The 'Cousins'

Part Thirty : Steaks and Mistakes

Greg felt small pulses of electricity surge through his arms as he gently massaged ointment into Jess's leg with tender, circular motions of his fingertips. Jess lay with the side of his head on the pillow and his eyes closed, perfectly relaxed, enjoying Greg's ministrations and the comfort they brought to him. 

  There was something very special about this moment for Greg. 

  The closeness. 

  The Trust. 

  The intimacy. 

  Round and round went his fingers on the boy's soft, smooth skin sensing the rippling of the muscles beneath. It was a mystical moment, seeming to seal them into a capsule that shielded them from the rest of the world. The room was a bubble with just the two of them inside and it felt so perfect, so right that they were here together- and this close. 

  Greg's hands felt like they were kneading soft, pliable dough as they firmly, but sensitively worked the salve into the boy's body. Greg did not want this instant or its sense of close bonding to pass, so he stretched out his attentions to prolong the moment until the distant chime of the Town Hall clock striking the half hour snapped him out of his reverie.  He looked at his watch to check the time and flicked Jess's buttock lightly with his fingernails to rouse the boy from his somnolence.

  'We'd best be going! It's half eight already and I'm hungry. You get dressed while I clean away this stuff.'

  Greg collected the wet towels and creams to stow them away while Jess stretched his legs on the bed, keeping his eyes closed.  He pleaded sleepily, 'Do we have to go?' 

  'Yes, hurry up and get dressed,' Greg replied curtly and hurried back from the kitchenette wiping his hands on another towel.  He lifted the edge of the bed an inch or two, threatening to tip Jess out onto the floor like a sack of corn to hurry him along.

  'OK, OK, take it easy,' Jess cried, now fully awake. He grabbed his clothes from a chair in his hand as he rolled off the bed.

  High spirits took over and they were laughing and joking moments later as they rushed out of the chalet on their way to dinner at Harry's Place.  In the dim light Jess didn't see the box on the verandah until he stumbled over it.

   'What the heck ..' he exclaimed as he lost his balance and grasped a wooden verandah stanchion to stop himself from falling over. Greg was behind him, saw what was happening and threw his hands around Jess's waist to give him more stability.

  'Phew that was close. 'Jess muttered, 'what is it?' 

  Assured that no harm had befallen the boy Greg couldn't resist the tease and spoke in a slow and deliberate way, as if he was talking to a one or two year old child.

  'It's ... a ... big ... cardboard ... box.'

  Jess tittered as he punched Greg lightly on the arm. 'I can see that! What I meant was, what's it doing here?'

  'I don't know yet,' Greg replied as he bent down and flashed his key ring torch to read the label. 'It's got my name on it. I guess it's the stuff Wayne Fisher said he would send up, let's get it inside.'

  The box was labelled 'Fragile' and 'This Way Up'.  With due care they manoeuvred the box into the chalet where they opened it up to see bottles, boxes of chemicals, pipettes and other laboratory glassware.

  'Wow,' Jess exclaimed, ' it's like out of the science lab.'

  Greg took a small, grooved bottle of Phenolphthalein out of the boy's hands, put it back in the box and closed the lid.