Westpoint Tales
by Kiwi
Entangled Tales - 76 - Peter & Jay
Friday afternoon, Peter and Jay cut school. It wasn't actually wagging, Their parents all knew and they were okay with it, even Mrs. Lewis the teacher.
Friday afternoons were largely devoted to sports anyway and, while they both participated, neither of them were huge sports-fans. This weekend they were going away together, tramping in the bush, so by leaving at lunchtime Friday, they'd get a good start.
Peter's dad, home for once from his busy life at sea, was going to drive them up the Gorge to the start of the track, and Jay's dad would be there at lunchtime on Sunday to pick them up again.
As soon as school broke for lunch, they met outside and hurried along the short walk along Williamson Road to Peter's home. In the bedroom, they stripped off their school clothes and put on the waiting jeans, shirts and jackets, and then they grabbed a bite to eat in the kitchen.
"All ready, Guys?" Don Lewis walked into the room. "Are you sure that you've got everything? Cells, firelighters, toilet paper?"
"Toilet paper?" Peter squeaked. "No. I never even thought of that!"
"Peter, you're going for two days. You're going to have to take a dump sometime. There's not a lot of public conveniences out in the bush you know."
"I'll get some. Wait here." Peter rushed off to the bathroom.
Don turned to Jay with a grin. "Never thought that I'd see my boy so excited about sleeping outdoors. His world has really opened up since you've been around. Thanks Jay."
"This was all Peter's idea, Mr. Lewis. I'm just going along."
"Maybe it was, but he couldn't do it without you. And - I'm tired of telling you, Mr. Kynnersley, my name's 'Face", don't call me Mr. Lewis. Hell, Jay, you're not a little kid and you're part of our family now. Call me Face, or Don if you'd rather."
"Okay, I'll try. Thanks, umm, Face."
"That's better. Jay, I've never told you this, and I may never again, but I, we all, really appreciate everything that you've done for our boy. You're the best thing that's ever happened to him."
"Peter's the best thing that ever happened to me. He's the best friend I've ever had and I'm very grateful for the way that you are all so accepting of us being together."
"I always dreamed that our son was going to grow up and settle down with a wife and kids, but that's obviously not going to happen - Peter's gay. The best thing for him is to have someone who loves him, and he really loves you, Jay, you're the best there is. We're never going to have a daughter-in-law, unless Claire really shocks us, but I don't mind having another son. Don't mind a bit."
"Thanks. I just love Peter too."
"Yeah, I know you do. I've got eyes you know. Anyway, enough of this embarrassing talk. Please tell me that you've got no guns hidden away in all that gear you've packed."
"We've got no guns. We're not planning on killing anything. Well, maybe a fish or two."
"Good. I'll take you boys out shooting any time you like, but I'd rather that you didn't do it without me around to keep an eye on you. When I was a teenager, many years ago, a close friend of mine was shot and killed in a hunting accident."
"That's awful. Must've been hard on you."
"You don't know the half of it, Jay. I was the one who shot him. I thought I saw a deer in the trees and I shot my friend. I still have nightmares about it. So, no guns, okay?"
"Definitely not! I'd die if anything happened to Peter. Seriously - I'd shoot myself."
"That would be serious. To tell the truth, I thought about it myself, but I didn't. Just as well too."
"Yes, just as well. I'd have no best friend."
"Yeah. Funny how life can go, but I'm sure you'd always have someone, jay."
"I wouldn't. I never looked at a boy in my life until Peter came along."
"Is that true? Never? Anyone?"
"Never. And I never will either."
"Jay, umm, you're not Peter's first boyfriend you know."
"I know that, but I'll be his last one."
"I think you're right. The best one too - you've got my vote anyway. Enough of this, get Peter and we're out of here."
They loaded up their gear and got into the car, Jay in the backseat and Peter riding shotgun, next to his dad. Face sat waiting patiently as he listened to the boys each making sure that the other was comfortable.
"You sure that you don't need more leg-room, Big Guy? I could move my seat forward a bit. You need more room than I do."
"If you were sitting any further forward, you'd have your knees under the dash. Push your seat back, Elf. I've got more than enough room. I can sit sideways you know."
"Well - I - you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine. Push the seat back and let's get going."
They finally settled in and buckled up, Don started the car and they were off! - through the streets in Westpoint, out of town and over the river and away 30k up the Gorge Road to the carpark by the bridge over the Blackwater River.
They unloaded their gear from the car, said thanks and goodbye and then stood watching as Don drove away back to town. As soon as the car was out of sight, Peter slid his hands around Jay and hugged him. They kissed, standing there in the graveled carpark next to the main road.
"Cool. What was that for, Elf?"
"Do I need a reason? No, actually I do have two reasons. Number one, thanks Jay. Thanks for this weekend, it's going to be great."
"Sure is. Thank you, Elf. What was the second reason?"
"Just because I wanted to. I love you, Big Guy."
"Very Cool. I love you too. You can do that anytime."
"Oh, I will, don't worry. But, we'd better get going, we can't stand here all weekend."
