The Travellers - 6. Chapter 6 On the Bonny, Bonny Shores...

In which the couple and Kyle (so by now a menage à trois) moves to the west and in which Jamie has a wonderful daydream but also has his negative maiden experiences with a vicious form of discrimination.

There was no police constable the next morning to throw Jamie in jail. It seemed, that the laird had forgotten the whole incident for very convenient reasons. So they packed up, put Rover before the wagon and off they went.

But their goal for the time being, Glasgow, brought nothing. They had been delayed so much by the horse’s illness that, once they finally arrived, all the jobs were gone. But the kind contractor had a tip for them: an organ builder from around the area had huge problems in finding qualified wood carvers for a job further to the west, in some village along the coast.

“No wonder, who wants to work there?” the man asked jokingly. Indeed, even for Scottish conditions it seemed far beyond civilization.

They travelled along a narrow, quiet road, meeting almost nobody. They only encountered a single crofter with a donkey and to their astonishment they even saw an automobile. Even Collin was dumbfounded, despite his older age and the fact that he had seen more than the boys. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he gazed at the contraption that rolled along the road puffing without a horse or donkey pulling it.

But for most part of the journey he felt pretty uneasy. For years he had driven the horse himself. But now Kyle had taken over this responsibility. Collin freely admitted that the boy was very skilled at it. In admiration he looked how the boy controlled the horse in a very peculiar way. Although he had the reins in his hands, he never used them. It looked like he had an invisible means of communicating with the horse, transferring his commands to the animal by sheer thought and so every now and then a slight whisper. It was fascinating to look at, but on the other hand he felt a bit useless as well and was bored by just sitting on the stand without anything to do.

A lack of money forced them to make a short stop on the shores of Loch Lomond and look for a job as a day-laborer. The timing was perfect for that: in the spring a lot of them were wanted in a country where there are more sheep than men. It was the obvious job for the season: shearing. Collin and Kyle went searching for one, while Jamie, totally unfamiliar with sheep, stayed at the camp, looking after the horse and their little dog.

It was a beautiful spring day, hot and sunny. For normal weather conditions on the Scottish west coast it might even be called an extremely glorious day. Their camp was in a crop of trees, directly at the Loch Lomond shoreline. The sun reflected in the water and the only sounds were those produced by nature.

Jamie lied down in the high grass at the waterside and enjoyed the lovely weather. For a moment he considered undressing himself, but he felt pretty uncertain about doing that. Even when there was nobody around, he found it a bit too risky.

But after a short while the thought reappeared. It had to be delightful to let the sun burn on his naked skin, so why not? Giddily he looked around…nobody was to be seen. And even better, no one could spot him behind the tree crop.

He undressed and lied naked in the grass in a few minutes. He enjoyed it enormously and gradually he dozed off.

“How lovely would it be if Kyle was here too”, he thought in his dreamlike mood. Slowly his mind wandered off in a day dream.

He almost felt Kyle’s hands touching and stroking the skin of his breast, his belly, his upper legs, his groin and then finally his love javelin. how they kissed each other on any place that could be reached by their lips. And he? He would do the same for his love! He would relish every square inch of his skin with his tongue and his fingertips. He would be intoxicated by Kyle’s body scent and they would share their bodily warmth to make each other hotter than before. There was no need for words. The only sounds were excited singing of the ascending larks, the humming of the insects and the sloshing of the water on the rocks.

In his dream they flogged each other up to ever higher spheres of blessedness. The longing increased more and more, until the sheer feeling of it was barely unbearable.

Even in his dream there had to be a climax, the almost unavoidable moment that he was received by Kyle. He really had no idea how it felt to be inside another man. He had never done it before. But he was convinced that it was warm, soft and an unimaginable nirvana. He imagined how his loving sword would enter respectfully and how they would achieve the total intimate amalgamation of mind, heart and flesh.

“Mmmmmm…” he moaned softly without being aware of it.

The most gorgeous phantasy was, that he would enter Kyle totally until he disappeared from the earth, with as only goal radiating his love inside the other boy’s body. But the beauty of the moment would increase to an absolutely glorious splendor if Collin would be there as well. He would be received by Kyle and at the same time receive Collin, coming to the union of three people in their mutual bond of love. He wasn’t only seeing it happening in his mind, he really felt and experienced every second of it. It brought him on the edge of explosion, feeling how the tip of his sword was agitated to the extreme.

He awoke suddenly from his reverie when warm blots landed on his belly. He looked up in horror and saw great white spots all over his belly and chest.

“Oh, damned!” he muttered.

He took his blouse, dipped it in the cold water and started to clean up the mess. Then he took his clothes and walked naked to the wagon. He dressed, taking a clean blouse. He had just finished when he heard Collin’s voice:

“Jamie…I’m back!!”

