Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:37:47 -0800 (PST)
From: T Chase McPhee <survivalgame@yahoo.com>
Subject: Nature Walk 02

The following story is a work of fiction set in the
format of reality. Any resemblance to real people is
entirely coincidental in nature, and is not meant to
accurately reflect persons in towns, cities, or
governmental areas, in which the story is staged. If
sexual scenes 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 states and countries, you are not allowed to read
this by law.

"Nature Walk" 02 (M/t oral)
wriTten by T. Chase McPhee

%

"This sure doesn't look like our development back
home," Mark commented.

Even Tom noticed the wall to wall forest. "Sure enough
doesn't, Mark. Looks like we get out of mowing the
lawn!"

"As my mom mentioned to your dad, this area is home to
at least seven different evergreens."

Philip drew an opinion already of Matt. "You're a
smart guy, Matty. What grade are you in?"

"Oh, I'm not in high school anymore, Squirt," Matty
replied.

Philip decided to let Matt slide on the nick, since he
liked using Matty's nick.

"Right now I'm majoring in business management at West
Richland Community College."

Bernice butts in, "It's the only way I could keep my
Matty from running away from home, is to offer him
'the business'."

This threw the grownups into the conversation piece of
the startup of Bridges Realty. It separated the front
seat and back seat conversations.

"What about you, Chad?" Matt inquires.

"I'm in my senior year of high school."

As the two older teens chat, Tom and Mark draw their
attention to some of the activities available,
starting out with the nature center. When it switches
to soccer, Philip's interest wanes from those two, to
the other two.

"Know what, Matty?"

"Nope. I don't know what is what, Squirt. What?" Matt
asks back, confusingly.

Philip stops for a moment to think for a few seconds,
then proceeds with some startling news. "Chad and I
share a room."

Matt answers, "No kidding?"

"I'm not kidding, even though you lied about Sam,
Matty."

Chad replied to Matt, "Squirt doesn't get mad. He gets
even."

Chad didn't know how that would go over with Matt, but
set him straight on the new sleeping arrangements.
"Each of us have our own room now."

"But dad says if I get scared, I can still come in and
shack up with you, Chad."

"Shack up?" Matt questions.

Chad didn't care to even elaborate on the subject of
vocabulary, so quickly derailed everyone's trail of
thought. He hadn't needed to, since the white elephant
swerved right, passing between two iron gates.

"Is this our development?" Tom asked.

Matt chuckled and then responded, "No. This is the
entrance to your home."

The word 'home', rang out in five different timbres,
as the form of a question.

"I don't recall pictures of a wrought iron fence,
Bernice?" Barry presented.

Bernice chortled, then spoke up, "I left those out on
purpose, Barry. I wanted to give you some sort of
excitement when we pulled up to your place."

Chad's famous line rung out, "That's okay Mrs.
Bridges. Dad doesn't get mad. He just gets even!"

Once again Bernice presents to Barry, "I wonder where
he gets 'that' from?" Barry relaxed, looking out the
window at their new grounds.

Finally the evergreen woods gave way to a lawn
surrounding a rather large abode. They all gasped,
except Tom whom complained of the rather large expanse
of bladed grass that would have to be mown.

"Shit, will you look at that!" Chad called out.

Bernice's look shot to Matty's in the rearview. Barry
picked up on it right away.

"Um, Chad, there's a lady present."

Mending his uncalled for manners, he apologized, "Oh,
I'm terribly sorry Mrs. Bridges."

She kiddingly responded, "Well, if it happens again,
Chad, I'm going to have your father take you out back
and give you a switching!"

Barry, a glint in his eye replies to Bernice's cruel
punishment, "Hmm, is that why Matt is so nicely
mannered?" The quizzical statement followed with an
evil grin.

Bernice slapped Barry's forearm, saying, "You sly fox,
Barry. You really do get even!" The two front seaters
laughed, as the teens smiled.

Matt liked how his mom and Mr. Barr were getting along
so well. He hoped he'd development some type of
lighthearted rapport with Chad, that allowed him to
get 'touchy'.

"Oh my... oh my... this is nothing like the pictures,"
Barry gasped, as Bernice led him into the wide
entrance way, just inside the small foyer.

Bernice again stated her inadequacies as a
photographer, "I told you that damn camera doesn't do
this place justice."

The two heard behind them, from 'Squirt', "Dad, you
better take Mrs. Bridges out back and give her a
swishin'!"

Both adults turned a bright pink, as the five guys
laughed their asses off.

"Some comedian you are, Squirt!" Matt commented,
putting his arm around the ten year old's shoulder.

Chad helped out, "Yeah, maybe too funny for his own
good sometimes!" He gave Philip a wink. After Tom and
Mark quieted down, they awarded their little bro,
"Good one, Philip!"

Philip loved the 'touching' from all of the guys.
Bernice started towards Philip to give him a loving
hug, but Squirt clung to Chad instead.

"I'm sorry Bernice," Barry apologized.

"Oh no. Don't be, Barry. I understand fully. Matty,
why don't you show the boys around, while I help
familiarize Mr. Barr with their new home?"

"Sure Mom," Matt replied.

Chad sensed an electric jolt travel down his spine
when Matt touched his back, as he herded the group in
the opposite direction of the adults. Either it's or
the place is haunted.

