Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 17:06:49 -0500
From: Charlie <charlieje@nc.rr.com>
Subject: David's Christmas Present - 11

The following story is total fiction. Any relationship to persons living or
dead is purely accidental.

This story depicts sexual acts between people of the same sex (male), some
of whom are under age. If you find this concept distasteful, or if it is
illegal where you live, or if you are underage, please stop reading now.

In the following chapter or two, I will be describing in a fair amount of
detail some laws and customs of the Cherokee nation. Please understand that
what I write is not from any extensive knowledge of Cherokee or any other
law. I have taken a lot of liberties, or stated another way, I have "made
up" laws and situations to fit the story line. If there are any Cherokee's,
or students of American Indians, reading this, you will recognize my errors
instantly. I apologize, I don't mean to offend. This is, after all,
fiction.

                    XI. Spring Is Here!

After their lovemaking was over, which took considerable time and extracted
two orgasms from David and three from Adam, David remembered that
Adam's reason for coming into his bedroom in the first place was to talk. "Ok
champ," he said as he hugged him, "now that you've got my tail totally
reamed out and my insides so full of your fluid I'm gurgling, what was it you
wanted to talk about?"
"I love you, Dad."
"You're stalling."
"No I'm not. I just want to make sure you know it."
"You're fooling around with John, right?"
"No, but..."
"But you want to."

To David's utter astonishment, Adam started to cry, and not a few tears. He
completely broke down! "I'm sorry, Dad," he blubbered. "I'm so confused...
I mean... well, I love John too!"
"Of course you do! He's your brother!"
"No, Dad. Of course he's my brother and I loved him for that before I even
met him. But I mean, I LOVE him! Like... I mean, I really LOVE him!"
"Oh," David said. Then he really blew it! He didn't say another word! Not
one word!

The truth is, David couldn't say a word without bursting into tears himself.
Here it was, what he'd known from the start could easily happen, and in fact
SHOULD happen! Adam had found someone his own age. True, it was still
someone of the same sex, and his brother at that! But it wasn't as if one of
them would get pregnant and give birth to a monster, was it? In the short time
David had been gay, or realized that he was, he had learned that those of us
who are smart take same sex love when and where we find it, because it
doesn't happen every day. But now he was facing what he had always known
would probably happen, and it wasn't feeling really great right now.

When David didn't respond to Adam's revelation, Adam interpreted it all
wrong! He took it to mean that David had reacted negatively, that he was
angry. He began to cry harder, and he threw his arms around David's neck
and squeezed. "I'm sorry, Dad," he whispered through his sobs. "I didn't
mean to hurt you. I'll get over it, just give me a little time, ok?"

David wrapped his arms around the beautiful creature and hugged tight. "Go
to him," he said. "You love him, and you both want each other, so go to
him!"
"I can't, Dad! I mean, you and I... I mean, he's my brother! An' he's only
12..."
"Yes, and you're only 14. That makes you seventeen years younger than I
am, but I didn't let that stop me. Go to him, Adam! All I ask is that you be
sure you love him, and then be sure he knows it. And if you hurt him, either
physically or any other way, you'll answer to me! Remember what I told you:
we may not always be lovers, but you will always be my son."

Adam pushed away from David and looked at him. "Not be lovers?" he
demanded. "But why? I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't mean that I didn't want to be
your lover any more. It's just..."
"Adam," David answered, "I guess I'm a bit bewildered, and I think perhaps
you are too. Just get your tail outa here and go see your brother. We're not
going anywhere special tomorrow, so you guys do... well, I'm sure you'll
think of something. Adam, I will always love you, and nothing is ever gonna
change that! But if you and John..."

"Dad," Adam moaned as he cried even harder, "you don't understand at all!
And now I'm gettin' confused even more! I never said I didn't want you and
me to be lovers! I just... I mean... I dunno, it's just..."
"Adam," David said as he embraced Adam's naked body, "get your tail out
of my bed, NOW! Get your ass into my shower and wash yourself real good
so you don't smell of me, and then go get in bed with John! That's an order!"
"But... he's probably asleep by now."
"You know better than that, Adam. If you were in there alone waiting for
him, would you fall asleep?"
"Well, I... I guess not."
"You know damned well you wouldn't! Now go, please! Don't give me time
to change my mind."
"You coming?"
"No, Adam. Go!"
"Thanks, Dad. I love you."

