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three pairs of lovers with space

THE GOLDEN CITY-BOY
Watching and being watched

by Gorrit Goslinga

 

The following article was published in issue 6 of Koinos, Amsterdam, 2nd Quarter 1995, pp. 21-23. The three black-and-white illustrations accompanied the original article.

 

Koinos 06 21
Jeunesse joyeuse (author's photo)

Prague boy is forever immortalised by the statue Jeunesse joyeuse on the small square in front of the “House of the Czechoslovakian Children” - now a toy museum - at the eastern end of the castle mound. “Milos Zet, 1962-1963” reads the socle.

Prague boy, there is something special about him. Since the 1989 velvet revolution you’ve been able to spot him wearing a bright tee shirt or garishly coloured tights in summer, rather than a moss-green, or washed-out mauve baggy pyjama track suit. Tell me another city where fourteen or fifteen year old boys appear on the streets in closely fitting tights. In Holland they leave that to skaters, cyclists and their kid sisters.

Prague boy, what’s so special about him? Board a bus or metro at random at a busy time, and just watch. He is beautiful, certainly, but so are boys the world over. Have another, better look at him, there in animated conversation with his friends - or with his mother. Clear eyes, full of hope, full of the joys of life. None of the spoiled boredom of the western youth; nor the premature worldly wisdom of his Asian counterpart. Look at boys in another, smaller Czech town, and you will meet lack of inhibition. Look at Prague boys, and you will meet lack of inhibition, self assurance and the joy of living fused into one whole.

Let’s call him Pavel. He turned fourteen this summer. Half length blond hair, slightly curly, with a light golden sheen. Round, open face with big grey eyes. Fairly broad shoulders but otherwise of slight build and very slim. He has got a lot taller in the last six months. Tight denim suit, black tee-shirt and white sports shoes accentuate that fact. Every day of his holiday Pavel goes to the swimming pool. There he always sees friends and acquaintances. He also sees people who look at him. By now he knows that they look at him because they find him a handsome lad. At the poolside the girls look at him as he walks by or when he heaves himself out of the water. In particular they look at his pale-green bathing slip, bought this spring but already too small. Luckily it’s made of elastic material, all the bulges still fit in it. Pavel is aware that none of the girls is really upset if he “accidentally” bumps into her. After that he dives quickly back into the water. Even elasticity has its limits.

Koinos 06 22

But in the changing rooms, the showers, the steam bath and the drying area it is the older boys and the men who look at him. That's what it’s all about: watching and being watched. After he has paid his 15 crowns entrance fee and 50 crowns deposit for a padlock, Pavel takes his time in the changing room. Shoes in hand, he chooses out an empty locker near to a couple of young men who are getting undressed. He can sense them looking at him as he puts his shoes down, hangs his jacket and trousers on the hook, and as he pulls his plastic bag out of his daypack. He has his towel, bathing slip and shampoo in that bag. The young men stand up, both naked, busy talking to each other, but Pavel is sure they are dallying because of him. Once he has pushed his underwear into his rucksack and secured his locker, he returns their looks without inhibition. He ought to be broader in the shoulder, and his pecker should be a bit bigger too. Luckily he can do everything with it, and with its thick bush of hair it looks to be a whole lot. He is proud of it, although he doesn't know why. You should be proud of something you have achieved, and he hasn’t done anything to get his good looks and his beautiful body. Just swum a few lengths. Naked, holding his bag in his hand, he walks to the showers.

Was it possible that those men, there on the gallery by the door of the steam-bath, once had bodies like his? It is difficult to imagine. Most of them are old and shapeless. They are sitting there to acclimatise themselves after the steam, but their glances are directed at the youths under the showers. Pavel hangs his bag on one of the hooks above their heads, allowing them a close up view. Turning on one of the shower taps, he jumps to one side to avoid the first cold jet. The warm water quickly has a salutary effect on him, and he turns his back to the onlookers. His buttocks are slightly less bronzed than his back and legs, but it is obvious that hasn’t always worn his shorts whilst outdoors this summer. Turning on the cold tap, moments later he retrieves his slip from the bag and goes into the steam bath. You’re not allowed to wear a bathing costume in here, but everyone uses one to sit on the hot tiles. There’s not much to sec through the steam, nor to show off. But it’s great to sir and sweat and then to come out glowing and flushed before stepping under the icy shower. If it’s really full in there the chances are that someone will come and sit right up close to you. Just so long as it isn’t some old man, for if that’s the case Pavel is up and away.