At least the long voyage to the village in the west was successful. When Collin applied for the job with the organ builder the man only said:

“Only one? Do you happen to know someone else who wants to work here?”

Without thinking Collin replied: “I can take my apprentice with me”.

Pleasantly surprised the man looked up.

“Well “, Collin continued, “he is not fully qualified, but he can do a lot of things by himself under me tuition”

“Aye! Do so, finally a problem solved. I hire the both of ye”.

“Ye bet,” Collin thought with a smile, “At least now two of us earn money instead of one”

The next morning they started working on the organ cases. Jamie felt tense. He had to prove now that he had learned something of this delicate and difficult trade. But every time his teacher came along to see what the boy was doing, he smiled contently. So every now and then he gave some small advice:

“Don’t hit too hard, you might splice the wood. It better takes a little longer than starting all over again. And be careful with that chisel. If ye cut yer fingers off ye are finished as a wood carver”.

Jamie heeded the warning: he had no intention to finish as a wood carver, since he really started to love the trade, he was learning. The boy’s self-confidence grew and grew and he started to enjoy himself enormously, when he tried out things that his teacher hadn’t kept for possible yet.

Yes, they were tired when they returned to their camp at evening. But every night Jamie could put his head on his pillow with a satisfied and content feeling.

Spring got stronger and the sun shone brighter and brighter. On a beautiful evening the three of them enjoyed the weather in front of their wagon, having a cup of tea and chatting about the work and all kinds of other small things.

Suddenly Kyle said:

“Look who is coming!”

The other two gazed in the direction of his pointing finger. To their surprise a vicar in a long black robe came through the crop of trees, holding a bicycle at his hand. With hot-tempered pace he came in their direction and placed the bike against a tree. He continued his way, still with angry stride until he stopped a few yards from their small camping fire. He put his fisted hands in his sides and it appeared as if he was inflating himself in an effort to gain importance for this occasion…as if he were the self-appointed magistrate of some court. Or was it the Inquisition?

Without any introduction as to who he was and with a scathing look in his eyes he blustered:

“Ye live in sin!”

Collin wasn’t impressed that fast and quietly answered:

“Yes, good evening, vicar. So, what can I do for ye?”

This was a reaction the man hadn’t anticipated. For a moment he looked as if he had no idea how to carry on but he restored himself, blew himself up again to still ever larger proportions of importance and roared again:

“Ye live in sin!”

“Ye said that before, vicar”, Collin answered still quietly. But his tone changed. Although remaining perfectly polite its tenor got ice cold.

“Maybe ye care to tell us about which sin we are talking? Definitely not drinking tea, is it?”

“Ye know that all too well”, was the vague reply.

“Not exactly”, Collin answered.

“Ye...ye three…ye live in …pederasty and sodomy”.

The last words were spitted out as if they were the most gruesome words the man had available in his whole vocabulary.

“Do ye happen to have any proof of this, vicar?” Collin asked, holding his voice even, the only trace of anger being the increasing frostiness of it.

The man kept silent, looking around if he was searching for help.

“No, I thought so. Unless ye were in our wagon tonight. But I didn’t notice any unwelcome visitors then. Allow me to ask ye a question, vicar”.

The vicar gave no answer, but nevertheless Collin posed his question:

“In the first place I repeat me request for proof of this accusation. But more important is me second question: can ye name me a reference in the Gospel that condemns the love between men?”

The vicar’s eyes glittered with relief. Now he was on familiar ground. How did this Goddamned illiterate traveller have the courage to pose a theological question to him, the vicar. Self-complacent he answered with a shrewd smile:

“Aye, in the book Levites. It says that the fleshly intercourse between men must be punished by death!”

Collin smiled affable and shook his head.

“That is right, vicar. But I asked for a reference in the Gospel, or maybe more exactly The Life and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ, the book on which ye and yer church claim that it contains the foundation of all ye teach. Levites is from the Old Testament”.

The vicar became uncertain of himself…this is not what he had bargained for. He had thought to bluster in with these illiterate travelers, gave them a lecture on true Christian morality and some eternal curses and leave them in confusion and bewilderment. Like he always used to throw around positions over his ignorant congregation, who accepted it as the Word of God because he, the vicar, had said so. But Collin didn’t let him off the hook yet and continued:

“By the way, vicar, did ye notice that the Old Testament contradicts itself on this subject? In the second book Prophets, David says of King Saul: ‘He loved me with an intensity that surpasses the intensity of any woman’s love’”

The man’s head went read with anger. It was as if his eyes would be launched from their sockets. With some fantasy they could see vapor coming out of his ears.

