A Time to Blossom

Wednesday. “It’s the werewolves you have to worry about…”

“Pass me a tea-towel, Craig, I’ll dry those breakfast pots as you wash them.”

“Here you go, dad.”

“Where’s Nathan? He seemed to disappear right after breakfast.”

“Gran’s nabbed him, dad. She’s had an email about that silver thing that Nat and Jackie – the student Nat was helping on the dig – found. He’s gone to read it with her. Seems it was more important than they realised. Something to do with an isotope analysis and the origins of the silver. Gran says it looks like it is Byzantine in origin. That’s from the second Roman Empire, the bit that survived. Apparently, they even had Viking guards there.”

“It’s good you’re helping out so much, I’m sure your gran really appreciates you giving a hand with all the cooking and the clearing up afterwards.”

“I know, dad. It’s the least I can do considering how welcome gran and grandad have made Nat. He loves it here. It’s just a shame Jake and his friends weren’t so nice to Nat. Jake was really trying to hit him with those bouncers.”

“You can’t be sure of that, Craig, he was maybe just really determined to win the game.”

“Dad, it was obvious. He was trying to hurt Nat. You know it. It’s so unfair. Nat never did anything to him. Everybody else has been really nice to Nat, so why did Jake have to be so mean?”

“Okay, maybe you’re right Craig. But perhaps it wasn’t personal. Just he was trying to show off in front of his friends maybe? Perhaps he felt that you and Nat being gay might look bad on him, call into question his sexuality too, so he acted tough to try and counter that. I don’t know the real answer, Craig, maybe even Jake himself doesn’t, but I was proud of the way you handled it. And of how you protected Nathan by taking strike and facing Jake’s bowling yourself instead of letting Nathan have to deal with it.”

“Yeah, well, I couldn’t leave him to face those bouncers. Did you see how he handled the bat? Just swung it like he was playing baseball. Jake would have battered him to bits given half a chance.”

“Maybe, but as I said, I’m proud of you. It was a good thing to do.”

“Bowling me out with a Yorker wasn’t a good thing to do, dad. We were even looking like we might have had a chance of winning the match.”

“I know you were, so that’s exactly why it was a good thing to do. You were playing for the enemy team, remember? Needed sending back to the pavilion pronto. Can’t have you upstaging me and causing the village to lose. You might have overtaken my score…”

“I will next year, dad.”

“Oh, Craig! Mark! How old are you two? Can’t you do anything sensibly? Why are you flicking soap suds at each other?”

“Oh, hi mum, didn’t see you come in.”

“Clearly.”

“Dad started it…”

“Did not…”

“Shut up, dad, we aren’t going to win this… Sorry mum. Aren’t we, dad?”

“I’ll be glad when you two pack the car and disappear for the next couple of days on your camping trip. It’ll be so quiet around here when you’re gone.”

“You’ll miss us, mum.”

* * *

“This camping site and sports centre is brilliant, Nat. We love coming here, don’t we dad? Jump out, Nat, and I’ll show you round whilst dad books us in. We’re okay to go round exploring for a few minutes aren’t we, dad?”

“What Craig means, Nat, is you two go off and enjoy yourselves for half an hour whilst I go over to the site office, fill in the paperwork and pay. Craig learned that vanishing trick a long time ago…”

Nat smiled and followed Craig out of the car.

“Come on, Nat, keep up. I want to show you the start of the mountain biking trails. They have a map of the routes on a board right over here, then we can go look at the kayaking over in the river, then come back here, unpack some stuff from the car and start a barbeque over by those picnic benches. The weather’s perfect for it and I’m starving. We’re going to have a brilliant couple of days, Nat.”

* * *

“You two look like a pair of wolves eyeing up at that last sausage and burger,” laughed Craig’s dad as they sat at one of the picnic tables in the barbeque area later that afternoon. “I almost expect you to start snarling at each other.”

“Nat probably will, dad,” smiled Craig, edging closer to the barbeque, “We were all convinced at college that he’s some form of werewolf – vampire cross breed. Have you seen how he just appears out of nowhere?”

Nat grinned. “Go on, Craig, you can have the last burger if you let me have the last sausage.”

“It’s a deal, Nat. Chuck me the breadcakes and I’ll make them up for us.”

