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MOONGLOW, CHAPTER 61

By Sarah Hapgood


Joby slept awkwardly for the rest of the night, falling into short bursts of sleep, dominated by violent and incomprehensible dreams, and then waking up suddenly. At dawn he woke up and looked across to the doorway of the teepee, which had become unfastened, and was letting in a slender triangle of daylight, accompanied by the warblings of the tropical birds.

Hillyard was sleeping nearest the entrance ("Aint that always the bloody way?" he had said, the night before). He was lying on his side, with the blanket tucked tightly around him. From where he lay, Joby thought he looked completely immobile. He couldn't see his body rising and falling with a breathing rhythm.

"Hillyard?" Joby called out "Hillyard?!"

In his panic he clambered roughly over the others.

"W-w-what?" said Hillyard, clawing his way to consciousness.

"What on earth's the matter now?" said Adam, irritably.

"I-I thought he was dead", said Joby.

"You could've given me a fucking heart-attack, waking me up like that!" said Hillyard.

"I'm going off my head", said Joby, miserably.


"There. Is. Nothing. To. Worry. About", said Kieran, punctuating his words with kisses on top of Joby's head.

Joby was sitting morosely by the fire a couple of hours later, whilst Adam bustled around making breakfast.

"Hillyard's forgiven you", Kieran added.

"Why is Adam smoking?" said Joby, suspiciously.

"I just helped myself to one of Julian's cigars", said Adam, who was nudging the whites of the fried eggs with a wooden spatula.

"Why?" said Joby.

"To get back at Lo-Lo", said Adam "If he will persist in smoking that disgusting pipe, I thought I'd get my own revenge!"

Joby looked at Lonts, who was contentedly sucking on his pipe, and staring into the fire.

"You heard it last night too", Joby said to him, accusingly "Why aren't you rattled this morning as well?"

"Because it doesn't matter", said Lonts, serenely "As long as we all have each other".

"I dunno what that's gotta do with anything!" said Joby.

"It was probably just an animal you heard", said Finia "A rabbit say".

"Fucking big rabbit!" said Joby.

"Called Harvey?" Adam giggled.

Julian, Hillyard, Mieps and Ransey returned from having an early morning swim in the river, an experience which they all agreed would make a very effective torture, as the water was so cold at this hour.

"Where are the loathesome brats?" said Julian, trying to get his circulation going again with a towel.

"Bardin, Tamaz and Toppy are still asleep", said Adam "Bengo went off into the bushes to answer the call of nature. He's been gone a while, I hope he's alright".

"Knowing Bengo, he's probably got himself lost", said Julian "Somebody'd better go and chase him up".

"I was going to give Matilda a gallop", said Hillyard, who was in the process of putting a bridle on the said chestnut mare "I'll go and find him and bring him back".


Julian had meant his comment as a joke, but the truth was that Bengo really had got himself lost. The forest was so dense and murky here that it was easy to do, and a dawn mist, like the steam from a sauna, blanketed everything. Bengo was both embarrassed and frightened by his predicament. Embarrassed, because this would only enforce his image as the dingbat of the family, and frightened because this was a decidedly eerie part of the world to find oneself alone in. Not helped by the feeling that he was being watched by someone or something unseen. He hadn't intended to wander very far, and he didn't think that he had, but it was as if a glass door had slammed shut behind him, sealing him off from the others.

Suddenly he heard a distinct deep growl coming from the dense thicket of trees to the left of him, and a worryingly loud distinct deep growl at that. Bengo gave a whimper of alarm.

Hillyard literally galloped to the rescue, emerging from the trees on Matilda, like a knight without any armour.

"There you are", he said "We thought you'd got lost. You didn't have to come all this way for a slash".

Bengo felt even more nervous by his choice of words!

"I-I didn't think I had come far", he stammered "D-distance deceives you round here".

"Found you anyway", said Hillyard, and he held out his arm "Come on, hop up, I'll give you a lift back".

Bengo took his arm and deftly hoisted himself up behind Hillyard.

"Bardy won't like this", he said, laughing a little now that he was safely with Hillyard.

"What are you, chicken?" said Hillyard, teasingly.

Bengo remembered how scared he'd been only a moment ago, and decided not to commment.


Both Joby and Bengo were relieved that the others had decided to go back to the Bay that morning, full moon phase or no full moon phase. The forest beyond Midnight Castle was an area that certainly merited further exploration, but it was so remote and wild that they felt they needed to be better equipped to do so.

