Red Sky by Morning Page 3

  A sharp stitch in his left side interrupted Lin's thoughts and brought him to a halt. Pressing a hand to the painful area he leaned forward getting his breath back. He'd come a good distance, running all the way up the long steep bank to the hill above the village.

  Collapsing on the ground he drew up his knees and rested his back against the sun warmed wooden post of the 3 Miles to Brunswick Bay sign.

  Taking off his sunglasses he wiped sweat from his eyes, gazing down on a red and grey canopy of rooftops. They were liberally iced with seagull droppings; some more than others, whether by personal bird preference or random forces, such as wind direction, there was no way of knowing.

  It was early, but already a heat haze was forming over the scene, bleaching the view. It muted primary tones, turning them to pastels, softening edges and blurring lines.

  This had been his favourite place to sit when he was a child and had a fancy to daydream some time away. It had lost none of its appeal. It still had the best view of Stanes, made better because it didn’t take in the modern additions, such as the eye repelling sea defence work.

  It was an ageless view stretching back through history. He could imagine Captain Cook looking down on this same scene when he was a shop boy in Stanes, watching the white tipped waves coming in between the great cliffs of Cowbar Nab, and Old Nab, never imagining the legend he was to become, or how he would die a violent death so far away from the shores of his native country.

  Lin had chosen to name his first, and only, restaurant in honour of Cook’s epic journey to Tahiti to observe and record the astronomical phenomenon known as The Transit of Venus. It was such a beautiful name for a rare natural occurrence. Lin had loved it from the moment he read about it as a schoolboy.

  The Transit of Venus, he would repeat the words in his head over and over again. As a working teenager they became a comfort mantra, something he focused on when life was hard and lonely. He used them as a title to create romantic fantasies around. It helped him get through long hard hours of menial work. The fantasies also helped him in his own transit of self-discovery. Venus insisted on turning into Mars. He lusted and longed for a god in his life rather than a goddess.

  Captain Cook had inspired him, not to become a cook, that was just a kind of accidental irony, but because he worked his way up from humble origins, a nobody who became a Commander and famous explorer.

  Lin sighed. There were no great adventures left. It had all been done and any that might remain had no magic about them. He picked a broad blade of grass, splitting it with his thumbnail, releasing its juice, inhaling its clean green scent. The human race knew too much, felt too little and was riddled with corporate cynicism. These days magic was just something electronically manufactured by the film industry, or perhaps that was just his personal cynicism speaking through a bad mood.

  Wrapping his arms around his legs, he rested his chin on his knees and closed his eyes, listening to the scene instead of looking at it. It was a calming lullaby. He could hear the ocean breathe in and then out again, accompanied by the omnipresent orchestra of gulls nesting in the cliff tops. The rhythmic click of crickets sounded from the grass around his feet.

  An odd note entered the tune and Lin strained to identify it, then smiled as he recognised the soft grunt of pigs from the stock farm in the fields behind him. A slight hint of their odour tainted the still air.

  He was tired after his run. He was also light-headed and nauseous. He should have eaten something, or at least had the sense to bring a bottle of water out with him to slake his thirst and fill some portion of the emptiness in his gut.

  He experienced a sudden urge to curl up in the scrub and go to sleep, like he used to when he was a little boy and the long walk up the steep slope of Chapel Street had tired him. He wasn’t a small child now though. The long grasses would not curl over his body and form a protective awning until his grandmother came puffing up the hill to find him and take him home to his mother.

  It would be unwise indeed to sleep outside without hat and skin protection. Not least because David wouldn’t hesitate in making known his opinion of such foolhardiness. The heat left by the sun on exposed areas of his skin would be duplicated on certain unexposed areas.

  The re-introduction of David into his thoughts brought a downward curve to his mouth. He could be such an intractable man. There was no persuading him when he'd set his mind to something.

