Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 13:34:56 -0700 (PDT)
From: T. Chase McPhee <survivalgame@yahoo.com>
Subject: Nature Country 02

The story below is a work of fiction, set in the
format of reality. Any resemblance to real people is
entirely coincidental in nature. It is not meant to
accurately reflect upon persons in towns, cities, or
governmental areas, in 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. This is
fiction. Use protection in real life. `Got condom?'

"Nature Country" 02
wriTten by T. Chase McPhee

%

"We missed you out there today, Zach."

Lying there in bed, arms behind his pillow, pillow
behind his head, twenty-one year old Zach Roberts lay,
eyes lethargic.

"Um, I didn't feel like making the nature walk scene
today."

"That's the same excuse you gave me last Saturday,"
his uncle, Gary Roberts reported, right on the money.

Even though it had been a rather cool spring, Gary
sweated from the intense `walk' around the
neighborhood. Entering his nephews room, he had
stripped the tee shirt, using it to wipe his pits and
chest. He sat on the side of the bed.

"You know you're the spitting image of your father?"

"Um, how far down?" the twenty-two year old inquires,
looking down the hairy stripe, to where his
dark-haired treasure trail comes to a halt, below his
navel, as the sheet creases over it.

"I'll take the fifth on that one," Gary smiles.

"Did my dad and you ever.. you know.. play around when
you were young?"

"Sure. Even at a younger age we had been best friends.
Being only a year apart, we had been on the same
baseball team, same..."

"No, Uncle Gary. I didn't mean in that respect."

It then dawned on Gary where Zach's mind had ventured.

"Oh, I see. Meaning, did we play around in bed?"

Seeing his uncle smile, he knew something had to
happen. He wasn't out to embarrass his uncle or
anything. His curious got the best of him. But Zach
did have some decency to not put his uncle on the
spot.

"Forget it. It's none of my business really," Zach
replied, removing one hand and rubbing it over his own
pec, just for the heck of it.

"No, I don't mind talking about it, Zach. Only, I
don't want it getting back to your father someday."

"No chance of that, if you remember how well we get
along. Don't forget, Uncle Gary, it's he that kicked
me out because he didn't want a queer son tarnishing
the neighborhood."

"I think you should cut him a break."

"Sure. He doesn't mind sending me money. What a
buyout, wouldn't you say, Uncle Gary?"

"He needs time to come around. He wasn't all too
thrilled of the prospect of his `brother' being gay,
either."

"You never did tell me when that was."

"I figured your father didn't either."

"Nope."

"Listen. Mike's downstairs whipping up some brunch. He
has to report in. Why don't we pick up this
conversation later?"

"No problem. I have to be at the store. Chad and I are
doing some inventory."

Zach pushed his hands against the mattress to elevate
himself. Gary couldn't help but notice the dark pubes
unveiled.

"Checking for comparisons still, Uncle Gary?"

Smiling an evil grin, he responds, "I can tell you
right out, you've got inches on him!"

"Hmm... so you and my dad `did' mess around?"

"Tell you later, but for the record, nothing much
happened."

"But something did?" Zach pried, as he began to make
his side of the bed.

Gary took the opportunity to get some quality time in,
taking the sheet, then comforter in his hands, to help
make up the queen-sized bed.

Changing the subject, Gary summises, "I don't think
this is he subject that has been depressing you
lately, is it Zach?"

Holding the pillow he was fluffing, to his body, as if
hugging a man, Zach stands there, head bowed. Gary
circles the foot of the bed, coming up behind his
nephew.

"It's Patrick, isn't it?"

Silence prevailed for a few seconds, until Zach told
his uncle, "We were so happy. It seemed like I had
everything. Like it was going to last forever and then
it's gone."

"Things like that happen, Zach."

"I know. I just didn't think it would happen to me,
Uncle Gary."

"You are not much different from others, Zach. People
aren't prepared for things. It's not your fault that
Patrick fell back into the old crowd at school and
just happened to fall for one of the guys."

"I know, Uncle Gary, but..."

"Look Zach, as if somebody you loved very much has
passed away, you're in a period of grief. What I tell
my patients is that sometime during those moments in
your life, you have to think about doing something
different. Get out and look at the world. See where
you can fit in. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to meet some
other guys."

"Chad and Matty invited me over to their place."

"So?"

"I said `maybe'."

"Hmm... are they going to have some elgible bachelors
there?"

"Their whole point of inviting me, I suppose."

"So. This party is in your honor?"

"No, it's three years ago that Miguel Cruz and Juan
Delgado met. They're having an anniversay get
together."

"I'm surprised that Bernice's hand isn't in this."

