Extract from Luke’s notes:
One or two who’ve read through these notes—friends who already know my story and know what was to come in the weeks and months ahead with Ry and the others—have asked me why I decided to write it down.
Why tell it?
Well, for starters, it’s not easy to forget. Even this part! It was now several years ago, but I still remember every minute detail of being in that surgical theatre. Trust me, you don’t quickly forget being circumcised!
For the record, I can honestly say Doctor Tiberius was a good guy. I liked him and he really knew his job. I was—and still am—thankful for that. And Ella—I liked her, too, but in more ways than one, she wasn’t what I was expecting! I don't know if her dad's still practicing, but if you're reading this and think circumcision is for you, look him up in Atlanta.
Looking back, maybe the procedure I was having was no big thing in the world of medical operations, but at the time it felt huge. I knew in theory what was going on, but that’s not the same as experiencing the real thing. Time changes a lot. Back then as a just-turned-sixteen-year-old, I don't mind admitting it was a pretty scary. Now I remember the place almost fondly.
And just for the record…the title of this chapter is a reference to injections!
* * *
Dr Tiberius called over to where his daughter, Ella, was setting up some trays. "Ella, could you prepare the local—a short needle will be fine.”
Luke swallowed. Up until then he tried hard not to dwell on the fact that there would be an injection. Just like at the dentist, Tiberius had promised. Oh crap…a needle! Still, short sounded better than long! That wouldn’t be too bad…would it?
He probably shouldn’t have, but it was really hard not to watch something, even when you know that watching it isn’t going to be a good idea. So, stupidly he watched, and followed her every move as Ella withdrew the capped needle from a box and screwed it to the barrel of a large, silver, metal syringe. With the needle in place, she slipped a small glass cartridge into the chamber of the syringe. It really did seem like some kind of weapon, and he almost said ‘are you going to cock it now’, but thankfully realized in time how awkward that might sound!
Agitated, he couldn’t take his eyes off the needle as Ella passed the doctor the tray that held the syringe—if that beast was meant to be short, he’d hate to see long! Taking it, Tiberius swiftly slipped off the cover, held it vertically, and depressed the plunger enough to allow a small squirt to erupt from the end. Luke was intrigued. He’d seen it in movies, but never realised they actually did that for real.
“Hold my hand, Luke,” Ella offered.
“What?” He frowned, confused by her sudden interest in him.
“Hold my hand,” she repeated, reaching over to wrap his hands in her own gloved ones. “Just while the injections are going in. They can sting a little, and it helps.”
It seemed a bit excessive to him. Did she think he was some baby kid? However, he did what she said.
“Just a small prick, Luke,” Tiberius murmured. Luke turned to watch, and smirked when he realised the surgeon was on a different track altogether to what he had read from that.
The needle was already next to his skin at the base of his dick and Luke quickly sobered. It paused there, as though contemplating its next move. Then, as though it were in a surreal slow-mo movie scene, Tiberius plunged the short needle deep into the middle of Luke’s wanger, and squeezed.
It was all he could do not to screech!
It went so far in, he was sure it would come out the other side! He was still recovering from the stinging shock, when the needle was withdrawn and stuck in again around the other side!
HOLY FUCK! God did he hold on to Ella’s hands tight! They gripped each other while tears came to his eyes.
Ella started chatting away amiably. “We’ve been to London," she noted.
"London?” Crap that stings! He tried to keep his voice even. “Oh...that’s…”
Ella didn't appear to need a full reply. “It was few years ago," she continued, "when we went on a holiday to your country. We travelled all over the city—visited Buckingham palace, too. Wow, what a place that was!”
While he tried his hardest not to move, she continued the tour. Perhaps it was a version of the Stockholm Syndrome, but he fairly crushed her hands, hanging avidly onto her every word as she gave him a guide tour of London. You will not squeak, he commanded himself! Holy fuck—what had been the point of that spray?
