Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 20:14:18 +0000
From: Hankster1430@bellsouth.net
Subject: The Crew Chapter 3

The Crew
Chapter Three

The crew was too excited to do much work all during the next week.  They
managed to do what they had to do and delayed anything that they thought
could be delayed.

On Monday Foster called both contractors and made an appointment with one
of them for 9 AM on the following Saturday, and the other at 11 AM.

Jeff made an appointment with his banking contacts for 2 PM that afternoon
and when he told Michael at lunch, Michael insisted on going with him.
After he made the appointment with the bank, Jeff called his dad, Tucker.
He told Tuck what was going on with the purchase and what plans they had
for enlarging the facility.  He also stressed that there would be four
bedrooms and only three couples purchasing the property.  He told Tuck that
he was certain that nobody would mind if they used the place whenever they
could, just as they used his and Jim's condo.

Tucker immediately called Brian's office and told him what was happening.
He was excited for the boys, of course, but thinking about being able to
use the cabin more often put a bulge in his pants so he asked Tuck if he
wanted to take a longer lunch hour today than usual. Tucker could never say
no to his beloved Brian.

At two o'clock promptly, Jeff and Michael arrived at the office of Roger
Allen.  Roger was the senior loan officer at the bank.  Senior or not, Rog
was only three years older than they.  He was a handsome, athletic guy.
You knew he was all man, in fact, a man's man, whatever that means.  His
wife had once represented their state in the Miss America contest.  He had
three strapping sons all destined to be MVP on some athletic team.  Rog
knew that Jeff and Michael were gay.  When he first began to do business
with them, together or individually, he was guarded, and definitely
uncomfortable.  Once he realized that they were not going to attack him and
take his virgin ass, he began to relax.  He also began to respect their
business acumen and their honesty in being open about their sexual
preference.  He especially got a kick out of Michael and the jokes he made
about his `gayness.'  In a short time he became gender blind, and never
thought of them as anything but good business associates.  They had
certainly brought a lot of business his way.

Roger motioned for them to sit.  "What's going on gentlemen?" he asked.  To
which funny guy Michael responded, "You don't know us well enough to call
us gentlemen."  Yuk, Yuk.  Jeff told Michael to cool it and then he turned
to Rog and told him about the cabin, it's peaceful seclusion, it's
serenity, it's fishing, and on and on.

"You really like this place, I gather," Roger quipped.

"You might say that," Michael responded and laughed.

Jeff went on to explain that the cabin and four acres of forest were being
purchased by six working professionals for $30,000.  He told Roger about
the proposed expansion, which the architect, one of the buyers, put at
about $17,000.  And finally he said they figured the new furniture and some
replacement pieces would cost another $5,000 for a total of $52,000.  They
were going to put $10,400 down and wanted to mortgage the remaining $41,600
which all six were willing to obligate themselves to so there was little
risk to the bank.

Roger listened intently and was very much jealous.  He loved his wife and
kids, but supporting them and seeing to their needs, did not include a
country getaway.  He also had visions of the six gay men in orgiastic
coupling and he felt it in his groin.  He roused himself from his reverie
and asked for the address of the property.  Then he took a small pamphlet
from his desk and looked up the nearest branch office to the property.  He
called the loan officer at the branch and asked him to please get an
appraisal on the land and structure as soon as possible.  There was a long
period of silence while Rog listened intently.  He thanked his associate
and hung up.

He turned to Jeff and Michael and told them that they could only be awarded
a mortgage which was no more than ninety percent of the appraised value of
the property, but with so many solid signatories, he could give them an
unsecured loan for the balance.

"Now," he said to Jeff, "get out your pencil.  "John, the loan officer at
the branch out there, told me that he got a call from a realtor named Dan
Harriman, a week ago.  Dan told him that the property was going on the
market and asked him for a bank appraisal which Dan paid for.  Now hear
this," he said dramatically.  "John said that property values out there
have been steadily rising, but in the last two years they have seen a
tremendous boom out there caused by city folks buying land and putting up
vacation homes.  I'm glad you guys are sitting.  The bank already has the
appraisal on file.  They have valued each of the four acres at $6,500 each,
and they appraised the cabin, as is, at $41,000.  Check me Jeff, but isn't
that $67,000?  Ninety percent of that is $60,300.  I hereby approve your
request for $41,600.  In fact, why not make it an even $45,000 and get
better furniture."

Jeff and Michael jumped up and clasped Roger's hand.  They were beaming.

"OK, here's what I need.  I want full name, address, date of birth and
social security number of all six buyers.  Give me the telephone number of
the realtor.  I'll need to know the bottom line on the closing statement so
I can send him a bank check for the mortgage amount.  I'll send another
bank check, made out to all six of you for the balance of the $45,000.  Who
should I send that check to?"

