Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2011 06:43:30 -0800 (PST)
From: Tague Micheals <tag.michaels@yahoo.com>
Subject: Buddy

This is another story born from a dream I had. Many of the particulars in
the story were in the dream including the sweat lodge piece and the dip in
the lake. Like most of my stories that come from a dream this one is long
on the set-up but the set up is very important. I hope you enjoy it.

Hugs,
Tag_m

~~~~~~~~		~~~~~~~~~		~~~~~~~~~~		~~~~~~~~~

His name was Buddy, although that was a nickname and not his birth name.
His birth name was Harshad which in a couple of native languages means "One
who gives pleasure". In retrospect I couldn't have thought of a more
appropriate name.

Buddy was of the Cherokee people. He was 14 years and some months old when
I met him. Like many Cherokee people, even full blood which he was, Buddy
was fair skinned. His hair was a light brown as opposed to dark blonde,
worn in a short spiky do, and his large eyes were a soft hazel green. His
complexion was smooth and clear although there was a very slight hint of
light colored hair starting to show on his upper lip. Buddy had full
generous lips that framed crystal white teeth which I saw a great deal of
because he was equally generous with his smiles. At 5 feet 7 inches he was
more on the husky side than not, although there wasn't an ounce of fat on
him. While he was a serious boy when we practiced ceremonies, outside of
that spiritual arena he was easy going and light hearted, easily able and
willing to banter.

I had met him as part of my own spiritual practices as well as my private
therapy practice. I did a great deal of work with women, working on trauma
and women's issues. Although my clientele was non-native I employed a
variety of native practices in my work. I was native, although I didn't
look it any more than Buddy did, but hadn't grown up around native people.
I had gotten more into my culture in college and began participating in
native ceremonies, finding comfort in them. I felt they were very
grounding, very soothing, and offered a great medium for doing therapeutic
work. I was not, however, trained to lead in such ceremonies so relied on
someone who was to lead them for me. That also gave me the opportunity to
just wear a therapist hat and not the spiritual leader hat too which
allowed me to focus on the therapy job.

I had utilized a tribal healer slash spiritual man named Hobie to lead the
ceremonies that my clients participated in. After a couple of years he had
asked if I minded starting to use one of his acolytes. There were a variety
of reasons for that, not the least of which was that Hobie was starting to
do a great deal of traveling to work with tribes other than his own.
Another reason was that the young man he wanted to work with me needed the
practice of working on his own and not under Hobie's wing especially since
I used an abbreviated version of the ceremonies or I combined ceremonies. I
wasn't trying to foist native beliefs on my clients. I used the ceremonies
because they created a different mind set than typical western European
therapy did and as I stated a moment ago, I think they fostered a better
environment than say, the standard therapy group although I used that
technique as well. Lastly Hobie said,

"I think Harshad," Hobie always used Buddy's Indian name, "has some things
to learn and to work through and I think you will be good medicine for him
Yeowitsen." My native name was Yeowitsen but my birth name was Chace and
like he did with Buddy, Hobie always called me by my native name. Hobie and
I talked often about the fact that we all learn from each other; that the
parent can learn from the child if the parent is open to that. We all have
some good medicine that others can use if only we look for it.

So it was that I was introduced to Buddy at a social gathering of native
and non-native people. I was taken immediately by the youth. He was more
than pleasing to the eye and his outgoing personality increased his
likeability factor ten fold. Buddy greeted me warmly shaking my hand in the
manner used by many traditional natives, that being a gentle grip that
would be interpreted by non native men as "wimpy" or weak. It wasn't either
of those things. Native men considered a firm or strong handshake as
disrespectful or a show of power or to prove superiority over another
person.

Buddy seemed to hit it off with me as well and within an hour he was
bantering with me in the same manner that he and Hobie bantered. His voice
was somewhere between the high pitch of preteen and the deeper voice that
he would achieve as he neared the end of his pubertal process. I loved the
sound of it.

Buddy's acceptance of me crossed the physical barrier as well. The boy
frequently touched my arm to emphasize a point or he gave me a gentle poke
in the ribs when he felt that he had zinged me or Hobie with a good one.

I didn't spend the entire evening with Buddy but had mingled with others as
well. As the evening wore on I found myself sitting in a seat that was one
of 6 seats that were attached together in a row, the typical office waiting
area type of furniture. Buddy showed up and plopped down in the seat next
to me. The boy looked tired and I commented on that.