"It needs a proper well-planned expedition", said Ransey.

Julian instantly set him to organising one for a later date.

Bengo had told the others about the noise he'd heard, but by this time he was using more as a means to distract Bardin from the fact that he had thoroughly enjoyed his romantic rescue by Hillyard, and subsequent return through the milky-white forest as his pillion passenger.

Joby had taken a certain grim satisfaction from his news about the mysterious growl, although he wished he could be right about something pleasent for a change!


Later that day, Adam and Julian sat in the deckchairs outside the stone cottage, with the sun beating down fiercely around them. A line full of washing, which had been wet only an hour ago and was bone-dry, billowed in the soft breeze. Beyond it Tamaz was sitting in the wooden laundry-tub, being soaped by Hillyard.

"Why can't I use your hip-bath?" Tamaz shouted, crossly.

"Because you're not old enough", said Julian "That privilege is only open to those over-40".

"Lonts uses it, and he's not 40 yet", said Tamaz.

"I'm afraid that's because Lo-Lo won't fit in the laundry-tub", Adam sighed.

"Well I think it's a really stupid rule", said Tamaz.

"Yes, I am rather proud of it", said Julian.

Tamaz got out of the tub, dried himself sketchily on a towel, and then came through the washing towards them, snatching down a pair of drawers on his way.

"I don't know how you can wear them, Freaky", said Adam "The lace on them is dreadfully scratchy. I thought I was supposed to be the masochist!"

"I'm going to look for Joby", said Tamaz, pulling them on and fastening the little pearl buttons under the crotch "He gets excited when I wear them".

"Joby gets excited whatever you wear!" said Adam.

"Clear off Freaks, I want to have a private word with Adam", said Julian.

"What about?" said Tamaz.

"Clear off you nosy little bastard or I'll give you a spank!" said Julian.

Tamaz yodelled and ran back through the washing.

"You sound dreadfully ominous, Jules", said Adam.

"Ransey was reminding me earlier that it'll be monsoon season again in a few weeks", said Julian.

"So?" said Adam "It'll rain as much in Toondor Lanpin as it will here".

"It could also get very windy here", said Julian "This area is prone to hurricanes".

"Then we'll make sure everything is fastened down", said Adam.

"You really don't want to leave here do you?" Julian gave a wry smile "In spite of some of the dubious things in the locality".

"I once knew someone who had a cottage at Dungeness", said Adam "Rather like Derek Jarman. And he said he loved the area so much he didn't care that it was in the shadow of a damn great nuclear reactor, in fact it all added to the special atmosphere of the place! I know how he feels, and I have a strong suspicion the others will feel the same, even Joby".

"I agree", Julian sighed "But I think we need to make one more trip back to town. If we are going to settle here permanently we need to do it properly, not just set it up as though it was a summer camp. And that includes getting in more supplies as emergency back-up, and possibly more animals too. Now even a screwball like you can see the sense in that surely?"

"Of course I can!" said Adam, rattled "I don't know how on earth you think I managed before you came back on the scene!"

"We'll live at the Town House until after Christmas", said Julian "And then come back here".

"Jules, that was our plan last year", said Adam, despondently "And it all got fucked up courtesy of the FFF".

"Yes well there won't be any trips to Krindei this time", said Julian "Now listen to me. Things that are truly worthwhile don't come in a simple, straightforward fashion".

"I know that!" said Adam "But I would like us to realise our dream before I'm 90 and too old to enjoy it!"

"We've already realised it", said Julian, indicating all around them "We're here! We just need to add the finishing touches, that's all. We don't want the dream being soured at a later date because we didn't use enough foresight now do we?"

"O-ho, you've got your grandfather's business-sense alright!" said Adam "I've often thought it".

"Bloody good job I have", said Julian "If I was as hot-headed and impulsive as you, we'd be left with a cold, crumbling old ruin to live in, which was all your mother's family had, whereas my lot ..."

"Had a monstrous great white elephant of a place that everyone hated", said Adam "It could never have been called a home".

"At least it was still in good nick", said Julian "Although I'm damn glad I don't have to live in it anymore. Between you and me, if I'd inherited it, I'd have dropped a bomb on it, after flogging all the valuables first. And then gone to live somewhere warm!"

