Sonny left his clothes in a crumpled pile. ‘So do I. I wish Miss P. could see us an’ all – she’d really have summat to goggle at, wouldn’t she?’
They were diverted as Bones caught his foot on a thistle and swore. ‘Oh, Mary Mother o’ God!’ guffawed Dickie, pointing at his thin friend. ‘Will ye ever look at the cut of him? Sure, there’s more meat on the bones me mam chucks in t’soup.’
Sonny doubled over at the sight of Bones’ long, matchstick limbs and jutting breastbone. Almost every bone in his body was visible. ‘I shouldn’t cross your legs, Bones, it’s too hot for a fire.’
‘Ah, ’tis only jealous ye are of this,’ retorted Bones, thrusting his hips forward.
Dickie wept with laughter. ‘Ah, God, ’tis a fine specimen I’ll grant ye. Seems a shame not to put it to any better use than for peeing over high walls. Grab him, Son! We’ll stake him out an’ use it as a sun-dial.’
A fight ensued with skewbald bodies coiled around each other, gleeful, tickling, thumping, grasping, rolling together in a mass of arms and legs. Sonny managed to grab Bones’ ankles and Dickie, laughing heartily, took his arms and together they staggered to the lake and hurled him in, leaping joyfully after him, and disturbing the satin-like water with their thrashing.
For a long time they splashed and played the fool, taking it in turns to duck each other under, their hair plastered down into dripping caps, while the dragonflies and nymphs darted overhead. A flurry of airbubbles dotted the water as Sonny bobbed to the surface and nipped the water from his nose.
He shook his head and held aloft wrinkled fingers. ‘I’m beginning to look like a prune. An’ I feel awful peckish – let’s go have our dinner.’
The others pantingly agreed and lunged out for the bank. As their floundering hands touched the muddy bottom they stumbled to their feet and switched to wading, the water boiling around their thighs.
It was then that they saw her; a doe-eyed, honey-braided creature seated provocatively on the bank with one knee raised beneath the white muslin dress and – if you please – one of their sandwiches poised at her mouth. She chuckled as their immediate reflex was to duck their lower halves under the still choppy water and observe her with open mouths.
‘If you could see your faces,’ she teased, taking a bite from the sandwich, her left hand disappearing into the long grass to brace her body. ‘What’s up, haven’t you ever seen a girl before?’
Sonny gulped and looked at his brother. ‘How do we get out? She’s sittin’ on our clothes.’
Dickie’s mouth had begun to curve into a knowing smile. ‘D’ye think she doesn’t know that? She’s doing it on purpose, thinks we’ll have to stay in here till she’s taken her fill. Well,’ he emerged from the water, ‘if she wants it that way she can have it.’ Without further ceremony he stood upright, the water streaming from his supple young body, and walked towards her.
If he had hoped to disconcert her then he was to be disappointed; far from showing embarrassment she seemed positively indifferent to his nudity, and crammed the remainder of the sandwich into her mouth as he stood dripping above her.
‘D’you mind not standing too close? You’re getting my dress all wet.’
‘It’d be a pity to do that,’ said Dickie, adding boldly, ‘Why don’t ye take it off like us’ve done?’
‘I might do,’ she answered lightly, licking a crumb from the corner of her generous mouth. ‘When I’ve dined.’ She reached for another sandwich.
‘Aren’t you the cheeky wench,’ breathed Dickie. There was no need for flattery here; she was ripe. He cupped his hand to his mouth and shouted towards the lake, ‘Ye’d best come out before she eats all our snap!’
He flopped down on the grass beside her, leaning on his elbow, somewhat incredulous that she could behave so coolly in the presence of his nakedness. He glanced lazily at the lake where the others still squatted too embarrassed to come out. ‘They’re afraid of ye,’ he told her. ‘Surely ye’d not take advantage of little boys an’ eat all their sandwiches. An’ them not able to defend themselves.’
She sank her teeth into the bread and flashed her eyes seductively. ‘I wouldn’t take advantage, no – but I wonder whether you would if I should decide to take off my clothes an’ join the three of you. You don’t look like little boys to me.’
‘Sure, I wasn’t including meself in that statement,’ answered Dickie.
The water that dripped from his forelock to trickle idly down the side of his nose seemed to transfix her. ‘Does that mean I’m to watch out for myself, then?’