"Yeah, I've been pretty busy the past few days so my wheel is out of
balance." Buddy was referring to the medicine wheel, an iconic symbol of
virtually all native tribes in North America. The medicine wheel symbolized
wholeness or completeness, balance. Divided into 4 equal parts the amount
of things that it could symbolize was limitless. Among other things it
represented the 4 stages of life, the 4 directions, the 4 seasons, the 4
winds, the 4 stages of life and the 4 major life areas and it was the
latter that Buddy was referring to. Native people believed that wellness
and harmony were contingent on our lives being in balance and when one part
of the wheel was receiving less attention and was thus larger or smaller
than the other 3 then illnesses and/or strife occurred.

After commenting on his wheel being out of balance Buddy turned away from
me and tossed his legs over the arm that separated the seats and rested his
feet in the seat next to him. He then leaned back against my shoulder and
let his head rest against mine. I felt a shiver of pleasure rush through my
body at the intimate physical contact, that the boy felt he knew me well
enough and trusted me to allow him to do that. I felt his hair against my
face, breathed in the fragrance of him and felt relaxed by it. I felt the
warmth of his body flowing against mine and the whole of it all caused a
thrill for me.

"You smell so good Chace," he whispered, "what is the cologne that you're
wearing?" I told him the name and he said that he was going to go out the
next day and get some. I told him I'd be more than happy to pick him up and
take him to the store where I'd purchased it. Buddy sat back up and looked
at me.

"Really; you'd do that for me?" I nodded my head and smiled.

"Absolutely Buddy, I'd be more than happy to do that for you." I meant it
too. Although I'd only known him for a few hours it felt like much more
than that and I found myself liking Buddy a lot. Since we were going to be
working together I felt that the more time we spent together the better
we'd get to know each other and that would be a huge benefit for the
clients as well as ourselves.

"That's really incredible Chace. Thank you so much." He turned back away
and let his upper body rest against mine, and his head returned to its
former position against my head. Instead of holding my head still I let the
weight of it rest against Buddy's head too and the boy let out a heavy sigh
and seemed to snuggle to me a little more.

We stayed like that for a good 10 minutes, the gathering seeming to dwindle
around us. Hobie came by and nodded slightly as if saying that what he saw
was as it should be. "I have some things that I need to do Chace, can you
get Harshad home for me." At the mention of his name Buddy sat up and
turned forward in the chair. I nodded my head and said I'd be glad to.

Ten minutes later we were in my car and headed to where Buddy lived in
tribal housing. We talked some but nothing of any significance. We got to
tribal housing in another ten minutes and Buddy gave me directions to the
4-plex that he lived in with his auntie and her boyfriend. As we pulled
onto the street and Buddy pointed out the building that was his I could see
a small crowd of people out front and a number of cars on the street.

"Looks like another party tonight," he said and I could hear the sadness in
his young voice. It was barely 4 in the afternoon "And my auntie and Merlin
aren't home. It's Friday night so they're probably at the casino."

"Does this," I said, waving my hand to indicate the party and his living
situation, "happen a lot?" He nodded his head and said that it did which
was part of the reason he hadn't gotten as much sleep as he needed lately.

"Look," I said, turning to him, "why don't you stay at my place tonight. I
have a spare room and that way we can go get your cologne in the morning.
We can grab a pizza or something for dinner."

"Really? Are you sure Chace?"

"You bet I am Buddy. You can get a good night's sleep and we'll get a jump
on tomorrow." He said that would be great and he'd go inside and grab a
change of clothes and be right back. I watched him head toward the
building, fully cognizant of the slender tightness of his butt. I liked
everything about Buddy so far and his looks and body were part of that.

I adored boys and had since I was a boy. I fully understood my sexual
orientation before I reached puberty, not uncommon in today's world what
with all the hoopla in the media. As a young teen my first real experiences
had been with a man in his mid 20's. Sure I'd messed around with boys my
age, but Daniel taught me about intimacy, about love, about trying to
please the person you're with. He had been my first real lover, the first
male to fuck me and the first male that I in turn had fucked. He had taught
me all about being a gay boy and a gay man and I still looked back at the
year that we'd been lovers with a great deal of fondness.

As an adult I'd been with men close to my own age and I'd been fortunate
enough to be with more than a few boys and had the opportunity to share
with them in the same manner that Daniel had done with me. When I looked
back on some of them I hoped that they remembered me with the same fondness
that I'd remembered Daniel.

