Chapter Seventeen

The situation between Bridget McBain and the Secretary climbed to a higher level very shortly after the arrangement of sharing me had been made. Bridget soon realised that she had made a huge mistake allowing the Secretary to get her hands on me and she began to regret the decision deeply. However there was an old anecdote that what’s been done cannot be undone and there was nothing she could do about it without causing trouble. Even worse was the fact that the Secretary was beginning to make demands for me to spend more nights with her than had been agreed in the first place. To add to that, she even began to pull rank on the unsuspecting widow.

I was sitting in the kitchen enjoying a meal with Bridget one evening when there was a sharp knock on the door. Bridget answered the call to face the Secretary who pushed past her to enter the lounge and sit in an armchair with an annoyed expression on her face.

‘It can’t go on like this,’ remonstrated the visitor angrily. ‘You didn’t tell me he was such a great stud,’ she ranted agitatedly. ‘One-in-five’s not good enough for me. I want more... much more!’

‘He’s my man,’ claimed Bridget on the edge of tears. ‘I only let you borrow him because you’ve been such a good friend to me. You have no right to make such demands.’ She was furious at being confronted by a woman who wanted to take me away from her at nights, especially as the Secretary was already married. ‘I think one-in-five was a very generous gesture by me. It will not change or you won’t have him at all!’

‘We’ll see about that!’ snapped the Secretary, rising from the armchair as if to enter into fisticuffs with her opponent. ‘I demand that we share him equally. That would be the fairest thing. One night with you, one night with me.’

‘In a pig’s ear!’ riposted Bridget irately. ‘You don’t realise how good he is in bed with me.’

‘Oh I know all right,’ came the response. ‘I’ve been with him at nights. I know just how good he is. Why can’t we share him as I suggested?’

Bridget shook her head vigorously. ‘That’s not the way it’s going to be. You’re married. I’m a widow. I have priority, so you can go jump in the lake!’

There was a moment of silence with the two women glaring at each other. Then the Secretary came up with a novel idea.

‘I have another solution,’ she ventured thoughtfully. Bridget stared at her waiting anxiously for the idea to be revealed. ‘As we both want him, why don’t we share him every night?’

As I listened, my mind went into a whirl. Who did they think I was? Both women... every night? I’d be worn out within a week. I wasn’t Superman although both women could have believe me to be.

‘It’s not going to happen,’ insisted Bridget irately.

‘You don’t understand what I’m saying,’ uttered the Secretary, relaxing the tension that had riddled her body.

‘What are you talking about?’ demanded Bridget even more anxiously as she failed to grasp the essence of the suggestion.

‘We can both share him every night if the three of us get into bed together. It would be an exciting experiment in sexual intimacy to say the least.’

‘How could he make love to both of us at the same time?’ My partner began to get into an emotional state as she reviewed the idea.

‘Don’t be a cuckoo! He’d make love to one of us first and then the other one. I’ll concede that you can go first if you wish. I don’t mind. He has remarkable sexual stamina, you know.’

‘Yes I do know!’ spat Bridget thoughtfully before she put the idea completely out of her mind. ‘It wouldn’t work.’

‘Oh, come on!’ pressed the Secretary. ‘it’s worth a try just to settle the argument. Be bold! Let’s do it!’

I continued to listen to the conversation as I sat eating my evening meal, shaking my head in bewilderment. There could never be a situation whereby two women were fighting so savagely over the same man solely for his sexual prowess and ability. I had to admit that since making love to the Secretary, my feelings towards Bridget had shifted a phase. I still loved her but my lust for the other woman was almost overpowering. There was a chemistry between us that over-matched that which I had with Bridget and it consumed me even more. Yet I had my pride and the fact that two women were fighting over me made me feel extremely flattered albeit rather confused. In effect, I was a one-woman man and knowing that two women wanted me so strongly was driving me out of my mind. In my opinion, due to the changes that had been made with regard to my relationship with Bridget, I would be better off out of their lives altogether, although I would mourn the absence of physical intimate activity at night. Subsequently, I laid down my knife and fork on the plate and went into the lounge to face them. Both women stopped talking as I entered the room, mainly out of embarrassment, and I addressed them both equally.

