THE COCKLE WAR
By Atonia
Part 1
Max left Jack at his seaside cottage. He was on his way out of Jack’s time and place into his own. The car park was just on the other side of the green. The grassy area was now a family picnic area but once it had held barracks for airmen during WWII. Jack’s cottage had fallen to ruin and only a pile of stones remained to mark the spot. Of the barracks nothing remained and as Max stepped on to the green he thought about the unmarked history on this spot.
"Halt!"
He heard it again and looked up. it was late in the afternoon and the fog had rolled in. When had that happened? he hadn’t noticed it at Jack’s cottage. A man emerged from the fog and soon another, both of them armed.
"Hello?" Max was wide-eyed.
"What are you doing out here out of uniform?"
"Sorry, I don’t have a uniform." The questions came fast as if fired from the weapons they carried and he hadn’t an answer for any of them.
"I was only going to the car park." Now two more men were surrounding him and he was hustled off toward the buildings. He recognized the uniforms now. Bollocks! He’d stumbled into WWII.
Terry looked at his watch again and walked to the balcony. Lights were coming on across the Thames in the city. A low fog was rolling along the River Thames below and he wouldn’t allow Toni out on the balcony after the morning's near mishap. He’d nearly lost her to the fog. Memories of that happening in France filled his mind. The fog had enveloped her and taken her back to another time. He wasn’t taking any chances this time.
Toni was on the phone with Tuppy. She and Max had planned to go back to Hartley Wintney that afternoon but he hadn’t returned from his visit to Jack.
"I don’t know for sure, Tuppy, but Terry’s here and will send Anna in the morning. He’s already contacted her and she’ll be on the early train. Has he really? Oh, dear!" Toni could imagine the state of the cottage. Tuppy was good with Rose and Maxi but add Jacky to the mix and it was almost more than she could handle. She was wishing she was home, but not without Max, and she was really beginning to worry about him. He should have been back hours ago.
She walked to the door to the balcony. "Jacky’s had a fall and bruised his elbow."
Terry looked at her. "He’s okay though?"
"Just hurt. I could hear him crying in the background. Oh, Terry, what is going on here? Where is Max?"
"I wish I knew. I can’t contact him and I don’t’ know if he’s just shut down or is somewhere our mental capabilities don’t penetrate and that’s odd, ya know."
"Have you tried Jack?"
"Hoh yah. I’ve summoned Jack, so we’ll see what he knows."
"I’ve made some coffee, the real kind, if you’d like a cup."
"Thanks, luv, I would." He came back inside and closed the door, glancing at her. "Don’t open it."
"No, no, I won’t."
"Are you feeling better now?"
"Yes, I took some headache pills."
A little while later the doorbell rang and Terry answered it. It was Jack, wearing jeans and a blue blazer over his own shirt.
"Ah, Jack, come in…Max?"
"Max…no?" He looked puzzled.
Toni ran to him. "Where’s Max?"
"I do not know, Pet. He left the cottage around three bells. I saw him walking along the road before I went back to the garden and to work. He has not turned up?"
"No, and I can’t contact him by any means." Terry answered. He and Jack locked eyes for a moment and Jack came into the flat and down to the seating area.
"The last thing he said was about the green. There is a grassy area on the other side of the spit of land. It leads to some fisherman’s cottages. He said there were markers there about the Napoleonic wars and something to do with World War two barracks. I am not familiar with what that means."
"You are behind in your wars, Jack. You should do a little reading. That field, according to the internet was home to the RAF among others. They trained there and later flew missions out of Southend."
"You didn’t take him across then?" Toni asked.
"No, Pet, I offered and he said he’d made it through so he thought he could make it back. He should have without a problem. He’d come through just before he reached the cottage so I assumed he would go back the same way. He just had to concentrate and think about what he was doing."
"Simple fact is he hasn’t shown up. I know exactly where he parked his car. I could go out there and see if it’s still there."
"His Aston Martin?" Toni bit her lip.
"Yeah, so you know he wouldn’t leave it there for very long. I’m going out there."
"I shall accompany you."
"I don’t want to leave her alone here. She’s fog vulnerable."
"Ah, yes." Jack looked at Toni.
"Just keep an open channel I’ll, uh, contact you when I get there. Should take about an hour or so."