About Buddy. Sure, I was attracted to him. Hell, he was boy and a good
looking boy with a terrific personality to boot. There was nothing not to
be attracted to but I wasn't going to make a play for him. He was a friend,
soon to be co-worker of sorts, and he was a student of a man whom I
considered a dear friend and mentor. I wasn't about to try and initiate
anything with Buddy nor was I going to groom him. I would be as polite to
him and offer to do things for him that I would for any friend and I
considered the boy to be a friend, first and foremost. That being said; if
Buddy gave me some clear signals or made overtures that he was interested
in taking our relationship to a sexual level then that was another
story. He was well adjusted enough to make such a decision with a clear
head. However I wasn't going to dwell on it or hope for it. I had no
suspicions that Buddy was anything other than a heterosexual teenager. But
if it turned out that he wasn't...

Buddy came back out of the building in less than 5 minutes, was stopped by
some of the people that were drinking outside and chatted for just a
moment. There was no indication that the interaction was anything but
friendly. He finally broke away and a moment later we were headed toward my
place out of the city.

Along the way Buddy had said that he knew most of the people who outside of
the building where he lived and some of them wanted him to stay and drink
with them even though they new he didn't use mind altering substances of
any kind. "I don't even do peyote ceremony through the NAC," he told
me. "For me there are too many other ways to achieve what I want or need to
achieve." I admired him for that although I had no issues with peyote
ceremony because I understood it and how it worked although most
non-natives had no clue about it and even many natives didn't understand it
either.

Small talk got us to my house in a small town close to the city but not
considered the suburbs. It was a 40's style 2 bedroom on a quiet, tree
shaded street and had a white picket fence surrounding the lawn. Most of my
neighbors were elderly; close to or past retirement. I pulled into the
driveway which was mostly just a pair of cracked concrete ribbons, and
parked in the carport alongside the house next to my pickup.

"That's pretty cool," Buddy said as we headed up the 4 steps to the covered
front porch. He was referring to a 2 person bench swing that was hung to
the left of the front door. Indeed it was. I kicked my shoes off next to
the door and buddy did the same and once inside, I gave him the 2 cent tour
then showed him the spare room. Besides the queen sized bed it housed a
desk and my computer and the wall above it had 3 shelves that were filled
with my books. Buddy set his bag on the floor at the foot of the bed.

"Anything special you'd like to do for dinner," I asked him.

"Anything would be fine but can I take a shower first Chace? I feel kind of
sticky."

"Absolutely. Feel free to use anything in the shower. Towels are in the
cupboard." He went to his bag, got some clean clothes and headed out of the
room with me behind him and again, I couldn't help but stare at his butt. I
headed into my bedroom to change and had my slacks and shirt back in the
closet when Buddy called to me front the bedroom door. I turned to face
him, dressed only in boxer briefs and wasn't totally surprised that he
glanced quickly at the front of them. I meanwhile stared at Buddy.

He was wearing a bath towel wrapped below his hips and nothing else. He
said something to me and I had to visibly shake my head, refocus and said,
"I'm sorry I didn't hear you."

"That's okay, I said you're out of toilet paper." I nodded my head and
aahhh'd then went past him to the hall cupboard and pulled out a roll and
handed it to him.

"Sorry," said. Buddy shot me a wide grin, said thanks and went back into
the bathroom while I went into my room and sat on the bed, thinking about
what I'd seen. Yes, he'd been wearing a towel and the second thing that I'd
noticed was the bulge at the front where his cock angled downward. What I'd
noticed first though was his body, which was as defined as any I'd ever
seen and then only in photographs because I'd never seen one like his in
real life. Not only were the muscles of his torso defined, they were
defined and well developed.

Starting at his hips the lower abdominal muscles curved in and very
slightly downward before angling sharply downward and inward. It reminded
me of and outline of a steer's head and horns. The definition was such that
if you put your finger in the crease you'd notice a good finger's depth
difference between it and the rounded abdominal muscle. Above that, the six
pak of abs were as clearly defined as his waist was, the center line that
separated the sides a deep crease. The outside creases of the lower set
angled inward as well then faded into the pelvic muscle. Buddy's chest was
similar to the rest of his torso; deep creases underneath as well as a
moderately deep crease separating the two sides. His pectoral muscles
bulged outward although not hideously so. His biceps and shoulders were
developed similarly to the rest of his body.

