CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
After an uneventful drive along the M3, the party had eventually made it to Stonehenge, and after the mini-bus was parked and everyone admitted to the site, they all walked towards this imposing ancient stone structure on Salisbury Plain.
"So this is it", Eddy said after he and the others had gotten their first look at Stonehenge, "Kinda seems anti-climactic, doesn't it? I'd rather have slept in".
"Come, come, Eddy", Edd responded, "this is ancient history and ancient engineering skills displayed in front of us. The calendar and religious aspects of this structure notwithstanding, the engineering of these stones - not to mention the transporting of them over many miles to be erected at this location – is truly a remarkable feat for the time".
The others nodded at Edd's comment, but Kevin looked at the stones with not a lot of agreement.
"Maybe you're giving them too much credit. Carving stones isn't much more than elbow grease, Double-Dee", Kevin opined, "and putting them on rollers to move them doesn't seem to be a hard thing to figure out, even back then".
"Sarsen stone – which those big pillars are made out of ", Edd replied, "is extremely hard to work. Masons avoid using it because of it's unsuitability and difficulty in cutting and shaping. Even with modern tools".
"Not only that", Lee added, which surprised most of the others, "this stone was quarried from a considerable distance from this site. Moving it was not exactly an easy thing to do. Not to mention raising the stones and capping them", she finished while pointing to the stones that capped a number of the vertical columns.
"I'm very impressed, Lee", Edd said, "Do you have an interest in pre-historic architecture and engineering?"
"Nah!" Lee exclaimed, "I remembered hearing it on a documentary about Stonehenge back home on TV. Still, it is quite something to see this with one's own eyes than on a TV screen".
"I certainly agree with you there, Lee. Well, it you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a good look around this site and attempt to imagine what it must have been like back when this structure was constructed", Edd said. With that, he turned away and pulled out his camera. Marie watched him go.
The others – apart from Chuck Statorowski and Lindsay who were chatting about the paperwork – followed Edd's lead and began to walk amongst the stone circle. Marie however held back and went over to Lee, who was standing with Eddy. Eddy was rummaging though his backpack for a soda.
"If only he was just as excited about you-know-what as he is about these stones", Marie mentioned to Lee sotto-voce, "Why is he both a gentleman and caring, yet so scared about the prospect of sex and seeing female anatomy?"
"I think I can answer that for you", Eddy said. Marie started. She didn't think that Eddy had heard her.
"Do tell, Eddy", Lee said, "I'd like to hear this too".
"Yeah, Eddy", Marie added, "What do you know about this?"
"You know about those magazines of mine that my brother gave me, right?" Eddy asked rhetorically.
"Yeah, those hard-core porn magazines", Marie said with some disgust in her voice, "Lee showed me those before she gave them back to you. You still keep them?"
"I tossed them in the trash after Lee gave them back to me", Eddy replied, "Another crappy legacy from my idiot brother that I'm glad to be well rid of".
"Anyway…", Lee prompted.
"It was just after the events of that summer at the Mondo-a-Go-Go Amusement Park", Eddy began, "I was taking a shower back home and Double-Dee dropped by. He was looking for a couple of books I had borrowed off him earlier".
"You borrowed books off Double-Dee?" Marie asked with an incredulous inflection in her voice, "I never knew you to be a bookworm".
"Ha-Ha, Marie", Eddy replied sarcastically, "The books were on woodwork and carpentry that he got from a library book sale. I borrowed them so that I could help Dad with building a bookshelf", Eddy explained, "He wanted them back so that he could work on a table at his house that got damaged by Ed during a midnight sleep-walk to his fridge".
"We're digressing, people", Lee interjected, "Let's get back to Double-Dee and his phobia".
"I called out from the shower that the books were in my closet", Eddy continued, "He went to the closet and opened the door. Those books of his were sitting on the floor of the closet and unfortunately, they were right beside the magazines. He opened one of them".
"Why?" Marie demanded.
"I didn't ask him", Eddy replied, "I had toweled myself off and put on my robe. I peeked out of the bathroom door and saw him crouched down looking through the magazines. He looked like he was going to be sick".
"After my seeing them, I can understand why", Marie said with a grimace, "Continue".
"I was curious to see what he would do", Eddy said with some embarrassment, "so I did not interrupt. He eventually stood up – pale as a ghost – and abruptly left with his books. I heard him mutter 'No way am I ever going to regard – or treat - any woman like that' as he left".
"Did he talk about those magazines with you afterwards?" Lee wanted to know. Eddy shook his head.
"He never mentioned anything about it to me, nor to anyone else for that matter", Eddy answered, "I figured that he wanted to forget all about it. Seeing him with that pale sick look made me refrain from mentioning it to him".
"So what you're saying then is that he doesn't want to do anything to me - or vice versa - that would remind him of those magazine pics", Marie surmised.
"Yeah", Eddy replied while nodding his head, "Double-Dee is a straight arrow and I can see where magazines of that type can mess him up. I'm sorry that it happened, Marie".
Marie gave Eddy a vexed look, but said nothing. She knew that porn was a 'natural' thing for guys to drool over and Eddy had that vision of his being a lady's man. The problem was though that Edd's curiosity had resulted in a completely reverse reaction. No wonder his shyness and reticence over love making was so firmly ingrained into his psyche!
"So what are you going to do?" Lee asked his sister, "Double-Dee is so straight, he probably thinks that oral sex is simply talking to a woman on the subject. Those magazines probably scarred him some mentally".
"I have to think about this", Marie said after a few seconds, "Thanks for telling me this, Eddy. It answers the main question, but how to break him outta that mental shell he set up for himself is something I have to work through".
"Gotta be careful, Marie", Lee warned, "you do or even say anything at the wrong time, and it could make things worse".