‘This is not going to work,’ I told them bluntly. ‘The two of you cannot share me... and I’m not getting into bed with both of you at the same time. That’s for sure!’ I paused to look at the expression on their faces as they waited with baited breath for me to continue. ‘I’ve come to a decision,’ I went on. ‘I’m not going to be involved with either of you sexually in the future. I’ve had it with both of you making arrangements for me to sleep with you in turn. I don’t like being used and abused and that’s exactly what you’re doing. As a result, you both lose the right.’

The two women immediately broke into an argument, trying to persuade me to change my mind, but I told them point-blank that it was over with both of them. After I had told them of my decision, I left the house to walk back to the police station. At least I would get a peaceful night’s sleep there... and many more the way things were. I couldn’t get over the nerve of Bridget hiring me out to the Secretary, and I was appalled at the argument regarding the change to the original agreement. Nor could I accept sharing the two women either part-time or equally. Subsequently, they had both lost me once and for all.

Bridget did not pursue me at the police station to beg me to come back to her. She stayed at home hoping that I would change my mind and return in due course. The Secretary, however, had different ideas. She raced after me to the police station thinking that she might be able to win me like a prize now that Bridget was no longer a contender.

‘I’m sorry,’ I told her flatly. ‘I’m going to run a celibate life from now on. I’m not for hire and I’m not amenable to having sex for vouchers!’

She refused to accept my decision, spending the best part of fifteen minutes trying to bully me into agreeing to sleep with her for just one more time. No doubt she thought that, if I did, the experience would cause me to continue intimately with her. I knew the game she was playing. If I caved in, I would never get her off my back. So I told her in no uncertain terms that I had finished with women and with her in particular. She broke down sobbing, almost certainly with crocodile tears, but my heart had been turned into stone. Eventually, when it was clear I wasn’t going to change my mind, she admitted defeat and left. I sat down on the desk sergeant’s stool sighing with relief. I was alone at last... enjoying the peace!

There’s a saying that for every good thing that happens in the world, a bad one cancels it out... and vice versa. If it were true, it was that way in the village as well. I was disturbed by one of the villagers a short time after I had returned to the police station who raced speedily to inform me of the latest disaster to hit the village.

‘Have you heard the news?’ he asked breathlessly.

‘There are no radios in the village so I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ I replied sarcastically.

‘About the pharmacy!’ He puffed long and hard as he tried to catch his breath.

‘Tell me about it,’ I went on rather carelessly before I began to realise the seriousness of his news. ‘What’s happened in the pharmacy?’

‘It’s been destroyed,’ he told me, his chest heaving with the effort. ‘The children got inside. They smashed all the jars of powder and injured the head chemist. After that, they set fire to the building and burned it down to the ground.’

I gasped at the news because, without doubt, it would affect every single person in the village with the exception of myself. They all took the tablets to keep them young and virile. Now the children had maliciously destroyed their thread of life. I knew that Townsend had retreated into the church and I wasted no time in hurrying there to find him. He was sitting in the front pew with his head in his hands praying to the Almighty in a loud voice. I approached him gently, not wishing to tip him over into a nervous breakdown.

‘Mr. Townsend,’ I began earnestly. ‘Did Obadiah Numbwinton say what would happen to the villagers if they stopped taking the tablets?’ He looked up at me with red-rimmed eyes and gave a brief sob without replying. ‘Tell me what will happen if they stop taking the tablets!’ I repeated with an urgent tone in my voice.

‘I don’t know,’ he bleated staring at me wide-eyed. ‘Why do you ask?’

‘Because I’ve just been told that the children have burned down the pharmacy. Everything there’s been destroyed.’

I couldn’t have imparted any worse news because he gave a terrible groan and threw his hands in the air in despair.

‘It’s the end of us,’ he cried. ‘The end of all of us!’

His body went limp and he fell into a faint before falling to his knees, looking up to Heaven for guidance.

‘Is there anything we can do?’ I asked hopeful that he might come up with an answer but he buried his head in his hands muttering the Lord’s prayer.