"This is the den. The former owners used it for their
TV room mostly."

"Heeey," Tom got an idea, "This will be perfect for an
entertainment center."

Mark reminded him, "Yeah, if we only had one, dah?"

Chad noticed Matt mouthing the word, 'dah', but
skipped any explanation. "Why don't we keep going,
Matty?"

"Sure, Chad," The 'real estate agent' replied.

Squirt had one last departing question, "Is this
chimney wide enough for Santa to get down through?"

Wanting to stand around and help Philip with maybe
measuring the circumference of the chimney, Chad said,
"we'll come back later," then pointed Squirt to the
direction in front of him, but behind Matt.

Philip thought it interesting when Matt stopped, but
Chad kept on going, forcing Philip to become
sandwiched in between the 'meat' and 'end of the
bread'.

"Voila! The kitchen!"

The boys gasped at the huge room, whereas the sink
area remained in it's own entity, separated by a grand
butcher block table, from the cooking area.

"Shit!" Chad called out, immediately turning to Matt,
"Sorry 'bout that, Matty."

He smiled, replying, "It's not a problem with me. Just
don't say it around the 'lady'!"

Chad took an extended look, at Matt's grin and
couldn't help, naturally flexing his eyebrows, moving
them up and down. He got the same reaction back from
Matt. Then Chad's brighty-whitey's flashed back at
Matt. The two didn't need gaydar to sense what each
thought. They quickly broke the trance, when Philip
tugged on Matt's shirt.

"What's up, Squirt?"

"My dad doesn't work out, but I have a feeling he's
going to get one, after running around this kitchen,
to fix us dinner."

Matt, providing a royal goof, replied, "My mom is too
tired when she gets home for that, so we have a cook."


The word 'cook', resounded through the room four
times, as each boy picked up on the position.

Chad broke the ice, "I don't think that's going to run
by my dad too cool, Matty."

Matt quickly tried to decipher the meaning, not being
a too cool thing. His results were in guessing,
considering the tone of Chad's voice.

"Well, uh, everybody's different," Matt used for an
excuse.

Chad decided to work some other thoughts in, since
they were on the subject of every being different. "Oh
yeah, just like my brothers. We're all different and
like different things." It seemed most missed the
point, so the conversing went back to the 'cook'.

"I'm sure everybody on this side of the mountain
doesn't have a cook," Matt fibbed, to get himself off
the hook.

Instantly, without warning, their dad and Mrs. Bridges
appeared through the swinging door. Mrs. Bridges
laughed when their dad got swatted on the rebound.

"Haa ha haaa... oh, I'm sorry, but I couldn't help
laugh at your reaction. You have to remember to move
quickly through the doorway or else you get spanked in
the as... fanny!"

Barry noticed Bernice's almost slip and smiled back.

"Hey, Dad?"

"Yes, Philip?" He knelt down on one knee to converse
with his short-heighted son.

"Matty says they've got a cook because Mrs. B is too
lazy to cook when she comes home."

Chad reminded Matt of the 'evil stare'.

"Mom, I swear I didn't say that."

Philip contradicted the eighteen year old, "Oh yes you
did, Matty. You said your mom was too tired."

Barry tried rectifying the incident, telling his ten
year old, "Listen son, coming home from work tired is
much different than being lazy."

Bernice, bent in half, to tell him that she wasn't
offended.

Philip replied, "That's real good Mrs. B. I would feel
terrible if you took Matty out back for a swishin' and
he didn't mean what I thought he said." Philip allowed
her to muss up his locks, as she smiled.

Tom and Mark noticed Chad giving Matt a hand spank, on
the fanny, in jest. "I imagine that could hurt like
hell, Matty."

"Don't knock it til you've tried it, Chad!" 'Strange
reaction', Chad thought, but figured he misunderstood
something along the way.

"I don't suppose you showed them the upstairs, Matty?"

"No mother dear!"

After breaking their mutual grin, Bernice led the
troops up the 'one person' stairway from the kitchen.
Unlike the 'double-peopled' stairway from the opening,
the entourage needed to ascend single file.

Matt loved stepping up behind Chad.

"Here's bedroom number one to fight over!" Entering
the room, which fit the party of seven easily, Bernice
had to convince them that this indeed was not the
master bedroom.

Right away Tom and Mark began a squabble over each one
occupying it.

"Now boys. If either one of you can't concede to the
other then we'll have to draw straws," their dad
reasoned.

Chad joked, "Eh, just let them slug it out, dad."

"Yeah, thanks for the help, son," Barry retorted,
directing it at his eldest.

Squirt poked his opinion in, "I don't care, as long as
I'm near Chad's room. A room this big could get scary
at night!"

As they left the large scale single bedroom, it's
Bernice who chatted with Philip about being alone in
the dark. Barry liked the idea of Bernice's motherly
concern and in a sense of weaning Philip away from
Chad's paternal instincts. As he walked behind
Bernice, guiding Philip, he sensed more trust bestowed
upon the woman and less fear, than when she first
approached the youngster in the foyer.

"Mrs. B, does your cook know how to make Jello and
apple pie?"

"Yes, what is this about a cook?" Barry asked,
thoroughly interested, in case he should get on a lazy
kick.

