Date: Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:29:53 -0800 (PST)
From: Shiloh Creek <shilohcreekauthor@yahoo.com>
Subject: Shiloh Creek: Chapters 1-10

Shiloh Creek
Installment #1
Chapters 1-10
____________________________
**DISCLAIMER: I own the rights to this story and all of its installments
exclusively. This story contains strong sexual content involving minors
and/or adults, strong and/or vulgar language, violence, and some references
to drug/alcohol use. This story is not intended for minors (<18, or <21 in
some places), so if you are underage, please do not read any further. If
you, in any way, offended by this sort of material, please do not read any
further.**
____________________________


Chapter One


Shiloh Creek, New Hampshire
April 1999


	Another hit and miss for the Shiloh Creek High School baseball
team. The Harlow Dragons had slaughtered the Shiloh Creek Raiders; and just
as the Raiders had somewhat recuperated from last week's devastating defeat
against the Lorensville Groundhogs. Sixteen year old Ryan Gamble lounged
tiredly in the dugout with his friends/co-players Jack Whitehead and Davy
Scottson; cool sweat being dispensed from every pour on Ryan's body after
such a rough and tumble game. The three teens reminisced deliberately out
of Coach Sullivan's hearing range, each boy broadcasting to the others
their eagerness about the end of baseball season. Such a tough year for the
Raiders, and certainly not enough time to recover from it. Ryan expressed
his desire to bolt from the team considering playing this season bordered
within the realm of pointlessness, Jack and Davy agreeing with him
absolutely. The end of the season would arrive pretty soon, along with the
end of the school year which was always greatly anticipated, so the boys
agreed to stick it out as best as possible with as much enthusiasm as they
could muster, knowing it would all come to a very appreciated end soon
enough.
	After resting up and what the three boys generally labeled as a
"bitch fest," they got up and headed into the locker room to grab their
bags and depart. Ryan said his goodnights to his friends as they paced out
into the gravel parking lot behind the uncovered, aluminum bleachers. Still
sporting his dirty, smelly baseball uniform, Ryan climbed into his old beat
up rust-colored Chevy and drove home. As he pulled into the dirt driveway
to the right side of his house, he noticed his father's girlfriend's car
perching on his spot on the driveway next to his father's Dodge Ram.
Knowing Janice (his father's girlfriend) would be staying overnight and
both his father and Janice would be leaving for work in the morning before
Ryan left for school, Ryan knew he couldn't park his truck behind either of
their vehicles. Rolling his eyes in frustration, Ryan put the truck in
reverse and drove backward to park next to the curb. After parking the
truck, he got out of the truck and walked towards the front door of the
house dreading having to fulfill his obligation of making small talk with
Janice. Before entering the house, Ryan inhaled as deeply as his lungs
would allow him, held his breath for several long seconds, and let the air
steadily escape through his mouth and nostrils. He placed his hand over the
bronze doorknob, dreading the impending event that was spending time with
his father and Janice. Even thinking about it made his blood boil with
resentment. His dad used to be cool. After Ryan's mother skipped out of
town with another man twelve years before, Ryan and his father became very
close, almost like best friends. Until Janice's intrusion into their lives
a few months prior, Ryan and his father did everything together. They
worked in the yard together, they watched movies together, they ate at the
Shiloh Creek Soul Café every Sunday afternoon after church, Ryan helped his
dad stay "cool" by helping him pick out the trendy men's clothes at the
Walmart, Ryan's father helped him practice before all of his baseball
games, but now everything was utterly different. All because of
what's-her-face. To Ryan, Janice was nothing short of a nuisance, a
fruit-fly buzzing and hissing in his face on a scorching, humid day, but
Ryan's father persisted in striving to present Janice as the mother he
practically never had. Ryan wanted no part of that though. He had lived the
largest portion of his childhood without a woman in his life to call "Mom"
and that was suitable enough for him. Ryan was used to the temporary
presence of women within his home every now and then, but Janice didn't
seem to want to go away as the rest of them did. She hung around, awaiting
the day that Jed Gamble would finally pop the question. Ryan could almost
sense that day approaching, the trepidation of it all swelling
exponentially within his mind with every passing thought about it. He knew
the day was quickly drawing near; that his father would finally convey the
stomach-churning news that Ryan would be "gettin' a new momma." Just for
his father, Ryan would go along with it, of course. Not that he had a
choice in the matter anyway. Ryan would agree to participate as one of the
groomsmen, he would act as if thrilled at the notion of getting a new
mother, he would smile and exhibit a mask of happiness in front of others,
and he would even pose willingly for the ludicrous wedding photographs, but
never in a million years would he ever refer to Janice as his mother.
	Deciding he had finally acquired enough bravery, Ryan opened the
front door and entered the house. As soon as the door swung open, he
immediately wished he had never turned the damn doorknob. The revolting
display in front of him singed his mind and he yearned for an ice pick to
pluck his eyes out with. In front of him, his father and Janice were making
out fervently; Jed pinning the woman up against the wall and grinding
himself into her sensually, and Janice sighing and moaning like a helpless
animal. Ryan gaped at the sight in front of him, his jaw dropping as far as
it could go. They kept at it though, evidently failing to acknowledge
Ryan's presence at the threshold of the front door. To gain their
attention, Ryan cleared his throat as loudly as he could, the sound of it
piercing the entire room. With that, Jed and Janice immediately stopped
making out and groping and they pushed each other away as if acting like
Ryan had seen nothing at all. The sudden awkwardness in the room was almost
unbearable. Ryan realized he could never think of this room as his living
room anymore; it would be known to him now and forevermore as the room
where he had seen his father grinding his clothed groin against the
thankfully covered pussy of some slut-bag hussy who was trying to take
Ryan's father away from him. Ryan now hated the room with a passion he
wasn't sure how to harness. No amount of painting, re-flooring and new
furniture would ever nurse this room back to health. The room was
officially damaged goods, never to be repaired again. Ryan stared into the
almost petrified eyes of his father, just waiting for him to say something
to avoid the subject of what Ryan had just seen. Sure enough...

	"Hey buddy," Jed said, out of breath. "You win the game?"

	"No?" Ryan said simply. "Looks like you're doing a little scoring
of your own though."

	"Oh dear, we're sorry about that, Ryan, honey," Janice said, her
seemingly fake nice persona showing through like a bright light. "We truly
thought the game didn't end for a little while."

	"It's cool," Ryan said as he slowly made his way towards the
hallway that led to his bedroom. "I'll just go take a shower and let you
guys get back to your... your... yeah."

	Without saying another word, Ryan walked into his bedroom and shut
the door behind him. As he walked down the hallway towards his bedroom, he
could almost feel the eyes of his father and Janice bore into his back,
neither of them entirely sure what to say. Up until now, Ryan had never
witnessed a single display of affection between the two of them; not that
he was unaware of its occurrence when he was elsewhere. Either way though,
he knew he could've lived his entire life without having to see anything
like that and be perfectly happy regardless. He had never been so contented
as he was now that he decided to wait until his arrival at home to take a
shower after a game, just as long as he didn't have to watch his father and
Janice grope each other like that ever again.
	Feeling somewhat nauseated, Ryan sat down on his bed and collected
himself mentally, striving very hard to wash out the memory of what he had
just seen. Using only his heels and the fronts of his feet, he kicked off
his baseball cleats and nudged them towards the side of his dresser which
set beside his bed against the wall. After regaining the plentiful amount
of sanity back that had been temporarily misplaced, Ryan stood up, grabbed
some clean clothes from his dresser drawers, and walked into his bathroom
to take a shower. For the first time in years, he was sincerely thankful to
have his own bathroom so that he wouldn't be forced to walk out of his room
even for a few seconds and potentially have to see his father and Janice
making out again. Even if they weren't making out presently, he still had
no desire to see them or talk to them. Although it seemed rather pointless
considering his bedroom door was already shut and locked, Ryan went ahead
and locked his bathroom door as well before getting undressed for his
shower.
	While in the shower, Ryan decided he would walk down the street to
talk to his "invisible friend" after dinner. At the end of Ryan's street,
there was a rather large park: a small playground at the entrance to the
park, a soccer field behind the playground, followed by bike trails and
hiking trails that were hidden within the hilly, tree covered terrain of
the typical New Hampshire state park. In order to reach his "invisible
friend," Ryan had to walk down the street, around the playground and soccer
field, and he had to follow the hiking trails through the vast forest for
about a mile and a half until he reached a junction in the trail; one
direction following the official trail deeper into the forest and the other
direction -- a smaller, almost indistinguishable trail -- leading to
the back of a relatively old suburb. Ryan would follow the trail to the
back of the suburb; a huge, tall stone wall gating the way between the park
and old residential community. Behind that huge stone wall was where Ryan's
"invisible friend" dwelt; behind that wall where not even the tops of the
houses could be seen. Ryan's "invisible friend" happened to be a boy, a
younger boy at that. About eight months prior, before winter had settled in
for a time, Ryan had been following the trail one day and came up behind
the huge stone wall, having heard a particular noise which Ryan assumed was
someone playing the harmonica; rather badly at that. Ryan sauntered over to
the wall, trying to figure out which yard the sound of the harmonica was
coming from. When he finally deciphered the whereabouts of the sound, he
leaned up against the wall to listen to the person playing the
harmonica. Ryan was intrigued by the sound, seeing as how he could remember
his grandfather blowing his old harmonica while resting in his wooden porch
chair on the back porch before he passed away. Ryan had always loved the
hum of a harmonica, regardless of how badly it was being played. No matter
how out of whack the sounds were, it always seemed smooth and unblemished
to Ryan. After listening for several minutes, Ryan decided to leave, but as
he turned to walk away, he accidentally tripped over a loose stone from the
wall and landed on top of a random sheet of wood, which made a rather loud
thud along with the sound of the "Ugh!" that reverberated from his vocal
chords as he fell. The playing of the harmonica ceased and the person
playing said "Hello!?" from behind the wall, a voice from behind the wall
that was unmistakably that of a young boy's. Starting then, the boy behind
the wall and Ryan began to talk to each other; the boy on the inside of the
huge stone wall and Ryan on the outside. For months, Ryan and the boy, his
"invisible friend" as he referred to him, talked to each other a few times
a month. And they would reminisce about everything under the sun: school,
summer vacations, books, movies, families, and anything else they could
think of. Ryan and the mysterious boy would talk for sometimes hours on end
and within time, the two boys began to confide in each other. Ryan would
discuss his problems dealing with his father and his father's new hussy or
problems with different schoolmates, and the boy would complain about his
grandmother making him attend a private school that she technically
couldn't afford, or how his mother was never around anymore, or how his gay
uncle always pretended to act as his father.  Ryan and the boy behind the
wall had never exchanged names with one another and they never saw each
other face to face. Between both of them, there seemed to be a mutual
understanding that they could never meet face to face. There was something
particularly powerful about their limited relationship though. Ryan
couldn't put his finger on it, but something made this bizarre relationship
acutely desirable to him. To be able to ramble on about his life issues to
a talking wall made the whole idea more appealing. The catch in speaking
with a counselor was that you have to speak face to face with the
counselor, but in this way, Ryan could speak to a faceless voice, free of
judgment, free of guilt, with nothing to lose, but quite a bit to
gain. Ryan assumed that the boy felt the same way, because for months,
neither of them had asked for the name of the other and neither one showed
any interest in meeting face to face.  After seeing what he just seen
between Janice and his father, Ryan felt as if he needed some serious
counseling; even if it came from a young boy. With that, Ryan decided
officially to go talk to the boy behind wall after he finished dinner with
Jed and Janice.