After the injections were done, Tiberius drew closer to take hold of Luke's dick. He studied it for long moments, and seemed to be contemplating something. Then he took what looked like the handle of a spoon—though it had to be called something else and be a hell of a lot more expensive—and began to ease the blunt instrument in an exploratory fashion past the constricted tip and under Luke’s foreskin, then up around the sensitive head. Gritting his teeth, Luke tried not to move as the end of the blunt spatula continued to disappear through the tip and was slid from side to side, inside.
"I’m checking to see if there are any adhesions." Tiberius murmured to no one in particular. As he continuing to dig around, Luke started to squirm and he bit back a squeak!
Adhesions? He had no idea what that meant, but it fucking hurt!
Thankfully, Ella came to his rescue. “Dad…” she said, catching her father’s attention.
The doctor looked up and finally noticed Luke was squirming. Gently he withdrew the unwelcome tool. "Oh, I’m so sorry Luke. Let's just wait for a little numbing before I do any more of this shall we?"
Luke was quite happy to agree! To pass the time, and because she was really easy to talk to, he found himself telling Ella bits of his life story. He told her about coming from England where they had lived—he even talked about Man U and David Beckham! She was interested in his school, so he told her about the Academy and his close friends. There must have been happy juice in the syringe, because afterwards, he suspected he'd gone on about Ryan quite a bit. She’d looked at him oddly, but he didn’t care now that the worst bit was over.
She became his 'cock confidant’, and he didn't really care anymore that she was studying it as they both waited for his shaft to be anesthetized. She'd earned the right to be there, no question! Still, he did wonder what she thought of it—of his dick, that was. She probably saw dozens every week, but doesn’t every guy have to have some sense of pride?
After several minutes, Tiberius rubbed Luke’s penis experimentally, and said, "It should be pretty numb now—can you feel anything?"
Luke shook his head. "Not really." No rubbing that he had ever experienced had ever felt like that. Instead, his dick felt like it never had before; rubbery and dead.
"Okay." Tiberius took a sharp probe and stuck it in the end of his foreskin. "And this?"
Luke swallowed and couldn't help but grip the sides of the bed, expecting the worst, but again there was absolutely nothing…de nada…not a thing. It was totally weird! He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Nope...I can’t feel anything now..." His dick felt like a piece of lifeless rubber—one that could easily be detached, put in a glass jar and sold in Publix! Had he not been looking, he might never have known it was even gone! Frankly, it didn’t seem to belong to him anymore, so he relaxed and began to watch with increasing interest.
Again, Tiberius took the blunt spoon handle thing, and inserted it inside Luke’s foreskin. By then Luke didn't expect to feel anything, and wasn’t disappointed.
Apparently satisfied with whatever he was doing, he then took what looked like a pair of hefty medical looking pliers and inserted them carefully inside Luke’s foreskin. Curious, Luke wondered what he was planning to do, because rather than squeezing shut, the tips were forced open inside the restricted opening. After a few moments of hard stretching, Tiberius released the pressure.
"Wow, that is tight!" Ella sounded surprised.
"It sure is," Tiberius replied, and then added by way of explanation, added, "I was wondering if we might have been able to stretch the restriction enough to retract you, but it seems not."
Luke wanted to ask what that meant, and more importantly, whether it would matter. He was still trying to phrase the question in his head when the doctor took up another instrument—one that looked like a cross between pliers and a pair of scissors. Without any giving any warning, he slipped them through the opening and cut a couple of centimetres down the side of Luke’s foreskin. Luke's eyes widened as the skin peeled open. He’d not been expecting that at all! The incision oozed a little blood, but not much.
"There, that should do it," Ella said. She seemed as glued to his newly-wounded willy as he was. "Dad should be able to retract you now."
Retract him? It sounded a little odd, but Luke felt giddy with bemused anticipation. He knew exactly what it meant, but it was happening too fast for him to properly appreciate it. The first time the doctor had tried that—in this very building—had been a turning point in Luke’s first appointment.
