Read Online The Secret Catamite Bk 1, The Book of Daniel by Patrick C Notchtree - Free Book Online

wondered if there were
any secret passages. Lots of old buildings had them he knew, and
this must be pretty old. He and Frances had once gone with Mummy on
one of her radio weekends and had stayed at an old hotel in Ludlow.
That had secret passages, and Simon was certain that this hotel was
bound to have at least one.
    "Hello, children." It was Zelda
again. "Are you the hotel exploring?" Simon stopped, knowing now
she was German and wondering what to say.
    "Yes, that's right," said
Frances. "We always do when we get to a hotel."
    "If you go out to the back there
gives there a waterfall, but you must promise to be careful,
please, children."
    "We will," they shouted, finding
their way out and exploring the garden and climbing the paths
through the woods next to the waterfall. Simon thought it was
magical. He fell in love with the place instantly.
    The days passed by. They went
for walks, rides in the car, and climbed some of the closer
mountains. Daddy said they were just hills really, although they
seemed like mountains to Simon. But then Daddy had been climbing in
the Alps before the war. That's how he knew German, he said.
    One day at breakfast, Daddy
looked at Simon. "Today, I'm going to teach you to row, son." Simon
grinned happily. He had seen people rowing boats on the lake and
now he was going to as well.
    "Don't I get a chance?" said
Frances.
    "Of course, Princess," said
Daddy, "everybody will." So soon they were on the launch going
along the lake to the town. They decided to leave the car at the
hotel and use the motor launch because you could catch it just at
the end of the hotel drive. From out on the lake, the scenery
seemed even more wonderful but soon they arrived at the landing
stages and Daddy ordered a rowing boat big enough for them all.
They put their bags in and a boatman pushed them off. Simon thought
the boatman was good because he could drive the motor launch as
well. Simon wanted to drive the motor launch. But Daddy was rowing
now, Mummy sitting at the back, Frances up at the front, trailing
her hand in the water. Simon was watching Daddy, pulling back on
the oars, making the boat go. The lake seemed so much bigger than
from the motor launch.
    "How deep is it, Daddy?" he
asked.
    "Not very, I don't think. About
seventy feet in the middle. It's not the deepest lake."
    Simon gulped. Seventy feet
sounded very deep to him. He remembered the Lido from last year and
sat away from the edge of the boat. Daddy stopped rowing, the boat
rocking gently out on the lake.
    "Come on then, son." Carefully
they changed places, the boat now rocking precariously.
    "Careful, Harry," said
Mummy.
    "I'm fine," said Daddy.
    "It was Simon I was thinking
of," she said.
    "Now son, take hold of the oars,
make sure they don't slip back through the rowlocks."
    "The what?"
    "Those, like an upside down
horseshoe," said Daddy. "Keep the collar inside the rowlock." Each
oar had a large leather collar that was to stop it sliding through
into the lake. "Lean forward, drop the oars into the water, brace
your feet and pull back."
    Simon did as he was told, but
the oars were heavy. As he pulled back, one came high out of the
water, catching him unawares, so that he let go of the other. It
slid away, but the collar stopped it. The oar he still had hold of
had jumped out of the rowlock and was suddenly very heavy, trying
to slide away over the side. Making the boat rock violently, Daddy
jumped forward and grabbed the oar slipping out of Simon's grasp.
Simon looked at Daddy nervously. He knew he had got it wrong, and
he didn't want Daddy to be cross. But the cross look on Daddy's
face faded.
    "Right son, try again, but make
sure you keep the oars in the water when you pull them back, and
lift them when you come forwards again."
    Patiently, Daddy taught his son
to row, and Simon, now more relaxed because Daddy wasn't cross,
soon picked it up and found a rhythm. He liked the steady repeated
motion. Push down, go forward, lift the oar handles,