A Sunday picnic in the public gardens with the extended family on a warm spring afternoon is hardly the time or place for a young man to lose his innocence, and yet this is precisely what happened.
I don't know what it was about the man that initially caught my attention; perhaps it was a sixth sense. What I remember most was the way he looked at me. I suddenly felt naked. I was terrified and yet exhilarated all at the same time. He seemed to be looking straight through me or perhaps, straight into me. I felt he knew what I was thinking, even though I wasn't thinking of anything in particular. I had a raging hard on and I didn't know why.
He motioned with his head to a bamboo thicket. I had my brothers and cousins all around me, and I shook my head to indicate "NO". He gave me such a look that a shiver ran through my spine before turning away and heading off over to the bamboo. I suggested to all the kids that we play hide and seek, and took of at high speed to the other side of the ornamental lake, as far away as possible from the man.
Then I secretly picked my way back, avoiding the aunts, uncles and other relatives that seemed to be fanning out across the park. I arrived at the bamboo without being spotted. My heart was pounding in my ears, my breath short and tight, and sweat beaded my brow. I pushed my way into the thick stiff stalks of the giant bamboo, feeling their coolness and weight against my skin before they gave just enough to let me squeeze between them. It was much cooler and quieter in the midst of the thicket, even though I was only metres away from where I had first seen the man. I might as well have been a hundred miles away.
Then I felt him. He grabbed me from behind and pulled me toward him, and into a clearing, which was no more than a patch of dirt of about a metre square. He spun me around and pressed his lips against mine and I was lost in the heat of the moment. The strength of his body seemed to sap me of any resistance, not that I wanted to resist him. He lifted me off the ground, leaving my legs dangling lifelessly, and I let him kiss me as hard and as tenderly as he wanted. I let him pull down my pants and remove my shirt.