The Other Tom Brown's Schooldays Chapter 15
By Pueros

Copyright 2007 by Pueros, all rights reserved
Comments to the author can be sent to [email protected]

This story is intended for ADULTS ONLY

Chapter 15 - Birthdays

(Sodomhall School, Northumberland, England, early January 1803)

"A rather nice aristocratic bottom," a clearly amused male adult voice commented from immediately behind the naked James, who was still in his demeaning position, locked into one of the quadrangle stocks. "Yes," agreed another, as more fingers began to feel the stripes recently created by Flashmember's cane on the praiseworthy noble curvature concerned.

"The young patrician buttocks also obviously deserve a blue- blooded cock thrust up between them," the second voice crudely added, "but, as there's nobody else of noble lineage besides this boy at the school, he'll have to content himself instead with a plebeian purple-veined one." The two men enjoying this conversation, which was naturally acutely humiliating for James, now burst into loud laughter. Meanwhile, the tears of the young subject of their chatter, which had previously been drying up, again started to flow copiously because of both his intense shame and the increased pain resulting from the fondling of his hurting bottom.

James also began to panic that the sexual abuse by adults, which Tom had warned him about in order to try to dissuade him from enrolling at Sodomhall School, might be about to begin. However, the boy need not have been concerned yet because both of the adults currently behind him appreciated that the honour of deflowering the aristocratic 'newt' was reserved for the Headmaster, Dr. Strappem.

James himself quickly realised that his panic was unnecessary when the laughter behind him began to lessen in volume, as the relevant chortling mouths retreated from him to return to the warmth of the school buildings. However, the extremely pretty 10 year-old red-haired boy was not left alone for long, as his vulnerable naked body was to be visited briefly over the next hour by most of the curious adult staff, who were exclusively male.

Some of the men, who were mainly in small groups, revealed themselves to James by not only remaining behind him but also walking around him, apparently wanting to view his delectable bare body from all angles. The accompanying comments of several of them now caused the boy to realise what had produced the strange tingling sensation in his groin when being caned by Flashmember.

"Look, the brat's cock is still hard," was a typical comment. "Yes, I noticed that he became erect when being caned," was another. "It's funny how many of our boys become sexually excited by their beatings," was a third. "It appears that the phenomenon applies as much to the aristocracy as to those from humbler backgrounds," was a fourth.

James' facial hue became even redder on hearing such humiliating comments about his unruly cock. However, the boy's penis refused to soften in reaction to the remarks but instead remained resolutely erect, as if proud of being the subject of such statements.

The ill-disciplined reaction of James' cock was certainly partly due to other more complimentary comments made about him, often to accompanying fondling. Yet more adult fingers gently stroked his sore bottom, with the occasional digit even carefully feeling his delicate virginal sphincter. His completely smooth aroused genitalia were also given frequent manual attention, with remarks regularly made about their shape and size. The general adult consensus was that his sexual organs were pleasantly proportioned for his age, and that overall he was a very pretty boy.

Although James did not realise yet, the ill-disciplined reaction of his cock was partly due to his fast maturing sexual character. Despite his outward acute shame, somewhere deep within his burgeoning psyche were narcissistic personal perception and pride of his blossoming beauty and a related desire for his comeliness to be recognised, lauded and even enjoyed by others.

James' cock only eventually began to soften when the chill of the dark January evening began to overwhelm his naked body. The cold finally caused his penis to return to flaccidity and Flashmember to despatch Jonathan to release the boy from the stocks before he froze to death.

Shortly afterwards, James was in the dormitory that he shared with, amongst others, Tom, Christopher and Jonathan. However, he had still not redressed.

Tom had instead insisted that James lay face down on his bunk, whilst ointment was applied to his comprehensively striped and still hurting bottom. Only afterwards was he allowed to cover himself with his bedclothes.

Later, after lights out, Tom, whose bed was now flanked by that of James and Christopher, asked in whisper of his new aristocratic friend, whilst lying facing him, "Don't you now deeply regret enrolling as a boarder at Sodomhall School?" However, the young heir to the Abernethy Baronetcy, whose pride as well as bottom still hurt, did not immediately answer.