I finally managed to stir, threw on some shorts and a t-shirt and went
barefoot into the kitchen to see what I had for snacks when Hector came in
through the cat door. Hector was a tuxedo, that is, a cat whose fur is
black on the back with white on the front in some degree or another. Hector
was maybe 8 years old and was big boy, weighing in at about 21 pounds. His
nickname was fat ass. He rubbed against me, allowed him to pet his head and
face then sauntered off into the dining area and who knows where else.

After finding what little I had for a decent dinner I figured we'd go out
somewhere so I went into the living room and plopped down on the sofa and
flipped the TV on and was sitting there when Buddy came out of the
bathroom. He surprised me again because he was only wearing a pair of white
cotton briefs which, I noticed, he filled out quite well. He was holding
the towel in his hands about chest level.

"What should I do with this Chace?" I told him to hang it on the shower
curtain rod since he'd likely want to use it again. He turned back into the
bathroom and this time I got a great glimpse of his butt. Buddy's ass
filled out the back of the briefs just as nicely as the front, the thin
fabric clearly outlining the bubbly orbs. He came back out and turned
right, into the spare room. Buddy was back in the doorway a moment later,
this time having nothing to cover his torso. Goddamn the kid was
incredible.

"You better come Chace; I think there's a problem." I went into the room to
see Buddy standing next to the bed. He was standing sideways to me so what
I saw was his profile and thus the definition of his belly as well as the
bulge at the front of his briefs. When I got up next to him I could see and
smell the problem. Hector had puked in the center of the bed then pissed in
between the pillows. I knew that he'd been having some urinary issues but
I'd thought it was cleared up. I was also wondering why in the hell he
hadn't done his business outside before coming in so decided that perhaps
his cat box needed checking.

I asked Buddy to get some paper towels from the kitchen while I pulled the
pillows off the bed. I saw right off that the pee had gone between them as
well as on them and had gone through the sheet onto the mattress cover,
hopefully not the mattress. I pulled the thin blanket off the bed and set
it on the floor and saw that the liquid from the cat's puke had gone
through onto sheet. I got that off as Buddy came back in the room and
handed me the towels. "Go ahead and pull the sheets and mattress cover off
please," I asked him while I went about cleaning up as much of the solid
parts of the cat puke that I could then examined the bed. No way could
Buddy sleep on that bed that night and I told him so.

"I really don't want to put you on the sofa either Buddy." He shrugged his
shoulders.

"I don't mind the sofa Chace," he said. He was still clad only in underwear
and it was difficult for me to keep eye contact with him. "I also don't
mind sleeping in your bed, if that's an option I mean." It was an option
but I had been a little leery of bringing it up. I said that would be fine
too. He stopped moving and his demeanor suggested that he was thinking
about something.

"I have an idea Chace. How do you feel about doing a sort of mini sweat?" I
asked him what he meant exactly. In essence, his family owned some property
not from where we were at that moment. It was a fairly large tract of land
that was in tribal trust. They had a small sweat lodge out there that sat
at the edge of a large lake about half of which belonged to Buddy's family.

"It's a spiritual place Chace, quite beautiful, and I'd like to share it
with you. Besides, if we're going to be working together it might be a good
idea for you to see a little about how I work." I couldn't argue with
him. I asked him about dinner. He said maybe we could stop by Costco and
pick up a half salmon and he'd cook it by the fire in the traditional
manner. Why not?

I said sure, and Buddy got dressed while I hauled all the bedding out to
the washing machine and tossed it in and set the washer on heavy duty. It
didn't matter if the load sat damp in the washer all night cuz it'd likely
need to be washed twice anyway. I met Buddy back in the living room and he
asked if had a sleeping bag, I did, so grabbed it out of the closet in the
spare room along with a couple of pillows. I ran into the kitchen and
grabbed a plastic trash bag, stuffed the pillows into it and we headed out
the door.

I stopped and got the fish, picked up some bottled water a couple packages
of beef jerky and we were on our way. Buddy gave me directions and I knew
about where we were headed so it wasn't difficult. We made more small talk
and 25 minutes later I was pulling off the county road onto a gated dirt
road. Buddy got out and unlocked the gate that guarded the road then locked
it again after I pulled in. I drove another half mile before coming out
into a small clearing maybe an acre in size that sat at the edge of the
lake. Buddy directed me to park alongside a small manufactured shed and we
got out. I looked around. It was exactly as Buddy had said; beautiful. The
lodge was off to the left, a small mound covered in a gray tarp and sat on
a little hook of land that jutted out into the lake. Buddy went straight to
the shed and worked a heavy duty combination lock and popped the door open.