"You'll find out sooner of later, Barry, so I'll tell
you straight. Not that there's anything wrong with you
cooking for your own brood, but we all hire domestic
help here, in the neighborhood. Your children might as
well know. West Richland Heights is just that... 'rich
land'."

Chad whispered into an ear, "What's that shit you were
trying to pull off, Matty?" He smiled and got his own
jolly out of Chad's comment.

"I didn't want to hurt your feelings, Chad."

"I could tell from the start that you were a sweet
fag!"

"What tha fuhhh?"

Chad knew right away that Matty and he had to have a
private conversation. It could be immediately sensed
that Matty had been very offended by the 'fag'
comment.

"Hey, sorry about that, but you and I need to talk."
Matty agreed, but had some reluctance, "Yeah, maybe."
He didn't know if he liked the way Chad threw some gay
remarks around, but then again, being from a different
area of the country,  figured the culture exchange
could be differentiated.

"Um, are you boys interested in finishing the tour
today?"

"Coming mother!"

Chad directed to Matty, "Ladies first!" Matty stepped
aside to allow Chad in front of him.

"Wise ass," Chad commented, softly so that only Matty
could take in the remark.

Walking about the upstairs, Bernice pointed out the
other four bedrooms of the palatial home, plus
closets, the main bathroom and then two of the
bedrooms that had private baths. Of course, Chad
claimed one of the rooms, with the privacy gained in
pissing and other acts.

"Chad?"

"Yeah, Squirt?"

"Can I use your bathroom sometimes when Tommy and Mark
are hogging ours?"

Chad smiled and okayed it, as long as he knocked
before entering. That would certainly be true if Matty
and he planned on some overnights!

"Well, I'm starved," Bernice put the suggestion into
the player's field.

Of course the idea spread like wildfire. After
ditching the baggage inside the front door, the troops
piled back into the white elephant, for the trip two
doors down. Philip thought he noticed something in the
small forest of pines, in the direction of the next
home, but the herding back inside the van kept him
from investigating.

"Heeeey," Philip called out, "this isn't a development
like back home."

Bernice, again bent over to chat with Philip on the
auspices of real estate, just outside the entrance of
her and Matty's home. "Of course this isn't like all
developments, Philip. None of the houses are the same.
Come inside and you will see for yourself."

Barry liked the idea of how Philip began opening up to
Bernice, taking her hand, as she entered the big home.
It had also been good of her to assume a maternal
friendship with Philip. Tom and Mark flanked their
dad's sides, talking with him as they walked up the
flagstone pathway, leading to the front door.

"So, dad, are we going to get a cook?" Tom asks.

"I'm not sure. It's a possibility that we might be
able to swing it, to have a cook for dinners. I think
we can fend for ourselves for breakfast and meals on
weekends."

Mark cuts in, "Do Tom and I have to mow the lawn?"

"Hey, I don't want you guys to start to get lazy, like
Mrs. Bridges!"

"She's a nice lady, isn't she dad?"

"That she is, Mark."

Tom adds, "I just figured she would dump us at the
front door with our luggage and hightail it outta
here."

Mark answered the remark quite nicely, "I don't think
Mrs. B is that kind of lady. She's sorta like mom."

"Yeah? How so, Mark?" Tom asked, on the defensive.

Barry liked the way the boys were talking about their
departed mother and comparing Bernice to her. Tom's
remark seemed logical. After the passing of a parent,
changing their residency doesn't necessarily warrant a
immediate settling of feelings. Barry knew that it
would take time and nurturing to at least settle the
atmosphere some. The mending process had begun. Barry
hoped the change in their lives, moving to West
Richland, would help all of them geton with their
lives. This fact troubled Barry and he saw that their
exposure to Bernice and Matty helped.

"If I have to hold this door open any longer, a bear
is going to come bolting out of the woods and welcome
himself!"

Tom and Mark, running ahead of their dad, spoofed on
Matty's words, "Coming mother dear!"

Barry stood there, hands on his hips, laughing, as
Bernice put both boys in a tickling fit, until Barry
found his way to the entrance of the 'bears den'. As
Barry entered, he became struck by amazement, as much
as Tom and Mark when they viewed the open, vaulted
ceiling of the contemporary home and the wooded
balconies.

"This is very nice, Bernice."

"Thanks, Barry," she cordially replied, bubbling over
in smiles.

He then added, "Are you sure you sent us the pictures
of the right home?"

Right away she replied, "I thought you wanted
something more traditional."

"Oh, I'm not complaining."

"Well, it's not too late to change your mind, Barry."

"Hi guys!" Philip appears, like he owns the place, a
jug of Gatorade in his hand. "Matty says help yourself
to anything in the fridge. That is, except the beer
and wine."

It's Tom that boldly tells him, "Lead us to it,
Squirt!"

"Whooooa, wait up there fellas."

But Bernice shoos them on, "Don't worry about them.
You'll find that Matty and I are very informal
people." Bernice then, standing in the middle of the
balcony, yells out like a hogcaller, "Matteeeeeee!"

"What's up, mom?" the nineteen year old calls down
from the wooden, railed in planking. Chad appeared
with him, their hair kind of out of whack.

