Young and Hungry - For Life - 23. The Protestor

“Definitely not!” Jeremy said.

“But it could be fun, they seem like an adventurous couple” replied Brett.

“If you want adventure go on a mountain trek”

“OK adventure might be the wrong word, but it sounds like they’ve done it before so they know what they’re doing”

“Yes, I was in the room and could hardly miss your interrogative conversation”

“Just wanted to know what I was signing up for”

“You’re not signing up for anything like that”

“If you’re not interested in the sex, think of it this way. He’s as rich as creases, who knows where a little dalliance could lead us”

“What do you mean?”

“It could be good for business, we might meet influential people and he might offer us a little reward or two for, shall we say, services rendered”

“Now you’re sounding like a prostitute”

“Rich people can be generous to their friends and also remember he’s our landlord. Gotta keep him on side for that, if no other reason”

“Sleeping with your landlord, that is a new low, even for you”

“I tried to sell this as fun initially and you weren’t interested, so I just threw in the other things”

“I don’t care how you try to Morrison it, I’m not buying”

“What?”

“Scott Morrison, the spin merchant from marketing”

Brett still looked confused, so Jeremy added “The Prime Minister”

“Oh, now I get it, very clever. I’ll remember that one. So that’s no, I take it”

“At the risk of confusing you, yes it’s a no”

***

The following weekend, James again hitched a ride with Alex to the circus.

“What have you got sticking out of you backpack?” asked Alex

“Oh that....I borrowed Mum’s yoga mat”

“You, doing yoga?”

“Yes, I’m learning from Francesco”

“Who’s Francesco?”

“The contortionist called Bendy Boy”

“I thought animals were your interest in the circus”

“Oh they certainly are, but Francesco is interesting too and he’s my minder while I’m at the circus, so you and Wanda don’t need to watch me”

What Alex didn’t know was the yoga mat concealed something else.

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Upon arrival at the circus, James said “I’ll find my own way around, you and Wanda do whatever it is you two do”

“Ok, I’ll call you later when it’s time to go home”

James went out on to the street in front of the circus entrance, unrolled the yoga mat and stuck up his posters on the light poles. When he was finished he went looking for Francesco.

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While Francesco watched James do the yoga exercises, they talked about their childhoods.

“I have a different family to most” started James “Alex and I have two mums and no dads”

“Do you know your father?” asked Francesco.

“No one does, my mum used an anonymous sperm donor”

“Wow, that’s wild. Now have you been practicing the forward and back bends I showed you?”

“I’ve tried it but with the back bend, I keep falling over before my hands reach the ground.”

“Ok, I’ll hold you, so you don’t fall”

“So what about you, are your parents circus people?”

“They used to be, but they both died. My mum died in the circus. Mum and Dad were trapeze artists. The best in the country at the time. My mum died when she fell from the trapeze during practice and missed the safety net”

“Oh my god, how awful” said James as he lost his balance and was caught by Francesco.

“Sorry, I lost concentration when you told me about your mother’s death”

“Ah, that’s another lesson to be learned. Can you imagine the results if a performer looses concentration when performing a dangerous move”

“Well I imagine it could be catastrophic. Is that what happened to you mother?”

“We don’t know, but could have been”

“How old were you then?”

“Ten years old and already doing a contortion act, till I was old enough to learn trapeze”

As the boys both lay on the ground, they continued their conversation.

“So you didn’t do trapeze because your mum died?”

“Well partly. My dad stopped doing trapeze when mum was killed and forbad me to do it.”

“Of course it must have been devastating for him”

“But he never recovered from Mum’s death and blamed himself for her fall. Even though he no longer had an act, the circus still kept us on and he continued to train me, but his heart wasn’t really in it. I did my best to keep training and improve my act.”

“So what happened to your father?”

“I woke up one morning and he wasn’t in the van. I assumed he must be helping out around the lot somewhere, so I got my own breakfast and went to the big top for a training session. He wasn’t there either. When he didn’t show all day, Jack eventually called the police to report him missing. It wasn’t long after that when detectives arrived at the circus. Jack was surprised, as he thought a missing persons report would be taken care of by the local police”

“So what were the detectives investigating?”

