Date: Sat, 06 Apr 2002 19:03:02 +1200
From: prime wordsmith <primewordsmith@hotmail.com>
Subject: Swansea-Bridge-02

I'd never hesitated getting involved before.  Unless I was not needed or
not wanted.  Even when I could have been placing myself in danger, I'd
never hesitated before.  So why was I hesitating now?  The depth of anguish
he was expressing was tearing me up worse than at any graveside. And some
of them had been pretty lively.  Especially that time when the boyfriend
jumped into the grave on top of the freshly lowered coffin.

So I found myself squatting down beside him, distracting him, by asking if
he had lost his fishing rod.  Well, talk about incredulous.  But it did
stop the rocking for a moment.  So if not the rod, was it the fish you
lost, I asked him.  Um, you know, back into the water.  Or did you decide
to let it go.  Even if you jagged it, it might still live. It won't
necessarily die.  He said it wasn't any fish about to die.  It was him.  He
wanted to die.  I asked him if I could have the body.  There was that
rather incredulous look again as he said, I spose.

Oh goody.  I've been given the body. So I scooped it up and sort of bounced
it up so I could catch it into a more comfortable position.  He asked me
what I was doing.  I said I didn't really want to wait around getting more
cold and wet so I thought I'd take the body now.  And I smiled widely.  Um,
was the only response.  Fair enough I thought.  I had probably acted
strangely enough for him to be so bamboozled he did not have time to dwell
on his earlier problems.  I love young people.  It's so hard to get their
attention sometimes.  But when you do something so completely out of the
ordinary, you can often get their undivided attention.  Especially if they
have already decided you are no threat.

So I'm wandering along the footpath with this wet slippery lump in my arms
wondering how I can get him to help me not drop him.  I told him Santa
Claus has a weak knee from all the kids sitting on it all the time. Santa
Claus can't really complain about it because then the kids won't feel
comfortable sitting on his knee.  And the whole purpose of Santa Claus is
for kids to sit on his knee while he listens to what they want and promises
to help them if they are really, really good.  Isn't it?  Yes.  Well of
course it would be easier on Santa Claus if the kids shifted some of their
weight a little so it wasn't so heavy on Santa Claus, wouldn't it?  Yes.
Well what's one way of helping Santa?  Don't know.  Well they could always
put their arm around Santa's neck, couldn't they?  Yes.  Well this Santa
Claus happens to have a weak knee too.  How about you put an arm around
Santa's neck, hey?

I don't know why.  Was it the actual words?  Was it the way I said it?  Was
it the wacky story?  Or was it just another human being at the right
moment.  I don't know why.  But I do know that he decided to put both arms
around my neck and hold tight. Real tight.  Not that I could complain.  I
had asked for it.

We wandered past the Returned Services club and headed up the road towards
my place.  He never asked where we were going or what we were doing.  There
was still a fair bit of sniffling and snuffling going on.  And I did get a
cold wet nose brushed against my neck at one stage.  But with the rain
still coming down and the trickles running along the inside of my raincoat
sleeves, well, hey, what's one more little bit of moisture.

The hardest thing of all was trying to pretend that his weight did not
affect me at all.  I wished it didn't.  But I was never an athletic type
and since my recent sojourn in hospital I was even more out of condition
than before.  But, ah well, the price we pay for doing the right thing.
Doing the right thing very rarely comes cheaply.  Or not for me anyway.
Thank goodness we arrived at my place by then.

I carried him around the side because it saved unlocking a door.  Opening
the screen door was a bit of a problem I had my hands full of boy.  He had
his hands full of neck.  But I pushed the screen fully closed and let it
spring out that little bit which was enough for me to get my foot behind
it.  The best pirouette en chamade I'd ever done.  The only one I could
think of, come to that.

The body got carried over the threshold. It had been a long time since I
had last done that.  Still no questions from the body.  A fair bit of
shivering though.  And still some sniffling, but no moaning for the moment.
I told him I wanted to warm the body up but didn't have a fire. Hot water
would have to do.  I got a slight squeeze around the neck and headed off to
the water room.

My place is quite unusual.  It is six-sided with a central courtyard.  The
courtyard is covered over like a big top circus tent with light bronze
tinted polycarbonate roofing.  The street entry is a U-shaped carriageway
with an in and an out to the street.  The bottom part of the U is a
porte-cochere abutting the house.

The porte-cochere is six cars wide and on each side of it are separate
roller shutters for each car space.  A total of twelve roller shutters.  I
can drive the boat under cover, detach the 4WD, drive further along the
exit drive and then back into the adjoining bay next to the boat. I can
then pull the four shutters down on the boat and truck. The next two bays
are for my local runabout and my limousine.  The two bays closest to the
house are usually left open for visitors and driving right through.

>From the porte-cochere one walks through the front doors into the entrance
vestibule.  This takes up all of one of the six sides.  Kids can run around
here in wet weather.  Wet weather gear and boots can be changed here for
house clothes.  Larger parties can be held in here in wet or colder
weather.  It is an excellent place to set out the food and drink for
parties held in the front gardens.  It also tends to keep those receptions
separate from the private parts of the house.

The other five sides are the electronics and entertainment side, the food
preparation and dining side, a sleeping side, a family lounge and library
side with views over Black Neds Bay and Lake Entrance, and the water side.
The centre courtyard, or atrium as I call it, has a formal garden laid out
and maintained according to my cultural traditions.

The water side was where I took the body.  I tend to call it the water room
although it has a number of divisions in it.  There is a long narrow lap
pool, a spa, a sauna, a 16 foot square cold pool, a same size warm pool, a
couple of disabled style toilets with showers, a warm air drying room, and
a bathing room.  I carried him into the bathing room and placed him on a
slatted bench.  The floor of the bathing room is also slatted. Any water in
any part of the room flows through the slats and along the graded concrete
below into the central drain.  It's a wonderful place for water fights.

There are a collection of wooden buckets towards the centre of the room
with a number of wooden stools of various styles and sizes all on wooden
runners.  I filled four buckets respectively with cool, tepid, warm and hot
water.  The body was fascinated especially with the glass wall opposite
looking into the enclosed fernery.  He still hadn't said anything further,
had not really expressed any more emotion other than amazement, had shown
no fearlessness, and had done nothing physical apart from shiver with cold.
I set out various soaps, scrubbers and wash cloths on two of the stools, a
fruit dish on another, and went over to the wall pegs.

My raincoat got hung up, my sandals came off, my shirt and pants came off,
and I put on a long soft bathing robe.  I usually don't need to wear
underwear.  Turning around I found the body was no longer fascinated with
the fernery but seemed more fascinated with something a little more lively.
I didn't bat an eyelid but serenely continued over to him.  He was still
wide-eyed with amazement as I lifted off his tee shirt and then stood him
up.  He allowed me to take his shorts and briefs off and to set them beside
where he had been sitting on the bench.  I picked him up again and went to
adjust his weight. He pre- empted me by placing both arms around my neck
and lifting himself somewhat, while I re-arranged him in my arms.



[ If you would like this story to continue please email me, Yoshi, at
primewordsmith@hotmail.com Positive comments are always welcome.  Many
thanks to David Spencer for editorial assistance and advice on English
usage.]