Eleanor, Tommy and Martin Pt. 01

Tommy moves to a new job in Italy Pt. 01

[Sorry this story has been delayed. I am suffering from writer's block. Any reader who can suggest how I might continue is welcome to leave suggestions in the Comments box.]

Chapter I

The Llandewi Mawr International Singing Competition

Sir David Singleton-Scarborough, opera singer, singing teacher and honorary Fellow of Saint Boniface's College, Camford, declined an invitation to join his fellow judges for dinner and went to eat with his son, Luke, at a pub near the competition venue in Llandewi Mawr. They had been attending the Llandewi Mawr International Singing Competition, held every five years in the small mid-Wales market town. David himself had won both the tenor class and the overall festival champion title back in the 1980s, and had several times since been one of the festival judges.

Luke had for the first time in his life taken a short break from his job as Assistant Manager of the Teatro Musicale in the Italian city of Trabizona, and come to Britain in search of new singing talent. He had in the past employed British artists as principals, but only when they had acquired an international reputation. His opera house, always strapped for cash, had recently decided to seek for new, younger and possibly cheaper, talent rather than relying on expensive international artists. His gay partner, Tom Appleton, had been unable to come with him as he was at a tricky stage in an application for a Professorship in Chemistry at Trabizona University.

Already after only a week in England and Wales, Luke was beginning to miss Tom, Olivia and their three children. He was conscious that Tom was being kept busy by the sexual needs of Olivia, the mother of their children. He knew that this would be the case, because whenever Tom, who visited England several times a year in connection with his research, was away, Olivia expected Luke to sleep with her every night, leaving the bed he shared with Tom empty.

In recent years, the fact that Luke did not get home from work until after 11 pm meant that usually he was too tired to fuck Tom, and was happy just to relax and let Tom do the fucking. However, both men knew that in spite of their deep love for one another, family life required them to keep Olivia happy. On one occasion in the past, they had let Olivia form a sexual relationship with a younger man who did not have their respective career obligations, but it had not turned out well, and they, as well as Giovanni, their eldest child, had been relieved when his mother terminated the relationship. Olivia realized that as the children were getting older, it was no longer possible to import a new lover into the household without many awkward questions, and as she enjoyed the financial and domestic security that their ménage à trois gave her, her two male partners were called upon more frequently to fulfil her sexual needs. They did this without reluctance because they both loved her, but not with the intensity with which they loved one another.

Olivia was perfectly happy to be fucked by two different men, as their lovemaking techniques with her were quite different. She knew a lot more about straight sex than they did, and she had taught each of them to make love to her in ways that best suited them individually, as well as pleasing her. Moreover, she never asked questions about what they did together, and over the years they had evolved a sexual timetable about the way that they paired off to sleep together that worked very well. She had never wanted a threesome in bed.

Luke had met his father to discuss the winner of the tenor class in the competition, an amazing tenor called John Pitsmoor. The panel of judges, who included critics and impresarios as well as teachers, singers and conductors, had been unanimous in their choice of winner. David was rather relieved that everyone agreed that young Pitsmoor was a brilliant singer, because he was a man of extraordinary beauty, with a slim, tall figure and natural blond hair, a trim arse and an intriguing bulge in front of his trousers: the kind of man indeed that gave David a stiffening of his cock every time he looked at him. He felt that it would have been very unprofessional of himself to let sexual attraction influence his judgement. However, the topic naturally arose in the conversation with his son, who also confessed to a hard-on at the sight of the young tenor!

David suggested that Luke make John Pitsmoor the offer of a one-year chorus job in the Teatro Musicale after he had finished his training at the National Opera Studio. In that year he could perfect his Italian and move into principal roles. "Check whether he has an agent, though, because you need to convince the agent that you recognize John's talent, and that he would benefit from a less demanding job for a year to polish his Italian skills. And, don't, whatever you do, give any indication that you find him attractive. We must keep sex out of his career development!"

