Roman Holiday

Chapter 1 Trip to Rome.

April,

I'd just finished the bursary exam, some of the papers were quite tough, especially history, but I found the maths papers were surprisingly straightforward. I solved all the problems with about half an hour to spare, but felt a little uneasy, as nearly everyone else was still writing and I wondered if I'd missed a question. I looked on the other side of the question sheet to check that there no questions there, quite a common occurrence. Thankfully, I'd not missed any! I handed in my paper and left the others too it.

As I left the examination hall, I was joined by a tall lad, who looked vaguely familiar, was sure I'd seen him before.

He asked if I'd done all the questions.

"Of course, otherwise I still be in there! Hadn't he finished?"

He replied that he'd had and found the papers quite easy. I agreed, he then asked,

"Don't you play flute in our school orchestra?"

"Yes, you must be a new member?"

"Yeh, I play double bass and piano, but there are too many brilliant pianists around and not many willing to look after the double bass, I've been landed with the job for the summer!"

"So, you're a reluctant recruit?"

"Press-ganged by our music director! He said that the forthcoming tour would do me good, broaden my musical horizons and all that. I'm not very good at double bass, just started to play in a band, some friends had started a couple of years back, I've played piano for years, working on grade 8, but not nearly good enough to play solo in front of an audience. I'm Charlie Evans by the way and you're?"

"Louise Donaldson. I'm sure you're being too modest, Charlie."

"No Louise, sorry to say, it's the simple truth, my main interests are in maths and physics, I like music, but it's only a diversion, and a useful way of socializing."

"Well, I'd can't say I'm an outstanding musician either, I can play the flute well enough to keep my place in the orchestra, but I don't relish playing solos! I'm starting a law degree this coming September but was thinking of doing a few courses in applied maths, and stats to keep the numerical part of my brain working."

"I imagine that'll be quite useful if you want to do tax or commercial law, can't say that appeals to me much, though. Not a bit, to be honest!"

"Well, it takes all sorts, Charlie! Do you fancy a cup of coffee, there's a new café opened down in Ashton Road?"

"Yes, I noticed, not sure I can afford it though."

Louise looked at him curiously, how could this be? Who was so poor that they couldn't afford a coffee, never come across this before.

"Och, never mind Charlie, I'll pay and when you win the Math's bursary you can return the favour!"

"That seems a good arrangement, I think you're pretty safe, I'm fairly confident that I'll the prize!"

"Oh really, Charlie! What makes you so confident?"

"Well, I was a winner at the Junior Maths Olympiad, last year, and was the only Scottish contestant."

"Mmm, I know a little about that competition, it excludes girls! We've our own competition. How d'you know that there's isn't a girl who might beat you to it?"

"Well of course it's possible, although unlikely, how do you rate your own chances?"

"We'll see Charlie, we'll see! But tell me about yourself?"

Not much to know, my Dad was killed in Cyprus doing his National Service about ten years ago, and Mum works as a secretary and we live in a council flat in Kelvingrove. I was good at maths, so won a scholarship to School, and at school was given special tuition. I was lucky, the tutors are very good, one of them is the music director. I think he quite fancies my Mum, which is a little awkward. He pretends there's nothing going on, even although I've seen them together!"

Louise notices that Charlie is looking upset, "surely your Mum is allowed to have relationships now that she's a widow? How old is she?"

"About 45."

"So, she was widowed at 35 and you expect her to remain a celibate widow for the rest of her life? That seems a little unreasonable, don't you think?"

Charlie says nothing, then mutters, "it's just that I feel so close to her. She's my only parent, and I guess I feel that I've exclusive rights to her love and care."

"Well Charlie, I think that's extremely selfish and childish of you, to say the least. You'll be wanting to have a girlfriend, won't you? So, what'll your Mum do when she's no longer the centre of your egocentric universe?"

"I'd not thought much about it, I suppose I am a bit self-centred, what with school and working for the maths bursary and now the orchestra and no brothers or sisters. But it was a shock to realise that Mum was carrying on with one of my teachers, and he's divorced!"

"Well at least he's not still married!"

"Also, I don't like her sharing her bed with another man!"

"Ah, so we come to the heart of the matter! Is your Mum's name, Jocasta by any chance?"

"No, it's Rachel and that's a bit rude, Louise! We read the Oresteia in Greek last year!" He sniffs.