Jack thought it a pity he couldn’t magically take himself there but Terry did not have that capability.
Max had been unceremoniously thrown in a jail until they could figure out what to do with him. He hadn’t a military ID and was found on base. As far as the Fliers were concerned he could be a spy or he could be a deserter. His occupation as a banker was suspect.
Max ran a hand over his face and sat down on a bench. He wasn’t alone in the cell. He had a drunken aviator for company. He could smell him from his seat.
"Hiya, mate. What are you in for?"
"Ah, not sure," Max grimaced. "You?"
"I was celebrating my birthday and they say I got into a blue but I don’t remember it."
"You’re an Australian?"
"I am that, yes. Don’t suppose you’ve got a fag?"
"I do, actually." Max pulled out his cigarette case and handed a cigarette to the young man. "What are you doing in the RAF?"
"RCAF, Canadian…I trained there and got shifted around. Not sure what I am anymore. Squadron 666 AOP."
"What’s that?"
"Air Observation Post. What kind of cigarette is this? You’re not a yank, are ya?"
"Certainly not! I’m an Englishman and beggars shouldn’t be choosy. Who are you? Gotta name?"
"Lachlan Currie."
Max did a double take. "You’re kidding!"
"Nope, and you are?"
"Maximillian Skinner." Max stared at the young man. He knew who he was but obviously Currie didn’t know him.
"Are you a civilian?"
"Yes, yes, I am. I stumbled onto this, um, base and ended up here. All I want is to get off it and get to my car and go home."
"That’s what we’d all like to do… go home."
"Well, in my case, I’m not supposed to be here at all. I’m not in this war."
"You are now." Lachlan indicated three men coming toward the cell.
"Skinner, I think we may have solved your little mystery. How you survived that crash I don’t know but it’s obviously left you with a case of amnesia."
Max rose and walked to the cell door. "What are you talking about?"
"Captain Maximillian Skinner, you were listed as KIA over Dunkirk. Glad to see you made it."
"What?" Then it dawned on him, somewhere in his back story memory his grandfather was named Maximillian, too. Had he fought in WWII? "I’m afraid you’re making a big mistake."
"We’ll have an escort here shortly to take you back to your squadron. Currie."
"Yes, sir!" Lachlan stood at attention, pulling on his jacket.
"You’re sprung. Gather your gear."
"YES, SIR!" Lachlan was dressing as fast as he could.
Max still in a semi state of shock turned to Lachlan as he walked to the door waiting for it to be unlocked for him. "Currie...you ever hear of a place called The House of Four Seasons?"
The door opened and Lachlan put on his cap and turned around staring at Max. "Who are you?"
"Move it, Currie."
He looked over his shoulder as he was escorted out but Max caught the recognition. He did know the House. Perhaps he had a friend here?
Part 2
Terry found Max’s car still locked up in a car park in Old Leigh. It was parked under a street lamp as if that might aid in its protection from thieves. That car was Max’s pride and joy. Terry was a little surprised that he’d driven it out to Leigh on the Sea but then he hadn’t planned on being there this long. He walked around the car a couple of times and got back in his own vehicle. It was now dark and the sporadic lights over the grassy area didn’t shed much light on the place. Terry got his flashlight and walked over the picnic area. It appeared to extend beyond the waterfront but he couldn’t see how far. He walked all the way to the road Max had been on before he went over to Jack’s. No sign of Max at all. He even called out for him only to hear his own voice thrown back at him in the stiff breeze coming from the bay. He found the historic markers and read them by his flashlight.
Satisfied he’d traced Max’s steps, he went back to his vehicle and drove down the row of cottages. He found a pub called The Crooked Billet located in the heart of the old section. It looked like it had been around forever and he contacted Jack about it. Jack had been in the pub. Terry mused over this a moment and went in himself and ordered a pint. He found a few locals and talked to them about the area. The history of the grassy area was poured forth along with a few pints.
Somehow he wasn’t comforted hearing about how the local fishermen had rescued stranded British soldiers from Dunkirk. More and more he was fearing the worst. Max had fallen into the wrong place at the wrong time. He left the pub and found a constable and talked to him about Max’s car. He told him his friend had gone hiking and hadn’t returned. He was worried about the safety of his vehicle. The constable said he’d keep an eye out.
