56

They watched the television that night with a detected air of disinterest. Jack gaped as aerial footage showed the level of destruction and as the reporter said the culprit was still at large Jack turned to look at his son.

"Fen? What sort of aircraft could do that level of damage?"

On the screen a back yard was being shown, the remains of what had once been a glass house that had somehow exploded everywhere was quite horrific to see. It looked like a giant foot had stomped on it. The poor man had said haltingly as he wring his hands that his wife had heard some sort of loud noise, like an approaching plane of something then the horrible noise. Someone had dropped water from a great height, the large quantity like a giant brick that decimated the back yard.

"My Orchids. Rare and precious, each and every one. I nurtured them from small seedlings … gone" Farris wept, his face crumbled as he looked behind himself at the carnage and Ianto grunted softly.

"Well … maybe it was a crop plane Dad" Fen surmised, "It might have had mechanical problems and dumped it's load?"

"Water, not fertiliser" Jack pointed out.

"This time of year there are small man made ponds on some farms that are low. They pay goo money to have them replenished before winter, for their stock" Fen pointed out and Jack nodded, then his eyes widened.

"Fen?"

"A helicopter carrying a monsoon bucket could do the same damage" Stephen smiled sweetly at his father, "But of course … it would have to fly low to mimic the sound of a small Cessna aircraft."

Jack looked at his son for a while then started to snigger, "All this time. All this time I have watched Walt and Bas in that world … Stephen Harkness-Jones. Are you a Hoodlum?"

Stephen blinked in a most Iantoish way as he replied serenely "We all are, are we not all on the tree?"

Jack roared with delight as he looked back at his son's handiwork, the camera panning in to show the remains of an orchid, squashed beyond repair.

"Terrible thing, water" Walter reached for a snack, Ianto smiling as he reached to pat Jack's knee as he spoke "It can be so destructive. Do you think his insurance will cover it?"

"Might have been an act of God Tadda and can you really put a price on something you nurtured its entire life?" Babs replied from her seat, the room erupting into gales of laughter.

One the screen the man cradled a decimated bloom and wept.

Feel the burn …. Bitch!