Two Thousand and Ten Ch. 04

One of the things that annoyed Lindi about being a teacher wasn't what one would expect a teacher to be annoyed about. It wasn't the dealing with other people's kids - or even worse, their parents - it wasn't the stacks of exercise books and GCSE coursework that needed to be read and marked, and it wasn't the stress of trying to keep students engaged and actually wanting to learn either. No, the worst thing about being a teacher was having to answer the same question over and over again: "So what exactly do teachers do during the holidays?"

The trouble was, despite how many times she told someone that far from sitting around on their arses for six weeks, teachers often spent the summer attending various conferences, taking additional training courses and generally preparing for the next academic year - a full time job in itself - she still found that someone else would be waiting in the wings to ask that same tired old question. Sure, she would be taking time off during the six weeks of the schools summer holidays - she would be travelling to America with Clive and Peter for a whirlwind tour of some of the east coast's top theme parks for a 'roller coaster bender' as Peter had called it - but she didn't have as much time off as people assumed.

Today though, there were no conferences to attend or meetings to go to. And there were no training courses to do either. And it was an absolutely gorgeously sunny day outside with temperatures in the eighties. Having taken breakfast on her balcony, and with the shimmering sea visible beyond the rooftops of Westborough-on-sea, Lindi came to a decision - the beach was calling her.

Living in a seaside town can be a blessing sometimes, sure in the winter it can feel a little bleak (even though Lindi herself disliked that word), but on days like this it can be absolute heaven! Lindi made up her mind, she drained her cup of coffee, ate her last piece of toast and went inside to make a quick phone call and then went to dig out her favourite bikini. In her bedroom she laid out her best floral bikini, patterned with an abstract design of exotic blooms in a tasteful aquamarine colour. She was often amazed that something so small could fit her so comfortably - she didn't exactly have the figure of a supermodel, but she was confident in her own skin and knew she could wear such a thing without appearing like a beached whale and frightening small children. As she shrugged off her silk dressing gown and looked down at the skimpy garment she was about to don, she was reminded of the old song 'Itsy-bitsy, Teeny-weeny, Yellow Polka-dot Bikini'. There could be no doubt that this particular bikini was definitely 'Itsy-bitsy' and possibly 'teeny-weeny' too, but unlike the girl in the song, she was most definitely not "afraid that somebody would see" in fact quite the opposite, she did want somebody to see.

And that particular somebody was Clive.

Friday, August 6th 2010 - 10:37am

"One of the advantages of running one's own business!" Clive said as he met Lindi on the seafront promenade with a kiss, "Being able to take time off at the drop of a hat and leaving one's employees to take care of the shop!"

"Or shops, in your case!" Lindi giggled.

"Well, since we're in your manor so to speak, I'll let you decide which is the best spot to go to." Clive said as he surveyed the sandy shore before them.

In contrast to the much larger town of Brighton further along the coast with its famously pebbly yet inexplicably popular beach, Westborough-on-sea was blessed with a beach of golden sand. Timber groynes had been installed many years ago to prevent the longshore drift of the English Channel from washing away the sand and potentially ruining the town's biggest tourist attraction.

"Over there, between the pier and the beach cafe is the best spot." Lindi said, pointing towards her favoured part of the beach.

"Well in that case lead on, fair maiden!" Clive said as he gave Lindi a little playful pat on her bottom.

A few minutes later they were rolling out their towels on the sand and stripping off their outer clothes. Lindi was surprised to see Clive had chosen to wear a pair of bright red Speedos. She would've expected him to wear beach shorts, but even though he had a slight paunch he nonetheless was able to not look too bad in them. In fact, Lindi felt she rather liked the sight of him in such closely fitting attire. As she stepped out of her own clothes to reveal her bikini for his appraising eyes, she noticed he gazed at her in near wonderment.

"Wow, you look... absolutely stunning!" He said.