"Well bully for you! I've read Freud's 'Interpretation of Dreams,' only in English, mind. You must realise that it isn't natural or healthy to want your Mum to devote herself entirely to your needs!"

"Looked at objectively, I suppose not, but I saw them the other day, in bed together and it was really upsetting, it was almost enough to stop me from attending the Bursary exams."

"Sounds, as if you must have been really upset then! What were they doing? what did you see?"

"I was supposed to be at the chess club, but I'd a headache and came home early after losing a game, very annoying and it hasn't happened for about a year! When I got home, I heard some noises in Mum's bedroom and saw them through the door which was ajar, they didn't see me, thank goodness! They were both naked and she was lying on top of him with his willy in her mouth and she had her legs around his head."

"So how do you know it was your teacher?"

"I saw enough to recognise him although he seemed to be kissing her private parts!"

"That sounds quite exciting, so your Mum knows your teacher quite well, does she?"

"They met for the first time at parent's evening, when she came to the school before Christmas."

"It must have been going on since then, about three or four months, plenty of time to become acquainted!"

"It seems so!"

"So, what did you do? Burst in on them and create a scene?"

"No, I was so shocked, I left the house and took a walk down by the Clyde along the Broomielaw, for an hour or so. When I returned, he'd left, nothing has been said about it since. I don't think Mum or Craig Watt know that I'm aware that she's seeing him."

"So, am I the first you've told, about it?"

"Yes."

"Perhaps you should keep it that way for the time being, after all it may only be a short-term relationship, your Mum may want to try out other blokes and positions before she settles permanently on this guy. But I also think that as you're going to uni soon, maybe you should try to loosen the apron strings. Maybe you should find a girlfriend and take her home to your Mum?"

"Is that an offer, Louise? Do you have a current boyfriend?"

"Not currently, like you I've been too busy with these exams!"

"Perhaps we could go to the Scottish National Orchestra concert at St Andrew's Hall on Saturday, we could use the complimentary tickets the orchestra hands out?

"Ok, that's a date, I'll see you at 6.45 on Saturday evening outside the Hall, do you have any tickets, left?

"Yes, I've got all six, as I haven't had time to use any yet."

"Ok, bring two along as I didn't bother to pick mine up."

"Ok, don't forget we'll be sitting behind to orchestra, so you'll have to dress smartly."

"I can do smart ok, and I've a skirt that covers my knees! See you Saturday evening."

There was an unusually large crowd, as the soloist was Moura Lympany, a very popular English pianist, who'd made her reputation with Khachaturian's Piano concerto. Which she was playing tonight. There was also Haydn Clock Symphony and Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, to start. We were seated a few rows behind the piano directly above the keyboard, so had an excellent view of Moura as she played the demanding concerto. The percussionist had a turn at playing a saw in the second movement, which was a novelty for almost everyone in the audience and probably the percussionist! I enjoyed her playing, Charlie, seemed less happy. She played a couple of Chopin mazurkas as encores, which got tremendous applause. There was a happy buzz from the crowd as they left the shoebox shaped hall and moved into the foyer, I bumped into my friend Neil, who I'd not seen since summer in St Andrews, he was with an older lady, could have been his mother, or an Aunt. When our eyes met, his lit up and he smiled. "Hi Louise, I'm sorry we seem to have lost touch!"

"Oh, that's ok Neil, I've been busy with the Bursary exam, which is just finished, thank goodness. Oh, by the way this is Charlie, who's also just sat for the maths Bursary and we're both off on tour with our school orchestra soon."

"That'll be nice for you, Louise, this is my mother, by the way."

The lady's eyes met mine, she smiled enigmatically but says nothing. To break the pregnant pause, I say, "We must be going, see you around Neil."

"Yes Louise, we'll catch up soon."

Charlie was glowering silently and seemingly relieved to get away from this unexpected reminder that he wasn't the only male in the offing. When we were walking through Charing Cross to catch the bus, he asked me unexpectedly, if I'd like to come home and meet his Mum.

"From our last conversation, I thought you might like to meet her."

"Have you told her to expect me?"

"No, I haven't mentioned anything about you."

"So, my visit might come as an unpleasant surprise!"

"I doubt it, Louise, but do come I'm curious to see her reaction."

"Ok, then."

Charlie's home was only a few bus-stops away along Argyle St. It took about ten minutes. We climbed up the close steps to the first floor flat, which was surprisingly roomy and comfortable, Rachel was a small sharp featured dark-haired woman, in her mid-forties with pleasant features, although she looked fatigued and very 'The Quiet American'.