-----------------------------------

Chapter Two


	Eleven year old Gavin Summers had just finished reading another
book: Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon this time. Gavin wasn't sure why,
but every book he finished left him with a feeling of emptiness, as if he
hadn't achieved what he was going for in the first place by reading the
book. He always sensed that there should be something more to the end of
his books, something more concrete and tangible within the last few
sentences, something that would leave him with a sensation of utter
fulfillment, but it never happened. Reading Boy's Life, as with every other
book he had read previously, left him feeling void although it was such a
great book. How he wanted his books to end was something he was uncertain
about; all he knew was that he craved something different.
	After finishing the book while reclining lazily on his bedroom's
padded window bench, he closed the book and lied it on his lap, staring out
from his second story window past the huge stone wall that separated his
neighborhood from the vast New Hampshire forest behind the wall. He inhaled
and exhaled deeply, wishing that he could experience the kind of life he
read about that the boys had in Boy's Life or Man Without a Face or The
Body by Stephen King. He wished he was brave enough to pursue an adventure
finding a dead body next to the train tracks, or courageous enough to
investigate a murder, or loveable enough to experience real affection from
someone; even if that someone had a burnt face. Gavin's books allowed him
to escape the real world; the world in which he lived with his overbearing
grandmother, his frequently absent mother, his bossy, pretentious gay uncle
and occasionally his uncle's bum of a boyfriend, the world in which his
mother was always either working or off shopping for useless department
store items in places like Manchester, Montpelier, Boston, and sometimes
even New York City; the world in which he attended an overly expensive
private school and put up with a headmaster that made his grandmother's
dictatorial personality seem as threatening as Kermit the Frog's just so
his grandmother would have the satisfaction of knowing that the evil public
school kids aren't influencing him to take drugs or drink alcohol; and the
world in which he mostly just felt lonely and somewhat unloved. He knew he
was loved by his grandmother, definitely his mother, and his uncle, but he
was more than less convinced their love for him was obligated as opposed to
genuine. He was, at best, the result of an unsupervised drunken college
frat party; however, he was family, so they were basically required to love
him.
	The only satisfaction Gavin experienced was in conversing with the
"stonewall guy" every week. For a better part of a year now, he had been
talking to what he assumed to be an older teenaged boy who would come talk
to him from the other side of the tall stone wall. The older boy was very
nice to him and treated him as a normal human being. The two of them would
talk back and forth, complaining to each other about their individual
problems or issues and assisting the other by coming up with helpful
suggestions on how to make the situation better. Although Gavin had tried
many of the suggestions the older boy had given him to make his school life
and home life better for himself, Gavin found the most contentment out of
just speaking to the older boy. He was so wise and understanding for a
teenager, which was very contradictory of his grandmother's description of
normal teenagers. Gavin hoped sincerely that the older boy would come
tonight. He hadn't come to talk to him in almost a week, so the chances of
him coming today were very likely. When he did come, it was always between
seven and nine o'clock at night and to let Gavin know he was there, he
would throw a red and black soccer ball straight over the tall stone wall
and wait for Gavin to come out and throw the ball back over the wall. With
such a colossal wall in the way, it was rather difficult to communicate
with each other unless they were each standing on either side of the wall.

	"Gavin!!" called Grandma from downstairs. "I need you to come and
set the table please!"

	Without any question or response, Gavin lied his book down on the
other side of the bench where his feet had lain and headed downstairs
quickly to set the table. While carefully placing his grandmother's fine
china, silverware, and glasses on the dining room table, Gavin glanced over
into the den and saw his Uncle Jason and Jason's current boyfriend Louie
sitting on the couch facing each other, whispering sweet little words of
love to one another and kissing each other's cheeks tenderly. Apparently
Gavin had been staring too long, because all of a sudden, he felt someone
slap the back of his head rather roughly. Reaching back to hold his sore
spot with his hand, he looked over his shoulder to see his grandmother
staring him down austerely. Gavin could never get over how his grandmother
-- the woman who claimed to all of the ladies at church that she was the
happiest person she knew -- always looked so pissed off at the world. The
expression on her face certainly told a different story than the one the
ladies at church heard constantly.

	"How many times do I have tell you not to stare? It's rude!"
Grandma said firmly. "Jason! Louie! The boy's down here now, so knock it
off!"

	Gavin gazed over into the den to see Uncle Jason separate from
Louie quicker than an unsuspecting finger does from a heated pressing iron.

	"Sorry, little man," Uncle Jason said. "Didn't realize you were in
here."

	"You'll do well to be more attentive, Jason," Grandma said
condescendingly.

	"Yes ma'am," Jason said. Gavin noticed his uncle roll his eyes with
frustration once Grandma averted her eyes from him and Louie. Louie just
smiled in a way that immediately caused Uncle Jason to smile back and
temporarily forget his mother's tyrannous manner. With that, Gavin
continued to set the table.
	After the table was set with the fine dinnerware and food, Gavin,
Uncle Jason, Louie, and Grandma sat down at the table; one chair at the end
vacant of Gavin's mother, which was beginning to become a normal
occurrence. For the past few months, his mother had been spending extra
time away from home. What she was doing was beyond Gavin, but he assumed
she was off shopping in some luxurious New York City mall buying anything
pretty she could afford (or that her credit card could afford). Or perhaps
she was at her office even though this was a Sunday and technically her day
off. Or maybe she was with her boyfriend today. Gavin's mother was not very
good at conveying where she was at all times.

	"Okay, your mother's not coming home for dinner tonight once again,
so we'll go ahead and eat," Grandma announced mostly to Gavin. "Let's
pray."

	Grandma forced everyone to hold hands and she gave the blessing;
praying for the food, that God would forgive the transgressions of those
deliberately living in sin (Uncle Jason and Louie, obviously), that God
would help others to see that living for God is much better than living for
the material self (Gavin's mother, obviously), and that God would help
other people realize that life is sometimes unfair and that being
submissive to authority and obeying the will of the Lord is the best way to
live (Gavin, definitely). Gavin always enjoyed his grandmother's subtlety
within her prayers. It was her personal way of expressing her feelings
about the family sins without saying it herself; in other words, hiding
behind God in order to convey her thoughts about everyone in the
family. Gavin wished she would allow others to pray every once in a
while. He figured it would be an eye-opener to her to hear what others in
the household had to say to the Lord in prayer. Once the prayer was over,
they released each other's hands and began to eat dinner.

-----------------------------------

Chapter Three


	Ryan sat perfectly still and quiet at the dinner table, striving
very hard to avoid facing his dad and Janice. They all three ate in total
silence for about five minutes, the only sound being that of the jingling
and jangling of forks and knives against the glass plates and cups being
placed back down on the wooden table. Ryan could feel the occasional
glances of his father and Janice. He felt completely awkward, wishing he
could just leave the table and not come back.

	"So, Ryan, how many more games do you have?" Janice asked daringly
before taking a swig from her wine glass. Ryan made a mental note to ask
his father later why he and Janice were drinking wine all the time. He had
never seen his father drink anything alcoholic other than beer or the
occasional crowned cola.

	"Three more games," Ryan said simply before roughly sticking his
fork full of stabbed pork in his mouth.

	"You know, bud, Janice's job is to do PR for the Mets right here in
New Hampshire," Jed said, trying to make Janice seem cooler. "She's met
Kenny Rogers, Bobby Jones, and all those guys."

	"Hmm, neat," Ryan said, purposely trying to sound disinterested.

	"Uh, yeah, Ryan, if you want, I could take you with me sometime to
New York and maybe you could even meet them yourself," Janice
offered. "They're all really nice guys."

	"Sure, maybe," Ryan said. Although the idea of meeting the Mets
pleased him internally, he wasn't about to let that show on his face. He
couldn't give in that easily.

	"Ryan, I'm sorry you walked in on your father and I like that,"
Janice said. "You shouldn't've had to see that. It was wrong of us to allow
that to happen."

	"It's alright."

	"We're both really sorry, bud," Jed said.

	Ryan glanced up from his plate and both his father and Janice were
staring at him, making him feel tremendously self-conscious.

	"Uh, I'm not really that hungry," Ryan said. "I'm gonna go for a
walk."

	"You sure?" Jed asked. "You want me to save you any of this food?
I'd hate to see all of this delicious food go to waste."

	"Yeah, okay, go ahead and save it then," Ryan said, not wanting to
sound like a brat.

	With that, Ryan excused himself from the table and headed back to
his bedroom to slip his tennis shoes on so he could leave. Once he had his
shoes on, he put on a Chicago Cubs baseball cap after having just thrown
his similar New York Mets cap into the trash can that set by his computer
desk. He felt rather guilty for acting so rashly, but he quickly brushed
away those thoughts as he grabbed the red and black soccer ball from his
closet that he would use later to get the attention of his "invisible
friend." With that, he exited his bedroom, rushed past the dining room
without a word spoken to the adults and then left out through the front
door.
	Ryan made his way down the street to the park. In the playground,
there were young boys and girls running around wildly and parents scolding
their kids for acting up and whatnot. In the soccer field behind the
playground, the middle school girls were playing an evening soccer game
while families and friends all sat on the sidelines in their lawn
chairs. Ryan walked around all of it, trying to avoid getting found by
anyone he may know or who may know him. One thing about Shiloh Creek;
everybody knew everybody almost, even if official meetings had never
ensued. Shiloh Creek was a small enough town that everyone was moderately
involved in each other's business, but large enough that half the people
around could still be labeled as strangers. Ryan pressed on towards the
hiking trail that would eventually lead him to the tall stone wall. Passing
a few expert and wannabe-expert hikers with a wave and a smile, Ryan kept
on his way towards the wall. About fifteen minutes later, he arrived behind
the huge stone wall in which he had become so familiar with over the past
few months. He glanced at his watch to make sure his timing was right: a
little after seven-thirty in the evening -- perfect! Ryan aimed the red
and black soccer ball at about a seventy-five degree angle towards the top
of the wall, trying to avoid hitting the tree branches that were in the
way. Finally, he forcefully lunged the ball over the wall.

