From Russia With Love - 4. Chapter 4

We heard the bathroom door open, and there in the doorway was my dad along with one of the hotel security staff. Kodi and I both screamed in shock and hurriedly wrapped a towel around ourselves. My dad closed the bathroom door, and I heard him saying something to the member of staff who had opened the door for him.

Once we had dried ourselves, we went into our room and found my dad waiting for us.

“I’m sorry I did that boys; we were just very worried. We tried telephoning you, I spent five minutes banging on the door and when there was no answer, I feared you’d had some kind of an accident. So I got one of the hotel security staff to use their master key card to let me in.”

“Why were you so worried Dad? I mean we were only in there . . .” I glanced at the clock on the bedside table and blanched, “Jesus Christ! An hour and half! No way was we in that shower for an hour a half!”

“Tell you what boys, how about next time you just hang up the ‘Do not disturb’ sign.”

“Will do Dad.”

“You mean you’re not angry Stuart?”

“Come here Kodi.” My dad wrapped him a hug and kissed him on the forehead. “I’ve told you boys often enough, I have no problem with you two being together. I’ll tell you something else, and you may never, under any circumstances, repeat this to your mother.” Both Kodi and I nodded our agreement. “We also used to get wrapped up in ourselves, sometimes to the extent that we lost all sense of time. However, where our parents never would have condoned it happening, we accept the changing times. We know you two are going to be doing things, and I know you’ve decided against having sex until you are ready, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t be . . .” Stuart paused as he seemed to be searching for an appropriate euphemism “enjoying each other’s company. I just sometimes forget that you two aren’t little kids anymore. Oh, I know you are both a long way from being adults, but you are far more responsible than many of your peers. Now come on, get dressed, dinner is in ten minutes.”

Kodi and I quickly dressed and met our parents on the way down to the restaurant. We had decided to eat in the hotel’s restaurant again as the food was excellent and was reasonably priced for what we received.

When we got to the restaurant we saw a poster written in French. I was only able to pick out a few words; but it was enough to pique my interest. “Mum, what does that poster say? I can only pick out a few words.”

“It seems there is a conference here. It’s for children who have been diagnosed with cancer. It’s a chance for them to meet other children who have or who had cancer.”

“That’s sounds a really good idea. I remember when Marcia Torres was diagnosed with leukaemia a few years ago. Even though all of us were around for her, it was spending time with other children who had cancer that really helped her the most. It showed her that she really wasn’t alone in what she was going through.”

“Today is the last night, and the children are putting on a talent show to which everyone is welcome to attend,” my mum continued. “It also says that there are a few slots available if anyone else is interested in showcasing their talents.”

“Let’s sign up Kyle,” said Kodi.

“Can we Mum?”

“I don’t see why not. Just nothing . . . provocative.”

“Provocative? Moi?” I asked innocently.

Since we had a ten minute wait before our table would be ready, Kodi and I went over to the organiser of the talent show and said that we would love to be a part of it. We discussed it and arranged to sing a song; we had to change our choice three times as the first few songs we picked had already been taken, and we wanted there to be some variety to the evening.

We had our dinner and then made our way to where they were having the talent show.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. Given that there are a large number of visitors with us tonight, we will conduct the evening in English. My name is Jacques and I work for Cancer Support France, and this is the sixth meeting of this kind that we have arranged. The children here with us tonight have been diagnosed with cancer and are either being treated at the moment or have finished treatment and their cancer is in remission.

“It has become a tradition for us to hold a kind of talent show on the last day of our get together. As each child comes up they will tell you a little about themselves.”

A red headed girl who looked to be in her late teens was the first to get up on stage. “Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Clarice, I am seventeen and two years ago I was diagnosed with lymphoma. I have finished the chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments, and my doctor is very confident that I should have no further problems since my lymphoma was very localised. For you all tonight, I will be playing Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.”

She sat down at the piano and started playing. She had an amazing talent, and when she was finished everybody in attendance gave her a round of applause.

This process was repeated several times over; with one child playing the oboe, another singing, another playing the blues on a trombone.

Just as the next child was walking up to the stage, Kodi gasped and dug me in the ribs. I turned to him and he pointed to the boy walking on the stage. I was completely gobsmacked; it was the really cute kid we had been perving over in the lounge. I don’t know why, but I suddenly felt a right shit.

“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Jean-Paul.” I was shocked that he spoke English, and suddenly had the really bad feeling that he knew exactly what Kodi and I had been talking about when we got slapped by our mums. “I am thirteen and last year I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. I have finished all of my treatments, and last week had my first follow up scan which was clear. For you all today, I will be singing a song. I have actually changed my original choice of song, and there are two people here today who will really appreciate my choice. To them, I dedicate this song. You know who you are.”

The instrumental started up, and Kodi leaned over to me, smiling. “That little git, he knew exactly what we were talking about, pretending like he couldn’t understand us, and getting your mum to speak to him in French.” Kodi was laughing the whole time he said this to me.

“Kodi, when tonight is finished, I need to go over and apologise to him.”

