Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2013 11:05:06 +1300
From: bob charles <pennywise3636@gmail.com>
Subject: Washed Up (Gay / Young friends) chapter 21

Washed Up.

Disclaimer:

Warning: this story contains sexual content, contact between young boys,
and other themes that may offend.  If the subject matter offends you, is
not to your tastes, or if you are under legal age for your area, then find
something else to read. In the following story all names and events are
completely fictional.  Although I may mention a specific location, place,
or person any resemblance to said people, location, or places is completely
unintentional.

Chapter 21:

Sarah ensures to close and lock the door on her way out, leaving Pierre and
I still cuddling on the bed. With everyone gone I now start to appreciate
just how comfortable the bed truly is. It is as soft as a cloud, making me
surprised that we hadn't drifted off to sleep before now, but with all the
noise and commotion in the room I think that was near on impossible.

We decide that we should probably think about going to bed properly,
because we are both feeling dead beat. Reluctantly we release each other
from our cuddle and crawl out of bed. Then we take turns to strip each
other, before pulling back the covers and climbing into bed. I snuggle up
close to my lover, enjoying the skin on skin contact and stare lovingly
into his gorgeous hazel eyes.

Pierre then takes the lead and tenderly and lovingly kisses me, producing
all those wonderful magical feelings which surge through my body and put me
in a good happy place. I have never taken drugs before, but I still doubt
that any high you get from those things can compare to the high I'm feeling
right now. It is out of this world, because it is so great, but pretty soon
it leads to both of us being zoned out totally as the sleeping bug bites
and we both crash.

************

I awaken the next morning from yet another blissful night's sleep. I can't
remember ever sleeping so well for so long before I met Pierre. I feel so
refreshed every morning now after having had an awesome sleep, and I'm
ready to tackle anything the day throws at me, but first I just want to lie
here and gaze lovingly over my boyfriend's features.

I love doing this so much, just lying beside my lover, admiring his
beauty. He is still asleep, but I know he won't be for too long. I'm sure
he is able to sense me gazing over him, because he starts to slowly
awaken. He reaches for me and pulls me in close, before he has even managed
to open his eyes. It feels so nice having him holding me again, because
despite our best efforts we always seem to lose our grip on each other
during the night.

We never separate though, because our bodies are always in contact, no
matter how much we turn around in our sleep. Let's face it - no one can
stay in the same sleeping position all night, at least I think, and we are
no different. We roll around occasionally during the night like everyone
else, but no matter what one of us does the other copies, which enables our
bodies to stay in contact all night. We seem to read each other's minds,
even when we are in a deep sleep.

Pierre continues to hug me, content with still having his eyes closed and
being half asleep. He just wants to hold me while he slowly awakens to a
bright and cheerful new day. His beautiful eyelids eventually start to
flutter as he shows signs of finally starting to wake up properly. While he
comes back to the land of the living, he clutches me tighter and pulls me
closer to him. He wants the same thing that I love, and that is waking up
as close as I can to him and enjoying those magical sensations he creates
while I awaken.

I stare at him intently while he wakes, desperate to see his beautiful
sparkling hazel coloured eyes the moment he opens them. I'm sure he is
deliberately toying with me by keeping his eyes closed as long as he
possibly can, but I'm willing to wait as long as it takes to see the
essence of his soul. He accidently gives away that he is teasing me, by
producing a big grin and then giggling to himself, while he keeps his
eyelids clamped shut.

Two can play at this game I figure and reach down to his sides and give him
a tickle. His eyes open in a flash, before he starts to laugh even
harder. He soon loses his hold on me as he squirms around the bed trying to
escape my torture, but I'm not going to give up now, not after he decided
to tease me, so I tickle him even harder.

He starts to laugh hysterically, and thrashes about like a bucking
bronco. His face has become red through laughing so hard, and not being
able to breathe properly, while he also has to try to hold his sides
because they are starting to ache. I have moved my tickling to his stomach,
because it's a much larger target to aim for, especially given how madly he
is writhing around. If I had kept trying to tickle his sides then I would
have lost my hold on him by now.

Pierre suddenly clamps his hands hard on top of mine, which immediately
stops me tickling him. He is still giggling uncontrollably, but without
giving me a chance to start up again, he lets go of my hands and scrambles
out of bed as quickly as he can. He then bolts off into the bathroom, and
seconds later I hear the familiar sound of pee hitting the water with
tremendous ferocity. It seems his laughing fit almost made him piss
himself, which gets me giggling to myself just from thinking about it.

I lie there waiting in expectation for his eventual return, so that I can
ogle his sexy body while he walks back to me. I know how desperate he must
have been for a piss, because he spends forever in there taking his leak,
but I'm in no rush because it is still early in the morning, and I know mum
won't leave until nine. I rest my head against my pillow, with my hands
behind my head supporting it, while I wait for him to finish up in the
toilet.

Finally I hear the toilet flush, making the butterflies start to flutter in
my stomach. I'm looking forward to being able to spend some quality time
with Pierre without any chance of interruption. In hospital there were
always nurses and doctors coming and going, which cut down on the time we
had privately together a lot. There is no risk of that here, so I'm looking
forward to being able to cuddle and kiss my lover without fear of
intrusion.

"Wow, come and look at this, we have a spa!" Pierre says excitedly. He
disappoints me by only poking his head around the doorframe as he says
this, meaning I can't see the gorgeous body that the head is attached to.

He disappears back into the bathroom, leaving me to feel even more
disappointed. I know he isn't going to be back any time soon when I hear
the water start running in the bath. I decide that seeing as he isn't going
to be coming back to bed, I might as well join him, so I wriggle my way out
from under the covers and climb out of bed.

By the time I make it to the bathroom Pierre has the bath almost full, and
has got into the beautifully warm water. He gets to do what I was hoping to
do to him, and ogles my body while I head over to the bath to get in. His
eyes cover every inch of my pale almost white body, which looks even whiter
under the lights in the bathroom.

I climb into the spa bath and submerge my body, feeling instantly relaxed
while I do so. The water is superb and at the perfect temperature, but
there is better to come, which I find out when he turns on the spa
jets. The water instantly starts to bubble and froth into life as the jets
start working, and the water becomes so much more relaxing to be in.

Pierre scoots across the bath and cuddles up beside me, which makes the spa
so much more enjoyable. I wrap one arm around him, while we both sit in the
bath enjoying every moment of it. I have been in spa baths before, but none
of them have felt anywhere near as wonderful as this one does. Having
Pierre cuddled up to me makes it perfect in every sense of the word, and to
emphasise how awesome it is I decide to kiss him tenderly on the lips.

The kiss is so magical it sends my head into a spin. There are no words to
describe how great I am feeling right now, but it is one of those beautiful
moments which will forever be engraved on my mind. I pull Pierre as close
into me as I can while I continue to lovingly kiss him. I can't get enough
of him at the moment, because he is the best thing that has ever happened
to me, and I want him to know exactly how much he means to me.

I don't need to, I know, because he already knows. I mean the same to him,
which is why our love for each other is so strong, but still seems to be
getting stronger by the day. We are so close to each other that I can feel
each individual beat of his heart against me, as well as feel him breathe
out through his nose each time he needs more air. Physically I think that
there is only one way we could ever get any closer than we are right now,
but I don't need to go there yet because this is enough for me.

