I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside - 8. Chapter 8 - In Full Bloom

In Full Bloom

It was light when Chris woke, but that was hardly surprising as he was virtually always awake early and at this point in May the sun rose just before 5am. He moved his head slightly so he could see the clock on the bedside table; it showed the time was just after 7am. On a weekday the alarm would have gone off before 6am, but today was a Saturday so there was no need for a rude awakening.

As always he was snuggled up behind Billy, the pair of them sleeping naked as they had since the very first time they shared a bed. However, on that first occasion they had slept as far apart from each other as was possible in a double bed. It had taken a while and Billy having a nightmare about his life at the orphanage, before Chris had slid across the bed to cuddle him as a way of calming him – although it was only later that Billy had told him the cause of his nightmare. But from that night on they always went to sleep cuddled together with Billy spooned into Chris. Initially it had made Billy feel safe and Chris wanted Billy to feel safe, even though he'd known him for only a short time. Soon though it had become what they both wanted to do. For a long time now it had become automatic.

With it being a Friday they'd made love last night as a slightly delayed celebration of Chris' birthday on the Thursday. Chris found it hard to believe that he was now twenty five and as he tried to get his somewhat bleary brain round that, something else occurred to him. It had been two days after his fifteenth birthday that he had run away from home and therefore today was exactly ten years since he had first met Billy.

Chris thought back to their first somewhat inauspicious meeting on the roadside. So much happened in the months after that first meeting. They had struck very, very lucky in being offered a home by George Martin after they had arrived in Margate. Not only that, George had found Chris a job and managed to get Billy into a local school without revealing that he too was a runaway. The pair of them had become firm friends despite Billy being almost a year younger than Chris. What Billy lacked in age he more than made up for in life experience gained through spending seven years in the orphanage after his parents had been killed in a road accident. When they'd met Chris had no sexual experience, apart from wanking, but Billy had proved a more than able teacher, while he had become a very willing pupil.

Chris felt himself going hard as these thoughts went through his mind. He managed to ease himself away from Billy without waking him. Billy was always tired at the end of the week because of his job and the travelling involved and liked to lie in on Saturdays and Sundays. As he got out of bed and walked towards the bedroom door he was joined by their two cats 'Holly' and 'Ivy'. They nearly always slept in the bedroom even though they had free run of the house. Quite often they'd sleep on the bed as they were this morning, but now decided to get off and see what Chris was going to do.

They were another story. Born on Christmas Day 1965 to a cat Billy had come across on his way home from school one late autumn day and which he claimed insisted on following him back to their house. At the time nobody had realised that the cat was pregnant. When they had found out some weeks later it had necessitated the cat being renamed from 'Guy' to 'Lucky'! Two kittens had appeared on Christmas morning. Chris had persuaded George to agree that if the kittens were female they could keep them and that was what transpired.

As for 'Lucky', she had, in a way, been doubly lucky. When the kittens were about four months old the relationship between them and their mother started to deteriorate and fights would break out on occasions. George consulted the vets who advised him that this could happen as while some mothers would happily have a brood of kittens around them, others seemed to expect their offspring would depart and make their own way in the world. It got to the point where 'Lucky' was spending most of her time outside, which because the kittens were too young to be allowed out, at least ensured a fair amount of peace.

One evening though there was a knock at the front door. George went and opened it and after a brief conservation returned to the living room, where Chris and Billy were sat watching television, accompanied by a well-dressed middle aged couple. He walked over, switched off the TV and introduced them to the boys as Mr & Mrs Hayes. Billy moved to sit on the floor so the couple could sit together on the settee; Chris offered to make them a cup of tea, which they declined.

Once everyone was settled, Mr Hayes explained the reason for their visit. They had returned the previous week from a very long holiday touring and also visiting relations in Australia. They had been reluctant to put their cat in a cattery for such a long period and thus had found someone who was willing to come into their house a couple of times every day to feed the cat, clean the litter tray and spend some time with it. The idea being that the cat would not be let out and thus remain safe. However, after some weeks the cat managed to get out and from what they had been able to ascertain after they returned, the person who was 'cat sitting' had made little effort to try and locate it. She had also not told them of its disappearance simply because she had no way of contacting them as they were touring the country.

Following their return, and without any great hope, the Hayes had visited the local vets to see if there had been any reports of a cat that matched their 'Tuppence' being found – alive or dead. They had been very surprised to find one such possible match and had called round to see if the cat was indeed theirs.