"Out of interest," Ella asked her father, her tone conversational, "how do you handle it, if it turns out you can release the restriction without having to cut?"
"Well..." Her father paused leaving Luke poised and frustrated on the cusp of something he’d been waiting for months to see. Get on with it—who the hell cares about anyone else? "...then you have choices. When it's within your power, Ella, always offer choices to your patients whenever you can."
He picked up Luke's dick again. "There's been more than a handful over the years that, once we enabled them to retract, they decided against the circumcision."
Luke tried to look interested, but the suspense was killing him! Oh come on—get on with it!
The doctor's eyes flicked up, and then down again as he began to retract Luke at last. "In Luke's case, as you could see, that turned out not to be an option." With that, he gently skinned Luke back.
* * *
Extract from Luke’s notes:
You have no idea how big a moment that was for me, and I don't really blame you for thinking 'what the hell, get a life, no big deal!'.
Well it was to me!
The thing is, you're probably either:
a) Someone who has been pulling back their foreskin so long you can't even remember the first time you did it. In fact, you were probably pulling it back on your wiener as a kid without even thinking what you were doing.
Or:
b) You were skinned as a baby and have never rolled anything back in your life before. You've never had any of it hidden, and don't get why anyone makes such a big fuss over it.
I wasn't either of those, and my eyes bugged as my head slid out between his fingers like a lollipop!
* * *
Luke got his first breathless study of his glans, but as it reached for daylight, he frowned. Instead of extending like a rosy lipstick it was more of a gunky-looking lip balm! He was confused—that's not what Ryan looked like at all!
"That’s smegma." Ella came to his rescue so promptly, that Luke wondered if she'd heard his wayward thoughts. "Nothing to worry about—trust me, I've seen a lot worse."
Worse?
"It's very common in cases of phimosis," Tiberius added, picking up some medical gauze, "and is what can often cause unpleasant smells in uncircumcised men when a penis isn’t cleaned properly."
Ridiculously, Luke felt terribly guilty for owning this smegma, despite the fact that acquiring it hadn't been a choice and any chance of cleaning, impossible. Fortunately, neither of his medical team seemed overly dismayed by the task and joined forces to get it cleaned up. Tiberius used thick wedges of medical gauze, and Ella wielded a bottle of some kind of spray. Between them, they began to dislodge and wipe away the gunk.
Finally...
Fucking A—I've got a dickhead!
It was big, red, and shiny, and by now, Tiberius was able to retract Luke’s foreskin with ease. Glancing across at Ella who in few short minutes had become his greatest confidant and supporter, Luke smiled hopefully.
Funny that—how you can get attached to somebody in a moment of crisis. Right then she felt less like a medic and more like a big sister who was going to rub it better and make it okay. He cleared his throat.
Maybe it was not that bright to dwell on the rubbing bit! (Quick note: actually, for anyone who has to face a similar ordeal—honestly, you just don't think about it.)
Repeatedly, Tiberius retracted Luke, pulling his foreskin firmly down to the base of his dick until each time, the head of Luke’s dick popped out smoothly. He just couldn’t get enough it!
Whoohoo! Hi there, babe! In, out, in, out, shake it all about. You do the hokey-cokey and—
"Luke, to get a really good high and reasonably tight circumcision, we would normally excise the frenulum, and yours is quite tight as it is." Tiberius dragged Luke back to reality. "Do you understand what I mean by that?"
Luke nodded. This one he knew about. "Yes...it was explained in your booklet. Yes, please go ahead and do that."
"Are you sure?" Tiberius paused a beat. "Some men prefer to keep the frenulum, although, as I said, yours is quite tight and would severely limit how high we could make your circumcision."
What Luke really would have preferred would have been to ask Ella, but it seemed a bit unfair to put her on the spot to admit how much she liked the look and feel of her guys’ penises! Either way, he was reasonably sure he knew what he wanted. "No, I'm sure—you can do the frenulum."
