Chapter 3

Having begun early, Bill, with his two lovers, had time for a full breakfast, there being no shortage of pork, eggs, or potatoes. The girls were dressed in blue canvas coveralls and work-boots, with panties, bra and t-shirt underneath. The rest of their clothing was packed into kit-bags. Bill, however, was in denim, with a webbing belt bearing a knife and a ‘Breton’ hat on his head. They walked to the station to catch a train to Goole.

The re-opening of the deep coal mines had facilitated a return, at least in part, to steam-hauled trains. Though some of the lines were still electrified, the power supply was not reliable enough to run electric locomotives most of the time, and, of course, diesel was in short supply. Neither of the girls had any experience of rail travel – why would they? Bill, who could remember the time before the War, none-the-less had only seen steam trains on video prior to his trip to get the girls. They had to change trains twice, with a half-hour wait the first time and an hour the second time. The ninety-mile journey took them six hours. Followed by a mile walking, lugging their dunnage. But arrive they did, eventually, at the wharf where Lady Betty was tied up.

“The fo’c’sle is the traditional space for the crew,” Bill announced. “Take a look.”

Both girls descended the ladder into the space he indicated.

“There’s a switch for the light at the bottom of the ladder,” he added. The light wasn’t bright, but was enough to see what was there, if not enough to read.

They looked around. In truth, it wasn’t an unpleasant space, though there was clearly a lot of ‘stuff’ in there as well as accommodation. Three bunks, a stove, and several sail-bags.

“There’s a lot of rope down here,” Bernadette called up.

“No, there isn’t,” Bill called down. “Come on up.” When they were standing on the deck next to him, he went on, “I suppose it’s stupid to landsmen, but boats don’t have ropes. Okay, they’re made as rope, but on a boat, they are lines, warps, halyards, stays, sheets. The general term is ‘lines’. Tomorrow, you get ‘Barge 101’. Right now, let’s go to the master cabin.” He led the way. Two silent, frowning young women followed.

The master cabin was not big, but it was very well laid out, with a double berth and a single bunk. A stove, a little bigger than that in the fo’c’sle, was clearly designed for cooking as well as heating. A large, rectangular box dominated the middle, which had a table top on top,

“What’s that?” Candy asked, curiously.

Bill chuckled. “That? That’s the engine room. There’s a marine diesel in there, but I try not to use it, because of the smell. Now then. I’d like for you two to sleep in here with me, but if you want a bit of privacy, there’s always the fo’c’sle, okay?”

The three looked at each other, then Bill sighed. “Come here, girls, please,” he spread his arms and they almost ran the few steps necessary to hug him. He sat on the double berth and they snuggled up to him. “It’s going to be hard for you two...” he stopped as first Bernadette then Candy began to giggle. “Okay, okay ... Look, we can all live in here. I’d suggest leaving much of your dunnage in the fo’c’sle, but in here we’ll be warmer...”

“And we can sleep together,” Candy finished for him.

“And we can sleep together,” he agreed. “I think the bed’s a bit cramped for three...”

“It should be Candy with you,” Bernadette asserted, firmly.

“I want to try all three of us,” Candy corrected. “If not, turn and turn about.”

“But...”

“Girls!” Bill interrupted what might have become the first argument between the girls. “Put your work stuff away,” I pointed to lockers over the bunks. “Then we’ll go and find supper.”

“Aye, aye, Skipper!” They must have practised that chorus; it was perfectly synchronised.

Forty-five minutes later, they were climbing the steel ladder to the wharf, and walking to the dockside café which Bill favoured.

“Hey, Bill!” A substantial, older woman with hair that was clearly dyed blonde, greeted him. “And who’s this with you?”

“Hey, Sherry! This is my new crew. Candace Stilson and Bernadette Hemmings. Candy, Bernadette, this is Sheryl Smythe. Cook extraordinaire.”

The woman eyed the girls, glanced at Bill. “IS?”

He nodded. “Yeah. But there’s a story with these two. That’s for some other time. I’d just ask you to keep an eye out for them, okay?”

“Okay. So ... what can I do for you? Dish of the day’s liver and onions, or I’ve got fish that were swimming in the sea a few hours ago.”

Bill looked at his companions. “Seriously, I’d recommend anything Sherry cooks, but you can have fish if you’d rather.”

They hesitated, looking at each other. “I will if you will,” Candy said.

“Liver for both of us,” Bernadette said to Sherry, “please.”

The meals were delivered along with peppermint tea and a jug of water. Sherry brought her own mug and sat with them as they ate. “So ... there’s a story?”

“Master Bill saved me from a life as a sex-slave,” Candy told her. “My first ‘master’ raped me and, when he got tired of me, sold me to a slave dealer.”

