Chapter 10

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” said Dr Kelleher. “Professor Palatinsky is on the west coast and it’s still morning there. I sent him copies of your EEG scans. He confirmed that there’s absolutely nothing you need to worry about but he asked that if you’re ever in California on holiday, to drop by so he can run his own tests. He’s got rather more advanced equipment than the NHS.”

More smiles all round; the evening was turning out to be a good one.

“I’ve approved Jon’s discharge,” she continued, “but I’d like to continue monitoring Jon for a while. Would you mind coming back in about a month’s time for another EEG, or sooner if he has another headache?”

Mum looked at me for my opinion. I nodded. “That shouldn’t be a problem,” said Mum. Between them they sorted out a date, and then I was discharged.

I had missed out on an evening meal at the hospital and Mum had been too busy to prepare anything so we stopped off at a Thai restaurant on the way home and had a celebratory meal.

When we got home we discussed the issue of my returning to school. Mum said that Dex had brought schoolwork home for me. Since I was now some days behind, she suggested it might be sensible to catch up at home then return to school at the beginning of the next school week. And that would give plenty of opportunity for any residual issues to become apparent. That sounded like a good plan to me so I agreed. Janey was jealous that I was going to end up missing a whole week of school.

The next day I finished off a sizeable portion of my schoolwork catch-up. It made me realise just how much of the school day was wasted. I missed out on practical sessions and lab work, and not having teachers who could answer questions immediately was a problem but, if I couldn’t resolve any questions using textbooks and the internet, I made a note to ask the teachers in person when I saw them next.

Dex came round after school, bringing a fresh load of catch-up material. I told him I had been in hospital because of a crippling headache that had made me pass out. I made no mention of ending up in Alex Ferguson’s bed and, since he didn’t raise the subject, I guessed our attempts to keep it quiet were succeeding.

The following day, after completing my catch-up of schoolwork, I finally got around to unloading the metal detector from the back of my bicycle, where it had remained since my race back from the moors. After a thorough clean, I reluctantly put it away since I couldn’t imagine Dad allowing me to go to the moors again anytime soon. I was keen to go back to try to find the headband again but that was something I couldn’t explain to Dad. I’d have to try to earn his trust again.

I spent the rest of the day reading. Having had an easy day, when my normal school night bedtime arrived I wasn’t tired so, with my parents’ permission, I stayed up late watching a film on TV that I wanted to see.

While I was getting ready for bed, I mused at how great it was to have my privacy back. Although I had my own room at the hospital, there was always the possibility that a nurse or orderly would saunter in without warning. Even the bathroom facilities were shared and lacked privacy. But here at home, I was able to lock myself in the bathroom to ensure complete privacy.

I had several days worth of sperm in my balls and I felt horny. I was scared of masturbating because that hadn’t worked out very well last time. But since I was still in a state of disbelief about my arriving in Alex Ferguson’s bed, I thought about risking it. What were the odds of it happening a second time? Standing in the shower underneath the cascade of warm water, as if by instinct my hand went to my dick while I was musing, and by the time I had come to the hormone-driven conclusion that masturbating might not be so terrible, I had stroked myself to aching hardness.