Through The Storm (3 page)

The OB Centre
wasn’t the massive square building Ross had imagined, but four
terraced houses knocked into one with their once long thin gardens
now grounds laid out for basketball, football, tennis and archery,
a giant maze and a mini assault course. WOW!

The houses had
been knocked about a bit, too but were still something of a rabbit
warren.

You almost need
a map to find the front door”, David gasped as they were led into
the dining room first.

“Everyone take
a seat, quickly now”, Owen yelled, “and everyone SHUT UP”. Everyone
did.

Owen had the
kind of voice that added “or else” without him having to say
it.

“
OK .
Rules first, and then we can have fun. Number one. Some of the
activities you are doing can be dangerous, so if an instructor says
you do, you do. If he says you don’t , you don’t. No arguments
allowed. This also saves time and gives more time to enjoy
ourselves. Breakfast is at 7.30. If you’re late, you might get a
piece of bread and butter, you might get nothing at all, so don’t
be late. Everyone keeps their bed and space around it
tidy.

HERE WE GO

You have a
cupboard by the bed, so please use it. This cuts down on the number
of broken legs we have to deal with. Everyone clears their own mess
in the dining room and there’s a rota up for the other jobs to be
shared. No swapping allowed. Anyone who breaks the rules goes home.
That way, believe it or not we all get more time to have fun”. He
paused to let this sink in. “OK. I’m now dishing out a list of the
activities we do here. You can all choose five you really want to
do and two others you would like to do if you can’t do all the
others. You’ve got twenty minutes to circle the top five, and put
triangles round two more. We’ll do our best to sort you all for
your favourites but it doesn’t always work out”. While he had been
speaking, he had divided his pile of lists into three and he and
two other instructors were walking down the tables giving a list
and a pen to each person. The list was massive. Ross gazed at the
paper in amazement, and then looked at Jack who was scribbling
away.

“What are you
choosing?” Ross asked after finding it impossible to choose only
five. Jack shoved his list over towards Ross and chewed the pen
end.

“Can’t decide
out of skiing or judo,” he frowned. Ross studied the form. Sailing,
abseiling, archery, horseriding. “Horseriding?” he spluttered.
“Can’t see you in jodhpurs and jacket. You sure that’s what you
want to do?”

“Fancied a day
sitting down, didn’t I?” Jack defended himself, and managed not to
look embarrassed. David laughed.

“A day in the
saddle and you won’t want to sit the next”, he chuckled. Jack
squirmed. “I fancy being able to ride like a cowboy”, he explained,
“Not like you’re thinking, a show jumper or something poncey like
that”. In self defence, he grabbed David’s list to counter
attack.

“What you
picked then?”

He scanned the
list hopefully. “Canoeing, skiing, mountain climbing, go karting”,
he paused and gave David a fishy glance, “Go Karting’s for four
year olds”, he returned to the list. “Karate and sailing. Hey,
that’s six”.

David gave him
a superior look. “Yes,” he explained, “but sailing’s a triangle
isn’t it? Come on. Give us the list back. I’ve got one more
triangle to pick”.

Ross, now knew
what his friends were doing, and started his own circling. It
wasn’t that he was afraid of doing things on his own, but it would
be more fun sharing the excitement with someone he already knew.
Sailing, canoeing (that would be with Nick), skiing, hill walking,
abseiling. He paused. There were still too many good choices left.
Deciding to leave things to fate he shut his eyes and stabbed at
the list twice with his pen. Opening his eyes to admire his
handiwork, he quickly obliterated the mark by sweet making and
inked in the nearest manly choice – judo. The other mark had placed
itself neatly alongside horseriding. “Oh well,” Anyway, he wouldn’t
be on his own, he thought, changing the dot into a triangle.

“Time’s up”
Owen said. “The boys to hand their papers to Nick, and Jerry, here,
and follow them with your gear to the dorms. Girls with Tess and
Jane, here. You can explore until 5pm when I want you back here for
grub. Off you go.”

