Chapter 6: A Naked Neighbour

Arriving at Barneys, the door was opened almost immediately. Barney took him through to the kitchen and offered him a drink. They were soon seated around the table with a coffee each.

Danny smiled at him and said, ‘I know you’re going to find a lot of this embarrassing, but just remember it’s you that is embarrassed, it won’t embarrass me. Also, remember the reward that’s waiting for you this evening. All you need to do to enjoy that reward is to persist in your learning. Just think about what you could lose if you give up.’

‘Now, when did you first meet Monica?’ ‘Two weeks ago today,’ Barney replied. ‘Can you describe how it’s changed your life so far,’ Danny asked. Barney smiled and disappeared into his thoughts. After a few moments he said, ‘Most of all it’s given me hope for a future, I hadn’t realised how sad and lonely my life had become. The only people I meet are those at work.’

‘Also, I feel so happy all the time, I don’t know why, it just happened after we met and has stayed like that. And at night-time... ‘ he started to say, then blushed and stopped. Danny smiled at him, ‘At night-time you do what all boys do and have happy dreams?’ he asked.

Still looking a bit red, Barney answered, ‘Yes,’ very quietly. ‘Before you met Monica,’ Danny asked, ‘When did you last have happy exciting dreams like that?’ Barney looked sad briefly, ‘I’ve been trying so hard to remember,’ he said, ‘But I can’t.’

‘Apart from work, what do you do with your time?’ Danny asked. ‘I like walking,’ Barney told him, ‘I often go out into the countryside of a weekend. I like watching cricket, I used to play in my younger days. I enjoy my garden and I like travel, history, and architecture although I’ve done very little of it. It was because I decided to go on a coach trip that I saw advertised in the local paper to Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire that I met Monica.’

‘I only went because I’d seen pictures of Fountains Abbey in the dentists waiting room recently and it looked spectacular. It was.’ he added. ‘Do you have any medical issues?’ Danny asked. ‘Not really,’ he said. ‘I had my appendix out about twenty years ago. I also had a suspected kidney stone about ten years ago, but when I went for tests the hospital said there was no trace of one, but I could have passed it.’

‘What sort of work do you do?’ Danny asked. ‘I’m a general labourer on a building site but I also lay drains and paving.’ ‘Do you have anyone working with you?’ ‘On some sites, depending on the job, I’m given one of the young labourers to help me.’ he said. ‘How do you get on with them?’ Danny asked. ‘So, so,’ he said. ‘Half the time they’ve got an earplug in and never hear anything you tell them.’

‘Mind you, there was one a few years back,’ he said, ‘He was interested in learning and always asking questions. I enjoyed working with him, but he soon picked things up and went off to do jobs for himself. He thanked me for teaching him when he left. I felt quite sad after he had gone.’

‘Do you have a settee?’ Danny asked. ‘Yes, in the lounge.’ Barney replied sounding surprised. ‘Can we go through?’ Danny asked. In the lounge Danny said, ‘Take your shoes off and lie down.’

When Barney was settled, Danny sat at his side. ‘I’m starting to learn a lot about you,’ Danny told him, ‘But I need to know a lot more yet. I also need you to feel very much at ease with me. In a moment I’ll ask you to turn over. Then I’ll massage down your back from head to foot and back whilst I ask you more questions.’

‘When you are working on site in the summer, what do you wear?’ he asked. ‘Boots and trousers,’ Barney said. ‘Unless its wet or cold I’m usually stripped to the waist.’ ‘That’s good,’ Danny said, ‘So as you are used to being seen with nothing on your top, what I’d like you to do, if you feel ok about it, is strip to your waist before you turn over.’

He explained the relationship between body and mind, then added, ‘And of course massage on the skin is always more relaxing than on your clothes. You also need to get used to someone new seeing you in various stages of undress. But remember everything is your choice,’ Danny said, ‘Turn when you’re ready.’ Barney sat up, stripped his top things off, lay down and turned over.

As he rested his hands on Barneys head and started massaging, Danny could see he had a well sunburnt top with broad muscular shoulders. As he massaged, he asked, ‘Before you met Monica, when was the last time you dreamt or thought about having a girlfriend.’

Moving on down what were clearly very powerful muscles, as Danny reached his waist and moved up onto his cheeks, Barney replied, ‘I can’t remember. I know I did when I was at school and a bit afterwards, but it

sort of faded away when it never happened and didn’t seem likely.’

Reaching his feet having sensed no tension when he had passed over his cheeks, Danny started back up his legs. ‘Who was your best pal at school?’ he asked. ‘I’ve never been much of a mixer,’ Barney said, ‘So I only had one. Colum was a black immigrant who arrived just as we started secondary school. At that time there were hardly any black people in this area.’

‘I don’t know if it was because I saw that a lot of kids felt awkward with him, or if it was because he was very shy too, but we hit it off right away and became inseparable throughout our school years.’

Danny moved off his cheeks onto his back as he asked, ‘Did you get together much out of school?’ ‘Quite a lot,’ Barney said. ‘We only lived a few streets away from each other, so we often got together. Neither of us was academically bright so we usually helped each other with homework. Also, things we’d been taught at school but hadn’t fully understood. Neither of us were bold enough to actually ask a question out loud in class.’

As Danny reached his head, he told him to turn over. ‘Before we continue,’ Danny told him, ‘I want to do a test on your heart. You’ve been lying down for a while now, so your heart has slowed down. I’m going to measure your heartbeat, then ask you to do five press ups. Then return to the settee.’

Barney looked at him blank. ‘What’s a press up?’ he asked. ‘I’ve heard of them, but I have no idea what they are.’ ‘They’re an exercise to build up the muscles in your shoulders and arms,’ Danny told him. ‘Clearly you don’t need that, but they’re good for checking your heart too.’

‘I’ll show you,’ Danny said. He dropped to the floor and did five. Barney watched him then said, ‘That doesn’t look too difficult.’ Danny got up and rested his fingertips over Barneys heart. As he felt it’s steady beat, he counted them and watched the clock. After fifteen seconds he had counted seventeen beats so that was sixty-eight beats per minute. Fine for a heart at rest.

Barney got up and did five press ups without any noticeable effort. As he got back on the settee Danny thought to himself, he could probably have kept going for ages.

As soon as Barney was lying flat, Danny put his hand back on his chest and counted. This time his heart rate had gone up to seventy-nine beats per minute. ‘I’ll need to test that again in one minute’s time.’ Danny told him.

Massaging his head, he asked, ‘Apart from homework, what else did you and Colum get up to.’ ‘I’m not sure whether he liked them before hand or if he was just glad of having someone to be with,’ Barney told him. ‘But he always seemed to enjoy going walking with me. We swam as well occasionally. I even taught him to play cricket.’

‘Where did you go swimming?’ Danny asked as he moved down over his chest which had an average growth of hairs all over it. ‘Where we used to go walking, there were several lakes and rivers in the area,’ Barney said, ‘So we swam in those sometimes.’ ‘Did you ever go to a swimming pool?’ Danny asked.

‘No,’ Barney said, ‘That never appealed to either of us.’ As Lewis massaged his padded but quite firm stomach, he asked, ‘Did you go prepared to swim or was it just a spur of the moment thing?’ ‘Usually spur of the moment,’ Barney said. ‘We used to carry a haversack each with a drink and some food in, so we always put a towel in as well.’