The Boy and the Battleship

by Christopher Cummings

  They did as they were told. Graham tried to manoeuvre to sit beside Thelma but ended up between Rhonda and Dawn. He sat and looked around the circle of smiling faces. Every person he had asked was there. It gave him a warm feeling inside. Alex then announced the first party game: Pass the parcel. This resulted in a few jeers and comments from kids who believed they were too old for such stuff, but they all took part anyway.

  Michael ended up the winner. Alex then had them stand to play a game of musical chairs. This announcement caused Max to sneer and Dawn looked down her nose. Janet said, “I thought Graham was turning thirteen, not three!”

  Graham blushed but Alex didn’t turn a hair. “You don’t have to play,” he said. The music began. They all did play, and Janet ended up winning. Graham actually enjoyed it as he got to bump against several of the girls during it.

  “Righto!” Alex called. “Next is hide and seek. The birthday boy is ‘in’. The rules are: you can hide anywhere in the house or in the yard but no going outside the fence. When a person is found they come back here. Last person found wins a prize. Count to a hundred Graham. Come on you lot! Get going!”

  There was a mad scramble as kids realized the game had begun. Graham began counting aloud, listening to voices out in the garden and feet thudding up the stairs and into rooms overhead. As soon as he had counted and called the traditional “Coming, ready or not!” he raced outside and began searching. To his surprise he found the first person almost immediately. Cindy was standing just in the shadows under the front veranda.

  “Here I am Graham,” she whispered. He stopped and wondered what he should do. She decided that for him by stepping forward and kissing him, setting his senses on fire.

  “I… I’ve got to keep looking,” Graham said, trying to break free. “They can wait another minute,” Cindy replied. Her voice had a peculiar husky timbre to it which frightened Graham. She kissed him again, more passionately this time, rubbing herself against him so that he became quickly aroused.

  “They will wonder where I am,” he gasped when she stopped kissing. His heart was now thumping madly and he could feel his resistance crumbling. But Thelma was here somewhere. Thelma! It is Thelma I love, he told himself in desperation. He managed to free himself without too obviously fleeing and went on with the search.

  The game was good fun. Most kids were easily found but a few, who knew the house, were harder to find. Alex hung like a gibbon ape from the pipes outside the bathroom. Kylie was in Alex’s clothes cupboard. Max was under Alex’s bed and Margaret was under Graham’s bed. He wondered about that. Did she want to be in it? Nah! She is just a little kid. She wouldn’t understand, he told himself.

  When all had been rounded up and cold drinks consumed they played a game that involved blindfolding all the boys who then had to grope their way around the room until they touched someone. They then had to identify the person, and, if they were a girl, kiss them. Graham was very keen to play this game. By now he was in quite a state of emotional turmoil; torn between affection for Margaret, adoration for Thelma and lust for Cindy. As luck would have it the person he first grabbed was Stephen. Stephen uttered loud shrieks about not being one of them. Graham insisted on a second go. This time he was luckier and touched Rhonda. He gently felt her face but wasn’t sure who she was. She whispered her name very softly, which surprised him.

  Does she like me enough for me to want to kiss her? he wondered. He said “Rhonda” and removed his blindfold. Rhonda stood and waited. Graham licked his lips and hesitated. Suddenly he realized that he really wanted to kiss her, but Thelma was watching, and so was Margaret (not to mention little sister Kylie!). After hesitating for a few seconds he plucked up courage and gave her a gentle peck on the cheek.

  Cindy jeered. “Oh Graham! You can do better than that!” she called. Graham blushed.

  Louise grinned and turned to Cindy. “How do you know?” she queried. Hot memories made Graham blush even more. Feeling quite flustered he tried again. This time Rhonda put her arms around his neck and pressed against him. Her lips tasted sweet and she kissed very well. Graham’s heart began to pound furiously. He was sorry when she stopped.

  The game was a great success, with much shrieking and laughter. At the end of it they trooped upstairs to the dining room where the table was loaded with food. A huge cake, shaped like an ocean liner, was the centrepiece. Graham was very excited by this and enjoying himself immensely. Only with an effort did he recall his plans to win Thelma’s attention.