CHAPTER 4

It was actually
Patrick who led the way to the dorms and got first pick of the
beds. It was becoming a bit of a drag, coming here for the third
year, running and with all the lads being younger than him. The
activities were still going to be good, so long as they let him
move at his own pace, and at least knowing how everything happened,
he could dodge the queues for the showers and such. He took his
normal bed by the window, chucked his whole rucksack in the
cupboard by his bed and took his mobile phone from his pocket, ear
plugs in and he was away in his own world. The younger boys were
chatting to Nick. Jack hadn’t noticed any change in his older
brother, but David was feeling almost shy. It was odd how just one
year at University, and now working here, Nick seemed much more of
an adult than at home. At home, Nick always led them into trouble
and got yelled at with the rest of them when they were caught.
Here, it felt more like, if anyone was in trouble, Nick would be
leading them out. Kind of comforting if you were maybe a bit
homesick, David thought, and then looked round, furtively, in case
anyone had read his mind. Of course he wasn’t homesick, after all
he’d only just got here. Dumping his stuff on a bed well away from
the arrogant Patrick, he asked, “Can we go anywhere?”

“Anywhere in
the grounds or houses, except the kitchen. They’ll be cooking in
there so it’s not safe”, Nick replied, “And you wouldn’t look good
wearing a roast chicken”

“Is it not safe
because of burning hot oil scalding us?” Jack asked.

“Because of
their tempers if you got in the way,” Jerry said with a grin, “They
have a synchronised system of movement which miraculously creates
twenty dinners or so all at exactly the right moment. If the
tiniest thing gets in the way, the result is total motorway pile
up”.

“Just like
home”, the bouncy blond boy said, chucking a pair of hiking boots
under the bed by the door and stuffing his rucksack into his
locker. ”Come on. Let’s go and explore.”

They left
Arthur methodically folding his clothes into his locker, and
Patrick pressing buttons on his phone while sprawled flat on his
bed, and clattered downstairs, Dean in the lead. The place was
amazing. One room had a massive TV and loads of sprawly armchairs
and cushions. Then there was a room with games and a pool table and
some computer terminals with a huge notice saying “DON’T HOG!”
There was even a pinball machine. Then along the corridor, passed
the dining room and clattering steamy kitchen, they found a door
and were soon outside and venturing into the gardens.

”Let’s find the
maze”, David suggested.

“Hey, yeah”
Jack agreed.

They bounded
down some steps, startling the girls who all seemed to be sitting
together on some benches on a tiny patio.

“Boys” the
redhead said as they raced by. Some of the other girls giggled.

“I suppose we
will be able to get back out before tea?” Dean said doubtfully as
they reached the entrance. “I’m starving. Mum forgot to put any
cake in my lunch box. Have you noticed how sandwiches never fill
you up?”

Jack looked at
his watch. “We’ve got nearly an hour yet. It can’t be that
difficult. Look. We’ll set my timer for twenty minutes, and if
we’re not in, we’ll give up and head out. OK?”

“That’s if
we’re not totally lost by then”, added Ross helpfully, while Jack
fiddled with his watch and got the timer set and running.

“Come on,” came
David’s voice from behind the hedge. “You’re wasting time”.

They followed
him in. The maze was a good one and led the boys in quite a few
circles, and to millions of dead ends, but at nineteen minutes and
fourteen seconds, they arrived at a pond with “SUCCESS” emblazoned
across a wooden bridge straddling the water lilies and, just across
the bridge was a map showing how to get out.

“Huh. Just keep
turning second left”, Jack said pointing the route out. They were
out in five minutes.

“Dead easy”,
Jack said.

“How about a
quick look at the tennis courts and then tea?” David suggested.

They sprinted
after him, and before long were seated in the dining room, tucking
into chicken pie and beans with chocolate sponge to follow.