“I hear you.”

The instrumental reached a crescendo and then Jean-Paul started singing.

There's a loving in your eyes all the way

If I listened to your lies would you say

I’m a man without conviction

My mum couldn’t help but laugh and I heard her say to my dad, “Well, I hope this teaches Kyle to be careful about what he says around people in future, and not just assume they can’t speak English.”

Jean-Paul sang the last few lines to a silent, rapt audience.

Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon.

You come and go, you come and go

Loving would be easy if your colours were like my dreams

Red, gold, and green. Red, gold, and green.

The room erupted into applause, and Kodi and I stood up to applaud him on his effort.

The organiser Jacques got back up on stage and said, “We had opened an invitation for others to come up tonight, however we only had one response from two boys from England who will be singing for us.”

Kodi and I walked up to the stage.

“Good evening everybody,” I said. “My name is Kyle and this is Kodi. Before we sing our choice of song for you, we just wanted to say that we are really impressed with how each of you has coped with your diagnoses and you serve as an inspiration to everybody. A friend of ours was diagnosed with leukaemia a few years ago and she is also doing really well now, so tonight is something that has really touched us. You are all extremely talented individuals and we wish all of you the very best for what we hope will be very long lives.”

The room applauded our little speech. When the music started up for our choice of song, even though they were a few tables back from the stage I could swear my mum said to my dad, “I told him ‘nothing provocative’.”

With big goofballs grins we started singing.

Billy Ray was a preacher's son

And when his daddy would visit he'd come along

When they gathered around and started talkin’

That’s when Billy would take me walkin’

The room started clapping a beat for us, and I saw a few of the kids start singing along. As we finished the last chorus, I didn’t think there was one person who wasn’t singing along.

The only boy who could ever teach me

I guess he was the son of a preacher man

The only one was a sweet talkin’ son of a preacher man

There was a rapturous round of applause and we went back to our table.

“Do you boys never listen to me?” my mum said, laughing.

“Of course we do Mum. I just happen to like the idea of being taught a few things by the son of a preacher.” That comment earned me a playful slap across the head from Mum.

The closing comments were made by Jacques, and everybody started leaving. Kodi and I walked over to the boy whose name we now knew was Jean-Paul.

“Hi. . . . er, can we talk for a minute?”

Jean-Paul looked up at me, and said, “Mais oui, bien sûr. Sorry, I mean of course.”

Kodi and I sat down across from him.

“Jean-Paul, we’d like to apologise for what we said yesterday. We didn’t think about what we were saying, and how it might affect you.”

“You mean about, now how was it you said? Ah, yes. ‘What’s the chance of us meeting a cute bit of French tottie for a ménage a trois’.”

“Erm, yeah, sounds right. I had no right to say it, and I ask your forgiveness.”

“Why do you feel the need to apologise? And please don’t tell me it is just because you have now found out that I had cancer, because that would really, as you English say, piss me off royally.”

“I’ll be honest that’s a part of it, but it’s also because we now know that you understood exactly what were saying, and that it might have made you uncomfortable. I know it makes me feel uncomfortable when girls start talking about me that way, and I had no right to do to you, what I hate being done to me.”

“Well, OK then. Your apology is accepted. Though I do have a question for you?”

“What’s that Jean-Paul?”

“What would you two do, if I told you that you were indeed lucky enough to find ‘a cute bit of French tottie for a ménage a trois’ and I’d love to join you?” He then made a kissing gesture at the both of us across the table.

Kodi and I both started spluttering and stammering.

Jean-Paul started laughing. “I am sorry. I am, how you say, yanking your chain. I am straight, but I have several friends who are gay, and they are always making the jokes about one day finding a way to get me to join them for some fun. I am very comfortable about flirting with my gay friends in this fashion because I know they would never take it too far.”

“Once again Jean-Paul, I am very sorry if we did anything to make you feel uncomfortable.”

“So am I,” added Kodi.

“You have done nothing at all to keep apologising for, but I do appreciate the gesture. I don’t know what is about me, that makes all of you gay boys want me though. I am just a plain ordinary kid.”

“Jean-Paul, do you really want me to answer that?”

“If you would please. And do not worry about holding back.”

“I can only speak for myself but it’s your pale blue eyes and your brown hair. You remind me so much of a young Elijah Wood.”

“Uh-huh,” Kodi agreed.

“You really think so? You mean like when he was in that film with Macaulay Culkin, er . . .The Good Son, I think it was?”

“Oh yeah, that’s exactly what I mean,” I said, perhaps slightly more lasciviously than I meant to.

“You are far from plain and ordinary Jean-Paul,” Kodi added. “If you can drive us gay kids nuts, you will be attracting the girls like flies to honey.”

“Thank you, guys, but I must be going now. I have to be up early tomorrow.” Then he did something neither of us expected; he walked over to our side of the table and wrapped his arms around our necks and kissed both of us on the cheek. He whispered to us, “Just because I’m straight, it doesn’t mean I’ve never wondered.” Then he winked and scampered off, leaving Kodi and I staring after him.