Chapter 5

In September of 1966, in preparation for their forthcoming trip to Canada, which was scheduled for the summer of the following year, Charles Adamson decided to treat himself to a brand new Pentax Single-lens reflex camera. Toby was absolutely fascinated by the new toy and as a result of his sudden interest in photography, Charles decided to give him his old camera as it was still serviceable but had little second-hand value. So Toby suddenly became the proud possessor of a well-used but nevertheless quite smart-looking Petri ‘7S’ 35mm camera, complete with built-in light meter and coupled range-finger and a host of other features.

After careful study of the instruction manual and a short course from his father, the delighted teenager was let loose with a roll of black and white film to get used to the feel of the machine. After taking numerous pictures of his mother and younger sister, neither of whom were particularly willing models, Toby set off round the garden to try to find suitable objects to photograph. Amongst the box of accessories was a close-up lens and he derived a great deal of amusement from taking pictures of flowers and insects at close range.

One Saturday afternoon, having exhausted the possibilities at home, Toby set out for the local pond, armed with his camera, to see if he could spot any wild life worth capturing on film. Setting himself up near a patch of lily pads he watched hopefully for the appearance of a frog. He had been sitting patiently for some considerable time when his reverie was disturbed by a voice behind him.

‘Hello there. Looking for something to photograph I see.’

Turning round, the youngster found himself face to face with a bearded stranger.

‘Yes.’ he replied.

‘Any luck yet?’

‘Not so far I’m afraid.’

The young man put down the case that he was carrying and it was only then that Toby realised that the mechanism that he had under his arm was a folding tripod.

‘Oh, you’re a photographer,’ he said, the light dawning.

‘Of sorts,’ replied the young man modestly, ‘I’m on the way to the woods to do a spot of bird watching with my telephoto lens.’

‘Are they difficult to photograph?’

‘No, not really. It’s mostly a question of patience as I expect you’ve found from sitting by the pond.’

‘I’ll say,’ agreed Toby with feeling. ‘My bottom’s gone numb!’

The stocky red-haired man laughed and looking at Toby, he scratched his head thoughtfully.

‘Have we met before?’ he asked. ‘Somehow you look familiar.’

‘I don’t think so,’ replied the young man doubtfully, ‘I live round here though. In Doctor Green’s Lane actually. My name’s Toby Adamson.’

‘Mark Hales,’ said the man, holding out his hand. Toby took it and they shook hands, Toby matched his firm grip.

‘Pleased to meet you,’ he said.

‘Oh, I’ve just realised who you are!’ exclaimed the man suddenly, ‘You’re Charles Adamson’s son, aren’t you?’

‘Yes, that’s right.’

‘He banks with us. I work at the National Marbaloyd in Melvesham.’

‘Oh, I see why you know me then. I was in there with him during last school holiday. I’ve got a Savings Account there.’

‘Ah well,’ said the man, ‘That explains it then.’

‘Do you live round here somewhere too?’ asked Toby politely.

‘Yes, Di, that’s my wife by the way, and I have a house on the Longmeadow estate. We’ve been there for about a year. We bought it when we got married.’

Longmeadow was a recent development, a mixture of bungalows, semi-detached and small detached houses. Situated at the far end of Doctor Green’s Lane, near the main road, it was one of a series of such estates which were gradually springing up, turning the area into a dormitory for the city.

‘You’ll have probably seen me riding about on my bike too then,’ observed Toby, ‘I sometimes pass through there.’

He stood up and stretched his aching limbs.

‘The waiting part’s boring, isn’t it?’ laughed Mark.

‘Very. I think I’m wasting my time to tell the truth.’

‘You can try coming to the woods with me if you like. The wildlife there is usually more co-operative.’

‘Terrific,’ responded Toby and the two of them made their way towards the woods, talking cameras as they went.

When they arrived in what Mark suggested would be a suitable location, he extended his tripod and set it up before carefully opening his camera case and selecting a Pentax single-lens reflex camera body and a ‘zoom’ telephoto lens.

‘How funny,’ said Toby, ‘Your camera is exactly the same as the one that Dad has just bought. He hasn’t got any lenses like those though.’

He inspected the contents of the camera case with considerable interest. ‘This lot must have cost a fortune,’ he breathed, ‘What some super-looking gear.’

‘Yes, it’s not bad,’ agreed Mark modestly, ‘Most of it was second-hand when I bought it though and that saved a lot.’

‘Even so.’