-----------------------------------

Chapter Four


	Gavin had been sitting in his reclining lawn chair next to the pool
waiting for the "stonewall guy" to arrive; just hoping upon hope that he
would show up tonight. Gavin made a habit out of sitting in that same lawn
chair reading a book just about every evening, especially on weekends,
waiting for the "stonewall guy." Since it had been about six days since his
last visit, Gavin was sure he would come tonight. He usually came on Sunday
evenings like this evening or on Saturday evenings. Occasionally, he would
show up on a weekday evening, but not very often. Gavin had finished
reading the very first page of his new book and just as he was flipping the
page to move on to the second page, the painfully familiar red and black
soccer ball came crashing down from over the wall, knocking Gavin in the
back of the head. He began to wonder if the fates had something against the
back of his head this evening as he got up dizzily from the lawn chair to
retrieve the ball that had bounced off of his head and rolled over towards
the shed, which was lodged a few feet from the wall. Gavin grabbed the ball
from next to the shed and threw it over as hard as he could to let the
"stonewall guy" know that he was here and ready to talk. Once the ball was
over the wall, Gavin walked into the small area between the stone wall and
the large wooden shed and sat down on the blanket he had lain out earlier
for him to sit on while speaking to the "stonewall guy." It was quickly
becoming a routine for him.

	On the other side, the soccer ball landed in the large tree that
stood about ten feet taller than the stone wall. The ball bounced down from
branch to branch, knocking the dead or lazy branches off their mother
branches towards the ground. Finally, the ball landed close to Ryan on the
ground and Ryan grabbed it. He walked back over and sat down, leaning his
back against the wall.

	"You there?" Ryan asked dumbly.

	"No, no," Gavin said from the other side. "Mr. Nobody decided to
mess with you a little and throw it over just to humor you."

	"Shut up," Ryan said with a chuckle. "How're you doing?"

	"I'm okay, I guess," Gavin said with a shrug, albeit Ryan could not
see the shrug. "Just finished dinner with my grandmother, uncle, and his
boyfriend. That was a real hoot. What about you?"

	"Eh... I'm alive, I guess," Ryan said. "Not totally sure how good
being alive is right at the moment, but that's my current status."

	"I know what you mean," Gavin said. "Once again, my mom wasn't at
the table for dinner. No telling where she was."

	"Well, here's the rundown of my day," Ryan began. "First off, I had
to go to church this morning with my dad and his girlfriend. Usually me and
my dad go together by ourselves, and now he asked her to go with us. Dad
said it would be a good idea so that me and his girlfriend could have some
`bonding time' (Ryan said this in a very sarcastic voice and used quote
signs with his fingers) and whatnot. Then later, I lost, yet again, another
baseball game -- this time against the fucking Dragons from Harlow. Then
when I got home from the game, I walked in on my dad groping that whore of
his right in the god-damned living room! Then I came here."

	"Wow," Gavin said first off. "Sorry it was such a crap day for
you. I have really nothing to compare that with. I guess my mom not showing
up for dinner was the worst thing. Oh! My grandmother slapped me on the
back of the head and she caught me watching my uncle and his boyfriend
making out. Not to mention, you just bonked me on the head with your stupid
soccer ball."

	"I hit you with the ball?" Ryan asked.

	"Yep.  Have the bump on the back of my head to prove it too."

	"Yeah? Well, come on over the wall and let me see it!" Ryan said
halfheartedly.

	Suddenly, a silence took over from the other side of the wall, as
if the "invisible friend" was afraid to respond to the remark.

	"Hey, I was just teasing is all," Ryan said.

	"Oh okay," Gavin said with a chuckle.

	"But you know, how I am ever going to know that you're truly not
invisible unless I actually see you?" Ryan asked curiously, but jokingly.

	"Invisible?" Gavin repeated with a chuckle, humorously considering
the absurd notion of being invisible.

	"I call you my `invisible friend,'" Ryan admitted. "Since I'm
technically talking to a wall here, it feels like I'm speaking to an
invisible person."

	"Making a habit out of speaking to invisible people, huh?" Gavin
asked.

	"What do you mean?" Ryan asked, his face grimaced.

	"You said talking to me feels like talking to an invisible person,"
Gavin reminded him. "I'm just kinda wondering how you know what talking to
an invisible person feels like."

	Ryan laughed.

	"I actually call you the `stonewall guy,'" Gavin said.

	"'The stonewall guy' -- I like it," Ryan said with a grinning
sneer on his face, mulling over the name his "invisible friend" had given
him. "But seriously, how come we've never met face to face? Or at least
give each other our names?"

	"I dunno," Gavin said simply. "I guess... I guess it's just that
it... always seemed right -- better -- not to share our names or meet
or anything like that. I thought you said you felt that way too the last
time we talked about this."

	"Well I do, sort of," Ryan said. "Or at least I did. All I know,
it's like you're really the only real friend I have. I mean, I have friends
at school and whatever, but... none of them know me like you do. And it
just seems sad that the one person who knows me better than anyone doesn't
even know my name or anything, much less knows what I look like."

	"I feel the same way," Gavin said. "But... I don't know, it just
seems better to me this way. I can't explain why, but it just seems like
this is how it should be."

	"I guess you're right," Ryan said. "I do think we should at least
meet someday though. Maybe not soon, but someday."

	"We will eventually," Gavin said. "But right now, this is better."

	Ryan just nodded his head in agreement, although he realized the
boy on the other side of the wall couldn't see the gesture anyway. With
that, the two boys moved on to another subject. They continued talking to
each other the same way they always had before; in the same judgment-free
and carefree way they always spoke to one another. As there conversation
dwindled down finally, Ryan glanced up at the sky and noticed that the sun
was completely out of sight and the sky had transformed from its normal
baby blue color to various shades of bright orange, pink, dark purple, and
then finally midnight blue clear on the other side from the bright
orange. He looked at his watch: 8:57 pm was the time. Knowing the boy's
curfew was drawing seriously nigh, Ryan dreaded having to say goodnight and
go back home. He could only hope Janice and his father were nowhere in
sight. After taking a deep breath, Ryan spoke up.

	"Well, I guess it's about time for me to go," Ryan said. "You only
have a few more minutes until your grandmother will call you in and
everything."

	"That time already, huh?" Gavin remarked, seeing as how he didn't
own a watch.

	"Unfortunately," Ryan said. "Well, I guess I'll probably come back
on Saturday or maybe Sunday. Just depends."

	"I'll be here waiting for you," Gavin said.

	"Goodnight then," Ryan said.

	"Goodnight," Gavin said.

	Gavin could hear the "stonewall guy" standing up and walking off
through the woods; the sound of leaves crackling and twigs breaking under
the boy's feet. With that, Gavin stood from his spot next to the shed,
grabbed his book from the lawn chair by the pool, and retreated into the
house.

-----------------------------------

Chapter Five


	It was midnight. Ryan lied in his bed beginning to believe he would
never gain an ounce of sleep; not with the obnoxious sounds coming from his
father's bedroom that reverberated throughout the entire house,
particularly the four walls of Ryan's bedroom. He felt like vomiting. The
sounds coming from down the hall were horrible. Ryan could hear Janice
groaning and moaning erotically and he could his hear his father breathing
really hard and occasionally groaning. To make matters even worse, Janice
would occasionally utter the words "yes" or "oh" excitedly, which made Ryan
want to slice off his own ears Van Gogh style. To block the horrid sounds,
Ryan got out of his bed, grabbed an old three-speed fan from the depths of
his closet, and set it to its highest speed after plugging it into the
wall. The constant sound of the fan drowned out most of the sex sounds
coming from his father's bedroom, but not completely. After Ryan climbed
back into his bed, he folded his pillow over his ears, trying to block out
the sounds even more.

	The next morning, Ryan stood in the kitchen buttering his toast,
wearing nothing but a pair of Homer Simpson boxer shorts. All of a sudden,
Janice walked into the kitchen wearing just a short, black, silk nightgown
that looked as if she had purchased it from Victoria's Secret. The room
automatically filled with awkwardness, Ryan kept preparing his breakfast,
striving hard to avert his eyes from Janice.

	"Sorry, sweetheart," Janice said too sweetly. "Didn't realize you
were in here."

	"It's cool," Ryan said, keeping his eyes off the woman.

	With that, Janice walked out of the room. Several minutes later,
while Ryan was sitting at the dining room table eating his breakfast, Jed
walked into the room, wearing only a pair of blue boxer-briefs. Ryan stared
at his dad for a second, as if something that needed be said was already
uttered just with the mere glance the two exchanged. Ryan went back to
eating his breakfast and kept silent. Jed walked over to the table and sat
to the side of his teenaged son. After he sat down, he stared at the boy,
suddenly realizing how much Ryan reminded him of himself; the same long,
thick, dark blown -- almost black -- hair Jed had at that age, the same
dark brown eyes, the same slightly olive-colored skin that proved their
distant Italian heritage, and the same manner of movement -- the way he
carried himself physically. However, the bull-headedness and stubbornness
was a trait of Ryan's that was most definitely passed down by his mother,
although Ryan was not very aware of it. Jed had spent so many years trying
to wash out the negative thoughts about his ex-wife, to portray Ryan's
mother to him more constructively, although she hadn't called or checked up
on Ryan in over ten years.

	"How're you doin' sport?" Jed asked his son.

	"Sport? You haven't called me sport in forever. What gives?" Ryan
asked.

	"Janice told me what just happened," Jed said.

	"What happened?" Ryan asked dumbly. "She walked in looking like a
floozy and left the room. That's all that happened."

	Jed's face hardened. He wanted to yell at Ryan for saying that, but
he knew not to press the situation any further than it had already
gone. Ryan was not just going to accept this new woman into his life that
easily, so Jed knew not to push too hard.

