Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:39:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: TCW <alittlemorethanuseless@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Course of Hours 1

The people in this story are not real, although some of the places are.
Don't read this if you're underage or can't in your area.  It contains
instances of gay relationships.  If this offends you, then don't read it.
Each installment will be from the point of view of a different character,
with the characters repeating every so often.

The Course of Hours: Chapter 1

Levi:

Who is this guy? I mean, my dad is a nerdy architect. A really good one,
one that is very successful, if you know what I mean. But still, he went to
ART SCHOOL!  Hello?! Loser!  His friends normally come over and discuss
French expressionism or some new local artist while sipping hot tea.  Don't
get me wrong, I love my dad, A LOT, but this guy did not seem like his
normal type of friend.  He clearly wouldn't be able to distinguish Manet
from Monet.  He was like the typical Southern redneck type guy.  Okay, that
was harsh, but not entirely untrue.  He was big, not fat, but muscular.  He
had a thick beard and was wearing a camouflage hat.  He probably chewed
tobacco.  At the moment he was wearing a nice red Polo shirt tucked into
his faded jeans, with a black belt.  He was not anything normal at my
house, unless one of my dad's relatives was over, but my dad was smiling
ear to ear at his entry. Weird, but my dad is a weird guy.  I did mention
that I love him, right.

"Levi! Noah! Naomi! Come here!" My dad yelled as he ushered the guy in the
house.  Noah and Naomi are my younger brother and sister.  They're twins,
and weird.  My mom was on like an Old Testament kick with our names, but I
like them, they're different without being crazy- which is something I
strive for in my own life. Even though I still think I am the only normal
one around this house.

"I'm right here Dad." I said, standing in the open upstairs hallway that
straddled the invisible division of the foyer and living room.  I tried to
act unenthused, which I partly was.  He looked up at me and waved me down.
I begrudgingly trudged my way down the staircase until I was at the bottom
step and waited.  Noah came running from back towards the kitchen, with
Naomi following a little more gracefully.  They also looked at the man
strangely.  And then someone else walked through the door.  He was about my
age, with scraggly blonde hair.  He was dressed in a plain yellow t-shirt
and denim shorts-- gross.  He leaned on one of the wood columns that marked
off the dining area and shot a knowing smile over at me and my siblings.
What's he so happy about? Weirdo.

"Guys, This is my friend Jeff," my dad said gesturing towards the man with
a smile, the man smiled warmly back, "and this is his son Davis."  The boy
smiled at me, again.  "Jeff, Davis, these are my kids.  The old man here is
Levi and the two munchkins are Noah and Naomi." He was trying to be cute,
but was definitely coming off as corny.  Something was definitely going on;
he only did that when he was nervous.  Why would he be nervous introducing
us to a friend from work...wait, this guy didn't really look like an
architect.  Well, maybe he was a contractor or something, that fit his look
better. Hmmmm...

Jeff stepped forward and grabbed my hand. "Nice to finally meet you, Levi."
His voice was deep and his accent was thick.  We were in Georgia after all.
I managed a weak smile.  He did this to my brother and sister as well.

"So Levi, you go to Roper, right.  Davis just started there."  Jeff said.

 Duh. Everyone just started there, school only started three weeks
ago..."Yes, sir. Cool. Maybe I'll see him around."  I hope not.

"He's a sophomore. You're a freshman, right?"

I nodded.

He smiled, obviously aware of my lack of interest.  My father quickly
jumped in.

"Levi, why don't you show Davis around the house?" That wasn't really a
question.

I, without much enthusiasm at all, motioned for Davis to follow me up the
stairs.  On the descent up I contemplated why I was so crabby.  Maybe it
was because my dad was acting so happy about bringing these people who in
no way resembled anyone he had invited over before into our house.  Why was
he so happy, so eager? Hmmm.  We reached the top of the stairs and were
standing on the same stairway where I had been standing earlier.  We were
looking away from the front door towards the back of the house.

"Wow." He said, in awe.  That was a common expression at first look.  Down
below was the living room, which wasn't lived in much.  It had a leather
sofa and some fancy chairs and lots of Old World antiques.  A huge stone
fireplace graced the right wall, with high bookshelves on either side.  But
straight ahead was a huge, two story window that looked down the hill into
the woods behind us.  It was dark outside, but our heavily landscaped
backyard was illuminated by solar powered lamp-things.  I knew you couldn't
see it all from up here because of the deck that covered some of it, but I
am sure he got the idea.

 I turned left and walked down the hall into an alcove with two rooms on
either side.  I motioned to the right. "That's Noah's room." It was
fire-hydrant red with one wall that was a chalk board that he had drawn all
over.  He had obviously inherited my father's artistic talent.  Davis
nodded in approval.