Next morning, Luke made contact with John Pitsmoor and asked him if he had an agent. It turned out that he had, and Luke got a copy of his business card. "I can tell you what the deal is that I am going to offer your agent," he said. "I'm offering you a salaried place in our chorus at the Teatro Musicale for one year. We do about a dozen operas in repertory every year. You would get the chance to sing a solo role, not necessarily a principal one, at least three times per year, for which you would be paid extra. Also, I would expect you to understudy other principal roles, which would increase your repertoire. One year in Italy will work wonders for your spoken Italian."

Luke telephoned John's agent and a deal was negotiated. At the man's insistence, Luke threw in six free lessons with his father, to be arranged at a mutually available time, either in Camford or in Italy. He also had to concede that if a one-off recital or very short stage job cropped up in Britain, he would give John short-term leave of absence. The young tenor, who was about 24, was very excited at the idea of a year singing in Italy, particularly in the more relaxed role of chorus member. He was unattached, a closet gay who had very romantic ideas about Italy, where he hoped he might find a partner. He was realistic enough to realize that the role of a young chorus member would only just pay enough to live on, even with extra pay for his solo roles, but he reckoned that the experience would be worth it, and who knew? Maybe there might be some earnings on the side.

Next day, being Sunday, David and his son attended church in Llandewi Mawr before setting off on the drive back to Camford. Both Luke and his father were untypical of twenty-first century men in being almost obsessively faithful Christian believers. "I love this place," said Luke. "It's where my darling Tom proposed to me when you were a judge on a previous occasion. We were lying under a rock after our first ever outdoor sex. The poor lad had felt that he couldn't ask me to be his until he had money of his own, and Pop's mother had just given him a large sum!"

They stopped off for lunch in a pub in Leominster on the way back and got home to David and Jonathan's house in Octavia Avenue about 6 pm, where Jon, David's partner and Luke's other father, had dinner ready for them. Caterina Fabioli, their tenant, only cooked for them once a week now, as she was getting old, and Jon and David had a non-resident housekeeper, who came in daily to clean and to cook when required. Caterina shared the men's evening meal when Jon or the housekeeper cooked it.

Chapter II

At Wyverne School

Early in the spring term at the Wyverne School, Tommy Singleton-Scarborough, Luke's younger adopted brother, was eating dinner with a few of his fellow staff-members on a Friday evening. "So you're not going to Camford this weekend?" he was asked. He replied that he was obliged to accompany the sports master taking the fifth-form boys the next day to a swimming competition at another private school in the neighbourhood. Two teachers were always required to take the boys out of school, in case they "got up to things" with the boys. With this age group it was not a question of leading the boys astray, it was more a case of boys leading teachers astray. This applied to male teachers as well as female ones. The Ever-Interesting Topic was never far from the minds of 16-year-olds, especially when many of them were boarders, with more restricted access to girls than the day-boys.

The number of unmarried staff members who took their meals in the school was small. Most of his fellow teachers, whether male or female, were married, and while Tommy found their conversation boring, it was never more so than at the weekends. Not only did he miss Martin, his boy-friend, he also missed his girl-friend Eleanor, whom he shared with Martin. Their threesome relationship was quite different from that of Tom, Luke and Olivia. There was at the moment no chance of them forming a ménage à trois.

Next day, the swimming competition over, which Wyverne had won, the boys were getting changed and fooling around, as teenagers of their age are liable to do, and Tommy went back into the changing room to hurry them along. There were about half-a-dozen boys completing getting dressed and Tommy told them to get a move on as the bus was waiting. Eventually, all except two fifth-formers (15-16-year-olds) had gone. Tommy said, "Hurry up, you two!"

One of them replied, "There's just time for you to suck me off like you do with your gay friends!

Thunderstruck, Tommy in a flash decided to ignore the comment and said, "You'll get a penalty if you keep us waiting two minutes longer!" The boys gathered up their towels and wet swimsuits and left, grinning.

When they got back to school, although it was a Saturday evening, Tommy called the Principal on his cellphone and asked if he could see him briefly on Monday morning. The Principal named 8-30 am as a suitable time.