‘Me, take advantage of a lady?’ he said innocendy. ‘Never.’
She threw him a sultry look and, still chewing, rose and began to unbutton the flimsy white dress.
Sonny and Bones were calcified. They watched the girl pull the dress from her shoulder. She was completely naked underneath. Sonny felt something happen to him as he feasted his eyes on the golden triangle at the vee of her thighs, the rose-tipped globes which bounced and jiggled as she ran towards the lake. It was not the first time he had seen a naked female – he and his brother had made a spyhole in the curtain which divided their sister’s sleeping quarters from theirs – but he had only ever managed to catch Erin’s rear view with its slim, boyish hips, and was unprepared for the quivering mountain of flesh that plunged into the lake and paddled towards him. She disappeared momentarily as the bank sheered away beneath her feet. All the boys could make out were the shadows of her serpent-like braids beneath the viridescent water. Then up she came, spluttering and laughing, sucking in the summer air and striking out for them again.
‘Come on, don’t be shy!’ She circled them, floating on her back and pointing a narrow foot at the sky while they rotated nervously. ‘What’s to do? Are you frightened I might eat you?’
‘Frightened of a lass?’ blurted Sonny scornfully.
‘Oh – it does speak. Well, come on out an’ show yourselves,’ taunted the girl and made for the bank, shouting over her glistening shoulder, ‘Else I’m going to sit and eat all your bait.’
Sonny and Bones shared a questioning glance, then simultaneously they followed her, stumbling in their eagerness as the water frothed around their calves.
Dickie, still sprawled unselfconsciously where she had left him, introduced himself as she deposited her streaming body nearby.
‘I’m Beth.’ She ran her eye over Sonny and Bones who had seated themselves beside her, and who dropped their gaze from her curves on encountering her amused inspection. ‘Well, now we’re all here am I to share your victuals?’
‘Looks like ye’ve been sharin’ them already,’ observed Dickie, but nevertheless dipped into his haversack and drew out his own packed lunch. He peeled back the wrapping and offered her a sandwich.
‘Oh, they weren’t yours I was eating then?’ She leaned over to take one, her whole body a-tremor with the movement.
‘No, they were mine,’ answered Sonny, trying to keep his voice steady. He picked up the untidy parcel she had made of his lunch. ‘But ye can have another if ye like.’
‘I might do later,’ she replied, then turned her attention to Bones who had broken into a fit of consumptive coughing. ‘You’ve been in the water too long, my lad.’
‘No, I’ve had the bark for a long time,’ he replied between choking. ‘’Tis that bloody ironworks; it’ll be the death o’ me.’
‘You look as though you’re on the way out already.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘Crikey! Aren’t you skinny.’
He set his mouth and unwrapped his own lunch, coaxing from her more derogatory comments. ‘Lumme! No wonder you’re thin. Is that all you’re having?’
Bones took a savage bite of the stale-looking sandwich. ‘It’s all I could sneak out. Anyway, ’tisn’t my fault if me dad doesn’t make enough to feed us,’ he muttered. Not to mention the fact that Dad had usually disposed of his wages by the time he got home. To Jimmy the thought of passing a pub was anathema. She asked how many of them there
was. ‘Dunno, I’ve lost count. I think the mammy has too. Some of us’re married. About eleven of us are still at home.’
‘I’m not surprised your mother can’t feed you.’ Beth delved into Dickie’s knapsack, bringing out an apple into which she inserted her teeth with a noisy crack.
‘Doesn’t look as if anyone feeds you either,’ remarked Dickie. ‘An’ that’s Bones’ apple you’re eatin’ I might tell ye.’ His mother had packed an extra one, knowing the Flaherty boy received very little fruit at home. He brought out a stoneware bottle and took a hearty swig of water, then passed it to his brother who, after wiping the neck with his palm, did likewise.
‘Bones doesn’t mind, do you?’ said Beth with juice running down her chin. Bones did mind and said so. Beth seemed unoffended. ‘Here you are, then.’ She tossed the half-eaten apple at him and he fumbled for it ‘Got anything else?’ Sonny offered her a slice of plum bread with quivering fingers. ‘Thank you. What’s your name?’
‘John,’ said Sonny, handing the bottle to Bones.
‘But we call him Sonny,’ provided Dickie, earning a cutting glare.