Without any proper direction, I realised that it was the death knell for the village and its population... it was the end of the line! There was now no option but to wait and see how long it would take for the effect of the tablets to wear off. No doubt many of the villagers had some stock of them but they would soon run out. There was also the possibility that the systems of the villagers had become immune to P13 and that they would continue to look the same and not age. No precedent existed and there was no information to help anyone. Then I recalled that Richard McBain had died because he had failed to take his tablets. I hadn’t been there at the time to see his body so I couldn’t speculate if others would suffer the same fate. It stood to reason that they would.

That night, I went down to one of the cells and lay down on the thin straw mattress. It was a far cry from the comfortable bed in the McBain house but, for once, I was my own man able to do anything I wished. Although I got off to sleep quite quickly, I was extremely troubled for the life of every person in the village. Many of them had become my friends in the short term even though they still called me ‘the stranger’. The spiteful children had gone too far this time. They had ruined everything and started the death knell ringing for the whole village.

***

The following morning, Bridget came to visit me at the police station. She was in a terrible emotional state, with tears running down her cheeks as she saw me.

‘I am so sorry, Sam,’ she pleaded. ‘I’m such a fool! I didn’t realise what I was doing when Morgana came to me in despair. She was my dearest friend and I just wanted to help her. It was the last thing I wanted to do.’

‘It was a crazy thing to do,’ I chided curtly.

‘I know,’ she cried sadly., ‘It was idiotic. She caught me at a weak moment and I understood how she felt.’

‘I don’t like being passed around like a toy,’ I told her in no uncertain terms. ‘I’m a man with a mind of my own. I don’t really know why I went along with the idea in the first place. I suppose it’s because you’re both two such beautiful fascinating women.,

Her need to get me back caused her to ignore my comment in which I had told her that the Secretary was beautiful and fascinating.

‘Will you come back?’ Her eyes pleaded her case so well that I felt my resolve begin to weaken.

‘Give me a good reason why I should,’ I teased, knowing that I was not going to agree to her wishes.

‘If you do,’ she forwarded to my surprise, ‘I’ll tell you a secret of this village that you don’t know about. Something quite different to what you’ve learned already. Something far more important.’

If I had been a dog, my ears would have pricked up at her remark. As a man, it fuelled my interest more than anything I could imagine. Another secret of the village? What could be more important than the P13 element that helped the villagers to stay young and virile in their old age?

‘Are you sure this secret is not just a figment of your imagination to get me to come back to you?’ I challenged, believing that she was only trying to entrench me back into her bed. ‘How do I know that this isn’t just another ruse?’

She placed her hand on her heart. ‘It’s true. I swear it, There’s an important secret that you know nothing about. Come back to me and I’ll tell you.’

I thought about her comment for a while, pursing my lips in deep thought. Although the Secretary was my preference with regard to intimate relations, there was no future with her because she was married. Consequently, I came to an alternative decision. ‘If I come back to you, I don’t want to sleep with the Secretary any more. Is that a deal?’

She nodded vigorously, unable to speak with emotion, and she placed her hand on mine nervously hoping that I would not withdraw it. ‘It’s a deal,’ she said eventually. ‘Just come back.’

‘Okay,’ I responded with an element of reluctance. The last thing I wanted was to be lured back by a secret that wasn’t worth its weight in gold. She told me that it was something more important than anything I had learned so far. I considered that it was worth taking the chance. If she failed to live up to expectation by failing to reveal something stupendous, I could always leave her and return to the police station. As Townsend had portrayed me earlier... I was an adventurer!

We continued our relationship in the McBain home. I didn’t press her immediately to reveal what she intended to tell me. On the first night of my return, we went up to the bedroom where I made love to her passionately. We were back to where we started, touching each other in those parts of the body which I knew would arouse her. I had learned one or two extra tricks from the Secretary by pausing during foreplay which tended to make Bridget wait for my next move and anticipate the future pleasure she would enjoy to an even greater scale.

‘You never did it like that before,’ she uttered with every fibre in her body pulsating with ecstasy.

‘I learned it from your friend,’ I responded, kissing her body in the area just below the point between her legs.

‘Well that’s something we gained from her,’ she went on sighing with exhilaration as her passion erupted like a volcano overflowing with lava. Just before we continued to the main part of sexual activity, I posed the question that was uppermost in my mind.

‘You were going to reveal the secret you promised to tell me.’

