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Listeners' Fantasies |
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The Travels of Ed
by Walter Littlewood
 Everyone's wondering what has happened to Ed. Here's one particularly inventive suggestion from the Fantasy Archers topic of .
When Emma took the screaming brat into Neil and Susan's house, Ed's first reactions were shock, rejection and anger. But soon after the door of the house closed, a new sensation came over him. Relief.
He had sat for a while in the caravan wondering whether he should try whinging and pleading with Emma. It had worked in the past, but this time he wasn't sure his life was working out how he had wanted it to be. Now he saw an opportunity. To get away from Emma's domination, to be free of Oliver and his dairy scheme which would mean Ed doing a lot of work for little money, and to get away from dirty nappies, broken sleep and never having two pennies to rub together.
Ed packed some bags. Got together his meagre belongings, making sure he didn't forget his passport, his wallet and some food. He threw his things in the back of his van and drove off through the village. He gave hardly a glance at his parents' house, where his old man had been giving him hell, and passing the Bull he headed off on the Borchester road into the night.
Ed had no destination in mind as he reached the Borchester by-pass. It was getting late but there was still a steady flow of traffic. A fleeting idea that would have seen him calling on Jazzer and getting wrecked had quickly passed and he decided to pull into a lay-by to think things through.
As Ed's van came to a halt, he realised there was already another car in the layby, a very smart BMW two-seater sports car. The bonnet was up, but the two passengers were both sitting in the car. Ed got out of the van, intending to ignore them, but the driver of the sports car got out. He was a well-dressed man in his mid-thirties.
"Thanks for stopping", He said. "We've been here nearly half an hour and no one else has even slowed up. Would you believe, not only has the Beemer conked out, but we're in mobile phone dead spot. Can't contact anyone."
Ed's first thought was to tell the guy that he'd got problems of his own, but before he knew it, the driver had given his name as Jeremy and was introducing Ed to his sister, Amanda, who had now got out of the car. She was a tall attractive blonde girl, wearing a light summer dress with just a cardigan around her shoulders.
"I'm Ed," said Ed. " I know a bit about farm machinery so I'll see if there's anything I can do."
Expecting just to poke under the bonnet and tell them it was too complicated, Ed had a look at the car's engine and couldn't help noticing that a linkage on the throttle had come away. He went back to his van and got a bit of wire to reconnect the linkage and ten minutes later the BMW's engine was purring away beautifully.
After some small talk, and an almost honest explanation from Ed as to why he was out driving, he was finding Jeremy and Amanda very easy to get on with, while they seemed extremely grateful to him.
"You've got all greasy" said Amanda. "You must come back to our hotel to clean up"
Why not, thought Ed, maybe I'll get a few quid out of this. "OK," he said, "Is it far?"
"Not at all," said Jeremy, "Just follow us."
The two cars pulled onto the by-pass, Ed following his new found friends.
The hotel was one of those anonymous corporate structures off a roundabout a few miles north of Borchester. Ed had seen the hotel before but it was not the sort of place that he and his mates had any time for. He parked near the BMW and followed Jeremy and Amanda through the reception area. It was a very short walk through some impressive double doors and almost immediately, Jeremy was using a key card to open a door marked Suite A.
Inside, Ed found himself in a room that was itself larger than the caravan he had been sharing with Emma, and quite as impressive as Grey Gables, not that Ed have ever stayed there either. The main room of the suite was furnished and decorated to resemble a country house, something like Caroline and Oliver's drawing room at Grange Farm. Amanda showed Ed around. As well as the main lounge, there was a meeting room, two bedrooms and two en-suite bathrooms. Had Ed been more observant, he may have noticed that one bedroom appeared not to be in use.
Amanda left Ed to clean up in one of the bathrooms and when he came back to the lounge, Jeremy had poured drinks for them all. Ed had a large Southern Comfort with ice, which was soon topped-up when he downed it fairly swiftly.
"We've ordered some food from room service," said Amanda. "You will stay to eat, won't you?" She smiled. "Anyway, I'm not sure you should drive again tonight after those drinks."
Ed had nowhere else in mind to go in a hurry and this seemed too good an offer to turn down. The food arrived, the drinks flowed, and Ed became more and more comfortable.
When he actually passed out he wasn't sure, but when he came round it was to find himself in darkness, laying on a hard wooden surface, with his arms and legs firmly secured by strong cords. He tried to call out, but could only make muffled sounds due to the gag in his mouth. In his struggles, he soon came to realise that he was actually in some kind of wooden container.
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