“I was a druggy,” Bernadette added. “I was in a sort of rehab centre. The Skipper offered me a job; at sea, I won’t have access to my usual sources of drugs and I’m away from temptation.”

“I wouldn’t have thought Bill’d be a cradle-snatcher. Or a paedophile.”

“He’s not!” Candy was first, but Bernadette wasn’t far behind.

“Other than offering us a place, a job, and hope, he hasn’t done anything we haven’t pushed him into.” That was Candy. “He’s ... honourable. A gentleman.”

Bernadette giggled. “It’s the first time since I left home that I’ve seen a man seat a woman. You know, pull out a chair for her, all that.”

“And he did that for both of us. Treated us both as ladies.”

Sherry smiled, a little wryly. “Okay. I get it. You’ve fallen for him.”

Both girls blushed brightly, and Bernadette was about to speak, but Bill beat them to it. “It goes both ways, Sherry. I never thought I’d find ... that I’d ... feel the way I do about Candy and Bernadette. I just wanted a crew for Lady Betty. But now I’ve got, well...”

“A responsibility ... beyond that of a ship’s captain for his crew.”

“Yes. But more than that, Sherry. C. S. Lewis – the writer, you know, called it ‘joy’.”

Candy and Bernadette each reached out to take one of Bill’s hands and squeezed them. Their eyes were suspiciously bright and Candy, at least, had a tear trickling down one cheek.

“Well, I’m happy for you. All three of you.”

When they left the café, Bill might have been forgiven for being a little less aware of his surroundings than usual. As it was, a movement in the shadows caught his eye so that he was able to dodge the hardwood club that was aimed at his head. It caught Candy’s head a glancing blow, and she dropped to the ground.

Bill was not entirely unused to dockyard brawls. While he was not a drinker himself, he’d often encountered those who were the worse for wear and he’d picked up a few tricks over the years. He ducked under the back-swing, drove his shoulder into his attacker’s midriff, and hooked a leg behind his knee, which drove him to the ground. He lay still and Bill turned to find Bernadette with her knee in the back of another attacker, prone on the ground. Two more attackers were showing their heels as they disappeared into the distance. Candy was sitting up holding her head in both hands. Sherry appeared.

“I’ve called the Police,” she said. She bent over Bill’s assailant, fingers on his neck. “See to the young lady.” The man stirred. “Stay right there, Buster, unless you want my boot in your lug ‘ole.”

Bill knelt next to Candy. “You okay, Baby?” and wrapped an arm around her.

She leaned in to his embrace. “Yeah. I think. Might have a bruise or two.”

“Sorry about this, Baby. Dockside’s often not the safest place. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Bernadette okay?”

“Yeah. We’ve got a ringer there. I didn’t know she had any self-defence training.”

They didn’t have to wait too long for officialdom to arrive. Two constables on cycles, followed a minute or so later by a squad car carrying a male sergeant and a young, female, officer. The two first arrivals cuffed the two assailants.

“Now then, Missus Smythe. Care to tell us what happened?”

“Yeah. The Skipper there, Bill Sanders, came to my place for supper with those two girls. They’re going to be his crew. The sailing barge, you know?”

“Oh, yes. Lady Betty. I didn’t know there were any of them still in service.”

“Ask Bill about them. Anyway, they ate and left. I watched them walk away from my doorway. Then four guys – I assume guys and there might have been another one – appeared. One of them had a club; that one,” she pointed. “He took a swing at the Skipper and missed. I think Bill ducked. He hit the girl,” she pointed at Candy, “and knocked her down. Next I knew she,” she pointed at Bernadette, “had that one on the ground, and Bill was tackling the one with the club.” She paused. “The others ran away.”

The rest was predictable. Candy to Casualty for a check-up, the two thugs to custody and Bill and Bernadette to the station to give statements. By the time they’d collected Candy and got back to Lady Betty, it was almost midnight.

It really was possible to fit the three of them into the ‘double’ berth.

Bill woke, very warm, sandwiched between two feminine bodies, but he was too comfortable to stir, and slipped back into slumber. He woke again, some time later, to notice he was wrapped around Candy, who was whimpering in her sleep.

“Candy. Candy. Wake up, Baby.”

The girl went into a tight, foetal ball, every muscle taut.

“Candy. Sweetie.”

She relaxed suddenly and twisted to face him. “I was dreaming. I thought ... I was scared. Master...”

Bernadette, who was snuggled up behind Bill, and had begun to rub her breasts, her nipples hard and erect, against his back, reached over and stroked Candy’s back. “You’ll be safe here, Candy.”

“Speaking of,” Bill said, without turning, “I didn’t realise you had any martial arts training.”

