The Boys and the Traveler

The Boys and the Traveller Part 6

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

But their goal for the time, Glasgow, being brought nothing. They had been delayed so much by the horse’s illness that when they finally arrived all the jobs had been 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 far to the west.

“No wonder, who wants to work there?” the man asked jokingly. Indeed, even for Scottish conditions it seemed 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 a 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 uneasy. For years he had driven the horse himself. But now Kyle had taken 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 specific way. Although he had the reins in his hands, he never used them. It looked as if he had an invisible means of communication 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 also felt a bit useless and was bored by just sitting on the stand without anything to do.

A lack of money forced to them to make a short stop on the shores of Loch Lomond and to look for a job as a day-labourer. 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 glorious 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 shoreline. The sun reflected in the water and the only sounds were the singing of the birds and the humming of a few early insects.

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 insecure about doing that. Even if there was nobody around, he found it a bit too risky.

But after a short while the thought reappeared. It must be delightful to let the sun burn on his naked skin, so..why not? Giddily he looked around…nobody was seen. An 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 drove 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 the birds, 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 should be coming 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 imagination 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 see 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”

The man looked up pleasantly surprised.

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

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

“You 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 was tensed. 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 you cut your fingers off you are finished as a wood carver”.

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 putted 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?

With a scathing look in his eyes he blustered:

“You live in sin!”

Collin wasn’t impressed that fast and quietly answered:

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

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:

“You live in sin!”

“You said that before, vicar”, Collin answered still quietly. But his tone changed. Although remaining perfectly polite its tenor got ice cold. “Maybe you care to tell us about which sin we are talking? Definitely not drinking tea, is it?”

“You know that all too well” was the only reply.

“Not exactly” Collin replied.

“You..you three…you live in ….pederasty and sodomy”. The last words were spitted out as if they were the gruesome words the man had available in his whole vocabulary.

“Do you happen to have any proof of this, vicar?” Collin asked.

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

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

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

“In the first place I repeat my request for proof of this accusation. But more important is my second question: can you 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 traveler have the courage to pose a theological question to him, the vicar. Self-complacent he answered with a shrewd smile:

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

Collin smile 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 you and your church claim that it contains the foundation of all you 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 and some eternal curses and leave them in confusion and bewilderment. Like he always threw around positions over his ignorant congregation, who accepted it as the Word of God because he, the vicar, had said it. But Collin didn’t let him off the hook yet and continued:

“By the way, vicar, did you 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 have seen steam coming from 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 trickle of it in my house of God. I never want to see you in my church again”.

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

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

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

“What was that?” both boys asked at the same time.

Collin shook his head.

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

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

“Sorry, men…I have to fire you” 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.

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

“But why are we fired than?” asked Jamie excited.

“Sorry, lad”, the man answered, “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 you”

“But you can’t do this” cried an outraged Jamie, “We work for you, not for that vicar”

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

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

The man nodded 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 you including today and in case you need it: I have a recommendation letter for you. It really wasn’t your fault!”.

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

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 as 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 with Jamie. But on the other hand there was also a feeling of desperation.

“He can’t do that” Jamie fumed, “We did our work good, 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 travelers, 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 you can expect this. You 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 you 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 you think this is beyond civilization than wait and see till you get in that hell hole. Anyway, it is a damned long way to travel!”

His 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.

The stopped and waited for what might come.

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

Jamie started to protest, but Collin cut him off.

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

“I have no idea, but if the vicar wants that than it is my duty to care of that. 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 him self.

“Why didn’t you protest?” asked Jamie excited.

“Because the problems would really start then!” Collin replied with a sigh.

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 better times.