Chapter 4
Nigel Rejects a Friend
After dismissal, Nigel walked home so distracted he hardly paid
attention to where he was going. Ian had been his therapist, and had
medical professional. Nevertheless, Mummy and Daddy clearly believed
it would be very bad if he did. Mr. Patel had said a gardener was not
a medical professional, so for a gardener, even a professional one, to
touch a small boy's penis would have been very bad. And for Nigel it
When the worried lad looked up from the pavement, he discovered with a
shock he had quite by chance walked down Wickham Street, and was at
that instant passing in front of Harry Campbell's house. And it would
Harry was the gardener at St. Peters Church, and had for some time
been Nigel's special friend. They'd first met in the church garden.
Right off, Harry seemed congenial and accepting, no small gesture
every last stitch of clothing because he had been so hot. It was
Harry who shared his lunch with him, and who listened and sympathised
with him, and who taught him a special incantation to help him stay in
his clothes when he should, who held his hand when they went to find
Mummy and Daddy and Father Schroeder, and who had helped Daddy put in
a special garden for him, so he could play and be comfortable in
privacy. Of course, the over-middle-aged mustachioed man and the
young wisp of a boy, with so little in common, almost immediately
became intimate friends.
When Nigel discovered Harry lived nearby, the boy frequently visited
him. Harry, too, had a special private garden, and he would do
and they were usually both naked as summer sunlight. Once or twice,
after getting especially dirty, they'd have a bath together, then lie
on the big bed clothed in nothing more than affection, talking and
was like a big furry teddy bear, loved it, too. They were as close as
any two could ever be.
out. But that day he felt differently. The boy was swept with
apprehension when he saw the house, and he walked a little faster,
hoping Harry wouldn't see him. But Harry did.
"Nigel!" Harry shouted with a smile from his front door, "Come here
for a bit lad. I've got something for you!"
But Nigel only walked a bit faster still.
"Nigel!" the man called after him in surprise.
"Bye, Harry," Nigel finally blurted out, "I have to go home right
away. Bye, Harry. Bye!"
Then he broke into a run, his Pooh bag jouncing frantically along as
he sprinted away down the lane.
HMSVV Christmas 2011
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