Beth picked up the painting, holding it this way and that. ‘Who’s t’artist?’
‘Here, yer’ll get butter on it!’ Sonny snatched it from her and hid it in his knapsack, sharing Bones’ opinion that she was too forward by half. She shrugged and pulled off a mouthful of plum bread, poking it into her mouth with nailbitten fingers. The boys ate slowly, watching her all the time. The drops of water that clung to their shoulders acted as tiny magnifying glasses, leaving red patches as they evaporated with the scorching sun. Dickie asked where she lived.
She flung her arm in the direction of the woods. ‘Over there.’
‘An’ how old are ye?’
‘You’re a nosy devil, aren’t you? I’m fifteen if you must know. How old are you then?’ He told her, following which a host of other details was exchanged.
After the food was devoured Beth lay with her arms framing her damp, honey-toned locks, her ankles crossed and her white body turning pink. Dickie shuffled his body next to hers and began to trail a strand of grass over her belly, raising goosebumps. She did not stop him. The others watched, experiencing a strange churning in their bowels. Dickie slowly dragged the grass downwards to where the golden hair sprang wild, like mustard and cress. She’s sure to tell him to stop now, thought Sonny. But she didn’t.
‘What’re you staring at?’ she murmured lazily, eyes amber slits under barely-perceptible lashes.
Sonny, thinking she addressed him, tore his eyes away hastily. But it was Dickie who answered: ‘Ye’ve got a greenfly caught in your curls.’
‘Ugh! I can’t stand creepy crawlies.’ But she did not rise. ‘Get it out for me.’
The churning in Sonny’s bowels now enveloped his whole being. He stared with flaming face as his brother’s fingers poised over the stumbling greenfly. Oh, Jesus! Oh, Blessed Mary! They were almost there. Dickie’s fingers were almost touching her. It was as it had been with the pheasant, with the boys crouched alert, hardly daring to risk a breath. I’m going to burst, thought Sonny desperately, his eyes swimming and hot. In his mind he was in his brother’s place, touching her.
And then somehow, Dickie was flat on his back as the girl with a gleeful shriek leapt over him in a flash of white thighs, giggling and screaming, great breasts bouncing as she made her escape. She ploughed through the long grass, the flesh on her thighs shivering and quaking like blancmange.
Dickie was first to free himself of the ensuing confusion. ‘Come on!’ He leapt up, galvanising the others who had been paralysed with excitement. ‘If ye want to know what it feels like to be a man now’s yer chance.’
Further persuasion was unnecessary. Sonny and Bones sprang to their feet, scattering the pile of screwed-up paper and clothing and charged after him. Beth’s limbs sliced through the undergrowth as she laughed breathlessly over her shoulder to make sure that they were not too far behind. Around the glittering lake they pounded, with the hot sun toasting their youthful bodies, the butterflies and gnats fulminating in startled disarray as they ran, swerving and shying to avoid the clumps of thistles.
It happened so suddenly. One minute Sonny was haring eagerly after his quarry, his senses alive with the thrill of things to come, and the next a searing pain was shooting from his ankle into every crenel of his body. Down he went with a nerve-grinding thud, disturbing a clump of dandelion clocks, and the air was filled with a thousand fairy parasols. He curled up in agony, gripping his twisted ankle as the others thundered away.
His cry of, ‘Wait on!’ went unheeded. All that was to be heard was the faint sound of their lustful merriment as they vanished into the woods.
Chapter Seven
‘Is there anything left to eat?’ was Beth’s question when the three returned from their sortie a good half-hour later.
‘I shouldn’t think so the way you’ve been troughing,’ said Sonny petulantly, sitting, still naked, on the bank with his throbbing foot dangling in the water.
Dickie upturned his knapsack and rifled the contents. ‘No, there’s only paper.’ He planted himself beside his brother who looked the opposite way. ‘Ye should’ve come, Son,’ he hissed. ‘What happened to ye?’
Sonny turned on him angrily. ‘I fell, that’s what happened! Didn’t ye hear me shoutin’?’
‘Can’t say I did, Son. Sorry. Still, ye didn’t miss much – she’s not a patch on Bertha, she wouldn’t …’
‘I’m not bothered! Go ’way an’ leave me in peace.’ Dickie returned to where Beth and Bones were sitting and squatted down next to them. He could not help grinning at Bones’ face. The lad was besotted. Look at him, massaging her back to smooth away the impression of the bark splinters. Dickie snapped off a handful of wild barley, using the heads as darts to aim at Beth’s hair.
