The Shape of Things to Cum-Tale Two

By Xan

It was the third year of the most severe water shortage in recorded time. Trucks that were once used to carry milk would pull into town filled with the precious liquid so necessary to life. There was no longer enough water for cattle, so beef, cows milk, butter and ice cream were the dreams of yesterday. The water in these tankers came from desalinized plants from the Gulf of Mexico.

Rodney was standing in line with his father. A water pump truck had just pulled out empty, they had no choice but to wait for a second one to pull in with the precious water which they would fill the plastic jugs holding their weekly allowance. As they stood Rodney started to tear up silently in pain; he didn’t want to tell his father about the agony that seared through his body. He had dry swallowed some painkiller in the morning, but the agony between his legs was returning with a vengeance.

He was afraid. He knew what the pain meant. He would loose his foreskin, and he was horrified that he might have to lose his penis. A woman came over to them handing out a computer printout. They were always getting them at the water wait. Some were about places that had fresh water and promises of multi-house investments in such a paradise. Others were warnings about all the new strains of bacteria. Each week a new parasite seemed to be discovered. The one he dreaded was the one that got under the foreskin and caused rot. Without water it was almost impossible to keep things clean, boys were taught that urine should be used to clean the glans, as dirt and perspiration could carry all kinds of deadly bacteria.

Rodney was always careful. He tried to push his foreskin back, and work with nature when he peed, but in the last year new strands of super bacteria grew even more rampant and threatening.

He was told about his great-great-great-grandfather who had been a soldier in the Pacific during World War 2. All the soldiers had been forced to be circumcised because of a fungus on the island where he was stationed. Rodney didn’t want to hear the details. His father had sworn that he would never suffer from such a barbaric practice. No son of his would ever be forced to be circumcised, but that was before the long drought.

The water truck arrived but he could barely move the pain between his leg was a hot iron. The man in back of them was watching the boy. “Your kid looks like he needs some help Mister. There are medics here, you know.”

“No, Dad…Pleaseee” He whimpered. “I’m okay.”

“Son, after we get our water, I’m going to have to have you looked at by a Doctor.”

It was time to fill their containers. Rodney did the best he could, but his father knew that something was very wrong with his son, he had no choice but to take the limping boy over to the medical center, which was a large converted trailer.

A woman with salt and pepper hair filled sat at a desk under an outdoor canopy filling out the forms. Rodney stammered as he had to tell about the fact his genitals felt they were on fire.

“Don’t worry young man, we’ll take care of you.” She felt sorry for the cute boy, who she guessed was having a problem that was becoming common, from the way he was walking.

Rodney sat outside and waited in the hot sun. When his name was called he was led inside, and down a hallway into a small examination room. It was cool, even his father shivered. Rodney was told to take off all his clothes, which was painful, as he had not changed them in a month, but then again what was the point. There was no water to wash them anyway. Then a miracle occurred, he was given some water to drink, and told as soon as he was undressed he would be able to take a shower.

The trailer had a working bathroom, and Rodney was handed a towel. A young medic escorted him into the bathroom, and told him that he was in charge of making sure the boy was thoroughly washed.

The man applied a soap that was part oil, and part hydrogen peroxide. It felt so good to feel the warmth against him, he almost forgot about the constant pain. The man gently parted his crack, and messaged his anus, which was one of the nicest feelings and almost made him forget his limp and fiery glans. The medic told him that he had to scrub all of him, and he should hold his breath.

It felt like his once soft skin was burning off, he couldn’t help screaming out.

“Wait here, I’ll give you a pain injection, then I can finish making you sterile.”

“You mean you’re going to sterilize me?”

“No, I mean as in no bacteria, that kind of sterile.”

“Oh, okay then.”

The assistant didn’t want to tell the boy that he was sure that the bacteria had gone too far, Couldn’t they tell that this boy was burning up with fever. He guessed the boy would have to have his penis amputated, sad…really. He seemed like such a handsome boy, it could have been avoided if he was circumcised to begin with, but that had lost favor. No one thought that the olden days would return when most of the Earth was a sandy wasteland, and water had to be used for crops and drinking, not bathing.

He returned and as gently as possible lifted the boys penis. Then he gave a shot of morphine. The boy quieted down, and he was able to clean the enflamed organ.

The father was told the terrible news; the boy would need a complete penectomy. Otherwise the bacteria would affect his entire body as it already did his urethra, and he could die in a few days.

The Doctor was deft, with the sedated boy lying on the operating table. In case there was a great deal of blood lose the father had donated blood for a transfusion. The Doctor used a laser knife, and carefully made the cuts after inserting a gold-alloy tube to be a new pee hole. The benefit was the tube would kill germs. As he worked the doctor wondered if he could discover a way to insert an alloy tap inside of each male’s foreskin so they wouldn’t have to risk losing it all.

Perhaps in time the boy could be fitted something he was working on in his spare time. It was a plastic penis that could be attached to his remaining testicles, and act like a pump. With any luck he could still function as a complete man some day. Perhaps the beauty of it is he could even change shapes and sizes. He would discuss it with the boy and his father in a few weeks when they returned for a post-op visit.