"Mr. Barr and I are taking a walk. Take the kids into
Donovan's and pick up a dozen or so steaks and
anything else the kids want to munch on. I'll leave a
couple of bills on the table at the front door."

Matty replies congenial, "Okay Mom. No problem."

"No problem?" Bernice reiterates, directing it towards
Barry.

"Um, yes. A phrase we have back east."

Bernice tries out the phrase some more. "No problem...
no problem. Hmm, I like the sound of that... no
problem. I'll have to try that on my clients next
time."

Arriving at the front door, Bernice opens her handbag,
pulling out four fifties.

"Oh no, let me treat."

Bernice says rather forward, "No way, buster. You
might just fall in love with what I'm gonna show you
and you're going to need every penny to afford it!"

Barry compromised, leaving two fifties, to add to
Bernice's.

%

"C'mon guys, over here," Matty directs the gang
towards the three car garage.

Philip calls out, "Aren't we going in the white
elephant?"

However, the four newcomers are quickly swayed from
the monstrous animal, to the sleek jaguar. "Shit, this
is nice!"

Philip says, "Ooooh, I'm gonna tell dad you cursed,
Chad!"

Tom, the more outspoken, teases, "Then who ya gonna
run to at night when the boogedy man comes in your
room, Squirt?"

Chad could see Philip getting a bit riled up about
Tom's lack of sensitivity.

"Hey, he can fight his own battles, Tom, so just back
off of Squirt here."

Philip replied, "You tell'm, Chad!"

Their father wouldn't here it from Philip, of the
cursing episode.

They thought they were headed for the Jaguar, until
Matty interrupted, "No guys, this way."

"Nice wheels, Matty," Chad commented.

Matty replied, "Yeah and the rest of the car is kind
of nice, too."

Chad repeated to himself, 'Oh boy, do you and I need
to talk, Matty!'

In no time, they had zipped out of the garage, headed
back towards the 'city' of West Richland, in the SUV.

%

Side by side, the two walked and chatted.

"No sidewalks, huh?"

"They were going to, but I reminded the developer that
this is 'not' a main road and sidewalks would just not
fit in with the beauty of the area," Bernice replied.

"Nicely forested here."

"Yes, that's why I grabbed up the first plot of land
and also the largest parcel."

"Being a real estate agency can have it's dividends, I
suppose."

"That it can." Of course Bernice meant it in a
different frame of mind.

"So quiet, too."

"Was it a city that you lived in, Barry?"

"Oh no. Country, but not like this. Our house was
located in shouting distance to the next home, plus
the land had been stripped of most of the trees when
the developer came in. Crying shame."

"I know what you mean, Barry. It's happening all over
the world. The landscape is being stripped in the name
of vanity. Then they wonder why communities are washed
away in floods. I mean, a tract of land leveled by a
forest fire is one thing, but manmade deforestation is
a sin."

"Looks like somebody coming down the hill."

"That's Stevie Clark out for his run. Let's meet up
with him, I'll introduce you."

Barry's amazement caused him to grin, as Bernice took
off like a bat out of hell, in the runner's direction.
He definitely knew now that Bernice was no slacker.

"Steeevieeee!" That hogcalling voice rang out, loud
even to cause a flock of forrested birds to take
flight. "Stevie Clark, wait up!" The running figure,
switched directions and headed towards Barry and
Bernice.

"Hey, Bernice how's by you?"

Barry eyed up the lanky stud.

"Good. Steve, I'd like you to meet your new colleague,
Barry Barr."

"Nice to meet you Barry."

The two exchanged handshakes.

"Likewise."

"Stevie Clark, you better zip up!" Bernice scolded.

"Oh Bernice."

"Don't you oh Bernice me, Steve Clark, after you spent
a month out sick last year!"

Barry smiled at Bernice gave Steve the motherly
treatment, as if he were Squirt. Walking right up to
Steve, Bernice pulled the zipper of his open sweat top
up to his chin. Funny thing is, Barry got a feeling of
disappointment at the enveloping barechest, which he
sensed to himself as a strange feeling, deep down
inside.

"You almost snagged my adam's apple in the zipper,
Bernice!"

"You're lucky it's not the other zipper or I'd snag
more than that!"

The two men giggled.

"Oh, you're so bad, Bernice!" Steve exclaimed.

Bernice realized her sin and commented, "Pardon my
French thinking, Barry."

Barry began ribbing on the caring woman. "Don't know
about you Bernice. Might have to take you out back for
a swishing!" The two cracked up in laughter, leaving
Steve in the dark.

"I'll explain it to you sometime, Steve," Barry posed.
"Private joke."

Bernice offered, "C'mon and jog down to the Chatsworth
place with us, Stevie."

Jog is right. Barry almost readied to unbutton his
shirt, as the two took off at a jogger's pace, running
along the side of the road. They slowed when they
noticed Barry just behind them.

Steve extended, "We'll have to get you into the
neighborhood exercise league."

"League?"

Bernice filled him in, "Yes. It started out with a
couple of us meeting along the road, out for our own
benefit. At certain times there were more and more
neighbors coming out, adults, kids and soon we were
grouped."

Steve asked, "Are you into jogging or weight lifting,
Barry?"

"A little of each, but not too steadily at the moment.
Since my wife passed on, I haven't been able to keep
up a constant pattern of going to the gym."

