An Italian boy in Camford Pt. 03

They then collapsed on the bed, and Jack said breathlessly, "I'll put the kettle on for coffee." As they drank it, Jack, amazing himself, said, "I want to come and see you on to the train tomorrow." Why was he doing this? He had never felt this way with any of his previous boyfriends.

"OK," said Sandro, "but my uncle will be there as well. He's running me to the station in his car. I'll be glad to introduce you, but remember, NO KISSING. I'm not ready to come out yet, and when I do, I must tell my parents first. I think my mother will understand, she's got a a whole family of gays, but I'm worried about my father and sister."

The next day, Jon ran Sandro to Camford station in the 4x4. David was currently in Flanders, singing at the Gentse Opera. Jon helped Sandro hook his hand-luggage on to the wheeled suitcase, and they entered the platform, where Jack was waiting. "Uncle Jon, this is my friend Jack Meredith. He's a chemist, so you may know him." The London train came in and Sandro kissed his uncle, shook hands with Jack and lifted his suitcase on to the train, which immediately drew out, carrying him to London, from where he would go on the underground to London-Heathrow Airport.

The two gay men turned from watching the departing train and looked at one another, scrutinizing each other appraisingly. Both of course had seen the other before, but had never spoken. Jon recalled that his first reaction, when he had seen Jack the first time, had been that the guy was prick-raisingly beautiful. Now, looking at him closely, he saw no reason to change his original viewpoint. If his nephew fancied this man, Jon was not surprised. It seemed unlikely that they were just good friends visiting the pub or the pool together. Jon had always suspected that Sandro might turn out to be gay, but he was still quite happy to wait until Sandro decided to come out.

Jack felt uncomfortable. He guessed that Jon thought that he and Sandro had a relationship, and was frightened of a question like, "Are you fucking my nephew?" but the question was not asked. Jon did not feel that he knew this guy well enough to wish him a good relationship with Sandro, and there was no reason at this stage to warn him off. He decided to find out a bit more about him. "Have you got time for a quick drink?" he asked. It was lunch hour.

"Yes, sir. I'm demonstrating in the teaching lab this afternoon, but there's half an hour to spare."

"I'll run you to the lab when we've done," said Jon, "I won't let you be late." To Jack's amazement, the name of Sandro did not crop up in the conversation that followed. Jon seemed to be more interested in him, Jack, than in his nephew. Jack told him that he was not a Camford graduate, but had come from Imperial College, London, and had just started research under one of Jon's old friends, Dr Q. He did not explain that he had left ICL because of being persistently harassed by homophobic students, and had come to the more grown-up environment of Camford, where he knew that he would be accepted as a scholar and scientist and not tormented as a faggot. They talked about his work, and Jon made a couple of shrewd suggestions as to experiments that might shed light on his research problem. Then he ran Jack back to his lab, and himself went to give a maths tutorial as part of the department's remedial teaching for first year undergraduates weak in maths technique.

At 4 pm, he went into the staff tearoom and found Dr Q. He asked him about his new research student. "Surprisingly, I know more about him that any of my other students, even though he's only done one term. I've can't show you his CV, but I can tell you what's in it. Why the interest?"

"He's going out with my nephew."

"Ah! You know he's gay?"

"Of course I do! It takes one to know one!"

"Come to my office, where it's more private." Once in the office, Dr Q told Jon that Jack had been a brilliant undergraduate student, got a first in chemistry and the end-of-course medal and had been a competitive swimmer and represented ICL in various swimming competitions. However, all his time as a student had been marred by homophobic attitudes, not mere teasing and bantering, but downright harassment. Jack seemed to regard his supervisor as a sort of confidant, and had told him that he had been totally fed up of London and ICL, and wanted more adult surroundings with more sophisticated and friendly attitudes to minorities. Dr Q had recommended Jack to the Head of Department for a studentship, and Camford welcomed him with open arms. "He's a careful, hardworking, thoughtful student, a bit defensive over his gayness, but a delightful person to have in the lab, and a much appreciated member of my team, even after only ten weeks! I arranged for him to join my college, which as you know is Islip. He's given up competitive swimming: he says it takes up too much time. Of course, I can't tell you about how he spends his spare time. For all I know, he may spend hours picking up men in the Randy Soldier" he said, naming Camford's leading gay pub. Jon decided that he was not going to discuss this with David, or anyone else, but wait until Sandro had decided to come out of the closet, or rather, to come off the fence on the gay side.