  They ate merrily and the candles were lit. Graham blew them out in one big puff and Happy Birthday was sung. During this he stood in the centre, flushed with pleasure and excitement. As he stood there Cindy stepped forward, put her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately on the lips. Graham squirmed with pleasure and mental agony. What will Thelma think? he fretted, yet he did not want Cindy to stop. There were cheers and cries of “Behave yourself!”

  Max called: “If you eat any more of that you’ll be sick!”

  Amid the laughter Graham was released. He was blushing furiously and did not know what to do or say. His eyes met Margaret’s and he felt a stab of sympathy. Hers were misted with misery. With her lips trembling she stepped forward and put her arms around him and kissed him.

  “I love you,” she murmured. Graham responded and put his arms around her too. The kiss was very nice and he had to admit he felt great affection for her. But she is too young, he told himself. When she stepped back he noted tears in her eyes. Poor kid! She is jealous, he thought.

  Rhonda stepped forward and Stephen cried: “You’ve already had two goes Rhonda!” In reply she poked her tongue at him and put her arms around Graham’s neck. A mischievous look glinted in her eye and she pressed herself against him before kissing him long and hard. By then Graham was also hard and was in total confusion. This is a disaster, he thought. What will Thelma think? But it was nice!

  Dawn took Rhonda’s place and pressed against him in a way that sent Graham into a mixture of panic and delight.

  Then all the girls lined up to kiss him. Kylie gave him a sisterly peck. Carmen smiled and gave him a good smooch but did not rub against him. Louise did and she even inserted her tongue into his mouth. Rowena was even more sultry. She kissed and went on kissing.

  “Hey, don’t be greedy!” Stephen called. “What about us?”

  Rhonda grinned. “You can kiss Graham if you like,” she replied. They all laughed. Rowena moved away and Graham’s mind registered that Thelma was standing in front of him. Here she is. It was the moment he had dreamed about; and all he could do was stand there like a dummy while she gave him a friendly peck on the cheek. She stepped back and the kissing ended. Graham realized later that only Janet had not kissed him. He felt more hot and confused than he could ever remember.

  Alex clapped his hands. “Time for another game,” he called. “Sardines!”

  “Yes!” they shouted. Sardines was a form of hide-and-seek in which as many people as possible tried to squeeze into the same hiding place. They raced off, leaving Alex ‘in’.

  “This way,” Graham called to Thelma. But it was Cindy, Margaret and Rhonda who followed him. He led them through to the front veranda, then circled into his parent’s bedroom and moved in behind the door to the lounge room. The lights were out in the bedroom and several coats and other items of clothing hung from the back of the door. They burrowed in amongst these. Graham found himself wedged in the corner with Margaret against one side, Rhonda against the other and Cindy pressing against him from the front.

  Even in his aroused and excited state Graham could sense that there was a degree of rivalry and hostility between the girls. It did wonders for his ego but made him even more confused about who he liked. His emotional and physical states were even more upset by Cindy pressing against him.

  It was almost a relief to get discovered, but not quite. He now had to move out into the light with the others, hoping no-one would see he was aroused. That Louise and Dawn notic
ed was embarrassingly obvious by the way Louise’s eyes moved, and how she then whispered to Dawn, who also looked. Graham’s cheeks scorched and he hurried from the room.

  The next game was a form of tiggy. This resulted in kids running all around and through the house, with lots of laughing and yelling. Graham tried to stay near Thelma and he felt he was getting somewhere when she talked to him. They ran around the lawn in the moonlight and he badly wanted to kiss her. Lack of encouragement as well as lack of courage stopped him. He also became aware that Margaret and Kylie were following them. He wanted to tell them to stop it but did not want to make it obvious to Thelma that he wanted to be alone with her.

  In the end he had no chance to say anything private to Thelma. They all ended up, hot and puffing, back in the Ship Room. Supper was served: ice cream, fruit salad, cakes and cold soft drinks. Graham stood eating and basking in the pleasure of the occasion. The party was plainly a success and that made him feel good.