He wanted to look like Ryan.
"Very well," Tiberius said. "Actually I'm in agreement with you. If it’s high we’re going for, it always ends up giving you the best looking circumcision if you remove the frenulum. I may need to put a suture in there after it’s excised, to control the bleeding and to make sure it heals in a good shape, but that’s fairly normal. The stich will probably come out on its own, being self-dissolving, but if not, I'll take it out when you have the SmartKlamp removed."
Luke couldn't help it. He had to check with Ella. It seemed she got the unspoken question as he glanced at her, and she smiled and nodded encouragingly. That was it, then! If she thought it was good, his mind was definitely made up!
He nodded to the doctor. "Okay, that’s fine…"
With that, he sat back and let Tiberius get on with it, watching with awe as the doctor cut neatly, but deeply, into the bed of the frenulum to completely excise it. It took a bit of time, and there was some bleeding. In fact, there was quite a lot of bleeding. Tiberius kept dabbing, and Luke kept bleeding. Eventually, the surgeon gave up.
"I think we'll just cauterize a couple of these arteries," he finally proposed, and he waited for Ella to draw up a trolley with some gadget that looked like a soldering iron.
CAUTERIZE? Whether you spelled it with a Z or an S, Luke knew quite well what the word meant!
"It's nothing to worry about,” Ella said.
Luke tried to appear as though he were relaxed about everything, but inside he began fretting. That was easy for her to say!
She grinned, probably seeing the look of horror on his face. “It smells a bit funny,” she explained, “but it's a good way to seal some of those minor bleeds."
He nodded as if it was something akin to getting his hair cut every few weeks and tried not to think too much about the pungent whiff of burning flesh that wafted across each time the iron touched him. He could have been in a horror movie being branded, or worse still, tortured. He wondered if it would hurt afterwards.
“It’s not actually hot you know,” Ella murmured. She was conversational as Luke’s shaft was seared by the little metal loop on the end of the handpiece Tiberius was wielding. “People often think it’s like a soldering iron, but it’s not.”
Luke frowned. “But...how…?”
“Microwaves,” Tiberius said without looking up from where he was working. As if to explain, he wiped the end of the small metal wire and placed it on the side of his dry glove. As he tripped the 'on' switch, Luke fully expected to see it cut through the rubber of the glove and burn the doctor’s wrist, but nothing happened.
“It’s pushing out low range, high intensity microwaves that create heat in the immediate tissues,” Ella explained.
“Microwaves? You mean you're cooking me?” Luke couldn't help but chuckle.
“You got it—like chicken!"
They both grinned as, without looking up, they could see Ella’s father roll his eyes and shake his head. Eventually satisfied with his culinary skills, he placed a single suture in the area he’d been cooking.
To Luke, it was ‘easy come, easy go’. In all of his nearly-sixteen-years, except for those few brief moments, he'd had never once had the opportunity to see—let alone enjoy—his frenulum before it was cut out. He hoped he'd made the right decision, although it was a bit too late for that now.
Once more, Tiberius retracted him.
HOLY COW! Luke watched in delight as the whole foreskin slipped back a whole lot further this time. Even Tiberius seemed impressed, though maybe only with his own work. “Though I say so myself,“ he pronounced, “that is going to be perfect!”
Luke grinned with delirious satisfaction!
After checking Luke’s foreskin action a couple of more times, Tiberius let it be, and sat back. "Okay, young man, we’re all done with that. Now let's fit the SmartKlamp, and then we're just about finished."
Finished? Luke felt giddy again. It seemed like they'd only just started! He waited patiently while Ella opened up another set of sterile packaging, and from that passed her father some kind of measuring template. A spatula with various sized holes in it, it looked like one of the things Luke’s mum had in the kitchen to measure how much spaghetti to cook! Tiberius slipped it over Luke’s dick until he found a size he was satisfied with.
More packaging was opened. "You've seen one these before, I assume?" Ella asked.