Almost as they finished their explanation 'Lucky' appeared from upstairs where she had been sleeping in George's bedroom while the kittens had remained in the living room. She immediately went straight to Mrs Hayes and began purring and rubbing round her legs before demanding to be picked up – something she had never done previously. There seemed little doubt that 'Lucky' was indeed 'Tuppence', which was soon confirmed when Mr Hayes produced a collection of photos of her.

George and the boys were quite glad 'Lucky's' real owners had turned up as they had agreed only a few days earlier that they would need to start trying to find a new home for her because of the deteriorating relationship between her and the kittens. However, what about the kittens?

In the ensuing discussions, Mr & Mrs Hayes made it very clear that, in the first place, they did not want two more cats and in the second, if they did take them they'd be faced with exactly the same problem as now existed. So, they were very happy for them to stay where they were. That left one other potential problem. George had arranged for 'Lucky' to be spayed after the kittens had been weaned as was evident from the area on her side where the fur was much shorter than elsewhere. The Hayes had no problem over this saying that they'd been intending to have 'Tuppence' spayed before they went away, but it had been overlooked. The insisted on reimbursing George for the cost of the operation and also wanted to contribute towards the cost of her food etc. while she had been there. This George declined to accept, saying that he and the boys considered the kittens and the opportunity to watch them develop from birth, as more than adequate compensation. And thus 'Lucky' departed the next day and calm was restored to the house.

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Chris definitely had something in mind when he got out of bed. He went downstairs accompanied by the cats, and into the kitchen. Once there he got a bag of dried food for them out of the cupboard, poured some into a couple of bowls, set them on the floor and then retreated from the kitchen, closing the door behind him. He knew the cats would be happy there for an hour or so because in addition to the food there were also a couple of cat beds. That done he went back upstairs and into the bathroom.

When they'd moved to this house a couple of years ago it had been in need of some care and attention having previously been occupied by an elderly lady. In the intervening period many things had been done to improve its appearance, but the first one had been to install a new bathroom complete with power shower and all modern facilities.

On first arriving in Cliftonville George had found Chris a job with a friend of his – Bill Rodgers – who operated the hire of deckchairs on the beach. Chris had impressed him enough that when the season was over he offered to employ Chris in his decorating business. Here Chris had also proved a willing and enthusiastic worker to the extent that when Mr Rodgers decided it would be of benefit to his business to add plumbing to its offerings, he had asked Chris if he wanted to move into that trade. After some hesitation Chris had agreed. Initially dubious of his abilities he had been surprised to find that he enjoyed the work and was also quite good at it. In fact he was so good that when the pair of them had decided to move to Brighton he had set up in business for himself. He would never have set up his own business in competition to Mr Rodgers as that wasn't in his nature, but the move presented an opportunity to be his own boss. After discussing it in depth with both Billy and George he'd decided to give it a try on the basis that if it didn't work out he was virtually certain to be able to get a job as a plumber with a local firm. The business had prospered and Chris quite soon had as much work as he could cope with, often being recommended by satisfied customers.

The move to Brighton had been a wrench for both him and Billy, logical though it had been. Billy, to his own surprise, had proved to be very intelligent academically and as a result had reluctantly been persuaded to stay at school first to take GCE 'O' level at age 16 where he had passed in six subjects. That had then led to Chris and George persuading him to stay on at the school to take 'A' level exams when he was 18. It had almost been necessary for George and Chris to each break one of Billy's arms to get his agreement, mainly because Billy considered it wasn't fair for him to still be at school when he could be at work earning. He didn't consider it was right for him to be supported by the others. However, he was persuaded and then in his last year at school came an even bigger job of persuasion for Chris and George.

They and the Headmaster of his school wanted Billy to apply for university. Billy resisted using the same arguments as he had previously and also pointing out that taking a university degree would be a three or four year task as opposed to just the two for the 'A' levels. However, Billy had a flair and a talent for maths especially and finally he was persuaded to apply to a couple of universities. He was very surprised when he was accepted by both, and, having obtained the necessary exam passes, decided to take up the offer from Sussex University. His main reason for that, apart from it offering the course he wanted, was that it wasn't that far from Margate and it was possible to travel between the two places by train.

