Those Left Behind - 6. Gordy and The Garden

“Do you think Gordy will be there?”

“Are you allowed to call him that?”

Damian nodded, “He said to call him Gordy.” He looked sideways at his Father, “That’s OK, isn’t it?”

They were walking down to The Garden. It was a brilliant day, Ludo had taken the morning off, and Damian wasn’t at school, it was closed for emergency work on the drains, for fuck’s sake. Much against Ludo’s better judgement they were visiting The Garden. Since the great naked event, Ludo had visited on his own, and luckily Gordy had not been about, thus letting Ludo avoid the tricky questions of whether he’d say anything to the bloke and deciding what on earth he’d say if they did meet.

But this was the first time that he’d taken Damian since, and Damian was hoping Gordy would be there. He liked Gordy, but the man was still a tricky subject with his Dad. Damian felt he had followed all the rules, yet there was something else that he did not quite understand. He had done something that his Father did not like. Ludo explained that though Gordy might be there, he might be working in a part of The Garden not open to the public. This led to a discussion about the different areas of The Garden. Safer ground.

One of The Garden’s most famous features was a spectacular double herbaceous border that lined the central alley, dividing The Garden into two. A riot of colour whatever the season, its maintenance also took up manpower. As luck would have it, Gordy was working close to the entrance, giving instructions to a young man working on the border. Gordy recognised them immediately, greeted Damian warmly, and nodded to Ludo, then introduced the young man. His name was Alessio, one of the student interns and despite his name he had a strong local accent, though his dark colouring suggested something like Italian ancestry.

Alessio was wearing a ripped shirt and old denim cut-offs. Comfortable without being too revealing, though the boy’s tanned and surprisingly hairy legs clearly got plenty of exposure to the sun. Gordy by contrast was wearing his usual overall, unfastened down to the bottom, thus giving Ludo a clear view of smooth, pink and white chest and belly. Then Gordy shifted his position, and Ludo got a complete eyeful, cock, balls, the lot. The guy wasn’t wearing anything underneath and clearly didn’t mind if people saw. Christ. Gordy noticed Ludo noticing and gave him a grin. Thankfully, Damian was far too interested in what Alessio was doing.

To Ludo’s surprised, Gordy took charge and suggested Alessio take Damian off to show him a couple of unusual plants that were just now in bloom further along the border. Being with a member of staff gave Damian the advantage that they could go into areas he couldn’t go alone and so he got closer to the plants.

When they’d gone, Gordy sat down beside Ludo. “I wasn’t going to touch him, nothing like that.” Ludo stared at Gordy, knowing exactly what he was talking about. Gordy grinned, perhaps nervously, “For a start, he’s way too young. Probably not even thinking about sex in that way yet.”

Ludo raised his eyebrows, “You reckon? He’s certainly noticing guys’ dicks at the changing rooms or the baths, not to mention a fascination for the variations in men’s body hair. The fact that some people shave it all off.”

“Christ! Sorry.” Gordy stared at him, “Bugger me. I wasn’t like that, at that age.”

“Neither was I.”

Gordy gave a nervous smile, and Ludo couldn’t help but smile too. The man had great charm and personality and knew it. And it was difficult to remain angry. “Shit. I’m sorry. It’s just. Well, we grew up like that, on a farm. My Dad and brothers, we’d swim naked and stuff.”

“In Scotland?”

Gordy grinned, “Hardy folk, us Scots. And well, your wife seemed comfortable with it. She OK, by the way, not seen her recently?”

“Ah well, she’s been working crazy hard, and we barely see her.”

“Like that is it? I’ve never managed longer than six months, so I’m always impressed when people go the whole distance in a relationship.”

“Yeah. But I’m not so sure. Sorry, I don’t mean to dump rubbish on you.”

