I saw that naked man, too

My bathroom window opens up to waist level and looks into a large air-well shared by only one other unit. Standing in front of my sink, I could see the drying area of the next-door unit, and of the unit below it.

Yesterday at dawn, I was brushing my teeth and I could see a moving figure at the corner of my eye.

Natural reaction: I looked.

There was a man walking to the drying area in the apartment below my next-door neighbour’s.

If it was my neighbour’s apartment, at a parallel level, I would only be able to see people waist up. For the unit below I could see the entire person. And that I did. He was completely unclothed.

Another (perhaps) natural reaction: Deep breath and duck under the sink!

To be honest, he was not hideous. I’ve seen him in the lift before and he is a young ang moh who is quite cute. He is also quite nicely built. But I just didn’t want to be caught having seen him in his nakedness! How embarrassing (for me) that would be!

You ask why did I not close my bathroom window. Our apartment is very breezy and I like it that way. Since I hang my towels in my bathroom, I like the breeze to dry them after use. But yes, for you conscientious readers, I do close the window when I shower.

As I held my toothbrush with foam still in my mouth, I counted a while before I stood back up and then closed my window, hoping he would have gone back into his apartment. You think my reaction is weird?

CM and Aileen spent New Year’s at my place. CM was in the toilet doing something and dashed out flustered shouting, “I saw a naked man! I saw a naked man!”

I said I had never seen that (at that time), but please stop shouting or he would hear you!

So last night after dinner I recounted my experience to Aileen. I also remarked that he was quite…er….well endowed. I have no means of comparison beyond what I’ve seen in pictures but well… he/it seems well endowed anyways.

Aileen: Was that the same guy that Josephine (aka CM) saw?
Me: Ya, I think that’s why she ran out so excitedly.

Actually, I had seen naked men live. They were on stage. In my very first semester in the States, I had to take Art of the Theatre. One of the plays we were required to watch and write a critique for was Angels of America (highly acclaimed, supposedly).

The play turned out to be about gay men doing it with each other and getting diseases. I closed my eyes and my ears more than half the time. My footballer classmate was highly uncomfortable also. His discomfort was made more acute by men hugging/ touching themselves in seats all around us. I was 18, rather innocent, and only got to know what gay men do in their bedroom through that play. Talk about culture shock. The unfortunate thing was; we got good seats.

My curious question: How could men ever feel comfortable wearing briefs?