He sat in his vehicle and had a conversation with Jack by phone. "I’m afraid, Jack, that he somehow didn’t make it across the divide. He’s slipped in somewhere else. Is that possible?"
"Yes, it’s possible. Did we not go back to Maximus’ time? It’s very possible, Terry, and he did mention the barracks in the grassy area so it was on his mind. You remember that you must concentrate on where you are going."
"Yeah, but I don’t think he did. I found no trace of him at all and I think I’d like to wait until daylight just to make sure before I do anything."
"Terry, we do not need two of you lost."
"No, I don’t intend to be lost. There’s nothing for me here tonight. I’m coming back. Is Toni okay?"
"Yes, she is here beside me."
"See ya in about an hour."
"What is it, Jack?"
"Terry seems to think Max has slipped into a different time period, perhaps this World War two?"
"Oh no! Oh, Jack, no!" She began to cry.
"Hey, hey, you!" Lachlan tapped on the little barred window.
Max climbed up on the bunk and opened it a slit, as far as it would go. "Yeah?"
"What do you know about the House of Four Seasons?"
"That’s where I’m from, and you?"
"I’ve been there. I can’t hang around here or I’ll be back inside. Look, they’re going to move you. I think you need to get out of here, off the base. You’ll have to make a dash for it and I’ll tell ya, they will shoot ya if they see you running so…shit, I gotta go."
Max strained his eyes trying to see what happened to his young friend but he was gone. "Oh, nice! I’m going to be shot at," he said to himself.
He slumped down on the bunk and thought about Lachlan Currie. How the bloody hell was he involved in this nightmare? He began to wonder about other characters.
Max realized what had happened to him. He had walked out there thinking he was going to cross over and instead of thinking about the car park and his prized Aston Martin, he was thinking about the airmen once housed on the ground he was walking on. This time travel thing was tricky, to be sure. He decided he’d made his last trip though the light fantastic.
Somebody brought him a cup of tea and some biscuits and apologized for his incarceration but until they had positive ID and got his papers in order they couldn’t let him go. Max actually sized the guy up and thought about his chances if he rushed him, but there were just too many about, bristling with weapons to make that a good idea. However, escape he must unless he wanted to end up being transported somewhere else and possibly suited up for action. He shuddered at the thought.
"I can’t believe this is happening! Oh, Max!" Toni sobbed.
"Now, Pet, you do know if need be we have the best K&R man in the world. He can go in and find Max and bring him out if it comes to that. Our Max is resourceful, too. I’m sure at the first opportunity he will realize what has happened and get himself out of there."
"I did this, you know, all because I was fainting and falling though."
"He and I had a long talk, probably the longest we’ve ever had. Max has never been particularly fond of me but I think we may have settled some things between us. He knows I only want what is best for you and I think he understands now how it is for me and how much I do love you. He thought it was me that was causing you to fall though and to faint away. It is not, Pet. I think you know this."
"I don’t know how it happens but it scares me, it does."
"I told Max and I believe it is true that somewhere inside of you, you want to come over to my side. I told you that it was your awareness of me and it is so. When that fog swirls around you instead of backing away from it and shutting yourself off from the allure, you are embracing it and it follows you. You must deny its influence because you cannot step over. It is too dangerous. You see what has happened to Max because perhaps he did not have a clear thought. The same could happen to you and there are your children to think about. As much as I would love you at my side, it cannot be, Pet."
Toni examined her hands. "I know, I know it can’t be. It’s hard sometimes because I think of you and I didn’t know in London how close you were. I had to talk to myself once that day and say no you cannot do that and then you were so close to me. I felt it so strongly, it just took over."
"You gave in."
"I guess I did because I wanted it. I wanted you."
Jack hugged her close. "I have begun to work on the cottage. I intended to spend three days there clearing out the trash and the garden. I think now I will have it done. There are certain members of my crew I can put to work while we wait for a ship and when it is ready I will come for you and Rose. I have discussed this with Max. It is not like the arrangement he made for our meeting in London. He has seen the cottage and knows what I intend there. It will be ours, Pet, for whatever time we have together. So do not think I am not planning or that I do not want you with me, for it is not so."
