Maybe it was his upbringing, but why that should be eluded him, maybe it was the time, for this was the 60’s, maybe it was his age, slowly growing through his teenage years or maybe it was just him but he never seemed to bother about loyalty were girls were concerned!
The thing was he had a reputation, quite unjustly like most reputations, but one built on stories, mainly his own, about exploits and conquests; once one has a reputation you tend to live up to it; and so he did. Being an all boy’s school the opportunities for sexual encounters were limited, although there was a healthy undercurrent of activity between boys, mainly confined, but not exclusive to the Boarders. He never actually took part but was tempted by one boy in particular, RH who had gained a reputation as a boyfriend of one or two senior boys and had his attractions! It is funny how quickly we condemn behaviour that is deemed different, yet when in the situation of no other readily available alternative, attitudes and behaviours can soon change. He spent a lot of time in R’s company both in and out of school but nothing happened and as they both grew up they grew apart and went their separate ways; but he was never to condemn nor condone so called abhorrent behaviour again, but rather become less accusatory and more tolerant. However, girls were a different matter as his reputation demanded action!
At parties he found himself attracted to girls that belonged to others or at least were going out with someone either short or in some cases long term; this can easily be explained by the fact that he had a reputation but no girlfriend!
There was one occasion at a party when a friend T, who was a lovely guy and had a steady girlfriend, was not there or at least late arriving so he took advantage and was snogging and groping away with her and to be fair she wasn’t resisting, if anything she was taking the lead, but her friends were saying, “What’s T going to say?” and “I thought you and T were going out?” etc. all aimed at malicious gossip, it was only his reputation as a bit of a hard nut and hers as a nice girl that stopped the story getting to T’s ears! Anyway a good time was had.
He took up with a girl soon after that was a little older and was working and the combination of age, albeit a couple of years and working gave the allusion of experience, and he hoped to gain some of this experience whilst enhancing his reputation! Despite some good times this proved to be an unfounded dream, she was a nice girl and they had fun together but the illusive “experience” was still just a fantasy!
His school life continued apace with little work, lots of sport and some fun; a great combination. He was beginning to have the first stirrings about what he was going to do after school; this had been brought into sharp contrast as he nearly had to leave as his father was made redundant, necessitating a family crisis. He went as far as looking for jobs in Liverpool. He had always liked motorbikes, indeed he had told the lie that he had one, so it was natural that if he couldn’t have one that he should consider working in a garage to be near them.
His father was a representative for a flooring company that either had gone bust or had lain off staff, whatever for the first time in his experience the family had to consider the way they lived, as money was suddenly not readily available. His father asked him to cash in his savings to help; this he did readily without understanding the repercussions but it made him realise the seriousness of the situation and he felt he was directly doing something to alleviate the immediate problem.
But danger was averted, as within a month or so his father got a new job, ironically the best he had ever had, and a new prosperity arrived for the family.
Again, he had no worries so why should anything change….?
No comments:
Post a Comment