"I'm sorry to hear of that, Barry."

"Thanks Steve."

"Recently?"

"Yes. This past summer."

Bernice could sense that not only did Barry's voice
take a dip in upbeat rhythm, but his pace began to
slow. "Oh look! You can see the roof of the Chatsworth
from here!"

Barry needed to bend over and catch his breath for a
moment, as they got to a clump of bushes and
evergreens, before Bernice's surprise.

"I'm going ahead to open up the place. You two men
come in, when you're fit."

"Quite a nice lady, that Bernice."

"Yes, that she seems to be, Steve", Barry heartily
agreed. "If it wasn't for her, my boys and I wouldn't
be half as settled as we are now."

"Interested in the Chatsworth place, are you?"

"Well, Bernice has sent me tons of pictures of the
place two doors up from her."

"Right next door to the Stanford's."

"Oh? I thought Bernice said that 'we' would be
neighbors."

"What Bernice means is by neighbors, is anyone within
a twenty mile radius!"

"I can believe it. What a friendly gal."

"She's a gem alright. However, if you did purchase the
Chatsworth place, Barry, I'd be your backyard
neighbor."

"That so? I think Bernice mentioned that you have
children."

As the two walked, they talked. Mainly about Steve.
Revealing the details of his clan, he found almost a
mirror of his own family, in the Clark family. Aidan,
eleven years old, Eric, fourteen, Denis, sixteen and
the oldest, Sean at nineteen.

"Barry, there's something I need to get off my chest."

"Shoot," Barry said, wanting to see what was on
Steve's chest.

"I don't know how open you are to ideas, but my boys
are adopted."

"No problem for me, Steve."

"I guess what I'm driving at, Barry, is that they
didn't grow up with a mother."

"Well, I have to give you credit then, Steve. Being a
single parent and raising kids today, is very tough.
And four, no less."

"No, I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"What I'm trying to convey to you, Barry. Is that my
boys were raised, some of the time, by two dads. I'm
gay."

"Hmm... I see. You didn't have to tell me that,
Steve."

"Maybe it is a mistake. Not everybody is comfortable
with it."

"I have no problem accepting that, Steve."

"There's more though. None of our... my boys are not
biologically related."

"Oh?"

Before the two could round out their conversation the
lane bellowed with a blast of animalistic calling.

"Will you men get a buzz on it?" Bernice yelled out in
her hogcalling manner.

"Bernice calls!" Barry joked.

"Hee heeee... she can be quite the persuasive one."

"It seems I'm leaving you hanging here, Barry."

"Yes and I'd like to hear you out, Steve. Maybe after
we get settled, we can get our family's together."

Just that small comment, took a load off of Steve's
mind. There were many loose ends to his story of the
evolution of his family, but right off the bat, to
Steve it didn't seem to phase Barry as something
judgemental or biased.

"I almost turned the light out and forgot about you
men!"

"Yeah, sure Bernice, not with what you're making off
of this sale."

"I should take you out back for a swishin', after that
remark, Stevie Clark!"

Even though Steve didn't have an idea of what the
replacement of swishin', for switchin' meant, he found
Bernice hilarious.

%

"I can't believe how nice and friendly Mr. Donovan
is." Tom and Mark commented.

"I'm going to tell dad to shop there all the time,"
Philip also added, sitting there and eating the free
dixiecup of ice cream.

Chad reasons, "Well don't expect it all the time,
guys. I think Mr. Donovan only did that because we're
new in town."

However, Matty set Chad straight, "Nope. Mr. Donovan
treats all the town's kids like that and all the
time."

"He must be nearly broke!" Mark added.

"Nope, he's been doing it for years. The guy's made a
mint ten times over."

"Pepper or spear, Matty?"

"Pepper or spear what, Squirt?"

"Mint."

"Dummy," Chad stated to the youngster, "Matty meant
mint, like in the Denver mint... money, dah?"

"There's that word again."

"What word?" Tom and Mark asked at the same time, then
added, "Deja vu!"

"Deja vu?" Matty also questioned.

Chad began educating Matty, telling him the meaning of
'dah' and then Deja vu, the phrase Tom and Mark used
whenever they said the same thing at the same instant,
as if reading each other's minds.

"What's that, Matty?"

"What?"

"That rock we just past, thrusting up out of the
mountain?"

"Oh 'that'. One of nature's little weirdies."

"Weirdies?"

"Yeah. My mom said that one day, about two hundred
million years ago, it just decided to pop out of the
side of the mountain."

"Interesting. I'd like to take a look at it sometime."

Tom mentions, "Yeah, Chad has rocks in his head!"

"At least I don't go around with a sack of knitting
needles!"

"I like knitting, so cut that crap, bro!"

"Touche!" Matty said on Chad's behalf.

Philip asks, "What about your tushie, Matty?"

Philip never got an answer, but it sure filled the SUV
with laughter that almost brought on tears, plus
followup puns about Matty's ass.

The conversing moved over to Chad, busting on Tom's
big butt! Philip only understood some of the
conversation.

Finally they pulled in through the Bridges' iron
gates. Exiting the SUV, Chad reminded Tom and Mark of
the paper sacks in the back.

