The Boy and the Battleship

by Christopher Cummings

  This time Max rushed in with his cruiser, trying to sink the troop transport. Graham turned the transport back and tried to block the cruiser with his five ships. The game was fast and furious for 10 minutes, at the end of which Max’s cruiser had been so badly battered that its main guns were all out of action and its speed cut by two thirds. Graham had lost a gunboat and a destroyer and his cruiser had lost its forward turret.

  As soon as Max’s cruiser began to withdraw Graham started to chase her. I am winning, he thought. So he walked over to his transport and turned her round to head it for the enemy coast. No sooner had he done this than Max walked past and around to the back of the garage. Graham became instantly suspicious—and had his suspicions stunningly confirmed.

  Into view slid a huge model ship, all turrets and funnels.

  “A battleship,” Max revealed with pride. “Ten 11” guns and armour 24” thick.”

  Graham stared at the model battleship with dismay. It was roughly constructed from a large plank of wood about 75cm long, 10cm wide and 4cm thick. The bows were just sawn off with no pretence at a smooth curve and the stern was just sawn off square. The superstructure was made of wood blocks glued or nailed on and the turrets were wood blocks with nails driven into the face to represent gun barrels. A nail through their centre allowed the turrets to rotate. The battleship had three big cardboard funnels and a row of ten 6” guns along the side of the superstructure as secondary armament. A few balsa boats and minor detail had been added.

  The workmanship was poor but the overall effect was impressive, if only from sheer size. Graham swallowed and counted the guns: Four main armament turrets, two forward and two aft, with three guns in the lower turret and two in the super-firing turret. 11” guns! And armour 24” thick! How can I hope to fight that monster? he wondered. For a minute or so he stood there feeling angry and defeated. Mostly he was angry with himself. If I could build more ships so could Max. I should have known! he berated himself.

  “Well?” Max demanded, “Are you still playing or not?”

  “How can I hope to beat that?” Graham cried angrily.

  “You can try.”

  Graham felt like just going home but a spark of stubborn pride made him stay. Yes, he could try. Better to go down fighting than to crawl away like a dingo!

  The battle was resumed. Graham strove to get his cruiser and surviving destroyer within torpedo range. In this he nearly succeeded, causing Max to turn and run. The battleship then hammered Graham’s ships from way out of range until all were sunk. In spite of being beaten Graham enjoyed himself. It had been a good game.

  “Another game?” Max asked.

  “Yes, all right,” Graham agreed.

  “You defend this time. Put your army on the porch and I will attack,” Max suggested.

  Graham agreed to this. He carefully hid groups of HO scale soldiers behind things like chair legs which he was confident Max would accept as being proof against the battleship’s guns. When he was ready he called Max and the game started.

  As they played, what Graham had been secretly hoping for happened—Cindy arrived home from netball. She walked through her door out to the laundry next to where Graham was kneeling on the lawn.

  “Hello Graham. Who’s winning?” she asked.

  “Max. He’s built a battleship and I can’t get close enough to hit it,” Graham replied looking up. Cindy stood close to him and her tanned legs were right in front of his face. His eyes travelled up to where they vanished under her short skirt, then up to meet hers. These were brown and danced with amusement.

  Cindy nodded. “He’s been working on it all week,” she said as she went into the laundry.

  From across the yard Max called, “Stop magging and move.” Graham did, but half his attention was focused on Cindy who proceeded to strip off her sports dress. This was tossed into the washing machine and Cindy came back out in her bra and panties. She only had small breasts, Graham noted, but her body was nicely shaped and he began to breathe fast and harden up.

  Cindy stopped and crouched down to look at Graham’s new destroyer.

  “Did you make that?” she asked. Graham nodded. She leaned forward so that her body almost touched his and picked the model up. “It’s good Graham. Much better than Max’s.”

  “I made a cruiser too,” Graham said. He was getting hot and flustered as he became aroused and knew he was staring at her. She smiled at him and bent to the cruiser. Max called across the lawn: “Stop showing off Cindy and let us get on with our game. Graham doesn’t want to peer up your fanny.”