It's not that I don't want to get closer, or experience what sex is like,
but more because it is sex and I don't feel in the mood for it now. I'm
just enjoying the pure unadulterated love which I get from him all the time
without the sexual aspect being bought into it. It is a magical tender
loving feeling being cuddled up to him, with no thought about going any
further than kissing, and I enjoy this more than the sex in a lot of ways.

We must waste away a large part of the morning being in the spa hugging and
kissing each other, because before we realise it there is a loud banging on
the door, followed by mum yelling at us to hurry up. We are both gutted to
have this magical moment destroyed so abruptly, but we know that we will
have plenty more of these in the future, so decide not to antagonise her by
staying in here any longer.

Slowly and reluctantly we stop kissing and release each other from our
embrace, before Pierre scoots back across the bath to turn off the jets and
we both climb out of the tub. On my way out I pull the plug to allow the
water to drain away. Any stress either of us had left seems to follow the
draining water into the depths below, making us feel totally carefree and
at peace with the world.

The hard part now is drying ourselves and putting on clothes, without
taking too much time checking each other out. I know this is going to be
exceedingly difficult, because we are already standing there in the middle
of the bathroom gazing over every inch of the other's beautiful glistening
body. Pierre glows in the light and his wet frame looks so much sexier with
a thin sheen of water on it.

I know I could spend all day standing here admiring his beautiful sexy
body, but I also know that mum won't wait for us if we do, so I take the
initiative and get the towels off the towel rack and throw one over to
him. He is a little more onto it than I give him credit for, because he
catches the towel in his hands with a cheeky grin on his face because he
knew what I had been expecting. I had expected it to smack him in the face
instead of him catching it.

We quickly dry ourselves off, taking the occasional sneak peek at the other
while we do so. Once we are satisfied that we can't get ourselves any
drier, we head back into the bedroom to search for some clothes. We hadn't
even thought about that side of things last night before we went to bed, so
we aren't sure where to start to find our bags of clothes, providing of
course that they are still in the bags.

Thankfully the search is short lived, because we spot the bags beside the
large dresser in the room. We pick up our own bags and place them on the
bed, before rifling through them to find a set of clothes we are happy to
wear. It doesn't take either of us too long to locate some decent enough
clothes, because all the clothes in our bags are clean, meaning we have a
lot to choose from.

Due to it now being summer here in the south of France, we both opt for
lightweight clothing, knowing it can get pretty hot. I pull on a blue tee
shirt, with a surf graphics design on the back, and follow that up with
some black rugby league shorts, which have two grey stripes along the
sides. I don't bother with undies, but in hindsight I probably should have
put some on, because these shorts have very short legs to them so don't
hide what's under them very well.

Pierre goes for a dull orange singlet, and the same style and colour shorts
that I have on, because we both know we are going swimming, so presume it's
going to be somewhere outside. We are pretty much in Provence now, so
Pierre knows that there are lots of areas to swim outdoors here, not to
forget about the Mediterranean coast not being too far away either. With
this knowledge we decide to go for full casual clothing instead of
something a bit more formal, because we don't want to feel overdressed. We
also put our feet into our jandals in order to complete the summer look we
are going for.

Once dressed, we pack our bags again and head out to the hallway to meet up
with the others. After leaving our room and closing the door, we are
surprised to see that no one else is out here yet, making us think that we
have already missed them. I don't know whether to stay put and wait to see
if they come out of their rooms soon, or whether we should head outside to
see if they are waiting for us there. I don't believe that they would have
just upped and left us, because we didn't take that long to get out of the
bath and dressed.

"Oh good, I was hoping that my early call to get you two to hurry up was
going to work, and it did by the looks of it!" mum says cheekily, as she
leaves her room followed closely behind by Manuel's dad.

I don't know how to react knowing that we had been set-up, but I decide it
is best that I bite my tongue and not say anything about it. I give her a
weak forced smile to tell her what I'm thinking, but she doesn't take any
notice. She goes around to François and the boys' room and bangs on the
door, before doing the same on Sarah's. I suppose at least because of what
mum did they aren't waiting on us for once, but I would have preferred her
to be more open about it at the time instead of having us panic over being
late.

I soon forget all about that, when everyone else starts to pile out of
their rooms. What surprises me the most is how refreshed François looks,
given he has been effectively babysitting the two youngsters for a while. I
know Callum usually isn't too much of a handful, but even so he has put up
with my brother for long periods of time, and that is leaving Manuel out of
the equation.

The two boys together surely must wear François down, but it doesn't
show in his demeanour at all. The boys as per usual seem to be boisterous
and full of life, but François seems to be almost as happy as they
are. I wonder whether the boys' enthusiasm and exhilaration for every
moment of every day has rubbed off on the older man. I think the boys would
have driven most people to the verge of insanity by now, but François
seems to be much happier now compared to when we first met him.

The good thing is that everyone is dressed in casual clothing like we
decided to, so it means that we aren't underdressed for today's events. I
still wish I knew what mum's plans are, but I guess sometimes the surprise
is the best part about a day. I have noticed though, that everyone else is
carrying a towel, which is something Pierre and I overlooked, meaning we
are going to have to dig around in our bags at some stage to find them.

Mum leads the way and we all follow, heading down the twisting staircase to
the ground floor. She stops briefly to hand back the keys, and get her
deposit back, before we all pile out into the gloriously warm and fine
Nimes morning sunshine. The sun is pleasant at this time of the day while
it slowly rises and starts to bask everything in its warm iridescent glow.

The main problem is that it isn't very tranquil here despite the glorious
morning. Nimes is a busy city and it is a weekday, so the streets are
clogged with cars going here, there and everywhere. The noise pollution is
horrendous, blowing any tranquillity out of the air. Things back in New
Zealand seem to be so much quieter, unless you live in Auckland, but even
there you can still hear the birds chirping in the trees at this time of
the morning provided you aren't on a main road.

France on the other hand is a lot bigger and busier than what I'm used to
from life in New Zealand, and I'm still struggling to adjust to that aspect
here. I still expect to be able to wake up in the morning and hear the
birds, but it is a lot noisier here. In saying that, back in Vichy the
singing of birds could be heard, because that town is smaller and quieter
than the cities of France, but I still love the place despite its
differences.

Mum unlocks the van and gets in, while the rest of us load the bags and
pile into it, then starts it up and prepares to leave. She has one last
look at the map she has, to ensure she knows exactly where she is going,
but Manuel's dad is there to help her should she get lost. Once we are all
in the van and belted in, she puts the van in gear and tries to smoothly
merge into the traffic, which she does successfully and safely. We are on
our way, for most of us into the unknown.

Mum negotiates her way through the traffic clogged streets of Nimes,
heading towards the outskirts and hopefully quieter roads. It takes quite a
long time to get to more free flowing roads, but once we do it's all easy
sailing from there. Before long we have cleared the urban sprawl of the
city of Nimes and are out in the countryside, heading towards, well, only
mum and Manuel's dad know the answer to that one.

No-one in the van seems to be particularly concerned to know where we are
going. Callum and Manuel are animatedly talking to one another, while
constantly getting told to quieten down by either François or
Sarah. They are also trying to have a conversation between themselves, but
it gets pretty hard to hear when the two youngsters get so excited that
they start to yell.

