A coupla months ago I met on the train a guy I've known for 17 years. When I first met him, he was 17, and I was 42. He was in a ballet at my daughter's ballet school and he was cute as -- and obviously gay. But I'm married and I try to be faithful, and anyway, even if I wasn't and didn't, I don't do 17 year olds. It's perfectly legal in Victoria. Nevertheless. I used to see him on the train from time to time. He was going to VCA ( Victorian College of the Arts), which has an attached high school for would-be thespians.  |
| Rudolf Nureyev |
Then he started as a ballet teacher (by then he was in his mid twenties) , and I went to him for lessons for a while. Ballet is very intimate. Your teacher has to show you how to do steps, how to stand, how to hold your body, head, arms, how to turn out your legs, and so on. So there's this warm hand on you, pressing your back in or out a little, demonstrating how to improve turnout, kneeling in front of you arranging your feet into the correct line. You are in lycra tights (with a dance thong, called a "dance belt", underneath). He's in sweats, sometimes, and tights at others. You are in a muck sweat from exercising, your T-shirt sodden, sweat in your groin and your bum-crack, sweat dripping off your face. And there's this really, really nice bloke, gay, and frankly with a classic dancer's build (muscled legs, delicious bum, broad back, perfect posture) stroking you. Well, thank goodness for padded 'dance belts' is all I can say!
Anyway, he went overseas to pursue his career and I didn't see him for a few years. Then I see this very handsome bloke on the train, and well, look, LOL. And it's him. "Nigel!" He's genuinely really pleased to see me. He's still cute, still slim and sexy, still very attractive. He's even nicer than I remember. And I get a strong impression that he might be interested in me. He's broken up with his guy. He's available. He gives me his mobile number. So as we're coming into his station, he stands up and I do too, to say goodbye, and the train lurches over some points, and suddenly I'm in his arms. Male pectorals, male body, male arms, male stubble, male smell. His blue eyes smiling at me, amused, accepting. His hand light on my back.
All overish.
Am I going to phone him? No. I've always avoiding getting close to gay-shaded guys. I'm not so strong-willed I can resist the desire and the need for male closeness. Not that I would make love, but that I might grow too fond of him and get hurt in the process. That's happened a couple of times to me in the past. It makes me lonely, perhaps, to be cautious about friendships, because the truth is straight guys don't get it, and I try not to get too close to gay-shaded guys, but that's the way it is. Suck it up, sunshine.
Anyway, he went overseas to pursue his career and I didn't see him for a few years. Then I see this very handsome bloke on the train, and well, look, LOL. And it's him. "Nigel!" He's genuinely really pleased to see me. He's still cute, still slim and sexy, still very attractive. He's even nicer than I remember. And I get a strong impression that he might be interested in me. He's broken up with his guy. He's available. He gives me his mobile number. So as we're coming into his station, he stands up and I do too, to say goodbye, and the train lurches over some points, and suddenly I'm in his arms. Male pectorals, male body, male arms, male stubble, male smell. His blue eyes smiling at me, amused, accepting. His hand light on my back.
All overish.
Am I going to phone him? No. I've always avoiding getting close to gay-shaded guys. I'm not so strong-willed I can resist the desire and the need for male closeness. Not that I would make love, but that I might grow too fond of him and get hurt in the process. That's happened a couple of times to me in the past. It makes me lonely, perhaps, to be cautious about friendships, because the truth is straight guys don't get it, and I try not to get too close to gay-shaded guys, but that's the way it is. Suck it up, sunshine.
So. . . A memory only. But I think of him, and that moment, often.
[I talked about the beauty of ballet dancers' bodies before, here]
*"All overish" comes from one of Dorothy Sayers' novels, Clouds of Witness, where Lord Peter Wimsey encounters a magnificently beautiful woman.
