After Judy, Lorna and her kids had driven off, I started doing my camp chores, tidying round the bus and ran a hose over to the stand-pipe in order to fill the water tank. Whilst I was there, the man from the other bus came over, lifted the cover of the septic drain-away, and emptied a chemical toilet into the pit. He stood, apparently waiting, so in order to appear neighborly I unhitched my hose in order that he could use the tap to wash out the Portapotti. He nodded thanks, and I introduced myself. He muttered the name, "Chris." and shook my hand. He was no more forthcoming than that and returned to his bus. I noticed that there were a couple of youngish women and a small child in and around his bus but they paid me no attention as I finished my tasks and settled into a folding chair to listen to the radio.
I must have dozed off, because I suddenly heard the sound of Judy's bus pulling up. She, Lorna and the children piled out of the door, the kids happy to be able to run around and let off some steam and the women folk smiling as if at some private joke. Judy asked if I had dealt with Lorna's bus and when I confirmed that I had, she pointed at her own. She didn't need to say anything, I can take a hint, and so I got out the hose and repeated the procedure with the water tanks and chemical loo.
Whilst I was doing that, the women organized their shopping, talking quietly to one another. We all finished at about the same time and Judy suggested that we all go down to the sea for a dip to freshen up. The five of us made our way through the sand dunes and found ourselves in a small, sandy bay. The children tore off their clothes and ran into the sea where they began playfully splashing each other. Unselfconsciously, Judy stripped off and ran into the water but Lorna kept her back to me as she did the same. Following suit, I too stripped and ran into the water gasping at its coldness as I ducked my head. Lorna and Judy were swimming a few yards away and we all enjoyed the refreshing cool brine against our skin. It was the first time that I had been skinny-dipping, and it seemed strangely liberating. After a few minutes, Lorna made her way out of the ocean and, keeping her back to me again, went over to the pile of clothing and pulled her loose summer dress over her head. She called her children and the three of them disappeared from view back into the dunes. Judy swam towards me, and playfully splashed me. I splashed her back and grabbed for her but she was too quick for me. We played like a couple of kids for a few minutes until Judy stood still panting for breath.
"OK – enough!" she said and made her way out of the water towards our clothes. I followed, and we both used my shirt roughly to dry ourselves before getting dressed. We held hands as we walked back to the buses, and Judy seemed a little serious. I stopped, as did she and we turned to look at each other.
"OK – what is it? Have done something wrong?"
"No, Phil, quite the reverse. It's just that Lorna and I need a favour and we're not sure how to ask you."
"Ask away – the worst I can do is say no!"
Judy took both my hands in hers and looked me in the eyes. "We want you to stay with Lorna tonight. I'll sleep in her bus and look after the kids; Lorna will come to you in mine."
I must have looked a bit surprised, because Judy went on, "Look – I'm really, really enjoying the sex we have. However, poor Lorna needs some too. She hasn't had a man since she threw out her useless husband and I think she's missing it. Do you mind?"
My mind was in a turmoil, as nothing like this had aver happened to me before. "Not if you don't." I said and Judy stood on tiptoe and kissed me. "Just be nice to her," she said, "She's had a rough time. And don't say anything when we get back. We'll just let nature take its course.
When we got back, Lorna was busy at the grill getting ready to cook the kids' dinner. They ate their food and were soon dozing in their chairs. As Lorna put them both to bed in her bus, Judy and I started getting the food ready for our meal – lamb chops had been marinating for a while and whole corncobs were wrapped in tin foil ready. Soon, a delicious smell of roasting meat was wafting from the grill and Judy poured some wine into three glasses as Lorna came out to join us. I noticed that she had changed into a clean dress and we listened to the BBC radio news as the meal cooked and Lorna prepared a bowl of mixed salad.
We ate and drank wine, then, when the food was all consumed, we sat in the cool of the long summer evening listening to a play on the radio and sipping at our wine. We had just started the third bottle when, in the approaching darkness, the play finished and Lorna got up to check on her children. Judy turned to me, passed me the wine bottle and my glass and said, "OK, you go into the bus and wait for Lorna. Don't drink too much whilst you're waiting, she won't be long."
I climbed into the bus, sat on the settee and picked up my book. I had barely picked up the thread of the story again before I heard the door open and in came Lorna, holding her glass of wine. I put down my book and started to stand up but she waved me back down.
"No need to play the gentleman," she said, "Let's just get comfy and get to know each other."
She sat at the other end of the settee and we eyed each other over the tops of our wine glasses. We both began to speak at the same time, and laughed awkwardly. "You first," she said so I told her the story of how Mary and I had split up. She sighed, "At least it seems to have been amicable, as painful as it obviously was."
I looked quizzically at her, indicating that it was her turn. Slowly and falteringly at first, she told me her story. She had, quite literally, married the boy next door. She and her future husband, both being only children, had grown up together being almost inseparable until they both went to different universities. Their paths crossed when they were home for vacations and after they both graduated, they decided to spend the summer traveling before they began job hunting. They bought rail cards, and merrily backpacked round Europe, their almost brother and sister relationship getting nearly back to the closeness of their younger years. That had all changed one night in Italy, when they were sleeping under the stars on a Tuscan hillside. Both being cold, they had zipped their sleeping bags together and huddled together for warmth. One thing had led to another, and before either of them knew it, they were making love.
Strangely, the next morning, that incident had opened up a slight rift between them as if both were slightly ashamed of what had happened. They continued their journey, but the lovemaking wasn't repeated and by the time they got back to England their relationship towards one another had cooled.
Three weeks after their return, Lorna realized that her period was late. Feeling increasingly panicky until the next one also failed to arrive, she eventually bought a pregnancy testing kit. When the test proved positive, her heart sank, and she didn't know what to do. Her father heard her crying and, on seeing the test kit, immediately guessed what was wrong. Grim faced he asked who the father was, although he had already guessed. Upon being told, he disappeared and Lorna guessed he had gone next door.
Both sets of parents got together, and somewhat bewildered by the speed of events, she found herself married to Matthew. He had just started as an Articled Clerk in a local law firm and immediately after the wedding, they moved into a tiny flat near to his office. They settled into a routine, although the coolness that had developed between them never really went away. Despite that, they had their moments and had a second child when the first was a year old.
