“The Things We Do For Love”

…

It’s time to get some experienced help.

Often Radly his friend from the ship had regaled him with stories of his exploits in the red-light district.  Henry never quite believes most of it, but he was prepared to accept that he might know enough to be of some help.

Henry didn’t want to be visiting the parlours on his own.

But it does mean he has to tell him the true nature of the girl he met and wanted to go after.

Radly is honest, knowing a lot of the girls in the area, most either were not worth the effort, or more likely content with their lot and didn’t want to be rescued.  Poor souls who tried often ended up on the wrong end of a bouncer’s fist.

Exactly what Henry wants to avoid.

So, is Radly up for the challenge.

To find her, yes, but if she is trouble, or in trouble, or likely to cause trouble, then no.

Henry has to be prepared to walk away.

He accepts the conditions, and the quest begins after dark.

…

Words written 3,729, for a total of 66,306

“The Things We Do For Love”

…

It’s time to get some experienced help.

Often Radly his friend from the ship had regaled him with stories of his exploits in the red-light district.  Henry never quite believes most of it, but he was prepared to accept that he might know enough to be of some help.

Henry didn’t want to be visiting the parlours on his own.

But it does mean he has to tell him the true nature of the girl he met and wanted to go after.

Radly is honest, knowing a lot of the girls in the area, most either were not worth the effort, or more likely content with their lot and didn’t want to be rescued.  Poor souls who tried often ended up on the wrong end of a bouncer’s fist.

Exactly what Henry wants to avoid.

So, is Radly up for the challenge.

To find her, yes, but if she is trouble, or in trouble, or likely to cause trouble, then no.

Henry has to be prepared to walk away.

He accepts the conditions, and the quest begins after dark.

…

Words written 3,729, for a total of 66,306

“The Things We Do For Love”

…

The old sparring partners keep their distance.

Henry because he doesn’t believe Harry has changed, Harry because he knows if the old rivalry restarts, Henry will leave, and he doesn’t want to be the one to cause it.

It takes a week to break the ice, and, finally, the two can talk.  Harry knows Henry is pining over a girl, so he asks the question.

For Henry, as far as he’s concerned, that ship has sailed. 

But Harry has a piece of advice for his brother, don’t let Michelle be the one that got away.

So begins the Odyssey.

It starts with reading up on the circumstances and reasons for the existence of such places where Michelle works, and why women finish up there.  It branches into drug addiction, of course from a medical view, with his father having an excellent library of books on the subject.

He then does a tour of what is broadly called the red light district, during the day, where it seems hidden away.  Then he branches into the newspaper archives and gets a different perspective.  Research can only do so much.

After getting a call from Villiers, a relative of Michelle’s she had once mentioned to him, he goes to see him, and they talk.  Villiers says she has contacted him and asked him to pass on a message that she will contact him when she needs his help, and it is the first indication she had not given up on them.  Villiers gives him another perspective on her.

It also means that the notion he goes looking for her, to see her, or rescue her, he wasn’t quite sure, was the right one.  Villiers wants him to go and rescue her.  The question is, is she worth rescuing?

…

Words written 4,548, for a total of 62,577

“The Things We Do For Love”

…

The old sparring partners keep their distance.

Henry because he doesn’t believe Harry has changed, Harry because he knows if the old rivalry restarts, Henry will leave, and he doesn’t want to be the one to cause it.

It takes a week to break the ice, and, finally, the two can talk.  Harry knows Henry is pining over a girl, so he asks the question.

For Henry, as far as he’s concerned, that ship has sailed. 

But Harry has a piece of advice for his brother, don’t let Michelle be the one that got away.

So begins the Odyssey.

It starts with reading up on the circumstances and reasons for the existence of such places where Michelle works, and why women finish up there.  It branches into drug addiction, of course from a medical view, with his father having an excellent library of books on the subject.

He then does a tour of what is broadly called the red light district, during the day, where it seems hidden away.  Then he branches into the newspaper archives and gets a different perspective.  Research can only do so much.

After getting a call from Villiers, a relative of Michelle’s she had once mentioned to him, he goes to see him, and they talk.  Villiers says she has contacted him and asked him to pass on a message that she will contact him when she needs his help, and it is the first indication she had not given up on them.  Villiers gives him another perspective on her.

It also means that the notion he goes looking for her, to see her, or rescue her, he wasn’t quite sure, was the right one.  Villiers wants him to go and rescue her.  The question is, is she worth rescuing?

…

Words written 4,548, for a total of 62,577

“The Things We Do For Love”

…

At the end of this leave, Henry has to go home.  He promised his sister.  They have lunch before going there, and she questions whether he has a girlfriend and a reminder of Jane.

After enduring his sister’s driving, he’s back home.

First, his mother, second his brother, Harry, who’s changed, third, his father, who seems to accept they agree to disagree.  Lastly, he meets Amanda, Harry’s long-suffering girlfriend, and she tells him Harry has changed.

It’s too good to be true, but he stays.

Everyone is walking on eggshells.

Here’s the thing.  Henry has always used his family as an excuse to leave, rather than have to face their constant nagging, that he give up the sea, that he get over Jane, that he get a proper job and stop wasting his life.

It seems like forever that he had to endure his father’s disappointment.  Harry had once shouldered that responsibility until he went to war and came back broken.  It was just another excuse for Henry to leave because Harry had made life hell for him, simply because Henry was wasting opportunities he could now not have.