So Billy had moved into accommodation on campus at Sussex University while Chris had remained living with George. During his time there, absence seemed to have made the hearts grow fonder because whenever Billy came home for a weekend or Chris went down to Brighton, their reunions were very passionate and loving times. Also in this period Chris had learnt to drive which made it a lot easier for him to visit Billy. The little Vauxhall Viva he had bought second hand clocked up a lot of miles going back and forth at weekends.

One thing that had become evident during Billy's time at university was that Brighton was a very gay oriented town. Indeed, as Chris had recently read in the local paper, last month an LGBT Gay Switchboard had just been opened – one of the first in the country - although admittedly this was a few years after Billy's time at uni. It wasn't though until well into the final year of Billy's course that the idea of them moving there had arisen.

When Billy started looking for a career he could take up after gaining his degree, the one that appealed to him was to become an Actuary. He loved 'playing' with figures and for him this seemed the ideal job. He made a few applications and was eventually offered a position as a trainee by a large insurance company. The company was though based in London. While it was possible to commute daily from Margate to London it was a journey that took over two hours. That would mean Billy leaving home before six each morning and not getting back until around eight in the evening. That didn't make much sense, so the pair considered alternatives. The one that had the most attraction was to try and find somewhere to live in Brighton. Not only was it liberal in attitude to gayness, it was also possible to get to London by train in little over an hour.

So that decision had been made and the pair had found a small one bedroom flat to rent by the time that Billy graduated. George had formally adopted Billy once he had reached the age of sixteen so it was Billy Martin and not Billy Lee that Chris and George stood to applaud as he received his degree at the ceremony. One other thing had changed about Billy during his time at university, although that change had started and was well underway before he even got there. He had, initially reluctantly, taken what were, in effect, elocution lessons although they were not specifically so named. As a result of these, apart from the occasional lapse, Billy now sounded quite normal when he spoke. However, when he was excited or alternatively very relaxed, he could slip back to speaking how he once did. That quite often seemed to happen when he and Chris were making love!

After discussing the matter with George Chris had decided not to be formally adopted by him. There was the complication of his mother had he tried to pursue that course. Instead he had simply changed his name to Martin and had been surprised at how easy a process that had been. Now, to the outside world, they could appear as brothers, although in all honesty they looked nothing like each other but in Brighton it didn't seem to bother anyone that they were living together.

Chris went back upstairs and spent five minutes or so under the shower. Often at the weekends he and Billy would shower or take a bath together – the latter often acting as a reminder of their early days together. Today though Chris wanted to be clean as he had an idea. He thought back to New Year's Day 1966 – the day when Billy and he had first made love.

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That day he'd gone into their bedroom as Billy had instructed and laid on the bed, clad only in his very short brown shorts, waiting anxiously while Billy was in the bathroom. Chris presumed he was preparing himself in some way, although exactly what he was doing Chris had no idea. He had agreed he wanted to make love to Billy and he knew Billy wanted him to do that. But although Billy had borrowed a book for him to read that went into some detail, he was still unsure how exactly it would be done. Furthermore, he knew that Billy had been raped at the orphanage on his fourteenth birthday and thus he feared that Billy might not be able to go through with what he planned. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Billy either physically or mentally.

After a few minutes he heard Billy leave the bathroom and then watched as he came into the bedroom making sure the door was closed behind him. He was still wearing the long t-shirt that came down to his thighs, but Chris couldn't help noticing the pronounced tenting at the front and felt himself going hard as he did. Billy told him to stand up, which he did and Billy stepped forward, pulling him into a hug. Back then Billy had been several inches shorter than Chris, so the top of his head fitted under Chris' chin. Since then he'd grown several inches and although Chris had grown a couple more there was now not much difference in their height.

"I love you, Chris Atkins and I want you to make love to me," Billy had murmured, as his hands stroked their way down Chris' back until the came to the shorts. Billy brought his hand round to the front and gently stroked Chris' penis, before taking hold of the waistband and pushing them down. Chris had run his hands down Billy's back until they reached the hem of the t-shirt and he could feel his bum – cold and smooth.

"And I love you, Billy Lee and I want to make love to you, but...."

"No buts, Chris. I knows yer scared you might 'urt me, but you won't. I'm ready."