	"Ryan, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't speak that way about her,"
Jed said. "She's honestly been trying to reach out to you. I'm not saying
you have to accept this right now, but I do want you to understand that
Janice isn't going away any time soon."

	"So buck up and get used to it, right, Dad?" Ryan asked with a
certain hardness in his voice that almost shocked Jed. "Is that what you're
telling me?"

	"Ryan, what is it that you want?" Jed asked sincerely.

	"I just... I want things to go back to normal," Ryan said
honestly. "You know, you've gone without a woman for twelve -- almost
thirteen -- years now. Why can't you wait another three years until I'm
off to college or wherever?"

	"That's awfully selfish of you, Ryan, you realize that?" Jed asked
rhetorically.

	"Okay, fine!" Ryan said, all of a sudden getting up from his chair
and slamming his chair into the wooden table. "Go ahead and stay with
Janice for all I care! Get married, have some little annoying babies and
make a new family, see if I give a rat's ass, Dad!"

	With that, Ryan stormed out of the room towards his bedroom. Just
as he was preparing to slam his bedroom door shut, Jed came up from behind
him and stopped the door from slamming using his hand. Jed pushed the
bedroom door open, a serious scowl on his face, which sort of shocked
Ryan. Jed slowly walked into the bedroom and slammed the door behind him
himself to give him and Ryan privacy to talk.

	"You know what, boy!?" Jed said. "Sit the hell down on the bed,
now."

	Without any objection, Ryan sat down on the side of the bed and
folded his hands between his spread legs, afraid of this sudden anger
radiating from his father. Jed took a few seconds to calm down from his
momentary fury, afraid of what he would do if he spoke out or even acted
out in his anger, and then he sat down next to his son on the bed. Jed took
a few deep breaths, still striving to calm himself down. He thought back to
when he was teenager. He had talked back to his father and his father
slapped him in the face with the end of a loose extension chord as hard as
he could. The last thing he wanted to do was to hit Ryan that way. In fact,
he generally wouldn't hit Ryan at all, ever! He had whipped Ryan with a
belt one time when he was in the fourth grade, and that was because Ryan
followed a few of his friends into the school courtyard during lunchtime
and they mooned the entire administration while the superintendent was
visiting the school. Other than that one time, Jed had never laid a hand on
Ryan. Usually, Ryan was a very good kid. As Jed sat there staring at his
son's profile, he thought back to the days when Ryan was just a young boy;
back when it was just the two of them after his wife left them. Ryan had
only been four years old when his mother walked out on them for a man
twenty years older than her. Jed was just barely twenty-one years of age by
then himself and he was so suddenly left with the responsibility of taking
care of a four year old boy and working almost seventy hours a week just to
support them. By the time Ryan was seven years old, Jed had established a
job as an assistant manager for a construction company, which was great,
because he was able to work forty hours a week and still have enough money
to support himself and his son. Back in those days, he and Ryan had such a
good time together. Jed loved those days; he often missed them. He taught
Ryan the alphabet song, he taught him how to write his name, he taught Ryan
how to ride a bike, he taught Ryan how to work on cars, and he explained
the birds and the bees to Ryan when he started puberty. Things were much
simpler then. Everything they did, they did together. Jed always picked out
the boy's clothes up until he was a preteen; then Ryan was the one who
picked out clothes for the both of them. Jed recalled the times Ryan had
sleepovers or birthday parties and how much fun they all had. When it came
right down to it, Jed just missed his little boy terribly. He loved Ryan
just as much now as ever, but now that he was almost grown up, everything
was becoming different.

	"You could really use a haircut," Jed said, suddenly noticing how
long the boy's thick hair had become. He remembered Ryan saying a few
months before that he wanted to grow his hair out, but Jed couldn't get
used to it.

	"You grew up in the eighties," Ryan argued. "You're telling me you
never had long hair?"

	"I did actually," Jed said. "I was about thirteen years old and I
decided to let my hair grow out. I mean, all the boys were doing it right?
My dad -- being the total hair-nazi he was -- told me to go to the
barber shop and get it cut. In fact, he told me for weeks and weeks to go
get it cut. And I never did. Finally one night, my dad pulled me out of bed
at about one o'clock in the morning, took me out to the shed, shaved my
head completely bald, and then he whipped me bare-assed with a weeping
willow branch."

	Ryan glanced over at his dad, his facial expression draped with
disbelief.

	"He whipped you for that?" Ryan asked. "And shaved your head bald?"

	"Damn straight he did," Jed said. "I know you don't remember your
grandpa very well, but take from someone who grew up around him; he was one
vicious son of a bitch."

	"I didn't realize he was that way towards you," Ryan said
sympathetically.

	"Oh, it was horrible, Ryan," Jed said. "Hmm, I wasn't going to tell
you this for another year or so, but when I was seventeen and your grandpa
found out me and your mother were expecting a baby, he took me out into the
front yard before God and all of the neighbors and he beat me up against
the side of my mom's car. When he finally beat me down to the ground, he
kicked me in the stomach a few times and finished it all off by grabbing a
two-by-four and slamming me in the face with it."

	Ryan's eyes widened in utter disbelief. He couldn't comprehend how
anyone could beat up his own son that way.

	"You see this scar above my eye?" Jed asked, pointing to a rather
long scar that stretched from his right eyelid and traveled up and ended
about an inch over his eyebrow. "You asked me before where I got this scar
and I believe I told you that I fell off a tree when I was a kid, but no,
this was from that infamous two-by-four that your grandpa used hit me
with."

	Ryan stared at his dad, his expression being one of complete shock
and compassion. Ryan didn't hear much about his grandpa's behavior towards
his own kids. He had always known he was a rough man to live with, but he
never realized how rough he was.

	"I'm sorry," Ryan said sincerely. "W-why are you telling me this
though?"

	"Well, mostly because I want you to understand that I would never
dream of doing anything like that to you," Jed said. "And also, I guess
it's to assure myself that I'm a better dad than he ever was. After your
mother left, he told me I'd never be capable of taking care of you by
myself and that I'd never amount to anything as person. He went on to say
that you'd never amount to anything either because you have such a deadbeat
dad. I'd like to think he was wrong about that, you know?"

	"He is though," Ryan said. "I mean, you're a construction
manager. You make good money. And I don't do too bad in school and
stuff. At least, I hope I make you proud."

	"Of course you do, sport," Jed said. "That's not even a
question. Every day, you make me prouder and prouder. You and I... you
know, we had a lot of good times together, didn't we? We had a lot of fun
when you were younger."

	"Until you started dating anyway," Ryan said, a hint of bitterness
illuminating his voice as he spoke.

	"Buddy, my dating does nothing to change how I feel about you," Jed
said. "Not ever. I know this is hard for you. I realize that. I can't say I
know how you feel, because I've never been where you are now. My parents
didn't separate or anything. But I do understand what it feels like to feel
unneeded or unimportant. Trust me; I know."

	"I'm sorry I screamed at you like that," Ryan said.

	Jed stared into the boy's eyes and saw the genuine apologetic
expression on his face. With that, Jed draped his arm around the boy's
shoulders and brought him in for a side hug. Ryan laid his head against the
man's firm arm. When the hug was over, Ryan sat back up and the two of them
sat in silence for a few seconds.

	"You're growing into fine young man, Ryan," Jed said
honestly. "Now, about this thing with Janice. Look, I apologize for what
you've seen lately. Bad timing is all I can figure at the moment. But
nevertheless, you need to try to accept the fact that she's not going
away. She's really a very sweet woman, Ryan, and I wish you'd at least give
her a shot. Eventually, she wants you to meet her son, but she doesn't
wanna do that unless she and I feel like you're comfortable with the
situation."

	"I didn't know Janice has a son," Ryan said.

	"Oh yeah, she's a single mother just like I'm a single dad," Jed
said. "But buddy, I really love Janice. As much as I hate to talk to you
about the way I feel towards your mother, your mother and I were never in
love. We were a couple of stupid kids in high school who ended up pregnant
after spring fling. I didn't even really know your mother very well when
she ended up pregnant, but we were forced to stay together for a while. She
never loved me. And I never really loved her. Not the way a happy couple
should love each other. And that's why we didn't last. But Janice on the
other hand... you'll find that whoever you fall in love with eventually,
you just know it's love. It's like fireworks going off in your head, a
million at a time. You know the true love when you see it and you should
never let anything stand in the way of that. When you love someone that
powerfully, you should do everything possible to keep that love going; no
matter what it takes."

	"Oh. Well... I understand," Ryan said.

	"Really?" Jed asked.

	"Yeah," Ryan said sincerely. "I do. I may not like it right now,
but I guess I'll give this whole thing a shot. I'll try to get along better
with Janice."

	"That's all I ask, buddy. I don't expect you to love her the way I
do, but I would love for you to at least get to know her and try to like
her."

	"I'll try my best, dad. Really."

	With that, Jed embraced the boy tightly and Ryan returned the
hug. Ryan felt like a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders. He now
understood that he hadn't lost his dad. His dad was still just as much
there for him as he had always been. As for Janice, Ryan wasn't too sure
what he thought about her just yet, but he figured that he should at least
give her a shot since his father loved her so much. After all, she was
really sweet towards Ryan, as if she really wanted to get along with
him. Once the hug was over, Jed had a look of sudden remembrance on his
face.

	"What?' Ryan asked.

	"We gotta get ready!" Jed said. "You're gonna be late for
school. I'm gonna be late for work."

	"Oh crap," Ryan said, realizing how late they were becoming.

	With that, they began to quickly get ready for the day. Ryan
generally hated Monday mornings, but he suspected that this week would
prove to be better than the previous few weeks. Now that he and his father
had talked, he felt that everything would turn around quite a bit. Not to
say that life would be perfect by any means, but Ryan felt that things
would start getting better now.

-----------------------------------

Chapter Six


	Gavin stood in front of his full length mirror, fully clad in his
private school uniform: a white, short-sleeved, button-up shirt, a pair of
tan khaki shorts, a blue blazer jacket with polished gold buttons, a satin
red tie, mid-shin length black socks, and black Dockers. He looked himself
over very carefully, making very sure everything was straightened and
clean. He wanted desperately to pass his grandmother's morning
inspection. She had been so persnickety about his appearance over the years
that Gavin had instinctively become obsessive compulsive about it himself,
mostly so that his grandmother would leave him alone. Once he was sure he
looked okay, he grabbed his backpack from his desk chair, slung it over his
shoulder, and headed downstairs where his grandmother was straightening up
the living room as she usually did before leaving the house; as if
expecting someone to drop by the house while she was gone to scrutinize her
cleanliness factor. He took a few deep breaths and walked into the foyer to
wait for her as he usually did. His grandmother finished straightening up
the living room and made her way towards him to begin her routine morning
inspection of his uniform. Automatically, Gavin placed his backpack on the
floor so that his grandmother had full access to evaluate every inch of his
body.

