Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:41:45 -0800 (PST)
From: T. Chase McPhee <survivalgame@yahoo.com>
Subject: Adventures in Nature 13

The story below is a work of fiction, set in the
format of reality. Any resemblances to real people,
alive or in the hereafter, is entirely coincidental in
nature. It is not meant to accurately reflect upon
persons, in towns, cities, countries, nor governmental
areas, which the story is staged. If a sexual scene
involving male-to-male relationships offends you, then
you should not read this story. Additionally, if you
are under 18 years of age, in most state and
countries, you are not allowed to read this story, by
law. Check with your local laws regarding such. %
Sexual safety matters. Remember guys, this is fiction.
In real life, use protection.

%

"Adventures In Nature" 13
wriTten by T. Chase McPhee

%

Greeting their dad at the door, Philip exclaims, "Dad,
you're home!"

"Yes, finally," Barry replies, cradling Philip in one
arm. He was taken aback by Aidan's cordial greeting,
offering to take his attache case off his hands,
saying, "Here, let me take that for you dad-Barry."

"It's really raining hard, isn't it?" Philip asks,
looking up at his dad's drenched face.

"You bet," Barry tells Aidan. "It took me ten minutes
from Bridges Lane to drive here."

Measuring the distance in his mind, Philip comments,
"Geesh! Me and Aidan can walk it in less than five!"

"Hi dad," Mark introduces himself and Jose, coming out
of the livingroom. "I'm going to take Jose home now."

"Not in this weather you're not. It's raining like
cats and dogs out there, with no sign of let up,"
Barry voices his opinion.

"Maybe you should give Jack a call?" Mark suggests to
Jose.

Before Jose can answer, Barry asks, "Jack?"

Between the two, Mark and Jose make a long story
short, telling of Jose's parttime residence, with
Jack's family.

"Maybe it would be just as well if you stayed here
tonight," Barry said, not as a request.

"If it's okay with Jose," Mark puts it.

"Sure. Let me give Jack a call."

"What about you father?" Barry questions Jose.

"Oh, he's probably on his second job by now. He won't
be back home until early in the morning. Besides, when
I'm not there and he comes home, he knows I'm at
Jack's house."

"But you won't be at Jack's house," Barry stresses.

"We don't have an answering service and my dad can't
afford a cell phone. If he misses me, he'll call Jack
and Jack can tell him where I am."

>From the way he said it, Barry detected there wasn't
too much going for the father and son duo.

"If you're sure," Barry questions the teen, then
directs at Mark, "You can make up the sofa for Jose."

Of course Barry knew there was an empty bed in Mark's
room, with Denis being away, but he made the hasty
decision, to make known where he stood on the sleeping
issue, in case either of them got any ideas!

"Sure, dad," Mark replied.

Standing there taking in the volley between their dad,
 Mark and Jose, the squirts reenter the conversation,
Philip asking, "Where's dad-Steve?"

"He's going to be staying at the hospital tonight, to
be with Denis."

"Did Denis try to do something to himself again?"
Aidan asks.

Barry could have given a bogus reason, setting the two
youngsters off course, but instead opted out and gave
them a subdued explanation. "Denis is still not
feeling himself, so he will still be at the hospital."
Inside, he felt a streak of relief, when the two boys
accepted his logic.

"I hope Denis is going to be okay," Philip says.

"When is he coming home? I miss him," Aidan adds,
solemnly.

"Nobody can predict that," Barry answers. To get them
off the depressing matter, he asks, "So, what is it
you two were so happy to tell me?"

His ploy worked, as Philip excitedly says, "Oh yeah.
Mrs. Duffy talked to Mr. Barberio about the plants."

"And guess what?" Aidan kicks in.

"What?" Barry asks the two, hanging up his wet jacket
in the closet.

Philip answers, "Mr. Barberio is going to donate all
the plants for our project!"

It made both boys shine, their white teeth
highlighting grins.

"Seeing your blueprint, that will be quite an expense
on his part," their dad says, pulling his damp shirt
away from his chest.

"And guess what else?" Aidan asks this time.

"What?"

"Mrs. Duffy says Mr. Barberio used to be a hiker."

Barry wasn't putting two and two together, since only
one part of the equation had been presented. "Which
means?"

"Oh," Philip said, realizing they hadn't completed
their thought, "so Mrs. Duffy says Mr. Barberio is
going to take our class on a hike!"

"Really? I never knew Mr. Barberio was such an
adventurer."

"Us neither," Aidan says. "Did you know Mr. Barberio
once climbed Mount Hood?"

"Over yonder," Barry points over his shoulder with his
thumb, not really knowing if he pointed in the
direction of Portland.

"Yup," the boys replied, not realizing it either.

"An accomplishment," Barry replied, but really wanting
to get into a hot shower to take the chill off his
bones.

After the phone rings, Tom appears, saying, "Um, Aunt
Bernice was wondering if we all wanted to go over for
some Zebra cake?"

The hot shower would have to wait, as well as dinner,
as Barry gave in to the two young pesterers!