Luke nodded. "Your dad explained it all at the last appointment." He recognized the pieces from the same hardware he'd played with in the doctor's office.
Curious again, he asked, "Do you use them quite a lot?"
"Not me, of course, but I think Dad finds them pretty good." She passed her father the first piece. "I think I would prefer working in a hospital rather than general practice."
"Just make sure you pass your finals," her father murmured as he concentrated on the job in his hand. Once again he retracted Luke, pulling down firmly so Luke poked up straight. With a practiced hand, he slid the tube easily into place over Luke's glans, embedding it deeply, and turning it until he was happy it was sitting properly.
Deftly, the doctor then began tugging up the overly long foreskin, gradually stretching it tighter and tighter over the length of the tube. Luke watched with fascination as the pen marks began to rise up his shaft. Without being asked, Ella passed the next piece and the doctor slipped the framework of the SmartKlamp over the tube and started manipulating it.
"Here's the tricky bit!" she murmured, keeping her voice low as her father concentrated on the task in his hand.
"Is this how he decides how much to take away?" Caught in the drama, Luke whispered too, quite comfortable to share his wanger with her for those few moments.
How had that happened? He was continually discussing his dick with a girl!
“He’s trying to get it as high as he can for you."
"To save as much foreskin as possible?"
"You got it." Ella pointed to the marks with her finger without getting in the way. "At the same time, we also need to get the right amount of tightness. It's quite tricky. This is where the guide marks we made will help.”
Luke nodded, watching the work. High and tight was what he wanted. and he just hoped to God that those marks had been accurate and he would still be left with a penis after it was all done.
After a few more minutes of working the layers, the pen marks on his shaft arrived where Tiberius seemed to believe they needed to be. Satisfied, he quickly closed the SmartKlamp into place, locking it into position.
The locks clicked shut. Though he couldn't feel a thing, Luke still shuddered involuntarily.
“I think that’s it." Tiberius lifted and moved the Klamp at different angles, seeing how Luke's remaining skin stretched on all sides.
From the descriptions in the papers he had sent, Luke knew exactly what would happen next. Ella offered her father a scalpel and, poised to strike, Tiberius raised his eyes.
"Point of no return, Luke!" He smiled expectantly and confidently enough that Luke knew he’d got it as he wanted. "Ready?"
Luke took a deep breath and nodded. He'd been ready for months!
Tiberius didn’t hesitate. It only took a few seconds, but the cut he then made, though a simple one, turned out to be life changing for Luke—as he was to discover over the next months. The new, sharp blade slid clean, sure and straight around the tube above where the SmartKlamp was trapping the layers of his foreskin. There was no blood. The device had already cut off the supply to that bit of his anatomy.
A moment later it was done. His foreskin was cut and the surgeon tugged that piece of him away.
He never saw it again.
After wiping everything clean—including cleaning away as much of the wide spread yellow-green stain as possible—Tiberius carefully examined the device in its locked state once more.
"Okay young man, that's it,” he declared. “We're all done. You’ve been brilliant! I wish all my patients were as good as you!"
Whether he meant that or not didn’t matter to Luke as Tiberius stepped back and began peeling off his latex gloves…it was done! Tiberius added, "If you want to get dressed, then we can just go over a few things before we let your mom know you’re ready to leave."
Ella and her father moved into the annex room, taking used packages and instrument trays with them, and soon Luke was alone. Still holding his tee out of the way, he gently slid off the surgical bed and onto his feet. As he did so, his penis flopped forward and the unusual mechanism batted solidly against his leg before hanging down towards the floor.
He stepped the short journey back to the lone chair where his clothing waited, still unable to take it all in—that the thing he had waited so long for had just been completed. Even if it wasn't totally finished yet, he’d actually just been circumcised. There was no turning back now.
Tentative, he stepped back into his boxers and pulled them up to the top of his legs, pausing before trying to navigate the bulky plastic inside.