I'm not worried about talking to anyone, because all I want to do and am
doing is cuddling up to Pierre, enjoying the ride and watching as the
scenery passes us by. It is a beautiful part of the world with lots of
pretty scenery, but we don't get too long to enjoy it. Before we know it
mum is pulling the van into a tiny dirt car park, meaning our trip has come
to an end. The trip was quite short once we escaped Nimes so I know we
haven't gone too far from the city.

Mum parks the van and kills the engine, before unbuckling her seatbelt and
getting out. We all follow suit, and pretty soon the van is empty and we
are all standing outside in the glorious sunshine. I still have no idea
where we are, and as I look around I can't see anything to help me out in
that respect. The car park is lined by beautiful green trees, which act as
a good windbreak, but at the same time block any potential view to what is
around.

I notice that everyone else have their towels out, so I know now is the
time for Pierre and me to find ours. I pull him along with me, as we locate
our bags again so we can search through the contents to find what we
need. It takes a lot longer than I anticipated finding my towel, because as
luck would have it, the stupid thing is buried right at the bottom of the
bag. Finally, after a huge struggle, I try to pull my towel out.

Pierre has already located his towel and has been watching me while I
locate mine. Well, he isn't so much watching me, but it is more what he can
see because of the way I am positioned while I search my bag. Because the
bag is on the floor in the far back corner of the van, I am half lying on
the back seat to be able to get to it, which allows Pierre an unobstructed
view straight up the leg of my shorts.

My sly lover decides to tease me, while I am trying to rip the towel out of
my bag. He reaches his hand up my shorts leg and fondles my exposed
package. Instinctively I curl up my body, in an attempt to restrict access
to my jewels, but all I do is trap his hand there. This allows him to
continue to grope my dickie, which starts to do its normal trick of
starting to harden up.

This is the last thing I need, given I don't know where we are, or how far
we have to walk. I don't want to be walking around for ages if I have a
boner, because I know that it won't end well for me, given it will be
rubbing against the soft silky fabric of my shorts. The other thing is that
I know everyone else will know I have a boner, because it will tent the
flimsy fabric out, making it very noticeable to anyone who sees me.

I know I have to stop Pierre before I get a full blown erection, but before
I get a chance to he lets go. He knows that I don't want to get a stiffie
so he stops playing with my pecker before that happens. He would remove his
hand as well, but I still have it trapped because of the position I am
in. I soon realise this, and to a certain extent, my predicament, so I
uncurl myself in order to allow him to remove his hand.

I am hoping that Pierre is able to remove his hand without accidently
touching my pecker, because I already have a semi, and I know that just the
slightest touch from him will be enough to give me a full blown boner. He
knows this as well, so he extracts his hand from my shorts with the
greatest deal of care and precision. He knows the problems I will have if I
get a boner, so he does all he can to ensure I don't get one, but I wish
that he hadn't decided to play in the first place.

I suppose some opportunities are too good to pass up, and that was one of
those as far as he was concerned. I have to admit that I would have done
the same thing if it had been the other way around, so for that reason I'm
not mad at him. I couldn't be mad with him anyway, because I love him too
much and he was only playing around, like I would have done.

With that situation now resolved, I finish pulling my towel out of my bag,
before zipping it up. We both casually make our way out of the van and over
to the others, trying to make out that nothing went on in the van. It
doesn't matter though because no-one is paying any attention to us in the
slightest. They only seem to notice us when we get to them, but they don't
bother to ask us where we have been or anything.

In fact I almost get the impression that they had been expecting it,
because whatever it was that they were talking about seems to have
concluded by the time we reach them. Mum, who seemed to have been doing all
the talking, now makes out that she is doing a head count and ensuring we
all have everything that we are going to need. I am starting to get a
little suspicious with what is going on, but before I can ask anything, mum
heads back to the van to get her stuff and lock up.

Once she has done that, she wanders back over to us, takes Manuel's dad's
hand and they lead the way to wherever it is we are going. They seem to be
heading towards this small clearing off to the side of the parking area,
which looks like it is a walkway of some description. When we get to the
clearing I see that it is indeed a walkway, but it looks pretty steep and
not particularly easy to tackle, which makes me wonder about François's
ability to come with us.

Now that we have reached the pathway, mum releases Manuel's dad's hand so
that they can both safely negotiate their way down the path. It is a dirt
path, which due to an extended time of dry weather, has become dried and
dusty making it relatively slippery, so extra caution is going to be needed
during the descent.

Manuel's dad goes down first and slides on loose dirt about half way down,
which gets me even more worried about François' ability to take this
on. Thankfully for Manuel's dad he recovers and doesn't injure himself, but
it is still enough to send the shits up Pierre and me. Neither of us want
to get hurt in any way during the climb down because we are both sick to
death of hospital, so we do not want another trip back there for anything.

François decides to go next, which is not what I wanted, because I need
more time to think of a safe way to help him down. I try to protest, but he
doesn't listen and before I realise it, he has made it to the bottom as
easy as anything. In fact he made it look a damn sight easier than Manuel's
dad did. Pierre and I are both flabbergasted after seeing that, because we
didn't expect him to make it in one piece without assistance.

I should have paid more attention to everyone else's reaction, because
no-one other than Pierre and I seemed concerned in the slightest about
François making the descent unaided. Callum and Manuel don't wait for
the go ahead from mum, instead they just run straight down the hill like
there is nothing to it. Oh how I wish I was their age still, so that I was
still as fearless as they are, but I'm not, and with everything else that
has happened I keep thinking the worst about this descent.

Sarah is the next one to go, but unlike the others she is ultra-cautious
because she has never been an outdoors sort of person, so something like
this scares the hell out of her. Like everyone else she makes it down in
one piece without any hiccup along the way. Even with how timid and
cautious she was she still did it easily, which should give me confidence,
but it doesn't.

Mum indicates to Pierre and me that it is our turn, but I'm not sure that I
can go through with it. I have so talked myself into seeing the worst case
scenario, that I have pretty much talked myself out of going through with
this. Pierre isn't as worried about it as I am and almost goes headlong
down the hill like Callum and Manuel had, but he notices my reluctance to
go, so stops and comes back to get me.

Pierre does exactly what he knows is going to work. He comes over and takes
my hand, before he plants a tender loving kiss on my lips. He does this
right in front of mum, but he doesn't care and it also shows how much she
has changed as well, because she gives Pierre a big smile since she knows
what he is trying to do for me.

The kiss is so magical that it numbs my mind of all thought, so all I can
see is the love of my life kissing me in the most wonderful way. He
suddenly breaks off the kiss and pulls me by the hand. By the time my mind
has caught up with me and returned to reality, I'm hurtling down the hill
at what seems a million miles an hour.

Before I know it we are at the bottom of the hill and Pierre is pulling me
backwards while we try to come to a sudden stop. We both almost over run
the track and end up in the bushes, but he does extremely well to stop us
both. Once we have come to a stop and I have realised what Pierre has just
done for me, I plant another huge tender loving kiss on his lips.

He eases my trepidations so easily too, so kissing him is the only way I
can think of to thank him. I can vaguely make out the sound of two little
boys giggling, while I'm lost in the moment kissing, but I pay them no
attention. Just like I pay mum no attention when I sense that she too has
made it to the bottom of the hill, well, not until she gives me a light
clip on the back of the head.