With a distorted face, that showed a mixture of revulsion, hate and anger, he hissed:

“I will never accept a cesspool of perdition and not even a mere trickle of it in me house of God. I never want to see ye in me church again!”

Thinking that the man meant the Sunday services, Collin shrugged his shoulders laconically and said:

“Don’t ye worry about a thing, vicar. I had no intention whatsoever of going there!”

The man recomposed himself and his final verdict came in a hissing voice:

“Be warned: ye fate in eternity will be unbelievably terrible. For yer kind of people hell burns more fiercely than for other sinners!”

Despite his increasing anger with the pompous man Collin replied light-heartily:

“Oh well, at least I won’t suffer of cold then!”

The man turned around, took his bicycle and marched away without looking back to the three.

“What was that?” both boys asked in unison.

Collin shook his head.

“Get used to it, laddies,” he sighed, “just get used to it!”

The next morning Collin and Jamie entered the church to go back to work when the organ builder was waiting for them.

“Sorry, men…I have to fire ye”, he said in an apologetic way.

Collin looked at him. Being thrown out by a mad and furious boss had happened to him before, but thrown out by a boss who sounded apologetic…no…never!

“What did we do? Or what didn’t we do?” he asked in a neutral voice.

“Ye did everything just fine!” was the answer.

“But why are we fired then?” Jamie cried out indignantly

“Sorry, lad”, the man answered with a deep sigh, “the vicar wants it!”

“Oh, that one!” was Collin’s only reaction.

“He doesn’t want you in his church, so I have to fire ye”.

“But you can’t do this” cried a by now outraged Jamie, “We work for you, not for that vicar”.

The man nodded:

“Ye’re right, lad. Ye work for me, but I work for the vicar and his presbyters. And if they want ye to stay out of this church, then I will have to let ye go. I don’t like the idea either, but that is how things stand at the moment”.

“Did that vicar say why he wants us out of here?” Collin asked.

The man shook his head.

“No, but he certainly was in a rage”, he added.

“Yeah,” sighed Collin, “I guess the gentleman wants to compensate his own incapability and wants to augment his position as the moral beacon for the congregation”.

“I don’t know” the organ builder groaned, “I’ll pay ye including today and in case you need it: I have a recommendation letter for ye. It really wasn’t yer fault!”

“Oh well”, Collin said, “at least that is something”.

They got their money and the letter. Just as the man wanted to shake hands, he thought of something:

“Go in the direction of Skye. A colleague of mine has just started to build an organ there and he is having the same problems like me: finding good wood carvers for the cases”

He turned around and walked away shaking his head. Now he had to find two other wood carvers to get on with the job. Maybe the bright vicar had an answer to that question as well.

They went back to the camp with mixed feelings. First of all, there was anger, especially in Jamie. But on the other hand, there was also a feeling of desperation.

“He can’t do that”, Jamie fumed, “We did our work all right, we didn’t steal anything. So how can he throw us out just like that? It’s not fair!”

Collin shook his head. A sad smile came over his face.

“It can, sweet laddie. This is how society treats people like us. First of all, they don’t see us as craftsmen or artisans, but just as travellers, as scum. That alone is enough to be treated this way. But they also think we threaten their moral values, of what is allowed and what is not allowed, because we are homosexual. They see us as people who disobey the commands of God. And if the village vicar is a moralizer, ye can expect this. Ye can even expect more problems if such a vicar plants the seeds of his hate on the fertile ground of his congregation. In that way even the grocer might refuse to sell ye his groceries. It’s like I said yesterday: get used to it!”

His mood improved and he continued:

“At least we know where we have to go for another job: Skye. If ye think this is beyond civilization then wait and see till ye get in that hell hole. Anyway, it is a damned long way to travel!”

His moderately high spirits were short lived. A police constable walked towards them with the authority, that only a local guardian of law and order could display.

“Good morning, men, a word please?” he said in an arrogant way, making it not a question but a direct order.

They stopped and waited for what might come.

“The vicar wants you two out of this town”.

Jamie started to protest, but when the policeman casted a threatening look full of disdain on him, Collin cut him off.

“And why does the vicar wants that, constable?” he asked.

“I have no idea, but if the vicar desires that, than it is my duty to take care of it. So I suggest you pack up and leave”.

“No problem, constable,” Collin sighed, “we were just planning to do so”.

Without another word the man turned around and walked away, clearly satisfied with his results.

“Why didn’t you protest?” a furious Jamie almost yelled.

“Because then the problems would really start!” Collin replied with a deep, despondent groan.

They returned to the camp where they started to load things up. Rover was hitched in again and they left, looking for new chances and hopefully better times.