“An unidentified body had been found at the bottom of The Gap. It was well known as a suicide spot and the descriptions matched, so Jack was asked to identify the body”

“And it was your dad?”

“Yes, we think he was still guilty about Mum’s fall and blamed himself”

“That is so sad, how did you cope at the time?”

“I didn’t know what to do, so I just concentrated on my training and never missed a performance”

“You didn’t take any time off to be sad?”

“No, it was training and performing that got me through it. They say I became obsessed and some say I still am, but honestly, it’s all I have in my life. Training and performing is all I have, it’s my entire life”

“But with no parents who raised you?”

“I became a ward of the state after Dad’s death and officially Jack and his wife fostered me, so I could stay with the circus”

“So they raised you?”

“Not really; well not in the usual way. When you are part of a circus, everyone is your family, so I was raised by many people”

“But you lived with Wanda and her parents?”

“No, I continued to stay in my parents’ van, ate in the communal food tent and one of the roustabouts tows the van for me. So I was raised by everyone and no one”

“That’s some growing up story, and I thought my family was unusual? James concluded.

“But what about school?”

“All circuses are required to have at home tutoring for children under 16, so in that way Wanda and I grew up together, but we were never close”

“Did you do your HSC?”

“No, education is only compulsory up to 16, so I stopped then. And besides what good is further education to me, I don’t need uni or other training. I’ve been training for my job since I was five years old, and I’m now the best in the country”

“Will you always stay with this circus?”

“As much as I love it here, the ultimate for a circus performer is to join Cirque de Soleil. My aim is to knock Aleksei Goloborodko off top billing”

“Is he good, I’ve never heard of him?”

“He is billed as the most flexible man in the world”

“And you want that title?”

“That’s why I practice continually, almost every hour of the day”

“Except when you’re sleeping”

“No, I even sleep in contorted positions and change a couple of times through the night”

“Hell, that’s a hard life”

“It’s what you do, to be the best”

“I can see why people think you’re obsessed. But I don’t see it that way. I admire you for having the commitment to go after what you really want. I couldn’t do it.”

“It is what I really want, but now there’s something else I want as well”

“What’s that?”

“You”

“To be your friend?”

“Yes, but can we be more?”

***

Later in the day, when James was watching Francesco do his stretches and other unbelievable moves he asked “Can anyone learn be a contortionist?”

“I suppose so if you do enough training, are you interested?”

“No, I wouldn’t even think about it. I was just wondering if you have to be born double jointed”

“There’s no such thing as being double jointed. It’s just an expression meaning someone is able to move their joints farther than most people can. For example, most people can bend their thumbs backwards a bit, but some can bend it farther. Everyone can bend at the waist, but in some the joints of the spine allow some people to bend over so far they can place their hands flat on the floor. Everyone can spread his or her legs, but only some people have joints in the pelvis mobile enough to do the splits”

“So you were born like that?”

“I guess so”

“And that’s why you can be a contortionist”

“Well partly, but you have to develop more flexibility than what you’re born with”

“So how do you become flexible?”

“Lot’s of exercise and practice at stretching and muscle control and muscle isolation”

“What is muscle isolation?”

“It means being able to move parts of your body, which we all do by contracting muscles, but without moving nearby parts of your body”

“Like if I lift up my leg but not my arm?”

“No, they’re not near each other. Do this...close your fingers into a fist, but not your pointer finger. Point that straight ahead”

“OK, doing that”

“Now, keeping that finger perfectly straight, bend it at the knuckle” James did as directed.

“Now that’s an example of muscle isolation that most people can do. Straighten your finger again and try to bend it at the next joint only, but keep the other joints rigid” James was able to bend that joint partly.

“Some people can do that and some can’t. You’re about in the middle. Now the real test. Keep your finger straight, but bend only the tip”

James tried, then said “I can’t, the other bits want to bend as well. Can you do it?”

“No I’ve not learned, because I don’t need to, but it can be done with practice. So being able to control the muscles that do that is muscle isolation”

“So why do you need this?”