When Monday came, Tommy told the Principal that one of the fifth-formers knew that he was gay. "As you know," he said, "although everyone in Camford knows that I am gay, I have kept it concealed here because it could lead to all sorts of difficulties and unpleasantness. If what that boy said spreads round the school, I can foresee great disciplinary problems for me. What do you advise? You cannot sack me for being gay, and I have passed all the vetting and barring procedures, and I like my job, but I am not sure that I am cut out for teaching children, and if you advise it, I will resign."

"While resignation is the route that would lead to the least trouble, both for you and for the school," said the Principal, "I do not advise it. Discrimination against homosexuals is forbidden by law, and teenage boys are immature and can be extremely stupid. You are extremely popular among the younger boys and an excellent maths teacher. I advise you to ignore the comments. It will be a tremendous test of your capacity to maintain discipline, but as I said, you are popular among the younger boys, who will be well disposed towards you. You will need to be able to deal with anonymous abuse on blackboards and noticeboards and of comments in class orchestrated by this malicious individual."

"What if the whole class repeatedly shouts 'faggot' at me?" asked Tommy, "and I ended up leaving my job, they, and many parents, would regard it as a victory, and your own standing and the reputation of the school would be damaged."

"You're right. If you tell me the individual's name, I will have a word with him in private. This class is doing GCSE this year, they are under great pressure from their parents to do well, and if the situation gets bad enough, I am quite prepared to threaten to withdraw the whole class from sitting the examination in June. It would be an extremely unpopular move with the boys' parents, and would attract criticism for me, but it might well work. Objectives cannot be achieved without bold action. I will let it be known that public remarks about teachers' private lives will be penalized, both individually and collectively!"

"Thank you!" said Tommy gratefully. The next few days were tense. There were indeed problems with words like 'faggot' and 'poofter' appearing in blackboards before classes. Tommy would calmly remove the words at first, but then developed the technique of hiding in cupboards in the classroom in an attempt to catch the perpetrators. After a few days, it became apparent that more than the original two boys were involved, and ultimately six boys were identified and sent to the Principal. He never found out what the Principal said to them, but the incidents died down.

However, as the boys in question would be at the school for the next couple of years, Tommy became excessively cautious about being left alone with any of the boys. He told his classes that they should ask questions and discuss problems with him by E-mail, and he was always prompt in replying. At first the boys found this rather odd, but eventually they found that the system worked rather well, and they soon got used to it. He was just glad that his teaching responsibilities did not include biology and human sexuality.

Chapter III

Another job?

A few months later, Tommy received an E-mail from his former tutor in Camford, Dr Cagliari. It informed him that there was an advertised vacancy for a teacher of English in the Italian city of Parma to teach adult high-speed language classes. 'I thought that this might interest you' Dr Cagliari wrote. It did. It was clear to Tommy that the British educational system, whether in private or state schools was not a comfortable milieu for gays to work in. He at once submitted an application for the post.

In the next few weeks, his disciplinary problems recurred, and he resumed his covert observations of the class that was giving him problems. Then one day when he was assisting the sports teacher to supervise a swimming lesson, there was an outbreak of horse-play among the fifth-formers which resulted in one of the boys getting pushed into the water. As he fell, the boy bumped his head on the side of the pool and was knocked unconscious. Noticing that the boy was floating, Tommy tore off his footwear and jumped into pool and pulled the boy to safety. As soon as he was out of the water, the boy regained consciousness. An ambulance was called, and the boy was taken to hospital to check him out for concussion. No injury apart from bruising was detected.

Soaking wet, Tommy removed the clothes from the upper part of his body, and dripping, wrapped himself in a towel and retreated to his room to change into dry clothes. As soon as the class was over, the sports teacher shook Tommy's hand and thanked him for his prompt action. At the next meal of the staff together, Tommy got a round of applause when he entered the room. After this event, Tommy had no further trouble with the fifth-formers, and the Principal got a letter from the parents of the boy victim thanking the school for its prompt action, but complaining about inadequate supervision of fifth-formers in the pool. The school then decided that swimming instruction for the boys should cease at the age of fourteen.

