A Fortunate Man - Chapter 1

Challis Andrews considers himself a fortunate man. He is not deeply philosophical, nor is he very articulate; but, should he have the skills to explain his good fortune, he would tell a story that might leave many of us pondering.

Challis, or Charlie as he is generally called, had his first stroke of luck - though some may not have seen it that way - at conception. His mother, Norma, was an extraordinary woman - her entire life was characterised by a unique agglomeration of resilience, shrewdness and a disdain for the conventional.

She was born in a small regional town during the Great Depression and was the youngest child of staunchly religious parents. Her family were farming folk and had no ambitions beyond their land and the raising of eight healthy children. In time, Norma attended the local Catholic school where she learned much about God and about duty but very little about life itself. Her awareness of the facts of life stemmed from everyday observations of farm animals. Her awareness of contraception was non-existent.

Inevitably, at age fifteen, Norma fell pregnant to a teenage farm labourer. This was a great disgrace to her parents and effectively marked the end of her family life. She was shipped to a home for unmarried mothers in the big city and, once her baby arrived - a son whom she never got to hold - the boy was given up for adoption with total disregard for his mother's wishes in the matter.

Thrust into the wide world at age sixteen, with reasonable looks but no skills or training, it is unsurprising that Norma spent her entire working life as a prostitute. At times she worked from a brothel; at times she worked for a pimp; and, towards the end of her career, she worked freelance out of her own home. In her early fifties, Norma considered herself well down the menopause path. Moreover, she believed that multiple doses of venereal disease over the years had rendered her infertile. So it was a shock to discover that she was pregnant at age fifty-two. Not just pregnant, but almost six months pregnant and beyond the assistance of any back-yard abortionist.

Of course Norma had no idea whose child she was carrying. That did not concern her because she had reached a wonderful realisation that she was going to have a child to love and be loved by in return. Suddenly, Norma's twilight years did not look so bleak. Her early religious instruction may have had some impact on the name she selected for the daughter she was about to bear; she was convinced that her child would be a girl and she was going to call her Chalice. There was no great disappointment when a boy-child arrived instead - Norma simply altered the spelling to Challis, and so she got to hold her second son in her arms almost forty years after the first had been spirited away for adoption.

Challis - or Charlie - had the great fortune to grow up enveloped by love, acceptance, encouragement and care. Norma did not spoil the child; he was disciplined appropriately and taught good manners and politeness, but he never went hungry and he never felt anything other than deeply loved and cherished. When he was young, Norma still turned the occasional trick to pad out a tight budget based chiefly on welfare payments, so Charlie learned early about sex and how it might be used to advantage. He also learned a great deal from his mother's cronies - a small band of ex-call girls who compounded the already vast amount of love that surrounded him. Even a few ex-rent boys - now augmenting their income by providing "relief massage" for men - were amongst Charlie's family of doting aunts and uncles.

He learned to appreciate females very early in life. He grew up surrounded by bras and panties drying on a line in the bathroom; he inhaled the scents of womanhood and perfume every day; he listened as his mother and her friends cackled over the good old days; he listened and learned about hand-jobs, blow-jobs, cunnilingus, anal penetration, double penetrations, and guys who wanted to be pissed on, shat upon or punished; and he absorbed a healthy appreciation that man is an infinitely varied species with all manner of ways to achieve sexual satisfaction.

Norma "retired" from prostitution in her early sixties and she and her son lived thereafter on welfare payments and a moderate amount of savings. As a child, Charlie was astonishingly beautiful - cornflower-blue eyes, dark hair and dimples in each cheek when he smiled. The clan of Aunts would exclaim: "Norma, he's too pretty to be a boy. He should have been a girl!" But there was nothing effeminate about Charlie. By chance, the genes of some stray punter had conspired with Norma's genes to produce an exceptionally splendid male. As he passed from boyhood to adolescence, Charlie endured no awkward periods - no lengthy spells of acne and no graceless times when his growing body was beyond his control. He grew tall, with the build of a natural athlete and his face moved from childish prettiness to strong and flawless male beauty.

Charlie doesn't know this, but it was Norma who arranged for a young lady to initiate him sexually around age thirteen. Norma never knew this, but it was one of his honorary uncles who gave Charlie his first all-male blow-job a year or so later. So the lad grew up with knowledge and experience in advance of his years. He also grew into manhood with an awareness that he attracted others sexually. It did his cause no harm that he also happened to be splendidly well-endowed, something his extended family assured him was a fortunate thing. Norma provided her son with a great deal of sensible advice - he knew that masturbation was normal and healthy; he knew of the need for caution when having sex; and, above all else, he knew that sex was not a vice - that it was an integral aspect of life.

Charlie did not excel academically. He was not dull, but neither was he inclined to bookishness. His preference was to be on the sports fields and it was in this area of school life that he did excel. He was a natural athlete and starred at track and field, football, cricket, swimming and wrestling. He was always surrounded by friends - male and female - but he was not a leader. Though outstanding in so many ways, he preferred to be just one of the guys.

Being one of the guys - going along with his peers - led Charlie into trouble with the law when he was just fifteen. He and a few pals were caught breaking and entering a shop to steal cigarettes. They were eventually convicted of this offence and a string of similar break-ins in the neighbourhood. Norma found herself paying weekly visits to a juvenile justice facility. At no time did she rail against her son for what he had done. At no time did she blame herself for the way things had turned out. All she did was continue to love and support Charlie and extract from him a promise never to be so foolish again. He continued to be the one shining star in her galaxy.

Charlie was fortunate within the justice system. His athleticism, easy-going ways and good looks made him popular with both inmates and prison officers alike. He was not subjected to any violence or abuse. Like the other lads, he masturbated and occasionally had sexual liaisons with his peers, but this was "jail sex" and did not perturb him at all. He also learned that one of the guards had eyes that lingered over Charlies's body at visiting times - those times when he had to stand naked in a cubicle, squat and part the cheeks of his bum, open his mouth wide, and heft his scrotum up high to prove that he carried no contraband after visits. A silent deal was transacted; Charlie would expose his half-aroused nakedness in a slow and provocative manner while the officer in the doorway licked his lips and stared at what he could not touch. In return, this particular officer always ensured Charlie received the easiest assignments and first choice of what little fresh fruit was available.

One month before Charlie was due to be released on parole, his mother died. Norma simply went to sleep one night and never woke up again. Charlie was allowed to attend her funeral but he was attached by handcuffs to a prison officer. At the grave-side, Charlie sincerely mourned his mother and silently renewed his pledge to never do anything so foolish again.

Today, it is impossible to be certain what Norma assumed Charlie meant when making his promise to her. What is certain is what he meant when making that vow, that pledge. He is no career criminal but nor is he a great fan of government, the law, the "system".

When Challis Andrews was finally released on parole - at age seventeen and into the notional custody of one of his many "aunts" - he knew that the greatest sin of all is to get caught. And he was never going to be foolish enough to let that happen again!

Comments

Norma sounds like a good mom. Challis Andrews sounds like every womans dream. Such a cliffhanger at the end!
 

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