  As the group stood around eating and talking about the games George and Michael studied Graham’s model ships.

  “These are very good Graham. What are they?” Michael asked. Graham was both embarrassed and proud. He named his battleship and aircraft carrier and the tiny planes were duly picked up and admired. Janet and Thelma stood nearby. Thelma looked at the models and seemed impressed. She bent down to study the collection of sailing ships grouped on the table.

  “Did you make these Graham?” she asked.

  Graham nodded. “When I was younger,” he replied, trying to give the impression he was now grown up and no longer did such childish things.

  “I love these little people,” she said. “What are they made of?”

  Graham explained his plasticine people, a bit worried that she might think him still a little boy. However she just nodded with interest and picked several up to examine them.

  Janet looked over the ships with the beginnings of a sneer curling her upper lip. “Do you only make models of warships?” she asked, hostility evident in her tone.

  “No. There are some merchant ships too,” Graham replied, but he felt uncomfortable about it as they were few and far between.

  At that moment Stephen joined them. “What’s this? Navy Day?”

  “We were just looking at Graham’s model ships,” Thelma replied in a way that sent Graham’s hopes soaring.

  George joined them. “Yeah, they are good aren’t they?” he said. He turned to Graham. “Did you join the Navy Cadets Graham?”

  “Yes I did. This afternoon. I’m a recruit in the Port Watch.”

  Stephen laughed. “Port Watch! Which port do you watch; the Port of Cairns or a bottle of port?”

  Graham made a face and blushed. He did not enjoy being teased. Janet then drove in another barb. “We will have to say ‘Hello Sailor!’ when we see you now.”

  Before Graham could reply, Stephen quipped: “I didn’t know you were one of those sorts of girls Janet.”

  Janet turned on him furiously and almost spat her anger at him. “Watch your tongue or I’ll scratch your eyes out!” she snarled. While the two argued Graham met Cindy’s eye and he saw she was blushing. He blushed too. Peter came over and smoothed down the situation, getting Stephen to apologize.

  Somehow the incident spoiled the atmosphere of the party. No-one felt like playing any more games so music was put on instead and they stood or sat and talked. Graham found himself next to Margaret and Peter and this put him in a bad mood too. He wanted to be with Thelma but did not know how to extricate himself from the social situation. To his jealous annoyance, he saw that she was deep in earnest conversation with Wayne about music.

  The party was ended at 10pm by Graham’s mum. Parents began arriving to take kids home and he stood and farewelled them. All he managed to achieve with Thelma was to thank her as she and Janet left. She gave him a nice smile but nothing more. Cindy gave Graham a kiss as she left, to the obvious jealousy of Margaret who was helping Kylie tidy up. Margaret was the last guest to leave. Her father seemed happy to talk to Graham’s mum over a cup of tea. Graham helped carry plates and food upstairs. Margaret then stood at the door to say goodnight.

  Graham could see she was very tense and her eyes sparkled. She wants to impress me. And she wants a kiss, he thought. He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other and blushed, thinking of Thelma; and of Cindy. Oh! Why is life so complicated? he thought.

  In the end her father solved the problem by saying: “Come on moppet. Give your boyfriend a kiss and let’s go. It’s way past your bedtime.”

  Boyfriend! Graham thought. Is that what the adults think? And is that what Margaret wants? Graham knew it was. He leaned forward and gave her a gentle peck on the cheek. Her attitude told him she wanted more but he did not dare with the adults watching. Besides, I don’t want to encourage her.

  Chapter 26

  DEVELOPMENTS

  The following morning Graham sat in church feeling thoroughly confused. He did not know if he was happy or sad. The reason for this was girls. Which girl? He had never realized something so apparently simple could be so complex. There are so many pretty girls to choose from! he thought. To add to his dilemma was the issue of what it was that he really wanted: love or lust? To complicate his thinking processes two of the girls in question, Margaret and Cindy, sat near him in church. So did his sister and mother. And what about Thelma? I adore her. I worship her! he thought. But was it love? Or was he just a fool; a juvenile with a crush? He shook his head. No. It is Thelma I am in love with! he told himself.

