The Japanese Boy 1

The Japanese Boy chapter 22

I awoke on Christmas morning, and my Birthday, to a light tapping on my bedroom door, i called out

'Who is it?' and Hamish's voice replied,

I woke Tam, with a finger to my lips, got out placed on my bathrobe and ruffled the sheets of the spare bed and unlocked the door,

In case you're wondering why we all lock or bolt our doors, it's because many times in the past, guests who have had a little too much to drink, barge into an already occupied bedroom instead of their own, so now if you wander upstairs and a door is unlocked you know it's empty. 

Hamish whispered to me,

'We need you downstairs Laddie,'  I looked at my watch it was 5,30, I reached up and kissed Hamish, he wispeared.

 'Happy Birthday'. I smiled and told him i would get dressed and i would be down in a few minutes,

Tam lifted his head,

'What's happened?' i pulled on my trousers,

'I have no idea, but keep your phone near you and i will let you know OK?' he nodded, i reached down and kissed him, as i was leaving he said,

'Happy Birthday Darling Rory, i will give you your present later' and he winked, i smiled and left. Hamish was waiting for me in the Drawing room,

'What is it, Hamish?' the house was quiet, nothing stirred.

'It's those two lads up at the Lodge, there completely snowed in.' and Hamish explained the Cedric had gotten up early to have a pee and noticed that the snow was very deep,

High winds had covered one side of the Transit Van up to its roof and when he opened the door a Vast wall of snow faced him, it had drifted up to about eleven feet.

'And there panicking' was Hamish's last word on it.'

'We have to get up there Hamish, what say we take the P38 Range Rover its snowplough is still attached, and we also take the tow bar,'

The tow-bar is just that, a twelve foot long forged steel square solid rod with a shackle on one end and a ball cover on the other, my father designed it to pull heavy lorries out of muddy terrain with one of the tractors,

The tow-hitch cover slips over a normal tow bar ball, and the other has a shackle that fits around the front 'u' shaped tow hitch on all vehicles, the idea was to drive up in the P38, clear the snow from the door, load the Van with all the priceless equipment, hook it up to the P38 and with the Van just idling and out of gear, the 4.8 liter P38 would lead it down the mountain fully attached to the front of the van.

The idea of just taking a tow rope would be suicide, Hamish agreed and he went off to get the keys for the garage, I said I would meet him there and in the meantime I phoned Tam and told him everything, he pleaded to come with me but I said it would be too dangerous to risk his life on such an errand, not realising that he was now scared to death worrying about me.

We reached the garage, a little snow had fallen but the mountains would be another matter,

Hamish slid open the door with one push, normally it takes two men to open the 16-foot high steel doors, the P38 Range Rover towered above me, a 4.6-litre engine, 3 tons in weight, a true and faithful workhorse,

We loved this 15-year-old dark metallic blue Range Rover, the heaviest and most powerful Range Rover had ever been built, but with an average mileage of eight miles to the gallon in normal gear, and less than four in low gear, it was a thirsty car, but could drive virtually anywhere.