"That's a separate party. I think you and Mike are
invited. This is a `guy' party."

"What does that make Mike and I? Chopped liver?"

"You know what I mean. Young guys."

"I know what you mean. Go and have fun."

"I have to buy them a present. What do you think I
should get them?"

"Something that nobody else would think of getting
them, Zach."

"Fine help you are, Uncle Gary."

"How about a hundred dollar bottle of champaygne?"

"Hmm... a hundred bucks is nothing these days. I
wonder if they have a more expensive one? It's for
sure we don't carry anything like that at Barrs &
Bridges."

"Maybe check out the internet?"

"Overnight express will cost more than the bottle of
champaygne!"

"Counting our pennies, are we?"

"Hey, in business that's what one has to do."

"Then I'd go for whatever you can get."

"Are we still talking champaygne, Uncle Gary?"

"Whatever," Gary says, winking, as he departs Zach's
room.

%

"'Cuse me. Pasture Jack, have you seen our dads?"

Terrence Beethoven and Pastor Jack MacKenzie look at
each other and smile. It's not the first time one of
the kids has mistook him for a cow's favorite spot!

"No, I haven't Philip. From experience I know your dad
gets cornered by a group of parents."

"I know. Being a school principal has made him more
famouser than Scott Whoal."

"Who?" Terrence, Pastor Jack's sidekick questions
Philip.

Aidan jumps in with, "You know, the guy with the fuzzy
body from the Queer Folk."

"Oh, you're meaning Scott Lowell?" Pastor Jack
guesses.

The kids acknowledge the thirty-one year old gay
pastor.

"And how would you know something like that?" Terry
teases Jack.

"Hey, even pastor's have to keep up with today's
world!"

His comment rode right over the youngster's heads, as
they tore off in a different direction.

"See ya Pasture Jack!" They clamored, running away.

"Are you ever going to set them straight, `Pasture'
Jack?" Terrence jokes.

"Nah. Let them figure it out for themselves. Um, by
that way Terrence?"

"Yes, Pasture?"

"With all this talk of Scott Lowell, um... I could use
a...."

"Oh by the way, Pasture, I've got to go pick up the
wienies for the overnight, at Bridges & Barrs. You're
on your own."

"Thanks, friend!" Pastor Jack replies, as Terrence
hurries off.

It's then he sees the Scott Lowell lookalike. As
figured, Barry Barr is surrounded by a group of
parents.

"Excuse me, but may I have a word with our principal,
who should be on his day off... ahem!"

The town preacher shamed the parents nicely, in a way
that wouldn't have him railroaded out of town anytime
soon.

"I owe ya one, Pastor Jack."

"No problem `Prinicipal Barry'."

"Jack," Barry reduced his addressing to, dropping the
formalities. "It becomes a habit."

"I was wondering if you have a few minutes, Barry."

"Sure. What's up?"

"Come on. Let's sit in my car. I don't want to make
this public."

"Oh. Okay," Barry replies, walking along to the
parking lot.

Unlike the others, Pastor Jack MacKenzie always has
his car along with him, in case of emgencies.

"There you go," he says, popping the lock for Barry.

"So, what's on your mind, Jack?"

"Well, I know you're new to the community and I'd like
to make you aware of a program that I established a
few years back."

"Oh?"

"Yes, it's to help deter our high seniors from prom
night shenanigans."

"Meaning like drinking, drugs, sex, etc?"

"Precisely. I was wondering what your opinion would
be."

"Has it helped, in the past?"

"Very much so. I take on the boys and I've usually
found an outstanding woman of the community to help
with the boys."

"Sounds like an excellent plan."

"Last year it had been Martha Gibbons, the librarian."

"Didn't she retire?"

"Yes. That's why you're here."

"Um, I don't think I would be good with a bunch of
high school girls."

Jack laughed his ass off.

"No, Barry, I doubt that myself, no offense."

"None taken. So, what's your plan?"

"I know you are friends with Bernice Bridges. Do you
think she might be interested?"

Barry sat back and thought.

"Maybe."

"Good. Then you'll ask her?"

"Me?"

Barry left Pastor Jack's vehicle trying to think of a
plan to capture Bernice's heart, on the matter.

%

"Hey Chad!"

"How's it going Zack?"

"Need a hand with that?"

"Yeah. I don't believe that this is the second time
this week some little kid has had to pick an orange
from the bottom of the table. And look at this," Chad
bends down, to scoop up a squashed orange, "I've got
to get Andy, to clean up this sticky mess."

"Most likely there's orange juice tracks from shopping
carts, elsewhere. Maybe we need to change our
fixtures. Update."

"Yeah sure. From who's profitsharing plan?"

"Leave it to me."

