PROLOGUE.
I am writing a series of six short stories in this category. No.6 has been published; this is No.4. I live a disordered life.
The themes are:
Corruption
Suppression
Blackmail
Exploitation
Losing Inhibition
Opportunism
The characters in this story are aged 24 and 18. Locations are generic not specific.
____________________________________________________________
It was all because of Doris.
Doris is a cello. An expensive cello. Doris belongs to my sister Sally and, together with her polycarbonate travelling case, Doris takes up most of the space in the Volvo wagon, despite the seats being folded flat. When you add in in Sally's cases and bags, stuffed with everything from frocks to socks there was hardly any space for my small overnight bag and some basic eats and drinks for the journey.
We all live in or near Southampton, Sally is off to study music at a prestigious academy in Edinburgh. And she needs Doris to go with her. Taking the train would involve crossing London to change stations, flying would mean Doris needing her own seat, together with all the other paraphernalia. So, using our own transport is the only option. Dad owns the Volvo, it's new and ideal for the 450-mile journey, but he works as a senior air traffic controller and can't get four days off, and Mum won't drive that distance, especially having to return alone. So, they need a mug who can take the time off, and that mug is me.
My name is Alan, I am 24 and live a few miles from the family home. I studied electronics at Cambridge, and then set up as a freelance consultant, working in the aerospace industry. I fell on my feet and am kept busy resolving glitches in instrumentation systems. Sally turned 18 last Easter, she was a star at school, and her musical talent resulted in a scholarship to the Edinburgh academy. It's just a shame it's so far away. Mum and Dad are both 45, we have a nice house and enjoy a decent lifestyle. Mum is a partner in a specialist travel agency, and we have enjoyed some good holidays.
As Sally wanted to get into her accommodation before the weekend, we agreed to set off early on the Thursday, as it's a 450-mile trip, and Mum was arranging overnight accommodation into Scotland to break the journey. Dad was having the Volvo serviced and typing a detailed schedule, as was his habit. Mum said she wanted to have a chat to me before we set off, so I arranged to go over for dinner on Tuesday. What could possibly go wrong.
Plenty. On Tuesday afternoon Mum ran into a door at work and banged her head causing concussion. She was whisked into hospital where a scan revealed no damage, but she was kept in for observation for a couple of nights. So, our dinner was cancelled, and when I arrived on Thursday to drop off my car and pick up the Volvo there was only Sally at home, Dad having left early as usual. Sally was waiting with the small pyramid of luggage in the driveway, together with Doris. We spent a happy half hour wedging everything into the wagon, and she handed me a stout envelope from Dad containing quite a lot of cash for the fuel, although he had filled the tank the night before, and the detailed route instructions. I asked where Mum had booked our stop, and Sally waved a printout saying it was all sorted. So, I locked up my battered Golf, put the keys through the letterbox, smiled at Sally and we set off. Dad's plan was for us to take the A34 northwards, then the A43 until we joined the M1 near Northampton, and when we got up to Leeds, we switched to the A1 which would take us all the way to Edinburgh. Seemed like a good plan.
Sally and I have always got on, there were patches when I went off to Uni and she was just getting into her teens when she could be a pain, but I guess I was no better. She is about five six, and well proportioned, her skinny years had passed, and she looked good in tight jeans and a fleece top with soft leather boots. Her dark brown hair had recently been cut into a smart bob, with cute highlights. I am no oil painting and am a shade under six feet and about one-eighty pounds, I keep in trim at the local velodrome, where I own a couple of fixed wheel track bikes and it's a good social scene as well.
We hit the A34 and Sally texted Dad and Mum to say that we were on our way. Dad replied, but Mum couldn't use her phone yet. We fell into easy conversation, part of her last terms had involved a couple of trips with the small orchestra in which she played, I knew that they had been to Holland and Ireland and wanted to know all about it. In return she was asking about my love life, but I had to tell her that Lily and I had split, she had a career in London with a big advertising agency and wanted to be part of the 'scene', as she put it. Sally said she didn't have a boyfriend, it had all gone wrong, but she didn't elaborate, and I didn't pry.