Toni kissed him. "I’m going to try and get myself in hand. This is what happens when I follow my heart and not my head. I’ve caused a lot of upset and now this with Max. Sometimes I can hardly stand myself."
"Do not start beating up the woman I love. You are forgiven everything but you must learn from this experience and make sure it does not happen again."
Terry came into the flat and tossed his keys on the table. He had a carton with him that he took down to the kitchen. He glanced over to the sofa and announced himself. "I hate to break anything up over there but I have goodies."
Toni got up and went to the counter. "You are not breaking anything up. What have you got?"
"Cockles, compliments of Leigh on the Sea. They’re steamed."
"Ugh!" Toni curled her lip.
Terry found the malt vinegar and some salt. Jack came over to help him eat them. Toni hunted in the cabinets for a tin of soup. She found tomato soup and put that on to heat.
"This is what they do over there, ya know?"
"Yes, I know," Jack grinned. "I have eaten them in the pub. It is good to know they still fish for cockles."
"Cockle capital of the world. I thought it strange to go into your pub and have a pint. You’ll have to come out tomorrow and have a look, see how it has changed."
"I will do so."
"I’d like to go, too," Toni said, pulling out a bowl for her soup.
"No, luv, you’re in time out right here in this flat. I’ve had a think about you."
"Terry," Jack said.
"No, no, she’s earned it, Jack, and she knows it. Max can deal with her when he gets back and he will get back."
"Shall I go stand in the corner or can I have my soup?"
Terry grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up hard against him and looked into her eyes for a moment. "Go eat your soup," he said quietly.
She took her soup to the coffee table away from them. She knew how bad it was and knew she was responsible. Terry made her want to cry but she didn’t; she sucked it back in. She understood now what had been happening to her and why. Jack had explained it to her and she knew how to stop it from happening again. Dear Jack, being with him she never had to worry about anything. All she had to do was lean on him. She could see now how that appealed to her. She had no responsibilities, no worries. She was a treasured thing with him.
Pushing her bowl away, she looked toward the counter where they were sitting and talking and finishing up the cockles with a bottle of beer apiece. With Terry she knew her limits. He’d kept her in line with a firm but gentle hand. He loved her and would do anything for her but he expected her to pull her weight, too. He went to work and the running of the household and care of Jacky had been hers. Max was a little of both. He shared in the household and in the childcare but the business end was his. He took care of the money and she never knew how much they had and never thought about it. He was also her playmate and liked nothing more than taking a bottle of wine, a hunk of cheese and bread, and roaring about the countryside on his bike with her holding on behind him. He was sensitive and romantic. Tears were dripping off her cheeks.
"Hey, come here." Terry pulled her from the sofa and walked with her out on the balcony. "I know you’re hurting, luv. We all are, okay. I didn’t mean to bite you a while ago but this is serious, Toni."
"I know it is. Poor Max. You know as well as I do he’s the least able to handle something like this, not to mention the danger he’s in." Her eyes were still overflowing.
Terry held her close and rubbed her back. "I don’t know that at all, luv. Give him some credit. Just because he’s a banker doesn't mean he can't handle himself." He kissed her wet cheek. "He’s a smart guy and we’ll get him back tomorrow when it’s light and we can see what’s what."
Part 3
It was awfully dark in his cell. Everything was blacked out now so that not a chink of light showed around a window. Even the bare light bulb hanging outside his cell was now swathed in dark green fabric, casting a deathly glow over the room. He’d been hearing the drone of aircraft overhead for a long time. Somewhere in the distance he heard other sounds and he made them out to be muffled bombing sounds carried on the wind. It occurred to him it was probably the French coast being bombed. It wasn’t that far away.
He had to get out of here. Up and pacing around, he began to think. He couldn’t sit here and wait like a sitting duck. He climbed up on the bunk and tried the window. The damn bars were pretty strong. There would be no shifting them. He had a sense of several men outside the door of his prison. They already thought he had amnesia. Perhaps he could be afflicted with something else as well.
He began to yell, making all kinds of strange sounds, and eventually the door opened.
"Hey, what’s all this then?"
Max continued his yelling. Another bloke’s head came in the door. "What’s up with him? ‘as he gone off?"
"I dunno. Look ,Skinner, we’ll get ya some tea. Calm down now."