Chapter Sixteen: Professor Sescantanto's party

On the shortest day of the year, Professor Sescantanto threw his annual Christmas party. All members of the Trabizona chemistry lab plus one guest each were invited to the professor's villa outside the town. The event took a whole day from 10 am on a Saturday to 2 am the next morning. Guests could come and go as they wished. A bus was laid on to bring them from the city, and it ferried them back again in the evening at hourly intervals from 4 pm. Tom was a bit apprehensive, as he feared a 'bunga-bunga' party of the type favoured by a well-known Italian politician who at that time was Prime Minister, but it was really pretty restrained. There was a room for conversation, a room for dancing, a sheltered verandah where one could sit out of doors, and a room to eat in. There was plenty of food, masses of drink, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and any sex was pretty subliminal, although there was a good sprinkling of the professor's gay friends, as well as a 90% turnout of people from the lab.

Tom felt very proud to be showing off his boyfriend. It was the first time that these people had met Luke, who was conscious of close scrutiny both by laboratory personnel and by Sescantanto's gay friends. There were large numbers of different conversational groups, some speaking English, and Luke insisted that Tom took him round each group and introduced him. Unlike Tom, he was quite gregarious.

There must have been about sixty or seventy people at the party altogether. It turned out that Ben had brought Giovanna with him, so he had not yet taken the boys' advice to dump her. The boys found her very attractive, "as far as a woman could be," according to Luke. Tom was more positive, and felt sorry that she was not more fond of Ben. She was interested to meet both Tom and Luke, and she (as well as other people from the lab) thought that Luke was Italian. The gay guests were not all camp weirdos. There was even a couple whom Luke knew as members of the chorus at the Teatro Musicale. They looked surprised when he introduced Tom to them as his boyfriend. "We didn't know you were gay!" they said.

"Tom and I are civil partners," Luke explained, "we are safely monogamous, or perhaps I should say monandrous, so you won't see either of us cruising or frequenting gay bars!" The two singers looked appraisingly at Tom and felt rather envious of Luke when they saw Tom's broad muscular shoulders, his short, neat hair, his smooth, well-shaven face, his flat belly leading to an interesting package in his crotch and his broad but wiry hips.

The boys spent several hours in the company of the two chorus men, drinking wine steadily but slowly, interspersed with acqua minerale. They were joined by the Professor, to whom Tom introduced Luke. As all gay men do, Sescantanto scrutinized Luke minutely, taking in his long, dark wavy hair, his brown skin, his tiny neat goatee, his narrow hips and trim arse, his slender build and the large bulge of his crotch. He did not quite lick his lips, but he obviously liked what he saw and looked at Tom with increased respect! "It is wonderful to make your acquaintance, Luca," he said in Italian. "Tom has kept you secret from us for ten months! You must both come round and have dinner with me in the New Year. What do you do for a living, Luca?"

"I'm assistant to the Manager of the Teatro Musicale," replied Luke. "Unfortunately, I am very limited as to the evenings when I can go out, as I have to work until 10-30 at night on those evenings when we have a performance, which is about four or five nights per week."

"No problem: I'll check the opera calendar before we fix a date. Now I know how you come to know Lorenzo and Paolo!" said the Professor, naming the two men from the chorus.

Around 4 pm, Luke realized that it was time to leave for work. While not 100% sober, he was fit enough to do his job, which that night was essentially routine. He rode on the bus into town and by 5 pm was at his desk in the theatre. Tom, left behind, remained in the company of the two chorus singers, until they in turn had to leave. He then joined a group of fellow research students who were queuing up for hot pizza. He asked them if Professor Sescantanto's parties were always like that. They told him, No, in the summer they were outdoors and everyone could use the outdoor pool. The villa had attractive gardens with many attractive nooks and crannies suitable for snogging. Most of them, being straight, did not comment on Luke. Soon, Ben and Giovanna joined them, and Tom got into conversation with Giovanna in Italian.

She told him that she had got fed up of speaking English for most of the day. Tom agreed with her that however fluently you could speak a foreign language, it took a very long time before you could speak it spontaneously and carelessly. There was always an element of stress, and a small element of constraint, that you could never be 100% sure that you had said what you meant.