James contemplated Tom's question briefly before confessing truthfully in whisper "I did, old bean, when I was being caned, and later humiliated by the staff. However, after returning to the dormitory, my regret quickly disappeared to be replaced by gratitude."

"You see, old bean," James continued in his posh accent, "my gratitude for being permanently here with you, Christopher and Jonathan outweighs my regret about enduring the indignities that all pupils of Sodomhall School apparently suffer. I might not like the abuse but sharing such torment with you is a worthwhile price for ending my previous loneliness to enjoy instead your friendship."

James added, whilst simultaneously providing evidence for the high quality of the earlier education that he had received at home from his private tutor as well as his own intelligence, "As Francis Bacon once said: 'The worst solitude is to be destitute of sincere friendship'!"

(Sodomhall School, Northumberland, England, 2 months later, early March 1803)

James was to have cause to review his attitude many times over the years ahead. However, despite the many sufferings that he was to share with his fellow pupils, he never ultimately wavered from the view that he had expressed to Tom in a whisper on a cold winter night in January 1803.

In fact, as a result of their shared sufferings, the friendship between James, Tom, Christopher and Jonathan became even closer so that they eventually became known amongst their fellow pupils as the 'Inseparable Four'. The quartet also regularly sought solace for any humiliation and hurt endured by repeating between themselves what had become their personal motto, namely 'The worst solitude is to be destitute of sincere friendship'.

Unfortunately, not all pupils were as gregarious or stalwart as Tom, Christopher, Jonathan and James, all of whom were rapidly approaching their 11th birthdays. Some others were quiet shy loners, who found close friendships impossible to acquire, often because of the psychological traumas caused by being dumped at Sodomhall School by uncaring parents or guardians and the subsequent abuse suffered.

Some pupils even became obsessed with the idea of somehow escaping to a new life, despite the unlikelihood of success. Most boys had no proper place of safety to run away to, even if they managed to flee the unfriendly moorland and forest environs of Sodomhall School. In an era before the advent of railways, land transport systems were very slow, being reliant on poorly maintained roads and canals. Travelling alone was also not recommended, as robbers and thugs roamed many highways looking for victims. Even if a centre of population was reached, only the dreaded appalling orphanages and poorhouses represented realistic abodes for vagabond children and the main alternative of living as homeless street urchins was therefore frequently preferred.

Some pupils still attempted to run away but none had so far succeeded. Their unauthorised absence would be quickly spotted during the regular roll-calls and well practised efficient searches would immediately be launched for the errant boys. The hounds that had almost cost Tom a lot of trouble would aid the hunt, as would many of the local country people, some of whose livelihoods and sexual pleasures stemmed from the existence of Sodomhall School in their remote part of Northumberland. Their attitude to young escapees was also coloured by the fact that they knew that a reward would be on offer for recapture.

Nevertheless, some deeply lonely and unhappy boys still dreamt of escaping to a new life and one of these was Jones D, who shared both the class and dormitory of Tom, Christopher, Jonathan and James and whose initial represented his first name of Daniel. The pretty fair-haired blue-eyed boy had also recently been groomed to be the latest young catamite of his lecherous and cruel form- master, Mr. Younglove.

Daniel strongly disliked his relationship with Mr. Younglove, not least because he hated the inherent sex, which still hurt him both mentally and physically. Consequently, he proved melancholically clumsy at providing the cruel form-master with his required pleasures and the sadistic man therefore frequently beat the boy for his sullen ineptitude.

Daniel was also the first in his dormitory of first-year pupils to approach his 11th birthday, and by now he knew how the occasion was to be degradingly celebrated according to school tradition. In fact, this factor turned the boy's dispirited reluctant acceptance of his sad lot to sudden brave but rather foolhardy determination that he must do something to avoid not only the impending demeaning ritual but also the misery of his whole life at the educational establishment.

Daniel decided to run away and attempt to be the first to succeed in doing so. The boy's plan entailed trying to reach by far the biggest centre of population in the region, namely the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which was renowned for exporting Northumberland coal, mainly by ship, to the rest of Britain.