They swung their packs up onto their shoulders and shrugged into the straps, and then stood there, having the inevitable argument about whether Peter was carrying too much.
"Enough, Jay! We've sorted this and I'm carrying my share. I'm not a girl you know."
"Okay. I know you're not a girl. I just worry about you, you know."
"Yeah, I know. Thanks, but stop it. Start walking, Jay."
"Right. You sure that you don't want to go first?"
"No I don't. You know the way, you've been here before, I haven't. Besides, if I go second, I get to watch your legs and things."
"But I don't. We'll take turns."
"Well it's your turn first. Start walking."
They crossed the carpark and down the steep start to the track, stepping carefully on the big rocks, down to the flat track at the side of the small river.
The track followed along beside the dark-brown river as it tumbled along in its bed, carrying small rafts of white foam down to their demise in the larger Bulls River out beyond the bridge on the far side of the road.
They headed upstream, passing under the trees hanging off the sides of the narrow gully. The track was mostly level with just a few climbs over old rock-falls and fallen logs, but they were slowly climbing steadily uphill.
The gorge widened as they came out into a wide, bush-covered valley. The trees were old, tall and green and the undergrowth was a mass of baby trees, ferns, rotting logs and moss-covered rocks. There was an occasional small pool of black water, miles of mud, dead leaves and twigs underfoot.
Shafts of sunlight pierced the forest canopy and it was quiet and peaceful. The only sounds were the gurgling water and a few birds sounding alarms. The whole scene was like something from Jurassic Park and Peter wouldn't have been surprised to see a dinosaur appear - the setting was right.
After a couple of hours walking, he was struggling to keep up the pace. Maybe he had taken on more than he should have? He wasn't going to admit that though. He wasn't a weakling.
Nevertheless, he was relieved when they emerged into a huge, grassy clearing and Jay spoke.
"At last! This is it, Elf, we're nearly there. Just over here, by the river somewhere."
At the side of the river, which was now much wider and shallower, there was a small roughly rectangular pool, about 2 meters by 3 meters. It was separated from the river by a wall of rocks, obviously stacked by hands, and there were small wisps of steam across the placid surface.
"This is it," Jay grinned. "The hot springs. It has got a name but I can't remember what it is. So, what do you think?"
"Is this all there is? We've come all this way to see a puddle at the side of the river? Even I couldn't swim in there, it's only a couple of feet deep."
"You don't swim in it, Elf, you just sit in it. Feel the temperature - stick your hand in and see how warm it is."
Peter, thankfully, undid the buckle at his waist, slid the straps from his shoulders and lowered the heavy pack to the ground with a sigh.
"It was too heavy, wasn't it? I told you that you were carrying too much."
"It's not too much. Okay, it was heavy, but I did it. My pack's only half the size of yours, Jay."
"That's fair enough. I'm twice as big as you are."
"You are not - not quite. Anyway, you look fair buggered yourself."
"I'm not buggered, not yet. We'll talk about that later."
"Yes, later. How warm is this water anyway?" He bent down, ran his fingers through the water, and then jerked back, shaking his hand in the air.
"Whoah! That's frigging hot! We're not sitting in there, Jay. We'd cook."
"What do you mean?" Jay bent, put his own hand in the water and then jerked it out. "Okay, that's hot! It's not a problem, we'll just open the wall up and let some river-water in to fix it."
"We can do that? Cool."
"Yeah, cool's the word. We'll cool it down. Come on then, pick up your not-too-heavy pack and well go and set up camp."
"More walking?" Peter groaned. "Couldn't we just put the tent up here?"
"No we can't." Jay picked up Peter's pack himself. "The sandflies hang around the springs, we'd get eaten alive here. We've just got to go a few meters upstream to get away from them. Come on Elf."
"Okay then. Anything to get away from these things." Peter stood slapping at the small midges attacking his bare arms, (he'd taken his heavy jacket off an hour ago). "Vicious little mothers, aren't they?"
"Vicious is right, and they are mothers too. Apparently it's only the female ones that bite you. They need your blood to make fertile eggs or something."
"They vant to suck my blood?" Peter showed how bad a German accent he could do. "Get off me, you Mothers! They're worse than mosquitoes, at least you can hear them coming."
"The mossies will be around later. The sandflies do the day-shift and then the mosquitoes take over for the night-shift."
"Something to look forward to then. Give me my pack and we'll get going."
"Come on, Elf. I've got your pack, don't worry about it."
Jay started off, his own pack on his back and Peter's held in front of him.
"Stop thief! Gimme my pack!" Peter ran and leapt onto Jay's back. His legs locked around his waist as he hung off the big back-pack.
"Whoah!" Jay staggered at the impact, and then he regained his balance and started walking, ponderously, carrying both the packs and the boy hanging off his back.
"I'll carry you too then. Hold on, Elf."
"Jay, you can't! Stop, you idiot!"
"I can too!" Jay gasped. In another couple of steps, he collapsed and they fell down on the grass, laughing.
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