About 8 pm, considerably fuddled, Tom staggered onto the bus and was transported to the town centre, from where he walked slowly home, made himself some coffee and got ready for bed. When Luke came in at 11 pm, Tom kissed him and said, "Let's get to bed. We've got to be in Bologna by 10-30 tomorrow for a choir practice before the service." It was the last Sunday in Advent and Holy Cross church choir were singing Mozart's 'Sancta Maria, mater Dei' as motet during the service. They each said their prayers, climbed into bed and Luke snuggled up spooned against Tom's body. They soon fell asleep.

Chapter Seventeen: Christmas and New Year in Italy

For Tom and Luke, there had been no question of going to England for Christmas. Although the Teatro Musicale was closed on Christmas Day, San Stefano, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, there was a performance on all the other nights between Christmas and the New Year, so Luke had to work. The boys arranged to spend Christmas and New Year with the Mascagnolis, returning to Trabizona in between. Because they wished to attend Midnight Mass at the English church in Bologna, it was necessary to book into an hotel in that city for the first hours of Christmas Day, and leave for the Mascagnolis' after breakfast.

The opera performance on Christmas Eve was in the afternoon, which allowed the boys time to get a bite to eat before driving to Bologna. The opera chosen for the Christmas period was Rossini's 'La Cenerentola' and would be played right up to the New Year. They got to Bologna in time to check in at the hotel.

There was a fairly big congregation for the late night service, English-speaking expats from many nations tended to turn up once a year at Christmas, even if they never saw the inside of a church at any other time, so the small church was quite full. Luke felt more emotional about his belief than he had for some time. In the reading from his namesake's gospel the wonder of the greatness of God's love hit him hard, and a few tears ran down his cheeks in the awe of realizing how amazing it was to be loved by a God whose love for humanity was so great that He could become a baby in a manger, the Word made flesh. Tom squeezed his hand in sympathy.

The boys finally got to bed about 2 am, so it was nearly 9 am before they had breakfast. They then drove to the Macagnolis' and arrived just as the family were getting back from morning mass in the local church. They were not regular churchgoers, but Christmas is after all, a major Christian festival and they would not consider missing church on that day. The boys were warmly welcomed. No-one seemed to want to speak English. Sandro had been home from Camford for nearly two weeks, and Luca greeted his brother with an embrace and a kiss. Tom shook his hand. Luca kissed Bianca, who then threw her arms round Tom and kissed him. She seemed to have developed a crush on Tom and made a great fuss of him on every visit.

As they drank Prosecco, Luca asked Sandro how his first term had been. "Camford è magnifico! Molto mi piace! I am so glad that I chose to go there. I have a nice college room, the lectures and practicals are very enjoyable, e ho molti amici." (and I have a lot of friends).

"Ragazzi o ragazze, e questa nazionalità?" (Boys or girls, and what nationality?).

"No Italians! My friends are mainly first-year English boys, except for an oriental girl. There are only about fifteen girls in our engineering classes out of nearly a hundred first years. Also, I've got a slightly older friend, a first-year Ph.D. student, with whom I go to films and go swimming. I'd like to bring him home at Easter, if that's OK with you and Dad, Mamma."

"But in the college, there must be quite a lot of girls?" said his mother.

"Yes, but there are not many opportunities to meet them. Besides, love is a distraction from work, whereas moderate drinking is not. And most engineers drink a lot. Grazie a Zio Giona, birra inglesa mi piace." (Thanks to Uncle Jon, I love English beer)."

His mother said, "Be careful, Sandro, don't drink too much. Apart from other effects, it makes you fat!"

"Yes, we can echo that," said Luca. "You won't attract girls, or boys for that matter if you get a beer-belly!" Sandro blushed slightly at the mention of attractive boys, and hoped that no-one noticed. He was glad that Tom had not mentioned his phone call to anyone. He was not yet ready to come out.

"How did you do in your Christmas Progress Test, Sandro?" asked Luca. The Progress Test is the review that all Camford college tutors carry out on their students at the end of each term.

"Dr H was quite complimentary. He said that my strengths in maths and physics will make engineering study easy for me, and that if I continue to work hard, I may get a college scholarship based on my performance in the summer exams."

Christmas is a low-key event in Italy, and after a family meal, the day was spent just like a Sunday. The next day, San Stefano, was warm and sunny and they all went for a walk round the town's mediaeval walls. The boys left in the evening, as Luca had to start work at 10 am the next day.