	"You know, I wish you'd comb that mop of hair a little better,"
Grandma said as she walked up next to him and began rubbing her spit
through his hair, trying to make the cowlick on the back of his head lay
down. "I'd have it all chopped off into a clean crew cut if your mother
wasn't so persistent about you being able to choose your own
hairstyle. Children should not have that kind of freedom."

	"I like having longer hair," Gavin spoke out.

	"Well, unfortunately for you, your opinion doesn't make a bit of
difference until you're eighteen," Grandma said. "Doesn't make that much of
a difference even then."

	Gavin wanted to roll his eyes, but he knew he'd be slapped for it,
so he just mentally rolled his eyes and made a note to himself to actually
roll his eyes later for it.

	"Ugh, Gavin, that tie has a spot of toothpaste on it!" Grandma
complained. "How many times do I have to tell you? Do not wear your clothes
when brushing your teeth. I want you wearing either your pajamas or just
your underwear when brushing your teeth and if I have to, I'll start
enforcing that, you hear?"

	"Yes ma'am," Gavin said, knowing he would never win if he argued
anyway.

	"Speaking of which, did you put clean underwear on this morning?"
Grandma asked.

	"Yes, Grandma," Gavin said.

	"If I go look in your clothes hamper upstairs, will I find your
dirty underwear close to the top? If I don't, you and I are gonna go round
and round, you got it?"

	"Yes, Grandma," Gavin said with a sigh, wondering why it even
mattered if he was wearing clean underwear or not. The only people who ever
saw him in his underwear were the other guys he changed with for PE in the
locker room.

	"Go get in the car. We're late," Grandma said sternly.

	With that, Gavin grabbed his backpack from the floor and headed out
the front door, his grandmother directly at his heels the whole time. As
Gavin got in the car, he realized how terribly he missed his mother. He
felt like he never got to see her anymore. She was always working or
shopping or hanging out with her boyfriend, whom he had only met once a
couple of months before. When she was around though, she spent as much time
as she could with Gavin, but she was very busy more times than not. He was
just thrilled that she'd be home that evening. Gavin missed her so much.


	Later that day during math class, Gavin sat in his desk next to the
window staring out dreamily at the sky and the forest. Instead of paying
attention to Mr. Sticklewithe, he was having a particularly vivid
daydream. He fantasized that he was living in the days of the Salem Witch
Trials. He lived with his perfect parents in his perfect forest cottage
where they could live a forest life with plentiful sunshine entering
through the leafy canopy of treetops. He visualized working in the tomato
garden one sunshiny spring day, the temperature perfect, not a cloud in the
sky. And then all of sudden, a witch suddenly swoops from the treetop
canopy riding on an old broomstick and all of a sudden, Gavin is being
captured by the wicked witch who wants to use his soul to regain her long
lost youth. Gavin imagined that she tied him up on a huge wooden post in
her lifeless front yard, hundreds of white, lighted candles on black steel
posts scattered throughout the area. The old witch was chanting in Latin
and sauntering around him, trying to complete the spell to steal his
youth. And then all of a sudden, Gavin hears the rapid galloping of a horse
approaching. He glances up in time to see a helmeted knight in beautiful
armor ride in on a white horse, the knight's flaming sword drawn and ready
to strike as swiftly as a bolt of lightning across a stormy sky. The
dauntless knight and his valiant steed jaunt in on the scene and without
hesitation, he strikes at the witch with his sword, slashing her head off
of her body with one sudden slice. Once the witch was lying dead and
headless on the ground, dark blood beginning to puddle around her lifeless
body, the knight leaped off his gorgeous white horse and began to walk
towards Gavin, who was tied up on the wooden post tightly. The knight
walked behind the boy and drew his sword once again. With that, he sliced
the ropes off which had bound Gavin to the post. The knight then walked
around the post to face Gavin, and without any difficulty, the knight
lifted the boy up off his feet and embraced him sweetly. Gavin thanked him
sincerely for saving his life and then asked to see the glorious face of
the man who had saved him. The knight invited Gavin to take his helmet off,
so Gavin placed his hands on either side of the helmet. He began to slowly
lift the helmet off the knight's head and just as the knight's face was
about to some into view...

RIINNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

	Gavin snapped back into reality, finding himself back in math
class. The bell had just rung and the other boys were beginning to shift
hurriedly out of the classroom. Feeling rather scatterbrained and
disoriented after such a lucid daydream, Gavin hastily stuffed his papers
into his folder, threw them into his backpack, and started out of the
classroom. Just as he walked past the teacher's desk, Mr. Sticklewithe
called his name.

	"Gavin, may I have a word?" the man asked, not that Gavin had any
other option.

	Remaining silent, Gavin turned around to face the man from where he
stood.

	"Are you alright, son?" Mr. Sticklewithe asked, a genuine
expression of concern draped across his aging face.

	Gavin shrugged apathetically.

	"Sure, I'm fine," Gavin said. "Why do you ask?"

	"Eh, just wanted to make sure. Here lately, you've appeared a
bit... off, let's just say. Are you sure there isn't anything wrong?"

	"Positive," Gavin said unconvincingly.

	"Well, alright then. In that case, remind me sometime very soon
that I need to give you the lecture in which I tell you to stop daydreaming
in class," the man said with a halfhearted grin on his face.

	Gavin grinned slightly at that comment.

	"You can count on it," Gavin said.

	"Good. Have a nice day."

	With that, Gavin walked out of the room feeling a little better
than he had all day. As he journeyed to the locker room to change for PE,
he began to reflect on his daydream. He had never quite dreamt of anything
like that before. He knew girls were usually quite gung-ho about knights in
shining armor, but Gavin had never thought about that for himself
before. In fact, he never really thought about love at all. He knew of its
existence and he was fully aware that it would eventually play a vital role
in his own life, but this seemed different, not quite normal. Had he been
imagining that he was the knight in shining armor saving some damsel in
distress from a wicked witch, that would be considered normal. But to
visualize himself as the damsel in distress being saved from a knight, whom
Gavin assumed to be a man... something about this just wasn't adding
up. Why did he dream about a man saving him? Furthermore, why did he get
that weird, tingly sensation around his middle while he was dreaming about
it? That feeling was very odd. He felt an impulsive need to touch himself
during his daydream, which was something he didn't quite understand. He
felt like he needed to talk to someone about it. Maybe the "stonewall guy?"
Gavin figured he could talk to the "stonewall guy" without any judgment
being passed on him. As he walked into the locker room, he decided to try
to put these thoughts from his mind for the time being.
	Gavin paced into the locker room where over a hundred boys from
ages eight to twelve were in various stages of undress or even completely
naked preparing to take showers. Gavin glanced around at the different boys
in the room with a fascination he had never known before. Boys pulling off
their shirts, boys letting their khaki shorts fall to the ground, boys who
were pulling their PE shorts up, boys wearing only their underwear, boys
who were completely naked and heading for the shower... Gavin suddenly felt
that same tingly feeling around his middle as he had earlier during his
daydream. He felt very awkward all of a sudden. He tried to force himself
to look away from all the boys. He could not figure out what his problem
was. He had never before stared at the boys this way before. Gavin changed
for PE in this room almost everyday; he had seen all of these boys naked or
close to naked more times than he could count. But this was different. In
all those times before, he had never paid any attention to the boys in the
way that he did now. He walked past many of the boys, trying hard to avert
his eyes from them as he made his way to his locker, which was, of course,
on the other side of the massive locker room. When Gavin arrived at his
locker, his best friend Adam LeShay, who was Gavin's locker neighbor, was
sitting on the bench untying his shoes and preparing to change into his PE
clothes.

	"Gavin," Adam greeted the boy as Gavin walked up.

	"Hey Adam," Gavin said. "What're we doing today in PE, do you
know?"

	"Flexibility stuff as far as I know," Adam said. "I heard Coach
Arnold telling Sam Sanders about it."

	"Ah. Well I guess that's better than having to run around the track
for an hour," Gavin said as he slipped his blue blazer jacket off.

	"Anything's better than that crap," Adam said as he began
unbuttoning his white shirt. Gavin caught a glimpse of his best friend
taking his shirt off and felt as if he was about to blush with shame.

	"Too true," Gavin said.

	Adam unfastened his khaki shorts and pulled them off, leaving him
wearing nothing but his green briefs. Gavin immediately felt that tingly
feeling in his middle again as he gawked at his best friend. He couldn't
count how many times he had seen Adam without any clothes over the past few
years between school and sleepovers, but yet again, this seemed much
different than normal. Gavin felt an attraction towards his friend that he
didn't quite recognize; as if something wild and untamed had crawled inside
of him and was now controlling his mind, making him have thoughts he never
knew existed. Gavin shook it off as best he as he could and stripped off
his own clothes until he was down only to his small, white FTL briefs. As
he began to take his PE clothes out of his backpack, Gavin glanced over at
Adam who was staring at him and had the strangest expression on his
face. Not only that, but Adam wasn't staring at Gavin's face; he was gazing
towards Gavin's middle. Gavin's face contorted as he wondered what Adam was
looking at.

	"What're you looking at?" Gavin asked, almost impatiently.

	"You're horny," Adam almost whispered so no one else would hear
him.

	"What?" Gavin asked, having never heard that term before.

	"Just get your pants on, quick," Adam warned concernedly. "I'll
tell you later."

	"What're you talking about?" Gavin asked.

	"Trust me on this, Gavin," Adam said, still whispering. "Just put
your pants on and hurry up. I'll tell you what it means later."