"If you could set up the tent over underneath that blue tarp I'll get a
fire going." He handed me the nylon tent bag then grabbed a small stack of
newspaper and a bundle of cedar kindling and went out while I went to where
Buddy had indicated. The tarp was about 7 feet up and between four small
alder's, each corner tied to one of the trees. The back was lower than the
front so any liquid would run off that way. I saw a narrow shallow trench
that would carry any heavy rain water away. I opened the tent bag and
pulled everything out then put the 2 fiberglass arches together. Since they
were connected end to end with tight elastic they snapped into place with
ease. I shook the tent out then ran each of the plastic poles through the
appropriate loops then planted the ends in the corner sockets which bent
the arches and created a 4 man domed tent. It took all of about 4
minutes. I simply picked the whole thing up and set it on the Cedar boughs
under the tarp.

I turned around and saw Buddy striding over with paper and kindling to
start the camp fire, a deep rock lined pit about 12-14 feet in front of the
tent. I knew that Buddy wasn't planning on a full fledged sweat but that
didn't mean he would forgo propriety. Because the sweat fire was spiritual
it was sacrosanct. It was not used for heat. Debris and litter were not
burned in it, cigarette butts were not thrown in it. People didn't stand
around it and chit-chat. It was used for heating the rocks that would go in
the sweat; period end of story.  And you never walk between the fire and
the sweat lodge.

"Will you get my drum from the shed please Chace." It had been hanging
close to the tent so I knew where it was. I knew too that Buddy wanted to
prop it up close to the fire to warm the head giving it a much better
tone. I retrieved it for him and once the campfire was going good he
propped the drum up about 4 feet from the sweat fire facing it. Buddy then
went back to the shed and came out with a sleeping bag, what looked like a
length of rope and a fish stick.

A somewhat square stick of cedar about 7 feet long and half again as thick
as a broom handle, the stick is split from a sharpened end to about 12-18
inches from the other end. A side of fish is placed between the split
halves and then 3-4 very thin strips of cedar about 6 inches long are
placed crossways between the fish and the stick on both the front and the
back of the fish to keep it straight. A metal ring, only slightly larger
than the entire stick is pushed down from the top to bring the two sides of
the cedar stick in tight against the fish and hold it in place. The stick
is then jammed into the sand or dirt about 5 feet or so from a hot fire and
the fish is cooked. That is the traditional way that northwest tribes cook
salmon.

Buddy set the stick down then strung the rope from one of the trees holding
the tent tarp to another small alder tree about 10 away. He then opened his
sleeping bag and draped it over the rope to air it out. He then checked on
the sweat fire, built it up some more, and added more wood to the camp fire
before finally sitting down on one of the 3 log benches that placed around
the fire pit.

"So, I hope you don't mind Chace." Buddy said, "but I'll be sweating
without any clothes on, which is what I usually do if I sweat alone or with
a few people that I know and trust. Part of the reason is that I don't have
any other clothes to wear after the sweat and the cool down in the lake but
I also believe in having as few man made or I should say manufactured
things in the sweat lodge as possible. You can wear underwear or shorts if
you chose to, I don't mind. I just felt I needed to tell you that up
front." I wanted to make a comment about being distracted by his naked body
but chose to keep my mouth shut.

"It's your sweat Buddy. I'll respect however you choose to run it. If you
don't mind I won't wear clothes either." He nodded his head then asked if I
wanted to do any songs. I said that I'd be honored to do a song that
belonged to my family, one that had been taught me by a tribal elder who
was a distant cousin of mine. Again, he nodded his head then got up and
went back over to the sweat fire and grabbed his drum and striker. He gave
it a few taps to test the sound and came back over to where I was sitting.

While we continued to talk a while the sun had moved behind the
trees. Buddy had gotten a small woven basket from the shed and gone to the
lake's edge to fill it with water and took it to the edge of the sweat. He
did a little ceremony then set the basket outside and to the left of the
entry. He moved his drum as well then went into the shed and came out with
some other items.

