Crocodile Spirit Dreaming - Possession - Books 1 - 3

by Graham Wilson

  Soon she heard her father and Gran come in together. She brought David out and introduced him around. Her father opened by saying he wondered who owned the flash show room car in the drive; he had first though a car salesman had come to visit.

  David roared laughing, quite unabashed. “It is the same as my car in Sydney and I love it. It‘s great to drive even if some of my mates take the Mickey out of me for being uppity, tell me I am from the country bunyip aristocracy, come to lord it over city folks. But you are right, I rented it straight off the show room floor. It’s just my attempt to impress Susan when we go travelling. But I am equally happy driving a beat up old four wheel drive on the farm.

  Then David tossed her father the keys and said “Well how about it, let’s take it for a spin, you know your way so you drive. They all piled in, Susan and her Gran in the back, David alongside her Dad in the front, giving a few simple instructions about the controls. They all roared off into the balmy September evening, barely cold with the top open, and did a circuit of the town and along the river for ten minutes before returning home.

  Her father was laughing in delight as they returned to their driveway. “Now I start to understand why you enjoy it so much.” he said, grinning hugely.

  David and her father seemed to have more natural affinity than was there with Edward, her ex-boyfriend, good humoured banter came naturally to both. Her Mum was thoroughly charmed; tonight he had brought her flowers. Tim seemed a bit in awe of this successful but convivial man, and her Gran and David were trading Aussie tales of farm and country life like second nature. Her Gran had begun as a farmer’s daughter herself and had even visited some Australian stations in her early life, so she really did have a sense of the place. Over dinner all participated in the planning of Susan and David’s travel itinerary, a succession of historic places through the Midlands, Wales and Cornwall, expected back for Sunday evening dinner.

  At the end of the night she was tempted to go to David’s room with him, she wanted to spend the night with him. She knew David wanted it as well; it was there in the way he looked at her. But she decided again not to rush. Tomorrow night they would be on their own and that seemed like the right time to return to physical intimacy. So she kissed him lightly as he went to bed and said, “Just one more night.”

  The next day was a leisurely drive though autumn colours heading west from London, calling to Stonehenge in the morning and a castle in the afternoon. Over lunch at a pub Susan said she did not require her own room for the night, she was looking forward to a night where the two of them were together again. As they drove together towards the fading afternoon sun, from time to time she lightly rested a hand on his arm or shoulder. A couple of times he stopped at high places and walked out together with his arm around her.

  As they looked out towards a rolling hillside landscape in the late afternoon, Susan said to David. “I think it is time we found a place to spend the night. I want to eat a slow dinner looking at you and then I want a slow night of making love to you.”

  They stopped at the next village. It had a beautiful country pub with climbing roses and ivy rambling over stone walls. They were given an upstairs room with a view to the back over rolling fields full of sheep. The hotelier departed and left them to the room. Susan closed the door and said. “I have changed my mind. I hope it is OK with you.”

  David looked uncertain and a bit disappointed. “Do you want your own room?”

  “No you goose, I don’t want to wait any longer. I want you to make love to me right now. You look so handsome in your Tweed Jacket in the afternoon sunlight. I want you now.”

  It was beautiful and tender lovemaking, his strong body covering hers, taking her slowly and caressing her to build her pleasure. He felt huge and exquisite and they moved with increasing urgency until they climaxed together. They then ordered room service before another period of lovemaking after which they both fell into a deep and satisfied sleep.

  In the early morning light Susan admired David’s naked body, already erect. He slept on in a dreamy sleep. She placed herself over it and slid it within her. Now he was awake and they rode together, she above with his strong hands gripping and pushing her buttocks until they spent themselves again, then they slept on.

  The days and nights passed in something of a blur. It was a week of glorious autumn weather, the countryside was a mass of autumn colours, and the days, while cool, were filled with sunshine, with only brief showers and clouds. For Susan it was like a rediscovery of her homeland as seen through another’s eyes.

  David was full of appreciation, both of her and the country, it for its natural beauty and its history, for her with a sort of puppy love, which she found winsome in this mature and accomplished man. As they drove David said how some of the hill vistas reminded him of his home at the back of the Blue Mountains with wild mountainsides and lush sheltered valleys.

  They walked in the high mountains, they visited coastal towns and villages with their Welsh signage, they went to a performance of a Welsh choir in a historic mining town. They talked to farmers and fishermen who were delighted with David’s accent even though many words on both sides were foreign. Their second night was in a cottage in the Brecon Beacons National Park, set high in the mountains of Wales. It gave comfort, privacy and intimacy all in one space. Their sense of togetherness, comfort with one another and the naturalness of their lovemaking grew alongside this superb natural setting.

  Next morning, on returning back across the Severn River into Bristol, they explored this bustling city for a couple hours and then drove on to Bath, famous town of Roman architecture, for lunch and sightseeing. In the early afternoon they headed to Cheddar, a beautiful little town set into the lush hills of Somerset.

