his mouth wide and took the god's cock head into his mouth. He stayed there for what seemed to Ellis an eternity but in reality it would have been only a couple of minutes. Then he slowly withdrew his mouth from the cock and hung the two garlands of flowers he had bought from the base of the cock. As he walked back, Ellis could see his eyes glittering angrily. Ellis knew he was in trouble.
Outside the temple, Sashi hailed a taxi to take them both back to the hotel. They rode in silence. They had lunch in the hotel. Sashi was curt with Ellis for the rest of the day. That night Sashi slept in one of the other bedrooms. Ellis found it difficult to sleep. He was worrying about the state of his relationship with Sashi, whether or not he had irretrievably damaged it. The comment he made in the temple, he realised was stupid and out of place.
Breakfast arrived early in their suite. They ate in silence. Ellis picked at his food.
After breakfast Sashi made his announcement.
"Ellis," he said, "the gods have shown me that you and I cannot continue this unlawful relationship we have. It must end now. I must return to my town and my family and marry the woman whom my parents have arranged to be my wife. I have booked myself onto the train home today and I shall leave here shortly. So, Ellis, this is the end. This is goodbye. You may accompany me to the station if you wish but there must be no displays of emotion. Do you understand? After my departure I do not want to see you again ever. You must never come and visit me. Is that understood?"
Ellis nodded dumbly.
Sashi continued thoroughly businesslike. "The apartment in Bombay we are sharing, if you wish to continue staying there, you may take over the lease. Otherwise we either terminate the lease or make other arrangements. OK? Fine then, I or one of my family shall be in contact. And, Ellis, you must say nothing about our relationship to anyone, especially to members of my family. Do you understand me?"
Ellis nodded. He could not speak. He was full of emotion and he did not want to burst into tears in front of Sashi.
Sashi had already packed. He called a taxi, a yellow Ambassador, and they rode in silence to the railway station.
When they arrived, the train was waiting in the station. A large Pacific-class (4-6-2) locomotive sat at the head of the train steaming quietly with a thick plume of steam rising up from the top of the boiler.
Sashi hauled his luggage out of the boot of the taxi. He was easily strong enough to manage it all on his own and he refused Ellis's offers of help. He strode through the station to the platform with Ellis tagging along behind him.
He shook hands with Ellis in a businesslike manner and climbed aboard the carriage.
A few minutes after he disappeared inside, the guard blew his whistle and waved his green flag. The locomotive emitted an ear-piercing high-pitched whistle like a whistling kettle and started moving with a mighty hiss of steam. It quickly gathered speed as it puffed out of the station.
As it receded down the railway line into the distance blowing its whistle at intervals, a wave of despair washed irresistibly over Ellis. Tears poured from his eyes and he howled with grief and his feelings of abandonment.
He stood on the platform crying uncontrollably as the train disappeared into the distance.
Several minutes later he heard an Indian voice saying, "Sir, would you like a cup of tea?"
He looked around through his blur of tears but could see no-one.
The voice came again. "Sir, would you like to share a cup of tea with me?"
Ellis felt a pat on his bare forearm. He wiped his eyes with the backs of his hands and looked down to his side. He saw next to him a diminutive Indian man in a dark blue uniform complete with peaked cap that had a cap badge that read 'Stationmaster'. The man was in his late middle-age, grey-haired, dark-skinned and wearing round steel- rimmed spectacles. He did not come up to Ellis's shoulder in height.
At the stationmaster's invitation Ellis followed him to his office in the station building where the stationmaster put a kettle on over a gas ring. He invited Ellis to sit down at the little round polished wooden table in his office.
When the stationmaster had made a pot of tea, he brought it over and poured a cup for Ellis and himself. He sat down with Ellis and asked him gently if Ellis wished to talk about his troubles.
Ellis welcomed the understanding and blurted out the whole story about his affair with Sashi, his deep love for Sashi, the incident in the temple and Sashi's departure.
When Ellis had finished his story, the stationmaster looked sorrowful and placed his hand on Ellis's forearm.
"I hate to be very frank about this," said the stationmaster, "but the god has punished you for your most unfortunate and profane remark in the temple in his presence. That is in addition to the fact that your relationship was immoral. The god has turned your lover against you and sent him away from you so that you both may be led to righteousness. I'm so sorry, but there is no other way of putting what I say to you."
Ellis burst into a flood of tears. Deep down he felt that what the stationmaster was saying to him had some truth in it.
While Ellis was crying, the stationmaster gently squeezed his forearm while comforting him.
After some time a bell rang in the office. The stationmaster let go of Ellis's arm.
"I'm so sorry," he said. "A train is coming and I must attend to it. You may stay in here if you wish."
He went out the door. Ellis's tears finally stopped. He sat at the table thinking about what to do next.
He could hear a steam engine puffing quietly as the train waited in the station. Then the piercing whistle of the engine sounded, the engine chuffed as it started out of the station. Ellis could hear the train whistle blowing as the train pulled away down the line. Ellis's eyes filled with tears again but he managed to refrain from weeping again.
After a few minutes the stationmaster came back into his office.
"How are you?" he asked solicitously.
"All right, I think," replied Ellis with a wavering voice.
They chatted briefly about inconsequential matters. Then Ellis asked about making a booking to return to Bombay. The stationmaster took him to see the booking clerk who found that Sashi had cancelled his own return trip to Bombay but had not altered the booking for Ellis's return trip. Ellis was still booked on the luxury train back to Bombay leaving in two days' time. The return trip had already been paid for as was the hotel stay. Ellis thanked both the stationmaster and the booking clerk for their kindness, help and attention and took his leave.
He walked back to the hotel without incident. The following day he hardly stirred from his hotel suite because he was feeling so depressed. His meals were delivered to his suite where he picked at the food.
The day after that after breakfast he took a taxi from the hotel to the railway station. He went and paid his respects to the stationmaster thanking him for his kindness and help.
The luxury train headed by two diesel-electric locomotives pulled into the station. The stationmaster got one of the many porters to carry Ellis's luggage to his cabin. Ellis farewelled the kindly stationmaster and boarded the train.
The return trip was uneventful. Ellis spent much of the time either sitting in his cabin watching the scenery go past or in the club car watching the scenery go past and having a few drinks. He attracted little attention from the other passengers, none of whom he had seen on the journey from Bombay.
The train arrived at the enormous and heavily ornate British-designed Victorian Gothic building of the Bombay Central Railway Station in about the middle of the next day. Ellis got a porter to take his luggage to the luggage room while he went to the station cafe for a long black coffee while he considered what to do next. He did not want to return to the empty apartment just yet. It would feel awfully strange being there without Sashi.
He was dawdling over his third long black and a small cake at his table. He was staring vacantly at the busy crowd in the cafe lost in his thoughts.
"Well, hullo, Ellis. Fancy seeing you here," came a woman's voice with a Scottish accent. "This is a surprise!"
-------------------------------------- Continued in Part 77. --------------------------------------