“Don’t I get a say in this?” asked Craig’s dad. “I might still be hungry too.”

“Too slow, dad. Me and Nat have these covered off. Besides, I’m sure you sneaked an extra sausage and a rasher of bacon when you were cooking them.”

“Did not!

“Did too! Didn’t he, Nat?”

“Err, probably best for me not to say, Boots. I’m relying on your dad to take me back to the airport in a few days, so I think I’ll stay neutral on this one.”

“Traitor!”

“Anyway,” said Craig’s dad, slyly sliding the last burger from Craig’s plate as Craig turned away momentarily to make Nat’s sausage sandwich, “You have to agree it was better to go and show Nat how to right a kayak and do some basic white-water training straight after we got here, whilst the sun was hottest, rather than picnicking right away. Made best use of the day, and you appreciate the food all the more for it now that you’re hungry.”

“I can’t believe how cold and clear that river water is,” said Nat. “It was like ice.”

“It’s released from a reservoir up in the hills, Nat,” said Craig’s dad, “They release a few million gallons every thirty minutes when the sports centre is in operation. It provides great white water kayaking and rafting but, just as importantly, it simulates a spring melt race, scouring away detritus from the river course. It’s better ecologically than the usual gradual slow release they do from most dams and reservoirs.”

“Here, Nat, have the last sausage sandwich,” said Craig, turning back to face Nat. “It’ll soon help warm you up, especially if you put a splodge of mustard on it. There’s a display up at the reservoir’s Visitor Centre telling you all about the ecology of the park. We can probably go and look at it tomorrow, it’s on one of the mountain bike trails.” Craig paused for a moment, looking at his empty plate. “Hey, where’s my burger gone?”

“Too slow, son,” grinned Craig’s dad, leaping up from the table and starting to run away waving the burger at Craig, “I’ve got this covered off!”

* * *

“Your dad’s fit, Boots,” gasped Nat to Craig as the three of them raced back into the camp site on their mountain bikes just before seven pm that evening. “It was a real struggle to keep up with him all afternoon.”

Craig grinned. “He was giving you an easy time too, Nat. If you hadn’t been here, he’d really have pushed the pace, trying to grind me into the dust. Still, he won’t be able to keep it up for much longer. I’ll beat him next year. He’ll be past it then, it’s his 39th birthday soon. Once he hits 40 he’ll be done for.”

“Cheeky runt! I heard that, you two. Want to turn around and race back up to the top of the Gold Trail?”

“Err, no, we’re good, Sir, Aren’t we, Craig?”

“Yeah, wouldn’t want to wear you out, dad, we’re just starting to get into our stride. Besides, I can smell the fish and chips over at the café. We’d miss them if we had another ride, the café shuts in an hour. Just time for us to get the bikes cleaned down, shower off, change into some decent clothes and grab dinner.”

“Sounds like a plan, son.”

“Tell you what, dad. You go straight and get a shower and change, then head over to the café and order the food, make sure we don’t miss out. Me and Nat will clean your bike down alongside ours, then catch up with you. Good tactics?”

“Good tactics, son.”

* * *

“So, Nathan,” asked Craig’s dad as they lounged back in their chairs after finishing their fish and chips, “What was the news this morning about the hacksilver you helped find? Craig’s gran seemed most enthused about it.”

Nat smiled and took a sip of his coffee, clearly eager to add a few seconds of tension to his audience before replying. “The results from the scientific analysis, which measured something called isotopes..,”

“That’s mass spectrometry, dad,” interjected Craig, “Measuring the ratios of different atomic masses and giving a digital fingerprint of the origins of the metal from which…”

“Craig,” interrupted his dad, “Let Nathan finish. I was asking him…”

Nathan flashed a smirk at Craig, then continued. “Well, it seems that the silver probably wasn’t originally from England, or even Scandinavia. The designs and stuff engraved on it were typical Viking designs from Scandinavia but the, err, isotope fingerprint, indicated it came from the east, round the Black Sea area. So, the thinking is that it was traded from Byzantium all the way across Europe to York. Jorvic as it was then known. Apparently, the Vikings had real good trade routes and even a settlement in Byzantium. They provided guards to the Byzantine Emperor too – the Varangian Legion. It's amazing to think that the piece of silver I helped dig up might have started out over a thousand years ago as some jewellery worn by a Byzantine prince or a noble lord.”