"Come on love birds, we've still got further to go," she tells us, before
re-joining the rest of the group.

They don't bother to wait for Pierre and me to stop kissing, instead they
continue along the track expecting us to catch up. Knowing that mum was
serious and that they aren't going to wait for us, I grudgingly break off
the kiss. By the time we have done that the others have all rounded a
corner so are out of sight. We scramble to catch up with them because we
have no idea whether this path splits at some stage, and we don't want to
risk getting lost.

Come to think of it we are already technically lost because we have no idea
where the hell we are, but we still don't want to lose everyone else, so we
know that we had better hurry. The track is a lot flatter now, but it still
goes downhill. It is also still dirt, but is covered in fallen leaves from
the trees towering overhead and the bushes making up the undergrowth. The
path is nice and pleasant to walk or run on now, because the leaves add a
cushioning layer to the hard ground underneath.

By the time we reach the others, they have made it to the end of the track
and seem to be staring at something in awe and amazement. I know that they
are all staring at the reason we are here, but I can't quite see it past
the trees and everyone else. Pierre is jumping up and down to try and see
past everyone in order to get a glimpse at what they are all staring at,
but all to no avail. We are starting to get frustrated now at not being
able to see, so we try to force our way through everyone else to get to the
front, but we only make it half way before we too stop dead in our tracks.

Towering high above us and crossing over the Gard River is a huge block
construction, which initially I take to be a bridge. On closer inspection I
realise that it can't be a bridge, because it has three distinct tiers to
it and each tier is made up of a whole lot of archways. On the bottom two
tiers the archways are huge, making the top tier look tiny in
comparison. The magnificent structure takes on a golden hue, due to the way
the late morning sun shines on it. Knowing that it isn't a bridge leaves me
stumped as to what its purpose is, but I'm sure that I will find out soon
enough.

"Huh...? I... I... I think I've been here before!" Pierre stutters in
disbelief, while he trawls through his memory trying to work out why it is
that he thinks he has been here.

It suddenly dawns on me where we are, as I think back to some of the
stories he has told me. This is the Pont du Gard which Pierre told me he
had gone to see before the accident in which he lost his mum. I know why
mum has brought us here now, because she is trying to jog Pierre's memory
about that day in the hopes he will then also remember about his dad. She
is actually trying to help him out, which I am surprised about, but then
again it may have always been on her agenda, because she has never told us
where she had planned to take us.

I see that Pierre is still trying to recall where he has seen this
structure before, but deep down in my gut I know that he won't make the
connection between this and the fate of his mother, well, not yet anyway. I
don't know why, but I know that by the end of the day Pierre will have
remembered about his mum. It is a feeling I have, but I can't explain it, I
just know. Pierre will remember about that horrible accident which killed
his mum today, and I'm willing to bet all my money on being right.

"Yes Pierre, you have been here before. This is the Pont du Gard, but I'm
not going to tell you any more than that, because I need you to remember
for yourself," François tells him, while trying to contain his emotions
at the same time.

Being at the last place his sister was to ever enjoy, is tearing
François apart, but what is making things worse for him is seeing his
nephew with no recollection of the day he lost his mum. The whole situation
is rough on him, because he knows that up until the accident the day had
been one of the best for them. It should have been a great day because it
was Pierre's birthday, but a twist of fate stuffed that up and now his
nephew can't remember any of it.

I have no idea what to do, because I want to be with Pierre trying to help
him recover those lost memories, but I also want to be there for
François who is struggling to hold himself together. Both of them need
me, well, so I think. In reality I want to be there for both of them
because that is the sort of person I have become, but it is only Pierre who
needs me, because François has everyone else to help him.

In the end I know what I have to do, because Callum and Manuel have picked
up on François' mood and gone over to comfort him. So I go over and give
Pierre a hug to encourage him to remember, while at the same time I am
feeling so much pride towards the two youngsters because of how caring they
are. They don't need to get asked to help, because they seem to know when
someone close to them is in need of it and they react, based on their
instincts.

I know that Pierre won't remember much more about that day right now,
because his brain can't work out the connection between here and the trip
back to Avignon, because we haven't travelled that road, so he only knows
that we can get here via Nimes. I know that we will be taking that road
later on today, because mum won't just take us here unless she is planning
on going through to Avignon, so he will hopefully make the connection
between the two places then.

"Well come on, don't just stand there staring, let's have a swim and then
we can take a better look at the Pont du Gard later," mum says cheerfully,
trying to lighten the sombre mood that has enveloped us.

It doesn't work quite as well as she had hoped, but we all follow her and
Manuel's dad further upstream of the river to a nice swimming hole. Callum
and Manuel are still holding François' hand while they are trying to
comfort him, and I have my arm wrapped around Pierre. It is strange because
my mood is more sombre than his, because I know what this place should mean
to him. He is getting frustrated more than anything, because he still can't
remember why he has been here before. His memory does not want to
co-operate with him one little bit and it's starting to drive him crazy.

We make it to the swimming hole, which like the river is running a tad low,
due to the extended period of beautifully fine weather the region has been
experiencing. There is still enough water to have a good swim in and it
looks lovely and warm, and most importantly, inviting. Mum, Manuel's dad
and Sarah drop their towels, remove any unnecessary clothes and run into
the water, before they flop over to submerge themselves, leaving the rest
of us standing on the river bank.

Before any of us realise, they are in the middle of the swimming hole,
having a ball of a time. It is the most fun I have seen mum have, since the
day dad lost his job. I am glad to see her having fun, but I still can't
get over what this place means to Pierre and me, even if he can't recall
it, but it makes it hard for me to fully enjoy it. Well, I should say, what
it is supposed to mean to Pierre, but due to his head injury he has
forgotten the significance of the place, so to him it is just another place
in our French adventure.

"I can't remember anything about here and I'm sick of trying, so let's go
and have some fun!" Pierre blurts out suddenly, frustrated as hell that he
can't remember why it is that he has been here before.

He then strips off his singlet, and since he notices that I still haven't
moved a muscle, he also pulls off my tee shirt. Then he throws the items of
clothing on the ground before kicking off his jandals. Knowing I have no
choice in this, I kick off my jandals as well and not a moment too soon,
because Pierre then grabs me by the hand and pulls me while he runs towards
the swimming hole.

He drags me all the way to the water's edge before he lets me go, running
in the water until he can run no more and then dives under the surface. I
follow him, unable to stop myself because of the momentum I have gained,
not that I try anyway. I go hurtling into the water not far behind Pierre
and then dive under the surprising warm refreshing water.

I decide to try and stay under water as long as I can, to see whether I can
swim up to Pierre without him noticing. It is easy to do, because the water
is so crystal clear that I can see everything pretty clearly whilst
submerged. The problem I have is that Pierre is still under water, but he
is slowly starting to resurface.

Once he has resurfaced, I slowly swim right up underneath him. Being in
this position I can see right up the leg hole of his shorts, but I can't
see his pecker, because it is in a dark shadow. I'm not worried that I
can't see it, because that isn't too important and I can clearly see what I
am after anyway.

