Whiteout

Whiteout by Jonah

Those who have read my previous stories will need no introduction to Simon and Garret and their family. Those who haven't - why not? This is the latest in the series that began a couple of years back with "A Letter from America" and it fits in right after "Christmas in New England". If you haven't read the others, don't worry. It will stand on its own. It is a story of love - the real sort. Some of its characters are gay, though that doesn't matter. They are good people. They are not, however, real people. This is a work of fiction and every character is also a fiction - created by me, except for Garret, who was created by Jacob Lion, in the USA. I want to thank Jacob for permitting me to use his characters. This story is brought to you, free of charge, by Nifty. Nifty brings all these stories to you free of charge and he doesn't charge us authors either. The cost is borne by himself and our donations. To keep this site going please consider donating to Nifty at https://donate.nifty.org/

chapter 6

What we took for a fire engine turned out to be a Unimog - an off-road vehicle designed to carry container modules to fit it for different jobs. It was a fire-engine when it needed to be but, at this moment, it was a mobile toolshop. It had also achieved a miracle of inter-service co-operation. It had picked up and brought a paramedic, since the paramedic's vehicle could not get through.

The noise level increased to the "can't hear yourself think" level as the chopper drifted over at not much more than chimney height. The snow was whipped up from the driveway and from the road. I had expected the air ambulance but this was an AW189 - one of Bristow's SAR aircraft belonging to His Majesty's Coastguard's flight - probably from Norwich. The pilot had obviously received Garret's advice about landing across the road.

The boys were watching, fascinated, while the fire brigade shored up bits of our house preparatory to trying to get the roof off of the car. The paramedic was kneeling by the driver's door that Garret had forced open - obviously making the best of what little access to his patient he could get. Bristows' crew were crossing the road with a gurney. No winch required for this job.

"Come on Deary. Let's get them in the warm. Bring them over to mine."

"You can try if you like Mrs. Briggs," I told her, "but they look pretty fascinated to me. They won't come willingly."

"No but, once the roof comes off that car, it won't be so pretty. Get them inside."

There were obviously sides to Mrs. Briggs that I had never suspected.

Half an hour later we were all in Mrs. Briggs' front room supping her tea and sharing idle conversation with her. She was, indeed, ex-military and had seen action in the Gulf. If you asked her opinion of Tony Blair......well just don't ask.

The steady put-put from the helicopter out back suddenly rose in pitch and volume.Within half a minute the noise had risen, fallen and was fading away. There was a ring on the doorbell which Mrs. B excused herself to go and answer.

She returned in the company of a fire officer.

"Mr. Ito?" said that worthy.

"Yes, most of us are," replied Garret.

"Do you need to collect anything from across the road?"

"Can we?" I asked, surprised.

"No," replied the officer. "We've shored up what we can, but we shored it up to prevent the front falling out of the building or bricks from falling on us as we worked. It won't prevent the upstairs floors from collapsing as you walk on them, Or a downstairs ceiling from falling on you. Stay out of there and contact your insurance as soon as you can. Got that?"

"Yessir!" replied my partner.

"Good," said the fire officer. "We don't want another call to dig one of you out of there."

Fortunately Mrs. Briggs had enough blankets to enable us to wrap ourselves up on her living room floor. Philip was the only one small enough to sleep on her two-seater sofa. Breakfast, on Monday morning posed a problem though. Of course, Mrs. Briggs believed that she had enough to feed us all, but there was no telling how long that food would have to last her. She wouldn't be popping out to the shops.

"The Hi-Lux will get us into school," Garret said. We can shop at Tesco's on the way and get our breakfast at school. We'll pick up your shopping while we're at it Mrs. Briggs."

"Are you sure you'll be able to do that?" said Mrs. Briggs doubtfully. "You'll be late for school."

Garret laughed. "A car just took out the front of our house and nearly killed us, and our biggest worry is that we'll be late for school? Even being late we'll probably be the first there."

"Are you dropping me off at the CTC," I asked. "I've no other way of getting there."

He shook his head.

"One of us needs to be here in case the insurance company needs access." He said.

"One of us hasn't got a phone," I replied. "I'm not allowed to go across and get it."

"I think two of us have to stay here," said Ross. "I can't get to the CTC if Garret isn't going there, and my phone is in my pocket."

Mrs. Coulter, I reflected, would have every business to be proud of her son when she finally was restored to consciousness.

