Chapter 4: A Body in the Canal

Wednesday morning found Ron sailing along well on his way towards Birmingham, happy with his progress. He sailed until one o’clock, going through several locks and negotiating a swing bridge. Stopping at a small town, he went into the shops, had lunch in a café then went to the supermarket to stock up.

Returning to the boat, he put all his shopping away, made himself a coffee, then set sail once more, drinking his coffee as he went. As the canal meandered around the edge of town, there were many bridges to sail under as well as a couple of locks to go through.

Most of the bridges were the original bridges, built over a century ago across a short section of single width canal and no tow path, but as he approached the far side of town, there was a much newer road bridge which spanned the full width canal as well as the towpath. It was also a little higher than most canal bridges.

As two boats could pass comfortably under the bridge, plus the canal was straight at that point giving long range visibility, Ron was paying little attention to the actual bridge. As Ron reached about two boat lengths away from the bridge, his eye caught movement over the parapet. Glancing up he saw three heads looking over at the canal. He noticed they were teenagers and assumed they were just watching his boat pass.

He looked back along the canal ahead of him, then he saw something falling from the bridge, hitting the water with a big splash. It took him a few seconds to realise that what he had seen falling was a body, then throwing the control into reverse, he turned the speed up full. The engine screamed as it tried to drive the propeller backwards whilst the boat was still moving forward.

Nothing seemed to happen for a few moments, the boat kept moving towards where the body had entered the water. Then slowly the boat came to a halt before starting to move backwards. As soon as he saw backwards movement, Ron turned down the speed and put the boat in neutral. Then he jumped ashore, running towards the front of the boat.

Archie was seventeen. He had run away from home six weeks earlier. Since then, he had been sleeping rough and begging for money to get food. He had been sitting quietly on the bridge, his back against the wall, asking passers-by for help with buying some food.

A group of teenagers came along and started poking fun at him. A couple of them started kicking him which was enough to make most of them decide to move on, not wanting to be involved. The two doing the kicking kept at it, then seeing their mates leaving them to it, they grabbed hold of him and flung him over the bridge.

Archie had no idea he was sitting on a bridge, let alone a canal bridge, so he was terrified when he was sent flying over the parapet and started dropping. He screamed out in terror, then seeing he was heading for water, screamed again as he couldn’t swim.

Hitting the water knocked the air out of him and he sank below the surface convinced he was about to drown. As the water closed over his head, he was sure his end was nigh, then a second later he hit the bottom with a thud. Even in his state of terror he realised he hadn’t gone very far down. Thinking that if he stood up and pushed up hard with his feet, he might make the surface and be able to grab the bank, he put his feet on the bottom and pushed himself upright.

To his total amazement his head shot out of the water, then he found himself standing on the bottom with the water just up to his waist. Like a great many people, he didn’t know that most canals are only a few feet deep. He took great gulps of air, then found another terror. A boat was heading directly towards him. By the sound of the screaming engine, it was coming at full speed and would hit him in seconds. He froze on the spot, his eyes fixed on the bow, waiting for the impact.

Suddenly the roar of the engine subsided and he realised the boat had stopped moving towards him, it was just six feet away from him by now. A young man came running along the towpath and offered him his hand. Archie took one step towards the side of the canal, took his hand and was hoisted up onto the tow path. He collapsed on the floor, soaked and shaking.

“Are you hurt,” the young man asked him? “My back feels bruised from the fall,” he told him, “I think I’ve a cut on my leg and there are bruises from where they kicked me.” “Are you able to stand?” Ron asked him after introducing himself. Archie told him his name and with Ron’s help got a little unsteadily to his feet. Once Ron was sure he could walk without doing any further damage, he helped him along to the stern and put him on board.” Just sit there for the moment,” he told him. “I’m going to sail a little further up away from the bridge, then I’ll moor up, get you dry and check your injuries. Unless you want me to call you an ambulance.”

“No, no ambulance,” Archie told him, “I don’t want any fuss. But I had a big bin bag of clothes and things with me on the bridge.” “You were the only thing thrown off,” Ron told him, “Stay where you are whilst I go and have a look.” He jumped ashore then went up the steps at the side of the bridge. Looking along he could see the bin bag against the wall. Walking along, he looked in, saw it was clothes, so he took it back down to the boat.

“Oh, great,” Archie said, “Thanks so much, that’s everything I have.” Ron put the boat in gear and sailed under the bridge. Just past the bridge was an industrial area with plain brick walls on both sides of the canal. Ron pulled into the side and moored up.

Going back on board, he told Archie to follow him down into the galley. Ron went through to the dining area and took the table down to make more room then told Archie to come through and strip all his wet things off. Archie was still shaking after his experience, so Ron helped him take his things off, explaining as he did, that he was going to put him in the shower next so he could get cleaned up and warm.

Ron decided Archie looked about seventeen. He was very slim and about five feet seven in height. He seemed quire wiry, but his size made him look weak at first glance, probably why the gang had picked on him. As he took his top off, Ron could see a bad scratch on his back, probably from something dumped on the bottom of the canal. He also had some bruises on his ribs from the attack. Before he took his trousers off, Ron told him to empty everything out of his pockets and lay it all out on the seat to dry out.

With his trousers off, Ron could see another cut on his thigh, plus a bruise on the side just above his knee. Ron turned the shower on and felt it until it was running warm, then said “Take your shorts off and stick them in the sink, then get under the shower and get warm.”

Archie looked a bit embarrassed at stripping off, but realised it was necessary. He put his shorts in the sink then stepped into the shower. He felt better immediately, and the clean hot water took the chill off him and soothed his bruises.

Ron put some hot water in the sink and washed his shorts, ringing them out afterwards ready to put outside to dry. Telling Archie to come out of the shower, Ron explained that as there was limited water stored in the boat, he needed to stop the water whilst he put soap on, then get back under the shower to rinse it off quickly.

As Archie stepped out, he started shivering violently. He assured Ron he wasn’t cold, so Ron knew it was the shock of his experience. “You just stand still whilst I soap you,” he told him. He rubbed some soap into his hair and over his face and head, then all over his back, over and between his cheeks and down both legs. Turning him round, he rubbed some over his chest which had a small but thick patch of hairs on it. Doing under his arms he then did his stomach and down both legs to his feet. Finally, he rubbed some into his tuft of pubic hairs then asked him to put his feet apart. Reaching between his legs he rubbed some up between his cheeks and over his balls, then over his cock which was quite long and bigger than his body size would suggest. He was uncircumcised, so Ron slid his foreskin back and rubbed some soap all over it.