  It was a major tourist centre with the famous cheddar cheese and its limestone gorge and caves. Susan told David it was one of the most significant sites of prehistory, with 9,000 year old Cheddar man the oldest human skeleton found in Britain. She knew this from university, having studied this and other early English finds, but she had never been to this place and wanted to see with her own eyes. David seemed equally interested, he admitted he had toyed with the idea of doing archaeology or anthropology too and had maintained an active private interest since then. So they could converse on the technical detail with ease. They concluded their day with a wine and cheese tasting including the authentic Cheddar product, before staying in an upmarket hotel.

  It was now Saturday and but one final night remained before returning to Reading for Sunday night. Their plan was to go to the tip of Cornwall, to Land’s End where they would stand and survey the endless Atlantic breakers rolling across the horizon, looking out past the bottom of Ireland and on to America. They drove there directly and found a place to stay, a delightful old stone pub in the village. Now they had the afternoon to explore. It was a mostly clear day but with scuds of weather coming in across the Atlantic. A big sea was running, breaking on the offshore rocky islands in spumes of spray. The wind was cold and bracing, as it ripped in from the vast oceans to the west

  An hour of walking and exploring the exposed rocky coast left them chilled and wind blasted. They decided to travel to the sheltered east side of the peninsula for the afternoon. Here, despite short miles, they came to another world of quaint fishing villages and bustling commerce. They discovered the town of Penzance, famous for the Gilbert and Sullivan pirate opera, though not a pirate was to be seen. They booked seats in the local theatre for an afternoon performance of the opera classic. In a pub in the late afternoon a man with a fiddle and repertoire of bawdy songs had them in stitches. It was light and entertaining and with wine and warm food gave them a glow of wellbeing. They ate dinner in an intimate restaurant, quiet despite the town bustle, just candlelight and them.

  During the dinner a slightly pensive mood descended, as if they were reluctant to admit that this time of delightful solitude was nearing an end and they needed to think past this place.

  Susan laid a ha
nd on David’s arm. She said, “Thank you for a most wonderful time. I had forgotten how beautiful my own country was and I have got such enjoyment out of sharing it with you and seeing it through your eyes as well as my own. I wish we could put tomorrow off and delay our return for another week. But tonight let there not be a shadow. Tonight we should party, dance and push away all else.”

  David nodded. “You seem to have a knack for saying what I was thinking.” So they finished their meal, had an extra drink and went out into the Penzance night. They found a nightclub where the music was booming and soaked it in, slow dances, fast dances, a buzz of excited conversation. It was well after midnight when they, along with many new found friends, were sharing last drinks, and then waving and calling out to each other as they stumbled off to respective beds.

  Even though they had shared many drinks, together and with others, it had been over many hours and neither felt drunk. As they drove up the hillside they suddenly emerged into a cutting and blasting wind. It buffeted their car. It was the wind they had fled from before, now redoubled with a wild roaring and keening sound.

  David said, “Perhaps we should have got a place in Penzance, but I rather like returning to the wild Atlantic in the late night, its untamed rawness appeals to my soul; a wildness for brave hearts.” Susan nodded but shivered slightly. She pushed herself in against him; a solidity against the outside storm. The pub was all in dark as they used their key to let themselves in. The windows rattled and the wind moaned but it felt safe and secure within.

  In the soft bed-lamp light Susan wanted to give this man a night to remember her by. She sang a song her cousins had taught her, from the bawdy pubs of the north, “Patricia the Stripper” and acted out the seductive poses, as she removed the layers of her clothes. David scooped her up and swung her around. Now they were laughing and giggling together as they touched each other’s intimate places. It felt good and joyous.

  Susan woke in the still of the predawn. David slept on, it was too dark for shadows, but she could hear his steady breathing. There was a faint lightening around his outline. But something else was in here.

  A presence, ancient yet familiar; a presence reeking of crocodiles, swamps, blowflies and rotting flesh; a presence of utter terror!

  Was she dreaming or was it real? She was no longer sure. Her sense of being with David in this hotel room seemed right but yet other things seemed all wrong. There was a strange smell, the smell of a swamp and a rotten putrefaction of decaying bodies; there was a buzzing sound in her ears, a blowfly of the dead. And hands were reaching out to touch her, at first as if in a gentle caress and then and if trying to grab her. Now she could feel this being clawing at her, trying to pull her out of her body and take her away. She pulled away and pulled the covers over her head. She pushed her body against David and tried to block out the other being. She felt David’s arms wrap around her and pull her close though she had no sense of his waking. She buried her face in his chest and tried to block out the other, telling herself over and over, “It is just a dream.”

  As David held her close her sense of the numinous evil faded, but she dared not move away, even an inch, lest the beast returned.

  Susan realised that David was shaking her awake. He was up and dressed and a wintery sunshine was trying to light the grey horizon. He said, “It is coming up to ten o’clock so I thought I should wake you. They have promised a late breakfast if we come soon.”