"Maybe we should get the medic?"
"Give ‘im a shot of summat. Yeah ‘es gone off owright."
He was putting on quite a show, jumping up on the bench and back down, still screaming. He was making so much noise he didn’t hear a siren go off but the others did. They doused the light in his room and left the door open, heading for cover.
The ground shook and Max was thrown off the bunk to the floor. He rolled underneath the bunk and held his ears. He counted three more explosions, the last one close enough to knock the window out of his cell He heard someone calling his name and uncovered his eyes. It was Currie.
Lachlan stood in the cell door. "Come on! Get ya arse outta there!" He tossed the keys on the floor and turned to leave.
Max caught up with him. "Thanks."
"Good luck, Skinner." Lachlan looked him in the eye a moment and then melted into the darkness.
Max edged out of the quonset hut. He’d been driven back into the base a bit and he hadn’t got his bearings. All hell had broke loose, fires were burning, airmen rushing to get their planes in the air, sirens blasting. He ran toward the darkness, stumbling and falling. He lay panting in a ditch, looking toward the melee and hoped Currie made it out. He’d been dressed in his flight jacket. He looked up at the sky, hearing planes somewhere up there and not knowing whose they were. He rolled over and sat up. There was a heavy cloud cover obscuring the moon and he didn’t know which way to run. Cloud cover could mean fog and fog meant the sea. He ran toward the darkness once again. Somewhere ahead he heard voices and again hit the ground and found cover in a ditch. A group of men were running toward the base with a torch.
It was a nightmare, a bloody fucking nightmare. He was on his feet running again but now it was hard going. He was in mud and it was sucking at his feet. He’d made it to the mudflats below the cottages but in the darkness he didn’t know where he was. Stumbling and falling, he was in water now and found a slippery and slimy rock but he held on to it, trying to catch his breath. Thoughts jumbled in his head. He had to start running again, working out or something. Terry’s voice was in his head, telling him he was getting soft. He was so out of shape. Toni…Toni.
He thought he might have passed out for a while. The tide was coming in and water splashed over him, bringing him up sputtering. He looked up and saw the sky was lightening up. Dawn was coming and he had to get out of there. Fog surrounded him and he thought about his car. Concentrate, he told himself…car park…Aston Martin.
Terry and Jack left the flat before daylight. Quietly they’d slipped out without Toni. Terry didn’t want her along because he didn’t know what they were facing. He’d made that clear the night before but with her you never knew for sure if you’d gotten through. Jack had even asked her to stay at the flat because of the possibility that Max might show up.
They had spent the night on Max’s twin sofas and got little sleep. Each of them knew if it hadn’t been for the other they would have been in the bedroom with Toni. Terry made good time in the early morning hours. There was little traffic going out of the city.
Toni spent a fitful night in the bed. She kept having dreams of Max being wet and cold. She was awake when they left. She’d heard them in the half bath. Rolling over she tucked Max’s pillow in her arms, said a prayer for him and made herself a promise. Opening the bedroom door, the smell of coffee was still lingering in the air and all thoughts of sleep vanished.
Terry pulled into the car park next to Max’s car. A quick look told him it was unmolested. He and Jack got out and walked toward the grassy area. It was light enough to see now and he was looking carefully over the grounds. Jack walked over to one of the historic markers and was reading about the barracks.
A fog bank lay out on the water, some of it drifting toward shore. "Jack, let’s stay together, okay."
Max had climbed out of the mud up to the base of one of the cottages. He sat on a stone step and removed his shoes and socks, washing them out as the water came up. He turned and wondered how the cottage still remained intact with the tide lapping at its foundations. It was then he realized he was back in his own time frame. He wanted to weep.
Terry was telling Jack about the history of that area and about the cockles, which he already knew but was interested to know that it was still an ongoing livelihood for the local fishermen.
"These cottages here called cockle cottages, were they standing in your time?"
"Yes, and there were others. It’s all very different now. I don’t think the tide came in quite so far. Terry, what is it you have in mind? Are you going to try and cross over to another time?"
"I thought about it but the problem is, what date. This was a strategic area during World War two. It went on for years and there is no way of knowing when or where or if. For all we know he could be back in Napoleon’s time."
