Message-ID: <17227eli$9811170429@qz.little-neck.ny.us>
X-Archived-At: <URL:http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/Year98/17227.txt>
From: "Vickie Morgan" <artemis55@hotmail.com>
Subject: {Vickie Morgan}NEW 'IOU' (MF)[1/6]
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Path: qz!not-for-mail
Organization: The Committee To Thwart Spam
Approved: <usenet-approval@qz.little-neck.ny.us>
X-Moderator-Contact: Eli the Bearded <story-admin@qz.little-neck.ny.us>
X-Story-Submission: <story-submit@qz.little-neck.ny.us>
X-Original-Message-ID: <19981115182243.3426.qmail@hotmail.com>
WARNING: This story includes sexually explicit material.
This story is very slow sex-wise. If you're looking for a stroke
story I suggest you skip to Chapter Four or pick a different story.
Please note any unfamiliar spellings and phrases may be due to the
fact I am English, not American.
I would like to thank Morgan for all his help
Any and all comments, including constructive criticisms, would be most
appreciated.
Please send to artemis55@hotmail.com
This work is copyrighted by the author. You may download and keep
one copy for your personal use as long as my byline and e-mail
address and this paragraph remain on the copy. Any posting or
reposting on a website or to a newsgroup requires my permission
first (but I'll probally say yes). This story should not, under any
circumstances be used to make a profit by anyone other than the author
======================================================================
This story is set in the north-east of England so I thought I would
provide a few notes on the background geography mentioned for anyone
interested.
M5, M6, M1 & A1:- These are major motorways (or Interstates I've been
told Americans call them) linking south-west England with the
north-east. I spent most of September driving up and down them and
that's when I composed up with this story.
Metro Centre:- A large shopping centre south of Newcastle near the A1.
When it was built about ten years ago it was the largest in Europe.
Someone calculated that if you just walked along every hallway without
going into a single shop it would take over two and a half hours.
Quayside:- Part of the city of Newcastle near the river where most of
the pubs and clubs are.
Teeside Park :- Specially built leisure park just outside
Stockton-on-Tees. There's a 12 screen cinema, bowling alley, bar,
Pizzahut, bingo, BurgerKing, MacDonalds etc...
W.H.Smiths:- A chain of shops selling newspapers, magazines, books,
music, cards, pens etc. Some shops have started an honesty box scheme.
If you are in a hurry instead of having to queue at the till to pay for
your newspaper you just put the correct amount in the box provided.
Also Ulrika Johnston is a well known TV personality in this country who
was first noticed when she was a weather-girl. Kate Adie is a respected
newsreporter for the BBC.
======================================================================
I.O.U.
Chapter 1
There's nothing quite like the familiar feeling you get when you're
travelling home. Ellie always found it easy to tell when she was
nearing home. The roads became narrower, the weather colder and the
countryside wilder. After three years in the south she had become
accustomed to a gentler way of living. No one hurried or rushed to do
anything; they strolled along speaking slowly in their soft drawled
accents. The countryside consisted of curved rolling hills covered with
neat multicoloured square fields that gave it the appearance of a partly
downloaded picture. The roads were wide and spacious, the M5 and M6
three lanes wide and cutting as smoothly through the countryside as a
hot spoon through ice cream. Maybe it was the warmer weather, which was
evidenced by the plentiful palm trees and vineyards, which made it seem
almost like a different country, definitely a different culture.
The further north she drove the more the changes became obvious. The
countryside became more vertical and unyielding. The fields were no
longer neat squares but haphazard shapes forced to fit the lie of the
land. The brooding outline of the Pennines and the bleakness of the
moors crowded along the horizon. The A1 was squeezed for the majority
of the way into two cramped lanes and compelled to twist and turn to the
dictates of the land.
When she stopped for petrol, people were speaking in the familiar
hurried accents of the north, clipping their words and talking on top of
each other, urgently waving their hands to emphasise their point. The
air was colder and fresher, with a sharp edge to it. She took a deep
breath and felt it burn down into her lungs. She was close to home.
She felt the tingle of excitement that can only be caused by returning
to the place you grew up.
She began to recognise the names on the signs and soon she was driving
down roads that she knew so well she could predict every curve and dip.
She swung round the last roundabout and through the double bends to see
the familiar view of her town.
Middleton was a mixed hodgepodge of houses huddled on a hilltop, like a
group of school kids watching a fight, with the half built housing
estate and the industrial park the new kids hovering on the edges.
Unfortunately the victim in the centre was the railway, once the
lifeblood of the local economy until it had been beaten down by
government cuts and recessions, eventually dying out altogether nearly
twenty years ago. The old engine sheds, tattered reminders of the past,
were now home to various small businesses, which struggled valiantly to
succeed. In some ways they had been fortunate since the railways had
been the first of the north's industries to die. By the time the
shipyards and coal mines had also been closed Middleton had already
started to revive with the help of numerous grants and aid schemes.
Ellie could hardly remember the day the engine sheds closed although
there was an annual fete to remind everyone.
She followed the familiar route through the streets, noting small
changes along the way, and pulled into the driveway of her parent's
house. Before she had even had chance to put on the handbrake, her door
was yanked open and her two best friends were pulling her out of the
car. She was smothered by a big hug from them both and knew she was
definitely home.