"It is time Chace," said to me. I walked over to the fire, careful to
approach from the left, the correct direction. Buddy began to remove his
clothes and set them on a log bench about 10 feet from the fire. I did the
same, my belly in a bit of turmoil that I was going to see the young God as
nature intended him to be. We got to underwear and at the same time, took
them off and lay them on the log. I watched Buddy crumble some sage into a
large shell then squat down and pull a long cedar ember from the edge of
the fire. He then stood facing me and placed the ember into the small pile
of sage in the shell. Without trying to stare I admired his body.

The lower belly muscles that I described before continued down in sharp
line to create the classic V and culminate in all that made him boy. And
what a boy. At least 7 and a half inches of uncircumcised cock hung from
his lower belly and behind it, hanging quite low, was his sac of sperm
makers. Maybe the lack of hair made everything look bigger because I
couldn't see any hair on his balls and the sandy colored hair at the base
of his cock appeared quite short, without much if any curl to it. Clearly
it had been shaved in the past couple of months.

Without saying a word Buddy stepped up to me. I stood still with eyes
closed as he used an Eagle feather to fan the smoke from the sage over my
entire body from head to toes front and back. Done, he asked if would
smudge him and did. During the entire process I could hear him mumbling
softly, praying. When I was finished he set the shell and feather on the
log then pulled some strands of sweet grass from a bundle and squatted in
front of me and tying it loosely around my ankles and wrists then asked me
to do the same for him. I couldn't help but look at his groin as I squatted
down and when I stood up but I hoped that I wasn't overly obvious.

"Can you pass rocks Chace," he asked me and I nodded my head. He nodded
back in understanding then got his drum and striker and approached the
lodge from the left side, grabbing the water as well.  At the entrance he
squatted down then got to his hands and knees, his upper body inside the
lodge. I probably don't have to tell you about the view. Buddy's nuts hung
like so much ripe fruit, his cock still visible on the other side of the
low hanging bag. Once again, I didn't detect any hair at all, even up to
where his most secret spot was barely hidden between the delicious orbs of
his butt. He slid the water in first and then his drum then crawled in and
sat to the left of the opening.

"Okay Chace." I grabbed the long handled pitchfork from the outer edge of
the fire and got the first rock. Moving from the left side just as Buddy
had done I handed the fork through the opening and a moment later he handed
it back out. I repeated the move 5 more times, put the fork back and went
to the opening and crawled in going to the right. I turned and reached up
and pulled the heavy moving blanked down and closed the door. I then moved
in and sat cross legged facing the fire.

Buddy started with a basic prayer calling on creator to guide and protect
the two leggeds, the four leggeds, the multi leggeds, the fin people and
the winged people, to watch over all those non brained people and protect
them. Here he was referring to plants and trees. He surprised me by asking
Grandfather to be especially watchful over the two spirited people and to
help protect them from the hate and misunderstanding of others. Then the
shocker came.

"And I ask for your help and guidance Grandfather for me to more clearly
understand and live as a two spirited."

Buddy had just stated that he was a two spirited person which often meant a
transgender person but in more recent history included any and all sexual
minority people. I suspected that what Buddy was saying was that he was gay
and that he was still trying to figure that out. He handed me the drum and
I took it, composed myself for a moment then began a song.

When I was finished I said my own prayer, the beginning of which was like
Buddy's. I then thanked Grandfather for the people in my life and the
wisdom to help and guide them through their journey in whatever way was
needed. I thanked grandfather specifically for placing Buddy in my life and
for the opportunity to help and guide him in whatever ways he needed. I
finished by saying

"Que ahn us nas cha cha" which translates to "all my relations." Using a
large shell from the basket Buddy poured some water on the rocks creating
steam and a rise in the temperature. He poured 4 times then put the ersatz
ladle back and began another song. His prayer afterward thanked Grandfather
for placing me in his life and asked for guidance in helping me with my
clients. I did another song and non-specific prayer then Buddy added more
water and sang a third song. This went on for the better part of an
hour. The heat became intense but nothing I hadn't experienced
before. Buddy finally did a closing prayer and when he finished nodded to
me and I shook my head. He signaled for me to leave the lodge and I did so,
moving to the left of the door where I stood and pulled the covering
back. I then squatted and reached out toward Buddy, who handed me the drum
then poured the rest of the water on the rocks before handing me the
basket. I stepped backwards away from the lodge and Buddy came out then
stood before me.

The heat and humidity had done their work and Buddy's genetalia seemed to
hang even further than they had been. He stepped up to and extended his
arms and we hugged. It wasn't the typical back slapping hug that guys do
but and intimate full body hug.