So Chris had raised the t-shirt over Billy's head, stepped out of the shorts that were pooled at his feet and they'd laid down on the bed, side by side. They'd kissed and stroked for a while, enjoying the closeness and the pleasure until Billy had broken away, moved to his side of the bed and extracted a jar from the bedside cabinet. He'd smeared a good dollop of its contents on Chris' prick, before handing the jar to Chris, turning over and asking him to spread more in his cleft. Chris had been reluctant at first but Billy had pulled his cheeks apart to allow Chris easier access. He'd replaced the jar and rolled onto is back, inviting Chris to lie on top of him where they again kissed each other. Finally he had told Chris to move down the bed a little before raising his legs so his feet were near his shoulders with his bum raised off the bed.

The events of the next half hour or so were forever engraved in Chris' memory. Initially there had been some pain for Billy, but he had insisted Chris continue. Chris had been reluctant – very reluctant, wanting to stop but Billy had managed to persuade him to continue until suddenly the pain on Billy's face had been replaced by a huge smile of pleasure at the moment Chris had finally slipped inside him. For his part Chris had felt something he couldn't put into words, other than a feeling of belonging. He'd leant down to kiss Billy who now was stroking himself until the moment Chris made contact with his prostate. That caused Billy to ejaculate and as his muscles tightened in so doing, that created pressure on Chris' member causing him to do the same.

Chris had felt very humble about the gift Billy had given him and was determined their roles would soon be reversed. It took a few weeks before he was ready to try and he could truly appreciate what Billy had felt. However, they were then equals and had remained that way ever since, although Billy had told Chris a couple of years later that he preferred to be bottom rather than top. That was something Chris was quite happy to hear as he actually preferred to be top!

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Having cleaned himself thoroughly Chris dried off and went back to the bedroom. Quietly, so as not to disturb Billy, he went to his chest of drawers, opened the bottom one and found in there the pair of brown Adidas shorts he had worn that first summer. He had not put on any weight in the intervening years, so the shorts still fitted him – just! He knew though that as soon as he went erect the top of his prick would rise above the waistband and if anyone saw his rear they'd have an excellent view of his arse. Even more of his flesh would show than in the picture of him taken that summer in Walpole Bay that now stood on top of the chest of drawers. On one side if it was the little teddy bear he had packed when he ran way from home; on the other, the one he had won at Dreamland soon after arriving in Margate and given to Billy. He also found there the t-shirt that Billy had worn that New Year's Day. It wouldn't cover his arse now, but that didn't really matter.

He walked round to Billy's side of the bed and pulled back the sheet and blankets, exposing Billy's naked body. Fortunately Billy was lying on his back, so carefully positioning himself on his knees across Billy's legs, Chris was able to reach Billy's prick. He gently lifted it savouring its feel and its warmth before lowering his head to lick its tip. Billy murmured and moved slightly, but didn't wake. Chris started to lick downwards and in a few seconds Billy started to stir. Chris stopped and raised his head to look at Billy as his eyes began to open and start to focus. A half smile formed on his lips as he saw Chris.

"What you doing?" he mumbled.

"Waking you up."

"Mmm....you don't do this every day though."

"True, but it's a special day today."

Billy was still not fully awake, but he struggled to sit up and as he did Chris raised his own body to a more upright kneeling position.

"Strewth, you've got them shorts on! That is special," Billy said with a chuckle.

It was Chris' turn to laugh. "Yes, and I've got a long t-shirt here for you to put on."

"But it's not New Year's Day." Billy responded, knowing that each year since they had reprised their first ever joining.

"No, but it's still special and I'll tell you after if you don't know."

Billy grinned and swung his legs to the side of the bed to stand up. Chris handed him the t-shirt and Billy put it on.

"I love you Chris Martin and I want you to make love to me," Billy murmured as he ran his hands down Chris' back until they reached the waistband of the shorts.

"And I love you, Billy Martin and I want to make love to you – no buts!"

The moves were now very deeply ingrained in both of them and in a few seconds they were both on the bed and in position. Although Chris had made love to Billy hundreds of times he found each occasion every bit as special as the first had been. They knew each others bodies so well and yet each time they made love it seemed slightly different. For his part Billy sensed that for a reason he couldn't work out, today was in some way special for Chris and their love making was slow and prolonged. Eventually though they both reached a climax.

When Chris pulled out he moved up the bed to first kiss and then cuddle Billy before turning onto his side and pulling Billy close.

"You really don't know why today is special, do you?" he asked.

Billy thought for a few moments before responding.

"You mean apart from what we're gonna do later?" Chris nodded. "In that case, I'm stumped."

"It's ten years to the day since you and I met, Billy"

"Fuck me!" Billy exclaimed.