Michael answered, "Send it to Jeff.  He's officially handling the
accounting and I'll make Jim audit him" Everybody laughed at that.

"I'll get all the property information I need from this Dan Harriman, and
I'll have all the papers ready for signature tomorrow afternoon.  Do you
think you can muster the troops and get everyone up here for signing
tomorrow at 4:30 PM?"

"That's not a problem," Jeff answered, "but we don't call ourselves the
troops.  We refer to ourselves as the crew."

"So be it," Rog answered.  He stuck out his hand and said, "OK guys.  I'll
see you tomorrow."

The next day, they all converged on Roger's office and signed all the
papers.  Ron suggested that they celebrate by having dinner out this
evening at a really good restaurant.  They decided on a new French
restaurant nearby that was receiving rave reviews by anyone they knew who
had been there.  Rog told them that he had taken his wife there on their
anniversary, and they had enjoyed the place immensely.  That sealed it.

Rog shook each of their hands as they left and wished them all well.  Jeff
told him that as soon as he got the check for the mortgage, he would
deposit it in a new `cabin account' at this bank.  He thanked him also for
his confidence in the crew, and for his exceptional speed handling their
application.

The next morning, Dan called Michael and told him that he had received all
the papers back from Los Angeles.  He was aware that they had received a
mortgage commitment because he had just spoken to Roger Allen, who told him
he would express the check from the bank so that they could close that
weekend when the crew was there.  They set the closing in Dan's Office for
Saturday at 4 PM.  Michael made the late appointment so as not to interfere
with Foster's interviews with the contractors.  As soon as he got off the
phone he called the others and told them they had to have checks with them
for the closing on Saturday.  The reaction was a universal whoopee.

This time when the crew packed for the weekend, they made sure they had
appropriate clothing.  They knew how important it was for the Fishers that
they all attend church together on Sunday morning and they didn't want to
disappoint.  This weekend would also take them into October.  The Fishers
general store would close for the winter in two weeks.

During the past week the weather had changed drastically.  Indian summer
was over, and it was much colder.  There would be no swimming this time and
since there was no heat in the cabin, they also packed warmer clothing and
warm sleeping bags.  Ron and Foster had tipped them off that two guys in
one sleeping bag was really cozy.

Nobody had a car that seated more than five persons so they decided to go
up on Friday evening with two cars.  Jim and Jeff split up.  Jim drove with
Michael and Jerry and Jeff with Ron and Foster.  On the way up Jeff said
that he was close to having to trade his car.  It had a lot of miles on it
from running from client to client.  He told Ron and Foster that he would
trade in for a seven seater mini van.  This way they need only use one car
going to the cabin and start to economize.

They stopped first at the Fishers who were expecting them.  Of course Josie
had a great meal ready for them for dinner.  She made a healthy salad
followed by not so healthy grilled pork chops with sweet potato fries.  For
desert she served apple cobbler with coffee.

When he had finished eating, Jeff stood up and wrapped his arms around
Josie in a bear hug.  He thanked her for all of them, and told her she
couldn't do this every weekend because she would spoil them.  "Anyway," he
said, "when the addition is finished we'll make our own meals."

When they got up to leave, they all kissed mom and pop Fisher good night,
and the Fishers told Ron not to rush in to the store the next morning.
They weren't expecting much traffic in this weather.

At the cabin, they made a big ceremony of taking the key from under the mat
and opening the door.  They brought in the weekend gear they had taken with
them plus the box of food that Ron had taken from the store.

"Michael said, "Look we've got to stop taking stuff from the store without
paying.  It's not fair to Ron's folks."

"I tried to pay them guys but my dad said that he owed me much more for all
the days I worked the store for him so that he could take a day off.  I
argued, but he wouldn't give in."

Michael said he had a surprise also.  He went to his car, opened the trunk
and took out a little space heater.  It's not much he said but we can all
huddle in the living room.  They set the heater up and in time the living
room was toasty.  The refrigerator still held beer from the previous
weekend and Ron had brought a couple of six packs.  After they unpacked
they all got cozy in the living room and opened a can of beer each.  They
sat silently for a pretty long time, and then Jeff said, "I love you guys.
Thanks for being in my life."

Jim didn't want to show the guys that he had started to cry when Jeff said
that, so he jumped on Jeff and started to wrestle with him.  Bam, in a
flash, the six of them were wrestling on the floor.  The wrestling turned
to kissing and fondling, and thank goodness the heater was doing its work,
because little by little clothes were being shed.  Bodies became entangled
without regard to who belonged to whom.  Laughing and giggling they formed
into a daisy chain on the living room floor with the coffee table in the
middle of the circle.  They purposely made sure that the cock in their
mouth was not their partners.  The noise stopped when they began sucking in
earnest.  They each came within a two minute period swallowing every drop
they could, and keeping the living room floor perfectly clean.

