No Place for Nathan Read Online Free PDF Page B

he gushed, running around like a wild child, touching everything in sight and stroking all the surfaces. ‘I can’t wait till it’s my turn to come see you in here. When is it my turn? Will it be soon?’
    â€˜It will,’ I said, consulting a timetable of which I already knew most of the contents. ‘I’ll be back teaching in the Unit twice next week anyway, but, yes, you’re with me tomorrow afternoon, sweetie. And every Friday afternoon from then on.’
    He clapped his hands together in delight. ‘Oh, I can’t wait! Do you want me to do you a picture for your wall? It’s very bare, Miss.’
    â€˜You read my mind, Nathan,’ I told him. ‘I’d like that very much.’
    He smiled one of his funny little smiles then and looked at me from under his black lashes. ‘And I might even get Jenny to do one for you too.’
    In the event, it was early on the Friday morning that I next saw Nathan. He was waiting outside my office for me, sitting cross-legged in front of the door.
    â€˜You’re early,’ I called as he pulled himself to his feet and yanked at trousers that were already in conversation with his lower shins.
    â€˜I thought I’d come early in case you had any jobs that needed doing,’ he explained. ‘I’m good at jobs, aren’t I?’
    I unlocked the door and agreed that he was. Not that I could think of one on the spur of the moment. ‘Give me a minute,’ I told him, parking my handbag and coat. ‘I’m sure I will, but in the meantime why don’t you sit and chat to me instead?’
    â€˜Actually,’ he said, as if he’d been waiting for just such an invitation, ‘I have something to tell you, Miss. A secret.’
    My ears pricked up instantly. Though so did my training. ‘Nathan,’ I told him, ‘we don’t have secrets here, remember? You can tell me anything you like but I can’t promise to keep it a secret, remember?’
    â€˜Okay,’ he conceded, ‘but I’m going to tell you anyway, because it’s so lovely.’
    â€˜Is it, now?’
    â€˜It is,’ he said. ‘I had sex with my girlfriend last night and it was nice, Miss.’ He leaned towards me. ‘We did
porn
.’
    For all his colourful language in the Unit from time to time, this one brought me up rather short. The child was 11, after all. ‘Nathan,’ I scolded gently, ‘I don’t think you should be saying things like that unless they’re true. Is that Nathan talking?’ I added, wondering if we’d strayed into a persona.
    â€˜Yes, it is,’ he said, nodding. ‘It’s always Nathan now. I can’t use my other people any more, Miss, because my daddy’ll get mad with me – like,
really
mad. But if you don’t believe me,’ he went on chattily, ‘I can tell you what I did. I stuck my thingy in her thing and we jumped up and down.’
    â€˜You did?’ I asked.
    â€˜I
really
did,’ he said. ‘So
there
!’
    Somewhat uncomfortable at this revelation, not to mention a little stumped at what to do with it, I repeated that he shouldn’t be talking like that unless he was telling the honest truth.
    â€˜I am telling the bloody truth!’ he said dramatically, ‘I know what porn is, Miss. It’s when a boy does it with
lots
of different people and nobody tells anyone. I got another secret as well.’
    â€˜Which is?’
    â€˜I’m partly gay, Miss. I just found out. I found out because me and William did it together yesterday, in the toilets. We touched willies together and kissed and everything, Miss. Cross my heart and hope to die.’
    There was a knock on the open door then – the school secretary dropping off some paperwork – and Nathan’s hand flew to his mouth. She’d not heard anything, I was sure, though she’d heard enough in her working life not to