Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:58:13 +0100 (BST)
From: Andrew Foote <footea81@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: 'Boy on the Towpath' 6

BOY ON THE TOWPATH.

(Chapter VI)

Whilst this story contains references to intimate bonding between an adult
and a minor, no sexual activity takes place. However if due to the laws in
your country of residence, spiritual beliefs or customs it is illegal for
you to access such work then please leave now.

All comments however critical will be answered and should be addressed to
the author.

Thomas.

(footea81@yahoo.co.uk)

Whether it was the sudden realisation that I could have found myself in a
situation in which our relationship had developed into something sexual and
therefore illegal or perhaps the late night conversation had taken its
toll, either way we were very late up the following morning.

Tom was up first at ten-thirty and it was only that which woke me.  I
wandered into the shower and revived myself under the tepid water.  Yes
tepid! I guessed that Tom hadn't been mindful of my comments about water
conservation!

By the time I'd dressed he was in the process of cooking breakfast.




*****




"Omelettes! It's the only thing I can do. I tried frying eggs but the yolks
split and my Mum whisked them up and put some ham and cheese with it.  It
was good! Hope that's okay?"

We ate breakfast then watered up the boat as two of us on board had
depleted my 180 gallon water tank.  A very late lunch and it was time for
Tom to go home.

It was difficult for both of us but safe in the knowledge that we would
soon be together again, we parted company.

I didn't feel overly emotional, rather I was concerned as to how Tom would
feel once he was home, after all he was still a little boy and whilst
adults can keep emotions in check he might find it more difficult.

The phone rang.  It was Janet Saunders.

"Hello Stuart. I thought I should call you."

"Is everything okay? Is Tom alright?"

"I saw you yesterday and I was angry with you."

"You saw us? When?"

"I had to see how he was so I came to lock twelve and that's when I saw you
both.  I was instantly pleased to see he was wearing a life jacket but
angry to see you working the lock, leaving Tom on your boat.  That was
nothing compared with what I saw next.  I thought the boat had slipped its
moorings because I saw Tom alone on the boat in the middle of the c anal
but then I realised that he was actually driving the damned thing!  I was
beside myself with anger and worry and was about to shout the place down
when a gentleman saw my panic and told me to `watch and learn' just as he
had done.  I could not believe what I saw.  He seemed so confident. So
calm!  To my eyes he didn't make one mistake!  My anger turned to pride!
The look of concentration on his little face was a picture!  Stu I'm not
angry now but please tell me what happened?"

I went through the gambit that he was `too small to run the
locking-through' and then told her about his natural abilities as a
helmsman.  I said that I had no qualms about leaving him in control of my
£100,000 boat - such was my faith in his abilities.

"Janet he's a natural! It was as if he was born to do it!  He's better than
me for heaven's sake.  You're proud of him?  He's not even my son but I'm
so proud of him just as if he were. He's a very special young man!"

" That was obvious to a blind man Stu.  I saw the way you looked at him
once he entered the locks so expertly.  I saw love in your eyes. A pride
like a `father/son' bonding and I wanted to cry!  Since his Dad died
there's been no male influence up until now and what I find amazing is,
just in those few days his attitude has completely changed.  You probably
know how boys of his age can be but gone are the temper tantrums, he no
longer argues with me all the time. If he has an issue it's more like a
reasoned discussion.  I tell you, he's a pleasure to have around the
house!"

"Well I'm not used to the company of kids so I don't treat him like one
mainly because I don't know how.  I guess I treat him more as an adult but
I would tick him off if he did misbehave but I've had no reason to do so as
yet and hope I never will.  He loves working the boat and he is very good
at it as you saw for yourself. He listens to everything I tell him and he
remembers and if he doesn't know something he always askes.  I never
thought I'd say this Janet but I actually miss him when he's not around."

"It was things like the life jacket that looking at it in hind-sight shows
me you care for him. That, and the fact that a mutual trust has so quickly
developed between you."

Janet laughed "I don't suppose you're any good at Maths are you? His grades
are awful!"

"I've a Master's degree in physics if that helps. A lot of maths involved
in that?"

"That's okay! It would be asking too much of you, besides you've done
enough already."

"No seriously. If you think I can help then I'd be more than happy."

"Well... He does need help and I'm a bit of a dunce when it comes to that
sort of thing.  I was a nurse until Alan died. I had to take a break from
it to concentrate on Tom's upbringing so I'm hardly qualified!"

"If you would like, I could come to your house and the three of us could at
least talk about it and if you're both happy with the idea...?"

"I'm lost for words?"

"Yes is a good one? How about I come over once you've had supper tomorrow?"

"How about you come over for supper instead. It's the very least I can do."

With that agreed, I jotted down their address and having found it on the
map I judged it was in easy walking distance of the boat.  I was slightly
apprehensive at the prospect of tutoring him but year seven mathematics
should be a breeze for me.  I settled down with a glass of wine and figured
out how I should go about it.

Pure mathematics can be a stale subject especially for someone who is
struggling with basic principles.  I opted to go down the `applied ` route,
using mathematics to solve practical problems hoping that might generate a
spark of interest but first I would have to discover just how behind he
was. Only then would I be able to sort out some suitable exercises for him
to have a go at.

Sleep came easily that night.


*****


The following evening I arrived at Janet and Tom's house at the
pre-arranged time and was greeted at the door by her.

"Come on in and make yourself comfortable Stu.  I hope he reacts true to
form when I call him as I've not told him you were coming over.  Normally
he would say `yeah in a minute I'm busy' when I'd call him down but now
he's so much more reasonable.  Listen to this. I'm only hoping I'm right!"