Mark laughed and screwing the lens onto the camera body he mounted it on the tripod and swivelled the panning-arm round. After adjusting the focus, shutter speed and aperture he invited Toby to look through the viewfinder.

‘How amazing,’ breathed the youngster, ‘It looks as if that branch is only about two feet away.’

‘That’s the general idea. This way we won’t frighten off any subjects. Now all we have to do is keep quiet and wait.’

Fortunately their patience was rewarded quite quickly when a couple of starlings alighted on the very branch that Mark had focussed upon. Moving the panning arm slightly, to put them into the centre of the frame, Mark pressed the shutter release cable and there was the distinctive ‘thunk’ as the mirror sprang up out of the way and the shutter fired. The birds were duly captured, only a moment before they flew off, chattering angrily.

All in all the afternoon was highly successful and Mark was particularly pleased when he spotted and was able to photograph a green woodpecker.

‘Well, that’s about it,’ he said at last, ‘I’ve finished the film and I don’t think I’ll start another black-and-white today.’

‘Where do you get your pictures developed?’ asked Toby.

‘I do them myself. I’ve got my own darkroom at home.’

‘Gosh, have you really?’

‘Yes. Listen, I’m planning to develop this film this evening and get it printed up tomorrow. You can come over in the afternoon and watch if you like.’

‘Can I really? That would be great!’ exclaimed Toby enthusiastically.

As they made their way back to Doctor Green’s Lane, Mark explained to his avid pupil the various steps involved in printing a photograph. They stopped outside Toby’s house.

‘Right then. Come over at about 2.30 tomorrow afternoon. You know where we are, it’s Number 17.’

‘O.K. Thanks a lot Mark. I’ll look forward to it.’

They took their leave of one another and Toby found his father mowing the front lawn.

‘That was young Mark Hales from the Bank, wasn’t it?’ he called.

‘Yes, that’s right. We’ve been in the woods together, taking pictures of birds. You should see his gear. He’s got a darkroom too and I’m going to watch him print up the film tomorrow afternoon.’

‘That sounds fun,’ observed his father approvingly and letting out the clutch on the mower, he continued with his task.

The following afternoon Toby approached the front door of Number 17 Longmeadow and was greeted by a diminutive and highly attractive brunette in her early twenties.

‘Hello,’ she said, ‘I’m Diane. You must be Toby. Mark’s reviewing the film he took yesterday. Come on, I’ll take you through to see his pride and joy.’

Toby was led through the house and found that Mark Hales had converted the whole of the garage into a darkroom-cum-studio.

‘Wow!’ exclaimed Toby as he looked round. ‘This is some set-up.’

‘I told you it was his pride and joy,’ laughed Diane, ‘OK I’ll leave you two photo-freaks to it. See you later on for a cup of coffee.’

With that she was gone.

‘Hello Toby,’ said the photographer, ‘You’ve arrived just in time. I’ve cut up the film and put it into the contact printer and I think that the developer and fixer are just about the right temperature, so we can begin.’

Mark consulted the thermometer which was sitting in the dish of developing fluid and nodded. Putting out the overhead light, he plunged the darkroom into the semi-darkness of the orange ‘safe-lamp’, which was mounted on the wall above the long wide desk. As their eyes became accustomed to the gloom, Mark explained that black-and-white photographic paper did not respond to the special light, which meant that they didn’t have to work in total darkness. Having got used to it, Toby found that he could, in fact, see quite clearly.

‘What happens first?’ he asked.

‘What I’m about to do is to make a set of tiny prints of the whole film that I took yesterday,’ replied Mark,’That makes it easier to see what’s actually worth enlarging to full sized photographs.’

Producing a sheet of paper from the light-proof drawer under the desk, he slipped it into the frame of the contact proof printer which was sitting ready on his enlarging easel. This was duly exposed to the light of the enlarger lamp for a short period. The paper was then slid into the first of the three dishes, containing the developer.

‘If you watch carefully for a little while you’ll see the image begin to come up,’ explained Mark.

Toby leaned over the dish and observed the blank sheet of paper intently.

‘Coo!’ he exclaimed suddenly, ‘Yes, here it comes. How amazing.’

He watched, fascinated, as a tiny set of black-and-white photographs appeared on the paper, as if out of thin air.

‘Now it goes through the stop bath to arrest the development and neutralise the paper,’ said Mark, moving the print into the second dish with his forceps, ‘And then finally into the fixer to fix the image onto the paper permanently.’