"Do you know how long we've been waiting for you?" asked Beth, a big
grin on her face. "Lizzy here insisted we would be late so we've been
sitting in her car for the past hour. With only one tape to listen to.
And do you know what that was?"
"Abba!" laughed Ellie.
"Exactly. I thought I was going to go insane."
"You just don't have any musical appreciation," Lizzy said, trying to
sound indignant. "Abba are one of the pioneers of modern pop music
and..."
"Oh no, I don't believe you're still saying that. Three years at
Cambridge and you haven't changed at all."
"Yes I have. I've got a degree. So now I'm officially a computer geek
with the qualification to prove it. Anyway you can't talk. You've
hardly changed, either."
"I'm an inch taller and I am now qualified to use the English language
and watch TV."
"And it took three years for you two to prove you could do that. I
don't know, kids today. They've never had it so good," laughed Beth,
rolling her eyes.
"Be quiet grandma and help me get unpacked. You wouldn't believe how
much junk I've managed to pick up in the last three years. Hey why were
you lot sitting in the car? Surely you weren't too scared to spend an
hour with my parents." For the first time since she had arrived her
friends stopped grinning.
"Um, they're not here Ellie," Lizzy said.
"They went off on a cruise, up the Nile I think," Beth added.
"Oh. It's a good job I've got a key then, isn't it." Ellie smiled
brightly, trying not to show how hurt she was. Her friends knew her too
well to be fooled but they also knew better than to offer sympathy.
"Fish it out then and lets get on. We've got plans," Beth said, smiling
again. "We have to celebrate the three of us being back together."
"So what's the plan?"
"We thought we'd wait until tomorrow to go into Newcastle and see how
many of the old gang you remember. Tonight we're going to dump your
clutter, whip round to Lizzy's to pick up a specially prepared take out
with all our favourites, then we're going to all crash at my place, just
like we used to."
"You mean sloppy videos, popcorn, chocolate and gossip all night."
"You bet!"
"Well what are we waiting for. Grab a box."
* * *
Some hours later Ellie was drowsily sprawled on Beth's bedroom floor
thinking once again how lucky she was to have two such good friends.
>From the first day of school when they had discovered they all had the
same name they had been fast friends. She dreaded to think how lonely
she would have been otherwise. She had been an unwelcome surprise to
her parents, who had presumed that when her mother entered the menopause
they no longer needed contraception. They had taken care of her
physical needs generously but had seen no reason to alter their
retirement plans. All of Ellie's happiest times had been spent either
in Beth's cluttered council house, fighting and playing with her four
brothers, or in Lizzy's flat, helping to prepare food for the take away.
Both Beth and Lizzy had to work the next morning so Carl, Beth's younger
brother gave Ellie a lift back to her empty house. Dreading the sterile
silence, especially after the chaotic noisiness of Beth's house, Ellie
made him come in and have a cup of tea. He had grown since she had last
seen him and started to fill out.
"How tall are you now Carl? You're taller than me so you must be
somewhere around six foot."
"Six one last time I was measured. I've been taller than Beth for about
two years, and of course I've been taller than Lizzy since I was about
fourteen, but I've been looking forward to being able to look down on
you. Thought I'd never get there."
"Well don't get too cocky. I can still remember helping to bathe you."
"Do you? Well anytime you want to refresh your memories you're welcome
to scrub my back." Ellie laughed at him, slightly surprised to realise
he was flirting with her.
"Do you remember when we used to baby-sit you?" she asked.
"Of course. Talk about child labour, you three used to make me wait on
you hand and foot."
"That's not how I remember it. We used to have to bribe you to do the
slightest little thing. Some of the things you asked for were
ridiculous and you always wanted them in writing. Do you remember when
you wanted me to teach you how to do handstands and you ended up putting
your foot through the window?."
"How could I forget? Mum was furious and because you took the blame you
made me run around after you all for the rest of the week."
"So you did. You made a pretty good slave once we trained you."
"Thank you, I think." He hesitated for a moment, turning slightly pink.
"I don't suppose you remember this bribe do you?" He handed her a
tattered square of paper. On the front in faded red crayon were printed
the letters IOU.
Memories came flooding back. They had been sitting around one evening,
experimenting with make-up and talking about boys as usual. They were
having an intense discussion about how to tell when to have sex while
they painted their nails. Carl had been helping out with cotton wool
and getting drinks. As serious as only as only a twelve-year-old can be
he had announced that he didn't think he would ever have sex. Trying
not to laugh at him they had discovered that he had tried to kiss a girl
and she had pushed him away. It had been enough to convince him that he
would never have a girlfriend. As seriously as they could they had
assured him that they would never let that happen. Ellie clearly
remembered personally guaranteeing that he would have sex by the time he
was eighteen, and him solemnly replying: 'Can I have that in writing'
Opening the square of paper she saw her own teenage writing, with all
the unnecessary loops and curls she had thought looked so grown up: 'I
promise that if Carl Robinson hasn't had sex by the time he is eighteen
I will go to bed with him. Signed Elizabeth Hawkins.'
Copyright 1998 Vickie Morgan
E-mail artemis55@hotmail.com
--
+----------------' Story submission `-+-' Moderator contact `--------------+
| <story-submit@qz.little-neck.ny.us> | <story-admin@qz.little-neck.ny.us> |
| Archive site +----------------------+--------------------+ Newsgroup FAQ |
<http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/>----<http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/faq.html>