"I might need to borrow your phone then Ross," I told him. "If we're not going in, it would be helpful if one of us told Mr. Kennedy."

"Do you know his number Sir."

That was the first time all weekend that he had called me "Sir". Obviously the weekend was over so we had resumed our usual relationship. Possibly the mention of the principal had reminded him what that relationship was.

Garret had fetched it up on the screen of his phone.

"Here you are Ross," he said, showing it to the boy.

I watched as Ross tapped the numbers into his phone.

He listened for a few moments and then said.

"Good morning Mr. Kennedy. It's Ross Coulter Sir. I'm with Mr. Ito. The snow's really bad out here and a car skidded into the front of his house yesterday afternoon......... No Sir, we're all alright, but his house isn't safe to live in and his car is stuck at the other end of the village...... Are you sure Sir? We could come in if you'll just send us a helicopter. .... Sorry Sir, I expect it is......Yes Sir, she's in a coma Sir. ... No Sir, it's one that they've induced to help her to heal. ....I don't know Sir, do you want to speak to Mr. Ito? ....Ok, yes I'll do that Sir. Thank you Sir. ....Goodbye Sir."

He closed down his phone and turned to me.

"There aren't enough teachers and it's too dangerous to ask people to go in. He says school's cancelled, at least for today, and probably tomorrow as well. He's going to let you know. He says good luck with the insurance company."

"It'd be a good idea to phone the insurance company then," I told him "Have you got plenty of credit on your phone? We'll put some more on for you anyway."

"Who're you insured with Luv'?" Mrs. Briggs asked. Garret and the boys had departed so there was only her left.

"Norwich Union," I told her.

"Same as me. I'll get you their number." She disappeared but was back again with a wad of documents. With the aid of those, and Ross' phone, I was able to report the incident and to assure the claims officer that the damage would still be there however long it took them to get a loss-adjuster to us.

"Is any of the house still habitable?" was the next question.

"None of the house is safe," I told her. "The fire brigade have told us not to go in there.."

"So where did you spend last night?"

"On a neighbour's floor. "

"We can't have that. How many in the family?"

"We have three children and are looking after a fourth whilst his mother is in hospital, so six of us altogether."

"So we're looking for a hotel that could provide you with a suite. Ordinary adjacent rooms wouldn't do because it would mean leaving children unattended. One moment."

She literally meant one moment since she was back less than two seconds later.

"We can book you into the Best Western George Hotel on Arlington Lane. Because of the room sizes we could get adjacent rooms that would accomodate your family. It's breakfast and evening meal, but you'd probably be elsewhere in the daytime anyway."

"How long would we have to be there for?"

"Until your house has been made habitable again."

"And how long do you think that would be?"

"We won't know until we can get the loss adjuster to it."

"Which will be?"

"Mr. Ito, you have to understand that the weather and traffic reports that we're getting indicate that the roads around Newton St Faith are impassable at the moment.

"So you seriously believe it's impossible to get a loss adjuster here?"

"I'm afraid that's the information we've got."

"At the same time as you believe that it's going to be possible for me to get from Newton St. Faith to Arlington Lane?"

"Oh....... Is it?

"I hope so, but there's no chance that we could book in there much before five this evening probably nearer six."

"I'll let them know. We'll try to get a loss adjuster out there as soon as it's possible."

"OK, thanks for that."

"Oh, if you can't get into your house, you won't have access to your possessions. Is there anything in there that you can't do without?"

"Everything is in there. My phone is there, my wallet, my cards and all the clothes that I'm not wearing. Even my keys are in there, but my partner has copies of those."

"OK , Mr. Ito. Call your bank and ask them to cancel the cards and send you replacements care of the hotel. We'll advance you some cash via hotel reception. Ask them about it when you book in. I'll ask them to give you a basic phone too. Is there anything else?"

"No thank you. You've been very helpful."

"Goodbye for now then."

I returned the phone to Ross and explained to him that we'd have to get Garret to pick us up this evening.

"We'll I'm having fish fingers and mash for my lunch so you'll be joining me for that," said Mrs. Briggs.

I didn't argue. There was no argument that I could have made.

Grilled fish fingers with parsley mash, garden peas and tartare sauce made a very acceptable lunch.

Garett called mid afternoon so I told him of the developments.

"You'll need to bring the boys back here and then take us all to the George," I told him. We won't have much in the way of luggage so I hope the George is one of the better type of hotel."