The presence of the local coal industry was twenty years later to encourage the famous engineer, George Stephenson, to establish his iron works here. He would subsequently build there the locomotives for the world's first railway, namely the industrial link between nearby Stockton and Darlington, and design the 'Rocket' for the first passenger line between Liverpool and Manchester.

The nascent railways were, in fact, also later to form a major part of Daniel's future. However, the very idea of trains, let alone his role in their development, rather naturally did not currently achieve prominence in his distressed mind. He instead became entirely focused on the notion of running away to Newcastle but not to live in an orphanage or poorhouse or become a street urchin.

Daniel was too imaginative to harbour such low ambitions. He instead planned to try to become a cabin-boy on one of the many sailing ships that traded from Newcastle.

Most of these ships were, of course, relatively small coastal colliers carrying coal to other British ports. However, Daniel was more ambitious, as he dreamt of becoming a cabin-boy on a mightier vessel that plied the Seven Seas and would take him on adventurous trading voyages to exotic faraway lands.

Daniel was actually dreaming of such an exotic place when a Prefect arrived before dawn to wake up the boy's dormitory for another unattractive day at Sodomhall School.

(Sodomhall School, Northumberland, England, a few days later)

Even in the 21st century, male boarders in the sexual hothouses of unisex English public schools afford unique longstanding traditional nicknames to those many pupils who are attracted to other, usually younger, boys. Such pseudonyms also extend to the objects and nature of their desires.

For example, at Charterhouse, those with a crush are for obscure reasons called 'Bijous'. Amongst the former pupils of this school were John Wesley, founder of Methodism, William Thackeray, author of 'Vanity Fair', Roger Williams, establisher of Rhode Island, Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts, and the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and writer Robert Graves.

Meanwhile, at Radley, attended by the late Desmond Llewelyn, who played 'Q' in many James Bond films, and Shrewsbury, which boasts Charles Darwin as an alumnus, those fancied are respectively 'Stiggs' and 'Douds'. At Sedbergh, famous for producing several renowned English Rugby Union internationals, those studying German discerningly and discreetly call those to whom they are attracted 'Lustknabes'.

At Harrow, whose alumni include seven British Prime Ministers, most notably Winston Churchill, 'Whizz Kids' are junior boys who are especially attractive because of their girlish looks. At Lancing, whose ex-pupils include William Tynedale, first translator of the Bible into English, the poet John Donne, philosopher Thomas Hobbes, author Jonathan Swift and more modern writer Evelyn Waugh, the 'Ding List' records the best looking pupils in the school. At Fettes, attended by the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, any younger boys who are particularly keen on sex with others are called 'Cherubs'.

At Framlington, attended by the science fiction writer Brian Aldiss, a 'Crate' is the junior partner in any relationship. At Wellington, where the former world Grand Prix motor racing champion, the late James Hunt, was a pupil, the actual sexual crush is called a 'Patch'. At Oundle, where the director of such films as 'A Fish Called Wanda', Charles Crichton, was an alumnus, 'X o'clock in the sewing room' is code for the time of night for a sexual rendezvous in the usual location.

Daniel, however, was not on this night extracting himself from his bed to indulge in such a liaison. The boy sadly had no friends with whom he would involve himself in such a way and he was instead making his desperate attempt to escape from Sodomhall School.

By the evening before Daniel's 11th birthday, the boy, not wanting to be at Sodomhall School to celebrate the anniversary in the customary degrading manner, had decided how he intended to escape. After lights out, he crept out of his bed in the dormitory, silently redressed and left the room without alerting any of the other pupils. They were all sleeping soundly after another ultimately exhausting day at the remote educational establishment.

Daniel subsequently crept silently along the lengthy and currently quiet external corridors to arrive eventually at the one of the doors to the outside world. The boy was aided in doing so by the fact that the school was never patrolled at night.

There were no guards and no staff member or prefect was going to lose sleep over attempting to prevent the escape of pupils, which was an event that was extremely rare and anyway had never yet resulted in success. Burglars were also disregarded as a threat because of the school's isolation and the fact that there was little to steal of real worth that could be readily taken away and re-sold.