"The SmartKlamp is made so that you can just wear it under your clothing in the normal way, Luke." The feminine voice alongside made Luke jump, and he quickly pulled his boxers over his equipment—new and old—as a sense of privacy re-established itself. Perhaps it seemed petty considering Ella had been studying his bits for the best part of half an hour, but she didn't seem to take it personally. He attempted to adjust the fit of his boxers to make it look more decent, and, pulling his waistband slightly, he was greeted by what could only be described as 'penile jaundice'!
"Does the yellow stuff come off soon?" Even though Tiberius had wiped him down, his skin was still stained.
"It's kind of permanent, I'm afraid."
He looked up quickly. She looked serious, but he wasn't taken in. "Ha, ha—very funny..." A teasing glint in her eye, she smirked as she passed him his black school trousers.
“Thanks."
“Your welcome,” she replied, a bemused look on her face as she held his shirt ready for when he’d got his trousers on. “It feels a bit unusual, doesn’t it.”
“Kind of.” He adjusted his trousers several times, trying to find a good position, though his groin still felt totally numb. “Does it show?” Touching himself, he could feel the unexpected lump underneath the zip. He wouldn’t normally grope himself in front of a girl, but he guessed she’d understand.
Ella eyed his pants carefully. “Hardly—but if you have anything looser to wear, it might be better. Honestly, I don’t think anyone will be able to tell, and the good news is, you won’t have to wear it for long.” Her tone was serious and he knew she was trying to help.
“I think it said about ten days.” At least that’s what he remembered from the booklet. That would make it a week Monday.
"Yep, that’s about right. I’m sure my dad will explain it all, but you need to stay away from any contact sports during next week. The last thing you want is to damage the device.” Ella passed Luke his school shirt. He slipped it on and buttoned up before sitting carefully to pull on his socks.
"Ella?" He tried to frame his words.
"Aha?"
“Well, I just wanted to say thanks for your...well, during the injections.” He pulled a face—it was hard to forget how uncomfortable those had been. “You must think I’m a complete wuss!”
Ella shook her head and chuckled. “Don’t sweat it. Those things can be a bit of a pig—trust me, I know what painful needles can be like. You did fine. At least you didn’t scream or hit anyone!”
Luke grinned as he pulled on his second sock. “It was close! You must see this kind of thing all the time then…being at medical school?”
“A few.” She shrugged. “I’m in my final year, so the experience here really helps. The money’s not bad, either! Anyway, trust me Luke, you did great. Dad did a good job you know; it should turn out really nicely for you. Quite hot I think!”
Luke burst out laughing as she had the audacity to wink! “Okay, now you’re teasing,” he said as he reached for his shoes.
“A little, but don’t worry,” she chuckled, and it sounded wholesome and easy. “And I’m not about to jump you. I’m already spoken for, I’m afraid!”
“That’s okay —you’re far too old for me anyway!” Luke smirked, enjoying the sparring.
She folded her arms and pulled a face, groaning theatrically, eliciting another chuckle from him. “Ouch, I deserved that! Let me down gently, why don’t you!”
Tiberius popped his head in the door. “Ella, can you just go tell Lucy Summers that we’re done. Take her to my office, and let her know we’ll meet her there in a few minutes.”
“Should I go, too?” Luke asked.
“Not yet, Luke. If you can just wait here for now, I’ll be done in a couple of minutes.”
Tiberius left again, and as Luke began to tie his shoelaces, Ella made to leave too. He would have preferred her to stay. He liked her, and if he ever became a doctor, he'd want to be one like her—easy to talk to and fun to be around. Politely, he stood and reached out his hand. “Well, if I don’t see you again, thanks for everything…”
“Never say never, Luke…who knows!” Her grip was soft but sure. She winked again. “Bye—and good luck!”
“Thanks. You too.”
Dressed now, he sat back down on the chair to wait, studying the theatre that no longer seemed so foreboding. It wasn’t long before Tiberius returned, dressed again in his formal jacket. From the annex, he dragged out a stool and perched on it next to Luke.