  Putting his sun specs back on, Lin got to his feet. Leaning his left hand on the moss scabbed post he used the other to pull his right heel up against his buttock in a half-hearted quad stretch, repeating with the other leg, deciding he was too hot and tired to bother with anything more complex or energy consuming. He set off again at a light jog, heading on to Brunswick and then turning and retracing his journey.

  Red Sky by Morning

  Five

  By the time he got to the bottom of the hill and onto the sea front, Lin was drenched in sweat and his right knee was fiercely aching. He should have put a support on before running, but his vanity turned its nose up at the thought of unsightly bandages spoiling the aesthetic line of his leg.

  He leaned against the esplanade rails to rest a moment and catch his breath before going home. His stomach cramped as he looked across the beach and spied the toppled mass of rock that had once made up part of the towering cliff face. He and David had almost been buried beneath it as the storm raged about them.

  He forced his eyes to travel beyond the fallen rocks, bringing them to rest on the Devil’s Pier. Removing his sunglasses he cleaned them with the hem of his t-shirt before putting them back on.

  The seawall looked no better for being viewed through polished lenses. Lin frowned, biting at his lower lip, trying to overcome his animosity. He should feel grateful towards it. After all it had done its job well and shown itself to be a powerful guardian of the landscape. It had broken the force of the wave, protecting the ancient cottages clustering the base of the cliffs, and preventing yet more of them from being swept out to sea only to return as flotsam and jetsam.

  Animosity deepened and the sticky sweat on his body turned to ice crystals as his mind flashed back to the malevolent wave confronting him as he stood at the end of the seawall. He wrapped his arms about his body, hugging himself. It was unreasonable and childish, but he felt the wall had conjured the wave on purpose to test its own prowess, disregarding of whether he was killed. Maybe it wanted him to die.

  On impulse Lin climbed over the esplanade rails, striding across the sand, ignoring not only David's instructions, but also the hazard tape rigged around the base of the cliff, warning the public danger still lurked there. Lifting the tape he slipped under it, negotiating Jurassic boulders to reach the debris littered stone steps leading up and onto the wall.

  Once there he hesitated, closing his eyes for a moment, taking deep breaths, fighting the panic he could feel taking a hold of him. He had to do this, by himself, like a man. If he didn't then this inanimate enemy would have scored a point against him, more than a point.

  It would have proved it had a right to be part of the environment, more right than he had, he who had crouched upon it witless with fear. Bloody great useless, stupid coward he was. His weakness had caused David to be drawn into danger.

  Lin took the first step, and then the second. He placed a foot on the third, and could go no further. His chest constricted, squeezing the air out of his lungs and refusing to let it back in again. The pounding thud of his heartbeat assaulted his eardrums. Fear-loaded beads of perspiration rolled down his back, transmitting alarm messages from nerve ending to nerve ending, spreading the length and breadth of his body. For a moment, he thought he was going to black out.

  A spray of loose soil and small stones from the cliffs above suddenly pattered the ground around him, causing his heart rate to accelerate still higher. A surge of reckless anger spurred him onto the third step where he stood in defiance, refusing to be bullied by the landscape.

  Defiance didn
't last. Another spit of soil and grit, some of which peppered his hair and shoulders, brought a return of fear causing his empty stomach to push up into his gullet, making him dry wretch. He capitulated, hurrying back to the safety of the esplanade on legs almost too weak to support him. Climbing up the little slipway from the beach he jumped as someone addressed him.

  “Eyup, Mr Larkin, you all right? You look fair whemmled ower.”

  It was Jeff Tonkin, attired in camo shorts and t-shirt in concession to the great heat, but still wearing his big black, tightly laced boots. He was sitting at the top of the slipway, a faded baseball cap protecting his head from the sun. He was smoking one of his roll ups, its thick cloying scent hanging on the warm air. There were things grown on Jeff’s allotment that he wisely kept quiet about and used only for his own enjoyment.

