Chapter 4

In the morning, he awoke to the sound of the shower. Mrs Craft came out dressed only in a towel. “I hoped to finish before you woke.” The towel, he noticed, was tucked around her bosom, revealing the valley between her breasts. She turned to get her brush and he also noticed that it was higher up her thighs at the back than the front. He tried to look away, and failed.

“No problem, I’ll go in now and you can get dressed. I’ll knock before coming out.” It wasn’t lost on him that she had kept her figure quite well. It wasn’t lost on her that he gave her the traditional once-over look. It made her day that she was still good looking enough to be given the once over by a seventeen year old. She had read how women became invisible at a certain age.

“Okay, once I’m dressed, I’ll head to the kitchen to start on breakfast. It will give you some privacy. Umm, Rupert?”

“Yes, Mrs Craft?”

“You really are most adult about this, thank you.”

He went in to the tiny bathroom and washed and pissed and shat and then knocked. She was gone, he came out and dressed quickly, in case she returned.

Once they were all having breakfast, and it took time for them all to appear, Mary and Amelie’s mum welcomed them and told them they were sailing that day. “Oh, and we are all to be here by 8am in future, okay? We all have breakfast together. I’ll send Rupert to get any late risers up.”

Some might have seen that as an incentive to stay in bed. Rupert wasn’t sure whether he wanted to be the paedophile on tap to drag young girls from their beds, but he thought it was probably an empty threat.

“We’ll be heading off to the lakeside in forty five minutes. Anybody that is late will have to do a forfeit. Please read the sheet on expected clothing; but since you won’t – swimming costumes are a must under your clothes. We don’t want you falling in, but you might want a swim from the island. Bring waterproof jacket, the weather is good now, and forecast to stay there; but it can change very rapidly in the Lake District. The lake is very cold – or refreshing, the forfeit for being late will be to jump in. Okay, enjoy breakfast and then make your sandwiches.”

A couple of the girls looks confused. Rupert and Abigail steered them round the various packets of cereal, the grill for toast and the orange cartons for juice. “Have they really never got their own breakfast?”

“Rupert, I think Alison has had an au pair ever since she can remember. I know her from ballet and this stunning blonde brought her. Even at five, I recognised that this woman was stunning. I wanted to know why my mother wasn’t so elegant. Since then I’ve seen her dropped off at school by eighteen year olds; a different one every year. I actually feel sorry for her.”

“Okay. Oh, Alison, no the grill isn’t on a timer, you need to pull the tray out. Oh, a little black? I’ll have them, I’m not fussy. Try again.” Rupert stayed with the fourteen year old, who, he noticed she had pulled a jumper on over her pyjama top. The problem with that was that the jumper was loose, and so was the pyjama top. He focussed on the grill as she bent over to put bread in; from his position it would be too easy to look down her front and see more than she intended. Abigail saw him not looking, and was impressed. She was aware that the chance to see something that was not meant to be viewable was always a temptation for a boy. She had discovered that at a very young age when her cousin had asked to see her pants purely because he shouldn’t.

He watched a couple of girls making sandwiches and joined them. They were making cheese sandwiches – pale cheese in white bread. He happily put ‘spread’ on the bread, added cheese, added pickle, added another slice, then added peanut butter on that slice, sliced banana, and then more bread. They looked at him. “What? You have to have some fruit.” which hadn’t been what they were confused about. The following day he would make peanut butter and beetroot; the day after that cheese and marmalade. Girls began to watch what he made for amusement; but a few tried more adventurous mixtures.

Forty five minutes later, all the girls were milling around the bus. They knew Mrs Craft was not one to make threats that she would not carry out. Actually, on the way back to their pod, she had said “I wouldn’t make them jump in or anything, but I might make them wash up even if it wasn’t their turn in the kitchen.

In the pod, they were rushing. There was no time to mess about. The two of them pointedly stood with their backs to each other and changed ready for the trip. Rupert was aware that he was in a room with a woman who was undressing; it gave him the expected erection, which luckily dropped very quickly. She didn’t need to put on a swimming costume, she wasn’t going sailing; but she did anyway, just in case they all went swimming somewhere. Mairead Craft was very mindful that he might turn and see her naked breasts or even bottom; he might peek and her not be aware of it; this knowledge gave her a tingle in her loins. She was surprised, she would be turned on to be seen by a young man. He was good looking, she reflected; but he had also slept with both her daughters. The two of them hurried out to forget this.

“Okay, all aboard. Please sit in the same place each day, then you can tell me who is missing.” She said loudly. Then they were off for the first adventure.

At the boat yard, people were already milling around. It was going to be a good day and people were keen to start early. On the beach, a small fleet of Wayfarers were lined up. When Mrs Craft went in to check in, Abi and Rupe went down to look at the boats. A man stood nearby, sorting out one of them. “You with the school group?”

“Guides.”

“Right, right. You two want to check the ropes?” Simple as that, they were involved. He subtly observed them: it was always good to get some idea of the experience of people. Yes, they’d do, he decided, they knew what they were doing. Abigail cleated off the lifting rudder so it didn’t scrape when they pushed the boat in; Rupert was gently pulling on each rope to be clear which was which. They were confident. They were probably competent. The two went from boat to boat, checking.

Mrs Craft came down. “You must be Ian? You instead of Chris? I’m Mairead Craft.” They shook hands and he suggested that all the girls visit the toilets and then come down for a quick acclimatisation session. Rupert, Abigail and Mairead Craft walked up to where the girls were wondering whether to buy a cake from the cafe. “I’m relying on you two more than Mary and Amelie. I know they can sail, but you two are more experienced.”

Later, Abigail just said “So, no pressure then.”

“I think what she was saying was ‘if you drown one of your charges, go down with your ship’” Rupert laughed.

They stood at the back and listened carefully to Ian. Chris had been called away, he was young and good looking, he would have been a distraction. Ian was old – at least thirty! No distraction to the girls there. They listened, they were told to manhandle the boats into the water and all hesitated to get wet. Rupert set an example: “Come on you two, help me with this. Susan, go on the staithe ... the little pier there, and I’ll give you the rope to hold.” He felt the freezing water hit his legs and hid a shiver. The two girls obeyed his commands and both yelped at the water. “It’s good for the circulation.” he said, none too convincingly. They moved to the staithe then shifted the boat to the end. Ian stood back and explained to the others what Rupert and his crew were doing as they let the boat drift, tied only at the front. They pulled up the sails. Carefully as they got on, Rupert checked each girl (without inappropriate touching, which was hard when you wanted to check that the straps were tight enough) for their life jacket.

“If you feel okay, you can set off. We’re heading for the island over there on the left. The one with the lone tree.” It was called One Tree Island. It used to be Two Tree Island until someone lit a fire nearby and burnt one of the trees down by accident. Now there was a sign banning fires. There actually were other trees, but the old pine tree stood out clearly on the skyline. Rupert opted to set off but to sail around waiting for the others rather than head off alone. He knew Mary and Amelie would appreciate him waiting.