Then I gently reach up, trying desperately not to disturb the water too
much and give away my position. I then grab the bottom edge of his shorts,
one hand on each leg hole, then quick as a flash I rip them down as far as
I can before he realises and does everything he can to stop them coming
off. He panics when he feels his shorts sliding down his legs, so does the
only thing he can do and that is spread his legs as wide as he can to
prevent them coming right off.

From under the water I get a perfect view of his package as his shorts come
down. I only get them down to his knees but that doesn't matter, because I
already have what I want. I reach up and grope his exposed dick and balls,
and play around with them for a moment, before I realise that I desperately
need to get a good breath of air, so surface.

I gasp in a huge breath of air upon breaking the surface, filling my lungs
as quickly as I can with precious oxygen. On taking my first look after
having got into the water, I am totally awestruck. Standing tall and proud
about two hundred metres downstream is the magnificent golden structure of
the Pont du Gard. The structure reflects magically in the calm waters of
the river, only being slightly distorted due to the ripples on the river's
surface.

It is a sight to behold and it has caught me in a hypnotic trance, while I
take in the full beauty of the enormous structure. A result of the
strangely magical sort of hold the structure has on me, I've forgotten all
about Pierre and what I did to him, well, that is, until I feel my shorts
getting pulled down my legs.

I am far too slow to react, because my mind is elsewhere, meaning Pierre is
able to pull my shorts right off and then hold them up in his hand, once he
has resurfaced. He holds them high, like he is boasting about having a big
catch or something. My mind finally catches up and I decide to give chase,
not so much because I want my shorts back as I am enjoying the skinny dip,
but more because I feel I have to and I want to have a bit of fun.

Pierre notices out of the corner of his eye that I am making a lunge for
him, so quickly dives back under the water and swims away. We have a ball
while I pretend to try to get my shorts back and chase him all over the
place, and our raucous behaviour must have caught the attention of
François, Callum and Manuel who are still on the river's edge. The two
boys are still trying to comfort the man, who is still struggling to come
to terms with the significance this place has on him.

Seeing Pierre and me having an absolute blast in the river reminds
François why we are here, and that is to let go of the past and have
fun, because that's what his sister would have wanted. François then
gives the boys a quick hug, before he rips off his polo shirt, which lets
the two youngsters know he is fine and it is time to go for a swim. The two
boys don't need a second invitation, because they had been hoping that the
man would get over his sombre mood and have a swim, so as quick as a flash
they too have their shirts off, and all three of them come running into the
water.

They all swim over to join us in our game, since what Sarah, mum and
Manuel's dad, are doing looks boring. They have no real idea what we are
playing at, but it seems like fun so all three of them are keen. Well
François was, until his nephew lobs him my shorts and he realises what
is going on. The man has a comical look on his face when he catches my togs
and puts two and two together, but instead of being like a prim and proper
adult about it and giving them back, before telling me to put them on while
scolding us, he continues the game.

Now it is four to one on me, as they all play a game of keep away with my
shorts, but I decide to try and even up the teams and do a bit of
underwater swimming again until I find Pierre. This time I rip his shorts
off so fast that he doesn't have any time to react, so before he has quite
cottoned on to what I have done, I have already thrown his shorts to
Callum. Needless to say Callum looks a little bemused, because at the same
time he receives Pierre's shorts François has also thrown him mine.

Now the little tyke has both our shorts and he doesn't quite know what to
do, especially since we are both bearing down on him at a great rate of
knots. Callum quickly discards one of our shorts over to Manuel, but
realises that he isn't going to have time to get rid of the second pair, so
he panics and throws it straight at us. We have other plans though, so dive
underwater, totally ignoring the shorts that have just been thrown at us.

Callum is miles too slow to work out what is about to happen, so doesn't
get a chance to try and escape until it is too late and he has lost his
shorts as well. He yelps in surprise and panic, once he feels us tug on his
shorts while in the process of trying to remove them, but his cries go
largely ignored, except for Manuel who quickly realises what is happening.

By this stage Manuel has swum out and re-gathered the other pair of shorts
which Callum had biffed at us. The sneaky sod isn't done there, because he
swims over to where he expects us to resurface and rips Callum's shorts out
of Pierre's hands the moment he surfaces. Pierre had been the one to take
the shorts off Callum, so he also was the one to come back to the surface
with them.

Neither of us expected the cheeky bugger to be quite so brazen, given he
must know that he is our next target, so Pierre didn't have a good enough
grip on the shorts to keep hold of them. Manuel then makes his overall plan
loud and clear, when he starts swimming frantically towards the
riverside. It takes a moment or two for any of us to work out Manuel's
plan, so by that stage he is already halfway to shore.

Finally cottoning onto his evil plan, I set off, giving a desperate chase
to try and catch him before he makes it. Despite being a good swimmer I
still can't get enough speed to catch the boy over such a short distance,
so Manuel makes it to the shore easily, and throws all our shorts high up
on the bank out of our reach, which means if we want them back we will have
to climb up the bank buck naked to retrieve them.

I give up trying to chase him now, because there is no longer any point. I
also don't stand any chance of being able to swim underwater to get his,
because the river is too shallow at this point to be able to do it, so I
turn around and head back to the others. Pierre and Callum give up without
a chase and have decided not to worry about it and just have fun, so they
are busy splashing each other like nothing is out of the
ordinary. François on the other hand has mixed emotions, because I can
tell he is trying his hardest to give Manuel a disapproving look, but he is
also trying to stop himself from giggling.

I decide to join the other two and continue playing around like there is
nothing unusual about what we are doing, but Manuel knows that he is
stuck. He can't come and join us because he will get ganged up on, and he
doesn't want to join anyone else, because they are just boring, so he
doesn't know what to do.

Manuel decides there is only one thing he can do, so removes his own shorts
and throws them up with the rest, before swimming back over to join the
rest of us. None of us had seen him take off his own pants though, so as
soon as he comes within reach, we all go for him. Instead of any of us
getting his shorts, I get hold of his long appendage which surprises the
hell out of me and Manuel, while Callum and Pierre get and arse cheek each.

Manuel squeals loudly from the unexpected groping, well, he sort of
expected it, but thought we might have been paying more attention to him
and noticed that he had taken off his shorts. Needless to the say the rest
of us blush bright red knowing we are groping Manuel out in the open
because the bugger doesn't have his shorts on any more, so we quickly let
the boy go and go back to playing.

It takes a little while for us to get back in the swing of things, because
we are all feeling a bit awkward over what happened. I don't know why we
are so awkward over the whole incident, because it's not like we haven't
done things like this before, but I suppose it was more because we never
intended to fondle him like that which made us feel uncomfortable doing
it. After all it was supposed to be semi-innocent, because we only meant to
take off his shorts, not play with his anatomy.

Typically though, as soon as we get back into the spirit of things, mum
decides to kill our fun, by telling us all that it is time to get out so
that we can have a better look at the aqueduct, before moving on. The
adults, François included, have all waded back to the spot we had got in
from and are getting out of the water. The spot they are getting out from
is the easiest place, because there is a little rocky beach there, whereas
everywhere else the river runs right up to a clay bank, which is very steep
and difficult to get out from.

This is the part none of us had really thought about, and Manuel knows he
is the biggest culprit now. We are all going to have to get out of the
river starkers. The only thing that is running through my mind at the
moment is how surprised mum is going to be. François is on the verge of
giving us away before we even get out, because he is struggling like crazy
to supress his laughter.