"This, obviously, is Naomi's room."  It was lime green with her name
printed very largely above her bed in a pink and yellow paisley design.  It
was very girly-looking.

"In between is the bathroom." I stated unenthusiastically.  He smiled.

I walked the opposite way, back down the hall into another alcove, this one
with two rooms, and a landing for the back staircase.  I turned right.

"This is my Dad's room."  It was huge, all done in earthy tones with a
plush bed and sitting area.

I turned around and took him into the remaining room.  I didn't really care
to show him my room, but it was mine, so I should at least take him in.

"This is my room."  My queen sized bed was cattycornered on a platform in
the corner.  I had a desk and a dresser and chest of drawers and
bookshelves, all the normal stuff.  I had one of those bench seat things
under the window that I enjoyed sitting on.  The walls were a pale green
color and all the furniture was a blonde wood color.  All the cloth was a
green, beige, and burgundy plaid pattern, with some being a solid of one of
those colors.  I like my room, it was nice.  I had cork boards on different
walls with pictures and mementos and drawings my dad or brother had done
for me.  I had different books and trophies from soccer and swimming.  My
guitar sat on a stand next to my dresser.  I looked at this as he did,
wondering what he must be thinking, what my room said about me.  He looked
at me and smiled.

"This is nice."  He said it really breathily, slowly, like he was thinking
hard.  I realized this was the first real sentence he had said yet.  His
voice has kind of low and a little scratchy.

"Thanks. That's the bathroom."  I pointed in toward the white door.  He
looked over and walked in, but I didn't follow.  He came out a few seconds
later, smiling.

"So this is where all the magic happens?" That was a question.

I snorted and replied," Yeah, magic alright."

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Weird question.

"Um, no.  I had one, but we broke up over the summer."  His look changed.
I couldn't read it.

"That sucks."

"Yeah, I guess."  I wasn't entirely ready to poor my soul to this guy, he
was more than a little strange.

He walked over to the shelf with my trophies.

"You swim?"

"Yeah, and play soccer."

"I bet you look cute in a Speedo." His eyes wandered over my body as he
said that.  I got a little nervous.  Was he hitting on me? This can't be
happening.  His eyes went to some of the pictures on a cork board.  One was
of me at a swim meet, in a red Speedo.  He took it off.

"I was right." And then he grinned at me. Oh, God! He is a queer and he is
going to rape me in my own room.

"Um, we should go downstairs, there's more to show you."  I quickly rushed
down the back stairs which landed in the mud room.  A few minutes later he
was there, still grinning.

"Um, the garage and laundry room are that way." I said quickly, pointing
toward a small hallway with a few shut doors.

I quickly walked the opposite way, through a threshold that led to the
breakfast area.  To the right was the kitchen and straight ahead was the
den, on the other side of the kitchen was a doorway that led to the open
living room/dining room/foyer.  My dad and Jeff were sitting at the
breakfast bar talking.  My dad was giggling at something Jeff was
saying. Giggling? Is he a 12 year old girl? Geez!

I didn't see Noah or Naomi around, so they must be downstairs. Good.  He
wouldn't try anything funny in front of them and I surely didn't want to
hang around the adults in their current state.  I rushed through the
kitchen and through the house to a hallway on the opposite side.  I thought
about telling him where we were going, but I didn't much want to talk to
the freak.  To the left was my dad's office and to the right was a sunroom
or something.  We hardly ever go in there.  Next to the alcove that leads
to his office was a door, which was directly below the main steps.  I
pulled the door open and looked down at the neatly carpeted steps leading
into the basement.  I quickly began descending the steps.  I could hear the
TV on and knew Noah and Naomi were down here playing video games or
something. Safety. Yes.  All of a sudden, Freak grabbed my wrist and
stopped me.  I looked up at him and he had a concerned look on his face.

"I'm sorry if I scared you earlier, I was just excited to meet you." It was
almost a whisper.  His dad apparently told him more than mine did.  I
pulled away and continued down the steps.

The basement was large, about half the size of the entire house.  Where
Naomi and Noah were playing Wii was the Entertainment Center.  There was a
huge flat screen TV mounted on the wall with all sorts of gaming systems
and movie stuff and surround sound.  There was a huge sectional sofa and
another sofa on the other side.  A few doors lined the walls of the central
area.  One led to a bathroom, one to a home gym, and another to a storage
area. In the back was a full windowed wall, with two of the windows
actually being doors that led to a patio and the pool and the rest of the
rainforest that was our backyard.  I plopped down on the sofa.  He sat down
next to me, thankfully not too close.

"Look, I'm sorry.  I don't know why I said that earlier, I just
thought...nevermind...So you go Roper High. A freshman? So how old are
you?"