Finally, for the large swimming pool upstairs, the slip must go on. The girls are there, they must have similar rooms on the other side of the building - would that he could have a look in there. There are Jiri and Jan, his mates, by the lower diving board. Pavel greets them with a drawn-out dobriii den, bumps against an attractive girl in passing and shows off his dive. Then together they race a few lengths, and play tag in the water. All too soon Jan and Jiri’s swimming time is up. Pavel walks back with them. Jan begins to descend the steps on all fours, belly up, and the other two follow his example, roaring with laughter.

Koinos 06 23


Still wearing their slips, they stand in a line under the showers. Pavel watches the actions of the other two. The men on the benches follow them with their eyes. Jan, the same height as Pavel, but rather plump and with thick dark curls, loosens his waistband, moves as if to remove his swimsuit, then changes his mind, and pulls his shampoo bottle from his bag. His pubic hair is now visible. He puts a dollop of shampoo in his hair, and smears some over his chest, then pulls his pecker from his bathing slip and begins to soap it casually. Finally he steps out of his swimsuit, and reveals his somewhat protruding equipment to the onlookers. Pavel, almost relieved, does the same. Jiri, a head shorter than his friends, keeps his red swimsuit on. He has glossy, dark blond hair and the most attractive muscles of the three.

Jan says that Jiri doesn’t dare to undress because he has only a small one. Jiri retorts that it’s all the same to him, and peels his slip down his legs. His loins are creamy white, and his willie is no bigger than his thumb. A few dark hairs are to be seen growing around its base. “That's the way mine was six months ago” says Pavel. “Mine was like that when I was nine”, says Jan. Jiri stays silent, but Pavel can feel his envious glances.

Koinos 06 1995

In the small room where you can dry your hair under a hot air blower, they all stand in a row facing the mirrored wall, combing their locks. By way of the mirror Pavel has eye contact with a man standing behind him. The room is very small and the naked men and boys stand almost on top of one another, their naked bodies almost but not quite, touching. Except for when someone has to squeeze by to reach the exit. Pavel notices that Jan’s penis isn't completely flaccid. So what, nothing’s wrong, just so long as it’s pointing at the floor. Pavel feels his own swelling, he’ll have to watch out now. The man behind him can see nothing directly, he thinks to himself, but in the mirror he can see all. Pavel feels something soft moving against his right-hand buttock. A hand, a thigh, a sexual member? He can’t say. He shouldn’t stay in here any longer.

Pavel walks to the toilets. A few lavatory doors bang shut. Pavel goes and stands at the long urinal and deliberately starts thinking of something really filthy. An old man, shitting behind him. That, together with the penetrating stink of piss, enables him to empty his bladder. Then suddenly he sees the man, standing next to him; the man who had just been standing behind him. The man speaks to him in a foreign language. Pavel can’t make out if it is German or English. He hears himself asking in halting yet perfect English, whether the man likes boys.

A minute or two later Pavel joins Jan and Jiri in the changing rooms. Jiri is sitting on a wooden bench. Jan is standing next to him with one foot on the bench, busy talking. They are both still completely naked. “Guess what has just happened to me” Pavel says, eyes shining.

DISCLAIMER

This story about Pavel is based on events that I have seen with my own eyes and on nearly every visit I have made to a number of swimming pools in Prague. It wasn’t always the same boy or group of boys, and the events did not take place in such a short time span. The figures Pavel, Jan and Jiri whilst being fictitious have been drawn according to real life.

 

 

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