Until he realised that wasn’t the case, but he had to emerge from the sea of self-pity first.

Now Henry resents him because he has.  It’s an odd situation.

…

Words written 3,113, for a total of 58,029

“The Things We Do For Love”

…

At the end of this leave, Henry has to go home.  He promised his sister.  They have lunch before going there, and she questions whether he has a girlfriend and a reminder of Jane.

After enduring his sister’s driving, he’s back home.

First, his mother, second his brother, Harry, who’s changed, third, his father, who seems to accept they agree to disagree.  Lastly, he meets Amanda, Harry’s long-suffering girlfriend, and she tells him Harry has changed.

It’s too good to be true, but he stays.

Everyone is walking on eggshells.

Here’s the thing.  Henry has always used his family as an excuse to leave, rather than have to face their constant nagging, that he give up the sea, that he get over Jane, that he get a proper job and stop wasting his life.

It seems like forever that he had to endure his father’s disappointment.  Harry had once shouldered that responsibility until he went to war and came back broken.  It was just another excuse for Henry to leave because Harry had made life hell for him, simply because Henry was wasting opportunities he could now not have.

Until he realised that wasn’t the case, but he had to emerge from the sea of self-pity first.

Now Henry resents him because he has.  It’s an odd situation.

…

Words written 3,113, for a total of 58,029

“The Things We Do For Love”

…

There’s plotting and scheming afoot.

Michelle is dreaming about the many ways she can dispose of her boss, Emile, and equally ticking them off the list when reality sets in.

It’s another long night, and a customer, one with a difference, and he has this strange request, that she try a concoction he’s invented to embarrass the boy who stole his girlfriend.

It’s an opportunity and another brink in the wall. 

Despaired that Henry hasn’t discovered her hidden missive, she starts staking out the Henshaw house to see when he returns, and he does not turn up.  She cannot keep going there lest Felix gets suspicious.  She calls on the phone but gets no answers.

Next time she arrives at his house Harry is there waiting and they talk.

It’s not the conversation she wants to have, or hear, and realises that it’s going to be a lot more difficult to get Henry back.

A talk with Emile, she tries to set his mind at rest that she wants to escape again, and he leaves unsatisfied.

She realises that she has to deal with Felix first.  But, on the other hand, she would be testing the drops given to her by a client, and if it works, another part of the plan might come to fruition.

She also knows she needs another way to communicate with Henry.

…

Words written 3,350, for a total of 54,916

“The Things We Do For Love”

…

There’s plotting and scheming afoot.

Michelle is dreaming about the many ways she can dispose of her boss, Emile, and equally ticking them off the list when reality sets in.

It’s another long night, and a customer, one with a difference, and he has this strange request, that she try a concoction he’s invented to embarrass the boy who stole his girlfriend.

It’s an opportunity and another brink in the wall. 

Despaired that Henry hasn’t discovered her hidden missive, she starts staking out the Henshaw house to see when he returns, and he does not turn up.  She cannot keep going there lest Felix gets suspicious.  She calls on the phone but gets no answers.

Next time she arrives at his house Harry is there waiting and they talk.

It’s not the conversation she wants to have, or hear, and realises that it’s going to be a lot more difficult to get Henry back.

A talk with Emile, she tries to set his mind at rest that she wants to escape again, and he leaves unsatisfied.

She realises that she has to deal with Felix first.  But, on the other hand, she would be testing the drops given to her by a client, and if it works, another part of the plan might come to fruition.

She also knows she needs another way to communicate with Henry.

…

Words written 3,350, for a total of 54,916

“The Things We Do For Love”

…

Time, it seems, does not heal all wounds.

It’s time for Michelle to return to the snake pit, her nickname for the Parlour she had been sent to work, and the only good thing about it, she is reunited with her two friends, Angie and Millie.

She’s also back to dulling the senses with the drugs left at the house, and when Felix comes to make sure she is ready to return, he realises she has gone back to her old ways.  He is not pleased.

Henry is getting to the end of another tour, with a few weeks to go, and is admiring the sunset from the bridge.  The captain, hoping he does not have to put him off the ship, finds that a  talk to the Chief Officer has put him back on track.

At least one of them is happy.

Henry is still trying to reconcile the girl he met in Morganville with the girl he met last break and finds no suitable answers, just a whole host more questions.

Perhaps he should accept that he doesn’t understand women and one in particular.

…

Words written 3,056, for a total of 51,566

“The Things We Do For Love”

…

Time, it seems, does not heal all wounds.

It’s time for Michelle to return to the snake pit, her nickname for the Parlour she had been sent to work, and the only good thing about it, she is reunited with her two friends, Angie and Millie.

She’s also back to dulling the senses with the drugs left at the house, and when Felix comes to make sure she is ready to return, he realises she has gone back to her old ways.  He is not pleased.

Henry is getting to the end of another tour, with a few weeks to go, and is admiring the sunset from the bridge.  The captain, hoping he does not have to put him off the ship, finds that a  talk to the Chief Officer has put him back on track.

At least one of them is happy.

Henry is still trying to reconcile the girl he met in Morganville with the girl he met last break and finds no suitable answers, just a whole host more questions.

Perhaps he should accept that he doesn’t understand women and one in particular.

…

Words written 3,056, for a total of 51,566