%

Laying his text book open and faced down on his chest
Kirk reached for the alarm clock. After seeing the
time at eight, he did the math, figuring the ratio of
time from when Kev left, at one, and now. He sat up
quickly when he realized the difference of seven
hours. Looking over to Kev's hastily thrown together
bed, he began to worry as raindrops pelted the dorm
window. He knew if he opened the window and stuck his
head out far enough he could see if Kev's truck was
parked in the student lot. Rolling the computer desk
out of the way, he proceeded to do his check. With a
sigh of relief he thought to himself, `well at least
Kev is on campus.' Closing the window, he found a
`used' tee shirt, utilizing it as a towel to dab the
drops off his chest and shoulders, fluffing his hair
up with it, palming down his wild looking mane.

Suddenly he heard a cell phone ringing, coming from
the closet. It wasn't his own, spying his on the night
table. Going for it, Kirk searched through pockets of
jeans, hanging on a hook. "Hello!" he yelled out,
concerned he would answer before the tones of some
rock song cover wore out. He answered with a "Hi", but
slowly began to feel his stomach in knots as Kev's
brother, Tom, asked of Kev's where abouts, that he
hadn't shown up for work. "Not show up at work? But
Kev never misses..." It's then Kirk went through the
events, which unfolded earlier, Kev's frustrations,
the fury of his anger, kicking the drawing of John,
running out the room. However, he also told Tom about
Kev's truck being parked in the student lot,
reassuring Tom Kev had to be somewhere on campus.

%

"Dammit!"

"Trouble?" Ethan asked, wiping the sweat from his pits
with his own tee shirt.

"I'll say. Wait til I catch up with Kevin," Tom said,
loosening his tie.

"Why? Where is he? On his way?" Ethan questioned,
watching Tom remove his tie.

Without further explanation, Tom says, "Thanks for
staying over. You can go now. I'll take care of the
rest of these pallets."

Ethan cast a smile over his face, seeing Tom go for
the first pallet, a load of canned goods packed solid,
watching him trying to jack it up. Tom stopped, his
head snapping to his right as Ethan put his big hands
over his own, propped up on the top of the
pallet-jack. "What have I got to go home to but a Tv
dinner and reruns of The Six Million Dollar Man?"

Looking over the sweaty hunk next to him, Tom tried to
discover the differences between Ethan and Steve
Austin. "Yeah, okay," Tom said, relinquishing the
pallet-jack to Ethan's control.

Giving a one arm pump Ethan raised the pallet as if it
contained feathers.

"Show off!" Tom says, glancing at his wrist, checking
up on the immediate time.

"Worried?" Ethan calls out, as he effortlessly swings
the pallet away from the loading bay doors, parking it
expertly next to another.

"Huh?"

"About Kev?" Ethan asks.

"Yeah," Tom replies, obvious trembling in his voice.
"No show and no call kind of makes me anxious even
though his roommate said his truck was parked on
campus."

Slowly closing in on Tom, Ethan places a hand on Tom's
shoulder, comforting him, "Could be he's sketching
somebody, lost track of the time?"

"That could be the case, but still...."

Not the first time, Ethan comes up with the perfect
plan, "Store doesn't close for another hour and a
half, if you were thinking of tracking him down?"

"Right, but who is there but me to run the works?"

"Um, me?" Ethan says, a big grin on his face.

Looking Ethan up and down, the `stockboy' can pretty
much figure what's running through Tom's mind.

"It wouldn't take much to splash some water on myself.
I've got a clean shirt hanging on the back of the john
door," Ethan says, in all willingness.

"That's not the point and don't get me wrong here, but
as a store manager, I need somebody with leadership
skills and..."

Cutting him off, Ethan asks, "Ever hear of
Wellsprings?"

It stopped Tom midsentence, standing there, thinking
how the company name fit in. "The bottled water
giant?"

With a touch of proudness, Ethan reveals, "When
Wellsprings was a little hole-in-the-wall company, I
was their CEO, making it what it is today."

His hand going to his chest, as if to measure his
beating heart, Tom stood there, awestruck. "CEO?"

"Yeah. And look at me now. Downgraded to a stockboy,
hauling freight around a stockroom. Ain't that a
kicker!"

It didn't make Tom laugh, even though Ethan stood in
good form, a toothy grin on his face.

"But what.... why? What happened?" Tom asks,
flustered.

"Nothing bad," Ethan explains, casually. "One day I
got tired of hopping planes to all corners of the
globe, airport and city traffic and a longing to be
back in the countryside. So, as fate will have it, in
the middle of a board meeting, I didn't like the way
things were going, so just walked out!"

"Like that? No notice?"

"Oh, don't worry. I covered myself. Right before my
hand was on the knob, I tossed an envelope on the
board table."

"I can't believe you gave up a six figure position for
a lousy four hundred dollars a week, Ethan!"

"Hey, sometimes money can't buy a person happiness,"
Ethan said, still in a cheerful nature. As if already
in Tom's shoes, he reaches for the keys, hanging from
one of the boss' belt loops, unhooks them and says,
"Times-a-wastin'. You better get on your way."

"But who's going to take care of this?" Tom asks, his
extended arms, out from his sides, pointing out the
pallets of goods, patterned in disarray.