"You'd have got a massive cheer from the locals if you had!" said Adam, laughing "It was a massive blot on the landscape, rather like Woll's estate".

"That's what I've been coming to", said Julian "If we are going to set up here, Hillyard needs to tell Codpiece and Grizzle his intentions. We don't want them to come looking for us because they want permission to redecorate the North Wing, or some such nonsense. I'm sure you agree with that don't you?"

"O.K O.K, but we're forever sorting things out", said Adam.

"Do I have to explain it again?" Julian cried, in exasperation "I'll draw you diagrams if it's necessary!"

"I understand", said Adam.

"Hallelujah!" said Julian.


"You said ... you said organise an expedition", said Ransey, angrily "And then the next thing I know is we're going back to Toondor Lanpin! What have you got to say about that, hm? hm?"

"If you'd stop 'hmming' for a moment I'll tell you", said Julian "We are going back to Toondor Lanpin solely to restock and avoid the worst of the monsoon. I would have thought, you of all people, would approve of the restocking part. You normally have a positive mania for making up lists of things!"

"Then we're still going on the expedition?" said Ransey.

"Yes! At a later date, as I've said all along", said Julian.

Satisfied by this, Ransey paced off.

"He's getting worse", said Julian to Hillyard, who was drinking from the butt by the back door with a dipper "I think we'll have to take him to the vets whilst we're in town!"

"He seems the same as usual to me", said Hillyard.

"Well he would to you, you're as dense as a thicket!" said Julian.

"Is this about bringing Bengo home again?" said Hillyard "Look, for the last time I'm not apologising for that. Why should I apologise for rescuing Bengo from some wild beast that might have torn him limb from limb? You're all being daft! The poor little sod was in a right state. What was I supposed to have done, left him there???!"

"Of course not", said Julian.

"Good!" said Hillyard "I'm glad to hear it!"


They sailed back to Toondor Lanpin, and arrived there a fortnight later, timing it so that they arrived at 4 in the morning. That way, they could leave the sloop in the harbour, and take the hay-cart up through town without being watched by all and sundry.

"Codlik and Glynis have been here recently", said Adam, walking into the kitchen "Everything's remarkably dust-free, and there's fresh kindling by the stove. Joby, go and see if they've left a note for us anywhere".

Joby went into the hallway, where he found the mail all arranged in a neat fanlike way in the copper bowl on the table. Propped next to it was a note addressed to Hillyard. He picked it up, and then had a look in the living-room, which was in a state of neat, pristine splendour that had never been seen before. Even the broken-down old piano had been polished to a mirror-like intensity.

"It seems a shame we had to come back and ruin everything", said Joby, when he returned to the kitchen.

Hillyard staggered in through the back door, clutching various bags and bundles.

"Note for you", said Joby, handing it to him.

"What do they have to say?" said Adam, when Hillyard had unfolded it.

"They're short of money", said Hillyard.

"Eh?" said Joby.

"'Essential renovation work at the big house has incurred a great deal of expense'", Hillyard read.

"Oh I can believe that", said Adam "A place that size will cost a fortune just to do the simplest job".

"I'll transfer some money into Codlik's account when I'm awake", Hillyard yawned, stuffing the note into his pocket "And then I'll telegraph him about it".


Within a few days though they were to realise once again just how complicated life was in the outside world. It was also apparent to those they came into contact with how very self-sufficient they had become. They had been insular and isolated the previous summer up at the monastery, but the Bay had been far more so. For 5 months they had seen no one but each other. They had lived and worked solely for each other, they had lived together in the greatest of intimacy, even sleeping all together in one bed. Previously they had seemed like a secret sect, now they were like phantoms visiting from another world. They were perfectly affable to those they met, never failing to be sociable, but it was obvious they were only paying lip-service to the world.

Everything was all so simple within the family. Problems were resolved in a straightforward fashion, even if it meant coming to blows. Whereas the outside world needed endless tact and negotiation. For 5 months they had also lived completely without money, and Codlik's note had been a rude awakening, a reminder of just how essential this commodity was in civilisation.

Hillyard made an arrangement with the bank, and then wired Codlik to say that he had the power to take out so much every month for any maintenance work that was required. He hoped this would satisfy Codlik, but the said man instantly began bombarding him with demands that Hillyard come and see the said renovation work for himself.