“This place is
the tops,” Dean said spooning in his third helpings of sponge. Even
Patrick seemed to be enjoying the food. Gradually the noise of
clattering spoons came to an end as even the biggest appetites were
satisfied. Owen’s voice quietened them all.

“OK, people.
Dishes to the hatch in a line please and I will tell you where
you’re helping out to tidy up as you pass me. Remember, no job
swapping allowed”.

Jack was handed
a wet cloth, “Tables” Owen said. David was awarded a broom.
“Corridors” he was told. Ross found himself in the kitchen with
Arthur and two of the girls, Jo and Kerry. He and Arthur were armed
with drying up cloths, the girls with floppy rubber gloves and
brushes to wash the dishes. Kerry was a right natterbox.

“Have you been
here before?” Giving no time for an answer, she continued. “My
sister, Laura was here last year and she said it was the best
holiday ever. Mind you that could have been just ‘cos she met this
boy, Craig, and fell in love doing hill walking. I mean they were
hill walking when they met, not when they fell in love….” Ross felt
breathless just listening to her. How did she breathe and talk at
the same time? He exchanged a grin with Jo, and realised that
Arthur, too was enjoying the joke as they let Kerry natter on. “I
think they fell in love playing tennis together…”
Arthur had worked out the efficient pattern now, picking up the
rinsed dishes and adding them to the tidy pile between the sinks.
Ross was working well alongside, and if only Kerry would stop
waving things around while she made a point, they’d soon be done.
He grabbed a fork as it swooped past his nose, and Kerry moved onto
the next item. It wasn’t so very long before they were finished.
Arthur wiped the steam from his glasses as they left the
kitchen.

“I think we’ve
got the worst job over with first. The rest of the week will be
playtime in comparison”, he said analytically. Ross looked in on
the games room, and Arthur peered around him. Six pairs of eyes
were glued to computer games and budding snooker champions were
engrossed in angles and spin.

“Let’s try the
TV”, Arthur said. In fact they interrupted Owen sorting DVD’s.

“Ah, good. Not
fallen down the plughole, then. Ross, go and stick your head round
a few doors and let everyone know we have a film starting in five
minutes, would you? Erm, with the girls’ dorm, just knock and
shout, to avoid embarrassments.”

It didn’t take
much announcing to fill the room. The film was funny. They all
laughed together, even the analytical Arthur. Even Patrick snorted
a couple of times despite trying to pretend the film was much too
young for him. In the middle there was an interval with hot
chocolate and biscuits.

“Straight to
bed at the end of the film, please”, Owen said, “And lights out by
ten o’ clock. We want you up and alert on time tomorrow”.

As Ross cleaned
his teeth, he grinned to himself. If his mum could see him now,
she’d faint with shock. Not a word of argument about bedtime,
cleaning his teeth without being told. Funny how things he’d never
do for his parents, he was doing and enjoying here. Tired out by
all the excitement and the newness of everything, it was nice to
snuggle up in his holiday bed. He’d intended holding a whispered
conversation with the others, but he was asleep before he had the
chance. The next thing he knew, Jerry’s head was poking around the
door, the sun was shining and Jerry was yelling, “Breakfast in
ten”.

“Ten what?”
came David’s sleepy voice.

“Minutes, dozy”
Patrick drawled, already dressed and with his head in a magazine
about mountaineering. He’d enjoyed the peace and privacy that
beating the morning call had given him. He wondered if tomorrow
anyone else would spoil it for him. Getting washed and dressed with
the others was bedlam. Ross could see why Patrick had jumped the
gun as Dean’s soap dropped on his toe and his towel was
accidentally used as a sponge by Arthur who had left his glasses in
the dorm. Breakfast was pretty chaotic, too with everyone
experimenting with six types of cereal and then the best way to
make an egg, bacon and sausage sandwich. Then Nick called for their
attention. He wasn’t as good at it as Owen and had to resort to
banging a spoon on the table before he obtained silence.