Chapter Forty-Six

The weather improved greatly and Willie was able to get the sun tan he had so long craved. He lay out at the top of the building Site with his mates and they shared the sun together, each hoping for a colour that would drive the girls wild with passion and the other lads mad with envy, but even the sun tan would not satisfy young Lindsey Peters. She had been scorned. She had given Willie Blair an ultimatum and he had disappointed her. The fact that she was on duty that evening was not in the question. If he had wanted to contact her, heaven and earth should not have stopped him and Lindsey concluded that he wanted no part in her affections and had decided to take her love and affections elsewhere. Willie was sorry, but in his heart, he knew it was the only answer. The truth of his love was beyond question, but that love was not for Nurse Peters.

He lay back in the sun and took his share of it’s beautifying rays and his body became more attractive by the moment, but he had only been at the Clarkston Site for a week before he had cross swords with the Foreman.

“Hi there ... You wi’ the black hair. I’m talking to you. Can you hear me or are you bloody deaf?”

Willie looked around for a few seconds, accidentally and on purpose, before he allowed the Foreman to realise that he knew whom he meant when he called for the bloke wi’ the black hair.

“Do you want me?” he called out and the Foreman snorted.

“Well, I’m not shouting for the good of my bloody ‘ealth, am I ... and don’t leave these bloody shovels lyin’ around.. Don’t you know the Safety Regulations?”

Willie collected the shovels ... the bloody shovels and placed them against the bloody wall, which he was sure would please the bloody Foreman ... but it didn’t ...

“Where the ‘ell ‘ave you come from, laddie? Have you worked on a Building Site afore?” he shouted, “You young lads know nothing about Building Site laws. I wish they’d bleedin’ train you afore they let you bloody loose on us.”

The Foreman’s neck was redder than usual that morning and his face had a distinctive purple hew. He dabbed his forehead with the edge of his red and white striped neckerchief as he continued to bellow into the wind.

“School days again,” muttered Willie under his breath to his work mate, as they cleaned the dried mud and red brick dust from the hods and the ‘Sergeant Major’ looked on with an eagle eye. “What’s his name?” Willie enquired as he shook the hods clear of the residue dust, but his companion only laughed.

“What’s wrong? Why are you laughing? Don’t tell me his name is Pansy or Daisy it just couldn’t be,” he quizzed, but his fellow labourer fell about with more laughter, much to the confusion and annoyance of the Foreman.

“Get them bloody shovels into that bloody shed and do it NOW,” the Foreman screamed his command and the young builders obeyed, closing the shed door behind them when they went in.

“His name isn’t anything like Pansy or any other flower,” said Willie’s mate with a broad grin across his bronzed and rugged face. “It’s BANGS Charlie Bangs ... That’s what it is, mate.”

“Does he now,” added Willie mischievously, “I hope he’s bloody good at it ...”

The builders closed the shed and headed for the scaffolding near the end of the toilet section of the Site.

“Don’t think I’m gonna get much sun bathin’ done here, Willie moaned and rubbed the back of his hand under his armpit as he spoke, just as Charlie Bangs began to shout again at the top of his voice.

“I’ll have less of that mutterin’ here, if you please and a bit more of the bloody elbow grease. I’ll have you bloody layabouts mobilized afore long and I’ll get your young arses moving in step you see if I bloody don’t ... and you, Blair You can be hod carrier tomorrow. Bring a pad for your delicate bloody shoulders or yer Mammy will be up here complainin’”

Charlie Bangs loved the authority of his position. He loved to play the heavy hand and was convinced that his promotion to Foreman was due to the merits of this act that he had perfected over the years, but how the hell he expected a young arse to move in step ... Willie couldn’t even hazard a guess ... Willie was sure he’d never know how to do it and he wasn’t particularly anxious to find out. Bangs would grunt and sniff and look fiercer than a bulldog in heat, despite his height of five foot, three and a half inches and his fourteen and a half stone in weight.

Willie left the Site that evening, just as it was getting dark and he was beginning to understand what Charlie meant when he groaned about not getting enough sleep, when a certain younger brother wanted to talk through the evenings into the wee sma’ oors.

Now that they each had a bed of their own, they didn’t have that problem, but Willie missed Charlie’s groaning. He missed his grunts and the other rude noises that Charlie could orchestrate in harmony in bed.

***

Charlie held Rachael close as she sobbed over her grandmother’s death.

“I would tell you not to cry, Love, but I think it’s best if you let it all out. Here, put your head on my shoulder.”

He smoothed her silken hair and she snuggled up closer to him

“I wish it was a long time from now Charlie. It hurts so much,” she sighed as she took the handkerchief he offered her and blew her nose.

“I know, Sweetheart I know, but you can talk to me about how you feel. I’ll always be near you, whenever you need me. You know that.”

“I need you every moment of every day, Charlie Blair and you know that.” she said softly and Charlie hugged her.

“You certainly know how to get a guy excited, Rachael Harris did you know that ...?”

Rachael did not move. She could feel Charlie’s desire for her but she could not resist kissing him as they stood together in the cool of the evening.

“I love you Rachael. I want to love you to possess you to give myself to you entirely. You must know how I feel ... I get ... I get sore, thinkin’ about you.” It was the best word he could think to use “My body screams for you, from morning till night. I love to be near you.” He went on.

“Hush Charlie Someone will hear you.”

“Let them hear me ... Screw the world I JUST LOVE YOU, RACHAEL HARRIS,” he shouted and swung her round in the air.

“Charlie ...Charlie.”

He set her down again and took her face in his hands. It was cold and he pressed her hair back from her forehead as he kissed her hairline.

“No two people could love like this, Rachael, could they?” he asked and his eyes were wide with excitement. “I mean, how could such happiness exist for two people as it does for us? I want it to last, my Darling. I want it to go on forever and yet, I am afraid afraid that I might lose you, somehow.”

She put her finger to his lips and her eyes gave him the answer he required before he closed them with a kiss and caressed her face, giving it warmth in the cooling air. Suddenly he moved away from her and turned quickly to face the wall. His face was distorted for a moment in an ecstasy of pain before he relaxed with a deep sensual sigh.

“What is it Charlie? What’s wrong Darling?”

Charlie breathed deeply and swallowed hard with his eyes tightly closed.

“It’s nothing, my Love Perhaps the cold air. We should be getting home now.”

He walked Rachael to her home and kissed her as he left her on the doorstep.

“Ring the bell and I’ll go when I see you safely indoors,” he said, “Goodnight my Darling.”

“Goodnight Charlie ... Gorgeous boy.”

***

“I could, Rachael Harris just lookin’ at you ...” Charlie called out as he left Rachael standing on her doorstep ... “Yes, I could ... you know ... You make me sore you do.” He called out loud into the crisp night air as he ran all the way home.