Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 06:40:48 -0700
From: Macout Mann <macoutmann@yahoo.com>
Subject: To Be a Brother 20

This story involves explicit homosexual activity.  If such offends you, or
if you are underage, please read no further.

The story is completely fictional.  Any similarity to actual persons or
events is purely coincidental.  Reference to actual locations is made only
to make the story seem more real.


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Copyright 2014 by Macout Mann.  All rights reserved.



                             TO BE A BROTHER

                             by Macout Mann



                              Chapter XX

                         A Special Convocation


Friday night dinner at the convocation was a bit more opulent than usual.
The entrée was Lobster Thermidor.  And many of the brothers were better
dressed than usual.  There were even a few ties.  And the room was packed.
More tables even had to be brought in.

"Good evening, gentlemen," Tom began his usual after dinner greeting.
"Welcome.

"Welcome to the thirtieth Libra Convocation of the Brothers of Aries and
Libra.  Yes, in September in the Year of Our Lord—or as some of you
would say, `the Common Era,'—2000, in this very room--although it wasn't
quite as elegant in those days--Brother Malcolm Pirie welcomed ten youngish
guys to the Brothers' first convocation.  And Malcolm is here tonight, a
fifty year old man."

Malcolm stood to a thunderous round of applause.

"Speak, oh eldest one," Tom said.

"Well...." Malcolm began.  "That first time I would've never dreamed I'd be
standing here tonight.  Actually my only concern that night was to be
brotherly.

There was riotous laughter, which as yet made no sense to the two
prospectives in attendance.

"But," Malcolm continued, "despite that he was not all that comfortable
with what I and my brother, Reg, and I were interested in, Craig Pirie, our
father, funded the Brothers for many years.  Without his support it would
not exist today.  He is here, dragged by the hair of his chinny-chiny-chin.
He has refused to speak, but I hope he will acknowledge your thanks for his
support."

After much applause and shouting Craig did stand and acknowledge the
adulation that especially the old boys felt for him.

"Dad didn't always approve--Well, did he ever approve of anything his sons
were into?  That's the nature of parents, isn't it?--but he did let
us....let us be us.

"So I became the first Elder of this group which we decided to call "the
Brothers."  Once we decided to meet on the weekends nearest the equinoxes,
that's when we added 'Aries and Libra.'  Showed we'd studied the classics."

Much laughter.

"My brother, Reg, became the second Elder.  He's not here right now.  Says
he'll be here tomorrow with a surprise.  God knows.  Reg always does his
very own thing.  Doesn't give a damn what Dad or I think."

"Amen," came a voice from the audience.

"Ah Ha!" Malcolm shouted.  "Dad can speak!"

Once again there was prolonged applause.

"And then you elected Tom Parrish as your Elder," Malcolm continued.  "He
remains so until this day.  I wish I could say he didn't do as good a job
as Reg and I did, but he's been even better.  Of course, he's had the
assistance of very competent counsellors, which Reg and I didn't need."

"All you had to do was rent the space.  We had to run the damned hotel,"
Chester Burroughs piped up to much laughter.

"Ah yes, the hotel," Malcolm said.  "That was another area in which Dad was
helpful, wasn't it Tom?"

"Indeed that's within the memory of almost all of you.  We almost lost our
meeting place until the Piries lent us the money to buy the hotel.  And
that brings us to our most recent benefactor, Brother Spencer King, who is
here this evening...."

"And who is not going to speak," Spencer shouted.

"Well, actions speak louder than words," Tom said.  "Spencer made it
possible to expand the hotel to what it is today, and by a remarkable
coincidence, we had a brother who had an MBA and who was interested in
running Olympia Plaza, Incorporated, Jim Sessions."

There was applause as Jim took Tom's place front and center.

"I am going to speak," he began, "and first say that I can't fathom how
this place ever functioned without an MBA as president."

There was good natured laughter.

"Well at least one man helped," Jim continued.  "He and Craig are the only
persons here tonight who are not Brothers.  I'd like to recognize the
legendary, long-time manager of the Olympic and the Olympia Plaza, Preston
Brownlee."

More applause.

