A Boy - Chapter 4

For the first event, everyone would start at the same time from the small 1’ bluff near the pond. They would run to the water, then swim to the large branch that protruded out of the water, ¾’s of the way across the pond, before swimming back to shore. The first one back on the bluff would be the winner. As they stretched, exercising their sense of humor as well as their muscles with gentle ribbing of each other, Tracey and Anthony both found themselves looking at Mark, with surprisingly similar looks in their eyes. “He looks like a golden panther,’ Tracey thought. Anthony probably would have had the same thought, if he hadn’t looked away, forcing himself to concentrate on the race. Tracey returned to her stretching, then tied her T-shirt into a knot at the waist, so it wouldn’t slow her down. The sight of her tanned belly and tight T-shirt slowed Carl and James down quite a bit, so they almost missed the start. Anthony yelled “GO!” as everyone took off for the water. The distance to the water wasn’t far, so they all entered at about the same time. Tracey and Anthony soon outpaced James and Carl. Neither could see Mark at first, until, Anthony noticed a mound in the surface of the water ahead of him. It was moving fast. Anthony smiled despite his efforts to win, knowing Mark could swim longer underwater than any of them, and was making great progress in doing so. He saw him surface a surprising distance in front of him. Looking to his left, he saw Tracey just slightly behind. Mark touched the branch at least 15’ before Anthony did, followed almost immediately by a laughing Tracey. They all swam back as James and Carl continued towards the branch.

They lay back on the grass breathing hard, their stomach’s rising and dropping with each deep inhalation of breath. Now that Carl and James had seen Tracey’s belly and shirt, they were hard pressed not to look, although truth be told, it didn’t bother Tracey that they looked. Tracey, who missed very little, saw both of them looking, closed her eyes and smiled, then breathed heavily for a few seconds, drawing in and releasing deep breaths. ‘Was that a groan from one of them?’ she thought. Running was next, so after they all caught their breath, they lined up in front of The Castle. They would be running away from the forest, across the grass to a chain link fence partially collapsed, about 100 yards away. They had to touch the fence, then run back. They took off to James yelling ‘GO’ this time, Mark and Tracey quickly outpacing the others. They were neck and neck to the fence, but she surprised Mark by gaining a short lead on the return trip. He closed the gap a few times, but she would slowly gain again. Tracey crossed the dirt finish line less than a foot in front of Mark. The others followed soon after. Everyone, including Mark, was surprised that Tracey had won, but they lost their shock when they saw how enthusiastically Mark, and then Anthony were congratulating her on her win. Tracey beamed, not knowing what to say.

They took another break, Carl climbing into The Castle, bringing them all snacks, water and juice. They patted him on the back thanking him profusely. Now it was Carl’s turn to beam. Wrestling was next. It was a tossup between whether Mark or Anthony was the better wrestler, they each won about half the time. They decided that Mark would wrestle James, then whoever won would wrestle Tracey. Anthony would wrestle Carl, then whoever won would wrestle the winner of the first group. Everyone knew it would be Mark and Anthony in the final battle. They all took another break prior to the final match. It was, as expected, Mark and Anthony. They didn’t have any rules for wrestling, they weren’t trying to imitate the sport the Jr. High and High School kids played. They were just kids, and wrestled as kids did. They stopped when their opponent gave in. They didn’t try to hurt, just pin their opponent to the ground, using any means they could devise in their imaginative twelve year old minds. There had been some interesting matches in the past, a few having to be called because the opponents were laughing too hard and couldn’t hang on. Those were their favorites actually.

Mark and Anthony stood facing each other, slightly less than an arm’s length apart. Anthony had the reach, but Mark was more muscular. When Tracey yelled ‘GO’, they both smiled, obviously enjoying the moment, then closed in. They were soon a mass of twisting tan bodies and dirty shorts, rolling around on the grass one minute, standing, breathing hard with hands on each other’s shoulders the next. Tracey, Carl and James were sitting with their backs against trees, watching the match. Tracey turned to say something to them then stopped, when she saw the confusion in their eyes.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Carl answered first. “Uhh, I don’t know. Every time Anthony has a good hold on Mark, he pulls back, like he’s giving up.”

“Yeah, but then he jumps back in,” James said, “fierce as always. I don’t know what the heck is going on. What’s he doing?” he asked, uncertainty in his voice.

Tracey looked at the match, but didn’t see what they were talking about. She hadn’t seen many wrestling matches before, so she concentrated, hoping her observation skills would help her. It took a few seconds, and then she saw it. Anthony had the upper hand, not winning but certainly headed that way, when he released his hold, almost pushing himself back. She didn’t recognize what was in his eyes, but it wasn’t fear. At least not fear of losing. She could tell Mark was confused also, he didn’t know what was happening to Anthony either. This continued for another minute before Anthony finally pushed back sharply, yelled “SHIT”, then stalked off to The Castle. Mark was dumbfounded, but soon regained his composure. He was really worried about his friend. The others watched as Mark walked over to The Castle. He stopped beside it, asking if Anthony was OK. There was genuine concern in his voice, his left hand slowly clutching and releasing the branches where he stood.