  At that moment Max’s mother called from the kitchen door. “Max! Don’t you say crude things like that! Cindy! And you go and get some clothes on miss!”

  Cindy stood up and ran into the bathroom. From there she looked back around the door and grinned, suppressing a giggle. Then she closed the door and Graham heard the shower start. Graham stayed crouched over his model, aflame with embarrassment. The game was resumed. Graham battled hard but he was distracted by thoughts of Cindy and the hope that when she came out of the bathroom she might wear a towel in the way she had the previous week.

  Instead he was granted an even better surprise. When the bathroom door opened Cindy looked out, checking both directions. Then she grinned at Graham, lights of mischief dancing in her eyes. She stepped out totally nude and walked off along the passage way to her room. Graham gaped and his heart pounded furiously.

  Max snorted and said, “Never mind her. She’s always running around in the nuddy. She’s a real show-off.”

  Graham was speechless. He kept glancing along the corridor hoping for another glimpse but when Cindy came out she was dressed in jeans and T-shirt. She sat down to examine Graham’s model cruiser and made smart comments to Max while the boys played. Graham found her presence very unsettling.

  After being defeated a second time by the battleship Graham declined another game. The three were called in to have afternoon tea, following which they sat and watched TV for a while. Graham found he was constantly looking at Cindy and she kept smiling at him. The memory of her nude form made him very aroused and he squirmed to hide the fact and was glad they were sitting.

  Max turned to him. “Will we play again tomorrow?” he asked.

  “OK. I’ve got a second cruiser under construction. I will try to finish it,” Graham replied. He didn’t really care about playing but he did want to see more of Cindy!

  “What time?” Max asked.

  “In the afternoon. I have to go to church in the morning,” Graham replied. Max sneered. He did not go to church much and claimed not to believe. Graham blushed but lacked the courage to argue about it.

  At home again Graham set to work on his second cruiser. This model he called HMS Warrior because of its similarity to a World War 1 armoured cruiser. He armed her with three turrets and an assortment of secondary and tertiary armament. But her most distinctive feature was the four tall funnels. Graham was aware that the model was an odd amalgamation of ideas and the thought niggled in his brain that perhaps, if he made scale models of real cruisers, it might produce better results. The idea appealed, but promised to be a lot of work, so he continued adding detail to the model he was building.

  All the while he worked he was aroused. It lasted for hours and he wondered if it would ever go down; not that he minded. It felt very nice. It was just that he did not want his mother, or Kylie or Alex to notice it. At the same time he was nagged by the thought that he would not be able to defeat Max, even with another cruiser.

  Shaking his head gloomily Graham muttered, “He’s probably hard at work on a second battleship.” Sitting there after he had completed the cruiser—a real rush job devoid of fine details—he flicked through a book on ships, hoping for inspiration.

  “Maybe I should build some Torpedo Boats,” he mused. Then he clicked his fingers. “No, better still, I’ll build a submarine! That will stop him in his tracks.”

  Seized with this new idea Graham rushed down
to the storeroom and found a piece of wood 20cm long and about 2cm square. He set to work with knife, rasp and sandpaper and soon had the hull shape of a submarine. This was carried upstairs and placed on the desk. It did not look very impressive. With the intention of improving the model he studied it for a time.

  I wonder if it would look better painted?

  He decided it would. Old newspaper was placed on the desk in case of spillage and a tin of Humbrol opened. Within 10 minutes the job was complete and the brush cleaned. The hull was now a glistening black. I will add a light grey conning tower, he decided.

  But he had no light grey paint. Pale blue was the closest. “That will have to do. It is the sort of colour the Trogs would use,” he told himself. A piece of balsa 5mm thick x 2cm x 2cm was rounded fore and aft and painted blue. Shipbuilding then ground to a halt. He could not glue the conning tower on until the paint dried; and he had used gloss paint which would take several hours.