“To achieve some of the more difficult positions and variations of the standard positions”

“Gee, it also sound so complicated, how did you learn all that?”

“Mostly from my parents, before they....and Jack gets me stuff, like physiology books, trade magazines and news articles about the art of contortion”

“I’ll check the internet and see what I can find”

Francesco ignored James’ comment and said “Now I want you to try your backbend again”

“But I’ll never be able t bend like you”

“I don’t want you to bend as much as me, just practice bending backwards, just far enough to support yourself on hands and feet”

“But you know I keep falling over before my hands reach the ground”

“Do it again, and I’ll watch where you going wrong”

As James leaned backwards, Francesco said “Ah, there’s where you go wrong, you need to bend your ankles a bit more so that you put more weight forward of your feet and maintain balance”

James tried again and just managed to get his hands on the ground before losing balance. “There, you did it, now keep practicing that and remember, it’s not just about flexibility but also balance”

“OK. I’ll try one more time. But how is bending backwards going to help me suck my own dick?”

“This is for something else, that I’ll show you some other time”

James did all he was told and managed a perfect backward arch stand.

“Excellent control James, I’m really proud of you”

“Thank you”

“You know, if you were naked, in that position and your dick was pointing up, think what I could do to you”

As the reality of what Francesco was suggesting, hit James, he started to laugh, lost balance and collapsed in a heap.

***

After several weeks of regular visits when one or both of them had to take days off from the restaurant to be with Caleb, Craig said “We will need to work out some other arrangement, so that we don’t have to keep taking off weekends to support Caleb. Week days are not appropriate for him, because he has to attend school and weekends are not suitable for us as that’s our busiest time at Poppy’s”

“What do you suggest?” asked Justin

“How about we talk to Pamela and see if it’s OK with her and the refuge if we take Caleb into work some weekends. We can give him some simple tasks to occupy his time and he would still be with us”

“That’s a great idea. I’ve got lots of unskilled front-of-house jobs he can do”

“And Juanito might have some accounting jobs also. But because of his age, we can’t have him working in the bar area or handling alcohol”

“Of course, I’m not sure I could trust him around alcohol”

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A meeting was arranged with Pamela.

“Boys, I think that’s an excellent suggestion. Not only will it keep him busy, but it can be treated as a work experience opportunity. Who knows, you might even want to employ him part-time when he learns some skills”

“I’ll keep that in mind” suggested Justin.

Then Craig asked “How’s the search for a foster home going?”

“Not so well. Most couples want younger children and many don’t want a gay teenager”

“That’s a shame, but his age is our preference. Easier to communicate with and of course we understand what being a gay teenager is going through”

“I’m very glad you said that” commented Pamela.

“Oh, why?”

“Because you just described the perfect placement for Caleb”

“Us?” asked a surprised Justin.

“Yes you two would be perfect. You have all the requirements and you seem to be getting on well with Caleb. In fact he talks of little else at the refuge. Everything is Craig said this or Justin showed me how to do that. When he’s not talking about you, he’s doing his exercises that you taught him, Justin”

“That’s good to hear he is continuing his workouts”

“Oh he is and is always lifting his shirt and asking me if I can see his muscles growing”

Craig laughed and added “Yes, I can just see him doing that”

“He’s even got some of the other boys joining in. He’s become quite the personal trainer”

“That’s my boy” commented Justin “Oops, I didn’t mean anything by that”

“I think you did and that’s good. So you see, you would be the perfect couple to foster Caleb. You know it comes with a payment for expenses”

“Oh that wouldn’t be necessary” added Craig

“Maybe not, but the department is prepared to pay so take the money while it’s on offer”

“Well if, and I stress if, we did go ahead with this, then we could put the money in a trust fund for Caleb for the future”

“That’s generous, so will you think about it and discuss it between yourselves?”

“Of course” replied Craig.

“Then I’ll send you some forms to fill out. They’re quite lengthy, but in your case it will just be a formality. I know your circumstances well and you will easily tick all the right boxes”

“But we haven’t greed yet”

“I understand that, but it won’t hurt to get the ball rolling. Filling out the application is not a commitment at this stage”

*****