“I’m fine,” Anthony said back, “just leave me alone.”

‘He sounds angry,’ Mark thought, ‘we’ve never been mad at each other before.’ For the first time in his life, Mark didn’t know what to say, what to do. At a loss, he stared around at the others, shrugged his shoulders, then walked slowly to the trees where they all sat. He leaned back against the tree, sliding slowly to the ground. The bark cut him lightly as he did so. Mark never noticed. The four of them sat there, each in their own silence. They were as startled as she, when Tracey got up and walked over to The Castle. She got down on her hands and knees, then crawled in.

They sat in silence for about five minutes, neither knowing what to say. Finally, Tracey asked, “What happened, can you tell me?”

“I don’t know what happened, that’s the problem.”

She pondered this for a few moments, thinking through what she had seen. She chose her words carefully, gently asking “You seemed to panic out there Anthony. Everyone says you’re as good as Mark…”

“I am” he interrupted her, a small but gentle smile on his lips.

Tracey smiled back, silent again before continuing. “Why did you push back every time you seemed to be winning?” “What were you thinking?” she said this as a question, not an accusation.

“I wasn’t thinking anything,” Anthony said slowly, breathing deep, trying to regain his composure.

She sat silently for a few minutes, smiling, watching Anthony, waiting for him to say something if he needed to. She saw storms of confusion in his eyes. He seemed about to speak, stopped himself, took a deep breath, sighed and was silent again.
“What happened?” she asked again, so softly Anthony had to cock his head to hear.

“I felt…. something.”

“What?”

“I DON’T KNOW” he shouted, shocking her into silence.

She couldn’t image what the boys outside were thinking, so she gave up thinking about it. She waited, looking at him, simply waiting. Eventually, she asked again, very gently, “What did you feel?”

“I don’t know,” he said, as an anguished moan whispered from his lips. “We’ve wrestled a lot, this has never happened before. Every time we closed in though, I felt this, something… inside.”

“Did you feel queasy?” she asked, “Did your palms get clammy and your heart start pounding?”

Anthony looked at her in surprise, then looked down. “Yes.”

‘A simple yes,’ she thought. Tracey was only a year older than the boys, although none of them knew that. Thirteen was like eighteen or nineteen in boy years, so yes, she knew those feelings.

“Anthony,” she said slowly, waiting for him to turn and look at her before continuing. “Do you like girls?” She turned away, waiting for the explosion, so was quite surprised to hear his gentle laugh.

“Yes,” he said, just above a whisper. “I like you actually, a lot.”

He was looking directly at her when she, surprised, turned towards him. He was grinning shyly.
“Really?” she asked.

“Really” he said.

“I don’t understand,” Tracey said.

Anthony laughed, “Join the crowd.”

They both sat silently for a few more minutes before she ventured, “Anthony, the feelings you get when you think of me, were they….. umm, kind of like the feelings you felt when wrestling?”

“Yes.” His anguish was as loud as his whispered words were quiet.

Tracey asked, “Have you ever liked any boys like you like me?”

“Never,” he said, then looked quickly down, the meaning of their conversation finally dawning on him. “Never…. before. Mark has been my best friend since the First Grade. We’ve been together ever since, I don’t understand. “

Tracey could see he was clearly miserable. “I don’t know for sure,” she said, “but it may not be the same thing. It might be what we’re thinking,” she said, uncomfortable and unwilling to frighten what was already a very uncomfortable and frightened young boy, “but it may not be. Neither one of us knows, only you can find out.”

“ I don’t want to find out,” Anthony said, surprising them both by laughing as he said it. “I just want things to be as they were.” It was rueful, but he was still smiling.

“You know I like Mark,” Tracey said, then smiled at the surprise in Anthony’s eyes. “He does have a way of having people like him.”

“Yes he does” he mused. “I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised.” He was silent for a moment then laughed out loud. “Does this mean that you and I are going to fight for Mark’s affection, or are Mark and I going to have to fight for yours?”

Tracey laughed loudly at this, matching Anthony’s dark humor.
“You know, I just don’t know, could be interesting,” she mused, there was a gleam in her eye as she said it. “You know we’re going to have to get back out there, we still have to finish the Olympics.”

“What do we do, about, this?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“We just keep living and see what happens.” Tracey said, standing, holding her hand out for him.

Anthony grabbed her hand, pulling himself up and dusting the back of his shorts. “OK, let’s go.”

Tracey left The Castle first, smiling at everyone, laughing at their obvious concern and curiosity. She rubbed her stomach, pointed back towards the emerging Anthony and mouthed “gas,” laughing as she did so. Mark was happy, he had no idea what had just happened, didn’t know if he would ever find out, but he was happy. Anthony was smiling as he came up to Mark, punching him in the shoulder. Tracey turned as he called her name, then was surprised when he punched her in the shoulder. Mark laughed so loud, none of them could stop themselves from joining in. ‘This is going to be a very interesting summer,’ she thought, then punched both Mark and Anthony in the shoulder. The day only got better from there.