She moaned and I took it to be her assent before I buried myself into her soft moist body. Her back arched as I thrust myself in and out and she moved in harmony to compensate. For some reason, the orgasm she normally experienced was delayed and I found myself practically exhausted by the time she was satisfied.

‘Hm... that was superb,’ she told me, her eyes lighting up with desire. ‘I can’t afford to lose you, Sam. You have to stay with me.’

‘What about the secret you promised to tell me,’ I advanced, becoming frustrated at having to wait to be told.

‘Tomorrow,’ she uttered, kissing me on the shoulder and chest. ‘I’ll tell you tomorrow... I promise. Now, can we do all that again?’

I took her in my arms and cuddled her, running my index finger down over one of he nipples. She had intrigued me about another secret but I had to wait patiently until the following day. However, tonight was tonight and there was more work to be done. I pulled her down on the bed and began to make love to her once more. Whether I stayed with her after learning the secret remained in abeyance, I would make the decision at the time.

We lay on our backs together after we had finished making love, both feeling exhausted and satisfied. She took my left hand and placed it between her legs which seemed to comfort her.

‘Do you know what really bugs me about this village,’ I muttered as I laid my head on the pillow. .No one in this place ever has any fun. They don’t tell jokes... they never even smile.’

She turned her head towards me, moving my hand between her crutch slowly, enjoying the sensation. ‘We’re all very serious,’’ she responded.

‘I don’t suppose you know the names of any comedians or any jokes, seeing that you don’t have radio or television,’ I continued.

‘All right,’ she said. ‘Let’s have some fun. Tell me a joke... make me smile.’

I pondered her request for a moment and then sallied forth. ‘All right,’ I began steadily, trying not to laugh as I thought of a funny joke. ‘An old woman of eight-seven walked erratically along the road one day until she came to an electrical shop. She went inside and walked even more erratically up to the counter. ‘Can I help you?’ asked the salesman. ‘Do you sell Olympic 120X vibrators?’ she requested. The salesman nodded his head. The woman stared at him still moving erratically and said: ‘Can you tell me how to turn the bloody thing off?’

I turned ot stare at Bridget’s face but there was no sign of a response of any kind whatsoever.

‘What’s a vibrator?’ she asked naively.

I reflected that I had committed the most unholy gaffe on two counts. Firstly, the village existed in Victorian times so no one had any idea about the existence of sexual vibrators. Secondly, I had started the joke by talking about an old eighty-seven year old woman... exactly the same age as Bridget. She didn’t seem to mind the second error as age was hardly relative to her and I sighed with relief as I explained the object of a vibrator. She became very interested in trying to get one although I knew that if she did, it would be useless after a while because she would not be able to replace the batteries when they wore out. Knowing how much she like to have sex, I had no doubt that she would use it to the death day after day if she could get one.

The next day, after breakfast, Bridget moved towards me and kissed me fully on the lips. I stared at her beautiful face and held her slender body in my arms. How could I possibly have left such an attractive woman to live a celibate life in the police station. What was I thinking of? It was nonsensical!

‘I’m going to show you the secret that you would never have found,’ she told me bluntly. ‘Come with me!’

There is always a moment in a person’s life when it is interrupted by someone or something insignificant. An analogy is when someone is watching a popular television programme where a critical situation is about to unfold and then the telephone rings with someone offering a product they want you to purchase, On this occasion, I was about to learn the secret when there was a knock on the door. I opened it to stare at a face I had never seen before.

‘My name’s Macdonald,’ he said introducing himself. ‘I’m here on a very important mission.’

I stared at his face with a doleful expression, hoping that he wouldn’t take up much of my time. ‘What do you want, Mr. Macdonald?’ I asked tiredly. ‘What’s your mission?’

‘I’m a chemist,’ he declared flatly. ‘I never worked in the pharmacy although I studied Obadiah Numbwinton’s formula and advanced it. I developed P13 to enhance it to, a much better qualification which I call P14. It means that people only needed to take one tablet each day. It’s much more advance.’

I welcomed him inside and led him into the lounge offering him an armchair.

‘You actually developed P13,’ I repeated with interest. If the village fell into serious decline, there was an opportunity to offer hope of eternal youth to the rest of the world through this man.