Marie nodded. She thought about that moment in her room back home after the massage Edd had given her when she had inadvertently exposed her breasts to him. The sensuality of his touch and the relaxing – though at the same time stimulating – feeling she had gotten had caused her nipples to harden. She now knew that Edd seeing that was a reminder of what he had seen in those magazines…
"You want me and Ed to help, Marie?" Eddy offered. Marie shook her head.
"For the moment, Eddy", Marie answered, "let me work this through on my own. If I do need help, I'll let you know. Anyway, I'd better go join him. I feel lonely without him and this is a place he wanted to see very much".
With that, Marie went to look for her boyfriend. Eddy turned to Lee with a grim expression that Lee knew was aimed at himself: not her.
"Damn, I'm always going to mess Sock-head up one way or another, aren't I?" Eddy said bitterly, "I should never have kept those magazines! I'm surprised Marie didn't flatten me!"
"Hindsight is always twenty-twenty, Eddy", Lee consoled, "and I'm proud of you for trashing them, but for your information, Lindsay and I have been thinking about how to get our two lovebirds to take the plunge, and we may have come up with something".
"Oh?" Eddy replied, "can you let me in on it?"
"Sure thing", Lee replied with a smile, "This is what we are thinking of…"
Whilst Lee was talking to Eddy about the proposed plan, Ed and May were both walking around the stone circle hand-in-hand. Ed was chatting with May about an old movie he had seen back home.
"It was a movie about this place, May", Ed was saying, "and it had weird-clothed dancers moving around the stone circle. Praying to a sun-god or something and bringing young girls for sacrificing on that central stone", he finished, pointing to a large stone in the middle of the circle.
"You think that it really happened that way, Big Ed?" May asked with a smile, "after all, if Godzilla really didn't stomp on, trash, and eat up Tokyo, or if King Kong didn't go climbing skyscrapers in New York, maybe sacrifices didn't happen here either".
"Ah, maybe you're right, May", Ed said after thinking on what May had mentioned, "but still, this place kind of gives me the creeps".
"It doesn't seem to be having that effect on Double-Dee", May pointed out, gesturing to Edd taking pictures of the site.
I envy him and his brainy-ness a lot, May", Ed confided, "and it makes me wonder at times what I'm gonna be doing once I leave High School".
"You still thinking about the Marines?" May inquired. She saw some recruiting pamphlets for the USMC in Ed's room.
"Dad used to be a Marine. So was Mr. Lonergan", Ed replied, "and I thought it might be a help for me, but the prospect of being overseas for months while my Little May is back home alone is cooling me off the idea a lot".
May smiled and blushed at that comment. She had been wondering what it would be like if Ed joined the military. She had no intention of doing that herself, and she had visions of being a 'camp-chaser'.
"So what will you do?" May asked.
"Dad's a long-haul truck driver and I'll be going with him on some of his trips when we get back home", Ed answered, "so perhaps I'll do what he does. I'll talk to him about the Marines, but whatever I decide, it'll be with you in mind, May. I don't want to be away from you for any length of time".
"Oh, Ed!", May exclaimed as she hugged her boyfriend. Ed smiled and hugged her back…
Also hugging in a part of Stonehenge that had no other prying eyes was Kevin and Nazz. This was the first private moment that they had had since arriving in the UK and they wasted no time.
"I missed that a lot", Kevin commented after they broke the hug and passionate kiss. Nazz nodded.
"Pity this isn't that carved figure in a hill that shows a nude hunter holding a spear", Nazz replied with a smile and a wink, "Julia told me about it".
"Oh, you mean the one with the big…" Kevin began but stopped when he saw Nazz blush and start to giggle. Nazz had been referring to the Cerne Abbas giant, which was located a fair distance north of where they currently were.
"I don't think out our schedule is going to permit us to see that place", Kevin said, "but man, it would have been worth going there just to see Double-Dee's look on his face at the sight!".
Kevin started chuckling at the thought. Nazz playfully slapped him on the shoulder.
"Don't tell me that you two are fighting!" Johnny called out as he and Rolf came into view. Both Kevin and Nazz looked at them as they walked up.
"Nah, just having a private joke", Kevin called back, "but I hope we won't be here for much longer. That Isle of Wight concert is what I'm looking forward to seeing!"
"Both Jimmy and Sarah wanted to see if there was any evidence of dragons and knights here", Johnny said, "I think they are both disappointed that there's no trace of either here!"
"Rolf knows about these dragons Jimmy had described. Back in the Old Country, there were a lot of stories about dragons and the armor-clad warriors who would go and slay them…", Rolf said as he started another long-winded story that his Nana had told him as a kid back in Lapland. Kevin and Nazz rolled their eyes, but they were not going to be rude to Rolf by walking away from him.
While Rolf was telling his story to his captive audience, Chuck Statorowski was finishing up talking with his daughter.
"Thanks for letting me know about those contract exit clauses, Tiffany", Mr. Statorowski said, "I am going to have to find some time during this trip to go back to Whitehall and get those items clarified".
"When do you think that will be, Dad?" Lindsay asked, "I don't like the idea of you being away from us while we're still in the UK".
"Neither do I", Mr. Statorowski agreed, "so what's going to happen is that when we're in Paris, I'll make sure those clauses are not in the upcoming French contracts, then I'll quickly fly back to London to show the Brits what I want done to bring them in line with the French. I'll only be a day away from you and the others and that should not be a problem".
Lindsay nodded, restraining herself from smiling. She hoped that would be what her father would do. Her discussion with Lee over Marie and Edd had resulted in a preliminary plan of action, but would require her father away for a day, and for them to be in Paris. The city of love…