Lindi felt that unmistakable feeling of pride mixed with a slight rush of eroticism that she loved so much when she showed herself off for a man. Of course, her feminist roommate from her first year at university would've scorned at the sight of her wearing something so obviously designed to appeal to the 'lustful gazes of dirty old men' as she would've undoubtedly put it. Which of course made it just another example of how the patriarchy sought to objectify and sexualise women. But far from being of the opinion of her old roommate, Lindi felt empowered by wearing something so racy - it was her right as a woman to flaunt her figure, something her old roommate simply couldn't get her blinkered radical-feminist head around. How glad she was to be able to spend the rest of her university years away from her and to share a flat with Peter instead!

She applied a liberal amount of sunscreen to her body, asking Clive to put some on her back, and then dug out the book she was reading from her bag. It was a time-travelling love story, rather erotic in parts but very tastefully done, about a woman who encounters a male sex-slave from some dystopian female-dominated future, and who subsequently falls in love with the strange young man. Things get complicated however, when a second young male sex-slave somehow gets catapulted back from the future. It wasn't her usual kind of reading material - the sci-fi element would normally have put her off - but her friend at work had raved about it and so Lindi decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. In no time at all she had been drawn into the strange tale of the sassy American teacher and the young man she rescued from sexual servitude. It had become a real page-turner and something the literary reviewer of a newspaper's Sunday supplement would euphemistically call 'un-putdownable'.

"What's that you're reading?" Clive asked as he laid down on his front beside Lindi.

"Oh, this?" She replied, briefly showing him the cover that depicted a confidently dressed woman in a warm embrace with a young man in a black shirt and kilt with a red collar around his neck, "It's called 'Escaping Alpha', Miriam, one of the science teachers at work recommended it."

She gave him a brief outline of the plot, about how the male sex-slave came to be catapulted back in time to 21st century Tennessee and into the arms of a wonderfully caring woman who takes him under her wing and with whom he later discovers what love is.

"Sounds interesting." Clive remarked, "I didn't have you down as a sci-fi fan."

"I'm not - but this story has kind of dragged me in!" Lindi replied.

The two of them simply laid on the sand for a while, working on their tans while all around them other beachgoers did the same. Lindi couldn't help but picture Peter down here building sand castles with his son in future years. It would be an unconventional arrangement, Lindi mused to herself, a child growing up with two mums and a dad who lived on the other side of town, but she figured it was a far sight better than what a lot of children had. It was certainly better than her own upbringing, that was for sure.

"Do you ever think about having more children?" She asked Clive.

"Me? I dunno." he replied, "Probably not to tell you the truth. I've been through absolute hell trying to see my daughter - I'd rather not have to potentially go through that again."

"Oh." Lindi replied disappointedly.

"Why, would you like to have kids some day?" He asked.

"Well, I'm not getting any younger. And the other day when Peter showed me the ultrasound of Alison's baby I felt myself becoming a little broody."

"I see." Clive replied, "I guess what I just said back then is a bit of a disappointment then."

"Well, a bit. And I know we've only known each other a few months, but I was kind of hoping that maybe one day..."

"I hear you." Clive replied, "Maybe one day I'll make an honest woman of you and we can live happily ever after with three beautiful children and a nice house in the country. You'll have to forgive me, but that's just not what I want from life right now."

"So what do you want from life?" Lindi asked.

"Me? I'd love to travel the world." Clive answered wistfully, "Explore India and Thailand, taste the ancient cultures of China and Japan, discover the ruined civilisations of South America. And I'd love to do it all with a beautiful woman by my side."

For the first time since she met Clive she discovered that perhaps they weren't as compatible as she had hoped they would be.

"Wouldn't it be just as nice doing all that as a family?" Lindi asked hopefully.

"Maybe." Clive responded after a moment or two of consideration, "I'd never say never."

Lindi returned to her book. She couldn't concentrate on it however, her mind kept drifting her away from the pages as thoughts of being a childless woman clouded over what was an otherwise sunny day.

Saturday, August 14th 2010 - 6:22am

Peter sat in the departure lounge of gate 12 at Gatwick airport with Lindi and Clive sat opposite him. One of the worst parts about flying was always the waiting, having to get to the airport in good time to get through check-in, passport control and security, only to have to sit for hours waiting for the actual gate to open for boarding; it was always during this time that he felt at his most irritable and ill at ease. He had to try and stop himself from pacing up and down; it was bad enough trying to keep his leg from twitching. It wasn't that he was anxious about flying - in his job he had flown all over the world to meet with clients from as far afield as Tokyo to Tuscaloosa - it was more that he was simply anxious to get on board and get under way. "Time waiting is time wasted," was always his little mantra.