‘That’s right,’ he went on. ‘I take the potion myself so I’m certain it works. I’ve been doing so for many years.’

‘Why didn’t you tell the Chairman about the discovery... or the head chemist?’

‘Don’t think I didn’t try,’ he muttered with a sad expression on his face. ‘I went to them umpteen times begging them to accept my findings. They said it contravened Obadian Numbwinton’s research and wasn’t part of the constitution. They turned me away each time, even though I could save them time and money as well as improving the quality of the tablets.’

‘So what do you want from me?’ I enquired, wondering how I could assist the man.

‘When I heard that the pharmacy had been burned down and was completely destroyed, I went to see Mr. Townsend. He’s in the church but I think he’s having a nervous breakdown. There’s no point in trying to talk to him, he’s too far gone. I then went to see the Secretary but she can’t stop crying. I don’t know what’s wrong with her. She kept mentioning your name. My next step was to see the Treasurer for funding P14. You see, it can be set up very quickly with the minimal amount of money.’

‘What did he say?’ I asked, puzzled at the tale the man was telling me.

‘That’s just it,’ he groaned. ‘He seems to have disappeared. He left the village of his own accord yesterday taking with him ten years supply of tablets. There’s no doubt he’s absconded, probably with the inheritance left by the Founder. Now that Townsend’s out of his mind and the Treasurer’s gone, no one knows anything about the inheritance. As you’re the man in authority in the village, I come to you for help.’

I was flattered by his comment at having become the main authority. After all, I was still a stranger in the eyes of the villagers.

‘I’m delighted that your efforts to advance P13 were successful, ‘ I congratulated. ‘It’s a credit to your ability as a research chemist.’ Unfortunately I don’t see how I can help you. I’ve only assumed control in the police station because the desk sergeant and the constable have been taken to Newcastle by the city police. It’s only a temporary role. I know that Mr. Townsend has always had the interests of the village at heart but, as you say, he’s out of action. He is so close to the constitution that I’m not surprised he turned down your experiment and I’m lost for words regarding the Treasurer. Now that the pharmacy’s been destroyed, your only hope is to apply for a post somewhere outside the village. I’m sure that some of the drug companies would like to hear from an experienced research chemist like you.’

‘Hm... it seems the only way to proceed,’ he said sadly. ‘My aim was to help the villagers but I think it’s too little too late.’ He stood up slowly, realising that he was on his own. ‘I have a wife and a daughter,’ he revealed unnecessarily. ‘At lest they’ll be able to lead a long life in a youthful way. But, as far as this village is concerned, I don’t think they’ll have long. You see, Obadiah’s tablets are required to be taken regularly twice each day. The element in P13 wears off very quickly if they’re not taken.’

‘How long after they stop taking them?‘ I asked with interest, wondering how long I would be staying in the village.

‘It’ll start within a week but take about a month before it runs out entirely. The effect will be different on every individual depending on their metabolism but two months will be the maximum in practically ever case.

I took him to the front door to see him out, feeling a great deal of sympathy for the man. He was dedicated to his work and could have made a fortune for himself in the outside world but preferred to stay to help the villagers. Yet he was rejected on every occasion. There was sometimes no justice... no fairness... in the world where ignorance and adherents to precedents and past decision-making counteracted serious advance and benefits.

After he had gone, I turned my attention to Bridget. ‘Okay... let’s go!’ I commanded.

I followed her out of the house and walked in a new direction along one of the paths until we came to a relatively small building at the far end of the village... located well away from everywhere else. It was shrouded by trees and bushes and, had Bridget not shown me its location, I would never have found it.

‘This is it,’ she told me hesitantly. She opened the door which was unlock and took my hand to lead me inside.

The room was infinitely small, relatively bare, and it had timber walls and a wooden ceiling. There were four tables measuring six feet by two feet on which rested boxes that resembled coffins each of which had been fitted with long glass panels across the top. There was a kind of apparatus next to each table similar to a tiny lamp-post with a tube running from the top into each coffin. Three of them were inert but a pump could be heard working the fourth apparatus. It appeared that oxygen was being pumped erratically although each of the coffins had holes in the sides.