"Listen Zack..."

"I know what you're going to say, Chad. Just because
I'm filthy rich, I shouldn't be going and spending the
money, with you and Matty a factor in the partnership.
Like I said, in the beginning, there will be some
costs."

"Yeah I know. Donovon ran a good business, but he let
everything kind of get run down."

"Exactly. With improvements, more people will want to
shop here."

"Like where else would they shop for food?"

"Okay, so we're the only food store in a fifty mile
radius."

"Oh, by the way Zach," Chad snapped his fingers, "the
guy from the liquor distributor's called."

"Mack Finley?"

"Yeah. He says there's a new guy on the route and he
might get lost finding the place, so cut him some
slack."

"No problem. But, hey wait. Maybe he knows."

"Knows what, Zach?"

"Well, don't let this get around, but I wanted to get
Juan and Miguel something special for their
anniversary party at your place. I thought maybe a
rare bottle of champaygne. I figured Marty might.. But
damn, Marty's not with the company anymore."

"Doesn't mean this new guy doesn't know anything,
Zach."

"True, but Marty had an impeccable knowledge of the
liquor world."

"Excuse me, but would you please tell me where I might
find the manager?"

Standing in front of both of them, this young, blond,
drop-dead-gorgeous guy waited for an answer. Both Chad
and Zach pointed at each other.

"He is," they traded off the answer to the guy.

"Oh. Okay. I'm Christian Zoutendijk, from Finley
Distributors. Mack said to tell you that he sent
me..."

Chad and Zach stood there.

"Um, something wrong?" Christian replied in his
slightly Dutch twang

He looked down the front of himself, as if a streak of
spaghetti sauce ran the length of his white shirt, in
place of the smart, blue-patterned tie.

"Not a thing," Chad replied, as if in a daydream.

Chad sprung back to the future, as Zach slapped him in
the stomach, with the back of his hand.

"I'm Zach Roberts and this is Chad Barr. We're
partners..."

"You're gay?"

Right away, Chad's opinion changed from the hottie, to
`what a dork'!

"Would that make a difference?" Zach suddenly got on
the defensive.

"No, not in the least. I mean," and getting real
quiet, in a whisper, Christian says, "me too."

"Oh," is all Zach said.

Chad picks up the pieces with, "So, you're the new
liquor rep, huh?"

"Yes. I came to check on your stocks. Um, so you two
are... partners?"

Zach smirked.

"We're partners in business," Chad set Christian
straight.

"Oh. Geez. I feel like such a fool."

"That you did," Zach replied under his breath.

It earned him a slap back, from Chad.

"Give the guy a break," Chad said, muffling his reply.


They make light chat, walking to the stockroom.

"Here's the stock," Zach points out the boxes lined up
against the stockroom wall.

First thing out of the guy's mouth is, "So, you guys
aren't gay?"

Looking to Chad, Zach approaches Christian, standing
right in front of him.

"Y'know, Christian, maybe you aren't with it or
something, but guys don't go around asking other guys
if they're gay, so why don't you just shut the fuck up
about it?"

Chad and Christian watch, as Zach marches out of the
stockroom.

"Gee, I'm sorry I... I didn't mean to...."

Chad to the rescue.

"Forget it. Zach's a little uptight. Hey, let me buy
you a coffee, okay?"

"Yeah. Sure."

Chad can see that the guy is a little shaken up over
the ordeal of his first meeting with the management of
Bridges & Barr's. Leaving the store, Chad hands the
keys over to the assistant manager.

"I'll be gone for awhile, Andy. Mr. Roberts is
somewhere around, if you need a manager."

"Oh, okay Mr. Barr. I'll page him and oh, I'll take
care of the mess in the fruit section."

"But I didn't," Chad went to clue Andy in to the fact
he hadn't relayed the squashed oranges to him, making
a sticky mess on the floor.

"Um, is everything okay with you and Mr. Roberts?"

"We're cool, Andy, but thanks."

Leaving the front door, Christian states to Chad,
"He's cute."

"Yeah and he's also straight!"

"Oh."

"Chad?"

"Yeah, Christian?"

"How do you know if a guy is straight or gay?"

"You mean like how did I find out if Andy is gay or
straight?"

"Well, I was wondering how you know a thing like
that."

"We don't have it on the employee's application, if
that's what you mean?"

Chad knew Christian wasn't that dense. He hoped so.

"No. I know you can't ask questions like that, but in
general, how does a guy know?"

"You don't. I mean, sometimes you have to kind of talk
to a guy. Sometimes it'll come up and you make some
kind of connection."

"Connection?"

"Yeah, like...."

The subject, not exactly Chad's strong point, left him
hanging.

