Wills & Dills in Westpoint, 8

(There ya go - probably full of typos!)

“Oh, oh. Sit up straight, there’s a cop coming.”

“A cop?” Robert looked around. “Oh. It’s only Lucas. Don’t he look nice in his smart new uniform? Hey, Lucas. How’s it going?”

“I’m going okay,” the tall young policeman stood looking up at them. “What are you villains up to? You’d better not break our Grandstand!”

“Who, us? We’re all angels, don’t you know?” Ross grinned.

“Angels? That’s not what your mum says. Who’s this you’ve got here?”

“These are William and Dylan, they’re from Kaimoana.”

“Oh, of course, the stranded travellers. How’s the car going, Boys? Have they fixed it yet?”

“Umm, not yet,” Dylan replied. “But they will. They’re waiting to get a part off some guy who’s out at sea.”

“That’ll be Laurie. He should be back around dinnertime. Okay, I’d better keep moving. See you around, Guys. Be good.”

“We’ll be careful anyway,” Robert grinned.

“Villains!” He walked away.

“It really is a small town,” William said. “How did he know about our car?”

“It’s smaller than you think,” Robert replied. “That’s Lucas, he’s married to our sister, Margaret. She’s the one who told the uncles that your distributor’s missing.”

“He’s a good guy, Lucas,” Ross said. “He’s probably the first cop ever to marry a Carver.”

“They were married before he was a cop.”

“Shut up, Robert. You know what I mean. Here comes Super-breeder.”

“Super-breeder?” William looked at the guy coming around the track with a cloud of kids. He had a baby on his back, two toddlers in a double pushchair and four little kids dancing around him.

“He has been busy. Is he a Carver too?”

“Not quite, but the kids are Jeremy’s other cousins. That’s Jonathan, Superboy’s brother.”

“Is everyone related in this town?”

“Not quite, but we’re working on it. Hey, Jonathan. How are ya?”

“I’m good, Boys. How are you?”

“Oh, we’re fine. How many kids have you got? It looks like you’re going for a record.”

“I hope not! These are not all mine. That one belongs to Dee, hence the curls. I’m just taking the kids for a walk while their mothers are at preggy classes.”

“Preggy classes? I think they already know how to do that.”

“So do I! I told them that, they said rude things to me. Claude and Lana are not pregnant, I think. They’re just there to support Dee.

Justine! Marty! You wait for us!

See you later, Guys. We’ve gotta go.”

Jonathan walked on, William watched him go. “So 6 of those kids are his? He really has been busy.”

“Yeah, he has,” Ross nodded. “But he has got 2 wives.”

“He has? He needs 2, I guess. How many kids has Superboy got?”

“Just the one. They’ve only got Jeremy, but they say that’s enough.”

“A handful, is he?”

“He can be. Bright kids often are.”

Christian said, “I’ll bet William was a handful too, he’s bright.”

“Yeah?” Robert said. “Got any brothers?”

“Nope. But I have got a sister, she’s 15.”

“You’ve got a 15 year old sister? Does she look like you?”

“She doesn’t,” Dylan answered. “Emmy is different to Wills, but she’s a real looker. She’s gorgeous.”

“She is? Ross, I think I know were we’re going for our next holiday!”

“Sounds good,” Ross grinned. “Trina and Sandie will like that, as long as you don’t bring Mary too.”

“Not bloody likely! I’m not sick of living just yet.”

“You want to be careful then, Brother.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

William said, “You seriously should come to Kaimoana sometime, all of you should. Then we could pay you back by showing you around our town. Well, Dills could, he knows it better than I do.”

Dylan agreed. “Yeah, you should do that. We haven’t got a huge house, like you guys have, but we’d fit you in somehow.”

“That’s a plan.” Roman stood up. “But we’re not finished showing you around here yet. Let’s go up the main street.”

Ross and Robert came with them, and they out of the Square, through the arches of the Memorial Gates to the street. There were short blocks in the town. There was a house on the corner, a lawyer’s office, the I Site, tourist information office, and then the Music Center on the corner of the main street.

So, of course, they went in to check-out the music shop.

“This is one of the oldest businesses in the town,” Roman said. “James Hargreaves Williamson started it. My family owned it once, they sold it a few years ago. It’s been here for about a hundred years.”

“A hundred years? Wow. They must have some old music,” William said.

“Maybe there is, out the back somewhere, but the shop’s as up to date as anywhere.”

“It’s hard for small-town businesses to compete with the chain stores.”

“Not around here, it’s not. There are no chain stores in Westpoint.”

“None? We got a few in Kaimoana.”

“Lucky you.”

“Or, not.”

The store sold mostly CD’s and DVD’s, with a range of players and instruments and also computers and accessories. The music was well laid-out by category, but Dylan couldn’t find any he liked.

“That should tell you something, Dills.”

“It does, it tells me that Westpoint people have got poor taste in music.”

“Or, maybe they’ve got good taste.”

“Shut up, Wills.”

“We could ask at the counter. They might have some of your stuff hidden away out of sight somewhere.”

“No, better not. There’s nothing I’m particularly looking for and we don’t know how much the car’s going to cost. We’d better not spend too much.”

“No worries, Dills. I’ll just dip into the savings.”