"It is too much of a risk. I don’t think it wise, Terry."
Max held on to the side of the cottage, slipping and sliding until he reached the side and grabbed onto a railing, pulling himself up to street level. He staggered out onto the road.
Jack stepped across a shallow ditch and looked up. A movement had caught his eye.
"Terry!"
"Holy snappin’ arseholes!" Terry turned and ran toward the car park. "Max!" he called out.
Max stopped and relief spread over him when he saw Terry.
Jack supported him to the side of Terry’s vehicle and Terry called Toni to let her know they had him and he was in one piece.
Terry found a car blanket in the boot and gave it to Max to wrap around his shoulders. He was sitting in the back seat with the door open, telling them a little of his ordeal.
"You won’t believe who I met and, in fact, it was he who is responsible for me being here. Lachlan Currie. Does that ring a bell?"
"Hell, yes! He was a pilot, a fellow Aussie. He was here?"
"Yes, and with the RCAF attached to the Canadians. He was in jail with me for some drunken birthday bash and he came back and unlocked the door when the base was bombed so I could escape."
"Did he know you?" Jack asked.
"No, he didn’t but then we came after his time. He’d been at the House."
"Magic," Terry said.
"I’ve had enough of that!" Max ran the blanket over his head. "I’m
starving. I’ve had only tea and biscuits since breakfast yesterday. It was
yesterday?"
"Yesterday you were at my cottage. Sorry you had this experience, Max."
Max looked at Jack. "Something interesting you might want to know. My grandfather was a Captain in the RAF. I was mistaken for him. Evidently he was killed in action at Dunkirk and they thought I was him."
Jack smiled a little. "Captain Skinner," he tipped his head.
"Hop in, Max, and we’ll find a place open for brekkie."
"OH! My car! Do you know they took my ID? I haven’t a driver’s permit. Thank God I didn’t have my passport on me."
"Ah, well, I suppose Toni can drive it back into London later today." Terry raised a brow.
Max shot him a look. "Toni does not drive the AM." He took Terry’s phone from him so he could call Toni.
Jack hung back, looking across the green. "You do not need me any longer?"
"No, unless you want to hang around with us today."
"I think not. I have work that needs doing at the cottage and I am nearly there already."
"Thanks, Jack, for coming and for talking to Toni. I think you say things better than I do. She will listen to you."
"She listens to you, too, and knows the things you say are true but she doesn’t like to admit it and doesn’t like to be told what to do."
"How well I know that," he smiled. "Take care, Jack.
Jack touched Max’s arm and threw up his hand.
"Jack, thank you for being here," Max said and went back to his phone call.
Part 4
"You’re sure you’re all right, Max?"
"I may have a few bumps and bruises but I’m okay. I’m more hungry and tired than anything, oh, and wet."
"I’m so sorry."
" I may make arrangements to have my car towed in. I can’t drive it, love, lost my permit."
"Is there anything I can do, anyone I can call?"
"If you will look in the address book and give me the number for the lock up I’ll call them and have them pick my car up."
Toni went to his office and gave him the number. She looked around at all Max’s things. "Max, I love you. I want you home."
"I’ll be there, love. I think Terry may feed me before I get back. We’re okay, Toni….you and I."
"I know we are. I just need to see you."
Terry watched Jack walk across the grassy area toward the road he knew was on the other side. The road could be Roman, he thought. As he was watching him, a little finger of fog drifted in, swirled around and then moved on inland but Jack was gone when it cleared. Forever more Terry would be wary of fog, even though he’d passed through to the other side of magic and survived it all. It was uncertain, unnerving and he never knew if it was a naturally occurring fog as lay around London daily or something else.
Max climbed out of the back of his SUV and handed Terry his phone. "Has he gone?"
"Yeah, disappeared through the fog."
"I don’t like fog and it will be a cold day in hell when you find me walking through it again."
"I was just thinking the same thing, Max. Only if one of us has a need."
"I agreed to let her go the cottage with him. Am I crazy?"
"No, Max, you’re compassionate."
"I wouldn’t want to be in his boots. Like he said, he’s caught between."
"I don’t think she’ll be trying to go on her own again. Jack’s talked to her about that. He can do it without resulting to spanking."
"Spanking?" Max raised a brow.
