Date: Tue, 02 Mar 2004 18:04:57 +0100
From: Adrie van Dijk <ganymedes62@hotmail.com>
Subject: Lashes of Love Chapter 6

The following story is in part fictional. It describes the relationship
between a man and a teenage boy. Sex will only play a minor part in the
story.

The story is copyrighted, but free distribution in any form is allowed, as
long as no changes are made.

All the usual disclaimers apply.

Comments are welcome, but flames will be ignored.

Lashes of love

Chapter 6. Summer vacation.

It was nearly summer and I felt like I had slammed into a brick wall.

"That's almost seven weeks!"

Nafut had just brought me up to date on the family's plans for the upcoming
summer holidays. His parents still had a house in the village they came
from in Turkey and the whole family would spend the summer vacation
there. It meant I wouldn't see Nafut for almost seven weeks and when that
thought hit me, I nearly lost it.

Soon I realised that the trip would make Nafut happy. He would be able to
see his grandmother and other relatives who were still living there. My
first reaction had been a selfish one and I knew it. But the thought of not
being able to see him or talk to him for so long was very painful.

The evening before the scheduled departure Nafut came to see me since the
family was going to leave for the airport extremely early. There was a
strange mood in the air, one of anticipation and sadness. I guess we both
tried to keep a grip on our turbulent emotions. Later when I walked him to
the door something very deep snapped. I put my arms around him and draw him
closer into a hug.

"You just be sure you come back safe and in one piece," I barely managed to
say.

His arms came around me and he gave a slight squeeze and sighed audibly.

"I promise!"

We let go and he left quickly. I walked back into the living room, tears
falling unheeded. If there were such a thing as a living hell, I was there
already, and would remain there for seven weeks.

Life went on, but I was on autopilot for most of the time.

Then, after about four weeks of misery had passed, the phone rang. When I
answered it, my heart leapt as I heard a familiar sweet voice.

"Hi Willem! Its Nafut here, have you missed me?" Soft giggles followed.

"Eh, Nafut!  Where are you calling from?"

"From Turkey of course.  I just wanted to talk to you. How's the weather ?
Its very hot here."

"Oh, well, not too hot, it's just right. Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Well, not much to do during the day, it is way too hot then. And I miss
you and I miss my computer."


I almost choked. My boy missed me! "I miss you too. I can't wait till
you're back."

"OK, well, I must hang up now, I promised my dad to keep it short. I'll see
you in three weeks. Bye Willem!"

"Bye Nafut and thanks for calling!"

I put down the phone and then went to sit on the couch. It had been a short
and simple phone call, yet it had given me a feeling of intense warmth and
joy.  He had called, he had told me he missed me. How could I not love him?
I hugged my kids and told them the news.

The phone call got me through the following weeks a bit easier.

Finally it was time. I hadn't slept very well during the night and when I
woke up early I decided to just start making my coffee. I knew full well
that I wouldn't be able to get to sleep again anyhow. I checked on planes
arriving from Turkey that day, but there were quite a few and I had no idea
which one Nafut would be on. I settled in to wait and knew it could become
a very long day.

Some time during the afternoon I started to pace, as I always did when I
was nervous. A watched clock never moves, I found out. Suppertime came and
went, it was dark and still no sign of my boy. From my windows I could see
the apartment where Nafut lived, but no lights were on. One calamity after
another went through my mind.  I watched television with half an eye as I
continued pacing.

Finally at half past midnight I saw that the lights in the apartment come
on. I was sure that he wouldn't be allowed to come around at this time of
night and I decided to get ready for bed. I could at last relax. My Nafut
had come home again and I would surely see him tomorrow.

The next day I was only half awake when I heard the telephone ring. `Oh
damn, that could be Nafut' I thought as I quickly scrambled out of bed,
getting loud complaints for my wild behaviour from my kids.

"Hi Willem, that took a long time before you picked up. Where were you?"

"Hi Nafut, I'm sorry, but I overslept big time. I just got out of bed."

"Oh, did I wake you? I didn't mean to."

"No its fine, I had to get up to answer the phone anyway."

I heard the chuckle that I had missed so much over the past weeks.

"If you want to come over, you can, but do give me half an hour to get
decent will you?"

"OK, you've got 45 minutes, and then I'll be there."

He hung up before I could answer.

With 20 minutes to spare I had finished my morning routine and was enjoying
my cup of coffee and my nicotine fix. It was a good thing I had cleaned out
the ashtrays the previous evening before I had gone to bed, I had smoked
way too much. I knew Nafut didn't like it and I made a mental note to start
cutting down and maybe even stop smoking altogether.

It was almost right at the dot when the doorbell rang. I quickly jumped up
to open the door and heard Nafut coming up the stairs. When he came into
view and walked on in, I could have cried. My boy was back with me and I
was happy again. He walked on and went into the living room and I noticed a
small package, gift wrapped, in his hands as he walked by. I followed him
in and then saw the big smile on his beautiful face.

"I hope you don't mind Willem, but I brought you back a souvenir from
Turkey. Here, I hope you like it."

With that he handed me the package and looked at me expectantly. It was
clear I didn't have a choice, so I opened up the package to discover a
beautiful inlaid wooden box. I noticed a latch on the side, flipped it and
it allowed me to open up the box. Inside, made from different colours of
inlaid wood, I discovered the familiar backgammon outlay. Wrapped in some
paper inside the box were the stones and dices that went with it.

"Thank you Nafut, this is very beautiful, but it's way too expensive."

"Oh no, it's all right, I wanted you to have it when I saw it."

At that moment I wanted to hug him and kiss him all over, but he had gone
to sit on the couch. Once sitting down he was jumped by the other family
members who had clearly also missed him and were now fighting for his
attention.  Looking at him with Dada in his lap and Pedro weighing heavily
on his neck I started wondering. I knew I loved him, but could it be
possible that he loved me too? He loved to be here, I was sure of that, but
would he actually like to live here? Could he be the one person that I had
been waiting for, could he be the one that was meant for me?