"It's like gaydar."

"Gaydar?"

"Yeah, like radar, only a guy gets this feeling that
another guy is gay."

"Did you think I was gay, Chad?"

"You didn't give us time to find out, Christian."

"Oh right. I came out and said it. Something I don't
normally do, but... well..."

"I know. You didn't wait for Zach to finish his
sentence. You jumped to conclusions."

"A mistake."

"Rule number one."

"What's that, Chad?"

"Don't give yourself away so easily."

"So, there's rules to follow to meet gay guys?"

"Not exactly. I mean, they aren't written down
anyplace."

Boarding Matty's SUV, Chad alerts, "Seatbelt?"

"Oh yeah," Christian states. "I hope I'm not turning
you off, talking to you about all this gay stuff,
Chad. I mean, I've never had anybody to talk to.. you
know?"

"Well sure, Christian, I...."

"I've been virtually on my own since high school."

"Is that so?" Chad sat there, keeping his eyes on the
road, peering over occasionally, as one does when
listening to a guy talk his ear off.

"Yeah. I came here as a foreign exchange student, from
Holland."

"Interesting."

"Sure was, Chad. Back home, I was scared to talk about
myself being gay."

"I was under the impression that folks in that area of
the world speak very liberally about homosexuality."

"Maybe so, but it's not every family that is totally
accepting of the lifestyle. This American high school
student, a real buddy and also gay, talked me into
breaking the silence on my sexuality. It proved to be
a titantic mistake."

Chad tried figuring out much of the story Christian
seemed to be leaving out.

"Ian, that's my gay buddy's name, talked me into
coming out to my family, so I wrote my father."

"I take it your family didn't approve?"

"It was a horror story. My father called the family I
was staying with. My sponsors, a loyal, church-going
family, frowned upon my being gay, hearing it the
first time from my father. I over heard the
conversation on the phone. They told my father I was a
very sick boy. After they hung up, my whole world
turned upside down. Where once they had been friendly,
now they seemed the opposite. Almost like a suspicious
enemy."

"Makes you wonder who are the sick ones," Chad sternly
voiced his opinion.

Parking the car, they got out and went into Birdy's
Cafe.

"Two," Chad replied to the seater's question. "Thanks,
Michael. This is Christian," Chad mucked up thinking
how to pronounce the last name, so left it out, "our
new liquor sales rep, from Finley's." he smiled to the
fellow that seated them.

"He's taking Marty's place, huh Chad?"

"Yes."

After Michael Byrd left their presence, another
familiar conversational piece cropped up.

"Is he?" Christian asked.

"It doesn't mean that every guy I acknowledge with a
smile and friendly greeting is gay, Christian."

"Sorry, Chad."

However, Chad surprised Christian with, "Yeah, he is."

"Gay?"

"Yeah." Then, opening up Michael Byrd to fair play,
asked, "A hottie, isn't he?"

"Well sure, but he's got to be older than you and I,
no?"

"Depends."

"How's that go Chad?"

"I'm eighteen. How old are you?"

"Twenty-three."

"Byrd's still got a few years on you."

"How many?"

Chad smiled, thinking Christian might go for the older
male.

"He's twenty-eight or twenty-nine. Matty knows for
sure."

"Matty?"

"My partner."

"Partner? You live with another guy?"

"Yes. Matty is a year older than me."

"That is very nice, Chad."

"I think so."

"This is so nice. It's going to be such a pleasure
coming to service Barr & Bridges."

Chad had devious thoughts about that statement,
although he did picture Christian as more the top
position. As Christian shut up for once, perusing the
menu, Chad pictured Christian both ways. At first, he
had the twenty-three year old stripped down to the
waist, on his knees, licking Matty's cock. Matty's
because things had turned out where ninety-nine per
cent of the time, Matty bottomed, even though it
started out where Matty and Chad had a
versatile-working relationship. Then, switching
Christian's role, he had him totally in the buff, with
Matty on his knees, tongue out and licking Christian's
shaft. For all intensive purposes, Chad pictured
Christian with a long, thick piece of meat, Matty
hardly able to fit it in his mouth.

"Um, Chad?"

"Huh?"

"I'm ready to order. You?"

"Uh... sure," Chad lied.

After all, Chad's been into Birdy's Cafe gazillions of
times. He knew the menu off the tip of his tongue. But
right now, it wasn't the menu that boggled his mind.
His concern was how long it would be before the bulge
in his pants dissapated, plus if there had been any
leakage, if his Jockey low-rise briefs would absorb
the matter or show on his khaki pants!

%

2 Continued....

Copyright 2006  T. Chase McPhee
This story may not be sold or made part of any
collection without prior written permission.