Phillip helped Chad, "Yeah, Tommy and Mark, come back
and help before Chad takes you out back and gives you
a swishin'!"

Chad, mussed Phillip's hair, then planted a paper sack
of potato chips in the lad's arms. Matty and Chad
followed the multicolored the flagstone path to the
front door.

"Aren't you going to pull into the garage, Matty?"

"Hmm... you want another peek at the 'wheels', huh
Chad?"

"At least you know what I'm referring to now."

"Yeah. It's 'cool', Chad."

Philip ran in the front door, carrying a brown grocery
bag, hugging it as if it were a friend. His face
almost got planted in the stranger's stomach, blocking
the doorway.

"Hey, who are you?"

"Who are you, little man?"

"I asked you first!"

"I asked you second!"

"Alberto, meet 'Squirt'!" Matty provided the answer.

"Sqeert?"

"Or Philip."

"Who's Albearto?" Philip grilled Matty.

"I'm the cook," Alberto offered, taking the shopping
bag from Philip's hands. He didn't let Alberto off the
hook yet, following him.

Doubting he could really be one, Philip grills the
distinguished man, "What can you cook?"

The two walked into the kitchen, Alberto carrying the
sack, Philip and he carrying on a man to 'man' talk.

"Let's see, bear stew, antelope pudding, zebra ice
cream."

"There's no such thing as zebra ice cream."

"Oh yes there is and to prove it to you, young man, we
are having it for dessert tonight."

"Wow! This I gotta see!"

Philip's eyes were as wide as saucers, wanting to
become a believer in the zebra ice cream! Of course
Tom and Mark knew this to be some type of scheme,
though they liked Alberto and the way he led Philip
on.

"How would you like to help me make dinner, Philip?"

"Yeah, sure. Are you French?"

"A little bit. I'm three different kinds of people."

"That's funny. You look like one," Philip replied,
dead serious.

"Hee heee... I am a little bit French, a little
Italian and a little Spanish."

"Wow! You sure are mixed up, Alberto!"

That sent Alberto into a riotous laughter. He knew he
would be getting along with Philip very well. He set
about fitting Philip into a white apron, edited for
his size and having him sit at a tall stool at the
butcher block counter, mid kitchen.

"I hope this isn't something that's going to be all
oozey and make my hands greasy."

"Salad? I hardly doubt it, Philip. I think you will
have some fun. See, you take the head like this and
'kerplunk'."

Holding the head of lettuce up, Alberto smashes it
against the table surface.

"I think my dad would say that's too vilence."

After giggling, Alberto showed Philip how to tear it
to pieces, placing it in the big round, wooden salad
bowl. He set about his stove duties, leaving Philip to
have his fun.

%

continued....

        ©2005 T. Chase McPhee  All Rights Reserved.

		Assgm.net/yahoogroups.com
	Gay Dreamers Loft/yahoogroups.com

       Permission is NOT granted to publish
       this story  to any PAY site, nor any site
       that is not listed above, without the
       author's prior consent.

The following story is a work of fiction set in the
format of reality. Any resemblance to real people is
entirely coincidental in nature, and is not meant to
accurately reflect persons in towns, cities, or
governmental areas, in which the story is staged. If
sexual scenes 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 states and countries, you are not allowed to read
this by law.

"Nature Walk" 02 (M/t oral)
wriTten by T. Chase McPhee

%

"This sure doesn't look like our development back
home," Mark commented.

Even Tom noticed the wall to wall forest. "Sure enough
doesn't, Mark. Looks like we get out of mowing the
lawn!"

"As my mom mentioned to your dad, this area is home to
at least seven different evergreens."

Philip drew an opinion already of Matt. "You're a
smart guy, Matty. What grade are you in?"

"Oh, I'm not in high school anymore, Squirt," Matty
replied.

Philip decided to let Matt slide on the nick, since he
liked using Matty's nick.

"Right now I'm majoring in business management at West
Richland Community College."

Bernice butts in, "It's the only way I could keep my
Matty from running away from home, is to offer him
'the business'."

This threw the grownups into the conversation piece of
the startup of Bridges Realty. It separated the front
seat and back seat conversations.

"What about you, Chad?" Matt inquires.

"I'm in my senior year of high school."

As the two older teens chat, Tom and Mark draw their
attention to some of the activities available,
starting out with the nature center. When it switches
to soccer, Philip's interest wanes from those two, to
the other two.

"Know what, Matty?"

"Nope. I don't know what is what, Squirt. What?" Matt
asks back, confusingly.

Philip stops for a moment to think for a few seconds,
then proceeds with some startling news. "Chad and I
share a room."

Matt answers, "No kidding?"

"I'm not kidding, even though you lied about Sam,
Matty."

Chad replied to Matt, "Squirt doesn't get mad. He gets
even."

Chad didn't know how that would go over with Matt, but
set him straight on the new sleeping arrangements.
"Each of us have our own room now."

"But dad says if I get scared, I can still come in and
shack up with you, Chad."

"Shack up?" Matt questions.

Chad didn't care to even elaborate on the subject of
vocabulary, so quickly derailed everyone's trail of
thought. He hadn't needed to, since the white elephant
swerved right, passing between two iron gates.

"Is this our development?" Tom asked.