Our conversation flowed as we headed north, Dad suggested that we broke the journey into chunks, with a coffee break, a lunch break, and a tea break before reaching the overnight stop, with each 'leg' being about 100 miles. So, as I had not had a proper breakfast we stopped near Silverstone and headed for the café. I carried the tray with coffees and bacon sandwiches and sat opposite my sister. She took a breath and looked at me without smiling.
"I guess you didn't have the chat with Mum that she asked for."
"No, it was arranged for Tuesday, but she had just been taken in."
"Oh."
"Why, what did she want to talk about?"
"She never said but she has been weird with me these last few weeks."
"In what way?"
Sally said that we would talk in the car, so we used the washrooms and returned to the Volvo. I was quite intrigued. We set off northwards again, and she turned to me and said:
"It's all about sex. My sex life." I was taken aback.
"Are you hiding some racy secrets, sister?" Whilst Sally was very attractive, I was not up to date with boyfriends, indeed I had never met one.
"No, it's not like that at all. I haven't got a boyfriend and have never got past the kiss and cuddle stage. Mum gave me the birds and bees talk years ago, but about five weeks ago she came on strong and started asking very personal questions, can I share them with you, promise to keep it to yourself, brother."
"Of course, we trust each other, sister."
This was going to be interesting.
"Dad was supervising some new equipment on a night shift, and Mum sat me down in the kitchen and asked if I was a virgin. I was very embarrassed and said yes. But several of my friends were having sex, I thought I might never get laid. I asked Mum why she wanted to know, but she ploughed on with the questions, and asked what experiences I had had. She was giving me the look, so I said that I had been snogging with boys at a party and had been on a kissing date with Max Robinson from school, although he had now left. Max played clarinet in the orchestra. She wanted to know if I had gone any further. She was drinking wine and gave me a couple of glasses, I guess to loosen my tongue, so I told her about the orchestra trip to Amsterdam. The trip was just after Easter, there were 14 of us, six boys and eight girls, together with the principal and two other teachers. It was a five-day trip, and we were to play three concerts. At the start the principal - Mrs. Vulter, who we called The Vulture, gave us a lecture about personal behavior and said that any hanky panky would see the offender sent home. The first two concerts were a success, and, in the evening, we were allowed to walk around Amsterdam after dinner. She warned us not to go drinking, and certainly not go into any cafes and smoke weed. But of course, we found a nice bar and had a few beers, as you do. On the way back there was quite a lot of cuddling and kissing. I was sharing a room with Sandra, and across the corridor Max was sharing with Paul. Paul and Sandra were an item, and after we had gone to the room and changed for bed, she scuttled across, and Max came into my room. We were both a bit excited, and a little buzzed from the beers. He got into my bed, and we started kissing and stroking. He sat up and took off his tee shirt, leaving him just in his boxers and then he was pulling at my nightshirt, feeling my breasts. Then my nightshirt was round my neck and he pulled it off. He then started to run his fingers up and down my panties, and I started to stroke his boxers, as I could feel his willy creating a big bulge. Then suddenly he let out a big groan and stuff started to flood inside his boxers, making a big sticky mess. "
"Then all hell broke loose, as there was shouting and screaming from just down the corridor, and my door burst open and Sandra rushed in, stark naked and clutching her nightie. She said that The Vulture was on the warpath opening bedroom doors and that Max had better move quick. So, he shot across the corridor and closed our door, but not before copping an eyeful of Sandra in her birthday suit. We both put our nighties back on and scrambled into bed. A couple of minutes later The Vulture flung our door open and switched on the light. We sat up pretending to be dazzled and she switched off the light when she saw that we were dressed. Then she did the same with the boys' room and stormed off back down the corridor to continue shouting."