Scout's Honour - Origin

Chapter 8

The scouts wasted little time as they began setting up camp. Teddy and Rory had already found enough fire wood for the week by the time Ben and Nathan had erected both tents and as the sun began falling out of sight, they finally sat down and stared quietly into the small camp fire.

"We could just forget about the whole thing and just enjoy our week" Teddy said "you know, the original plan that didn't involve sexual assault?"

"It's not sexual assault if they want it, Teddy" Ben barked "besides, they're here now, it's too late to back out".

The tone of Ben's voice showed his increasing dread. The idea of wandering into their camp and searching for maps was about as pleasant as the piss bomb that Nathan and Rory had endured on the bus.

"Oh come on" Teddy pressed "do you really think that any of them are going to want to... Well, do anything even remotely homosexual?"

Ben shrugged, but the truth was that the idea was sounding more and more far fetched every minute. Did they really believe that they were going to be able to turn people gay? Shawn's secret interests were common knowledge, so it was likely that he would be an easy target, but the others? It was doubtful.

"Hey, Rory" Nathan finally said, breaking the awkward silence that had settled "why was Rocko in jail?"

Rory's eyes brightened. Besides fighting, Rory's second favourite thing in the world was talking about himself.

"He bit someones nose off" he said casually "swallowed it so they couldn't stitch it back on".

The others grimaced but Rory continued nonchalantly.

"It happened in a bar, and when the police came, it took six of them to arrest him. He went a bit crazy after that"

"After that?" Teddy said "I mean, he must have been a bit crazy to begin with, eating someone's nose and that".

Rory shrugged.

The sun had been replaced by an inky sky now as the scouts continued to talk.

"Why did you move here?" Nathan asked "I'd much rather live in Ireland than in Ranley"

"The Troubles" Rory said "it's always been bad, but it was getting worse before we left. When Rocko bit that guys nose off, it kinda' made things difficult for my dad. He was a protestant, the guy that Rocko attacked, a nasty piece of work too, and with Rocko in jail, our family became a target".

The others listened intently as Rory spoke.

"It was just paint at the start" he said "warnings mostly, painted on our house. Then one day my little brother who was just two at the time, wandered out of the house and bumped straight into two men who were painting on our wall. They dumped the bucket of paint over him. Ma cried for days, da was furious"

They all looked horrified, but Rory continued.

"It got worse after that" he explained, now smoking a cigarette "they'd run by our house and smash the windows, so da decided to board the whole house up. It was like living in a cave" he chuckled, but it was obvious that he didn't find the story amusing.

"Then a whole gang of em' broke in one night. Beat the living daylights out of my da, Margaret and my older brother Daniel"

"I didn't know you had a brother called Daniel" Ben said now

"I don't" Rory sighed "Not anymore"

They all felt a pang of misery but Rory continued once more.

"Da told us we were moving" he said, his voice shaking for the first time "said we were coming here, that it was safer and I'd never seen ma as happy" he smiled sadly "three days before we were due to leave, our neighbour Mary ran to the door and I remember watching ma and Mary run up the street. I was only ten and I knew not to leave the house alone so I just waited, and then I heard it"