‘Stoppit!’ She pulled them from her hair and flung them away, unfastening then replaiting her braids before lying on the flattened grass to soak up more of the sun.
‘Ye were told to stop it, Feeney,’ warned Bones as Dickie threw more. He lovingly caressed the pale-blonde hairs on her arm.
‘Will we go for another swim?’ suggested Dickie, aiming the darts at Bones instead.
‘You three go,’ she mumbled, eyes closed. ‘I don’t want to get my hair wet again. I’ll have to go soon.’ She noticed Bones’ unwillingness to leave her. ‘Don’t think you’re getting anything else. You’ve had enough from me. Go have your swim, that’ll cool you off.’
He reluctantly joined Dickie and the two padded to the lakeside, coming to stand on either side of Sonny. ‘Away, our lad, stop sulkin’ an’ come an’ have a splash. Sure, I’ve telled ye, ye didn’t miss nothing.’ Dickie plunged in. Sonny threw up his hands to avoid a faceful of water.
‘An’ I’ve said I wasn’t bothered!’ With a grimace he hobbled after Bones who had also leapt in, and let the water cool his anger.
It wasn’t long before they were friends again, uprooting a cluster of reedmace and using them to engage in a swordfight. They beat each other about the shoulders, ducking under the threshing surface and taking it in turns to sit on one another’s shoulders, playing King of the Castle on a sandy shelf, one minute men, the next children.
When they came out she was gone. Bones tried to hide his disappointment by saying it would be a good idea for them to get moving too. He felt once again the plump cushion of her body and hurriedly pulled on his trousers as his body began to mirror that remembrance.
‘Aye, my guts are tellin’ me it’s close to tea-time,’ agreed Sonny, glad to see the back of her; she had quite spoilt his day. ‘Come on, I want to pick some flowers for me mam on t’way home.’
Dickie rubbed down his body with a handful of dried grass and grinned devilishly at Bones. ‘What did ye think to it then, Bones?’
‘What?’ asked the other nonchalantly, pulling on his shirt and tucking it into his trousers.
‘What, says he,’ scoff
ed Dickie. ‘Your first fuck, that’s what.’
‘Who said anything about it being my first?’ replied Bones indignantly, then his face cracked sheepishly at Dickie’s prompting. ‘Christ, wasn’t it bloody marvellous! D’ye think she’ll be here next week?’
Dickie waved his hand disparagingly. ‘Nah! Ye don’t want to waste your time on her again. There’s plenty of tail if ye know where to look for it.’
‘The voice of experience,’ growled Sonny, circling his foot to test the strength of his ankle.
Dickie chortled. ‘He’s still mad ’cause he didn’t get owt. Poor Son. Tell ye what, I’ll see if I can arrange anythin’ wi’ Bertha. She’s bound to be generous if I tell her it’s me brother’s first time. She likes virgins.’ He pulled on his trousers.
Sonny cheered up a little. ‘D’ye think so?’
‘I do; she’s got a soft spot for me has our Bertha.’
‘She’s got a soft spot for everybody,’ answered Bones gleefully. ‘But I won’t say where it is.’
‘Listen, she’s all right is Bertha. She gave me the full treatment an’ I didn’t have to pay a sou – an’ ’twas a lot better than I’ve had this afternoon.’
‘I thought Beth was nice,’ returned Bones. Absently he put his hand to his nose and inhaled deeply, imagining her smell still clung to his fingers. With a sigh he dropped his hand to his pocket. He patted it. ‘Oh, bugger! I had a pocketful o’ copper when I came; it must’ve slipped out when I pulled me togs off. Help me find it, will ye?’ He knelt down and parted the grass.
‘How come you’re so prosperous on a Sat’day?’ quizzed Dickie.
Bones crawled about on his hands and knees. ‘I took some skins to the tannery.’
‘Ah, so ye’ve been robbin’ our pal again, have ye?’ said Dickie. It was their habit, should Bacon Neck be careless enough to leave any hides lying unattended, to spirit them away to the tannery. ‘Well, this is God’s punishment for your dishonesty. Ye wouldn’t catch me doin’ a rotten trick like that.’
For My Brother’s Sins Page 7