Janet walked to the foot of the stairs and called up "Tom? We have a
visitor. Can you come down please?

"Coming Mum. I'm just putting a shirt on."

Janet beamed! "See what I mean? He's being so good of late."

Tom came bounding down the stairs two at a time. The look on his face when
he saw me was priceless!  He literally through himself at me almost
knocking me over.  He wrapped his arms around me an gave me a big hug!

"Wow! This is a nice surprise! What are you doing here?"

"Your Mum asked me over for supper and I wasn't about to say `no' now was
I?"

Supper was good and I insisted on helping with the dishes.  Once done we
went into the living room and Janet opened the wine I'd brought along and I
was pleased to see that Tom didn't ask for any but politely asked Janet if
he could grab a coke from the fridge.

"Tom there is another reason I'm here.  It's just an offer you understand
and if you would rather not then no pressure will be put upon you.  It's
just that your Mum mentioned to me that you were having a difficult time
with maths at school.  I've a degree in physics and as that involves rather
a lot of maths, I wondered if you would allow me to help you?  How do you
feel about it?"

"I am struggling with it but I don't want you to think that you have to.  I
mean you've been really good to me already."

"Nonsense! I'd love to help you if you want. We can always give it a try
and if you find that you don't enjoy it and would rather not continue then
that will be a choice you're free to make at any time.  What do you say?"

Tom looked at Janet who just cocked her head to one side and smiled at him.

"Well I could use some help. My grades are rubbish but it's not like I'm
stupid, I just don't enjoy it."

"I thought that might be the case `cos I know you're not stupid! If you say
yes, maybe I can find ways for you to not only enjoy it but see how it can
be fascinating as well.  Your whole life and that of everyone in the world
revolves around mathematics from managing your pocket money to working the
boat to riding your bike. It really isn't a dull subject.  I think it's
just the way it's taught that's putting you off.  Wanna give it a go?"

"Yes please!"


*****


We sat ourselves down at the dining table armed with his school books which
I had a glance through.  I'd assumed correctly that he was being taught the
`old fashioned way' of here's one example, now do these twenty.  Not
getting the principle the first time around would mean those further twenty
would all be wrong putting the poor pupil off for life.  I started off with
a simple example. Something close to his heart.

"Okay. I told you earlier that maths touches everything we do.  On the boat
I have to make calculations all the time so let's just assume that you and
I were going to take the boat out for two weeks.  One thing we'd have to
work out is how much fuel we would need for the journey, right?"

Tom nodded his head.

"So, the boat was built before we started thinking metric and she was
fitted with a tank that holds 40 imperial gallons but I only know how many
litres she uses each hour rather than how many pints.  This means I have to
convert gallons into litres. Okay so far?"

Again Tom nodded in the affirmative.

"Fine! Now 1 imperial gallon = 4.6 litres. Okay?"

"What's an `imperial' gallon Stu?"

"Good question. You have an imperial gallon which in new money = 4.6 litres
then there's a US gallon which they use in America which = 3.8
litres. Naturally here in England we use the imperial gallon."

"I understand."

"Great. Now let's assume we have a full tank before we leave, so to be able
to figure out how far we can go before refilling the tank we must convert
the gallons into litres and this is how we do it."

I showed him how to do the sum on paper rather than using the calculator.
He could use this to check his answer but I wanted him to understand the
mechanics of doing it long hand first.

"There. The answer is that we have 184 litres of diesel in the tank. Now
check my answer with the calculator."

"You were right!"

I could hear Janet giggling in the background. Tom looked around at her
with a broad grin on his face!

"Now let us suppose that when you looked at the fuel guage you noticed that
we only had half a tank.  How many gallons would that be.


"20."

"That's right. Now I want you to work out how many litres that works out
at."

Pencil in hand, Tom studied my calculation first before doing his own sum.

"92."

"Now check it with the calculator just to be sure."

"I got it right!! It is 92!"

"Well done that man!  Let me show you another way of getting the same
answer.  You know that 40 gallons is 184 litres and that 20 is half of 40,
right?  So if we write down 184 and divide that by 2 like this... There you
go! 92!"

This went on all evening and Tom didn't tire of it. In fact quite the
reverse because at ten-thirty I had to prise him away from the table.  We
had covered most simple equations, he knew how to work out how far we could
go on various levels of fuel, how to work out times versus distances and
the number of locks we would have to work and then to calculate just how
long our fuel would last.

It had been a good start.  Janet was pleased. I was pleased but more
importantly, Tom seemed to be enjoying it.

Every other day I would visit having dreamed up other scenarios of interest
him that would involve mathematical calculations.  I even got to the stage
that after two weeks he could work out with relative ease, how many
complete rotations of his bike peddles he would have to make to cover a set
distance – working this out for each of the gear ratios he had – all
twenty of them!  I even told him that as he was growing up fast he would
have to get a bigger bike with thirty-two inch wheels and got him to rejig
his calculations and managed to get it right first time and all worked out
long-hand!  Believe me. For a boy of twelve that's serious maths!

My thoughts towards him never faltered. – I wish they had but I still
found him very sexually attractive and I would find myself staring at him
as he worked away.  My feelings for him were of total love and had that
been reciprocated in any other relationship then doubtless a sexual bonding
would have been inevitable.  In this instance it just couldn't
happen. Worse, I couldn't just walk away either.  `Devil and the deep blue
sea' comes to mind.  Painfully I chose the deep blue sea.