They began to crawl around like male dancers in a modern ballet, until each
of the partners was in the arms of his own partner.  The partners cuddled
and fondled themselves, but occasionally a hand would reach out and touch
the couple lying next to them.  They lay that way a long time until Jeff
realized that Jim had fallen asleep in his arms, and he suggested that they
turn in.

Ron and Foster said that the living room was too warm for the sleeping
bags, but they would crash here and sleep on top of the bags.  The others
went to the rooms they had used last weekend.  They didn't close the doors
for two reasons.  First, some of the warmth from the space heater filtered
into the bedrooms, and second, they didn't need to.  Each couple cuddled
naked in one sleeping bag and that was warm enough.

Fortunately, they did not wake up at the same time or the bathroom could
not have handled the traffic.  One by one they did there morning things and
washed up.  It was too cold to shower.  Ron made coffee and toast with
butter and jam for breakfast.  He told them that he knew of a nice little
diner up the road where they could have lunch and of course he suggested
Joey's for dinner.  They all agreed.

After breakfast, they cleared the table and Foster spread out the
blueprints for the addition that he had meticulously drawn up during the
week.  Promptly at nine the first contractor arrived. He was overweight and
constantly puffed when he talked trying to inhale more air.  But he was
very business like.  He and Foster reviewed the plans down to the last
detail.  When he was through he took out his estimating pad and worked up a
detailed estimate of $18,200.  Even though his huffing and puffing annoyed
Foster, he was impressed with the man's professionalism.  Before he left
Joe Torrance of Torrance Construction Company, gave each member of the crew
his business card.

"Well, that's somewhat higher than I thought, but not too far out of line,"
Foster said, clearly disappointed.  The men sat around gabbing while
waiting for Randy Jones of Jones Construction to show up.  They wished they
had more time before his visit which was now only a half hour away.  They
all wanted to play games like last night, but they had to wait.

About 10:45 Randy knocked at the door.  A contractor who was fifteen
minutes early, really impressed Foster.  His experience was that you were
lucky if they bothered to show up.  All six feet, five inches of Randy
ducked through the door.  He was built like a football line backer, and
couldn't have been more than twenty years old.  Foster was afraid he
wouldn't have the right experience for the job, so before he even showed
Randy the blueprints, he interrogated him about his background and
credentials.  It turned out that in spite of his youthful appearance, Randy
was twenty seven.  He had been working for his father all through his
school years, since he was twelve.  His dad recently retired and he had
taken over the business.  Foster was satisfied and he opened up the
blueprints and spread them on the table.

He and Foster talked for almost two hours and Randy asked every imaginable
question.  He not only wanted to know about the physical structure, he
wanted to know about the men who would be using it so he could custom build
to their needs.  Foster was more than impressed and prayed he would give
them a good estimate.  Finally, he took out his estimating pad, and a
calculator.  He began to gather the numbers and when he was through, the
bottom line was $16,500.

"I do a lot of the work myself so I can keep the costs down," he explained.

Foster said, "We're closing this afternoon at 4 PM so how soon could you
start and when can you finish?"

"It slows down this time of year, I could probably start by mid week and
this place would be ready for your use for the Christmas holidays.
Actually," he added, "I might even have it for Thanksgiving but I don't
want to hang my hat on that."

Foster said, "All those in favor say aye."  The ayes had it.

"Where's your closing at?" Randy wanted to know.  "I can work up the
contract and bring it to you there for signature and I'll need at least 10%
to start the job.  You can hold back 20% until we get the CO.  I'll ask for
progress payments as I go."

"Fair enough," Foster said.

"It's a deal," Jeff said.  He figured that he would advance the check and
get it covered Monday morning.  "Do you know where Dan Harriman's office
is?  That's where we'll be at 4 PM."

"I'll be there." Randy answered.

"Hey Randy," Ron said. "We're going to Rosie's for lunch.  Would you care
to join us?"

"I sure would," he said.  Then I gotta rush back to my office and get the
contracts ready.  I'll have it ready before you leave Dan's office."  He
said `Dan' like he knew him well.

The crew had to take two cars and Randy drove his truck to Rosie's for a
quick getaway.  On the way over Foster called Joe Torrance and told him
that they wouldn't need his services and thanked him for giving them his
time.

After they ordered sandwiches and a drink, curious Michael asked Randy if
he was married:

No!

Did he have a girl friend?

No!

Where did he go and what did he do for relief?  There was nothing subtle
about Michael.

"Are you asking me all this because you're all gay?" he asked Michael.

"Absolutely not.  I speak only for me, not the other guys. I'm just nosy,"
he assured Randy.

"Well," Randy said.  "I'm a very private person.  Maybe someday I'll tell
you all about me, but for now let's drop it."  Michael didn't have much
choice, now did he?

To be continued...