  It had taken an effort to attend church. To start with he had only woken up at 8 o’clock. Then there had been all those presents to distract him, particularly the book on battleship design, and the video on Battleships at War. As soon as the service was over Graham fled. He merely grunted a reply to Margaret’s greeting and brushed past Roger. As quickly as he could he walked home.

  Max and Alex were already there, working in Alex’s room on model tanks and planes for their countries. They chased Graham out and then came to see what he was doing at his desk. Graham hid the plans of the second battleship and instead leafed through the book on battleship design. Peter arrived just after 11 o’clock and they all then settled in front of the TV to watch the video.

  The video was all old black and white newsreel but with a narrative and Graham was fascinated. It dealt with the British King George V-class battleships of World War 2 and had some incredible footage. To begin with there were long and detailed scenes of the ships being built and leaving dock, then actual film of the Bismarck blowing up the HMS Hood. Later it showed the HMS Prince of Wales being sunk by the Japanese in 1941. The concluding section showing the fleet in the Arctic Ocean in 1942 was quite awe inspiring, the way the massive waves battered at the ships.

  When the video was finished the boys were quite excited.

  “Wasn’t that something!” Max cried, “See that aircraft carrier run into that colossal wave and dip its flight deck in!”

  Peter nodded. “And that bit about the Hood blowing up. Incredible!” he added.

  Graham agreed. That scene had particularly moved him. He had always admired the Hood, ever since he had seen a picture of her in one of his granddad’s books. It somehow rankled that the pride of the Royal Navy could have been sunk so easily. Now he wasn’t so sure if he liked the ship or not. Likewise he had previously formed a fairly low opinion of the KGV-class ships because they had been smaller and had smaller guns than American battleships of the same era but now he decided they looked really good. I will build one of them as well as the Nelson, he decided.

  It was lunch time by then and the boys all went to the kitchen at Mrs Kirk’s call. Afterwards they went downstairs and helped clean up the Ship Room. The furniture was all taken back where it belonged and the concrete floor was swept and then hosed and scrubbed again. This left only faint chalk marks to show where the coastlines of Graham’s Little World had been.

  Peter looked around. “Are we stil
l going to set up our game here?” he asked.

  Alex answered at once: “You bet. We will lay it out now.”

  “Who gets what?” Max asked.

  “We all have to have an equal share,” Graham insisted.

  “How will we do it?” Max asked.

  Peter suggested: “Let’s plan it on paper first. How big is it?”

  Graham did not know. They obtained a tape measure and notepaper and set to work to make a plan. The area turned out to be about 10 metres by 12 with two rows of posts, three in each row.

  “Why not exactly 12 metres?” Alex asked.

  Peter answered. “Because it is an old house. It would have been built when we still used Imperial measurement; you know, feet and inches,” he replied.

  Armed with the data Peter drew up a grid on a sheet of paper, then set to work to plot the coastlines that were faintly visible.

  “Why are you bothering with them?” Max asked.

  Peter shrugged. “Because they are there and already have countries Graham has been using for years. We can just move forward in time from the Napoleonic Era to modern times.”

  “But who gets what?” Max persisted.

  “We can negotiate that,” Peter replied.

  Once they had the map the boys took themselves upstairs to the comfort of the veranda and sat down to haggle over territory. The map showed a most peculiar hodge-podge which bore almost no relationship to the real geography of the world. As Peter pointed to each country, then labelled it with the name nominated by Graham he shook his head.

  “Boy! You certainly didn’t bother to open an Atlas when you planned this Graham,” he said.

  Graham could only shrug and blush. “It just sort of grew,” he replied.

  The rough layout had four main features. Along both the front and back walls were two irregular land masses representing Europe and America. In between were two large islands. The one to the north was an oval shaped Britain with huge harbours for ships and the other was a potato shaped Africa with only one big river.