Adam went into the shower, feeling guilty at what he was about to do. He
knew he was probably hurting David terribly, but his hormones had kicked
into full overdrive, and he was thinking with a part of his anatomy now that
seemed to put more weight on one certain body function. Actually that was a
bit unfair. He had after all turned John down on two different occasions. He
had promised to ask his dad's permission, which he had done. David had
given his blessing, practically ordered him out of the room! So why the hell
did he feel so guilty?

He stepped lightly into the steaming hot shower. He considered putting his
hair into a shower cap, but decided not to. John had told him in the pool
earlier that he thought that long black hair was even more sexy when it got
wet. So, he got it wet. He felt his bone growing as the hot water pelted over
his body. He lathered up and then rinsed off, trying to mentally force his
erection down, but it wasn't working.

David lay in his bed and listened to the shower. He knew Adam was running
it really hot, because the pipes made a mild whistling sound when the hot
water ran, but only if there was very little cold mixed in. Adam loved the
shower to be hot almost to the point of pain. Actually David did too. Come to
think of it, there was very little that one liked and the other didn't. Suddenly
David wanted to cry his eyes out. It wasn't exactly grief at having lost his
lover, because he wasn't convinced he'd lost him. It wasn't tears of joy that
Adam had fallen for someone closer to his own age either. So what then?

Suddenly David felt a very slight oozing in his rear end. He knew that what
was leaking was the very ample dose of semen that had been deposited there,
and he knew why he was crying. He was just plain selfish! He did not want to
share what he'd had earlier! Not now, not ever! Not with anyone!

The shower stopped, in record time David thought, and his gorgeous
son/lover appeared, fluffy towel wrapped around his middle but failing to hide
his large erection. Adam tiptoed over to the door so as not to wake what
appeared to be David asleep, opened the door then closed it silently behind
him. In truth he knew David was awake, but he didn't know exactly what to
say to him, so when he appeared to be asleep, Adam was only too glad to
play the game. His heart was beating twice its normal rate as he tiptoed down
to his own room and gently opened the door.

"Hi," John whispered from the bed. "I was starting to wonder if you were
gonna come or not."
"Sorry," Adam said as he padded over to the bed, dropping his towel as he
walked. "I guess I'm still pretty mixed up."
"Yeah," John agreed, "I can tell. Me too. If you don't want to..."
"Let's just see how it goes, ok?"
"Yah, sounds good."

Adam slipped into bed as John slid over and made room. It was a twin size
bed, so it was pretty tough for two boys to share it without touching. Adam
was shocked to realize that John was naked. Why shocked, he had no idea,
especially since he was also naked. "Your hair's wet," John commented.
"Yeah," Adam replied nervously. "Sorry, I had a quick shower."
"I know, I heard it. It's ok, I like the feel of it wet. Can I put in on my
shoulders?"
"You want me to?"
"If you want to."

Adam turned to face John. He took a hank of his long wet hair in each hand,
then slid his hands around John's neck in an embrace, then gently rubbed his
upper back and shoulders with the hair. John emitted a sigh of contentment.
Adam's maneuver had brought their faces within an inch of each other. Adam
felt John's hot breath on his face when he sighed. He could smell the breath:
it was almost sweet! There was nothing unpleasant about it. Adam could feel
himself becoming aroused.

Aroused? No, that word is totally inadequate! Adam was quickly turning into
a raging animal!

"We don't have to do anything if you don't want to," John repeated. "I know
you really love your dad, an' I guess I'm realizing more and more how
special that is."
"Shut up, little brother!" Adam ordered as he toyed with his hair,
intermingling it with John's behind John's back.
"Huh?" John questioned.
"I said shut up! How can I kiss you when you're talking a blue streak? CAN I
kiss you? Please?"
"Uh-huh."
"And besides, it's OUR dad, not mine!"

Lips touched, then pressed together. John's mouth was tightly closed, but
Adam's persistent tongue soon had it opened wide. As they pressed together,
tongues danced a ballet as hands explored the backs of heads, chests touched
and hearts exchanged beats; two rock hard penises met and dueled. They
were identical in every way except that one was larger than the other. Hips
ground together to the point of mild pain as legs and feet attempted to
entangle themselves. Four eyes were closed and bursting with tears as voices
moaned softly.