	Remembering that Adam was, after all, eight months older than Gavin
and that he always seemed to know what he was talking about, Gavin trusted
the boy and quickly pulled on his PE shorts. Once the boys were dressed out
for PE, the two of them headed out together towards the school's smaller,
secondary gym. In gym class, Coach Arnold had all the boys do various
flexibility exercises such as the cat, the sit-and-reach, the groin
stretcher, and numerous other kinds of exercises. Gavin didn't mind these
exercises too much. They didn't take too much exertion and they weren't
difficult or strenuous. Once PE was over, Gavin and Adam headed back to the
locker room to take their showers and Adam advised Gavin to keep his back
turned from the rest of the boys when they were in the showers. Gavin
wasn't sure why Adam said that to him, but he decided once again that Adam
probably knew what he was talking about.
	Once Gavin and Adam were in the showers, Adam led Gavin to the very
far corner of the shower away from as many of the boys as possible. Gavin
was more confused than he had ever been before. He wasn't sure why Adam was
so insistent on him staying away from the other boys now, but he knew it
had to had something to do with his previous daydream or the tingly feeling
he had been experiencing around his middle. As Gavin showered, he glanced
around at the other boys; over twenty stark nude boys showering and playing
around in the hot water, their exposed bodies soaked with the warm shower
water, their testicles hanging loosely within their scrotums due to the
heat of the water. As Gavin stared, he felt that tingly feeling once
again. Wondering what in the world was causing that feeling, he looked down
at his own eleven year old boyhood. It looked particularly different than
normal. It looked... bigger? It looked hard! Gavin reached down and touched
the shaft of his penis with his index finger. It was hard; very hard! Gavin
looked up at Adam; his friend's facial expression one of knowing and
understanding. It seemed as if Adam knew exactly what was wrong with Gavin,
and that's why he told Gavin to stay out of sight of the other boys. Things
were beginning to be put into perspective, although Gavin had no idea what
was happening to his body.

	"Think of something disgusting," Adam said. "Like an old, naked,
fat lady or... or meatloaf."

	"Why?" Gavin asked.

	"Just do it," Adam said forcefully.

	Gavin thought of something repulsive just as Adam had instructed
him to. He thought about the time he walked in on his grandmother wiping
her butt after taking a dump. Just that memory alone made Gavin cringe with
abhorrence. After thinking about that, he actually felt his penis falling
limp once again. Gavin glanced down and watched as his hairless boyhood
shrank back down to its normal size, his own small balls hanging loosely
inside his scrotum, and his now flaccid shaft dangling lazily over his
scrotum between his balls. Gavin stared at it in bewilderment. He had never
noticed his penis do anything like that before. He never realized that it
could do that. The first question he had for Adam was very obvious and Adam
expected him to ask it.

	"Does yours do that?" Gavin asked.

	"All the time," Adam admitted. "It always happens when you least
want it to."

	"When would you want it to do that?" Gavin asked curiously.

	"Let's go to the clubhouse after school," Adam said. "I'll show you
what I mean."

-----------------------------------

Chapter Seven


	After school, Ryan, Jack, Davy, Jack's girlfriend Ashley, Davy's
girlfriend Rachel, and Ryan's potential girlfriend Hillary all walked out
together to the student parking lot. Once Ryan and Hillary said their
goodbyes to the others, Ryan walked Hillary to her used Camry that she had
received from her grandmother for her sixteenth birthday a couple of months
before. When they made it to the car, Hillary climbed into the driver's
seat and Ryan climbed into the passenger seat. Hillary had written him a
note earlier in English class saying that she wanted to speak to him after
school, so they agreed to meet in her car after school so they could talk
things over, whatever she wanted to talk about. Ryan already knew what she
wanted to talk about, but he decided it would better to hear her out
instead of having to deal with the drama that would evolve if he denied her
this. While he sat there in the car, he hoped this conversation would end
quickly.

	"Ryan, why don't you call me your girlfriend or anything?" Hillary
asked.

	"I..." Ryan started, but was cut off.

	"I mean, we're together all the time at school, we hang out a lot
after school with Rachel and Jack and everybody, we kiss all the time, and
we even have sex sometimes...you know... so why can't we call each other
boyfriend and girlfriend? It would just make sense."

	"I..." Ryan started, but was cut off again.

	"I mean, is there something about me you don't like? I always
thought you and I were good together. I mean, we've known each other for
like forever; almost nine whole months! And when we do it, I think you
actually love me, but most times, you ignore me and you act like I'm not
even around. Did I do something wrong or something like that? I mean, if I
did you can tell me. Is it anything like that?"

	"No. I..." Ryan said.

	"Well, that's good! I'm glad you don't like have like a problem
with me or something like that. I just mean that you and me are very good
together and we're a very cute couple you know? Everybody thinks so. Even
the teachers think so. So if we just work on our relationship a little, do
you think you'd be comfortable calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend?
I mean, we can be very happy together, Ryan."

	"Well, I..." Ryan said.

	"I'm glad we talked this over, Ryan. And I'm sorry to have to gripe
at you like this and everything, but I love you so much and I just want you
to be happy with me. Now... how about I make this up to you?"

	Ryan glanced over at Hillary, knowing exactly what she meant. Just
as he thought, Hillary reached over and placed her hand on his jean-covered
crotch. She began to rub his limp cock through his jeans, trying to make
him hard. Ryan gaped out the window to make sure no one was looking. The
student parking lot had just about cleared out by now. Ryan, Hillary, and
their friends had stayed after school to help set up the main gym for the
spring fling that would be taking place next Friday night, so most of the
students had left already anyway. Knowing he would just have to endure, yet
again, another sexual encounter with Hillary, he decided to just try and
enjoy it. Ryan closed his eyes while Hillary rubbed his clothed crotch,
imagining that instead of Hillary rubbing him, it was Nick Carter from the
Backstreet Boys rubbing him.

	"Ewh, that was fast," Hillary said in her sexy voice, referring to
Ryan's now hard cock. "It usually takes longer than that."

	"Hillary, sshhh..." Ryan said, frustrated that her voice was
wrecking his fantasy about Nick Carter fondling him.

	"Sorry," Hillary apologized, remembering suddenly how he liked
silence during sex.

	With that, Hillary unfastened Ryan's belt and jeans and firmly
gripped Ryan's rigid cock through his Homer Simpson boxers. Hillary wanted
to comment on how cute his boxers were, but she knew not to talk while they
were in the process of having sex. For some odd reason, Ryan always wanted
silence when they were having sex or if she was fondling him or giving him
a blowjob. She never quite understood why, but she decided it was better
not to ask. Not that she was fearful of the answer she would receive, but
mostly because she didn't find it necessarily a bad thing. She continued to
rub Ryan's cock through his boxers for several more minutes, listening to
his heavy breathing.
	Ryan understood that Hillary was the one rubbing his boner, but he
kept imagining that it was Nick Carter rubbing him. He imagined that the
tremendously cute teen idol was sitting naked in front of him, his own
lovely hard-on aching to be rubbed and sucked. This fantasy made Ryan even
hornier. He felt like exploding right then and there almost. The sensation
of Nick Carter rubbing his hot teenage boner made his cock even harder if
that was physically possible. As Hillary continued rubbing the boy's rigid
penis, Ryan refused to accept that it was Hillary rubbing him instead of
Nick Carter.
	Feeling that it was time to take this further, Hillary stopped
rubbing Ryan's cock and then hooked her thumbs under the elastic waistband
of the boy's boxers. Without any hesitation, Hillary began to pull the
boy's underwear down. Ryan lifted his butt up so Hillary could pull his
pants down. Hillary pushed Ryan's jeans and boxers down to his knees, his
rock hard, beautiful teenage cock now in full view. Hillary stared at
Ryan's stiff boyhood hungrily as she moved towards it slowly. With that,
Hillary eagerly stuck her moist tongue out and licked off the small amount
of sweet and salty precum that had collected at the tip of his
dick. Afterward, Hillary leaned forward a little more and allowed Ryan's
hard shaft to enter her mouth, her lips completely closed over the boy's
hard penis. At the mere sensation of Nick Carter's mouth over his boner,
Ryan, his eyes still tightly closed, felt his orgasm beginning to develop,
very quickly too. Hillary began to suck harder on the boy's shaft, her head
beginning to bob up and down on it, as if she was sucking on a popsicle.

-----------------------------------

Chapter Eight


	With his grandmother's hard-to-get permission, Gavin was allowed to
ride his bike over to the park behind their neighborhood -- the same park
in which the "stonewall guy" walked through to come talk to Gavin. Since
the stone wall behind Gavin's house was way too obnoxiously tall to climb
over without a twelve-foot ladder, the park was essentially inaccessible
from his backyard. Gavin had to ride his bike to the front of the home
development and around the wall to the main entrance of the park, which was
a good two mile bike ride from his house at the very least. From the
entrance, he rode his bike around the playground. At the side of the huge
soccer field, Adam was parked while sitting perched on his own bike talking
to his older brother and few of his friends who were throwing a football
around. Gavin called Adam's name and Adam said goodbye to the older guys as
he began to ride his bike in Gavin's direction. When the boys met with
their bikes, they rode together towards the bike trails. As they rode, Adam
was in front of Gavin and Gavin noticed his friend sporting a backpack on
his back. He wondered what he could possibly be carrying inside that bag;
Adam had never brought a backpack with him to the clubhouse before. It took
the boys about fifteen minutes of riding on the bike trails through the
forested area before they finally made it to the hidden trail that led to
their clubhouse. When they arrived at the area where the hidden trail
began, they both hopped off their bikes and looked around making sure no
one was around or could see them. Once they were positive nobody was
looking, Adam and Gavin walked over to a certain large bush to the side of
the bike trail. This was one bush amongst hundreds of others, but this
particular bush had an old white ribbon tied subtly on one of its branches,
which helped Adam and Gavin or any of the other guys find where the hidden
trail began. The boys took their bikes and pushed past the bush with the
ribbon on it plus a few more bushes behind that one. After pushing through
about six or seven bushes, light scratches beginning to collect on the skin
of both boys' arms and legs, they came up upon the hidden trail, which was
actually a dirt road, or what used to be a dirt road. The road now was
merely a pathway of loose rocks that was mostly covered over with wild
grasses and weed, but the rocks sufficed well enough to lead the boys to
where they wanted to go. They climbed onto their bikes once again and
followed the bumpy gravel path for another ten minutes or so until they
finally arrived at their clubhouse.
	The clubhouse was actually an old wooden shack with an aluminum
roof and a glass window on the side that had remained unbroken through all
of these years. Adam and his older brother John had stumbled across this
shack years before and Adam was deeply intrigued by it. The fact that no
one owned it or claimed it made it free to him, which was an awesome
feeling to Adam. So from then on, Adam, Gavin, and their friends used this
shack as their personal clubhouse. The shack looked as if no one had used
it for over thirty years or so. Judging by its basic architecture and size,
it appeared to have been built in the 1940's or 50's and Gavin had always
assumed it had once been used as a storage facility. About forty feet south
of the shack, there was a large empty area where a cement foundation was
still laid, as if a house had once been set atop that foundation. Why the
shack had been left and the house destroyed was a mystery to the boys, but
they figured it didn't matter too much. The boys had a shack to call their
clubhouse, which was all that really mattered to them.
	Once they arrived at the clubhouse, the boys were less afraid of
being caught by others. They were more than positive that they and their
friends were the only ones who really knew about this shack and how to get
to it. Gavin and Adam got off their bikes and parked them on their
kickstands close to the shack. Afterward, they walked into the shack
together and sat down on the floor, leaning their backs against the wooden
wall. Gavin was sort of nervous about what he and Adam had come here
for. He was anxious to find out what the cause was of why he had suddenly
turned into such a freak, but he hoped that maybe Adam could tell him
something that would make it all different, or better.