Bengo and Bardin were also getting pestered. Yet another refugee from the Cabaret of Horrors had been taken on at the Little Theatre. Godle had been the Cabaret's Mighty Strong Man. He was an impressive-looking person, who really did live up to his billing. Ully had dreamt up the advertising ploy of challenging any member of the audience to take on Godle in a wrestling bout, and offering a substantial reward to anyone who could beat him, confident in the knowledge that no one could. His confidence was well-founded. No one ever claimed the reward.

Godle was the gentlest of men off-stage, who got on well with everyone. His soft spot though had been reserved for Bengo. They had been intermittent lovers. Bengo had often fled to Godle's room when he fell out with Bardin, and spent the night there. Their relationship had never developed any further, although Godle would dearly have liked it to, and could never understand why it hadn't.

When he heard that the Indigo-ites were back in town, Godle had excitedly sent word that he'd like to meet them for a drink "for old time's sake".

"Translated, that means he'd like to meet you again", said Bardin, as he and Bengo jostled for space in front of the hall-mirror "I don't know why I'm even bothering to get dressed up to go. He's not bothered if he sees me!"

"Don't come then!" Bengo retorted "If that's the way you feel!"

Fortunately they were diverted by Toppy mincing past with the big brown teapot. The clowns laughed at his exaggerated haughter, and left the house copying him.

"He sticks his nose so far in the air I'm surprised he can see where he's going!" Bengo laughed, as they turned down the side street which led to the stage-door "Oh cheer up, Bardy. I'm not bothered about Godle. You're crazy sometimes. Like all that rubbish with Hillyard bringing me back from the forest".

"That had nothing to do with jealousy, actually", said Bardin "Not the way you all think anyway. I was just annoyed he's rescued you. I'd like to have played the big hero for a change!"

"You can play anything you like in those trousers", said Bengo, caressing the material stretched tightly over Bardin's posterior "No one's got a cuter ass than you".

As they neared the pool of orange illumination thrown by the light over the stage door, Bengo pushed Bardin against the wall and began to kneed his groin. They were shaken out of it by the door suddenly opening and a gaggle of performers emerging, all still in costume, who joshed them about there being a name for men who hung around stage-doors!

They went inside, and found Zooks standing in the corridor by the dressing-rooms. He also was still in costume, complete with flowing yellow silk cravat, and a silver-topped cane, which he was twirling idly in his fingers, at one point nearly hitting himself in the face with it.

"I see you're still as expert as ever at handling props!" said Bardin.

"Oh", said Zooks, flatly "You two are back".

"Yep, we're meeting Godle for a drink", said Bardin "Where is he?"

"I expect he'd got held up in the wings", said Zooks "You should go and wait for him in the bar. You're not supposed to be back here, you're the General Public".

He couldn't have said this more contemptuously if he was calling them horse-shit!

"God, wouldn't it be great to have him as a our stooge?!" said Bardin, savagely, as he and Bengo wended their way to the bar, which was packed with after-show drinkers, including Adam and Julian, who were sitting at a corner-table with Hawkefish.

"Hasn't your friend appeared yet?" said Adam.

"We're meeting him here", said Bardin.

"I do hope this old entertainers' reunion doesn't end in a bloodbath", said Julian "I don't want any scenes later because you two are having a falling-out. The last one was very exhausting!"

"If Bardy keeps promising to wear those trousers I'll be as docile as anything!" said Bengo.

"I don't blame you at all", said Adam "He has a very trim butt!"

"Deliciously spankeable", said Julian "I keep hoping he'll grizzle about food again, so I have another excuse to toss him over my knee!"

"Jules, do calm down, old love", said Adam "It's not good for you at your age".

Hawkefish was laughing so much he couldn't get at his beer. Bardin blushed violently, and Bengo was enjoying the situation so much that he was mildly annoyed to see Godle waiting for them on the other side of the room.

"Jeez, it's good to see you again", Godle drawled to Bengo, whilst Bardin was trying to reach the bar to buy 3 beers "Bengo, you look good enough to eat!"

"It must be the sun-tan", said Bengo.

"I was real damn annoyed to hear you'd left town", said Godle "Just as I'd arrived too! The Cabaret of Horrors was never the same after you'd gone. I've missed you like crazy".

Bengo was at a loss as to what to say to this. He was a spectacularly lousy liar, so he could hardly reply that he'd missed Godle, as he'd never given him a moment's thought since leaving the Village of Stairs!