A month later, Tommy was summoned for an interview at the Italian Institute in London for the English-teaching job in Parma.

Chapter IV

The interview

There were six applicants for the post. However, Tommy discovered that only three of them could speak Italian. It is not unusual for teachers of English as a foreign language to be unable to speak the students' first language, but clearly such an approach requires at least some initial knowledge of English on the part of the students. Tommy reckoned that a fluent understanding of the students' own language would lead to much faster progress on their part. He relied on his knowledge and understanding of Italy and the Italians to overcome the disadvantage of his lack of teaching experience. This proved to be the case, and after a series of interviews and aptitude tests, he was offered the job. He was due to start the following August, just in time for him to give one-term's notice to Wyverne School.

He immediately rang Martin and told him. To his surprise, Martin was delighted. "You were never cut out for teaching kids," he said, "and Parma has museums and resources that I can make use of during the summer vacation. I'm under no obligation to stay in Camford if I'm travelling for research. Moreover, it would come as no surprise to me if Eleanor managed to find a reason for coming to Italy too!"

The Principal of Wyverne took a different view of Tommy's teaching skills to Martin. "You are a good teacher and I gave you an excellent reference when asked. Not only are we sorry to lose you, but if you want a job when you return to England, just give me a call. If we are unable to use you here, I am in touch with several other school heads, who might have jobs available.

Chapter V

Martin arrives in Parma

Martin Robinson, Tommy's boyfriend and Junior Fellow of Saint Boniface's College, Camford, known as Boni's, was saying goodbye to his last student of the term. He had spent the day conducting progress tests on his first-year classics students. The one that he had just been assessing had received an alpha. She was an exceptionally able girl who was aiming for a career in the Civil Service. "I hope that you have a good summer vac, Mr Robinson" she said as she left. "Are you going anywhere nice?"

"I'm going to Italy to do some research on the Etruscans," he replied, "so it will not be a sand, sun and sea holiday, though no doubt there will be plenty of sun!"

Martin had decided to go to Italy by train. It would take nearly twenty-four hours, compared with two to fly, but he wanted the time to unwind himself from the Camford cocoon and adjust to the world outside. His research had progressed so well that on the advice of his doctoral supervisor, he had just finished and submitted a short research paper on the interpretation of some newly discovered Etruscan texts.

Tommy had not yet of course started his new job, but the two were going to look around for somewhere to live that could accommodate three of them, somewhere with a minimum of two bedrooms, so allowing scope for Eleanor to join them. The second bedroom could also be used if Matteo, currently studying for a Masters degree in Tom Appleton's department in Trabizona, came to visit. Matteo was a mutual friend of Tommy and Martin whom Tommy had got to know when he was on his Erasmus year in Padua, three years before.

In the meantime, Martin had booked a room in a comfortable hotel in Parma, since Tommy could not come until the school term ended in mid-July. Martin was going to consult a history professor in the University of Parma about the best libraries and resources for Etruscan history, either in Parma or elsewhere. They had asked Tom, Tommy's brother-in-law, to initiate the search for a suitable apartment in Parma.

Parma is mainly associated by English people with food items. The specialities of the city, cheese and ham, Parmegiano Reggiano and prosciutto, are known worldwide. It is moreover a historic and beautiful city.

It turned out that the professor that Martin wished to consult spoke English. This came as something of a relief to Martin, because older Italian scholars often do not speak English. Professor Adriani gave him useful advice about the location and accessibility of Etruscan texts in Italian universities and museums.

By the time that Tommy arrived, Martin had secured photographs of several, possibly unpublished, texts in places near Parma. He also had a list of addresses of apartments based on the brochures that Tom had obtained for him. He had inspected several, and had three possible places lined up. Within two days of Tommy's arrival, they had secured a one-year lease on a furnished apartment in the historic part of the town and located a good car-hire firm.