"I just did." Chris said laughing.

"Yeah, well......you could do it again if you want, but I doubt being an old man now you could manage to get it up again! Anyway, how'd you know?"

Chris sighed resignedly at Billy's comment. He was used now to him dropping in the occasional comment about him being older, it was simply part of how they were with each other.

"If we didn't have something else to do today I would, but as you're gonna have to sit in the van for a few hours, I'll take pity on your arse!" He lent over and delivered a slap to it instead, before continuing, "'Cos it was two days after me fifteenth birthday that I ran away."

"Shit! Oh, Chris, I simply hadn't realised. Gee – ten years since we met on that road. A hell of a lot has happened since then." Billy moved to hug and kiss Chris and when they moved apart there was an evident catch in his voice as he spoke again.

"You know that if you hadn't come up to me that day and put up with my brattish behaviour, I'd have been dead years ago."

"What!" Chris exclaimed, "How do you work that out?"

"You were fifteen and could prove it so you were entitled to leave home and could get a job maybe. I was fourteen, looked younger and had nothing except my wits."

"And cheek," Chris interrupted.

"Yeah, I sure had that – two down below and one in my mouth. But there was no way I could get a job. All I could've done was sell my body and sooner or later I was gonna get picked up by the cops. Then I'd have been sent back to that hell hole of an orphanage – and then I'd have topped meself rather than being raped over and over again."

Billy started to sob as he spoke; Chris hugged him tight and tried to calm him. After a couple of minutes the sobbing stopped.

"But you stood by me, stuck up for me even with George. Everything I've got I owe to you."

Chris was taken aback. He and Billy had sometimes laughed and joked about their early times together, but he had never known Billy get emotional about their lives.

"That's stupid, Billy. What you've got now is down to you. You're the one who knuckled down at school, put that brain of yours to good use, passed your exams, got into university and finally obtained your degree."

"Yeah, an' I could only do all that 'cos you were working to provide the money to support me."

"Stuff it, Billy. I did that because I wanted to – because I love you. Now, you're earning good money and I'll soon be able to retire and be a kept man, which was my plan all along."

Chris hoped he had managed to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, I know you love me and that was why I was so glad you and George were there to see me receive my degree." Billy hesitated before he spoke again. "I've never told you this before because I was ashamed I could even think it, but a couple of days before the ceremony the thought occurred to me that it would be a pity my parents wouldn't be there to see it. But then I realised that if they hadn't died I wouldn't be receiving a degree – even worse, I'd never have met you or George. So perhaps there was a reason they died and perhaps they'd anyway be looking down on me as I walked up to get that scroll."

Now as Billy started to cry again Chris knew he hadn't succeeded in lightening Billy's mood. For Chris the absence of his parents had never been a problem. He'd never known his father – indeed on his birth certificate the space where the name of his father should appear was blank. As for his mother, he'd rarely thought about her since he'd run away from home. For him that day marked the start of his life. He could see though that for Billy it would be different; he'd had parents who loved him and who'd suddenly been taken away from him when they'd died in that car crash. He was bound to think from time to time of what might have happened in his life had they not been killed.

Indeed George had promised Billy he would take him to visit his parent's grave in 1966. The visit was arranged for a day as close as possible to the date of their death. Every year since Billy had returned for an annual visit, for the first few years with George, but once he had started at university, on his own. Since leaving university Chris had gone with him. Chris had noticed that on the outward journey Billy was always quiet, so unlike him, but once they left the cemetery the normal Billy returned as if a cloak had been lifted from his shoulders.

Chris hugged Billy tight and tried to calm him, eventually succeeding.

"I'm sorry, Chris," he whispered. "I'll be alright now. We need to get dressed, have some breakfast and then set off."

"You're right, we should get moving."

Chris went to get out of bed, but Billy stopped him by grabbing his arm before looking at him with a grin. "Thanks for taking pity on me arse tho' – them seats in that van of yours ain't the most comfy."

Chris could tell by the way he'd intentionally lapsed back into his old way of speaking, that Billy was back to normal. His van had always been a source of amusement for Billy ever since the day he'd come home from work and found it parked outside. He'd come into the house and found Chris sat at the kitchen table,

"Hey, you'd never believe it Chris," he'd said, "but there's one of those white Renault vans parked outside the house. You know like the one we bought our ice cream from when we were first with George."