"Well, I think that went extremely well," Tiberius started. "I believe, well at least I hope, that you’ll be very happy with the outcome. How does it feel?”
“A bit strange,” Luke admitted.
“It will. That’s fairly normal, but you’ll soon get used to it.”
Luke doubted that, but said nothing.
“Now, there are just a few things we should go over before you leave,” continued Tiberius.
“Okay.” Luke nodded expectantly. He was glad to have clothes on again, but ready now to listen to anything that would help keep his circumcision as perfect as could be.
"Firstly, don’t be surprised if there’s some swelling and discomfort once the anaesthetic wears off," began Tiberius. "Perhaps a little more than usual due to the fact we had to cauterize some of blood vessel. It’s quite normal and nothing a few Tylenol can't cope with.”
Tylenol. Okay, he could do that.
"Secondly—and this is really important—whilst the device is quite robust, we don't want any accidents, so no football or any other hard contact sports.”
“Ella mentioned that, too.”
“Good,” Tiberius said, and then added, “It's also very important that you don't play with the mechanism, because again, we don't want to run the risk of disturbing the locking levers. If that happens before the layers of skin are fully fused, it gets very much more complicated."
'More complicated' sounded ominous, but Luke let it pass.
"Can I wear my normal clothes?" he asked. In retrospect, he wondered why he hadn’t thought of asking his mum to bring along something other than his school clothes that he could have changed into for the journey home. In particular, something more baggy so he could walk less conspicuously through the foyer!
"No, your ordinary clothing is fine. Of course nothing too tight.”
In his minds eye, Luke flicked through his wardrobe, picking out the jeans that would work the best, though when it came to school stuff, he knew he was going to be more limited. Then there was something else that had him quite worried, and he voiced his concern. "But you’re saying that, other than an accident, it's going to be okay? Nothing that will mess it up?"
"Yes, it will be fine."
Shit, this was embarrassing.
"I err...well sometimes I get...you know...” He could feel himself turning awkwardly red. “Well, what happens if I grow a bit down there?"
Tiberius took it in his stride. "Oh, I see...” A light of understanding came to eyes that twinkled kindly.
“Luke, forgive me. There’s no need to be worried, and I had no intention of embarrassing you. An erection is perfectly normal and nothing to be concerned about. To be honest,” he chuckled, “at your age, I was a walking woody!"
He seemed so honest yet relaxed about it, that Luke couldn't help but grin with his relief.
"Frankly,” Tiberius added, “with the alteration in sensations in that area after your circumcision, I have to warn you that that’s probably going to happen quite frequently! To put your mind at rest, the Klamp is more than up to the task. Trust me, it'll be fine."
Luke nodded, trying to get his head around the idea of ‘altered sensations’.
"You can also urinate normally too,” Tiberius added. “My advice is to forget it’s there. Get on with life for the next week in the normal way and let the SmartKlamp do its job. You'll be keeping it in place for around ten days before coming back here again to have it removed."
Luke mulled his words. Forget it’s there? Unlikely!
Ten days it was, then.
"And that’s it? Will I need any injections again?"
Tiberius quickly read between the lines and put his mind at rest. "They were a little uncomfortable for you weren’t they,” he said. “Sorry about that."
"Just a little..." Luke nodded stoically. And that was a freaking lie—they’d bloody stung like hell!
"The good news is, no, no more injections. The worst is certainly over.” Tiberius sounded self-assured without being conceited. “And yes, at that point, that really will be it."
A few minutes later, after having been given the remainder of his post-op instructions, Luke and the doctor made their way out of the surgery to go find Luke’s mum who was already waiting for them by the time they got back to the consulting office. As they stepped through the door, she stood up quickly from one of the sofas. Luke could immediately see that she seemed on edge—it had probably been a long hour for her!