"Where on earth did you learn to kiss like that?" Adam demanded when they
had finally come up for air.
"I swear, Adam," John answered, "that is the first time I ever kissed anyone
like that. I love you so much! I'm so happy you came to Cherokee! Can I... I
mean..." He didn't finish the question, in words. His hand had been roaming,
groping, until it came in contact with Adam's upright manhood. Both boys
gasped, and John pulled his hand away as if it had touched a hot stove.
Adam's hand grasped John's and gently placed it back where it had just been.
"It's ok," he whispered. "You can do anything you want tonight, including
touch, including... well... anything! I sure intend to do my share of touching."

They felt and fondled, kissed and groped, caressed and explored every square
inch of each other's bodies. John was a little surprised at some of the places
he felt his brother's tongue and lips, but he followed suit until he had tasted
the same locations on Adam's body. Finally, after almost two hours of slow,
gentle, loving experimentation Adam asked John the big question. "Can you
cum yet?" he whispered in his ear.
"Yeah," John replied hoarsely, "a little."
"Would it gross you out if I made you cum in my mouth?"
"No, not if that's what you want."
"It is. Just relax, ok? Just lie still and let it happen."

John had learned to masturbate only a few months ago, but he had never
dreamed that anything like this would ever happen to him. Cherokee was a
small community, and although there's no doubt that there are gay people
there, they were certainly not well known. Actually John wasn't at all sure he
was gay, but his attractions did seem to be toward other boys; but there had
never been an attraction to anyone as strong as what he felt for Adam! Now
as he felt Adam take him in his mouth and bring him to the very brink of
ecstasy, then down again, then up once more until he finally plummeted over
the edge in the most intense orgasm of his young life, the thing he wanted
more than any other was to switch places. This was so incredibly exquisite!
Yet he knew it would be even better when Adam's love fluid was gushing
into his mouth. And he was right!

David lay in his bed, staring into the darkness. He knew that any thoughts of
sleep were hopeless. He felt so... so thrilled that he had been instrumental in
uniting Adam with his brother. Those kids were so incredibly happy! David
was happy for them! And now he had been the one to place them together in
the same bed. Had he done right? Had be put an influence on young John that
he shouldn't have? He had done a lot of soul searching before tonight, and he
could see nothing wrong with what he'd done.  He was sure there are those
who would disagree, but he was confident in his belief that he hadn't
influenced anyone to do anything, only provided a safe environment for what
was inevitable. So if he was so incredibly happy, why the hell were the tears
streaming down the sides of his face?

David was straining his ears, trying desperately to detect the slightest noise
from Adam's room that would give him a hint what they were doing. There
was nothing! Maybe the boys had cuddled up together and gone to sleep; or
perhaps they had just done some light experimentation, then they'd been
satisfied. But that was ridiculous! David knew how incredibly over-sexed
Adam was, and he knew how those two loved each other. No, David knew
that they would sleep very little tonight; but like it or not, he was going to
have to wait to see how much, if any, Adam was prepared to tell him. When
he felt the first tingling of another orgasm, he realized that he'd been
masturbating, for the first time in over three months!

When he finally came down off his high and cleaned himself up, David threw
on a robe and tiptoed into the hall. He walked down to the twins' room and
opened the door softly, checking to see that they were still sleeping. They
were. He tiptoed into the room and looked down on them. They were both in
Jody's bed, all snuggled together so close it was tough to tell which limbs
belonged to whom. David wondered if they were doing anything sexual. He
didn't think so, but even if they were he was confident that it wasn't anything
heavy or dangerous, and he determined to leave them alone in that department
and just be there for them if they needed him. His two young Indian boys,
now that was a whole 'nuther story!