"What say you and me lose Bardin in a little while?" said Godle, coming straight to the point "I've got a real nice room just round the corner from here. C'mon, you know I'll be gentle with you. I really sure have missed you".

"It's not that simple anymore, Godle", said Bengo, looking round nervously to see where Bardin was "You see, Bardy and me ... we're an item these days. We're like ... married I guess".

"You and HIM?!" Godle exclaimed, in disbelief "You hate each other, you always did. He was an asshole to you!"

Bengo felt like making a very bawdy remark to the effect that Bardin still was! But Godle, normally a flairly placid man, was getting dangerously over-heated.

"He used to make your life hell", said Godle "Jeez, the amount of times I saw you backstage in tears, all 'cos of him!"

"He's a perfectionist", said Bengo, shrugging.

"Is this true?" Godle demanded to know, when Bardin had barely put the beers on the table "Are you and he set-up together?"

"I see you haven't wasted any time", Bardin muttered.

"You're trying to tell me that you somehow manage to treat this beautiful kid with love and tenderness?" Godle exclaimed.

"I must do, or he wouldn't put up with me", said Bardin.

"I find that hard to believe after the way you used to carry on", said Godle.

"You're making too much of it", said Bardin "Just 'cos I used to have to lick Bengo into shape. If I hadn't we wouldn't have had any kind of an act. It would have been a bit like yours really!"

"Bardin!" Bengo bleated, in terror.

By now an awed and terrified hush had descended on their immediate locality. Hawkefish had noticed it straightaway and was about to come over and interfere, but Adam insisted on doing so instead. When he had been fully appraised of the situation he gave Godle a severe ticking-off, using a tone of voice he normally reserved for Lonts when he was disciplining him.

"I won't have you making threatening noises like that", he said "Especially when you are the one completely in the wrong".

"He's no innocent", Godle protested, pointing at Bardin "He insulted by act!"

"And you tried to pick up his partner, even after you'd been made fully aware of the situation you wouldn't let it rest", said Adam "That is all I have to say, except will you pose for me sometime, stripped?"

"S-sure", said Godle, a little bit nonplussed by this request.

"Good, you have an amazing physique", said Adam, in a throwaway fashion.

He turned to the clowns.

"You two try and stay out of trouble for the rest of the evening", he said "You've barely managed a few minutes without causing a major falling-out! Be thankful it was me who came over and not Julian!"


"Bengo", Bardin nudged him awake "I think it's morning".

Bengo glanced out of the covers at the muted, watery sunlight that was coming through the dining-room curtains.

"I think it is too", he replied, drowsily.

"Can you remember if we let Toppy back in?" said Bardin.

"What?" said Bengo "What are you on about?"

"When we got home last night our kid was being really irritating", said Bardin "You know, he answered the door to us and was going on in that sanctimonious way of his about us being drunk. So we pushed him outside and shut the door on him. Well, I can't remember us letting him back in".

"One of the others will have done it", said Bengo, indifferently.

"What if they didn't?" said Bardin "And he couldn't have got round to the back because the yard-doors were locked. He might stil be out there!"

"I'll have a look out the window".

Bengo got up wearily from the mattress. He pulled back the curtains and climbed up onto the high sill.

"I can't see him", he said, pressing himself up against the glass.

Suddenly a small stone hit the window. Ransey was standing in the street, carrying a small churn of milk from the dairy. He pointed at Bengo's full-frontal exposure.

"Some people get funny about that sort of thing", said Ransey, when he had got to the dining-room door "We're not at the Bay at the moment you know".

"You don't have to tell us that!" said Bengo, miserably.

"Ransey", said Bardin "You didn't see Toppy outside did you?"

"He's not outside", said Ransey "He's asleep on the living-room sofa".

"Are you sure?" said Bardin.

"Of course I am, I can see him from here", said Ransey "Just because I wear glasses doesn't mean I go seeing things that aren't there!"

He turned to go to the kitchen and nearly walked into Tamaz.

"What are you doing up and dressed at this hour?" said Ransey, suspiciously.

"Felt like it", said Tamaz.

"Up to no good more like", said Ransey, proceeding onwards to the kitchen.

Tamaz leaned against the dining-room door and lasciviously eyed-up the clowns.

"Why are you all dressed in black?" said Bardin "A black shirt and trousers".

"All my other clothes are in the wash", said Tamaz.

"Take 'em off", said Bengo "Show us your tits".