  “I’m fine, thank you, Jeff.” Lin wiped his clammy hands down the side of his shorts trying not to sound irritable. He would have preferred not to speak to anyone. “You’re up and about early.”

  Jeff nodded his head towards the little terrier scrabbling amongst a pile of crab pots. “Florrie likes to have a snuffle about before it gets too crowded.”

  He waved his cigarette in the direction Lin had come from, utilising a tone of voice reserved for admonishing children. “Thems right dangerous them steps are, Mr Larkin, that’s why they’re roped off. You shouldn’t get too close. The cliff hasn't settled yet and it's liable to come crashing down on your ruddy head.”

  “Thank you for that nugget of hand rolled wisdom, Jeffery, but there’s no one more aware of that fact than I am. And by the way,” Lin poked his sunglasses back up his sweaty nose. “Those sunflowers you sold us last week had black fly. Infested they were. I’ll be expecting some discount next time you call.”

  “Black fly, my arse,” muttered Jeff as he watched Lin stalk back along the esplanade towards the Crab and Lobster pub, disappearing around the corner on his way back home. He tickled Florrie’s ears as she came to investigate what he was muttering about. “Needs a bloody good skelping does that one sometimes.”

  Florrie barked agreement. Lin was one of the few people on her master’s round who never made a fuss of her or offered her titbits, not that she liked fish over much, but it would be nice to be asked.

  Lin’s countenance darkened further when he reached Sandstones and clocked the notice board with its denial of service message. Stepping into the broad hall he closed the door with a violent thrust, causing the board to jump and clatter back against the wood.

  Ignoring David’s call of greeting from the snug, he dropped his sunspecs on the sideboard and took the stairs two at a time. Throwing the bedroom door closed he went into the bathroom to shower.

  Red Sky by Morning

  Six

  David tut-tutted, as the only reply his call of greeting received was the sound of heavy footsteps on stairs. The run hadn't improved Lin's mood any.

  Finishing the email he was composing he sent it, logged off the computer and went upstairs.

  Lin was in the ensuite bathroom. He had the shower running full and fast so the water sounded an angry note, reflecting his disposition. David tried the door, but it was locked. Fetching the white wickerwork wastebasket from a corner of the bedroom he sat on the bed and cleaned his shaver. He'd been meaning to do it for days.

  Lin emerged from the shower just as he was putting the cleaned and reassembled shaver back into its case. He set it aside and held out his hand. "Give me the towel. I’ll dry you.”

  “I can manage.” Lin wiped the towel between his legs, drying around his balls.

  “Suit yourself. The need to shower must have been an urgent one. You apparently didn’t hear me calling you when you came in. Did you enjoy your run?”

  “No.” Lin vigorously dried his hair, flinging the towel on the floor before going over to the chest of drawers to get out fresh underwear.

  “What route did you take?”

  “Over the top to Brunswick and back, and yes, before you ask, I kept well away from the cliff path. I took the ramblers path over the fields.”

  “Any particular reason why you didn’t enjoy it?” David cocked his head on one side, examining Lin's rear as he rummaged in the drawer, admiring the tight buttocks and well-toned legs with their light covering of fair hair.

  Lin pulled on a pair of briefs, dismissing the question with a shrug of his shoulders.

  “Guilty conscience perhaps, at leaving so rudely and without breakfast?”

  “Sorry.”

  “Are you?” asked David dryly. “Or are you just paying lip service to apology as a means of avoiding grief?”

  Lin shook his head. “I really am sorry. I disturbed your sleep and you got up to do something nice for me. I’m a despicable fucking shit bag. I don’t know how you stand me. I wouldn't blame you for finding someone else.”

  “Stop it, Lin, now. I won't have you belittle yourself all the time. Have you done your stretches?”

  “Few.”

  “How few?”

  “Quads.”

  “And?”

  “And nothing.” Lin pulled on a light green Diesel t-shirt.

  “Why not?”