Sneaking back to his own room, he stopped and listened at Adam's door. He
thought, repeat THOUGHT he could hear movement, perhaps even a few
whispers that he couldn't understand. Or was that wishful thinking? Whatever
he heard or didn't hear, David felt guilty for trying to hear anything. He
continued down the hall and into his own room, threw off his robe and got
back into bed, determined to get some sleep. Indian boys or no Indian boys,
two pretty adorable twins would be wide awake and needing supervision by 7
at the very latest, and David had to be there for them. They were pretty good
about getting their own breakfast and cleaning up after themselves, doing
their chores, all that sort of thing. But still they were very healthy, active nine
year old's, and they didn't need to be left to their own resources for very
long. Still, sleep wouldn't come.

"D'you think he's really asleep?" David heard someone whisper. Did he
really hear it, or was he dreaming? He was in that euphoric state between
sleep and consciousness, not knowing exactly where he was or what was real
and what was not. He opened his eyes. It was still pitch black. He could
sense movement, but couldn't determine exactly what it was. As his eyes
focused he could make out two shapes: the shapes of two of the most
beautiful creatures on the face of the earth.

"He's not gonna be in a second," someone whispered. Then one of the shapes
was on top of him, Kissing him. David tried to resist, to ask what was going
on, but he couldn't speak. There was a pair of the most delicious lips in the
universe covering his. He felt the bed covers being pulled away, then felt
something groping him. He felt a warm softness... his penis was in someone's
mouth!

"Someone told me you like it when young Indians make love to you,"
someone whispered in his ear.
"John?" David said. Then he gasped as a finger penetrated him. "John, I
can't!" he protested.
"Why not?" the voice demanded. For the very life of him, David could not
think of a single reason why not. He knew it was John whispering in his ear,
and he also knew that Adam's mouth was now working on his most personal
possession. And most of all he knew that he was helpless to resist, as much as
he knew he should; much as he knew he had to.

David's body went limp as he felt his legs being lifted to someone's
shoulders, then something, no someone, was entering him, for the third time
tonight. This time he felt the penetration wasn't quite so deep, and he knew it
was John. He tried desperately to focus his eyes, and then as if on queue
Adam turned on the beside light. David looked up into the angelic face of
John, his Indian headband and two feathers in place, looking down on him.
They were indeed coupled! David felt a bolt of electricity course through his
body as he had another bone rattling orgasm, which Adam quickly covered
with his mouth. John was smiling broadly.

David felt John shudder and spasm inside him. He didn't feel any fluid flow
into him because there was none. John had long since expended all he had to
offer in that department, but he was still well supplied with emotion and love
and the enthusiasm of youth!

"Morning, Dad," Adam said cheerily as David drifted weightlessly back to
earth.
"Wha... what time is it?"
"Almost seven. The twins'll be getting up soon. You want John and me to
watch them for a couple hours? You look kinda tired."
"Seven?" David repeated. "Have you two been at it all night?"
"Uh-huh. But you look awful!"
"Your grandfather is gonna kill me! What in the world have you two done?"
"Nothing you haven't done," John said with a grin.
"I'm not twelve years old," he reminded him.
"In Cherokee law, I'm an adult."
"You're not in Cherokee country now, John. I could go to jail for a very long
time for what happened here."
"I don't see how. The way I see it, I raped you. How can you go to jail for
being raped? It's not your fault I'm a young brave and stronger than you are."

David would have kept up this conversation, and really given John a piece of
his mind, but Adam had started to giggle, and Adam's giggle was as
infectious as any flu bug. Soon all three were howling with laughter, which is
precisely when the door opened and Jody walked in, followed by Eric.
"What's so funny?" they both wanted to know.

David sobered instantly when he saw the twins. "Nothing really," he
answered. "We were all just being silly."
"You can say that again," Eric remarked. "Adam and John are both totally
naked, except for their headbands and feathers. That's about as silly as it
gets. You guys were all doin'... uh... y'all were doin' what you keep sayin'
we're too young to do, weren't ya?"

Everyone looked at everyone else guiltily, everyone searching for an answer.
"We were just..." David tried, then failed.
"I know what y'all were doing," Jody said in an accusing tone. "You all think
we're just a couple twin black babies. You think all we need is to be fed and
dressed up in fancy clothes, and put to bed and forgotten. That's ok, we're
used to it. But we're not gonna be babies forever."

"You guys go get dressed," David instructed Adam and John. A hush had
settled over the room as everyone realized that they had hurt the twins. They
had completely misinterpreted the laughter of the others; or had they?
"C'mon, guys," he said to the twins, "you guys crawl in here, We've gotta
talk."