"Hello, Louise, I'm Rachel, Charlie's Mum"

"Hello Mrs Evans, nice to meet you."

"So have you also been to the concert?"

"Yes, it was very enjoyable, Moura Lympany was very good, although I don't think Charlie was as impressed."

"Yes, I've heard her on the radio, she's very popular and has won lots of competitions, hasn't she?"

"I believe so, but I haven't followed her career, though they mentioned something about that in the programme notes."

"So how did you two meet, Charlie?"

"Oh, we both finished the exam early on Wednesday and got talking outside."

"You were doing the maths paper for the Bursary, were you, Louise? She seemed surprised. "Not many girls sit that, it must have been very hard."

"Perhaps for some, but maybe less so for Charlie and me." I smile at her winsomely, she doesn't respond as warmly as I'd have expected.

Instead, she said, "Blonde beauty isn't often associated with brains!"

"Then, I must be an exception to that cliché, Rachel!"

"My, my! Not just a pretty face, a fighter too! Do you intend to study maths at university?"

"No, Law, but I'll do some maths courses along the way."

"We're both in the school orchestra, Louise plays flute."

"That's nice Charlie. So, you're also going on the orchestral tour next month?"

"Yes, it was the prospect of going on the tour that kept me at school this year, I could have been at uni this year."

"Yes, Charlie wanted to do that too, but he was dissuaded by one of his teachers, Mr Watt, was the one who also persuaded him to join the orchestra so that he could meet girls. He's a bit shy, don't you think?"

"Yes, he's a very good teacher, he occasionally comes to our school too, to teach advanced maths."

Charlie was startled by this, "You didn't tell me you knew him, Louise!"

"No, it didn't seem appropriate when you spoke about him the other day."

"Don't you think you should have?"

"No, Charlie, I thought it better not to mention it."

"What were you saying about Craig to Louise, Charlie?" Rachel interjected quietly.

Charlie, blushed and didn't say anything.

"We were discussing the pain Charlie was feeling about your intimate relationship with Mr Watt. I think Charlie, may be jealous, as he feels entitled to your exclusive love. Incidentally, I don't think he's entitled to that, Mothers shouldn't hold their sons to their bosoms for too long!"

"Are you suggesting that he might like to hold yours instead, Louise?"

"He hasn't said! Would you like to hold my boobs, Charlie?"

Charlie, blushes, "Why? are you offering to let me?"

"Maybe, if you ask nicely and your Mummy doesn't object! But what do you have for me? Am I allowed to hold your willy?"

"Really, Louise, how coarse and unladylike! I've a good mind to report you to your headmistress."

"I'd go carefully with that, Mum! Louise is merely talking about it, but I saw you sucking Mr Watt's willy the other day! You pot! Louise kettle."

"Oh dear! I thought I'd heard you come back early from chess the other day! So, there's no point in me denying what you saw. Yes, Craig and I have been having a relationship, since Christmas. Nothing to be ashamed of! But we've kept it from you as we didn't want to cause you any upset before your exams. But now they're over, you might as well know!"

"But I did know, before the exam and it did upset me! Although, I don't think it's affected my exam performance."

"Good, but what's all this about expecting my exclusive love. You're not a baby anymore, Charlie, and I'd never want to stop you from having girlfriends. Why don't you and Louise go to your room for a private discussion, and I'll see what I can make us for supper."

"But you don't understand Mum! Although it didn't affect my performance whilst I was concentrating on the problems during my exams, I can't erase the image of you and Craig, having sex, I suppose you could call it. It feels like it's been burned into my brain!"

"Perhaps, you need an alternative strong image, or intense feeling to displace it, Charlie. I've just been reading a book by D.H Lawrence, 'Sons and Lovers' it's very much based on the theme of how mother love can destroy men."

"Didn't he also write a dirty book that the censor has banned?" asked Rachel, perhaps to divert from the awkwardness of Charlie's obsession.