	"So what did you want to tell me?" Gavin asked as they sat side by
side in the shack.

	"Okay," Adam started in an intense tone of voice. "What I'm about
to show you, you can't tell anyone about it... ever?... or I'll knock your
head right through your socks, I swear to god. Got it?"

	"Well what is it?" Gavin asked.

	"You have to swear!"

	"Fine! Okay! I swear on my pet turtle's grave. Now what is it?"

	Adam sat up and took his backpack off from his back and slung it
around to set it down on his lap. He unzipped the bag and began rummaging
through whatever items he had stashed inside it. Gavin watched with a great
intensity, wondering what in the world Adam had in there that was so
secretive. He watched as Adam pulled two magazine-looking books from his
bag. Gavin's eyes widened when he got a glimpse of the picture on the back
of the second magazine while Adam placed his bag aside between the two
boys' legs. Adam pitched one of the magazines onto Gavin's lap. Gavin
looked down at the magazine and on the very front, there was a picture of a
bare naked blonde woman, her legs spread wide eagle, covering the nipples
of her breasts with her long hair and covering her... her... lady private
with her forefingers.

	"Hoooooly shit," Gavin said simply as he stared at the magazine's
front page, realizing he had just uttered a forbidden four-letter word.

	"Oh that's nothing! Flip the page over," Adam said.

	Gavin did what he was told. He turned the page and what he saw
caused his jaw to drop as far as it could go. It was a picture of the same
blond woman from the first page, still naked, her nipples and lady private
completely exposed now. Her legs were still spread wide eagle. Gavin
realized that as a boy, he should find the sight of a naked woman desirable
and attractive, but he mostly found it repulsive. The sight of the woman's
vagina actually made Gavin ill at his stomach for some reason. Out of the
corner of his eye, Gavin noticed a motion going on. He glanced over and saw
Adam rubbing his crotch through the fabric of his black soccer shorts while
staring at the same picture that Gavin was looking at.

	"Isn't it awesome!?" Adam asked as he continued to rub his own
crotch through his shorts. "Turn to the next page."

	Feeling a bit queasy, but curious at the same time, Gavin went
ahead and turned to the next page. Now this page was a bit different. This
large picture depicted the same blond woman from before. She was kneeling
on her knees, her mouth wide open, in front of a naked man with spiky brown
hair. What got Gavin's attention was the size of the man's penis. It was
huge! And... it was... hard? It looked very, very hard. And what was that
crazy naked lady doing? Was she waiting for him to pee in her mouth or
something? Gavin found himself quite confused, but as he continued staring
at the picture, he felt that tingly sensation inside his own shorts once
again just like he had earlier that day. He placed his hand on top of his
crotch and it felt hard again.

	"It's all hard again, just like before," Gavin said to Adam.

	"So is mine," Adam said.

	"It is?" Gavin asked curiously, quite surprised.

	"Yeah, here!" Adam said as he stood up from his spot.

	Adam slipped his shorts and green briefs off without hesitation,
his hard penis exposed to Gavin. Gavin stared at it with utter fascination;
his mouth watering as if he was staring at a glass of lemonade in the
middle of a scorching July day. He found himself admiring the boy's
penis. It looked almost as desirable as a piece of chocolate pie. It wasn't
nearly as big as the man's cock in the magazine; not even close. But it was
hard. It was big for Adam's size. His balls seemed a little too big in
proportion to the size of his shaft, but Gavin didn't see that as a bad
thing really. Gavin had seen Adam's penis on numerous occasions before, but
never like this.

	"See? It's not a bad thing," Adam said. "And you can have a lot of
fun when your thing gets hard like this."

	"What do you mean?" Gavin asked.

	"Is yours hard now?"

	"Yeah. Why?"

	"Pull your pants down too and I'll show you."

	Trusting his friend as usual, Gavin stood up and unfastened his
jean shorts. He pushed them down to his ankles, hooked his thumbs under the
waistband of his white FTL briefs, and pushed them down as well, exposing
his own hard penis to his friend. Gavin quickly sat back down, actually
embarrassed for his hard penis to be seen, even by Adam. Gavin and Adam had
seen each other naked more times than either of them could possibly count
or even remember, but this time seemed different to Gavin. For the first
time, as far as Gavin's memory served him, he felt somewhat embarrassed
about his best friend staring at his nakedness. He assumed it was because
neither of them had ever deliberately paid attention to one another's
nakedness before. Their reasons for being naked in front of each other
before consisted of changing for PE, taking showers afterward, swimming in
the Shiloh River during the summer, or changing during sleepovers and
whatnot. This was much different though. They were purposely taking note of
each other's most private body parts now. What was supposed to be kept to
himself and meant for no one else but maybe a wife someday was now being
totally exposed in front of his friend in a way that didn't seem natural,
so because of that, Gavin felt a little shy standing naked in front of
Adam. What was strange though was that Adam didn't seem to feel that way at
all. The way he moved physically and the way he acted; it seemed as if he
had done things like this before, as if it was a routine.

	"Okay, now I'm gonna show you how to have fun with your boner,"
Adam said as he said down again next to Gavin, his boyhood still at full
salute.

	"Boner?" Gavin asked, confused by the term.

	"It's what you call your penis when it's hard, dude," Adam said,
wrapping his left hand around his shaft. "Now... put your hand around yours
like I'm doing to mine."

	Gavin did as he was told and mimicked what Adam did by wrapping his
left hand around the shaft of his own penis. With that, Adam used his other
hand to prop the magazine picture up on his backpack where both boys could
clearly see it. Adam began to move his hand up and down on his stiff shaft
and nodded for Gavin to follow suit. Gavin understood the nod and imitated
what his friend was doing. As Gavin began to move his hand in an
up-and-down motion, he found that the feeling was utterly delightful. He
wasn't sure what this would lead to or what the whole point was, but he
really liked the feeling it gave him to rub his penis like this. He glanced
over at Adam who had just begun pumping his cock in a quicker motion. Gavin
copied what his friend was doing and it felt even better.

-----------------------------------

Chapter Nine


	Ryan's throbbing teenage cock was thrust deep inside Hillary's
aching vagina, his eyes closed and imagining that he was fucking Nick
Carter up the ass. Up and down, up and down, in and out, in and out, fast
and hard, fast and harder, fast and harder and harder and harder. The teens
were screwing as roughly as they ever had in the backseat of Hillary's
Camry. Both teens were completely naked; Ryan's head banging continuously
on the thankfully cushioned backseat headrest, and Hillary's young, supple
breasts bouncing up and down with every motion of their forceful humping.
Hillary was whimpering like a helpless animal as Ryan thrust his cock into
her pussy as hard as he could, almost bringing tears to her eyes. Ryan
strived to block out the annoying sounds of her whimpering, still trying to
fantasize that he and Nick Carter were having sex.
	Ryan's orgasm was coming very soon and he knew it. With that, he
thrust his dick inside the girl's pussy even quicker and harder than
before, using every last ounce of energy he had left in his teenage body.
He felt his boyhood tense up dramatically inside the girl's vagina. The
throbbing sensation was so intense that he wasn't sure if he could take it
any longer. All of a sudden, his warm boy juices spurted from the tip of
his dick inside the condom. He moaned erotically as his orgasm took over
his whole body, making him shutter with absolute pleasure. After his orgasm
ended, he took a very deep breath as Hillary carefully pulled off from the
boy's limping penis. With that, the boy and girl lied down together on the
backseat of the car, both of them still completely naked. Ryan removed the
condom and cleaned himself off with the boxers he had discarded a little
bit before.

	"That was nice," Hillary said, her breathing very labored. "As
always. Did you think so, baby? It was very nice, wasn't it?"

	"Yeah, sure it was," Ryan said, trying to catch his own breath. "I
hate to fuck and go, but I really need to get home. My dad wants to take me
to the movies tonight or something since his girlfriend's gonna be with her
kid tonight or whatever."

	"Okay, baby," Hillary said sweetly.

	With that, she leaned in and softly kissed him on the lips. After
the kiss ended, they both sat up and began to shuffle around the backseat
trying to sort through all of the clothing they had discarded. Once they
were both dressed, Hillary kissed him one more time and then they said
their goodbyes. Ryan got out of the car and walked to his truck, which was
parked a few parking spots down from Hillary's car.
	As Ryan drove home, he thought about what had just taken place. By
the standards of any other normal guy in school, Hillary was a total
babe. She was sexy, in every sense of the word. She had long blonde hair,
nicely tanned skin, nice, supple breasts, and a gorgeous complexion. But to
Ryan, these qualities were simply not enough to cause him to love the
girl. In fact, these qualities in any girl in general wasn't enough to make
him fall for a girl. Ryan had recognized his homosexuality about three
years before after he and his friend Brad messed around one weekend when
Ryan slept over at Brad's house. Since then though, Brad left the state
seeing as how he was part of a military family and was frequently stationed
to different places, and Ryan hadn't been with another male in a sexual
way. He often thought about it and dreamed about it, but he knew he could
never actually come out and say he was gay. Knowing how his father was
against homosexuality, along with the rest of the people in town and
school, Ryan was aware that the chances of him ever having the opportunity
to come out in style were nominal. Ryan found it terribly simple to attract
girls in school. His involvement with the baseball team gave him a
reputation in his school, and his boyish good looks helped increase his
popularity with the girls in school. Ryan had been asked out by several gay
guys in his school who could obviously sense his homosexuality without much
difficultly. That frightened Ryan to his core, knowing that other gay
people could almost automatically tell he was gay. Ryan was never sure what
gave it away to them though. In school and at home, he strived to appear as
straight and narrow as possible. He didn't have that easily distinguishable
accent that was so stereotypical of the gay male either. So why other gay
people -- not just gay guys, but sometimes girls -- were able to tell
he was gay bothered him. He wasn't sure at all what he did to give off that
particular vibe, but at least with his friends and family, he was able to
hide it very well. While he had sex with girls though, the only way he
could even make himself hard was by imagining he was with a cute guy, such
as Nick Carter: a particular favorite fantasy buddy of his.