"You're naked, aren't ya?" Eric accused.
"Well, yeah, I guess I am," David stammered. "You want me to put
something on?"
"If we get in bed with you naked, you'll get mad, won't ya?" Eric demanded,
ignoring David's offer to get dressed. Before he really had a chance to
consider a response, David's answer came flooding out of his mouth. As he
spoke, he thought of that tongue-in-cheek proverb: "Be sure brain is in gear
before engaging mouth." But it was too late, the words were out. "Drop those
PJ's where you stand and get your black tails in here!" he ordered with a grin.
With an equal grin, the twins complied and crawled in, completely naked.

David knew this wasn't going to be easy, and he didn't need the complication
of swinging his head from side to side to address two boys, one on either side
of him, so he persuaded then to both lie on one side. They could take turns,
he said, lying next to him if that was an issue. So now he had two very small
black boys, his proposed sons, lying naked next to him in bed. Now all he had
to do was explain to their satisfaction what had been going on.

"Adam told me you know that he and I have been... well, doing things that
you didn't want to do."
"Yes, sir," Eric answered. "We were afraid. Once we were in a foster home
where one of the other foster kids had to do things with the foster father.
Sometimes it hurt him real bad. But Adam told us you weren't forcing him
and you weren't hurting him. Then we heard Adam and John both in here and
they were giggling, so we knew they weren't being hurt. So we thought we'd
like to try it with you too."

This was not going at all the way David had planned. He had hoped by now
to be on his way out of his hole, not deeper in it. In a desperate effort to get
control of the situation without hurting or confusing the boys more, David
used the analogy of driving a car. The twins couldn't drive, he explained,
because they didn't have a license and couldn't get one because they were
too young. They were also too small to see over the steering wheel. They
countered the obvious: that Adam was big enough to see over the wheel, and
in fact David had allowed him to drive from time to time when conditions
were right. Well, he said, there was still the matter of the license, and they
could not drive without a license and for that one had to be sixteen.

He tried to point out the differences in their bodies as they grew. He reminded
them that when they saw someone older, in the pool for example, that they
had hair around their genitals while the twins and other small boys did not.
"That's one way the body signals us that we are ready for sex." The lights
appeared to be coming on in two little bald heads, then Jody started looking
very unhappy. "So I guess that means we can't fool around with each other
any more?" he asked.
"I... uhh..." David stammered. "I guess that depends on what you're doing.
Just what are you doing?"

There it was again! Two little black faces were blushing! David had to stifle
his smirk; that would certainly not be the cool thing to do right now. The boys
looked so serious! They eyed each other, sat silently for a moment, their eyes
searching each other. They were doing it again! They were communicating!
Then as if to confirm David's thoughts, they both gave a quick slight nod,
then turned back to an astonished David as Eric, who had evidently just been
elected spokesman, told all. "We don't do much," he said almost defiantly.
"We started out kinda looking and touching. Then we kinda rub each other
sometimes, like this..."
"That's ok, Eric," David said in a bit of a panic. "You don't have to
demonstrate, I think I know what you mean.
"We only did the mouth thing once, but Mrs. Crawford caught us and put the
clothespins on. She said that was real nasty and we must never do it again!"

"Wait a sec," David said as he raised his hand. "Clothespins? Surely she
didn't put clothespins on... your..."
"Yes. Dad, on our weenies. I never had anything in my life hurt so much!"
David could feel the twins squirm involuntarily, locking their legs more
closely together. He wondered if he could use this information in court if need
be, but decided that this was a topic better left untouched.
"Well, there will be no clothespins on weenie's here!" he said forcefully. "I
don't really care what you do or don't do, you don't deserve that. So you've
had that happen for the last time."
"So does that mean you won't punish us if we do the mouth thing? Mrs.
Crawford told us it was terribly nasty and always needed punishing."
"Jody, just make sure your... uh... your weenies are clean, and then it's not
nasty at all. No, you won't be punished. But it's not the sort of thing you tell
around, ya know?"