“You bloody will not! That’s for your education.”

Christian was talking to 2 guys behind the counter. One was an older guy and the other was a kid with long, limp, blond hair. William and Dylan wandered over there.

“Find anything you like?” Christian greeted them.

“No, nothing decent,” Dylan replied.

“From what I hear, that won’t worry William at all. William and Dylan, these are George and Crispian, our best friends.”

“Your best friends? I thought that’d be Ross, Robert and Mrs. M?”

“Well, yeah, but that’s different. We wouldn’t be living out there if it wasn’t for these guys. I don’t know where we’d be.”

“Rescue you, did they?”

“Exactly. The parents found out that I was gay and with Roman, and they kicked me out. More because it was Roman than anything else.”

“They don’t like him?”

“They don’t. Mostly because he’s a Dallas. My father and his hate each other with a passion. Anyway, they showed me the door; I had nothing and didn’t know what I was going to do or where I could go. I had a relative who was thrown out, years ago, because he was gay too. He’s buried in the cemetery, so I went out there to talk to him.

I was sitting, crying, on Jeremy’s grave.”

“Jeremy?”

“Jeremy Carver – the first one. He was a distant cousin, I never knew him but I knew his story. So, I was sitting there bawling, and George and Crispian turned up. They both knew Jeremy and they came to visit his grave.

They found me there, I told them what was wrong and that I was a Carver, so they took me to Ma. She decided that I could go and live with Mrs. M. She’s Ma’s daughter, and her house was getting empty.

Roman got thrown out too. He came and found me and Mrs. M said he could stay as well. So, everything’s sweet now and it’s thanks to these two.”

“More heroes!” said Dylan. “Robert said that everyone’s a hero in Superboy’s town.”

“I don’t know about heroes,” the boy, Crispian, said. “We do what we can. Superboy would do the same.”

“Superboy’s a friend of yours too?”

“Certainly is! I first met him, out there in the cemetery, when we were burying Jeremy. I’ve met some great people in the cemetery.”

He exchanged a smile with George, who said, “I know that I have!”

Dylan looked at them, puzzled. Surely not. These two would be an unlikely combination. He looked at William, who caught his eye and shrugged.

‘It takes all sorts.’

William said, “Did Superboy name young Jeremy after your one?”

Crispian said, “No. There was another Jeremy in between. He was Billy’s cousin and his best friend. He died young – way too young.”

“Yeah, people do,” William said glumly.

Dylan hugged his shoulders. “Don’t go there, Wills.”

Now all the others were looking puzzled. Dylan said, “Wills lost a friend, just a couple of weeks ago. He was 14.”

“Oh, I am sorry,” Crispian said. “That’s hard. Young Jeremy was 14 too. It takes time, but it does get better.”

Ross had joined them; he decided it was time to change the subject. “Crispian, I think that lady over there is looking for help.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks, Ross. See you, Guys.” He went to the other side of the shop.

Ross turned to George. “What are you two doing here, anyway? You’re meant to be retired. Didn’t Crispian sell the shop to Peter and Jay?”

“Yes, he did,” George replied. “But you know Crispian. He can never decide if he wants to be retired or not. Peter and Jay are away tramping, up the Gorge somewhere.”

“Tramping?” Robert walked up. “Stuff that for a joke. Come on, Guys. We’ll go and get a coffee.”

“Good idea,” Dylan agreed. “Bye, George. Nice to meet.”

“Bye, Boys. Behave yourselves.”

“Like you do?” Ross grinned.

“Out!” George grinned and pointed at the door.

They waved to Crispian, went outside and looked up and down the street.

Robert said, “Cool. They’ve got the tables out at the Doo Duck Inn. We’ll go there.”

“Yes, Boss.”

“Shut up, Roman.”

Walking down the sidewalk, Dylan said, “Christian, those two back there, George and Crispian, they’re not a couple are they?”

“Yes, they are. They’ve been living together for years.”

“As a couple? Eww!”

Ross and Robert both stopped and looked back. Ross said, “Don’t judge by appearances, My Friend.”

“Yeah,” said Robert. “why ‘eww’?”

“Well, he’s years older than him, isn’t he?”

“So? You’re older than William.”

“Only by 2, nearly 3, years.”

“There’s about the same between them too. Crispian’s the oldest.”

“He is? Damm. I thought he was a kid.”

“Well he’s not. You can never be sure how old someone is these days, especially around here.”

“Found the Fountain of Youth, have they?”

“No, but we’ve got the next best thing. You’ve heard of J &J’s R &R stuff, they make it here. There’s a factory, in the old school building, just around the corner there.”

William said, “Who are the J and J, anyway?”

“Justin and Jonathan.”

“Superboy and his brother own that stuff? Damm! They must be rich. No wonder he can afford all those kids.”

“It probably helps,” Ross agreed. “He never seems to spend money on anything else, just his kids.”

Robert said, “Jonathan’s a good guy. He has to be or his brother will be on his case. Here’s the Doo Duck. Ross, William and Christian, grab those tables. The rest of us will get the drinks.”

“Who said you can give the orders? I’m the oldest you know.”

“By 10 minutes you are. Big deal. Do you want to get the drinks in, Ross?”

“No, I’ll let you do that.”

“Sit down and shut up then.”