"I do believe it Billy, because I just bought it."

"What! You bought that? Oh gawd." Billy burst out laughing.

"I needed something bigger for work than the little one and I just happened to see this on the forecourt of the dealer. Took it for a test drive and it ran well, so I bought it."

Billy managed to stop laughing long enough to ask, "So are you going to change the name of the business?"

Chris looked perplexed. His old van had simply had his name, phone number and the fact that he was a plumber and decorator written on the side panels. He was intending to get this one painted the same.

"Why should I change it – and what to?"

Billy could hardly manage to stop laughing long enough to say, "99 Plumbers – what else?"

That started Chris laughing, bringing back the memory of when he'd first bought a couple of '99 ' ice creams for himself and Billy from such a van – and the memory of what that had led to came flooding back.

"I haven't got any of those Billy, but if you want to go upstairs and get out of your suit, we can do what came next."

Billy needed no second invitation and almost ran upstairs with Chris following at a slightly more leisurely pace.

Now homosexual acts between consenting adults were legal. Indeed they had been since 1967, provided those involved were over the age of 21. That had meant that until 1972 when Billy reached that age, everything they did together had been illegal. Throughout that time they'd always ensured their love making was confined to their bedroom in George's house, but even now they tried to keep their private life exactly that – private.

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Together they went into the bathroom, had a fairly quick shower, dressed and came down stairs to have some breakfast. Once that had been eaten Billy did the washing up – a job he always insisted on carrying out. Having ensured that the cats were provided for they went out and got into the van.

The drive to Margate would take about three hours, but they were in no great hurry. George had insisted he was going to cook a roast dinner for them, even though it was Saturday, so provided they were there before one o'clock there would not be a problem. They'd also agreed to spend the night there, although they weren't over keen about leaving the cats on their own for over twenty fours hours. However, it made sense as they could take George to the cemetery in the afternoon which otherwise wouldn't be possible.

They'd also get to spend one last night in the bed where they'd first made love, because they'd managed to persuade George to come and live with them. He'd started to suffer over the last couple of years from the wounds he'd received during the war. It had got to the point where he'd decided to take a retirement package offer from the Council and had realised that once he'd stopped working he'd have little to occupy his days. He'd much enjoyed his job on the putting green, meeting new people and children all the time as the holidaymakers were only there for a week or two. In earlier times the same ones would come back in successive years, but now that cheap holidays to Spain and such sunny parts were very much in fashion, that happened far less.

It had still taken quite a bit of persuasion from the pair before he'd eventually agreed to come and live with them - 'I'll give it a try', he'd said. At that point Billy had reminded him of the house rules 'No drinking,no smoking; come home drunk and you get your backside tanned – the first time; do it again and you're out!'. They'd all had a good chuckle about that.

Chris had assured him that they'd take him back to Margate as often as he liked, or he could go on his own by train if he wanted. Chris suspected though that George would almost certainly only want to go back once or twice a year. Probably on the anniversary of his wife's death and certainly for the Remembrance Day Parade. Ever since Chris and Billy had first gone to it in 1965 after they'd moved in to live with George, they had always attended it with him, except for Billy when he had been at university.

Tomorrow Bill Rodgers, Chris' old employer and who had served with George in the East Kent Regiment, had offered to drive George to Brighton. The pair would load the van with whatever George decided to bring with him. He would have a reasonably sized double bedroom in their house to call his own and into which some of his furniture and bits and pieces would fit. Most of it though would simply be cleared when the house was put on the market next week.

Chris knew he'd also have to get a car fairly soon, although he and Billy never seemed to want to stray far from home. In the summer there was the beach, admittedly unpleasantly pebble unlike Cliftonville's sand; or sometimes the pitch and putt course out near Roedean School; or perhaps Preston Park. Sometimes they'd drive up onto the South Downs for a good walk, hand in hand. Brighton had a very good bus service so George wouldn't be confined to the house during the day. However, a car opened up possibilities and while they didn't have a lot of money his business was doing quite well and Billy was starting to earn reasonable money from his job in London. Chris felt sure he could buy something reasonably priced and do some work on it himself, as besides his plumbing abilities he was also fairly good with things mechanical.

As they drove along the dual carriageway of the Thanet Way, with Margate now only a few miles away, both of them were contemplating how much had changed in their lives since they were first driven along it that night in the cab of a cattle truck. Now was their chance to give something back to George for the chance he had given them.