Cameron, 2

Gabriel kept hold of his hand as he led him back off the beach, across the road and around to the back of his home.Even there, outside the back door, it was wet and dark, but they were, mostly, out of the wind and it was way better than out on the beach. He slipped the coat off, hung it up and opened the door.

"Come on inside."

"Do you think I should? I'm wet."

"So am I. Not as wet as you though. Come in and we'll fix it." He toed his sneakers off, left them there and stepped inside.

Cameron followed his example, followed him in and stood there, dripping water.

"Sorry," he shrugged. "I did warn you."

"Yeah, you did. Don't worry about it. But, man! You're wet. You wouldn't get wetter if you were swimming."

"Probably not."

"You must be freezing too. Strip some of those clothes off and I'll get you some towels. It'll take more than one. I'll put your clothes in the dryer, that'll fix them."

"Thanks. That'd be great."

"No probs. Stay there, I'll be back."

He went through and grabbed some towels from the linen cupboard. When he returned, Cameron was standing there stark naked, clutching his wet clothes in front of him.

'Whoah! Nice body.' Gabriel forced himself not to look too much. "Here you go," he offered the towels. "I'll take your clothes. Dry off and come through to the living-room, it's warmer in there.

"Thanks." He took the towels and handed over the clothes and Gabriel got another glimpse.

He threw the clothes in the dryer in the laundry and went to the kitchen to wait. Cameron soon came in with a towel around his waist and another one over his shoulders, and they went into the living-room.

"Better?"

"Yeah, much better. Thanks, but I don't know why you bothered. When I go home, I'm only going to get wet again, walking there."

"Don't go then. Stay the night here. I'm here by myself, so there's plenty of room. This wind won't last forever, as soon as it slackens off, Dad and Garth will be back in from sea and one of them will take you home, if it's still raining."

"They're out at sea in this weather?"

"Of course. They're fishermen, that's what they do. They would've been home by now, but this storm blew up so they're staying out at sea. They're safe there, as long as they stay well out."

"Oh, I see. You're here by yourself? Where's your mum?"

"Who knows? She left, years ago, when I was just little."

"So there's just you and your dad live here?"

"And Garth, he lives here too."

"Is he your brother?"

"No," Gabriel laughed. "I haven't got a brother."

"Why does he live here then? Oh, he works with your father, is he like a boarder then?"

"Sort of, I guess. Garth has lived with us ever since I can remember. He's like a second father to me."

"You've got no mother and two fathers?"

"Exactly."

"And they've left you all alone for the night?"

"Yeah, they often do. It's not a problem, I'm nearly 16 and I'm used to it."

"You're often left alone? That doesn't seem right."

"It's right for us. It's like we've got much choice, they have to earn a living and I'm not going out with them. I'd rather be here, can't get sea-sick on dry land."

"Yeah, well, that's your business anyway. Why don't you go to school?"

"I never have. I do my schooling by correspondence. Most of that's on-line these days."

"You're with the Correspondence School? But don't you have to live way out in the country for that? If you live in town, you should be in school."

"In most cases, yeah. But we do live out in the country."

"What's this place then, your town-house?"

"Yes, exactly. Our primary residence is away up behind Springs Junction, over the Lewis Pass area. That's our home, this is just where we stay for the fishing season, about 4 or 5 months a year, depending on the seasons and fishing quotas."

"You live up in the hills, and down in town sometimes, but you don't go to school. You never go anywhere. Don't you get lonely?"

"Sometimes, yes. We've got family, up north, and there's always people around, just not usually of my own age. I don't have friends of my own."

"Well you should. You need to get out and about more."

"Maybe. I'm not very good with people. They wouldn't like me anyway."

"Sure they would. I do, I think you're great."

"Shows how much you know! But, thanks. Do you want to ring your parents, they might come and get you."

"Doubt it. They'd just laugh and tell me to walk."

"In the rain? What about your friends? There must be someone who'd take you home?"

"No, no-one, except you. You took me home. Thanks for that."

"Welcome. I couldn't leave you out there in that."

Both boys looked over at the rain on the windows. It was like someone was out there with a hose.

"But, I didn't mean to their homes, I meant to take you home to yours."

"There's still no-one who'd do that. I think I'd rather be here anyway."

"And, you are! Come to my room and we'll get you some clothes. You can wear some of mine. We're about the same size."

"Okay, but weren't you going to put my stuff in the dryer?"

"I did, but that'll take an hour or two. There's no need to wait that long."

"I guess."

They went to Gabriel's room and he selected warm clothes for Cameron to wear. He left him there to get dressed on his own.

"I'll be in the kitchen. The pizza must be about ready by now. Get dressed and join me in there."

"Be right there."