Tom's lab was closed until 2 January, so he was left alone at home. He did some piano practice and then decided to ring his sister Liz and Luke's fathers with Christmas greetings. He used Skype and soon found himself in conversation with Jon. After what Sandro had said, Tom was curious about his new friend and asked Jon if he knew how many gays there were in the Camford Chemical Laboratory. Jon said he knew of six, two academics including himself, two Ph.D. students and two technicians. "That's four more than when I was there!" said Tom.

"But there could be a lot more gays among the undergraduates," Jon said. "The chemistry undergraduates have recently formed a student society called the Gay-Lussac Society. As you know, Camford student societies often take the name of a famous person, but in the case of the Gay-Lussac Society, it's actually a code, not for the nineteenth century French chemist, but for 'Gay Chemists' Society'! Out of an honour school of three hundred, if they are a cross-section of society, there will be about thirty gay students and probably more than a hundred who are bi. As a matter of fact, they have invited me to talk to them next term on the topic of 'Gay scientists'. I think that I'll talk mainly about Alan Turing and his sufferings in the 1950s."

"Sandro seems to have settled down nicely. I think he may surprise us in the next few months," said Tom.

"Tom! Do you know something that I don't know? About Sandro, I mean?"

"Not exactly. I think you have your suspicions, and so do I! But no doubt he will tell us in his own good time. Where exactly are you this Christmas?"

"We're all at Rockwell's Barn. David's mother and father have joined us, and of course Cathy is here, so there are five of us in the house. It's a cold, damp Christmas this year. We've scarcely been out, because when we need exercise, we can always use the pool."

"Please give our love to everyone. I'm cooking a pheasant for us tonight. It's easy to get that sort of thing here, if you go to the right shops. I've never cooked one before, so it's an interesting challenge."

"Give Luke our love when he gets home!"

Early on New Year's Eve, the two men drove from Trabizona to Massimo and Dorotea's house. Again, Sandro and Bianca greeted them enthusiastically and the four of them went out for a walk while Dorotea was cooking the New Year's Eve dinner. They split into two groups, Bianca chattering happily to Tom, while Luke talked to Sandro. A lot of Sandro's conversation seemed to be taken up by his new friend Jack. When Luke heard that Jack was a chemist, he said innocently that chemistry seemed to attract gays: Tom and both Luke's fathers were gay chemists. Sandro realized the implication and blushed, but did not say anything more. He had been careful not to use Storing pour Homme while he was at home. He thought that he would be glad to be rid of all this deception, hiding in the closet, but he wanted to be sure that his relationship with Jack was strong enough before he came out. He knew now that all he himself wanted was for him to be Jack's exclusive property, but he could not be sure that Jack was not a typical philandering gay, who might abandon him for someone else, so he was reluctant to commit himself until he knew that Jack also wanted to commit.

Late on New Year's Day, the boys drove home to Trabizona. Both were due back at work the next day.

Chapter Eighteen: Leonora in distress

Towards the end of January, winter set in. A cold wind blew south from the Dolomite mountains, and Trabizona was covered in a sprinkling of snow about 3 cm deep. One evening, Tom got home about 8 pm, after an easy drive from the lab. He started to prepare a meal for the two of them to eat when Luke got home about 10-30. Round about 9-30, to Tom's surprise, the doorbell rang. He clicked the intercom button and said "Chi è?"

"È Leonora," was the reply. Tom clicked the door release and opened it, to see Leonora, wrapped in a hooded fur jacket, climbing the stairs. He stepped on one side to let her enter the house.

He took her damp coat and hung it in the warm kitchen to dry off. She seemed to be in a state of some distress. She explained that for the last month she had been pursued by a stalker. He lurked outside the lecture rooms, he followed her wherever she went in the vicinity of the university, and had started following her home. She was pretty sure that she had avoided him tonight when she sneaked off to catch the train to Trabizona, but she was frightened that when she went back home, he would be waiting for her. She didn't see how she could involve the police, as she had not been assaulted or even threatened. It was just his sinister presence that scared her. "You'd better stay here for a couple of days, and then Luke and I will accompany you back to Bologna, and try and deal with this guy. I'm not sure that we will be able to scare him off, but we will certainly have a try. You know that you are safe here. Would you like some coffee? You look cold. You can eat with us tonight if you can wait until 10-30 when Luke gets home from the theatre. I'll just go and make up a bed for you. Have you got any clean clothes and toilet things with you?"