Daniel opened the unlocked door, which caused him to make his first noticeable noise since he had vacated his bed, namely a loud creak. Fortunately, such sounds were not uncommon within the huge main school building because of the constant draughts that permeated the establishment as a result of the place's exposure to the regular winds blowing from the surrounding bleak moorland, even in decent weather.

Consequently, the creak would be dismissed by anyone who had heard the noise at such a time as being of non-human origin. Daniel could therefore open the door fully, move outside and close the entrance again with confidence at avoiding detection before scurrying across the school playing field in the direction of Sodomhall village.

The run across the playing field represented Daniel's first real major danger because, if any insomniac cared to glance out of his window, the boy's flight might be observed. However, he was on this night aided by thick cloud covering a waning moon, which rendered outdoors very dark and made such detection unlikely even if some sleepless person was indeed looking outside.

In the event, Daniel judged that he had reached the relative security of the woods fringing the playing field apparently without being noticed. The boy's assessment arose from the facts that no lights had appeared at any of the school windows and no alarm had been raised, at least of the kind that was audible in his current location.

Nevertheless, Daniel delayed awhile at the edge of the woods to ensure that no unwelcome development occurred. The boy stayed there for about five minutes, although in his current emotional state, comprising a mix of fear and excitement, the time seemed far longer.

Whilst Daniel stood awaiting developments, his apprehensions were not aided by the sounds of the English countryside at night around him. There was the common eerie hooting of the owls but what most discomforted the boy were the frequent rustlings on the ground and in the branches of the trees in the wood behind.

The rustlings were actually made by rather innocent nocturnal animals such as badgers, foxes and the owls but Daniel did not know this. The boy's imagination instead conjured up all sorts of monsters of the night that could be disturbing the silence but such scared speculation was in fact only correct in respect of one creature.

Nocturnal bats made some of the rustlings in the trees above him. These essentially harmless but to Daniel frightening flying creatures had emerged from their daytime sleeping abodes in the likes of the nearby school bell-tower to feed.

Nevertheless, despite being scared of the rustlings and what they might represent, Daniel stood his ground. The boy's desperation to escape from Sodomhall School stimulated his courage and overcame his fears that monsters of the night might be nearby and stalking him.

After finally satisfying himself that his departure from the school had not been detected during this initial phase of his flight, Daniel's desperation and resultant courage even enabled him to venture deeper into the blackness of the wood. The boy appreciated that the narrow road to Sodomhall village was about 200 yards away on the other side and he was now determined to reach the lane quickly to make good his escape.

The alternative route was to take the long path from the school through the main gate to the road. However, Daniel considered that the chance of detection made this option too dangerous.

The blackness inside the dense wood really was intense and Daniel could not actually see where he was going. The waning moon above, obscured by cloud, which had aided the boy's flight across the school playing field, was now a hindrance.

Daniel consequently advanced essentially blindly and therefore slowly, carefully feeling his away amongst the intense blackness with outstretched arms in order to try to avoid the trees, bushes and other obstacles. The boy was frequently not successful in securing a suitable path.

Daniel often stumbled into a tree trunk or bush or a low branch. The boy also tripped several times over exposed roots and the like. He even had to retreat a couple of times when the going appeared impossible in order to find a better route, whilst wondering whether taking the school path might have in retrospect been better.

Daniel nevertheless persevered, judging once he had reached about halfway that retreat was no longer a sensible option. The boy was rewarded when he eventually literally stumbled onto the road, having just tripped over another tree root.

By this time, Daniel's school uniform had been torn in several places and his exposed face, hands and legs displayed some cuts and bruises. However, retreat back to the relative comfort and safety of his bed in Sodomhall School was unthinkable now that he had come this far and the boy instead began to run along the road towards the local village.

The use of the term 'road' for the narrow lane linking Sodomhall School to the nearest eponymous village was actually a bit of a misnomer. Uneven muddy track, rutted by cartwheels and regularly soiled by horse and donkey manure, was a more apt description.