After a couple of minutes in the final bath, Mark announced that they could have the top light on to get a clear view of the finished article. They blinked under the brightness like a pair of myopic owls and pulling the paper out of the dish, Mark threw it into the waiting sink of cold water to wash off the chemicals. A few moments later he picked it out and dropping it onto the desk he picked up a magnifying glass and began to study it carefully.

‘Hmm,’ he said, ‘Not too bad. I think that there are four, maybe five, that are really worth enlarging. See if you can spot which ones.’

He handed the glass to Toby who scrutinised the print closely, poring over the tiny photos, each one hardly bigger than a couple of postage stamps.

‘Sorry about the top row,’ laughed Mark, ‘I took those yesterday morning.’ Running the glass over the five miniatures at the top of the print Toby was delighted to see that they were all of Diane, wearing nothing but a smile.

‘Oh well,’ he replied, ‘I can see which ones are worth enlarging straight away.’

‘Actually those aren’t terribly good,’ commented Mark disparagingly, ‘But if you like we might try doing up the second from the left if we have time later on.’

‘I’d like that very much,’ responded Toby which caused his new friend much amusement.

‘What about the birds of the feathered variety?’

Toby tore his eyes reluctantly from the images of the naked Diane and began to study the remainder of the little prints. To his satisfaction he was able to spot three of the negatives that Mark deemed worthy of enlargement to 8 x 10 inch prints. Taking the film carefully out of the contact printer to load it into the enlarger, the photographer set to work.

The teenager watched attentively as Mark explained the workings of the enlarger and taught him how to crop a negative to produce a worthwhile print. He was then shown how to judge the exposure time for the paper and by the end of the afternoon there were eight large prints washing in the sink, though only three that Mark professed himself to be completely satisfied with. Going to the door into the house, he opened it and called out:

‘Hey Di, What about that cup of coffee you were talking about?’

‘Sure,’ came the reply, ‘I just put the kettle on as a matter of fact.’

Closing the door again, Mark returned to the enlarger and selected a fresh strip of negatives.

‘Now, as a special treat.’ he chuckled and in no time at all a print of his wife, as naked as a jay-bird, joined the other photographs floating in the sink of water. As he snapped on the overhead light there was a bang on the door and Toby opened it to admit Diane who was carrying a tray with three mugs and a plate of biscuits.

‘How’s it going, guys?’ she asked, setting the tray down on the desk by the enlarger and moving over to the sink to inspect the afternoon’s work.

‘Not bad,’ replied her husband.

‘Hey,’ she cried, as she caught sight of the photograph of herself, ‘What are you trying to do? Pervert this poor innocent boy?’

‘What poor innocent boy?’ asked Toby, looking round the room vaguely.

Both Mark and Diane burst out laughing. Turning back to the print Diane studied it more carefully.

‘Actually, it’s not bad as they go,’ she decided, ‘I’ve got quite a nice expression on my face.’

Toby smothered a laugh and Mark caught sight of the look on his face.

‘Somehow,’ he commented, ‘I don’t think that Toby had noticed your face.’

This remark caused Diane to blush slightly and Toby too, for the comment had not been without justification. Diane Hales, despite her diminutive stature, was blessed with a very curvy figure and full round breasts.

‘Oh you,’ she giggled, punching him playfully on the arm, ‘Come on, show me the rest of the stuff that you’ve done.’

Taking the forceps, Mark laid out all the prints for her inspection. They drank their coffee, ate their biscuits and chatted for a while and Diane then departed with the tray, leaving Mark to explain further points of developing technique to his interested pupil; showing him how to “dodge” and “burn-in” - ways of allowing smaller or greater amounts of light to fall onto certain areas of a print being made from an imperfect negative.

Once they had cleared up the darkroom after the session and Toby was about to take his leave, Mark reached into a drawer and produced a roll of film.

‘Here,’ he said, offering it to the youngster, ‘It’s your turn now. Have a go at exposing that and when you’ve finished it you can bring it over and we’ll develop and print it together.’

‘Gosh, thanks a million,’ breathed Toby and rushed off home to load his camera.

Over the course of the following weekend, Toby and Mark Hales were to become firm friends. Toby’s knowledge and understanding of photography grew steadily as he watched Mark at work, both on location and in his darkroom, as he painstakingly produced top-class photographs for a forthcoming exhibition.