I decide that there is no point in making a fuss about it, so I get out of
the water as naturally as possible, like I have everything on that I'm
supposed to. Pierre and Manuel follow me closely behind, because neither of
them are worried about being naked either, but Callum on the other hand
lags behind us a little, because he is worried about mum's reaction.

"Why the hell have you lot got no clothes... ahh... don't worry, never
mind," mum says a little bemused at seeing us all starkers, while we get
out of the river. She gives up worrying about it, because it is all said
and done now, so there is no point to making a big fuss about it.

I know she really wants to tell us off for being naked, but it shows how
much she has changed by the way she doesn't. In the end she shrugs her
shoulders in a manner saying that boys will be boys and leaves it at
that. Callum feels a lot more comfortable knowing that mum isn't going to
go nuclear on us, so comes out of his shell and starts acting normally
again.

"You had better go and get your shorts, but don't get them dirty because I
don't want to waste any more time getting you all cleaned up," mum says,
trying to sound as threatening as possible.

We know that we aren't in any real trouble for the moment, providing we
don't push her, so we do as we are told without saying a word. We all make
sure to slip our feet into our jandals before we go on our way, to ensure
we don't cut our feet up by standing on something sharp.

The main problem we have is going along the bank towards where Manuel threw
our shorts, because despite all the fine weather the bank is slippery as
hell. We have to be ultra-cautious as we make our way along the river bank
to ensure we don't slip over and end up back in the river, or even worse,
get ourselves dirty.

Somehow we all make it to where our shorts are without any of us slipping
up. We almost walk straight past our shorts, because the whole time we had
been searching the ground for them, but somehow when Manuel threw them,
they ended up getting caught in the branches of the bushes growing along
the bank. Callum and Manuel have no problem picking out their shorts
because theirs stand out more than Pierre's and mine.

Callum picks his blue board shorts, which have a white floral pattern on
them, out of the bush that they are hanging from and puts them on. Manuel
had bright orange knee length cotton shorts, which acts like a beacon with
the way they reflect brightly in the summer sun. He quickly pulls them out
of the bush and like Callum, puts them on to cover his dignity.

Pierre and me have a little more problem finding ours, because the black
league shorts don't stand out as much as the youngsters' brighter coloured
ones. Once we have found them after a pretty decent search, we then have to
work out which ones are whose. In the end it is a little easier to work out
which ones are mine, because they have the grey stripes down the sides,
whereas Pierre's don't.

Instead of putting them on like the youngsters have, we put them on our
heads, sort of like a hat. We haven't done this so much because we want to
be stark naked, it is more to ensure that they stay clean on the off chance
we slip over on the journey back. The two younger ones think we are messing
around and laugh at us for putting our shorts on our heads, until Manuel
slips and almost gets his shorts dirty.

Callum is the one who picks up on it first, because he knows how serious
mum is about not getting dirty, and he has also figured out that is the
reason we have our shorts on our heads. Without thinking twice about it he
pulls his shorts back off, and puts them on his head as well. Manuel gives
him a funny look, because he still hasn't worked out why we all have our
shorts on our heads.

"Manuel, put your shorts on your head, so that they don't get dirty. You
don't want mum getting angry if you slip again and dirty your shorts,"
Callum tells him , because he doesn't want to see his friend, and by the
looks of it, soon to be brother, get in trouble.

Finally seeing the reason we have put our shorts on our heads, Manuel
quickly follows suit. I do have to say that it must look hilarious to
anyone who might have seen us. I mean four naked boys wandering around the
edge of a river with shorts on their heads, wouldn't be something you would
see every day, and looking at the way the others look makes it hard for me
not to crack up laughing.

It takes us just as long to wander back as it had to find our shorts in the
first place, but we all make it back clean and relatively unscathed. I say
relatively because we all have numerous small scratches on our arms and
legs, caused from rubbing against branches of bushes which overhang too
close to the river's edge to get past without brushing up against them, but
in general we are fine because none of our scratches drew any blood.

As soon as we know we are safe from the risk of slipping and getting dirty,
we put on our shorts again. At this point I wonder why Pierre and I didn't
put them on in the first place, because they are so short that the risk of
them getting dirty was minimal. Oh well, it was still good to be naked,
even if there was no need for it.

We make our way back down onto the rocky beach where everyone is waiting
for us. They all look surprised when they see us coming back, because none
of them expected us to have put our shorts back on, but I'm pretty sure
that they are glad we have, because they have that look to them as
well. Once on the beach we all locate our shirts and towels, then sling
them over our shoulders. Pierre and I desperately want to get some colour
back into our skin, so want as much of our bodies to be exposed to the sun
as possible.

I love the sun here in southern France, because it's nowhere near as
intense as it is back in New Zealand, meaning I should be able to spend all
day outside with no shirt on and still not get sunburnt. Back home that
isn't possible during summer as the UV levels are extreme, because the
country is within close proximity to the hole in the ozone layer. So if I
had been out in the sun for this long back home, with no sunscreen or
shirt, then I would be burnt to a crisp by now.

The biggest advantage of the high UV levels back home is that I tan a lot
quicker. With the amount of time I have been out in the sun today I would
have expected to see some obvious results tan-wise, but alas I don't notice
any difference to how I looked this morning. Even Pierre hasn't got
noticeably darker, and he grew up in this climate, but I suppose to expect
instant results are unrealistic no matter where you live.

Once we are all ready to go, mum and Manuel's dad set off, taking the lead
like normal. I am instantly caught off guard and so is Pierre, because mum
doesn't go the same way back. Instead we end up on what looks to be a
better maintained pathway which heads along the river bank towards the Pont
du Gard. The pathway is so easy going compared with the one we took to get
here, and it gradually ascends towards the top of the hill.

Once we make it to the top and out of the bush, we are greeted by a huge
sealed parking lot. The first thought which comes to my mind is `why the
hell didn't mum park here', but I quickly realise that it would have given
away our location, and mum wanted to see if Pierre could remember or
not. That has to be the reason mum used the other car park, because I can
think of no other logical reason for it.

From the car park we wander along another walkway, through the
Mediterranean bush to the aqueduct itself. During the walk we learn a lot
about this wonderful and magnificent example of human engineering which was
built by the romans way back in nineteen BC. The uppermost tier of the
aqueduct is two hundred and seventy five metres long and contains thirty
five arches. The structure stands fifty metres above the Gard River, and
used to carry twenty thousand cubic meters of water per day from nearby
Uzès to Nimes.

We spend a good hour walking about, enjoying the sights and sounds, and
especially taking in as much of the magnificent structure as we can. By the
time we have made it back to the car park we are all pretty bushed from the
exercise, as well as the heat of the day, and starting to get hungry.

We walk through the car park towards the main road, which once we get to it
confirms my thoughts. Opposite the parking lot is a big sign indicating
that this is a parking area for the Pont du Gard, so it definitely would
have been a giveaway if we had come to this lot. We continue to trundle
along the side of the road back in the direction of Nimes, but due to there
being no proper sidewalk it is awkward and slow going.

About five hundred metres further down the road we pass another sign
indicating that the parking lot for the Pont du Gard is approaching, which
allows enough time for motorists to slow down safely to pull into the lot
if that is where they are heading. We walk for another two hundred metres
before we round a small bend in the road, and around three hundred metres
past that is the parking area which mum had used.