  Emerging from the hotel to pack up the car they stepped into a blustery wet day, as last night’s Atlantic weather front had settled over the south of England. It was a slow and subdued drive back towards London, on a dreary Sunday afternoon of wind and rain, as they followed a heavy stream of traffic returning to the city. However despite this they were both in an upbeat mood, feeling good about the time they had spent together and also about what might come.

  Somehow the pregnancy had completely gone from Susan’s mind and when it returned for a fleeting second she pushed it away, determined that this should be a subject of another time. Instead they discussed mutual interests in history, archaeology and politics, along with their medical and biotechnology work.

  Susan said she would have to go in to work for a while tomorrow but she would try to arrange to have the rest of the time off until David flew out, and they agreed they would spend the Tuesday together. She also told David she was hoping and expecting that he would stay on at her place for the next nights, as his fold out bed in the office was big enough for two to share. David said Yes, but with the proviso that for his final night they would share a five star suite in one of the city’s top hotels. Susan nodded; this seemed only fair, even though the balance was very much on his side, as always.

  On returning from work the next day, with two clear days until David’s plane departed on late Wednesday, Susan proposed that the two of them go for a quiet and intimate dinner at a small place she knew alongside the Thames at the back of Reading. She told David that tonight was on her.

  She knew, despite her reluctance, that the time had come for some honesty about her situation and did not want to leave it until the very last minute. So, once they were sitting with their drinks and orders placed, she took a deep breath and launched into it.

  “David, there is something I need to say before we get in any deeper and particularly before we start talking about any ongoing relationship or whatever follows from this week.

  “First, I want to tell you how wonderful this week has been for me. I can’t quite understand what leads you to like me, but I have had one of the best times of my life since you arrived, I love being with you and doing things with you, I love making love to you, I love your manners and charm with others, particularly my family and your sense of fun and courtesy.

  “So, whatever follows from here, I don’t want to lose that, and I especially want to thank you so much for the good time you have given me.”

  David nodded but was strangely silent. It was as if he knew there was more to follow.

  “So now I have to tell you something which will be difficult for me to say, and I don’t want it to cause you hurt though I think it may.

  “Two days before you arrived I did a pregnancy test and found out I was going to have a baby. I have only made love to two men in the last six months. One was you and the other was another man in Australia. I really wish the baby was yours but I think it is very likely that it is the other man’s child. However I cannot say for sure and there is a small chance that you are the father.

  “When I read your letter on Saturday I had just found out about my pregnancy and had decided to have an abortion. I do not want the child of this other man and I know I won’t be seeing him again.

  So, after you leave, I will have to deal with this. I did not want it to spoil our time together for the last week which is why I did not tell you when you arrived. But now I don’t want any talk or promises for a future between us, without you knowing this. I am sorry, I cannot tell you anything about the other man, so please don’t ask.

  David sat looking at her with a kind and steady face. She thought his face might change, when she mentioned the baby, but it did not. For a few seconds after she finished he sat and looked at her, not speaking. Then he picked up her hand and kissed it, then squeezed it. Then, with the fingers of his other hand, he gently stroked her cheek. There was something very poignant in his kindness and gentleness that brought tears to her eyes.

  He replied. “We have both been in relationships and had lovers before. In my heart of hearts I knew I was not the only one in Australia, from the way you were in Sydney I could sense that you had also met someone else before me. But it did not stop what I felt for you then and it does not stop what I feel for you now. I like the idea of you with a baby, and I like the idea of being a father to your baby. I also like that you have told me this now when on the day after I leave you could have had a termination and told no one.

  “I have not told you about the girl, Nicki, I was with until about a ye
ar before I met you. She was from my town and we had been childhood sweethearts since school. We both came to Sydney for University and then started our careers together. Through all this time we stayed best friends and lovers, though we both agreed that we needed to associate and go out with other people, not just with each other, so as to experience a wider life.

  “Then a couple years ago we started to drift apart. I had always thought we would be together for life and get married in due course, and I think she thought so too. But in Sydney there were so many girls who threw themselves at me and it was a bit the same for Nicki.

  “Gradually we started to form different circles of friends and different relationships, but neither of us would admit it to ourselves or each other. It was like we needed to keep pretending and did not want to admit that our dream was coming apart.

  “Then one day Nicki came to me and told me that she was in a relationship with another man and must end what she had with me. She said she would not two-time with him.

  “While I had been with other girls I had always thought of them as temporary dalliances, which meant nothing, she was the one for me. Nicki was more straightforward, she did not do the other men thing and had been hurt when I had been with other girls even though we lived separately and had decided, when we came to Sydney, that our relationship with one another while there was not exclusive.

  But I was devastated when she left me for someone else. Over the year since I have come to realise that if one is in a serious relationship one has to be true to it. In that year, after she left, at first there were lots of girls, but about half way through I realised that there was something unsatisfying in that and so I started to keep more to myself. There were still a couple girls I kept going with. But it was more like meeting a need for both of us than love.

  From the night I first met you I have been completely captivated by the girl with the blue eyes and the bewitching smile who sits in front of me. So, while I did not want to rush you with a hasty proposal, now I find myself here that is what I want to say.