One unusually beautiful warm Sunday in late September, something of an “Indian Summer”, Toby was invited over to Northolt to spend the day with the Stevensons. Loading his camera with a fresh film, he took it with him in the hope that he would be able to persuade Natasha to model for him. As the day was so lovely, the young people adjourned to the poolside after lunch to lie naked in the sun and to his delight Toby found Natasha quite happy to pose for him. Andrew was extremely interested in Toby’s latest acquisition and the latter was more than pleased to give him a quick lesson in photography. Later, as Toby sat telling Natasha and Emma about Mark’s darkroom and studio, Andrew circled round the three of them with the camera, taking pictures like an ace-photographer.

‘Hey, stop wasting my film,’ protested Toby after a while.

‘How are you going to get these developed anyway?’ asked Andrew, ‘They’re a bit rude for the local chemist’s shop don’t you think?’

‘I’m going to do them myself in Mark’s darkroom,’ explained his friend, ‘He won’t mind them one bit.’

‘Are you sure?’ asked Emma.

‘We recently spent some time printing up some photographs that he took of his wife Diane for an exhibition,’ replied Toby, ‘She was naked in those, so I don’t think that these pictures will bother him any.’

Toby was quite right in his assessment. Mark was, in fact, highly intrigued by the film when he took it out of the tank to dry on the following Friday evening.

‘Hello, hello, what have we here?’ he chuckled, holding it up.

‘Thought perhaps I should pay you back for the ones of Di,’ said Toby.

Mark scrutinised the film carefully.

‘Who’s the girl?’ he asked as he looked at the shots of Natasha, ‘Somebody very beautiful, I can see that.’

‘It’s Natasha Stevenson,’ answered Toby and then told Mark something of the Stevenson family and his friendship with them.

‘I imagine the other one is Andrew’s girlfriend then,’ deduced Mark as he looked at the later negatives.

‘That’s right. Andrew took that lot.’

‘How super that you all go naked so casually,’ commented Mark enviously.

‘Yes, it’s terrific,’ agreed Toby, ‘It started when the Stevensons new pool was first finished and I went over to stay for a few days in August. I was terrified by the idea of it at first, but funnily enough I got used to it in a flash. To be honest I take it a bit for granted these days.

‘You blasé young man,’ laughed Mark, ‘Well, these should be fun to print up anyway. Come over and we’ll do them tomorrow afternoon.’

After lunch on Saturday, Toby pedalled down to Longmeadow to find that Mark had already prepared the darkroom for the printing session and was on the point of making a contact print of the negatives.

‘Hello Toby, I’ve been getting ahead a bit,’ he said keenly.

‘So I can see,’ laughed the young man as Mark adjusted the enlarger.

‘I think that the best ones of Natasha are both in the second row. The third from the left is quite a nice study actually.’

‘Uh huh,’ Toby looked at the tiny print with interest.

Mark quickly transferred the strip of negatives to the enlarger and turned out the top light. The print was soon made and fixed and the light was turned back on to inspect the result.

‘I thought so,’ breathed Mark, ‘She really is the most heavenly-looking creature that I’ve ever set eyes on.’

‘She is lovely, isn’t she,’ agreed Toby looking at the photograph of Natasha fondly.

‘She’s better than lovely,’ responded Mark. ‘And she’s so photogenic too. Absolutely natural - not a trace of self-consciousness about her. Look at that face, it’s marvellous. Eyes, nose, mouth, chin, all faultless. Very high cheekbones too. See?’ he pointed with his print forceps.

‘Oh yes,’ agreed Toby, ‘She’s very beautiful, there’s no doubt about that.’

‘She looks Scandinavian. Is she?’

‘I don’t think so. Both of her parents are English as far as I know.’

‘I’m sure that there must be Swedish or Danish blood somewhere amongst her ancestry,’ insisted Mark.

‘I’ll ask,’ chuckled Toby.

‘She really is an absolute doll.’ enthused his new friend, poring over the print. ‘Look at that body. It’s perfect from head to toe, not an ounce of spare flesh anywhere. She has superb posture too. Is she a dancer? Ballet perhaps?’

‘No, but she’s a keen gymnast,’ replied Toby, ‘She swims a lot and plays tennis too.’

‘That would explain it. She does look fit. An incredible combination of wholesome and clean and innocent and sexy all at the same time.’

‘Oh yes, she’s all of those,’ chuckled Toby, amused by Mark’s enthusiasm, ‘Especially the last.’

‘I thought you told me she wasn’t your girlfriend?’ responded Mark immediately.