“Hi, Mum!” It wasn’t at all hard to sound breezy. A little inappropriate, but the term ‘cocksure’ might have fitted as he and Tiberius stepped into the room. It was easy to forget the moments of discomfort alongside the knowledge that both Tiberius and his daughter thought it was all going to lead to a pretty good result.
"Hello, sweetheart!” She moved a little closer. It was her voice gave her away and he could tell she was trying her best not to throw her arms around him in public. Her eyes probed him—thankfully above the waistline—for any signs of damage. “Did everything go okay?”
"Yep, it was all fine, Mum. Great." He grinned to reinforce his words and she visibly relaxed.
"In fact, it went extremely well, Lucy,” put in Tiberius, moving past them. “Everything was just as expected. You should be proud of your son—he handled the whole procedure extremely well."
Luke could see his mum's relief multiply as they gathered together just in front of the doctor’s desk, and he shrugged as she gave him a satisfied look!
Tiberius continued, "Now, once the anaesthetic fully wears off, he may be a little sore for a few hours, but that’s normal and nothing to worry about. Tylenol will do fine if he needs it."
Lucy nodded—a mum who knew doses of kid's Tylenol backwards!
"As I already mentioned to Luke,” Tiberius said. “The SmartKlamp device needs to stay in place until he returns to have it removed by me in ten days time."
This time, Lucy was less circumspect and looked squarely at Luke’s groin. "Would it be better if we kept him off school for a few days?"
Tiberius shook his head. "To be frank, it's unlikely to be necessary. Usually a couple of days is ample to get over the procedure. Luke will probably be fine by Monday. As you can see for yourself, the device isn’t too bulky and he can just continue to wear his normal clothes and underwear.”
It felt a little awkward to Luke as all eyes turned to study his lump, but he bore it well. It was a small price to pay.
"That said," continued the doctor, "any form of hard contact sport is completely out of the question, so perhaps a letter excusing him would be appropriate."
Luke relaxed. It was the only other thing he needed—the get-out clause to keep him out of the locker room all week. He'd have to be careful to check what she wrote, though.
Tiberius continued his directions. “While wearing the device, Luke will still be able to urinate normally through the tube that covers the glans, but other than that, I’ve explained that he should try not to touch either the SmartKlamp or his penis."
Luke looked studiously at nothing, but felt Tiberius' beady gaze settle on him, making sure he got the message—no jerking or fiddling with either of your mechanisms! Okay, he got that, but did he HAVE to be so flagrant with the P word in front of his mother?
"Luke, you can also bathe or shower as normal," continued Tiberius, “but otherwise—like I said before—just get on with life, and try to forget it's there."
There was a pause, and Lucy shook her head in what appeared like pleasant surprise…and relief! “Well, I have to say, I’m pleasantly surprised, Jonathan. Even though you did explain it quite thoroughly to us, it’s still hard to believe it’s been so straightforward. We really want to thank you, don’t we Luke.”
Luke nodded quickly.
Tiberius beamed. “It’s been my absolute pleasure, Lucy. Now, the post-op instructions are all written down here for you as well.” He handed her an envelope, which presumably contained those, and added, "Do either of you have any other questions you want to ask me at this point?"
Luke and his mum glanced at each other, and it didn't take long to realize they had none. There was nothing left to do except make an appointment for the week after next for him to come back and have the device removed. Turning to his desk, Tiberius ignored the computer and turned the pages of his diary to check his appointment schedule.
"Ten days from now is the usual...that would make it Monday." He flipped over another page, and then looked up. "But I just have no slots on that Monday. Let's make it Tuesday, shall we? One day extra won't make any difference."
Luke didn’t let it show, but inwardly he groaned at the additional delay. It would make a difference to him!
* * *
Extract from Luke’s notes:
What difference does a day make? Or a week, or a month— even a year? Would that one day really have changed anything?
Maybe…
That one particular day...probably...
Ella was right. I did see her again, though not in good times. But still, not all of it was sad—there were many great times and moments that, looking back, were so funny, so happy! You just had to laugh.
You just had to have been there.