"You leave that to me." Before `excusing' Tom, Ethan
slipped the tie from Tom's collar, saying, "Only part
of the uniform I'm lacking!"

%

With the Zebra cake disappearing, the older boys, Tom
and Eric politely excused themselves from the
gathering, thanking Bernice and Alberto for their
hospitality. Mark and Jose hung around, Mark playing
tour guide. Right away Barry thinks about Max's
influence on Philip and Aidan, thinking maybe the
`disease' was catching, as the two helped clean up
dishes.

"'Can't say I'd've done any better," Bernice
cheerfully states, as Aidan, Philip and Alberto put on
some speed, headed for the study where the wall of
Monopoly games are stored.

"Thanks. My true feelings are Max is getting through
to more than Philip and Aidan," Barry remarks, sipping
from a cup of coffee.

Seeing more than his concentration on manners, Bernice
asks, "And Denis?"

Exhaling, a sigh from his mouth, Barry senses her
knowledge of what is really ailing him.

Reading more into it, she asks, "How is Steve handling
things?"

Releasing his pent up feelings, Barry looks straight
into Bernice's eyes, saying, "I know you and Steve go
back quite a few years..."

"That we do," Bernice replies, not breaking her gaze.

After another deep sigh, he explains, "In my own
opinion, Steve is not handling any of this very well.
Like myself, we're putting Denis' affairs ahead of
everthing else." Stopping, taking an inventory of
life, Barry plows onward, adding, "I know if this was
Steve talking, he wouldn't hesitate to ask you this,
Bernice..."

"If there's anything at all I can help you with
darlin'," she senses the `need', reaching across the
table, enveloping Barry's hand.

"The truth of the matter is our finances are going to
be stretched thin coming up with enough to help Denis
get through all of this turmoil in his life. I
wouldn't ask you myself, but for Steve..."

Barry broke off, as Bernice removed her caring hand,
pushing up from the table and walking over to the
diningroom etagerie. Placing a crystal vase on the
table she lifted the panel which supported the
multi-faceted item. Returning to the table, she tosses
the red leather-covered checkbook right in front of
Barry, as she parks her bottom in the chair. "I save
this one for emergencies such as this!" Not budging,
she opened the checkbook up, presenting Barry with a
blank. Snapping a ball point pen open, she instructed,
"Here... write in how much you need."

It took a couple of dry gulps, then a swig of his
coffee before Barry could realize what this meant, at
the same time wondering how far it would be down to
the bottomless pit offered him. "Well, the facility
itself is going to be fifteen hundred a month and then
there's....."

While Barry counted off costs, on his fingers, Bernice
steals the checkbook back, holding the pen, already to
fill in the blanks. At the conclusion of Barry's
little speech, she begins writing, same time saying,
"And don't you go and insult me, like you did the last
time!"

Stretching his eyes, Barry watched as Bernice filled
in a 50, before a comma and three zeros, her warning
about saying something like, `We'll pay you back for
every cent'. Last time it caught him quite a tongue
lashing, when offering to make good on the repayment
of a loan.

As Bernice gave the check a three hundred and sixty
degree turn, she ogled, "Let's just call this an early
graduation present for Denis."

With two eighteen year olds graduating from high
school, Barry wondered if Mark would be receiving a
gift of $50,000 as well!

%

After tidbits of conversation between one of the art
professors, telling Tom how gifted an artist his
brother is, the rather confortably dressed professor
informs him, "We've been closed since five o'clock.
There's a new exhibit beginning next week. Being a
promising artist, I hope we are fortunate to have some
of Kevin's works displayed someday."

Not only did the student center turn up zilch, but
after casing the fine arts building, Tom didn't know
where else to go, in search of his brother with every
step, a feeling of worry pounding his brain as his
feet stomped the pavement.  It wasn't too tough
getting clearance to enter the dorm where Kev roomed
with Kirk, the security guard recognizing Tom as a
fine, outstanding citizen and also responsible manager
of the biggest food market in the region.  Offering
Tom elevator service also came the caution of a slow
ride up. Instead, Tom chose the stairway.

As soon as the door to Kev's room opened, Tom asked,
"Has Kevin come back yet?" his eyes casing Kirk
barechested, holding a tee shirt up to his pelvis,
blocking out the x-rated part of his pubes.   Whenever
something important transpired, Tom always referred to
Kev by his unabbreviated name. It's one way Ethan
formed his opinion of Tom's worry, back at the store,
notating the little quirk.

"Um, no. We haven't seen him," Kirk replies.

With the ability to view most of the room, Tom could
hardly miss the sight of a young college guy, bare,
sheet pulled up to his dark-haired pubes, lying in the
supplemental bed.  Kev's bed, still untouched from
being made up, provoked him further into a pool of
worry. If there wasn't a precedent for his inquiry Tom
might have lingered for the view of the eye candy.
Thanking Kirk, he stood there in the doorway with the
door closed, thinking of his next move, an ultimatum
he wished would never become an option; going to the
police and reporting his brother as missing.

%

Copyright 2008 T. Chase McPhee
This story may not be sold, nor made part of any
collection, without prior consent from the author.