“It must be quite a significant find for it to have been sent for analysis so quickly,” said Craig’s dad. “Usually finds get sealed in a bag and not analysed in detail until the dig is over and covered in.”

“It’s easy enough to spot and dig up a lump of shiny silver,” said Craig, “But the real skill is in digging up something that isn’t there, like a ghost hole…”

“Okay, Boots,” laughed Nat, “I’ll give you that one. You keep your invisible hole and I’ll keep the silver…” Nat paused a second. “What will happen to the silver?”

“It’ll go to a Coroner’s Court, probably,” said Craig. “Gran was telling us about them once. It’ll likely get declared ‘Treasure Trove’ and then museums get the opportunity to buy it and put it on display. York Museum will probably want it. You and Jackie might even get identified as the finders on a label alongside it.”

“’The Bauer Byzantium Bullion Hoard’. Has a certain ring to it, don’t you think?” grinned Craig’s dad.

“I might actually get my name linked to it in a museum?” asked Nat, his eyes widening.

“Might do,” said Craig. “I know you were working on a proper archaeological dig, and just a beginner, and being supervised, but Gran will probably let you and Jackie take the credit for it.”

“Come on, Indiana,” laughed Craig’s dad. “Let’s head back to the car and you and Craig can grab your back packs if you are still intent on sleeping out in the forest overnight. You’ve still got about an hour of daylight left to find somewhere and set up your camp. I’ll have a nice cosy night without you down here in the cabin, well away from the mountain lions…”

“You heard about the mountain lions, dad?” laughed Craig. “The ones at Travis’s farm?”

Nathan laughed too. “It was actually only a badger that woke them, and it ran away even more scared of them, but every time the story gets told it grows bigger and better.”

“It’s werewolves you have to worry about round here, Nat,” said Craig, “But then since you probably are one already, I guess they’ll extend you some professional courtesy and leave us alone.”

* * *

Gov. Bauer: “Hi, Mark, thanks for getting back to me. There was no great urgency, I just wanted to confirm the flight details for Nat’s return. He was so busy telling me about the great time he’s having over there with Craig that we clean forgot to talk about the main reason I called him last night.”

Col. Wright: “No problem, everything is sorted. He’ll be on the flight as planned. Assuming the werewolves don’t get him – they’re camping out tonight in the forest. Only a few hundred yards away though. I’m pretty sure they’ll be back like greased lightning the moment it’s time for breakfast.”

Gov. Bauer: “So, how are things between the two of them? In your opinion?”

Col. Wright: “Oh, Craig’s easy enough to read, he’s a pretty open book on an emotional level. I was going to say he’s still smitten by Nathan but, in all honesty, it’s deeper than that. I think Craig’s genuinely in love. With Nathan, I’m not so sure. He’s harder to read. He definitely likes Craig, no doubt about it, but he keeps his emotions a little closer to his chest. Plus there’s a lot of rivalry between them, both of them trying to out-do each other all the time, trying to establish who is the alpha male. Makes it harder to see the underlying dynamic, especially with Nathan.”

Gov. Bauer: “Yeah, I was hearing of some of their escapades last night. You know, it was the first time I can recall us talking for so long, just father to son, and not either talking politics or locking heads about his future. He’s really enjoying himself over there. Craig’s good for him. Whether it’s just friendship between them, or something more. I guess we’ll find out more about their feelings for each other once they’re parted again. Either this week will have given them the opportunity to get to know each other better, and over an infatuation, or will help them decide they’re more serious than that. I don’t mind whichever way it turns out. I think we’ve done the right thing letting them get back together for a while, especially away from college and the pressures Nat is usually under back here.”

Col Wright: “I’m just a little worried that if things fizzle out, Craig will feel much more hurt than Nathan.”

Gov. Bauer: “Don’t judge Nat too harshly, Mark. I know he can be stubborn and you’re right, he plays his cards close to his chest on an emotional level, but he’s not a bad kid. He won’t deliberately hurt Craig, and I’m pretty sure he’s not using Craig to get at me. I think he genuinely does have feelings for Craig. He’s just not so open at expressing them. But whatever happens, I want to thank you for giving him the opportunity of just being a teenage boy for a while.