"It was a good sweat my brother. Thank you. Now let's cool down." He took
his drum and set it on a log with the basket then walked toward the lake
and I followed him admiring his very slender butt in the dwindling
daylight. Buddy got to the edge of the lake and dove in, surfacing 10 feet
further out and as he broke the surface I was in the air. I broke the
surface close to where Buddy was treading water.

"AAGGGGHHHHH," I screamed. The water was more intensely cold than the lodge
had been intensely hot. Buddy laughed and started for the shore, swimming
toward the camp area not where we'd dove in at. He didn't swim for more
than 15 feet but stood up, the water at his waist, and waded the rest of
way. I was right behind him and of course ogled his ass as soon as it
cleared the water. We went straight for camp fire where Buddy threw some
more wood on it. Needless to say Buddy and I had both shrunk up
considerably.

"If you get the fish I'll get more wood for the fire." I did as he
asked. He'd put the fish and the bottled water in a small rocked in pool of
the little creek that ran into the lake about 20 feet behind where the tent
was pitched. Buddy pulled wood from the pile at the side of the shed and
brought it closer to the fire then split some cedar kindling into thinner
strips to help keep the fish in baking stick. I watched him move around,
still fully naked, as I was, and continued to admire his body, his lack of
self consciousness, as well as his confidence. Once the stake was in the
ground he came and sat next to me on a wooden bench. Roughly carved from a
cedar log it had a back as well as a seat and the arm rests at each end
were open holes that could cups or in this case bottled water. We sat in
silence watching the fire, the water drying rapidly and allowing me, at
least, to warm up.  Finally Buddy spoke in a soft voice.

"I cut all my body hair off except lashes and brows a couple months ago
when my great grandmother died." I knew that in many tribes, family members
hacked off their hair when someone died. I'd not heard of anyone doing what
Buddy had done but that didn't mean anything really. I didn't say anything.

"I miss my braids sometimes but the worst of it is this grow out," he said
with smile and rubbed his fingers in his pubic hair for emphasis. "It
itched like crazy for days." I smiled.

"Yeah, I know." Buddy raised an eyebrow and I told him that I'd shaved it
all off once when I was 15. He wanted to know why I'd done it and I said
I'd wanted to see what it looked like. I knew a couple of guys that had
done it and one of them said his girlfriend told him it made his dick look
bigger. Buddy grinned at that and nodded his head then said,

"What did your girlfriend say?" I shook my head and told him I didn't have
a girlfriend.

"My best friend Mike saw it though, said it made me look bigger. Every
boy's dream," I added and Buddy nodded his head knowingly.

"Can I ask you a question Chace?" I told him he could always ask me
questions. "Well, it sort of looks like you still shave, or trim or
something." I nodded my head, pleased that the boy had looked at my stuff,
and said that I did and he asked why. The opportunity for me to out myself
was handed to me on a silver platter and I wasn't about to let it pass.

"I am also two spirited Buddy and I think that we, two spirited people,
tend to be more experimental or tend to take more care in that area. We
want to be able to look good, to be attractive to others and, not wishing
to be rude or anything but when someone else has their face down there,
everything is softer and there's less chance of coming away with a hair in
your mouth or something." So there, the subject was on the table, the ice
broken. Buddy was quiet for a moment.

"I appreciate your honesty with me Chace. I thought that you were. Hobie
always has reasons for doing what he does so recommending me to you was a
way for you and I to be in contact, which of course was the first
step. Hobie didn't tell me you were though, he would never do that," Buddy
added quickly.

I knew that Hobie wouldn't have said anything to Buddy about my sexuality,
that isn't how the man works, just like he didn't tell me about Buddy and
just like he would never ask me or Buddy about how we were getting along or
if we shared those intimate details with each other. He wouldn't do that on
principle but also, he'd know how things went or were going with Buddy and
I just by our behavior.

"Do you want to talk about that Buddy, the two spirited issue." He nodded
his head then said,

"I gotta check the fish first." He stood up and went to where the fish was
sizzling on the stake. The sun was almost gone and Buddy's body seemed to
look even better in the fire light and it was clear that warming up was
causing another transformation in his boyhood charms. Mine too. "This is
ready to eat Chace," he said then trotted over to the shed and came back
carrying something that turned out to be a pair of cedar planks about 12
inches by 6 inches and a knife, all of which he handed to me. He pulled the
stake out of the ground then told me to hold one of the planks under the
salmon after he rested the sharpened end on one of the benches. He then
loosened the ring and pulled some of the cedar cross sticks out then gently
eased the fish out onto one of the planks. He propped the stake up against
the log, cut the fish in half and slid one half onto the other plank.