At that point, Alessio and Damian returned, the latter full of what he had seen. Alessio went back to his work and Gordy stood up to go. Damian looked at his Father, who gave the boy a small nod. Secretly, Ludo was rather intrigued as to how Gordy would answer the question, and whatever his innocence in any sexual intentions, the sheer fact of showing off like that deserved it.

“Gordy, can I ask you a question?”

Gordy looked at the boy with amused tolerance, “Fire away.”

“Why do you shave down there? Your pubic hair?”

Gordy disguised his reaction with a cough, but he exchanged a startled glance with Ludo. “Well, it’s a bit of a story”, and he sat down and leaned over to Damian. Gordy might have dodgy habits, but he was good with kids. “When I was your age, I was desperate to be hairy like my Father and brothers. We used to do stuff naked, swimming and the like. We lived in a very quiet place. It was free and fun. Then, when the hair grew down there, it was red as my head, which was redder than it is now. Know what I got called at school?”

Damian shook his head, but certainly intrigued.

“Fire-crotch. And that was one of the nicer things.”

“Oh”

“I hated it. And what was worse, I never grew a nice rug of hair like my Father. Chest was always smooth. So, soon as I left school I tried trimming, soon shaved it off and I liked it.”

“Isn’t it a lot of work? Dad says it is.”

Gordy grinned in amusement, “Not really, and I think it is worth it.”

Damian nodded thanked him and went off to watch Alessio working.

“Bloody Hell, I see what you mean.”

“Yeah. He has a lively mind.”

“You and he discussing it?”

“He had queries, which I tried to answer, then he promptly told me that I’d look good like that.”

“Serious? You’re shitting me.”

Ludo shook his head, “Nah, straight up.”

“What’s he going to be like when he’s older?”

“That’s anyone’s guess.”

“Is it just guys? This fascination?”

“At the moment. I’ve not really discussed it with Jackie, we’ve barely seen each other, but I reckon she’d have mentioned if he had a similar fascination with lady bits.”

Gordy nodded, mock serious, “You reckon.”

Having reached a rapprochement with Gordy, Ludo found that he was more inclined to walk down to The Garden at some future date. Curiosity over, Damian’s interest returned to the plants, but he had observed that Gordy never wore underwear, though luckily, he was not fascinated enough to ask further. Ludo had concluded that Gordy liked showing off and was perfectly conscious of both how much he revealed and folk’s reaction to it.

“You like the view?”

Ludo and Gordy were stood by one of the borders off the main alley. The gardener’s crotch, cock and balls were fully in view. “Sorry, my bad. I shouldn’t stare.”

“Nah”, Gordy grinned, “I wouldn’t put the wares in the window if they weren’t available.”

Ludo goggled, did Gordy seriously pick up people in The Garden, at work?

“It’s just, I assumed you’d not be interested. Wife, kiddie and such?”

“Well.” It would have been sensible to say nothing. But it was difficult. “Things with Jackie haven’t been good. I think she’s having an affair.”

“Shit, I’m sorry.”

“And, well. I sort of started seeing someone, sort of on the down low.”

Gordy’s eyes widened, intrigued, “A bloke?”

“Yeah. A mate. Was a bit of a surprise. My first.”

“Bloke? Bloody hell.” Gordy grinned. “A late developer. Bet you’re a bloody firecracker, lots of catching up to do.”

“Something like that.”

And there it was. Next time he bumped into Gordy at The Garden, they were away from others, so Gordy asked if Ludo and his bloke were tight. It was like a little secret.

“If you don’t mind my asking, how do you manage?”

“It’s the Father of one of Damian’s school friends. We meet up anyway; we’ve always done so. The two boys are close mates.”

Gordy smiled, “Only now it’s got a bit spicier.”

“Yeah. Trouble is Damian knows.”

“Shit. What’d he say?”

“Approves, evidently. He’s a bit off-ish with his Mum at the moment.”

“On account of her not being around?”

“Yes. It’s difficult.”

Gordy smiled, “And I thought my love life was complicated.”