He left and Cameron dressed quickly. He took at a minute to look around the room. At first glance, it was just an ordinary boy's room.

The big bed took up most of the floor-space. There was a built-in wardrobe, a laptop and speakers on a desk and a couple of chest of drawers. Clothes, books, magazines and music were strewn around. If his own room got this messy, his mother would be yelling at him, and she often did.

On closer inspection though, it was not so ordinary. Most of the books were hard-covered, but some of them were science-fiction and fantasy. That was not so different, but the music was - it was classical stuff and some by artists he'd never heard of. The brightly-coloured posters on the walls were not the usual girly stuff and stars of music and sports, these were all of wildlife, mainly birds, and natural landscapes.

Yeah, this Gabriel was not your average kid. Cameron realised that, despite his barrage of questions, he still knew nothing about him. He suspected that it would take a long time to get to know him. He wanted to though, he liked the look of the kid. He'd be a good mate and Cameron needed a friend. He shrugged and went to the kitchen to see if the food was ready.

They ate pizza, oven-fries and coleslaw. Finished and stuffed, Cameron sat back and rubbed his belly, acting out a cliche. "Man, that was good."

"Yeah, it was okay, nothing special. It was just junk-food really, but good when you're hungry."

"It was that. Great pizza though, I don't think I've ever had better. You're a good cook."

"That wasn't cooking!" Gabriel laughed. "The pizza base was from the Foodmarket, all I did was to open the ingredients and put them on top."

"And you did it so well," Cameron grinned back. "Anyway, that's all any cooking is, isn't it? Putting the ingredients together and heating them."

"Maybe. Okay, it was cooking - basic cooking. That was just kid stuff. You should see when my dad cooks a meal. He's a great cook, when he can be bothered."

"He must be good then. My mum's not too bad, but usually it's no more than you've done here."

"Dad's good. Want some ice-cream?"

"No thanks. I couldn't eat another bite. What are we going to do now?"

"Anything you want. There's the TV, the X-box, the computer or whatever. And the phone of course. Do you want to call your girlfriend?"

"No!" Cameron was adamant. "I'm not talking to her."

"Oh? Okay. We could just go to bed, but it's a bit early for that."

"Way too early for sleeping. You said an X-Box. What games have you got?"

"We've got heaps. It's Dad's addiction, or whatever."

They played for a couple of hours, they were evenly matched. At the end of a game, Cameron stood, stretched and yawned. He looked down again and Gabriel was turning everything off.

"Time for bed, obviously. Do you want a drink or anything before we go?"

"No thanks, I'm fine. Where are we sleeping? I'd rather not sleep together, if it's all the same to you."

"Sleep in the same bed? Nobody asked you to," Gabriel replied. "We've got a guest-room, you'll be fine in there."

"Sounds good. I hope you're not offended, it's just that, well, you know."

"Do I? I'm not offended, why would I be? I'm not your girlfriend. I've never shared a bed in my life and I'm not starting now. Come on then, I'll show you where to go."

He indicated where the bathroom was, and then showed Cameron into the guest-room. He turned on the light on the bed. The covers were already turned down and a folded towel, face-cloth and soap lay at the foot of the bed. When had he done that?

He wished him goodnight and left, turning out the main room light on the way out.

Cameron stripped to his borrowed underwear and moved to climb into bed. He paused when his eye caught something on the wall opposite him. He straightened and went over for a closer look.

A large, framed, black and white photograph hung on the wall. What a picture! It was a work of art. The photo was of Gabriel wearing nothing but tight, brief shorts, holding a hunting bow in one hand with an unhooded eagle on the other arm. A quiver of feather-tipped arrows protruded from behind his left shoulder, next to his shaggy, unkempt hair.

The viewpoint was from slightly below him as his bare feet stood on a large gray boulder and he haughtily surveyed the vista before him. The background was snow-capped mountains under a clear, blue sky. Well, presumably it was blue. He looked magnificent, like a warrior king. He looked fit and healthy, proud, capable, free and wild. Wow!

Cameron was most impressed. Was this what Gabriel's life was like - his other life when he was out in the mountains? He realised, again, that he didn't know this boy at all. Did anyone?

He climbed into the big bed and lay there looking at the picture across the room. Who was this kid? Okay, he was Gabriel, but who was he really? He realised two things. Gabriel had answered all of his questions, but there was still so much he didn't know. He wasn't even beginning to know him. Did he want to? Yes, he did. He liked the boy, a lot.

The other thing was that Gabriel hadn't asked him any personal questions at all. He didn't even ask why he was sitting on the beach in the storm. Didn't he care? No, that wasn't it. He wasn't acting like he didn't care. He taken him in and looked after him really well. Oh, well, tomorrow would be another day.

He turned off the light and settled down to go to sleep.