  “What is this, the Yorkshire branch of the Spanish Inquisition?” Lin straightened his tee, pulling irritably at the hem. “I couldn’t be arsed, that’s why not.”

  David’s eyes chilled down at the spitty tone. “You can do them now.”

  “I’ve showered now so there’s no point.” Lin extracted his favourite jeans from a drawer. They were washed out, the material worn thin and soft and beginning to fray at the knees. He thrust his right leg into them, then his left, but before he could pull them up, an arm came around his waist, swinging him easily off his feet and pulling them back off.

  “Now, Linval.” David put him down and flung the jeans on the bed, “You’ll end up with muscle cramps tonight if you don't. You know you will. You’ll be in agony all night and neither of us will get any rest.”

  “Don’t let it worry you, pet,” said Lin sarcastically. “I’ll sleep in one of the guestrooms so there’ll be no danger of me spoiling your precious beauty sleep with my writhing.”

  In one fleet movement David again put his arm around Lin’s waist, only hooked the opposite way, so that instead of lifting him up it bent him forwards. Inserting his fingers in the waistband of his briefs he drew them down and placed a hand on his bottom. “Do I need to progress any further than this?”

  Lin’s response was immediate and sincere. “No.”

  David pulled up his briefs and returned him to an upright posture, giving him a light swat. “Stretches.”

  Lin performed a complete set of stretches, conscious and resentful of David’s audience. “There.” His voice hitched a little as he finished the last exercise. “Are we all fluffy happy now?”

  David shook his head. “I can’t say I am, but I’m sure your muscles are overjoyed.” He leaned down to help Lin up from the bedroom floor, pulling him into a cross hug. “You look exhausted. You’re all of a tremble, you silly man. I could wring your bloody obstinate neck for going out like that just to spite me. Get into bed.” he dropped a kiss on his head.” I'm going to bring you some breakfast and then you're going to have a sleep. It might improve your temper.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with my temper. I don’t want…” Lin broke off as David’s head tilted to one side and his eyebrows turned into stern question marks pushing up towards his hairline. He got into bed. There were times to push and cavil and times to do as you were told.

  Picking up the discarded towel David went downstairs.

  Folding his arms Lin leaned against the headboard. There were days when he wished his longing fantasies of being dominated by a strong man had remained fantasy and not morphed into reality in the shape of David Jordan.

  Red Sky by Morning

  Seven

  Despite his sour mood, Lin was touched by the effort put into preparing breakfast for him. The tray was
set with his favourite pieces of china, including a bud vase containing a perfect white musk rose and fronds of white jasmine from the garden. There was fresh orange juice, fragrant French coffee, cereal and toast.

  He tried hard to stop a smile staging a coup over the sulk on his mouth, but failed. “Looks nice.” He picked up the vase, holding it to his face, inhaling the rich scent of the flowers. “These smell wonderful, thank you. I don’t deserve it.”

  “True. You deserve something much less pleasant.” David sat on the bed, leaning to kiss Lin on the lips. “But we won’t go into that.” Picking up the cafetiere, he poured out two cups of black coffee, adding a small lump of sugar to Lin's. “Eat up, you’ll feel better.”

  “Better than what?”

  “Better than hungry.” David poured milk over the bowl of muesli.

  Lin picked up the spoon and began to eat.

  “What would you like to do this weekend?” David sipped at his coffee.

  Lin couldn't resist. The words tripped off his tongue. "Need you ask?"

  David ignored the inference. “We could take a trip over to see Tony and Lee, spend a few days with them?”

  “No thanks." Lin scowled. “Their boy brat will only get on my nerves. He makes me want to slap him."

  "You rise to Darren's bait far too much. He loves getting a reaction out of you. It's best to ignore him."

  "I don't want to visit. You go if you want. I’ll be fine on my own.”

  David pressed on. “How about some pamper time, I could call the Oulton Spa, see if they have any vacancies?”