"Fourteen."

"Cool.  I'm fifteen.  But only since July.  Late birthday." He giggled
nervously.  So he's nervous now, huh.  He better be nervous. "So you swim
and play soccer there?"

"Yeah."

"That's cool.  I played baseball at my last school.  I might go out for the
team in the spring."

I nodded, trying to show my noninterest.  But he continued.

"This is a really nice house you have here.  Nice property, too. How many
acres?"

I shrugged. "Dunno." I really didn't, but I'm sure my dad knows it to the
exact decimal.

"Who lives in the houses when you first come through the gates?"

"My grandparents. My uncle.  The groundskeeper."  I didn't point out which
ones lived in which, he'd have to figure it out on his own.

"Oh."

There was silence for a while.  He obviously caught the drift that I didn't
want to talk to him.  Naomi came over and sat on the other side of him and
they talked for a while.  He eventually got up and played a game with her
on the Wii. Tennis, I think, but I wasn't really paying attention.  Noah
was sitting on the other sofa watching them.  Davis lost and sat down next
to Noah.  Naomi changed games to Guitar Hero and started playing. I watched
her hit the notes as they whizzed past the screen. I looked back over to
the sofa.  Davis was still talking to Noah.  They were sitting awfully
close now, with Davis occasionally touching Noah's thigh or shoulder, and
Noah kept giggling. Geez, what is it with giggling and my family.  Noah
hadn't started puberty yet and still looked like a little kid.  I know
Davis wasn't trying anything with him, because I would kill him if he did.
He was still an innocent little kid.  Noah saw me staring and I obviously
had a disapproving look on my face because he blushed.  Davis looked up and
winked at me, then got up and walked over and sat next to me.  What a
freak. What an absolute Freak-o with a capital F.

"Jealous?"

I looked over and shot him daggers. "Don't mess with Noah." I said as
coldly as possible.

"I think he enjoyed it." He looked back to where Noah was sitting and
smiled, I looked and Noah quickly averted his gaze, his face red.

"He's only twelve.  You're fifteen. Of course he enjoyed your attention."

"I think he enjoyed it in other ways, too." He said with a coy smile. His
voice dripped with innuendo.

"He doesn't know anything about that.  And even if he did, he's not queer."
His eyes registered shock for a moment, and then he continued.

"You're the one who doesn't know anything.  He enjoyed that a lot. Just
look at him. He can't stop staring at me, his face all flushed.  He's
probably thinking `Come back, Davis, touch me some more.' Like father, like
son."  I really wanted to slug him, but was curious about the last
statement.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said angrily.

"Come on Levi, you know. My dad and your dad.  Your dad is so into mine he
can barely contain himself.  I can't say much, though, my dad thinks yours
is the best thing since sliced bread or something.  I guess he is pretty
hot for an old guy. But Noah definitely likes my attention in THAT way,
just like dear ole daddy."  My heart started racing. What was he saying? My
dad is "into" his dad? They like, like each other? No, no, no, NO! My dad
was artsy, and wasn't like Mr. Macho, but he wasn't queer! No! No. Right?

"What?" I squeaked out.

"You know, they want to get together. Male on male. Gay. Homosexual..." His
voice was less confident as he went on.  Probably because I could barely
breath. "You didn't know, did you?"

I looked at him, tears coming from my eyes.  Noah and Naomi were looking at
me now.  Davis looked regretful.

"Look, Levi, I'm sorry, I didn't mean.."

I jumped up before he finished.  I flew up the stairs and through the house
to the kitchen.  My dad and Jeff were snuggled on the couch in the den, Dad
jumped away when he saw me.

"Levi, I..." I couldn't let him finish.

"Shut Up! I HATE you! You're just a fucking fag!" I ran away and up the
back stairs to my room.

I instantly regretted what I had told my father.  I didn't hate him.  I
couldn't hate him. I loved him, more than anything.  And I'd cussed at him
and called him...that.  But it was true, right.  He was.  God, I can't
believe this.  My dad's a fag. God, what's wrong with me. I always told
people off when they called people that.  I hated that word.  I am a member
of the Gay-Straight Alliance at school. I am a Young Democrat!
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I'm such a hypocrite.  I had gay friends.  But they
weren't in my family.  They weren't my dad.  I had tears coming from
everywhere.  They never hit on me like Davis, not for real anyway.  They
knew me. They knew where I stood. Shit. Shit. Shit. I never cursed.  God!
Why!? I looked at the picture on the nightstand of my mom.  I grabbed it.

"Why did you have to go? I need you... We need you...  Did you
know?....What would you say?" I was talking to a picture of my dead
mother. Great. I am crazy, too.  Then all rational thought left me and I
broke down and just cried.