"Preston taught me everything I know about running a hotel," Jim continued.
"And it is running well enough that we have repaid the Pirie loan in full
and are on track to repurchase all the Class B shares under the arrangement
that we have with Brother Spencer.  We project that that will be
accomplished within the next eight years.  That will leave the Olympia
Plaza under the sole ownership of the Brothers who originally invested in
the project.

"As you know our convocations are currently underwritten by contributions
from many of the Brothers.  But I am happy to tell you that at the last
semi-annual stockholders meeting, they voted that once the Class B shares
have been bought back, the Brothers of Aries and Libra will be able to hold
their convocations at absolutely no charge."

A huge ovation showed the group's approval.

"I must say that I felt that we at least should have to pay for the liquor,
but the Board felt that that was just my MBA talking.

"So speaking for the entire staff of the hotel, best wishes for a great
thirtieth anniversary convocation."

The event ended when Tom announced that the morning seminar would be on the
threat of new Japanese militarism to the Chinese economy.



As the crowd trooped back into the lounge, they were greeted not by nude
bartenders, but they were almost so.  Jim had scrounged every second hand
clothing place in the Midwest for short cutoffs that had holes in the
proper places.  And he had succeeded.

The bartenders were in for good natured ribbing, and the prospectives were
given a big free hint about what was going on.  Percy's friend, Donovan
Paxton, was the first to respond.

"Say, Perce," he chided, "you didn't tell me that all this fancy shit is to
cover up a fucking sex club."

"No, I didn't," Percy responded.  "And if this were a normal convocation,
you still wouldn't have guessed."

"Can I have the one on the right?"

"Not either of them.  But I'll let you talk to Tom after a while."

"What the hell?" Tom accosted Jim.

"You're the one that wanted them naked," Jim teased.  "Tomorrow they'll be
in cutoff tux pants with wing collars and black tie above bare chests.

"I'll still get to keep my liquor license."


It was after lunch the next day that Reg finally appeared with his
surprise.

Only actives could bring guests, most often prospectives.  As Malcolm had
indicated, Reg was not one to follow the rules.  Accompanying him was a
stunning twenty-year-old, Toby Braswell.

"Hello there," Toby said, when introduced. "How kind of you to let me
come."  His British accent was unmistakable.

An old boy, who was a film buff, later said that Toby looked so much like a
young Olivier, he could imagine him in Rebecca, saying, `That's not the
Northern Lights, that's Manderley.'"

Reg, however, after asking Jim to introduce Toby around, sought out Peter
and Tom.

Once the three of them were on the floor below, Tom asked, "Where in hell
did you find that?"

"Doesn't matter," Reg replied.  "I don't call him `my boyfriend.'  He could
be my son.  I just say he's `my boy.'

"But he's mine.  I love him. I plan to spend the rest of my life with him.
I want him to be a brother.  Maybe he could even become an Elder.

"I can't propose him, but Peter can.  Would you?" he asked.

"Have you told him anything about....?" Tom interrupted.

"Oh, no," Reg answered.  "And I'll rush him out immediately after the
banquet tonight.

"You can tap him later, if you want, Peter.  But he'll seek to be a Brother
like any other prospective."

"O.K. with you, Peter?" Tom asks.

"Why not?"

So it came to pass...

Toby was to become the fourth Elder of the Brothers of Ares and Libra.

He presided over the fiftieth Libra Convocation atop America's finest
hotel.

The Olympia Plaza still washed its coins in 2050.  Nobody remembered that
the St. Frances, San Francisco ever existed.  Manhattan, including the
Waldorf, was under water.

The Metropolitan Museum had been relocated to Northwestern Arkansas, merged
with Crystal Bridges.  The Metropolitan Opera was headquartered in
St. Paul, Minnesota.  The Cincinatti Symphony had always been pretty good.
Now it was Number One.  The movie capital was now San Antonio.

Sex did survive.

Strange how things happen.


                               THE END


Please let me hear your reaction to "To Be a Brother."  Feedback is very
important.  Write me at macoutmann@yahoo.com.  I will respond to each
contact.

Coming to a computer near you:

          DICK CUNNINGHAM'S FIRST TIME

          And

         SAM CALDWELL'S FURTHER ADVENTURES (a sequel)