‘No, she isn’t worse luck, but even so I know her pretty well.’

He assumed a sphinx-like countenance and Mark roared with laughter.

‘Lucky you!’ he exclaimed, clapping the youngster on the back.

‘Let’s print up another one,’ said Toby, turning back to the contact print, ‘Can we try number 25. It’s one that Andrew took of the three of us.’

‘All right,’ agreed the photographer and loaded the negative strip into the enlarger. He turned off the overhead light and projected the image onto the enlarger easel, ‘Hmm, it’s in need of a bit of attention,’ he commented, ‘See what you can do with it.’

Andrew had actually been a little too far away from his subjects and Toby had already noticed, from the contact print, that the negative was about a stop under-exposed. Adjusting the enlarger, he cropped the surplus areas away before adjusting the focus and aperture.

‘That’s about the best I can do I think,’ he said at last.

‘It’s a lot better,’ agreed Mark, looking at it critically, ‘But I would have placed the main subject just a little more centrally.’

He made a small adjustment to the easel.

‘OK,’ said Toby, ‘Let’s print it up then. How long should I give it? I can still never work that bit out.’

‘Only experience will help you with that,’ laughed Mark, ‘Try giving it nineteen and a half.’

Toby placed a piece of paper into the easel and exposed it for the suggested time. He then passed it through the developer and stop dishes. A while later he took the finished print from the fixer bath and dumped it unceremoniously into the sink to wash.

‘Let’s have a look at it,’ he said and turned on the top light.

Mark took the print from the water and placed it on the desk.

‘You did a pretty good job on tidying it up.’ he observed. ‘If it had been printed commercially it wouldn’t have been worth a second glance. You were right about the negative being slightly under-exposed, but in this case that isn’t a crime, because it has had the effect of deepening your suntans. That’s one thing I particularly like about you all. No white patches.’

‘Comes from always sunbathing naked,’ laughed Toby.

‘One criticism of the cameraman. He should have taken this shot from a much lower angle. It would have worked a lot better.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes, the background that he picked up is messy and distracting. If he’d been lower he would probably have missed out the table and chairs completely.’

‘I see what you mean,’ said Toby, looking at the print thoughtfully.

‘It’s nice of you and the girls though. Very natural and unposed. My God, Emma’s stunning too, isn’t she?’

‘Oh yes. They’re altogether a marvellous pair,’ replied Toby.

‘They certainly are,’ quipped Mark, ‘I’ve seldom seen nicer ones!’

‘Oh you clot,’ laughed Toby, ‘I meant Emma and Natasha, not Emma’s breasts.’

‘Right,’ chuckled his photographer friend, ‘Which next?’

‘How about number 15?’

‘Number 15 it is.’

By the end of the afternoon they had made up ten prints and Toby had learned a lot.

‘I’ll never be able to thank you enough, Mark,’ he said as they began to tidy up companionably.

‘Oh don’t mention it. It made a nice change from doing my own work.’

‘Can I give you something for the paper and everything?’

‘No certainly not. I won’t hear of it.’

‘I really can’t thank you enough,’ said the youngster gratefully.

Toby looked again at the work that they had done and when he came to one particular enlargement that they had made of Emma, he was reminded of something that he had been meaning to ask Mark about. He resolved to do so at once so he took a deep breath and dived in.

‘Mark, do you know anything about the pill?’ he asked.

‘You mean the birth control pill, I imagine,’ chuckled Mark.

‘Yes, that’s right.’

‘Not a lot really, except that it doesn’t suit Di.’

‘Doesn’t it?’

‘No, it’s useless. It gives her a vaginal infection called “thrush” which makes love-making impossible because it actually makes it painful.’

‘Oh dear,’ sighed Toby, ‘That sounds awful.’

‘It was,’ agreed Mark, ‘It took the edge off our honeymoon a bit, I can tell you.’

‘What a shame.’

Mark grinned. ‘Fortunately we weren’t exactly virgins by the time we got married so it didn’t matter that much. We made up for it later on too.’

‘Ah well,’ Toby sighed, ‘So much for that idea.’

‘What’s all this about may one ask?’ enquired Mark.

‘Well it’s like this,’ began Toby. ‘You see at the beginning of the summer I discovered some Durex in the toilet at a petrol station miles from here and bought a couple of packets.’

‘Did you?’ laughed Mark, ‘I didn’t know they sold them in petrol stations.’