I was puzzled by the sight of of the objects in the room and I turned to Bridget for an explanation.

‘Look closer,’ she ordered, with an uneven tone in her voice.

I could see that she was nervous at having brought me, however needs must when the devil drives. Had she not promised to reveal this secret I would probably not have gone back to live with her. Quite clearly she would sell her soul if it meant that I would stay. I edged forward cautiously to not that three of the coffins were empty but there was a body in the fourth one. An oxygen tube was connected, entering through a pipe. I could only presume that the body was still alive. I moved forward to look through the glass panel to see a small baby laying there. I took a pace backwards in astonishment as my mind failed to allow me to understand what was happening.

‘Whose baby is this?’ I demanded, unable to take my eyes of the glass panel.

‘It’s Richard McBain,’ related Bridget, staring at my face to view the response.

‘But I thought you only had one son,’ I riposted broodily, thinking that she had been deceiving me for some unknown reason.

‘It’s true, I have,’ she said freely. ‘This is Richard... my husband,’

For a moment I was speechless, trying to fathom the logic in my mind. ‘Your husband!’ I gasped. ‘How can that be? He’s just a baby... a mere child. You told me he had died. That he was buried in the church cemetery.’

‘That’s right... he is! He is buried there. This is his clone.’ She turned to me in surprise at my lack of foresight. ‘How do you think we kept the number of villagers at exactly eleven hundred all this time when no strangers were allowed to enter? We use clones. We usually have two clones here to keep the population at the correct level but I presume it wasn’t necessary with you coming to the village.’

I struck my forehead with the palm of my hand as I realised what she was telling me. Of course, I thought, how stupid I had been not to realise that the population could not be retained at the same level without some kind of manipulation. No strangers were ever allowed in the village so that if someone died the person had somehow to be replaced. Cloning was the only conclusion and such an advanced method had never occurred to me in this Victorian-styled village. Of all the questions I had asked I do not think I questioned how the population always stayed at eleven hundred. I moved forward to the coffin to look more closely at the baby. It was well-formed and I admired the villagers to have been so well-ahead of their time with this process. Necessity was the mother of invention.

‘He’s only eight weeks old,’ stated Bridget, fearful that I might take severe action to end the life of the clone of her late husband. ‘That’s how long ago Richard died. It’ll take about two years before he becomes a fully-grown child. This system develops clones at an accelerated rate.’

‘I think it’s brilliant how the villagers discovered it,’ I commended.

The system was quite simple in that it allowed the most complex operation to take place. A single tube of oxygen pressed hard into the infant’s face allowed him to breath spasmodically when it would appear that he was being suffocated. I had no idea how the development worked with such simplicity but clearly it was successful. Immediately I felt like burning the place down but, in the presence of Bridget, I controlled my temper and let the moment pass. However, I intended to destroy the building and everything inside it at the earliest opportunity when she wasn’t there. She had already buried her husband; to kill his clone in her presence would have been too much for her to bear.

Some time later that night, when she was asleep, I crept out of the house, armed with matches and some oily rags. I eventually found the small building and went inside to check that it was the right one. Approaching the coffin with the clone, I stared at it in wonder. How could the villagers be so far ahead of time in developing this system? It was extremely uncanny.

I went to the apparatus next to the coffin and pulled out the tube so that no oxygen could enter. I had no idea whether the clone of Richard McBain would continue to live on after that as there were holes in the sides of the coffin where air could filter through. It hardly mattered really because it was going to be cremated in a matter of minutes. I spread the oily rags at the base of the timbered walls and lit a match to set fire to them before leaving the place. Within a few minutes, the flames spread upwards, rapidly reaching the roof. When I analysed the effect of the fire, I wasn’t certain that the clone would be engulfed in the flames when the ceiling fell in so I managed to get inside again and struggled with the coffin moving it to one of the walls which was on fire. To my horror, as I did so, the glass panel slid off from the top and the clone rolled out onto the floor. For a moment I was pole-axed wondering what to do. Then, taking my courage in both hands, I gritted my teeth and lifted it up to carry it to one part of the wall that was burning brightly. I dropped it there like a hot brick and within a few seconds the clone began to burn It was the end of the second Richard McBain... the end of all cloning in the village.