Page 6 of new novel (in progress)

1937
was a cataclysmic year in my life!
In the fall, the C.P.R. moved Nellie Caton's father to our town. Nellie came to my classroom in grade XI and occupied the desk across my right hand aisle and just ahead of mine far enough so that when she straitened that long left leg out in the aisle and pulled her silk stocking up to the top of her leg. I immediately became acutely aware of my manhood.
I completed the classes and endured my Confirmation in the Norwegian Lutheran Church.
I completed my first reading of the family bible.
Harford Grundle had bullied me since we were in grade I. One day I decided I had had enough so I bloodied his nose and nearly pulled his ears off. I believe I enjoyed it.
After Herman died I decided I had to swim across the Saskatchewan River because I was afraid of it, so I began to eliminate my fears. I had nightmares about swimming in the river with snakes and I cringed at the sight of a garter snake, so whenever I saw one I picked it up and put it inside my shirt and let it slither around to get comfortable. I knew they were not poisonous but wondered why they never bit me. Now I know they liked the warmth. When they settled down and I became unpetrified, I pulled my shirt out of my pants and the snakes fell to the ground. In spite of my persistence, I still prefer to put my heel on their heads to squash them.
I was part of the Boy Scouts Acrobatic Troop and became quite good at it. One reason for this is that I developed a routine of exercises that I performed daily at home to the point of exhaustion. This kept my body supple and prevented injuries but I never achieved the strength I hoped to. I played right wing on the town's Senior Hockey Team that winter. I was good at stick handling and weaving my way around the ice but I lacked the strength to be fast enough. I played center field on the school's baseball team since I had developed a good throwing arm, but I never made the football team because
I was steam rollered nearly every time I got the ball. I also played tennis whenever I could work it in. Despite the fact I attacked these sports with all the vigor and enthusiasm I possessed, the only thing I was able to excel at was Acrobatics.
Nellie Caton had it all! Long blond hair, sparkling eyes with deep pools I could drown in, a Varga body (You are too young to know what that is. Varga was an artist who drew young women with bodies like Nellie's - short top, slim waist, exciting hips and those lovely long legs; but his bodies were fantasies because there were no women with bodies like Nellie's. Never was. Never will be).You couldn't beg for more! I can't imagine why but, Nellie wanted me.
This was not good because, before Nellie arrived I began confirmation classes in the Lutheran Church and had decided to strengthen my character by resisting all temptations until I figured out good and evil. In the Catechism that I suspect Martin Luther wrote, he said, if you look at a woman to lust after her, you have committed adultery already in your own heart. This was really a tough one for me because I couldn't look at Nellie any other way. I don't remember the number of the commandment that says "Thou shall not commit adultery," But I reasoned that, if Luther was right, I had smashed that one all to hell! Fortunately, in due course I decided Luther was wrong about a lot of things.
Nellie kept me in a stew the best part of that year. When there were not too many people around she would bend down and kiss me on the lips, but had one hand hanging down so she could grab me in the crotch. Nellie was much taller than I. When we were dancing at school dances or at parties, sometimes during a waltz as we pivoted, she would put her free hand behind my neck and push my face into her buxom cleavage. She continued to get me aroused at every opportunity and when I felt I could not withstand any more, I told her it was never going to happen.
The Hunk was the hero of the football team. Although he was very much in demand, Nellie had him hand fed soon after. No doubt he gave her what she wanted, but it didn't last long because her father was moved again and Nellie disappeared.
Confirmation in the Norwegian Lutheran Church ended the misery of twice weekly exhortation and questioning by our dedicated bible