This nature of the road, allied to the night darkness, consequently caused Daniel to stumble and fall on several more occasions as he ran along the lane. As a result, the boy's school uniform and the exposed bits of his normally delightful body were not only damaged by the time that he eventually reached the outskirts of Sodomhall village but also despoiled by smelly mud and animal muck.

On reaching Sodomhall village, Daniel tried to scrape with his hands as much of this mess off him as possible but without much success. The boy therefore gave up the attempt in favour of awaiting what he had chosen as his ultimate method of escape to Newcastle.

Daniel awaited the appearance behind the low wall that surrounded the village churchyard, in the process somehow ignoring the scary proximity of many gravestones. The boy appreciated that his unexpectedly long escapade in the wood had delayed him and worried that perhaps consequently he might have missed his chosen method of flight, as by now the dawn of his 11th birthday had arrived.

Daniel appreciated that, back at Sodomhall School, the pupils with whom he had shared a dormitory would now be awakened in readiness for their daily morning run by the assigned Prefect. The boy realised that his absence might then be recognised by his fellow 10 year-olds.

Daniel, however, trusted that, in such circumstances, the pupils with whom he had shared a dormitory and their assigned Prefect would simply assume that he had spent the night with Mr. Younglove. The boy also hoped that his subsequent absence from the morning run and the later ablutions, redressing and breakfast would also be ascribed to the same reason.

If such hopes were met, Daniel's flight should remain undetected for about another couple of hours until his form assembled in their classroom and Mr. Younglove conducted the morning roll-call. Only now would the alarm be raised but, if the boy's escape had gone to plan, by then he should be miles away from Sodomhall School.

Daniel's worries about possible trouble with his escape plan soon proved unfounded when he heard the rumbling of cartwheels on the nearby road. The boy's now dishevelled head immediately popped carefully above the church wall for his blue eyes to confirm the arrival of his chosen method of flight.

Farmer Allcock's daily milk wagon was rumbling along the road, at the beginning of the long journey to make deliveries in distant Newcastle. The back of the open cart was full of churns, containing the latest fresh product of the local cows.

Daniel waited until the wagon had passed and then scrambled over the wall and, as niftily and silently as possible, climbed into the back and hid amongst the tall churns.

(Sodomhall School, Northumberland, England, 2 hours later)

"So," Mr. Younglove announced, after he had reached the name of 'Jones D' in his class' morning roll-call and with extreme anger evident in his voice, "our birthday boy is missing!" The Form-master then asked "Has anyone seen the young miscreant today?"

The subsequent silence immediately induced Mr. Younglove to rush from his classroom to alert the Headmaster, Dr. Strappem, about the possibility that another attempt to run away from his precious school might have been made by an errant pupil.

(Sodomhall School, Northumberland, England, next morning)

"Happy birthday!" all of the remaining members of his dormitory shouted to Tom after his return to the room. He had previously been deliberately delayed in the bathroom after ablutions by Christopher to allow the other boys to ready their surprise.

Despite Daniel's disappearance and concerns for the missing boy's welfare, all of the remaining pupils in his dormitory were determined to commemorate the highly popular Tom's birthday in a proper manner. Their resolve was maintained regardless of the fact that all of them felt rather guilty too.

All of the dormitory members had recognised Daniel as desolate and sad and some, most notably Tom, had tried to befriend and cheer him but unsuccessfully. The boy had resisted all attempts to bring him out of his morose depression, apparently preferring to remain an unhappy loner.

All of the dormitory members, especially Tom, also now wished that they had made stronger efforts to end Daniel's friendless isolation. After all, the boy had, as an obvious result of his mental condition, undertaken his desperate attempt at flight and now faced severe punishment if returned to Sodomhall School or surely a dangerously uncertain but probably base future if he somehow remained a fugitive.

Tom, who turned 11 years old on the day after Daniel, discovered what his birthday surprise was when Jonathan, in his role as dorm-leader, lifted a towel off his friend's bed to reveal the presents that the other dormitory members were offering to the popular boy. Given the pupils' general poverty, most of the gifts were nothing special and second- hand. However, they still represented possessions to be desired and personal sacrifices and were therefore cherished by the recipient.

