[Torchwatch]

Part 5
The next morning Roland woke up aching a little from ride the day before but feeling energised. He'd no idea that the area around his home village could be so beautiful and exciting to explore. He spent the day at work thinking how good the bike ride had been and hoping he could go mountain biking again the next weekend. As he came home he saw Jason in front of his house servicing the two bikes. As Roland passed he asked Jason if they could ride together again soon and could they go back to Pelican Bay, and Jason had replied that he was free on Saturday, “Come around at 8am.” he said, “There'll be more time to spend at the Bay if we start early, oh and this time you can make the sandwiches !”
Roland crossed back over to his side of the road with a feeling of eager anticipation.
When Jason finished servicing the two bikes he locked them in the garage and went back into the house. He opened up the two back packs they'd used on the ride and emptied them out on the kitchen floor. He threw the empty food wrappers in the the bin and put the black and red cycle shorts in the wash pile. Then he found the damp black speedos in the bottom of the bag. He opened them out but couldn't help examining them, they were a boys rather than a man's size and while Roland had worn them the stitching had started to go. The Lycra fabric had started to wear and loose it's elasticity causing the rear to droop somewhat. Jason hung them up to dry feeling sorry for the poor worn out and over stretched garment.
He went to his computer and looked up a sportswear shop in the nearest city, they specialised in club racing swimwear. On the website he found what he was looking for a pair of 2” side Arena swim briefs and they had them in red. The old black speedos looked like they had 3” sides so the Arena ones would be a bit briefer, the cut of the Italian made Arena swim briefs would be lower and more adult than the school ones, the red colour was exactly what Roland had dreamed of. Jason hit the “Order” button and put in his details.
He then went onto Ebay and did a search for Seobean, swim, brief and came up with a number of hits. He searched through them finding a Japanese style, 1” side swim bikini brief with a pouch front, rear mesh seam, red front and back, white sides and a blue flash under the front. He'd seen them before, liked them and now felt they looked exactly right for Rowland. He knew that as they were coming from China they would take several weeks to arrive, he laughed to himself as he hit the “Buy Now” button.

On his way home from work on the Friday of that week Rowland was wondering what had happened to his old school speedos. He'd worn them at Pelican Bay and he was sure that he'd put them in his back pack, maybe he'd dropped them at the settlement. He'd ask Jason when he saw him in the morning if he'd seen them. He went to the centre of the village where the shops were and bought some cold meat and bread rolls for the next day's lunch in the grocers. As he paid Mrs Cullen who ran the shop started talking to him.
“Have you heard about that Mr Grubber that lives near you ? He's been going up to the old settlement with some surveyors, they had theodolites ! And another thing, he's had a package delivered, a very small package, Postie thought it was kind of squishy and then discovered that whatever was inside it was red fabric ! Mr Westerly who runs the Outfitters was furious when he found out. 'Does he think I can't sell red stuff ?' he said. He's sending his son Alex to the city in the van on Monday telling him to buy something red.”
Roland was confused and desperately trying not to show it. He knew this involved him somehow but couldn't work out how he fitted into it, The small red fabric thing in a package could be anything but red was his favourite colour, or was that just coincidence ? He took his change and almost ran from the shop. Mrs Cullen realised she'd hit a nerve but couldn't quite make a connection.
As he walked home Roland wondered what Alex would be buying in the city, something red, the Outfitters never sold anything red in the men's department. He remembered Alex as the boy who had tried to buy condoms when he was 15, if he was now choosing the clothes the Outfitters was selling the village was going to change.
If there were men with theodolites walking about in the settlement, they might have found his black speedos.