"Show us your drawers", said Bardin.

"What's it worth?" said Tamaz.

"Take it all off and we'll show you", said Bardin.

"You'll have to make it worth my while", said Tamaz, unbuttoning his shirt and slipping it off his shoulders.

"And the rest", said Bengo, tugging at Tamaz's trousers.

"Ah perhaps it's not worth it", said Bardin, teasingly "Perhaps he's only got his winter bloomers on".

"No they're on the line in the kitchen", said Tamaz.

The clowns pulled him down onto the mattress and removed his trousers.

"Tamaz!" Joby shouted from the hall.

"Joby's calling me", said Tamaz, struggling away from the mattress.

Joby came into the dining-room, followed by Adam, who was carrying the coffee-pot. Both were still in their dressing-gowns. Tamaz threw himself onto Joby's lap, and Joby felt in passing how damp Tamaz was in the crotch. The feel of Tamaz's juices couldn't fail to excite him.

"Wallpaper!" Hillyard bellowed from the doorway.

"Same to you!" Joby thundered back, annoyed that his lustful thoughts had been interrupted.

"Fucking bloody wallpaper!" Hillyard lumbered across the room, waving two pieces of paper in the air "That's all it was, wallpaper!"

"I think we're going to have to hire an interpretor for him", said Adam, stirring his coffee "Hilly, what are you on about?"

"All that 'extensive renovation work' Codlik went on about", said Hillyard "There was us thinking he meant vital repairwork to the roof or the floor, or the plumbing even, but no, what it was was he'd re-papered the Green Salon, wherever that is!"

"You just had a letter from him then?" said Joby.

"Yeah, the wanker", said Hillyard.

"Oh the Green Salon's the Bird Room", said Adam "That's what Lo-Lo calls it, because the wallpaper's covered in a little birds design. Little green birds, quite revolting. I'm quite relieved to hear he's had it redecorated".

"Don't get too relieved, he's had it re-done exactly the same!" said Hillyard "He seems to think it was vitally important that it was kept the same. Waffling on about heritage. I don't know what he's going on about. That's why it was so expensive apparently, because it's handmade wallpaper from Port West".

"No wonder it's cost them a fortune", said Adam.

"It hasn't cost them a fortune, it's cost ME a fortune!" said Hillyard "Where's the sense in re-papering a room that no one ever uses in exactly the same pattern as it was before, and it all costs an arm and a leg?!"

"Tradition - vital preservation of, dear heart", said Julian, entering the room.

"I might've known you'd agree with it!" said Joby.

"I don't actually", said Julian "Quite the reverse in fact, I think the whole situation is absurd. It's a gross waste of money. But there, that's the middle-classes for you. My Mother would have liked Codlik, she was as common as muck too".

"Jules!" Adam laughed "She would have died of mortification to hear you say that!"

"I should have tried it, shouldn't I?!" said Julian "I should have mentioned the dreaded words 'biscuit factories'".

"What are we going to do about this idiot?" Hillyard cried, waving the letter "I can't have him wasting money on things like wallpaper!"

"Then you have to go and see him", said Julian "And say to him something like how much you appreciate all his efforts in keeping the big house up to scratch ..."

"I don't though", said Hillyard "He can let it fall down for all I care. It's a dump".

"Yes it is, but it's a very big, very old dump", said Julian "I can see it's going to be so easy for Codlik to turn it into an albatross and hang it round your son's neck for the rest of his life".

"My son?" said Hillyard.

"Yes, you remember that puking little pink thing that Glynis gave birth to last year?!" said Julian "He's your main heir. And the way things are going I can see he's going to spend his whole life like a hamster on a wheel, obsessed with preserving that bloody old mausoleum for his children and their children and their children! He'll have the words 'duty' and 'tradition' forced down him morning, noon and night. YOU CANNOT LET THAT HAPPEN! I won't stand by and see someone else forced into that damn soulless way of life".

"What can we do?" said Hillyard, excitedly.

"Put your dick away for a start", said Joby.

Hillyard's bath-robe had worked it's way open in his agitation. He re-fastened it.

"We'll all go there and put them on the right path", said Julian.

"What good's that gonna do?" Tamaz spat, contemptuously "We've been there before and it's not changed anything!"

"Then this time we'll just have to make sure we do", said Julian "It may be the last time we go there so we'll have to make sure we leave a lasting impression".

"For Leon's sake", said Adam.


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