  “While I wait I will make a second sub,” he said. So he went down to the storeroom again and rummaged for a second piece of timber the same size which he remembered seeing. As he searched his eye fell on a plank nearly a metre long. It was an old piece of 4x2 and was slightly bigger than the plank Max had used to build his battleship.

  I can build a battleship too! And I will give it bigger guns than his, Graham decided. Inspired by this idea he dragged out the baulk and dusted it down. For a while he wrestled with cutting the bow to shape before his mother called him up for supper.

  “Bedtime,” she said. “The shipyards will have to close for the night.”

  “But Mum! I need a battleship to beat Max,” Graham said. He explained what had happened. Alex was no help. He just jeered. Kylie was more sympathetic but wasn’t really interested in ships.

  For a long time after he was sent to bed, Graham lay awake and planned his new fleet. The silhouette of the Warrior gave him inspiration. Then his thoughts wandered and he became hot and excited over Cindy. For over an hour he tried to imagine what it might be like to do it.

  His torments of the flesh continued next day as Cindy was also at church. Graham was not an alter boy but was still hot and ashamed as he was quite unable to prevent himself becoming aroused almost from the moment he saw Cindy. It became a trial just to sit with his hands on his lap to hide it. He was very anxious that his mother not become aware of his condition. Confessing his sins before Communion only seemed to make him more aware and more aroused but thankfully it subsided before he had to go out to the altar rail. Through it all he barely noticed Margaret, who sat next to Kylie and kept smiling her worried little smile at him.

  After church Graham hurried home. He glued the conning tower on the sub, which he christened ‘S 1’, then decided it needed a deck gun, in keeping with submarines of the period. A balsa gun was added to the fore casing. Then he set to work on the second submarine, working as fast as he could. However time ran out and he had to leave her half completed.

  Once again he loaded his fleet onto the piece of plywood. The models now constituted an awkward load and it was an effort to carry them the three blocks to Max’s. On the way Graham had to stop several times and was sweating when he arrived. He contrived to hide his new submarine among the shrubbery at the front steps before going up and ringing the doorbell.

  Max opened the door. “Come in. Gee! That new cruiser looks good. What is her name?”

  Graham told him. This time Max did not ridicule it. Instead he produced a large plastic cargo ship of the type made for little kids to play with in the bathtub. It was bright green. “This is my transport ship,” Max explained. “I’ve loaded my army ready to invade.” He opened a hatch cover to reveal a collection of toy tanks and armoured cars of various scales.

  “They are the wrong scale,” Graham pointed out.

  “Doesn’t matter! They will do,” Max replied.

  The boys went through to the back. Graham noted that the garage doors were open. “Where are your parents?” he asked.

  “Gone to the markets,” Max replied.

  “What about Cindy?”

  “Over at the Freeman’s I think. Never mind her, what game will we play?” Max said.

  “I will defend again,” Graham said. He looked around, wondering if Max had another horrible surprise to spring on him. Max agreed and carried his transport over to the shed. Graham began deploying his army and fleet, wondering how he could get the sub without Max noticing. Finally he waited till Max carried his battleship over behind the garage, then did a quick dash through the house. As he returned to the back door he placed the sub in a corner. Max appeared not to notice.

  The game began. Once again the battleship kept back out of range and started to pound Graham’s ships to bits before they could close the range. At that stage Graham threw a dice.

  “You’ve just been torpedoed,” he said, seeing a 6 come up.

  “Oh yeah? What by?” Max sneered, indicating the two destroyers, which were clearly too far away.

  “A submarine,” Graham answered.

  “Submarine! What submarine?” Max jeered.

  Graham stood up and walked to the doorway and produced the sub. It was placed on the lawn within range of the battleship. For a minute Max stared at it. Then he swore and said, “That’s not fair! How can you prove that it was there?”

  “I measured the moves. Starting here, at 1 ruler per move that is about where it would be,” Graham replied. He felt very pleased to have sprung the surprise on Max but was worried by the anger of his reaction.

