I was serving time in an Army hospital as recovering patient. Since I was ambulatory I was given duties to assist the overburdened staff. I helped those who were bed ridden, and while I occasionally dispensed meds, I was usually helping distribute meals, water, or help the guys with personal care.

The place was becoming loaded with orthopedic patients returning from places of action, and often the patients were in casts or strange wired hanging contraptions that looked more like they were intended for torture than for healing.

One of the duties was helping bedridden patients sponge bath themselves. This actually amounted more to distributing hot water basins and towels and later collecting them. But there were several of the patients who had one or both arms in casts or in support frameworks and they required more help since they could do little for themselves.

It was in this role that I first met Matthew. He had both legs in a support rig and one arm in a cast. He needed daily help with both bathing and shaving. Of course he also needed bedpans, which I handled. He could usually feed himself, but since he was in a private room, I sometimes stopped by to make sure he was feeding himself okay. Often, it was just conversation while he ate.

He was the first person I had ever had to help shave. It was really weird. It is totally different from shaving yourself and while not difficult it seemed intensely personal. I would lather up his chin and cheeks and get real close to start shaving him. He couldn't easily talk much while I was doing it, but I was very aware that I was in his 'personal space'. Though I was focusing on the razor, I was also watching his skin react - and glancing at his eyes.

Every guy knows that the razor does best if you are shaving against the direction the hair grows out. So I had initially had to stroke his chin and neck a little and asked him which direction he usually shaved in different places on his face and neck. Having him lean his head back so I could get at his neck or wrinkle his nose a little so I could get above his lip... they were just intensely personal things - certainly without being sexual at all.

But sometimes when your eyes make a certain connection - particularly when you have already crossed some invisible 'personal space' boundary - it dances beyond 'personal' and elements of it become sensual. I noticed that when my sleeve would brush his upper arm while working around his face, his arm would get goose bumps. Sometimes his eyes would linger on me too long. Maybe that's what they call gaydar today. I don’t know. It just seemed that I was getting signals that he enjoyed the skin contact and it was more than mechanical.

Though he could pretty much bathe himself one-handed, there were obviously places he had trouble getting to, so I would occasionally do a little more for him. After shaving him I would apply aftershave but then would sometimes help him wash his hair or wash his feet (hard for him to reach since they were up in traction). Sometimes after he bathed himself I would powder him lightly and give a short massage. I also spent time on his feet and lower legs, since he couldn't give them much attention himself. He wasn't ticklish, but seemed to love