Amongst the gifts were marbles, a sling-shot, an old but still usable cricket ball, a bat for the same sport with a wobbly handle and a pair of mittens. There was also a toy soldier, which was to prove to be a rather prescient symbol as far as Tom was concerned.

Christopher's gift was an old and well-leafed but to him precious journal entitled 'Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World'. First published 77 years previously in 1726 and supposedly written by Lemuel Gulliver, this satire's author was actually Jonathan Swift and the work is better known in modern times as 'Gulliver's Travels'.

Jonathan's special gift was a stringed horse-chestnut. His prize conker had previously victoriously survived many fun battles and, in Tom's proud and skilled possession, would continue to do so, including in combat against the previous owner.

As befitted a young aristocrat, James' gift was the definitely most valuable in financial terms and had actually been delivered to the school from Abernethy Hall by his father's butler. However, despite this present's monetary worth, Tom rightly considered each of his birthday offerings to have equal merit, given the different circumstances of the boys concerned.

James' gift was a large hamper containing sumptuous foods, which his father's butler felt duty-bound to supply on receiving the relevant request to avoid any eventual complaint about the matter from the boy to his currently absent father. For a similar reason, Dr. Strappem had ordered the delivery to be allowed to proceed without challenge or plunder.

On viewing the gift, the generous Tom immediately invited all of his fellow dormitory members, as they had hoped, to share the hamper with him at a midnight feast to celebrate his birthday. The subsequent cheering only subsided when the school clock chimed to advise the boys, who were currently dressed just in their skimpy briefs after their ablutions, that there were a mere fifteen minutes left to redress and groom before arriving in the hall for breakfast.

As Tom subsequently put his school uniform on and combed his hair and polished his shoes, he wondered whether he would actually be in a state at midnight to enjoy some of his hamper, given what young birthday boys customarily had to do at Sodomhall School in formal celebration.

(Sodomhall School, Northumberland, England, evening of the same day)

The spring evening was fortunately relatively warm, as Tom again found himself dressed only in his skimpy gym shorts in the main school quadrangle, being looked down upon from the windows all around by most of the pupils and staff. Many of these spectators felt aggrieved at not witnessing a similar spectacle involving the missing Daniel on the previous might.

Excluded from the spectators above were Flashmember and Dr. Ballsoff, who were instead present with Tom in the quadrangle. The former, as current Headboy, was acting as 'master of ceremonies', whilst the school physician was there to record in a notebook certain empirical data revealed by the imminent ritual.

Also present in a line and similarly attired to Tom were the fifteen pupils from the young celebrant's Phaethon House who were in the more senior class of the year above that corresponded to his own. Most were looking rather abashed but were nevertheless clearly happier than the birthday boy.

The reason for the presence of this group of mainly 12 year- olds and their abashment was revealed when Flashmember, whilst holding his cane, ordered them to strip naked by removing their shorts. All of the boys quickly complied, despite the many sets of eyes humiliatingly focused on them from above. None wanted to earn the Headboy's wrath and the consequent undoubtedly painful feel of his implement of chastisement.

Most of the revealed pubescent genitalia were completely smooth, apart from a small minority, above which a few pubic hairs of advancing maturity had begun to appear. Some penises were also at least partly erect in apparent anticipation of what was to come.

"You now strip too, Brown T," Flashmember next commanded, "and commence your birthday celebration, proceeding along the line from left to right. Remember, if you vomit at any time, you will at the end be placed in the quadrangle stocks to receive eleven strokes, commensurate with your new age, of my cane across your bare bottom for defiling ritual!"

What the freshly naked Tom had to do whilst proceeding from left to right along the line of mainly 12 year-old nudes became evident when he knelt with reluctance but obedience before the first boy. He subsequently compliantly gathered the young standing pupil's cock into his mouth and began to suck.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ballsoff readied himself to detail in his notebook who, of the older recipients of such oral attention, produced semen when orgasm was eventually attained. The school physician liked to keep his medical records up-to-date, especially about which boys had become mature enough to ejaculate.

(To be continued in chapter 16 – 'Cellars')