Chapter 1
His finger depressed the shutter button on his new digital camera right in front of the most beautiful orchid he had ever seen. The focus corrected itself automatically, the aperture did its thing without prompting or adjustment and the shot was perfect.
He dropped the camera down to examine the shot on the huge screen on the back of the camera body and he heard someone sweeping behind him in his good left ear.
It was just past dawn at the hotel he was staying at in Bali and the gardens were just coming into glorious colour,...who else would be up and working at this time thought Floyd Morgan.
Floyd turned to see Teetu, Essi’s elderly mother, probably in her 200th year alive on this planet pushing a straw broom around the bricked footpath collecting all the fallen frangipanis flowers for display in the dining room.
He smiled at her and said....
"Good morning my dear... how you today?"
.....and what he got in reply was.....
"When are you leaving?"
SO...LETS GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING SHALL WE, SOME YEARS PRIOR TO THE PRESENT TIME IN BALI.
Miranda Morgan said goodbye to her parents and left for the concert at 7:30pm. The taxi she had called earlier before she washed and dressed for the show arrived on time and promptly within the time that was told to her over the phone. She relaxed into the back seat of the taxi and watched out the window as the colours and lights flashed by on route to the concert she had been waiting for so long to see.
Miranda Morgan was smiling to herself and the brief glimpses the taxi driver made at her in to the back seat from his rear vision mirror only fuelled her resolution and confidence. Tonight was the night. Her hands were sweaty because she was nervous and excited at the same time. The taxi sped past lots of people walking to the concert and Miranda put her hand in the door handle of the back door to be ready when the taxi stopped to get out. She had been waiting years for this band to tour her home town and now... they were here, so was her boyfriend unbeknownst to Miranda’s parents.
This was a parentally unsanctioned rendezvous.
This was one sure way Miranda would be grounded for months meeting her boyfriend who, even at the first meeting, the parents did not warm to the intended beau and warned Miranda not to proceed with the relationship. She did not agree. That is why she was on her way to the concert to be with him and to share in the music she had waited so long to hear. Both things that filled her head with desire and once again her hand gripped the door handle as the stadium came into sight.
So close...at last.
A handful of crumpled notes were thrown from her purse into the front seat and even before the taxi had come to a complete stop she had opened the door. The taxi stopped and the door flung open, Miranda felt the night air enter the taxi and dance around her face.
Her eyes widened.
There he was.
He was waiting for her. It was going to be a night to remember for a long time to come and it was only 7:55pm. He reached out for her and they met in a heated embrace kissing while people looked on and grinned at the brazen display of public affection. Hand in hand they made their way to the entrance gate glancing at each other mid step without a care in the world and so much in love. Nothing mattered at all except that they were together at the concert.
Miranda loved Pink Floyd and so did her boyfriend Craig, a musician with a very, very short attention span. Some say his attention span was so short he would get side tracked getting dressed. Some also said he had access to enough hallucinogenic drugs to make the population of China have a nanna nap for 6 months. Miranda was unaware of this. All she saw was this Adonis who told her everything she wanted to hear and kissed away her questions and denials for further sexual advances.
Miranda was hooked...and Craig knew it.
The concert blew both of their minds and it lived up to all of her expectations and dreams. They could not stop talking about each riff, each pyrotechnic display that accented each songs story and theme. It was a powerful concert for both of them and the taxi ride back into town was filled with more kisses, roaming hands and an ever increasing build in sexual tension. Even the taxi driver had to wind down his window to let some cool air in as it was getting a little willing in the back seat.
The radio in the taxi announced the time and while kissing Craig, Miranda figured out in her head how much time she had left before she had to get home. Deadline of about three hours before alarm bells went off at the Morgan household and the local authorities were informed. They continued on their way to Craig’s cousins mate's place to have coffee and continue kissing and making out.
That was the plan.
However the sexual tension created by both of them before and after the concert led to a mad flurry of clothes being scattered in a million directions and a union of both bodies ensued... quickly and none too quietly to I might add.
Craig’s cousins mate sat there watching TV while he felt the walls move and furniture thump and bump around in the room next door. Guttural primal grunts were heard even after he turned the sound up on the TV and it was with much frustration he dropped the remote on the couch and went outside for a cigarette.
It wasn’t much better out there as well. Miranda and Craig were making up for lost time and now the next door neighbour came to her window to look at Craig’s cousins mate sucking the wet end of his cigarette and she lifted her hands up questioningly on her side of the window as if to ask "what the hell is all the noise about?"
"True love Mrs Richardson, ...a friend of the family has pulled a live one and he is in the process of making up for lost time ...if you know what I mean"
"Is that what that noise is?"
"Yep" and the mate continued smoking his cigarette blowing the smoke confidently at his feet and shuffling around on the back patio. Both the neighbour and Craig’s cousin’s mate both stopped what they were doing and tilted their heads towards the house to see if they could hear anything further happening in the love den.
No sounds at all.
All was quiet on the sexual front.
It was safe to go back in and keep watching the TV without being interrupted. So in he came and plunked his ass back down on the couch and clicked the TV back on. The TV surged into life and just to prove a point he turned the sound right up and coughed a lot just to rub it in and make it hard for the satiated slumbering duo to completely fall asleep.
Miranda was out cold and in dreamland while Craig was putting on his jeans and dressing in the front room, much to the dislike of his cousin’s mate. There was a duffel bag at the front door of the unit and once dressed Craig waved at his cousin’s mate and closed the door quietly behind him and was gone.
Miranda slept on and didn’t awaken until some ungodly heavy metal band’s music was put on the home stereo and over 120 db and Miranda’s eyes flew open and she jumped out of bed holding her ears and screamed at the top of her lungs. She lurched at the door and swung it open then yelled......
"TURN THAT CRAP OFF NOW IF YOU KNOW WHATS GOOD FOR YOU" and it was only moments afterwards that the sound dropped considerably in volume and whistles and gentle applause were heard in its place.
Miranda froze to the spot. Then she realised she had left the bedroom without dressing and was as naked as the day she was born in front 4 guys with more metal in their faces than the Sydney harbour bridge. They were applauding and whistling at her. Miranda blushed and without covering herself she walked back into the bedroom and flung herself back into the bed and under the covers.
Where was..................?