	When he arrived home, his father was working under his truck on the
dirt driveway; his white t-shirt and faded blue jeans completely stained
with black grease and dirt. Ryan sat down beside the truck close to where
the lower half of his father's body was poking out from under the truck and
they began talking about their movie plans for the night. Ryan was actually
somewhat excited about this outing with his father, since they hadn't done
anything like this together since he and Janice started dating. If any of
Ryan's friends had been able to sense his excitement about this, they would
probably pick fun at him for it, because in the world of normal teenagers,
boys Ryan's age should hate their fathers and avoid them at all cost. But
Ryan wasn't like that at all. He actually enjoyed the time he got to spend
with his dad, especially now that they rarely got the time to spend
together since Janice came around.

	"So what movie you wanna see?" Jed asked from underneath the truck.

	"Well... The Matrix just came out a couple of weeks ago," Ryan
suggested, knowing how his father felt about science fiction movies.

	"You'd really let your old man sit through that piece of shit,
wouldn't you?" Jed said from under the truck, the clanking sound of
wrenches and pliers harmonizing with his voice.

	"Come on! It's looks so freakin' cool?" Ryan said excitedly.

	"Ugh... Well, I suppose I can deal with the torture this once," Jed
gave in. "After all, it's only fair since I asked you what you wanted to
see. But..."

	Silence. Ryan lowered his head with a contorted facial expression,
as if willing his father to finish his sentence. Finally, he obliged.

	"But... what?" Ryan asked.

	"Sorry. I was trying to tighten this last nut. I hate these damn
metric bolts. Umm, anyway, but you'll have to go with me to see Varsity
Blues here pretty soon if I agree to see The Matrices with you."

	"The Matrix, Dad!" Ryan corrected the man.

	"Well, what-the-hell-ever," Jed said apathetically.

	Ryan nearly shivered at the thought of sitting through Varsity
Blues, but he figured it was only fair considering he was making his dad
see The Matrix with him.

	"So, Ryan, I had something I wanted to ask you," Jed started. "Now,
I'm leaving this decision completely up to you. If you're not comfortable
with the idea, then we'll just save it for another time. But Janice and I
were talking about it and... we were thinking... how about if she was to
bring her kid over tomorrow night for dinner so you two can meet?"

	"Umm..." Ryan began, thinking seriously about the
proposition. "Well, I don't guess that's a problem. I mean, I barely even
know Janice though. I just don't know how well it would go to meet her kids
already."

	"She only has the one kid," Jed said, still messing around
underneath the truck. "And like I told you, I'm leaving this decision up to
you. I know Janice really wants to get to know you, and we both think it
would be a good idea for you and her son to meet. Maybe you can get to know
Janice a little better like that and all."

	Ryan thought about it for a few quiet seconds. What could be the
harm in just meeting Janice's kid? He was pretty sure the kid was younger
than him by several years at least, so he knew he shouldn't feel threatened
in any way when it came to him. Plus, he knew his father really wanted
things to work out with Janice, and after their conversation this morning,
Ryan felt as if he needed to help his father accomplish that goal. In all
honesty, Ryan was satisfied with Janice. She seemed to have a sparkling
personality that always lifted his father's spirits and most certainly
brightened up his face every time he looked at her. Ryan could tell he was
in love with the woman, and getting rid of her was totally out of the
question no matter what Ryan did to change things, so he thought he might
as well start going with the flow.

	"Dad... are you... d-do you... wanna marry Janice?" Ryan asked.

	Jed slid out quickly from underneath the truck after he was sure he
heard his son's question correctly. He sat up to face Ryan, his face dark
gray with grease and dusty filth and his dark, greasy hair matted down with
sweat and oil. They stared into each other's eyes for several long seconds
as Jed considered the boy's question. Finally, the man spoke.

	"Ryan, I want you to understand that Janice and I are not planning
to rush into anything," Jed said. "After all, we've only been together a
few months now. That's certainly not enough time to decide whether you want
to spend the rest of your life with anyone; not even if you're sure that
you're in love. Now, I do love Janice. More than I've ever loved any other
woman before. But... before we go and get married -- if we ever get
married -- we both wanna make sure we're ready for that. Not only that,
but we want to make sure our kids are ready for that: you and Janice's
son. That'll be a long time coming, if ever. Okay?"

	Ryan nodded, understanding of what his father had just told him.

	"Okay," Ryan said. "Dad, I'd like to meet Janice's son."

	"You would?" Jed asked, a little surprised by his son's sudden
change. This morning, Ryan had expressed words of hate towards him and
Janice and now everything seemed to be moving in a totally different
direction. He was relieved and glad that he and Ryan had had that
conversation this morning after there small yelling match. It seemed to
have helped immensely.

	"Yeah," Ryan said. "It wouldn't be so bad, I don't think."

	"Well... great! Great! Yeah, that's... that's, that's great. I'll
tell Janice to come over tomorrow night and bring her son. I've only met
him once, but he seems like a pretty good kid; a quiet kid, but good all
the same."

	Ryan nodded approvingly.

-----------------------------------

Chapter Ten


	Gavin sat on his window bench reading his book, as he often did.
His concentration level was at a minimal while he was reading though. He
couldn't get his previous adventure with Adam out of his mind. He had
followed his best friend's lead by stroking his own hard boyhood for a few
minutes and then all of a sudden, he felt like he had to pee. He had
expressed to his friend how he felt down there, and Adam excitedly urged
him to continue and not to worry about that feeling. He assured Gavin that
he would love the feeling that was about to come. Gavin continued stroking
his little boy boner, the feeling that he had to pee growing stronger and
stronger with every passing second. Within seconds, his whole body began to
quake uncontrollably. His breathing became harder. And then finally, he
felt the pee about to come out. He glanced down, still stroking his
boyhood, expecting to see his yellow urine began to spring forth from his
penis. But instead, nothing came out. He watched as his penis convulsed
wildly, and the feeling he had was absolutely amazing, something he had
never felt before in his whole life. He let his head fall back freely and
his head banged against the wooden wall of the shack. He could feel a
shooting pain on the back of his head, but he paid no attention to it,
seeing as how the feeling down there outweighed the pain in his head
exponentially. After the feeling ended, he looked down at his boyhood,
which was beginning to shrink back to it's normal size again. To boot,
there was nothing to clean up. He could feel something come up and spurt
out of the tip of his penis, but nothing actually came out at all. Weird. A
few seconds later, Adam yelled out "I'm about to cum!" and then all of a
sudden, a white, transparent liquid emerged from the tip of Adam's hard
boycock. Gavin's jaw dropped, watching the display in front of him with
enthrallment. After Adam's feeling was done like Gavin's, Adam pulled a
hand towel from his bag and wiped the sticky-looking liquid from his belly
and around the base of his now shrinking penis. Gavin asked why he didn't
shoot liquid like that and Adam explained to him that he would eventually,
but he just wasn't old enough yet for it. Adam said it would probably
happen soon enough and Gavin trusted him as always. Gavin was excited now
that he found something to do that could be both pleasurable and
entertaining.
	Now, at home, Gavin was waiting for everyone to go to bed so that
he could do it again in bed. He loved the feeling he got from rubbing his
penis like that, so he was anxious to be able to do it again as soon as
possible. He glanced away from the muddled words of his book to look at his
clock. The evening was still quite young, so he would have to wait a couple
of more hours to do it again. Until then, Gavin was just glad his mother
would be home soon. His grandmother had been driving him crazy with
questions since he arrived home a few minutes late from the clubhouse:
questions about where he was and what he was doing (like Gavin would tell
her the truth). Gavin settled for telling her that he and Adam played video
games at the local arcade and he accidentally lost track of time. Gavin was
now officially grounded from going to the arcade for a week. He was so
ready for his mother to get home.

	About thirty minutes later, he heard the front door open.

	"Hey everybody!" came Gavin's mother's voice from downstairs. "I'm
home."

	Gavin closed his book and quickly made his way downstairs, excited
to see his mother finally after almost three solid days. Without ever
stopping, Gavin ran down the carpeted stairs, through the foyer towards the
front door where his mother was standing, and straight into his mother's
inviting arms, which were already prepared to accept Gavin's loving
embrace. His mother hugged him tightly and kissed him repeatedly on his
cheeks, his forehead, and even his neck. Gavin's mother had always been
tremendously affectionate towards him, which was a very welcome attribute
to Gavin. He loved his mother quite a bit; although, he had lately found
himself angry with her because she was always gone, leaving him with his
tremendously unaffectionate grandmother.

	"Oh, my sweet, beautiful boy!!" Mom said as she kissed Gavin
continually. "Oh, I love you so much, you gorgeous boy!!"

	"I missed you!" Gavin said after kissing his mom on the
cheek. "Where have you been all this time?"

	"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Mom said genuinely. "I promise you I'll be
around more often. I've missed you too much as well, baby. Ugh, you're
getting so big! I swear, here in the next couple of years, you'll be almost
as tall as me!"

	"That'll be awesome!" Gavin said, the smile on his face completely
authentic.

	"Sweetheart, I wanted to ask you something," Mom said as she walked
over to the guest sofa in the foyer, leading Gavin with her by hand. "You
remember my boyfriend that you met a few weeks ago?"

	"Yeah," Gavin said.

	"Well, he's invited both of us to come over to his house tomorrow
night," Mom explained. "He wants you to meet his son, Ryan."

	All of a sudden, Grandma's booming voice vibrated through the
walls.

	"Gavin!" called Grandma from the kitchen. She walked into the foyer
from the kitchen. "I need you to come and set the... oh, hey Janice. Didn't
hear you come in."

	Janice just smiled at her mother and then glanced back at her
beautiful boy, who was staring up at her with a sweet grin.

_____________________________________
END OF FIRST INSTALLMENT; CHAPTERS 1-10

NEXT: Second Installment; Chapters 11-20