Suddenly David realized he'd lost both twins. The look of bewilderment on
both their faces was obvious as they again stared at each other, the lines of
communication just a-buzzing between them. "What's our dicks got to do
with it?" Jody asked. And David knew he'd dug his hole another foot deeper.
"But you said..." he sputtered. "I mean, the mouth thing..."
"Yeah," Eric added. "We put our mouths together and Jody sucks on my
tongue. It's really cool! So why do we have to keep our dicks... er... penises
clean when we do it?"

"Ummm... Errrr... Uhh well, you should always keep your penises clean.
Sometimes if you don't they get really sore!"
"Yeah, Adam showed us last year. I thought I had got it caught in a zipper
but Adam said it was real nasty dirty, so he showed us how to clean them.
But I still don't understand what that's got to do with... er..."
"Nothing, twins," David said as he sighed a sigh of relief. He was rather
proud of having got out of that one. "It just suddenly occurred to me that
maybe you didn't know how to keep yourselves clean."
"Yeah," Jody said with a grin. "I guess we didn't till Adam showed us."
"Adam really took care of you guys, didn't he?"
"Uh-huh. It's really cool that we're really brothers now, but we were kinda
already brothers anyway. Adam's the kewlest!"
"I know," David said pensively.

"Do you put Adam's di... er, PENIS in your mouth?" Jody inquired.
"Well... ummm er...  Jody, when two people are really in love and do sex
things together, it's called making love. And sometimes they do things that
might seem gross to others, especially guys as young as you who have never
had the experience."
"I don't think it's gross, I was just wonderin'."
"Well, buddy, it's really not polite to ask people what they do when they
make love."
"But how do you ever learn if nobody will talk about it?"
"You're right," David said with another sigh. He then proceeded to explain
that yes, oral sex was one of the ways two people in love please each other.
He told about ejaculation which, he said, was another of those things that
would not happen for the twins just yet.

"Yeah," Eric replied. "That's 'cause you an' Adam an' John got pew- bertie
but we don't yet, right?"
"Got what? Oh, you mean PUBERTY! Yes, that's right Eric."
"What if we get pew-bertie an' we don't like it. Is there any way to get rid of
it?"
"I'm afraid not, Jody. Once it starts there's no turning back.
"Any way to stop it from comin'?"
"No way that you'd like. Anyway it's just a normal part of growing up.
You'll like it, trust me!"

"Do you fuck Adam?" Eric asked.
David heard snickering in the hall outside the bedroom door. He thought
about yelling at them to get lost, but decided not to. "That's not a very nice
way to talk," he said to Eric.
"Joey said it's ok if you're not cussin'. He said when you're talkin' about
stickin' your dick... er... penis in someone that's what you call it."
"Joey? Who's Joey?"
"Joey Madison. He's a guy we knew at our old school. He's only 8 but he
says he's fucked three girls and two boys. He told us he's got a 18 year old
brother that fucks him every time he gets mad at him. He said it hurts so bad
he screams."

David wondered how much of this Joey's story was true and how much
fantasy. From the details Eric and Jody seemed to know, there had to be some
truth to it; but once again, David felt it in the best interest of the twins right
now not to bring up such things. He tried to explain to the twins that the word
"Fuck" was considered vulgar in most circles, and the act it referred to was
also brutal, unless of course it was done out of love in which case it was
called making love. He told them that it could be very painful, but it didn't
have to if the participants were careful. "So do you do it to Adam?" Eric
pressed.
"Adam and I make love," David repeated. "Sometimes we do that, but it
doesn't hurt when we do it because we are very, very careful." He wasn't at
all sure he wasn't just making the boys more confused, but at least they were
learning a somewhat different perspective on sex than they'd got so far in
their lives.

Adam and John had stood outside listening for a little while. Then when they
were finally afraid they were going to burst out laughing, they wandered
down to the pool. "You think he's gonna end up demonstrating for the
twins?" John speculated.
"No way, brother!" Adam said emphatically. "I suggest you don't say
anything even close to that to Dad, unless you want a good dose of 'the
talk.'"
"The talk? What's that?"
"The twins. I said something once about if he was interested in them. Man,
did he go off! It was all about what we do is not about animal lust, and if
that's what I thought then perhaps he really should be waiting a couple years
until I understand a few things, that they were just innocent little boys and he
wouldn't rob their childhood... I mean I really set him off! No, John, there is
NO CHANCE those twins are gonna get any sex in this house."
"I'm glad," John said thoughtfully. "Except, doesn't that mean he's gonna
feel guilty about what we did with him?"
"He already does, except that we really did surprise him and there wasn't
much he could do. I guess he coulda knocked us off the bed, but his
hormones are too strong to allow that."

