Nathaniel Bates (19:29)
So some mornings in second grade, the first thing I would see was my dad's big adult penis. I had a paper route, so I had to get up really early. And nine times out of 10, I'd be up and out the door before my dad. But, you know, he'd have to come just to make sure that I didn't hit the alarm and oversleep. And I was their firstborn, so they were like aging hippies. And they were just about done being hippies when I was in second grade. So he was still sleeping naked. And the rare mornings that oversleep, he'd come into my bedroom and find me there, have to shake me, and I kind of like. And bam. Right at height level, my dad's big adult cock. Now, the shocking part of this was it looked completely different than my own penis. Not only was it Big, firm, and, like, adult. It had this, like, big red ball at the end, whereas mine looked like just kind of like a droopy elephant trunk. And I didn't know what to make of it. What I do know is my family, even though they were, had a little hippie phase. My parents will be born and will die. Wasps. We do not talk about our emotions. We don't say, I love you. We come from puritans that liked chairs that had really straight backs. We don't talk about sex. So even though I wanted to ask him, why is my penis look different than Dad's? I never did. What I did luckily find was I remember watching sitcoms after school. I particularly remember on watching Small Wonder, the girl with the robot. And if you read in lines in sitcoms, they kind of said things they weren't PC Allowed to say. But I remember there was an episode where Vicki the robot was wondering why the boy that they live with was, like, you know, getting facial hair. And it was because he was changing. His body was changing. Because Vicki was a robot. They'd explained that she wasn't gonna do that, but, you know, he was. And I kind of figured out I was like, a lot of the other sitcoms had that changing plot for these teens that were starting to get awkward. And I was like, ah, that'll be what happens when I hit a certain age. You know, that ball, I have the skin, and I can roll up and find that little ball that's in there that'll just, like, slowly come down when I hit that changing part. Cool. I don't need to bother my parents about it. That was until they enrolled me in swim class. And I remember the first time I was really bad at swimming, so I had to go to the YMCA to learn. And I just remember I was already scared about going to swim. And I walk into the locker room, and you hit with a wall of chlorine. And there, as far as the eye could see, were fathers and sons, some getting changed, some all shriveled from being in the pool. And their penises all looked like my dad's had this little rubbery ball at the end. And at that point, I was like, wait, I'm not. I'm not. I am a freak. My dad's the normal one. So I got the first time I did have to change the locker room, but from that point on, I would put on my bathing suit at home, and then I would just wrap a towel around and go right to my mom's car and never change the locker room. So now the kids had to see that my penis was all messed up. And luckily, my mom, you know, she was so busy just talking at us constantly about all life's details that, like, she never noticed that I was back in the back of the car dripping wet. She just didn't notice life's details because she was so busy with them. Now, I would go up in my room sometimes, and I thought, maybe I'm supposed to motivate this change. So I would sit in the room, my bedroom, sometimes when I was like, 8 or 9, and I would just roll the skin back and the little ball would come out, and I'd be great. But then it'd go and it'd pop back out, and I'd be like, maybe you just gotta keep. Keep doing it. Maybe. My parents didn't sit me down and tell me this. So I'd spend, like a half an hour right before bed just popping it out, boom, right back. And I was like, it's not working now. Finally, like, when I was in, like, fifth grade, I still didn't know. And I went to. Every summer I'd go to summer camp, and I'd always change in the stall in the morning so the kids didn't have to see that I was, like, weird and not like them, but, like, fifth grade. One or two of the kids had, like, probably had pubes. And because it's like, when bullying is sticking, they noticed I was, like, changing in the stall, and they kind of like, hey, I bet Bates doesn't have pubes. And then I was like, no, no, that's not it. Because, like, it was in it. I did not have pubes, but I was like, oh, that was the only problem down there. Oh, that would be amazing. But I was like, no, no, I've got. You guys don't need to worry about it. But then once you make it a thing, it kind of becomes a thing. So as the week of camp went on, it came more like, ah, you're changing the stall again. Change in the stall. So, like, by midweek, I started changing in the bunk room. But, like, get really close to the corner and, like, be like, kind of make a thing. Like, yeah, guys, I'm just changing with you. But, like, clearly removed myself as much as I possibly could. And then they kind of kept this build up in the bunk room. Like, we want to see what's going on. We want to see now, for some of the kids, it was bullying. And I do know there was, like, one or two of the kids who since have come Out. So for them, it must have been amazing. It's like, oh, my God, these guys want to see a cock. And we are allowed to, like, join in and see another. So for them, it was like the greatest moment. There was a free ticket to want to see a guy's penis. And I remember the last full day at camp. I'm changing the corner and I just feel a hand on my shoulder. And I get spun around and there's all the campers in my bunk, and they're kind of looking at me and they look down, they're all ready to laugh. And then they're just as puzzled by my junk as I am. And instead of getting ready to laugh that there's no hair, which again, there was no hair at the time, they're just. And we drop it. Ned does not get spoke again the rest of the time at camp. And again it was church camp. I did not go back after that. My brother and sister kept going and they kept. Became counselors there. But that was my end of that camp. Now, finally, in seventh grade, you have health class. Everyone's kind of excited for health class because it's the first time you're allowed to all talk and learn about sex. But then everyone's also kind of nervous because you're gonna, like, see overhead projections of ovaries and really the like, not cool part of sex. And everyone's also all hopped up on hormones, so everyone's kind of bipolar, semicirc grade messes anyway. And I just remember we're one day there and I'm feeling awkward and half, like, titillated that I'm there and half awkward. And I'm probably, like, looking at the girl in front of me, seeing if I can see up the side arm of her thing and see if she's wearing a bra yet or not. I'm just half paying attention. And then the teacher is at the overhead projector. He puts the slide on. And there on the screen, there I am.