Where two student's lives were changes by unforeseen circumstances then orchestrated by others.
Carbeth Huts.
This is their odyssey as they descend down one of life's wormholes.
My college friend and study buddie Ian and I were sitting in the back seat of Ian's father Calumn's Land Rover Safari as we left the winding Stockiemuir road and started to climb up a steep rutted dirt hill track to a friend's holiday Hut at Carbeth.
Calumn was a joiner before taking up working in a car factory fitting driver doors day in day out although the money was good still used his joinery skills to help a friend renovate his holiday Hut, which as way of saying thankyou had lent him for the mid-term college holiday.
These Huts have an interesting and varied history starting in 1918 after World War I a local land owner allowed Army veterans camping rights to help them recover from the traumas of the Great War.
We call it PTSD today although not publically recognised at that time was often referred to by those who did not experience it as, 'lack of moral fiber' and were jailed or worse for displaying signs of it.
This was repeated during the Great Depression of the thirties and again in 1941 during World War II where after the Clydebank blitzed shipyard workers whose homes became uninhabitable trekked from the Huts over the hills to and from the shipyard each day in their support off the war effort.
During all this time these Huts and people's homes were under constant threat from corrupt officials, politicians and wantabe property speculators.
By 2013 despite lack of official planning permission for almost 100 years purchased the land and became the Carbeth Hutters Community Company and a village in 'Community Ownership' where the Huts and grounds are maintained by their current owners as a Commune.
This being part of the reason why we were their to help restore its ageing decking with new decking which was strapped to the Land Rover roof.
Also Ian and I who were college students studying forensic (fraud) accountancy were taking a short break prior to starting our final 12 week intense exam final year thesis. For 20 year olds this was a harsh introduction to impending working life pressures of our chosen profession.
Half way up the hill the Land Rover lurched as it kicked into four wheel drive scattering stones and dust as it clawed its way up the final stages of the hill where we could see the Hut proudly sitting ahead of us.
As we approached I thought back to an overnight student house party that Ian and I went to a few weeks ago.
When I was invited I wasn't told it was a guy's only thing not that that would have been an issue as it was to be more a drunken feast albeit from a local Chinese carry out shop with two boxes of cheap wine from a local supermarket.
We were all about the same age Steve and Garry, our hosts and their two friends Tom and Alex who lived down stairs all turned out to be flaunting gay's not necessarily as partners all the time; 'free to fuck' they called it.
When they invited us thought Ian and I were of a similar persuasion as we often stayed overnight on home study sessions sharing a bedroom. Ian's mother Mari's reputation as an erotica photographer added to this illusion.
Ian and I were quite inwardly excited about what we had inadvertently got ourselves into, particularly when the conversation about their lifestyles became colorful, fruity and explicit which was educational as well as entertaining.
The conversation soon turned on us when Tom baited us by asking.
"Ok Ian, Shane, do tell us where and when you first banged each other?"
I was gobsmacked, we hadn't what could I say, saved from answering when Ian said in a decisively alcohol induced loud voice.
"We haven't fucked each other; yet!"
From the smile on their faces I could see they took it as tonight's challenge, Ian seemed quite resigned whereas I was starting to get twinging feeling's.
We were saved from further interrogation by the doorbell; our Chinese had arrived.
Steve and Garry, who were arranging the table and food, stopped and looked at us and said.
"For our guests let's make this a Roman Senator's and Nymph themed meal."
I didn't know what this meant but soon found out when Tom and Alex produced, homemade from sheets and pillows, togas and a short revealing nymph outfit.
We all had to strip off and adorn them.
By unanimous demand I was given the nymph outfit its hemline being more than 8 inches up from my knees Senator's togas were all least knee length.
I found it quite erotic and sexy to wear as it was very reveling I had to pull it down each time I moved or someone picked up something conveniently dropped on the floor.
We all sat around a big round table wearing our themed apparel eating and drinking, didn't take long before we were all merry and no longer sureworded or surefooted for that.
Garry was an avid photographic hobbyist produced his camera with a flash ring at the end of a zoom lens and started to photograph us as Steve, Tom, Ian and Alex took turns posing with me and each other. My short outfit became the epicenter of photographic interest.
The piece de rΓ©sistance was with the camera on automatic, we all posed together embracing and kissing each other, I also had wandering hands explore my outfit. By now both Ian and I were well and truly blootered the others weren't far behind maybe even ahead of us.
Tom and Alex left and went to their apartment downstairs, Steve and Garry shared a bed that night we were to share Garry's bed.
The bed was against a wall after I stripped down to my underwear I climbed in first, I looked round as Ian stripped off tossing his underwear into a corner, climbed in behind then over me pulling off my underwear, discarding them into the now darkness off the room.
We lay their naked pressing on each other I could feel Ian's hard-on start to press between my buttocks, the booze must have taken over as we both fell asleep, although when and what happened before is still unclear.
We woke in the morning with Steve's voicing off.
"Morning lover boys; coffee time."
Suddenly the duvet slid off us onto the floor as Garry's Camera flashed as we lay naked still spooning from last night.
Our surprise awakening, flash and hangover knocked out our co-ordination as we both turned exposing our naked togetherness. From later viewing of the photographs concluded Ian must have been having a wet dream as he awoke.
True or false we were both now tagged as being part of a fraternity.