During my first year at high school, Fridays were spent at the manual training institute. This building was a five minute walk from our school. We had metal work in the mornings and, after lunch, wood work. I was hopeless with my hands. A wooden wool winder took me nearly half a term to complete. Mum loyally used the thing.
One Friday morning there was a diversion. A circus had arrived and was busy setting up in the park next to the institute. Wirth Bros Circus travelled Australasia and visited our small town every two years. We watched over the fence as the elephants pushed heavy trucks. Then one elephant was connected to the two centre poles. Slowly, the massive animal pulled them upright. The flags on top of the poles fluttered in the late summer breeze.
We were very disappointed when the bell rang. Mr Dunlop the instructor was strict and not slow to warm a boy's bottom with his cane so we lined up and went inside. After about 15 minutes one boy asked to be excused and went to the toilet. Then another boy made the same request. The toilets were outside. When Mr Dunlop realised only a handful of boys remained in the workshop he went outside to investigate. We were lined up at the fence watching the circus folk. The instructor was angry and I thought we'd all get a sore bum for sure but a well dressed man from the circus savd our hides.
"Hello! We've got an audience already". He smiled and then asked Mr Dunlop if he could borrow us to help roll out the canvas for the big top. After a chorus of "Please Sir!!" our instructor gave in and released us. We vaulted the fence and joined the circus hands. The tent master blew a whistle and the tent was constructed without a word being spoken. We did help roll out the canvas but were more of a hindrance to the men who did this work most days and in all weathers. The circus knew the value of publicity and it was for that reason we had been invited to help.
Not long after the heavy canvas had reached the top of the poles, a reporter from the local paper appeared on the scene.
"You can take pictures of the tent and animals but not of the hands. Most of the lads are runaways and the men are probably wanted by the Police".
The circus man was very matter of fact about that. The boys looked not much older than those in my class while the men were toughs. The amount of work required to set up the circus for just one performance was colossal. It was almost noon before the second circus train arrived carrying the performers and the more exotic animals.
I travelled home in the school bus thinking about the circus and wondering if I'd ever get to see a perfomance some day. Once inside I did my chores and homework. Matt arrived and I took a basin of water out to the porch. He washed the lime from his manly body. His muscles rippled in the sunlight. My big brother worked in a quarry to provide for our small family. We shared a bedroom and, when I deserved it, Matt gave me a hiding. He was both father and brother to me and I loved him.
The evening meal was the time when we discussed what had happened that day. I was full of the circus! After a bit I noticed Mum, Sis and Matt were grinning at me. I shut up, feeling embarassed.
"What do you think Mum?" said Matt, "Do you think the boy is ready to see his first circus?" Mum nodded, wiping her hands on the apron. My big brother said we'd travel there on his motorbike and side car. My heart swelled with happiness and anticipation.
The circus was even better than I had dreamed. The lion tamer did put his head inside a lion's mouth. I clapped but felt sorry for the lion. Then there were the tumblers and their teeter-boards. One performer was even younger than me. He balanced on his father's feet and was spun and tossed in the air. I got dizzy just watching him.
I sat beside my big brother on the wooden plank which was the traditional circus seating. We saw performing seals, elephants, clowns, tight-rope walkers. Then a young girl on the solo trapese. In the finale to her act, she slid down the ropes and balanced on the trapese bar using only her heels. She was 50 feet in the air and the audience let out a collective sigh of relief when she reached up with her hands and safe grasped the ropes.
"The bitch has done it again", a disgusted young voice complained. I looked over and it was one of the boy hands I had seen that morning erecting the big top. He was now wearing a white coat and selling candy floss and soft drinks. His companion was an older man who slapped the boy's backside hard, He whispered something and the boy moved off to work another part of the crowd. There was a look of fear on his thin face and I half wondered if those whips the animal trainers cracked so fiercely were also used on a circus boy's bare bum if he stepped out of line.
The well dressed man who had charmed our instructor turned out to be the ringmaster. All too soon the flyers on the high trapese finished their act and the ringmaster bid the audience 'good night'. While we were still leaving the big top the hands were busy pulling down the side walls and dismantling the seating.
It only took 20 minutes on the highway to reach home. The school bus with its many deviations took three times as long. I was half asleep when Matt helped me out of the sidecar. I was so grateful to him for treating me to the circus, I reached up and flung my arms around his neck and kissed his stubbled cheek.
The next day my head was still full of sawdust. Matt wanted me to help him replace the electric wiring in the shed. He warned me not to touch the power switch but I forgot and turned it back on. There was a flash! as a fuse blew. Matt was actually cutting the cable and the force of the jolt cut a hole in his pliers. He was not hurt but I had never seen him so angry.
Matt grabbed me, pulling down my pants and jockeys. He flung me face down onto sacks of coal stored in the garage. The breeze was cool on my bare bum. Matt picked up a length of the power lead and whipped me with it hard. Soon my bum was on fire and I was crying out to him to stop. The thin lead cut into my tender boy-flesh. Again and again Matt lashed my buttocks. I screamed but he took no notice - big brother just kept on giving me the hiding of my 13 year old life. I wriggled trying to evade the cruel flex which was knifing my flesh but there was no place to hide.
"AAAAAAGH!" The lead sliced the top of my thighs. "AAAAAAAGH!" it landed on top of fresh welts on my backside. The savage assault continued until finally Matt had used up all his anger.
I lay bleeding on top of the coal sacks, covered in black dust. Matt panting, trying to catch his breath. Eventually he brushed me down talking softly. He was sorry he'd lost his temper. Then he gently pulled my pants up and held me close while I sobbed uncontrollably. Mum and Sis were out so he took me back to the house. I stripped off and stood under the shower. The stinging hot water made my torn bum hurt even more and I sobbed with the pain of it. Then Matt dried me with a big fluffy towel. My sobs were now punctuated by hiccups.
Matt took me through to our room. He put a dry towel on my bed and I lay face down on it. Big brother found a cream which he gently rubbed into my wounds. That helped ease the pain but my bottom was still very sore. I was still crying. Then I felt Matt touch my boy-hole. Slowly he penetrated me. His probing finger massaged my love gland. My little soldier responded to the intimacy and was soon standing to attention. Matt continued stroking my gland and gently fondling my twin-orbs. The sensation was incredible. From my thrashed bottom to the tip of my penis I experienced a throbbing orgasm which lasted several minutes before my shaft erupted and deposited a big load of boy-cum on the towel.
That night I was in bed and still wide awake when I heard Matt's bed springs start clattering. I wondered if he was remembering the beautiful girl on the solo trapese or the hiding he'd given his young brother? The latter I suspected because those bed springs always made that noise after he'd thrashed me. I felt comforted by that and was soon aleep .....