Matt chuckled and then responded, "No. This is the
entrance to your home."

The word 'home', rang out in five different timbres,
as the form of a question.

"I don't recall pictures of a wrought iron fence,
Bernice?" Barry presented.

Bernice chortled, then spoke up, "I left those out on
purpose, Barry. I wanted to give you some sort of
excitement when we pulled up to your place."

Chad's famous line rung out, "That's okay Mrs.
Bridges. Dad doesn't get mad. He just gets even!"

Once again Bernice presents to Barry, "I wonder where
he gets 'that' from?" Barry relaxed, looking out the
window at their new grounds.

Finally the evergreen woods gave way to a lawn
surrounding a rather large abode. They all gasped,
except Tom whom complained of the rather large expanse
of bladed grass that would have to be mown.

"Shit, will you look at that!" Chad called out.

Bernice's look shot to Matty's in the rearview. Barry
picked up on it right away.

"Um, Chad, there's a lady present."

Mending his uncalled for manners, he apologized, "Oh,
I'm terribly sorry Mrs. Bridges."

She kiddingly responded, "Well, if it happens again,
Chad, I'm going to have your father take you out back
and give you a switching!"

Barry, a glint in his eye replies to Bernice's cruel
punishment, "Hmm, is that why Matt is so nicely
mannered?" The quizzical statement followed with an
evil grin.

Bernice slapped Barry's forearm, saying, "You sly fox,
Barry. You really do get even!" The two front seaters
laughed, as the teens smiled.

Matt liked how his mom and Mr. Barr were getting along
so well. He hoped he'd development some type of
lighthearted rapport with Chad, that allowed him to
get 'touchy'.

"Oh my... oh my... this is nothing like the pictures,"
Barry gasped, as Bernice led him into the wide
entrance way, just inside the small foyer.

Bernice again stated her inadequacies as a
photographer, "I told you that damn camera doesn't do
this place justice."

The two heard behind them, from 'Squirt', "Dad, you
better take Mrs. Bridges out back and give her a
swishin'!"

Both adults turned a bright pink, as the five guys
laughed their asses off.

"Some comedian you are, Squirt!" Matt commented,
putting his arm around the ten year old's shoulder.

Chad helped out, "Yeah, maybe too funny for his own
good sometimes!" He gave Philip a wink. After Tom and
Mark quieted down, they awarded their little bro,
"Good one, Philip!"

Philip loved the 'touching' from all of the guys.
Bernice started towards Philip to give him a loving
hug, but Squirt clung to Chad instead.

"I'm sorry Bernice," Barry apologized.

"Oh no. Don't be, Barry. I understand fully. Matty,
why don't you show the boys around, while I help
familiarize Mr. Barr with their new home?"

"Sure Mom," Matt replied.

Chad sensed an electric jolt travel down his spine
when Matt touched his back, as he herded the group in
the opposite direction of the adults. Either it's or
the place is haunted.

"This is the den. The former owners used it for their
TV room mostly."

"Heeey," Tom got an idea, "This will be perfect for an
entertainment center."

Mark reminded him, "Yeah, if we only had one, dah?"

Chad noticed Matt mouthing the word, 'dah', but
skipped any explanation. "Why don't we keep going,
Matty?"

"Sure, Chad," The 'real estate agent' replied.

Squirt had one last departing question, "Is this
chimney wide enough for Santa to get down through?"

Wanting to stand around and help Philip with maybe
measuring the circumference of the chimney, Chad said,
"we'll come back later," then pointed Squirt to the
direction in front of him, but behind Matt.

Philip thought it interesting when Matt stopped, but
Chad kept on going, forcing Philip to become
sandwiched in between the 'meat' and 'end of the
bread'.

"Voila! The kitchen!"

The boys gasped at the huge room, whereas the sink
area remained in it's own entity, separated by a grand
butcher block table, from the cooking area.

"Shit!" Chad called out, immediately turning to Matt,
"Sorry 'bout that, Matty."

He smiled, replying, "It's not a problem with me. Just
don't say it around the 'lady'!"

Chad took an extended look, at Matt's grin and
couldn't help, naturally flexing his eyebrows, moving
them up and down. He got the same reaction back from
Matt. Then Chad's brighty-whitey's flashed back at
Matt. The two didn't need gaydar to sense what each
thought. They quickly broke the trance, when Philip
tugged on Matt's shirt.

"What's up, Squirt?"

"My dad doesn't work out, but I have a feeling he's
going to get one, after running around this kitchen,
to fix us dinner."

Matt, providing a royal goof, replied, "My mom is too
tired when she gets home for that, so we have a cook."


The word 'cook', resounded through the room four
times, as each boy picked up on the position.

Chad broke the ice, "I don't think that's going to run
by my dad too cool, Matty."

Matt quickly tried to decipher the meaning, not being
a too cool thing. His results were in guessing,
considering the tone of Chad's voice.

"Well, uh, everybody's different," Matt used for an
excuse.

Chad decided to work some other thoughts in, since
they were on the subject of every being different. "Oh
yeah, just like my brothers. We're all different and
like different things." It seemed most missed the
point, so the conversing went back to the 'cook'.

"I'm sure everybody on this side of the mountain
doesn't have a cook," Matt fibbed, to get himself off
the hook.

