| The Jack And Danny Chronicles part twenty Author: Cat The Fellowship Of The Bike Book 3: THE TWO TOPS |
| One brat who breaks all rules, one top sworn to find him Two tops to seek them out, in the binding Whitby darkness (Oh come on, make an effort to work with me here! It’s not that bad a parody) |
| Dennis glanced up at the pub sign that was creaking ominously in the wind; this was it, The Gravedigger’s Arms. He sighed, both relieved and tense, relieved at the prospect of seeing his wife again, and tense at what the future held for them both. He refused to even entertain the thought that he would lose her. He didn’t have enough information to speculate about possible outcomes, and he wasn’t a man to make assumptions without first seeing all relevant facts. He was realistic though; he knew they faced some difficult days ahead. He just wanted to take her home, so they could then talk and he could help her plan. He knew her flight would have been pure angry impulse. That was Alison, react now, and think later. She had always had a propensity to explode like an unshelled egg in a microwave. It was like she needed that explosion of energy to clear her mind before she was able to think more rationally. She was perpetually angry, with the world and with herself. She always wanted to fight her corner, even when no one was challenging her for it. He also knew that anger, in her case, was almost always a cover for fear, and more than anything, he hated for her to be frightened. Jack shivered, and not just because it was pitch dark and bitter cold, the air thickening with a promise of frost. He was still shocky, and who could blame him, anyone would be, after apparently hearing their lover plunge to their death. He had vomited, he had actually leaned against Dennis’s car and retched, literally sick with fear. None of his friends, besides Dennis, could understand what he saw in Danny, or why he wanted to be with someone who seemed to leave a trail of chaos wherever he went. He didn’t give a damn for their opinion. They would never know Danny the way he did. They would never see the seam of radiant, beautiful innocence that ran through him, because it wasn’t theirs to see, it was his, and his alone. They would never know how he felt when he woke up on a morning to find Danny lying beside him, or how he felt as he watched and listened to him talk, really talk about his life, his dreams, his feelings. Nor could they ever know how he felt, as in turn, Danny watched, and listened to him, encouraging him to explore thoughts and emotions that his family background had demanded he cover up. Danny actually gave him permission to be himself and he made him laugh, more than that, he had taught him ‘how’ to laugh. He had made him come alive, and it all added to why he loved him so much. He couldn’t wait to see him and to confirm that he really was safe and sound. “Come on Jack,” taking a deep breath, Dennis pushed open the pub door. “Let’s go collect our respective troubles and get home I’ve had enough excitement for one day.” * * * “WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THEY WERE HERE, BUT THEY’VE GONE, WHERE DID THEY GO, WHO WITH, WHEN?” “Steady Jack, sit down…no don’t try to speak. Just breathe into the brown paper bag, you’ll be fine, deep breaths, that’s it, nice and slow. We’ll find them, don’t you worry, that’s it, slow breaths, your colour is coming back now.” “I’m telling you Den,” Jack ceased his impersonation of Darth Vadar and emerged from his brown paper bag for a second. “When I lay hands on that padawan of mine, he’ll wish childbirth had been reversible and his mother had contracted her pelvic floor before his umbilical cord was cut and sucked him back from whence he came.” Den grinned, “I thought you said a seam of radiant beautiful innocence ran through him?” “I was obviously delirious with shock. Why can he never do as he’s told, why must he always do the exact opposite?” “It’s a mystery I’ve never solved Jack. Come on,” Den stood up, “once more into the breach dear friend.” “I’ll give him breach when I catch up with him, if I ever catch up with him. I’m probably doomed to wander the earth searching for him for all time, he’s more elusive than the Holy Grail.” “That’s the spirit Jack, think of this as a heroic quest.” “I’m too old for all this Den, I should be at home with a fine wine and a rent boy I can pay off in the morning.” “You wouldn’t have your life any different. Danny has put a spring in your step.” “He’s also ruined my new computer, set fire to the study, written off my Jag, let loose a tarantula that bit a house guest, as another one died of a heart attack, bent a drainpipe and driven a car over a cliff.” “I did warn you that life with a Macintyre was never going to be easy or simple.” “True,” Jack sighed, turning up his coat collar as they stepped back out into the freezing street. “Shall I sing to keep up our spirits?” “I’d really rather you didn’t Jack.” Dennis pretended that the shudder that wracked his body was a result of the cold and not fear at Jack’s threat, er, offer, to sing. Fortunately Jack’s mobile chose that moment to ring thus forcing his vocal chords to be less terrifyingly employed. “Hello, Jack Kinross…Tris…what’s wrong?” |
| Will Dennis and Jack ever be reunited with their beloveds? Will Lily ever get her beloved Bike back? All will be revealed in The Hand Of Glory. |