The trip they were about to embark on was something he had wanted to do with Lindi for a long time. The 'world's laziest adrenaline junkies' were about to set off on their roller coaster grand tour of the USA. Well, the eastern USA at least. Over the coming two weeks they would start in Florida where they would rent a car to visit the Realm of Adventure theme park before driving north through the Carolinas to visit Eight Banners over Charleston in South Carolina and then up to visit Adrenalineville USA in North Carolina to ride the 'Sidewinder XXL', reportedly the current tallest ride in the world. From there they would eventually drive into New Jersey, stopping off at Oak Springs Pleasureworld to take on the 'Inferno', a volcano themed ride which promised a total of 13 inversions. Their final leg would be across to New York City itself some 14 days and 1100 miles later.

The only fly in the ointment as far as Peter was concerned was that Clive had joined them on this trip. He had even booked the whole thing and was paying for Lindi - he had also paid for Peter too but Peter insisted on paying him back. It wasn't that he didn't like Clive; it was just that he had always envisaged this trip being just himself and Lindi. Still, at least it meant that there would be someone else to share the driving with - Lindi was as competent a driver as anyone else but she always shied away from driving on the right hand side of the road, and so whenever they had driven in Europe together over the years, she always insisted on being the navigator instead. To her credit, she often performed better than the sat-nav in his car when it came to finding obscure destinations.

"Maiden Atlantic Airlines flight 143 to Orlando is boarding now," came the long-awaited announcement over the public address system. "All passengers for flight MA143 please make your way to the aircraft now."

"Well, that's us." Clive said as he stood up from his seat and picked up his hand luggage.

"About time too!" Peter grumbled.

Sunday, August 15th 2010 - 10:07am

Orlando, FL, USA.

Lindi, Peter and Clive, still jet lagged from their transatlantic flight, sat around a table in the restaurant of the Premium Eastern hotel in downtown Orlando, Florida. Already the outside temperature was well into the eighties and the humidity was stifling. Lindi had laid out a map they had bought and she busied herself using a marker pen to plan out their route, taking into account the hotels they had booked along the way and the theme parks and other attractions they wanted to visit. While Clive had ordered the flights and had pre-booked the accommodation, Peter had insisted on organising their rental car - he had a surprise in store for Lindi and Clive that he hoped might be the icing on the cake as far as their imminent road trip was concerned.

"Where do we pick up the car from?" Clive asked, looking at Peter.

"South 27th Street." Peter replied, "I've ordered a taxi to take us there, then all we have to do is pile all our luggage in and hit the road."

"I can't wait!" Lindi enthused, "I've always wanted to see America - this is gonna be the best trip ever!"

"You ever been here before?" Clive asked Peter.

"America, yes - Florida, no." Peter replied, "I've been to the states on business a few times - Chicago, upstate New York, San Francisco, and I once went to Alabama."

"Alabama? Aren't they all rednecks down there?" Lindi asked cheekily.

"No, don't be daft!" Peter admonished, "But you know, out of all the places I've been to in America, the folks down in Alabama were by far the nicest."

"In what way?" Lindi enquired as she snapped on the cap of her marker pen.

"Well, y'know they gave me a really warm welcome." Peter said, "It's true what they say about southern hospitality."

"Anyway, it's time we made a move." Clive announced, "It's 90 miles up the interstate to Realm of Adventure and if we're gonna get there before sundown we'll have to saddle on up and hit the trail!" He said in his best, albeit not very good, American accent.

"If by that you mean it's time for us to check out, pick up the car and get on the road, then yes it is time we made a move!" Peter replied.

Sunday, August 15th 2010 - 11:13am

Lindi and Clive stood and waited in the parking lot outside the car rental place while Peter went inside to take care of the paperwork - it didn't look like the sort of place they were expecting. What they had been expecting was a branch of one of the large multinational car rental companies, not a place that looked like a fairly humble workshop with a sign that said 'East Coast Rentals' above the door.