“Lieutenant Andrew Whitten taught us some things. I was interested, and spent more time with him. He taught us – me – an eclectic form. Mostly Aikido, but he didn’t restrict himself to any one discipline. I got pretty good. Practised with the other trainers whenever I could.”

“I see. Well, I can’t help but think that’s a good thing. Even so, I don’t want either of you wandering around the dockside without me, okay?”

Candy’s “Yes, Master,” and Bernadette’s “Okay, sir,” blended into one, but Bill understood that they’d heard and would obey.

“Candy, Bernadette, I would love to make love with you, but we need to get moving. You two need foul-weather gear, we need provisions, and there’s a freight arriving this afternoon. We’re taking a couple of hundred tons of coal down the coast to Felixstowe. We need to go through your duties, so we won’t leave on the tide tonight, we’ll go tomorrow morning. Right now, girls, dress, and we’ll go for breakfast.”

The girls took a giggly pleasure in moving around the small space naked, brushing against Bill where-ever possible, while they collected their clothing. They left actually dressing to the last possible moment. Bill, despite wanting to get on, didn’t complain and, indeed, enjoyed the visual treat.

Sherry welcomed them warmly, giving each of the girls a hug and, after a brief hesitation, Bill too. “We’ve got a batch of black pudding to go with the breakfasts. How about it?”

It was clear that the girls didn’t know what she was talking about. Bill was not about to explain the ingredients of back pudding. “Give me a large helping and the girls can try a bit,” he said.

“Baked beans? They’re home-made, not ... you know.”

“If they’re yours, then absolutely.”

The woman smiled. “Cooked with belly pork and local tomatoes for flavour.” She leaned in close to softly tell Bill, “and for my special customer, a cup of coffee.”

“You’re wonderful, Sherry. But I think I’ll just have peppermint tea with the girls. And apple juice, if you have it.”

“You got it. Oh, and those two last night? The fuzz have been after them for months. Muggings, assaults, and they think several rapes.”

“Hopefully they’ll be put to some constructive, socially valuable work. Coal mining, perhaps.”

“That one with the club, he ought to hang.”

Bill raised his eyebrows at the tone. There was clearly some deep emotion there, but he didn’t comment.

From the café, they went to a nearby chandlers for foul-weather gear. “Morning, Bill. What can I do for you this morning?”

“These young ladies are going to crew for me. They need oilies.”

“I haven’t got the John Gill ones you favour. Helly Hanson do?”

Bill shrugged. “Is there anything to choose? They’ll need boots and sou’westers too.”

They left the chandler’s with several bags of gear, which they took back to Lady Betty. Then, it was off to a nearby supermarket for food. Happily, they’d only need food for a few days, as the selection of canned or preserved food was limited. Bill bought what he could of that, along with fresh food – locally grown vegetables, eggs, bacon, sausages. Thus burdened, they made their way back to the barge.

Once everything was suitably stowed, Bill began the girls’ introduction to the details of barge sailing, initially, an outline of the ‘strings’; halyards, sheets, brails, line and warps. And the ‘bowline’, the line they would have to learn to use to hold the stay-sail. aback when tacking. The last job was a climb to the cross-tree to look at how the topsail was secured.

“That won’t be your favourite job,” Bill said, as Candy stood in front of him, knees shaking, after her ascent, “but it’ll have to be done. Most of the time, we’ll be fairly stable. I don’t push the limits and if the wind looks like getting up, we’ll stow it.”

Lunch at Sherry’s café, and then the coal arrived. It was loaded in one-tonne ‘skips’ which could be hoisted into the hold by the dockside crane. “Once upon a time,” Bill told the girls, as they supervised the loading to make sure the cargo was evenly distributed, “This stuff would have been dumped straight in. At least this way we won’t have too much cleaning up to do after we unload.” He carefully supervised the loading. “We don’t want any of it to shift.”

With the cargo on board, Lady Betty sat quite low in the water. “There’s not much freeboard, but don’t worry about it,” he told the girls, “back in the day, barges often sailed with water flowing along the lee deck. We’ll be fine.”

One more night moored at the wharf. Making love, with Bernadette riding Bill’s cock, and Candy (after a lot of encouragement) his face. Orgasms all round. After quite a lot of caressing and sucking of nipples, Bill had recharged and made love slowly to Candy in the missionary position.

They slept, one each side of Bill, hand-towels between their legs. In the wee small hours, Bill was briefly awake and Bernadette whispered in his ear; “You love her, don’t you?”

He turned sufficiently to place a kiss on her lips. “I love both of you.”

“But Candy is special, isn’t she? Don’t worry – I don’t mind. I think it’s lovely. I hope you’ll marry her.”