"Don't bother hoping," Garret told me. "It'll be what it'll be. At least we're all alive, which we might not have been."

"Thanks Garret. I needed cheering up. I'll see you later."

When Garret did eventually arrive, at about ten past four, he brought with him three excited boys. He had also brought with him a bag of shopping for Mrs. Briggs, which that lady actually tried to pay him for. She really believed that we would let her do that.

Before she got a chance to renew the subject we said our goodbyes and piled into Garret's car.

It was a slow journey across the city, though the bus routes had mostly been cleared of snow and gritted. The George, we discovered, was an impressively stuccoed building off the Newmarket Road. A plus for it, I figured, was that it must be in more or less walking distance of the University Hospital.

I reported to the front desk and booked us all in.The clerk handed me a mobile phone and an envelope full of cash which she asked me to sign for. she also handed me two sets of key-cards for our rooms on the first floor. I'd have judged from the size of the beds that it'd have been possible to fit us all into one of them, but the hotel didn't work like that. The hotel had fairly posh dining arrangements. Since early March is the quiet season for them, they were more than pleased to have an opportunity to show them off. Accordingly, I booked us in for dinner at half past six. I then sat down and made telephone calls.

Firstly, I judged it important that Grev Kennedy knew where I was. He thanked me for letting him know and told me that there would still be no school the next day, but he hoped we could start back on Wednesday. I promised that we would be there.

My next call was to the University Hospital's Emergency Department. Having already spoken to Mrs. Jenkins, they put me through to Intensive Care without any argument. The male nurse there said that Mrs. Coulter was still in her induced coma, but they would like Ross to visit her, if I thought that he was up for it. I promised to talk to him about it and bring him in the following day if he wanted to come.

Since we had en-suite showers, that the boys wanted to use, they were put to good use and it was time for dinner. Apart from the bar, the George also boasts posh dining facilities (coffee lounge and bistro) and we were treated to their finest fare. For most of us, that amounted to grilled pork fillet with mash and veg, though Ross opted for Lasagne instead. We followed that down with chocolate and raspberry mousse cake and cream and, once more, the teenager had to be different. It was apple and ginger crumble for Ross. Garret, Ross and I all had coffee to follow that but, in an unguarded moment, I insisted that the boys choose cold drinks instead, as they would never sleep otherwise. They selected Cherry Coke, and it was only much later that it occured to me that they probably got just as much caffeine that way.

Back in our room Ross had a quiet word.

"Are you and Garret having this room?"

"I think so, yes. You seem to get on alright with the boys."

"Yes but it's not that. It's just that I'm gay."

"So am I and so is Garret," I pointed out. "You know that. It's never been a secret."

"But what if anybody finds out that I was sleeping with three boys?"

"They sleep with us often enough, though we try to discourage them, and I'm pretty sure you would never hurt them."

"I don't think I would either but...."

"But you're not happy?"

He shook his head.

"You'd best sleep with me and Garret then, but don't try to rape either of us."

The look of shock on his face told me I'd gone too far."

"Ross, that was a joke. I mean, I don't want you to rape us, obviously, but this big issue you're making isn't a big issue. We just don't want you to be unhappy."

He looked at me for what seemed like ages, then ran his fingers through his blond hair and said,

"You think I'm making a fuss about nothing?"

"It isn't nothing to you, or you wouldn't be making a fuss."

His brow was creased in thought for a moment, then he nodded, turned on his heel and made to leave.

"Ross!"

He turned.

"I called the hospital earlier," I told him. "they're pleased with the progress your mother is making. She's still in a coma but they said you could go in to see her if you wanted to. They think it might be good for her. She's unconscious, so she couldn't talk to you, but they think she'd know you were there. "

"Would you come with me?"

"Of course."

"I'd like to."

"Tomorrow then - while the others are at school."

He smiled, nodded and left.

Ten minutes later he was back, in company with Garret.

"This young man says he's sleeping with the big boys," Garret announced.

"I told him he could. Are they alright?"

"Yes, are you going to say goodnight to them?"

"Yes, don't you two do anything I wouldn't."

I slipped in next door. All three boys had stripped and climbed into the bed - all at the same end for a change. Philip had been thwarted by the hotel's bed-making methods.

"Is Ross sleeping with you?" Lloyd wanted to know.

"Ross is a big boy. He'd make your bed too crowded. Now go to sleep and I'll see you all in the morning."

I kissed each boy on the forehead and slipped out.