We get back to the van all tired and sweaty. Despite having no shirts on,
the heat of the sun mixed with the heat radiating up from the ground is
sweltering, making us sweat profusely and zapping our energy levels. We
make it to the van which mum promptly unlocks, allowing us to open the rear
sliding door and pile in, crashing into our seats.

The van is surprisingly cool given how hot it is outside, but we have mum
to thank for that, because she figured that the day was going to get pretty
hot, so she ensured that she parked the van under the shade of a couple of
tall trees. Once we are all slumped into our seats, mum starts to hand out
some sandwiches and drinks to everyone, which impresses me to know that she
planned so far ahead to get this for us.

What impresses me most is that the juice is still ice cold, because mum had
talked the hotel manager into putting them into the freezer overnight. The
ice cold liquid feels wonderful as it slides down my parched throat, and I
instantly feel a heap better for the drink. The sandwiches are nice too,
but don't last anywhere near long enough, because I have scoffed them down
within a matter of seconds.

All in all I'm feeling a lot better after the food and the drink, because
my energy levels seem to be increasing again and I don't feel like I'm
cooking so much any more. The shade helps in that respect too, but I almost
wish that we could go for another swim to cool off properly again, but I
know that isn't going to happen when mum gets in the van and starts it
up. `Oh well, maybe another day', I think to myself while putting on my
seatbelt.

Once everyone is belted in mum drives out of the car park and continues
down the road away from Nimes. I am glad that we aren't going back to Nimes
because I want to see Avignon, well at least if that is where we are
going. I don't know the roads around here, so we could still end up going
somewhere different, but I doubt it. I mean surely mum wouldn't bring us
all the way down here if she didn't plan on stopping in Avignon, but then
again this is mum I'm talking about and she is capable of anything.

Pierre decides that he wants to lean against me, given he has taken the
middle seat, leaving me with the window one. So he rests his head against
mine, before the rest of his body follows. At the same time he wraps his
arm around me, so I do the same thing. It feels so nice having him so close
to me, especially during a beautiful drive like we are on now.

The scenery is gorgeous, being beautifully green Mediterranean bush and
scrub everywhere you look. We suddenly burst out of the bush, as we cross a
bridge over the Gard River, but the scenery doesn't die away now we are on
the bridge, instead it gets even better. We are now right beside the lower
tier of the Pont du Gard aqueduct, which towers over the bridge we are on,
like we are insignificant in comparison.

The structure looks so close, as I gaze at it through the window of the
van, that I believe I could almost open the window and reach out and touch
it. It is a truly magnificent structure, one that I am so glad that I have
had the opportunity to see, but all too soon it disappears as we careen
back into bush on the other side of the river. I am disappointed that it
has gone, because I know that I will probably never get the chance to see
it again, well, at least not for a long time, but I thoroughly enjoyed it
while it lasted.

The trip goes smoothly, as we head presumably towards Avignon. The bush has
all but gone now that we have got away from the Gard River, and has been
replaced by countryside. There is a huge range of different uses for the
land; some have been set up as orchards, others graze cattle or other
livestock, then there is the occasional small vineyard, but the biggest
thing I have noticed is the amount of lavender growing around here. The
herb gives the air a pleasant aroma, which blasts into the van through the
open windows in front of us.

Everything seems to run well and the trip goes smoothly, up until we round
one last bend which puts us onto a massive straight piece of road, then
things quickly get really weird. Not long after we round the bend I start
experiencing problems. My mind keeps flashing these strange but brief
images in my head. They only last milliseconds, which isn't enough time for
my brain to understand anything about the pictures flashing through it.

The further along the straight we go, the more intense the images become as
they flash through my head. I still can't make any sense of them at all,
but it is making my head spin, and I'm starting to feel nauseous. I have
noticed just how bouncy the back seat of the van is too, which isn't
helping my stomach on little bit. Instead it makes it ten times worse and I
am starting to sweat profusely, because of how sick I'm feeling.

All of a sudden Pierre lets me go and sits bolt upright. He is in some sort
of a trance, because something has got into his mind. His body all of a
sudden starts to shake violently, making me scared that something is
severely wrong, especially given how crook I'm feeling right now. The
images in my head seem to be piecing themselves together, but I can't
handle it any more because I feel like I'm on the verge of throwing up all
over the place.

"Mum, stop the car now, cos I think I'm going to be sick!" I scream
urgently, hoping to hell that mum can hear me from all the way up the
front. She does because I feel the van swerve to the side of the road and
then brake heavily, almost to the extent that I'm expecting to hear the
tyres squeal, as they come to a skidding stop.

"Maman, maman, ou es-tu maman?" Pierre screams in a panic, once the car has
come to a dead stop. He is not in the van, so to speak, because his mind is
definitely elsewhere. I know where his mind is, because mine is in the same
place.

I'm not sure whether I have lost consciousness or not, but that isn't too
important. All I know is what the images which had been flashing through my
head are. It seems that Pierre had started to recall the accident in which
his mother was killed, and that's what the pieces of information flying
around in my head were. Once Pierre had finally pieced them all together it
was like I was at the scene of the crash, because I can see every little
detail like it had been me in Pierre's place.

The crash was horrific and being able to experience what Pierre went
through has made me aware of why he struggled so long with violent
nightmares. I know that it is going to leave its mark on me and I didn't
even experience it first hand, although this dream I'm having makes me feel
like I had. It is surreal and hard to explain properly, but somehow I am
able to see what Pierre is, and I too at the moment am looking around,
desperate to find Pierre's mum.

Everyone turns around immediately after Pierre's outburst, looking
extremely worried about what is going on with us. Their concerns are not
eased one little bit when they see Pierre in a trance-like state, and me
pretty much comatose beside him. They have no idea what is going on, which
has them worried that we all might have eaten something bad. Even
François hasn't picked up on what is happening, yet he should have been
able to understand what Pierre had screamed.

Mum and Manuel's dad quickly unbuckle their seat belts, throw open their
doors and sramble to see what is going on with us. Almost as soon as
Manuel's dad gets out of the van, he trips on something, but pays no
attention to it and continues on. He throws the sliding door open and
climbs into the back of the van and heads over to us. Using the back of his
hand he feels our foreheads to see if we are running a fever, which we must
be because his hand doesn't stay in contact too long before he pulls it
away in a hurry.

"They're both burning up, something must be seriously wrong!" he says,
rather freaked out. It makes everyone else even more worried, because
whatever we have come down with they are likely to get too, well, so they
think.

"Jean, did you notice this cross down here when you got out of the van?"
mum asks. Her expression has changed from worried about our health, to
wondering whether there maybe something else at play here, but she doesn't
know how to confirm it.

"Yeah, I saw it, after I tripped up on the damn thing," he replies, a
little annoyed at himself for missing the bright white cross on the side of
the road.

"François, do you have any idea whereabouts... well... um... you
know... your sister died?" mum asks, stammering along because she doesn't
want to upset him all over again.

"Huh...? You don't think... is there a name on the cross, because usually
they put the names on them?" François replies in total disbelief with
what mum is implying.