"This place isn't exactly what came to my mind when Peter told me to let him deal with the car hire." Clive said as he stood guard by the group's luggage.

"They probably just did a better deal than the bigger companies." Lindi replied as she fanned herself with her wide-brimmed sun hat to cool herself as best she could, "It'd be pretty typical of Peter to shop around for the best deal possible. You should hear the long and protracted conversations he has when it's time to renew his phone contract. It's almost like he's arranging to buy a new house rather than just upgrading his phone!"

"Anyway, I hope he knows what he's doing and doesn't saddle us with an old heap of a jalopy for the sake of saving us a few dollars." Clive said.

Just then, their gaze was drawn towards something moving from around the back of the building. It took Clive a moment to process what it was and who was sitting behind the wheel as the vehicle came to a halt beside them.

"You... are... KIDDING me!!" Clive gasped.

"What the hell?!?" Lindi added.

"Like it?" Peter said nonchalantly as he opened the door and stepped out of the vehicle.

"Like it?!?" Clive said in utter surprise, "You mean, that's our hire car???"

"It sure is!" Peter replied, patting the roof of the vehicle with a grin that would equal any mythical Cheshire cat's smile.

The that in question was a pristine 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback finished in a vibrant cherry red that positively glowed in the bright Florida sunshine.

"It's a... it's a Mustang!" Lindi gasped. She may not have been quite the car nut that Peter was but she knew a Mustang when she saw one.

"I figured if we're doing a proper good ol' US of A road trip we'd need something a little more interesting than a Dullsville Hyundai Elantra or something." Peter said as he reached inside and put on a crimson coloured baseball cap emblazoned with a white 'A' in elaborate script.

The sight of Peter wearing such a thing made Lindi smile - he never wore such things normally.

"Where on earth did you get that thing?" She asked.

"Where do you think?" Peter said, "From round the back here!"

"Not the car, you numptie!" Lindi giggled, "I meant the hat!"

"Oh! One of the girls that worked for one of our clients in Huntsville gave it to me." Peter explained.

"Huntsville?" Clive asked.

"Alabama." Peter continued, pointing at the 'A' on the front of the cap, "She's a real college football nut and gave me this as a parting gift - it's the University of Alabama football team."

"Cool!" Clive replied, "It almost matches the 'Stang!"

"Well? What are we waiting for?" Peter said as he ran around the car and popped open the trunk, "She's all gassed up and ready to go. Let's hit the road guys!!"

"Yeee-Haa!" Clive exclaimed comically.

Sunday, August 15th 2010 - 10:57pm

It had been an exhausting first day - the 92 mile drive to the Realm of Adventure theme park had been reasonably relaxed and, thanks to the joy of air conditioning, reasonably comfortable. It also helped that the Mustang had been retrofitted with cruise control. But once they got to the theme park in the early afternoon it was a different story. All three of them eagerly headed straight for the biggest and fastest ride they could find - the fabled 'V for Velocity' a ride which in Peter's eyes, standing at over 300 feet tall and with a near vertical first drop, made it the most exciting ride in the entire state of Florida. The three of them had ridden it three times already that afternoon and planned on at least another three rides the following day.

The hotel they spent the night at was a fairly bog-standard affair and part of a nationwide chain - in fact, Peter had stayed in this particular chain's hotels before on previous visits to the states and it was, aside from a few subtle differences, pretty much identical to a hotel he'd stayed at in Illinois a few years earlier. But it was clean and comfortable with free wi-fi and plenty of good movies to choose from and the staff were impeccably friendly. The view was not too bad either, with the Central Florida countryside stretching away to the horizon as the orange sun set and painted the sky and the wispy light clouds in a myriad of vibrantly fiery colours. And, after a long afternoon in the sweat box that is the interior of Florida in August, the large double-sized shower cubicle that awaited him came as a blessed relief.

In Lindi and Clive's room, immediately next door to Peter's, there was blessed relief of an entirely different nature going on.

"What a day!" Lindi said tiredly as she dumped her handbag onto the bed.