"Dinner is served," he said, handing me a plank. Of course we would be
eating in a traditional manner; fingers and not flatware. He set his plank
down on the bench and trotted over to where he'd left his basket and drum,
took the basket to water's edge and dipped in then came back to where I was
sitting. His softened cock swayed as he walked and his sac gently banged
from side to side. For the zillionth time I admired his tight body. Buddy
grabbed a 2 foot length set of steel tongs that had been resting against
the log bench. He put it in the edge of the fire and snagged a medium sized
rounded rock then dropped the rock in the basket of water. The fish would
be messy but we'd have heated water to clean up with which was good cuz I
wasn't about to get in that damned lake again.

Buddy started to talk while we let the fish cool for a moment. He told me
he'd known he was different from other people from a young age and that
wasn't just about his sexuality but his spiritualism as well. The latter
had been recognized or diagnosed or figured out, whatever you want to call
it, by a medicine man when Buddy was quite young. The man had taken the boy
under his wing and began teaching him the ways of the "Real People." Buddy
had known of two spirited people early in life by virtue of there being
some two spirited people in his village and Buddy had suspected that he
might be two spirited.

His parents died when he was about 9 and he moved to this area to live with
his mother's sister, his auntie. The medicine man had referred Buddy to
Hobie who had also taken the boy under his wing and continued his education
in native healing and spiritual practices. At age 12, after much internal
debate, he formally declared himself to Hobie as two spirited. Hobie, in
his infinite wisdom, told Buddy that he was proud of the boy for sharing
that with him and he would support Harshad in whatever way the boy needed.

"You know what though Chace? Hobie knew. He knew before I ever said
anything to him." That didn't surprise me in the least because Hobie as
much as told me he had known that I was two spirited before I ever
mentioned it to him. Buddy started picking at his fish and I did the
same. I took the opportunity to share my experience with him, my belief or
discovery that I was gay and how I went about exploring that part of me.

Part of the story of course included Daniel and the things that he'd taught
me. "I could have discovered those things with other boys, and some things
I did, but Daniel was much older and thus more experienced and actually
loving. He took his time and that of course allowed things to move at my
time. I couldn't have gotten the same thing from another boy. Sure, the
physical part I could have but not the real intimate, loving and caring
part." I shared with Buddy that I still had fond feelings for Daniel and it
had been a good 14 years since we'd been together.

"Learning from our elders is the way of the people; it's the way it's
always been. You are very fortunate Chace," Buddy said to me. I agreed with
him completely. Things were quiet for a moment and I mulled over what I
wanted to say and how I could say it.

"I don't want this to sound like a come on or something but would it be
helpful for you Buddy if I were to take on a Daniel role with you? Before
you answer please understand that I will respect and be comfortable with
however you choose to answer that. I understand that you are in a position
where you have to be careful about how you act or how your acts might
appear to others. There's also the consideration that you and I will be
working together in a semi-professional manner and add to that what Hobie's
reaction might be if we do choose that road." There were other things I
wanted to add to that but I didn't want to come across like a used car
salesman so just shut up. We both remained silent as we finished off our
meal. I got up and set my plank on the other bench then dipped the shell in
the water and poured it over each set of fingers to clean them then put a
palm full of water to mouth and rubbed off the grease. I went back to where
Buddy still sat. the boy watching me approach.

"I am honored that you would consider being in my life in such a manner as
you suggest Chace. I have much to think about." That was that.

Buddy went through the cleaning ritual then used the rest of the water to
clean off our eating planks then propped them against a log bench to let
the fire dry them. He set the basket on its side for the same reason then
added more wood to the camp fire then wandered over to the sweat fire which
was down to embers. He picked up his smudging shell and Eagle feather and
returned them to the shed. I kept my eyes on him the entire time and
continued to admire his body and not just the physique but the way he
moved, the confidence that he exuded. He was not just an admirable boy with
an incredible body but an admirable person and I was grateful to have him
in my life in whatever capacity creator deemed.



The term two-spirited originated in Canada in the late 1980's or early
1990's. Two spirited people have been revered in virtually all indigenous
cultures for centuries. A great reading on the topic is THE SPIRIT AND THE
FLESH by Walter Williams. I encourage the reader to check it out.