‘That’s the thing,’ sighed Toby mournfully, ‘They don’t generally seem to. I’ve looked just about everywhere around here since then, with no luck at all.’

‘What’s this got to do with the pill?’

‘Well, Andrew and Emma made love for the first time using the last of the contraceptives that I’d bought.’

‘What happened to the rest of them?’ asked Mark teasingly.

Toby blushed.

‘Yes, they are quite good for that,’ laughed his new friend, amused by the youngster’s discomfort, ‘I’ve used them that way myself too.’

Toby grinned. ‘After that though they started taking risks,’ he continued.

‘Oh no, you don’t mean “being careful drivers”!’ exclaimed Mark.

‘Sorry?’

‘Definition of a careful driver,’ explained Mark, ‘Is one who pulls out to avoid a child.’

‘Very good,’ chuckled Toby, ‘I’ll tell them that. It’s exactly what they were doing to be honest, but then one time they didn’t,’

‘Didn’t what?’

‘Well, one time when Emma stayed over at Andrew’s they made love for the first time with her on top instead of underneath. For the first time ever, she knew that she was going to come just from doing it, instead of having Andrew rub her before or afterwards. The only trouble was that when she did come, so did Andrew and because he was underneath her he couldn’t pull out and all his sperm went right up inside her.’

‘Oh my Lord.’

‘Her period was almost two weeks late and they both nearly died from the worry of it. They haven’t dared make love since then.’

‘Oh what a shame.’

‘The daft thing about it to my mind is that Andrew could easily get birth control from his parents.’ said Toby.

‘Why doesn’t he then?’

‘Because Emma won’t let him. You see she’s only sixteen and she’s petrified that if Andrew’s parents know they’re making love, then her parents might find out too. She says her mother would kill her and her father would probably kill Andrew as well.’

‘Don’t they like him then?’

‘Oh yes, I think so, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. You see Emma’s older sister Caroline just got herself pregnant.’

‘I take it she isn’t married.’

‘That’s right. As if that isn’t bad enough, the father of the child jolly well is.’

‘Jesus, I can quite see why Emma wants to stay out of trouble in the circumstances. What’s happening to Caroline by the way?’

‘Well I gather that she’s going to keep the baby, but the whole thing is so complicated.’

‘How are her parents being these days?’

‘Terrific now, though I gather that they were pretty dreadful when she had to tell them about it in the first place.’

‘I’m afraid that it’s not an unusual sort of reaction,’ sighed Mark.

‘No, I guess not,’ agreed Toby.

‘How did Caroline manage to get pregnant? Was it a mistake?’

‘No, the silly idiots never used anything. Her boyfriend said that he didn’t like Durex you see and she wasn’t on the pill.’

‘He sounds like a selfish sort of pig,’ observed Hark.

‘I think he is. Caroline hasn’t seen hide nor hair of him since she told him she was pregnant.’

‘Typical. Well I can quite see why Emma wants to go onto the pill in the circumstances.’

‘Well she doesn’t really. She and Andrew were quite happy using Durex, but we can’t seem to get hold of any more. None of us have got the nerve to go into the chemist’s and ask for them. Not even Natasha and she’ll usually do anything!’

‘Oh, well for heaven’s sake,’ laughed Mark, ‘If it’s condoms you want then there’s no problem whatsoever. That’s what Di and I use and I buy them in bulk through mail order. They’re much cheaper that way. I can let you have as many as you want.’

‘Wow, can you really?’ asked Toby enthusiastically. ‘That would be simply marvellous. Andrew and Emma will be thrilled to bits.’

‘I’ll give you some before you go.’ said Mark. ‘Hang on a second, I’ll get them before we forget.’

‘Oh great!’ exclaimed Toby, his eyes sparkling.

Mark disappeared upstairs and returned a short time afterwards bearing two large handfuls of condoms.

‘Will this be enough to be going on with?’ he asked.

‘Golly, there must be a couple of dozen there. That’s loads.’ replied the youngster gratefully.

‘I’ll put them into an old photographic paper box for you,’ suggested Mark, ‘‘They’ll arouse less suspicion at home that way.’

‘Thanks very much, that’s a super idea.’

‘Now look.’ said Mark seriously as he came out of the darkroom with a suitable box. ‘You be sure to keep Andrew and Emma well supplied, do you hear? When you run out you can have some more. Ask in good time too so that they don’t go taking any more risks.

‘Listen, how much do we owe you for these?’ asked Toby.