"Yes, Rachel, I've read it too. My Aunt May gave me a smuggled copy that her friend had brought from France. You can buy it there and bring it back here, so long as you don't flaunt it when you go through the customs. It's about an unhappy couple, Sir Clifford Chatterley, a rich and powerful mine-owner, who's paralysed from the waist down by a war wound and can't make love. His wife, Lady Constance, is frustrated because she realises that although she loved her husband once, now that the physical part of their relationship had been destroyed, she feels distanced from him. The life of the mind isn't enough to make a satisfactory marital relationship, at least not for her! She's attracted to their game keeper, Oliver Mellors, who lives and works on the estate. At first, she's charmed by his physicality, a contrast with Oliver, but gradually as Mellors teaches her about the natural world, they form a more complete relationship, involving both body and mind. Mellors is also unhappily married, to a woman who wants nothing from him but sex. He finds that a turn off. The book has graphic descriptions of the love making, involving descriptions of their several body parts, not least her blond pubic hair, which I can respond to. The contrast emphasises that the only satisfactory relationship must include a union between body and mind, one or other is insufficient. Apart from the themes about sexual love, other themes, involve exploitation of the miners, by the land-owning class."

"Would you lend it to me Louise? I'd like to read it."

"Ok, Rachel, from what's been said, you seem have an open mind about what is permissible in a relationship. Maybe you should read it too Charlie, some of the graphic scenes may help you to release you from your Oedipal fixation, so that you can more easily transfer your erotic focus to someone else.

"You seem to have knowledge and experience well beyond your years, Louise! I don't decry that in any way, but I'm curious to know how you acquired it?

"Some of the members of my family are very broad minded and permissive, and their attitudes probably have rubbed off on me. Perhaps these ideas are a little in advance of the rest of the population, at least here in Glasgow, but in another few years I'm sure that nobody'll think of these tolerant attitudes towards women's sexuality and freedom as unusual. Can't you feel that women's liberation from paternalist attitudes is on the rise?"

Rachel was silent. Charlie interjected, "Would you like to see my maths Olympic medal, Louise?"

"Sure, I'd love to come close to such a prestigious award, I doubt that I'll ever have one of my own!"

When they go to Charlies room, he proudly shows his medal won at the Junior maths, Olympiad, she gives him a kiss, "now, you see, that being open, clears the air and reduces tension, in this case, at least."

"I owe you Louise! I realise now that Mum should be able to have relationships. Craig Watt is a good kind man and great maths teacher! Perhaps preparing for the exams made me a bit overwrought?"

"Yes, probably it did! Me too, by the way!"

"Another thing, I'd really like to touch your boobs."

"So, what's stopping you? I said rubbing my chest against him, he puts his hand on my breast as if it's radioactive, and I can feel it tremble and a hard swelling grow in his groin. I give it a gentle stroke. His hips make jerking movements and he cums at once! A large wet stain develops in place of the swelling.

"So sorry Louise!"

"Not to worry! It happens all the time Charlie, but you should change your trousers otherwise your Mum may want to telephone my headmistress! Also, despite what your Mum just said, I'm not qualified to be your therapist, nor do I wish to be; but I'll lend you my copy Lady Chatterley, it may shake you out of that recurrent image of your Mum and Craig shagging like gibbons in a zoo! But mind! I don't want it returned with any nasty stains, so read it carefully! I must be off! See you at rehearsals next week."

The Bursary results were published in the Glasgow Herald the following month, Charlie, came top in Maths and won a prestigious and valuable prize, enough to pay for his trip abroad with the orchestra and his studies at uni and allow him bragging rights for rest of his days, if he could find anyone to listen to him. Louise also did as well as she'd wanted. However, she was a becoming bored with the way the rest of her life was going.

Nothing had felt as exciting as the time she'd had with Henri, Rob, Davie, Neil, and Simone in St Andrews last year, or the little adventure she'd had in Troon; Charlie was nice, but he didn't make her juices flow in the way she knew they could. She wanted more fun. Perhaps she'd find it in Rome.

She decided to drop a note to her old friend Davie and let him know when she'd be in Rome playing with the orchestra at the old church in Trastevere. Perhaps they could meet? She also mentioned that she'd be staying on, for a month after their concert to learn Italian at language school.

Chapter 2 Rome at last!

When we assembled at the airport to take the plane to Rome, we were all keyed up. Although Rome had been quite badly damaged in the war, it had managed to shake off the misery and was regaining its attraction for tourists and pilgrims. For the majority, the religious aspects of the trip weren't in the least important, most of the orchestra weren't Catholics, they just wanted to see the famous sites, the Vatican, the Colosseum and the remains of the Roman Forum and ruins on Palatine hill that they'd read about in their school Latin texts.