David and the twins went round and round. At times he thought he was
making great progress, while at others it seemed to him he was going
backwards. At any rate, after an hour and a half of some pretty uncomfortable
moments, David thought the twins had at least a basic understanding of the
things he'd been trying to put across. They thanked him, then bounded out of
the bedroom, still naked, and went looking for Adam and John to talk them
into going swimming. After all, David heard Jody say, they already had no
clothes on, so they might as well take a swim before getting dressed.

The rest of Saturday was pretty uneventful. Sunday, Adam took the boys to a
museum of natural history. The twins were totally in awe of all the dinosaur
skeletons, the huge whale they saw, and the hundreds of different snakes on
display. They had not wanted to go originally, but all four ended up enjoying
themselves immensely. Monday morning, Adam and the twins went to school
while John went with David to PowerNet. As soon as David finished with his
mail and two meetings he couldn't avoid, he took Adam to the stockroom
along with one Jim, one of his newer technicians, and had the two of them
configure and build a new multimedia computer. After they had all the parts
together and had them back in Adam's office, John realized that the computer
was for him!

The week flew by. Adam and John were a huge success with their Indian
presentation; so much so that Mr. Evans arranged for a repeat presentation to
the entire school in a special assembly Thursday morning. Then as quickly as
it had come, the week was over and John was gone. David drove him back to
Cherokee alone because Adam had a swim meet in one part of the state and
the twins were singing in the completely opposite direction. The good-byes
were tearful, but all hands realized the necessity of a separation, and they all
knew now that it wouldn't be permanent.

For almost the first time since last Christmas Eve, things in the Saunders
home settled down to a routine. It was without doubt a more hectic routine
than this house had ever seen before, but a routine all the same. In no time at
all it was the first week of June, and the last week of school. Exams had all
been written and passed; the three boys had finished their year with flying
colors. Adam was looking forward to spending a good part of the summer in
Cherokee, but there was one more base to be covered first. Two days from
now, Tuesday morning at 9 AM, there was a court hearing. This hearing
would decide once and for all the fate of two little homeless twins.

Ben and George, David's attorneys, had been pushing for weeks to get a final
hearing. They had pressured Mr. Dennings, trying to get his support for an
adoption that the twins already believed had happened. They wined and dined
him; they coerced and threatened him. They tried to reason with him, tried to
find out if he had any alternatives. But Mr. Dennings had flatly refused to
give in. He had a major problem with two black children becoming the sons
of a white bachelor, and nothing, it seemed, was going to change his mind.
He wouldn't say why, and he wouldn't reveal what alternatives he had for the
twins. George was confident that, given the twins' superior performance for
the past five months, the judge would overrule Dennings unless he could
provide a good option. But they didn't know if he could do that or not.

Dennings finally agreed to meet with George, Ben and David late Friday
afternoon. David didn't like it. He had no idea why, but he suspected
something was up; and when he saw the shit eating grin on Dennings' face as
they met for their meeting, he was sure of it.

"How'd the meeting go?" Adam asked absently as they all munched on the
pizza David had brought home. Like the twins, he had lulled himself into
believing that he had two little black brothers, and all this legal mumbo-jumbo
was just that. It was a chance for a lot of lawyers to make a lot of money
doing what had already been done: giving two boys a home.

"Total waste of time," David grumbled his reply. "Same old fuckin' shit,
round and round. Dennings is such an asshole!"
"Dad," Eric scolded, "You told us not to use language like that!"
"Not now, Eric," Adam warned. "I think Dad's had a pretty hard day."
"Yeah, and tomorrow's gonna be worse," David said as he spilled his glass
of water. "Tomorrow we're getting a visit from my mother and father, thanks
to Mr. Dennings!"

             *               *               *

I sincerely hope you enjoy my writing efforts. If you do, or for that matter if
you don't, I would appreciate if you would write to me. My email address is
charlieje@mindspring.com.