"Figuratively speaking, of course. I’d never raise a hand to her. You know that. Are you ready to go?"
"Yes." He came out of his wet jacket and pulled his shirt tail out, trying to dry off as much as possible with the blanket.
"So, what was it like, Max?"
"What, the war? Ah, well, I didn’t see much of it because I was questioned and thrown in jail. I didn’t have a military ID, no rank and serial number, no squadron leader. I suppose they thought I might be a spy or something at first. Then of course they found my grandfather. His name was the same as mine. He bought the ticket over Dunkirk but they thought I had survived the crash. They were waiting for a positive ID to come through and I was to be transported to my squadron as Capt. Skinner."
"The bomb attack was lucky for you otherwise you might have been flying a plane." Terry looked over and grinned.
"I suppose that wouldn’t have been a problem for you?"
"No, I can fly. What would you have done ,Max?"
"I would have told them the truth, that I couldn’t fly. But if it came to it and I was forced up, I would have put somebody else in the cockpit. I haven’t a bloody clue, Terry. It was surreal lying in the ditch watching the blokes run about with their weapons, sirens blasting and all the time the drone of planes overhead. And you didn’t know if they were ours or theirs."
"Hm, and one of us there in the middle of it. I don’t remember him in England. We may have to watch Currie’s movie again."
"I don’t think he was there in the film but that’s where he was headed when it ended. He was an all right lad. He saved my life. I hope he makes it."
"Of course he does. This look okay for brekkie? You aren’t exactly dressed for fine dining."
"Oh, bollocks! I’m not dressed for anything, ruined a perfectly good suit, my cell phone, lost my wallet."
"I’ll spring for breakfast. Look, Max, I’m only going to say this once because I think you might get off on shite like this. You handled Jack very well. I know we both get annoyed with him sometimes but he’s honest and honorable. We can’t fault him there. You did the right thing and yet you let him know there are limits."
Max made a motion with his hand.
"Something else, too. You handled yourself very well. A prisoner’s first duty is to escape and you did. You made it back all on your own. You kept your head and your wits about you. I know you want to give credit to Currie but it was you, Max."
"Thanks, Terry. Coming from you that means something."
"It’s good about your grandfather, too. He died a hero."
"Hm, I guess he did. I might find something about him in Uncle Henry’s papers. Lord knows he kept everything." Max opened the car door.
Certainly Max’s experience had boosted his self confidence but Terry didn’t want him getting to be too special. "Max, what’s that smell? Good God, man, it’s you! You pong like day old cockles."
Max turned and gazed at him a moment. He sniffed. "I can’t smell anything."
Terry held the door open to the diner. "I hope nobody else can smell it. It will put you off your breakfast."
Once inside Max headed for the men’s room. He looked like he’d drowned and his shoes were muddy and squeaked when he walked. He washed his face and hands in the sink. He’d lost his glasses and there was grit in his crotch but he was starving and that was the most important thing right now. He thought he might smell and if Thorne didn’t like it he could sit across the room.
Toni had been alerted by Bert that Max was on his way up. Terry let him off at the front door and went to park his vehicle. She met him with outstretched arms.
"Max, my darling, Max."
"Are you okay?"
"Me? Of course I’m okay. It’s you. Oh, look at you! Have you eaten?"
"Yes, Terry bought me breakfast. What I need now is a shower. I probably need someone to help get all the muck off."
Toni smiled, "Right this way, Mr. Skinner."
"Um, that’s Captain Skinner to you." He smiled and followed her to the bath.
Terry came up and found himself alone in the flat. He could hear the water running and grinned. He thought he should go. His bags were by the sofa and he picked them up and took them to the door. Max was okay now. He was with Toni. He pulled out his phone and called Anna to check on Jacky. She was down at the cottage in Hartley Wintney probably having a good chinwag with Tuppy.
Everything was fine at the cottage, no bother, no hurry. He folded his phone and suddenly felt very alone. Jacky didn’t need him right now, Anna was content with Tuppy and Toni and Max were…well, whatever was on the agenda next. He had an idea what it might be and it didn’t involve him. He sighed and picked up his bags. He would go home, shower and clean up. Go down to the local in the arvo have a few beers and maybe find a Sheila for the night. Yeah.