  “I still say it’s not fair,” Max insisted. “You should have told me you had one. In the real world I would have known if the enemy navy had subs.”

  “And I would have known if they had battleships or cruisers,” Graham retorted. Through his mind ran Max’s comment about ‘All’s fair in love and war’ but he did not use it. Max is upset enough as it is, he decided.

  “Stick it up your bum!” Max cried. To Graham’s astonishment he appeared to be about to cry.

  There was a tense silence. Graham wondered what to do to smooth over the situation. “Do you want to keep playing?” he asked.

  Max shook his head. “No. I can’t win. I haven’t got any anti-sub vessels,” he replied.

  “What if I give you the plastic destroyer and we start again?” Graham suggested. “And I will start my sub on the surface to begin with.”

  Max considered this then nodded. “All right. But it takes two dice throws; one to get a hit, then a second to see what damage the torpedo did.”

  “That’s fine by me,” Graham agreed.

  So the game was restarted. Graham enjoyed it immensely as it was much more even. He managed to sink the cruiser and damage the battleship before the sub was sunk by the plastic destroyer. By then one of his cruisers was sunk and the other damaged and the destroyer had blown up. Max got his army ashore and they battled on land for half an hour. In the end Max won, but only just.

  “Want to play again?” Graham asked.

  “Yeah OK, but only if I can have a sub too,” Max said.

  “Where will you get one?” Graham asked.

  “I just remembered; I’ve got a plastic one in the toy box.” Max went into the house and returned a few minutes later with a toy plastic submarine about 30cm long. It was the sort that had a battery powered motor and which actually dived when in a pool or bathtub.

  “It isn’t the right scale,” Graham said. The thought of an enemy sub made him very uneasy.

  “Doesn’t matter. It will be under water,” Max replied.

  “Does it really work?” Graham asked, watching Max fiddle with the propeller of the toy.

  “I think so. It used to,” Max replied. “The batteries are probably flat though.” He tried to turn the motor on but got no response. “It used to dive really well. Would you like to see it? I know where there are some spare batteries.”

  “Yeah, all right.”

  Max led the way into the house and found batteries in the kit
chen. These were inserted and the switch pushed across. The motor burst into buzzing life, the tiny propeller whirring round at great speed.

  Max pointed to the toy. “You watch, the rudder turns from side to side and the diving planes go up and down,” Max said. Graham watched with fascination as the control surfaces moved slowly. Max grinned and said, “Let’s try her out in the pool. She is really good there.”

  He led the way out to the small swimming pool. This was about 7 metres long and 5 metres wide and varied in depth from 1 metre to 3 metres. Max rummaged around in a box and produced some goggles and a face mask.

  “Here. I use these when I am playing frogmen.” He handed Graham the goggles. Then he proceeded to strip off. Graham was both surprised and embarrassed. He had often seen Max without any clothes on, skinny dipping at Freshwater Creek or Kamerunga but now he felt quite anxious. It always amazed him how casual Max was about it, as though he thought it the most natural thing in the world.

  “What about the neighbours?” Graham said, glancing anxiously over his shoulder.

  Max shook his head. “They can’t see the pool because of that high fence,” he replied. Holding the toy submarine he stepped into the pool. “Brrr! Bloody cold. I need a bit of hot in here,” he said with a grin. Seating himself on the step he proceeded to adjust the controls on the toy. Graham felt mildly embarrassed, but also ashamed to admit to himself that he was somewhat interested.

  Max started the submarine’s motor and then gently placed it in the water. The toy sub buzzed around, bumping the sides until it submerged. It nosed its way along the bottom and then surfaced after a lap of the pool. Laughing happily Max stepped into deeper water, putting his facemask under the surface to watch the sub’s progress.

  “Use your goggles Graham. It looks really good,” Max cried.

  Graham did not want to as it would mean he would be looking at Max’s nakedness but he complied. With his heart beating with anxiety he knelt beside the pool and put his head over the side. It was an experience that made him feel quite uncomfortable and he blushed with embarrassment.