Mum gives him a sheepish look, because she hadn't even thought about
that. She then crouches down in front of the cross and brushes aside the
long grass which has partially covered it, while Manuel's dad continues to
gently try and bring us back to the land of the living. François and the
boys are undoing their seatbelts, because they want to see if they can be
of any assistance to either mum or Manuel's dad.

"Was your sister's name Sonia Lacroix?" mum asks, while she reads the name
which is inscribed on the cross, although she pretty much knows the
answer. She knows Pierre's last name off by heart now, because of all the
documentation she was required to fill out as part of the adoption, so she
knows that my boyfriend's last name and the surname of the person on the
cross, are the same.

"Yes that is my sister, god bless her. I still cannot believe what has
happened though, because it almost seems like Pierre and Josh have just
been through the same thing, and I don't think it's anything to do with
food poisoning. I think Pierre remembered what has happened, and somehow
Josh has been able to see what Pierre has," François says, unsure
whether he is making any sense at all, because the whole thing sounds a
little crazy.

"I know what you mean. I've been thinking the same thing ever since I saw
the cross. I still can't believe that their episode made us stop on the
exact point where the accident happened," mum replies, to which François
nods his head indicating that he can't believe the coincidence either.

"I remember... I remember what happened!" Pierre cries suddenly, because he
has come out of his trance finally, but this has led to his emotions taking
full control of him. He starts bawling his eyes out, while the nightmare
replays in his mind and he realises again what has happened to his mother.

"Oh Pierre, I know what you have been through now!" I wail after what must
have seemed like an eternity to everyone. I have been slowly waking from my
comatose state for a while, but up until now my mind hasn't been working. I
then grab hold of him and pull him into me for a tight cuddle, because I
know how much he needs it, and to be honest after seeing what he has been
through, I need it too.

"Huh...? Did you see it too?" Pierre sobs, trying to fully understand what
I said. I just hug him tighter and bury my head in his shoulder while I cry
my eyes out too. I never do answer him, because I know that he already
knows.

Pierre and I cuddle together for a long while, crying together, but for
different reasons. I'm crying because I feel the pain and agony he went
through that day, while he is crying from remembrance. There is no grief
behind his tears because he already has closure, it is purely because he
now remembers the whole accident again which has him crying. He can feel
the pain and the sense of loss he felt on that horrible day and it is more
than he can take.

"Is this the... is this the spot where mum died?" Pierre asks quietly, only
sobbing now because he is starting to get his emotions back under
control. I still can't get mine in order because the feelings are all too
new to me, and I feel the loss he experienced that day like I have just
lost my own mother.

"Yes Pierre, you two managed to get us to stop in the exact spot where the
accident happened," François replies sombrely. Pierre nods his head in
understanding, because he had a gut feeling that is what happened. He also
wants to get out and witness the place where his mum died all over again,
but he isn't quite ready for that.

He needs me to be there with him, but I'm still too much of a wreck and he
is too scared to go on his own. He tries to sooth my mood by gently
stroking my back, while he continues to hug me, but he isn't going to try
and rush me through it. He knows why I'm so upset and he also realises that
I have just experienced the crash he was in, like I was there myself, so he
knows it's going to take a bit of time to get me to settle down again.

"Josh, I want to get out and see the accident site again," Pierre says,
once I have started to take control of my emotions again. I had expected
him to say this, so all I do is nod my head in agreement.

"Are you so sure about this?" Manuel's dad asks, because he is a little
worried about how well we will handle it, given we have spent a good part
of an hour in tears. He is still in the seat beside us, where he has been
since we made the van stop and he took it upon himself to be our nurse. We
both nod our heads in unison, knowing that this is something Pierre has to
do and I'm going to be there for him.

Manuel's dad doesn't try to argue, instead he gets out of the seat and
backs his way out of the back of the van, to allow us to get out as
well. Tentatively Pierre unbuckles his seatbelt and I do the same, and he
slowly gets up and walks towards the door. I take his hand to remind him
I'm with him all the way on this, but he still gets slower and slower the
closer to the door he gets.

Once at the door, he takes a big deep breath in, and jumps out of the van
before his mind has a chance to tell him not to. I follow immediately
behind, because I'm still holding his hand and behind me comes
François. The boys and Sarah all stay put in the van, because they know
that this is a moment for Pierre and François, and they know the reason
I'm there is to support my lover.

Mum and Manuel's dad also decide to allow them a bit of privacy to pay
their respects, so they both climb back into the front of the van, leaving
us three out by ourselves. The first thing we come across once out of the
van is the cross, which causes both Pierre and François to crumble to
their knees. I decide that it's best to do what they do in order to be
totally respectful for their loss, so I also get down on my knees.

The three of us kneel there staring at the cross in a trance. It's almost
like it has us hypnotised under its spell, and causes us all to lose
ourselves in our thoughts. What the cross means to us all is effectively
the same thing, and that is the end of one family, but the start of a new
and wonderful one. It is hard to fathom that someone's death could spur
something so much bigger and so magical, but that is exactly what seems to
have happened because of the death of Sonia.

Subconsciously François and Pierre hold hands, while they both pray
together in remembrance of Sonia's life. I pray alongside them, because I
feel that she is as much my family now as she is theirs, due to the way
Pierre and I love each other so much. The prayer is short and sweet, but
from the bottom of the heart. François and Pierre both make sure that
they say their prayers in English because I am with them and they regard me
as close family.

I surprise both of them by saying a prayer of my own, which is effectively
thanking her for giving birth to such a wonderful child, and being a great
sister to my new uncle. I also tell her how much I would have loved to have
met her, but realise that things would be a lot different if that could
have happened. It is a hard thing to say, especially in front of her son
and brother, but they are both fully aware that her death led to us being
together.

Once I have finished my prayer, we continue to kneel in silence for a
couple of minutes, before standing back up. All three of us cautiously walk
around the van so we can see the piece of road which the accident took
place on. I have to say that it is hard to imagine such carnage taking
place here, because we are almost in the middle of a long perfectly
straight piece of road. It is not the sort of place you expect a major
accident to occur on, but stranger things have happened and to a drunk it
doesn't matter how straight a road is; if they are going to crash it could
be anywhere.

Slowly we start to head back around the van, then climb back inside and
take our seats. François slides the door closed behind him, then takes
his seat. Once all three of us are seated and belted in, mum starts the van
back up. Thankfully she had been wise and killed the engine shortly after
we stopped, otherwise we would have wasted a lot of gas with how long we
have been here.

Mum lets the van gently idle away for a few minutes, while she gives her
own prayer and blessing to the spot. She feels that it is something she
should do, given she is the mother to the other half of the family. Pierre
and François both appreciate the thought, especially because it shows
the unity of the two families once and for all. I am thrilled with it too,
because it shows that she has fully accepted our relationship, otherwise
she would never have done such a thing.

After that mum slowly and respectfully starts to accelerate the van away
from the spot and merge back onto the road. She does so with absolute grace
and the utmost respect to the deadly site, and she also makes sure that she
does it safely because she doesn't want to cause another major accident
here.

Pierre and I turn around and look out the back window, watching the white
cross get smaller and smaller, before it finally disappears. It is a
strange sight seeing this lone white cross on such a long straight road,
but I suppose that is the way life works out at times. Once the cross has
disappeared, we turn back around to sit in our seats properly and embrace
each other in a loving hug.

************

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