Instantly, without warning, their dad and Mrs. Bridges
appeared through the swinging door. Mrs. Bridges
laughed when their dad got swatted on the rebound.

"Haa ha haaa... oh, I'm sorry, but I couldn't help
laugh at your reaction. You have to remember to move
quickly through the doorway or else you get spanked in
the as... fanny!"

Barry noticed Bernice's almost slip and smiled back.

"Hey, Dad?"

"Yes, Philip?" He knelt down on one knee to converse
with his short-heighted son.

"Matty says they've got a cook because Mrs. B is too
lazy to cook when she comes home."

Chad reminded Matt of the 'evil stare'.

"Mom, I swear I didn't say that."

Philip contradicted the eighteen year old, "Oh yes you
did, Matty. You said your mom was too tired."

Barry tried rectifying the incident, telling his ten
year old, "Listen son, coming home from work tired is
much different than being lazy."

Bernice, bent in half, to tell him that she wasn't
offended.

Philip replied, "That's real good Mrs. B. I would feel
terrible if you took Matty out back for a swishin' and
he didn't mean what I thought he said." Philip allowed
her to muss up his locks, as she smiled.

Tom and Mark noticed Chad giving Matt a hand spank, on
the fanny, in jest. "I imagine that could hurt like
hell, Matty."

"Don't knock it til you've tried it, Chad!" 'Strange
reaction', Chad thought, but figured he misunderstood
something along the way.

"I don't suppose you showed them the upstairs, Matty?"

"No mother dear!"

After breaking their mutual grin, Bernice led the
troops up the 'one person' stairway from the kitchen.
Unlike the 'double-peopled' stairway from the opening,
the entourage needed to ascend single file.

Matt loved stepping up behind Chad.

"Here's bedroom number one to fight over!" Entering
the room, which fit the party of seven easily, Bernice
had to convince them that this indeed was not the
master bedroom.

Right away Tom and Mark began a squabble over each one
occupying it.

"Now boys. If either one of you can't concede to the
other then we'll have to draw straws," their dad
reasoned.

Chad joked, "Eh, just let them slug it out, dad."

"Yeah, thanks for the help, son," Barry retorted,
directing it at his eldest.

Squirt poked his opinion in, "I don't care, as long as
I'm near Chad's room. A room this big could get scary
at night!"

As they left the large scale single bedroom, it's
Bernice who chatted with Philip about being alone in
the dark. Barry liked the idea of Bernice's motherly
concern and in a sense of weaning Philip away from
Chad's paternal instincts. As he walked behind
Bernice, guiding Philip, he sensed more trust bestowed
upon the woman and less fear, than when she first
approached the youngster in the foyer.

"Mrs. B, does your cook know how to make Jello and
apple pie?"

"Yes, what is this about a cook?" Barry asked,
thoroughly interested, in case he should get on a lazy
kick.

"You'll find out sooner of later, Barry, so I'll tell
you straight. Not that there's anything wrong with you
cooking for your own brood, but we all hire domestic
help here, in the neighborhood. Your children might as
well know. West Richland Heights is just that... 'rich
land'."

Chad whispered into an ear, "What's that shit you were
trying to pull off, Matty?" He smiled and got his own
jolly out of Chad's comment.

"I didn't want to hurt your feelings, Chad."

"I could tell from the start that you were a sweet
fag!"

"What tha fuhhh?"

Chad knew right away that Matty and he had to have a
private conversation. It could be immediately sensed
that Matty had been very offended by the 'fag'
comment.

"Hey, sorry about that, but you and I need to talk."
Matty agreed, but had some reluctance, "Yeah, maybe."
He didn't know if he liked the way Chad threw some gay
remarks around, but then again, being from a different
area of the country,  figured the culture exchange
could be differentiated.

"Um, are you boys interested in finishing the tour
today?"

"Coming mother!"

Chad directed to Matty, "Ladies first!" Matty stepped
aside to allow Chad in front of him.

"Wise ass," Chad commented, softly so that only Matty
could take in the remark.

Walking about the upstairs, Bernice pointed out the
other four bedrooms of the palatial home, plus
closets, the main bathroom and then two of the
bedrooms that had private baths. Of course, Chad
claimed one of the rooms, with the privacy gained in
pissing and other acts.

"Chad?"

"Yeah, Squirt?"

"Can I use your bathroom sometimes when Tommy and Mark
are hogging ours?"

Chad smiled and okayed it, as long as he knocked
before entering. That would certainly be true if Matty
and he planned on some overnights!

"Well, I'm starved," Bernice put the suggestion into
the player's field.

Of course the idea spread like wildfire. After
ditching the baggage inside the front door, the troops
piled back into the white elephant, for the trip two
doors down. Philip thought he noticed something in the
small forest of pines, in the direction of the next
home, but the herding back inside the van kept him
from investigating.

"Heeeey," Philip called out, "this isn't a development
like back home."

Bernice, again bent over to chat with Philip on the
auspices of real estate, just outside the entrance of
her and Matty's home. "Of course this isn't like all
developments, Philip. None of the houses are the same.
Come inside and you will see for yourself."

Barry liked the idea of how Philip began opening up to
Bernice, taking her hand, as she entered the big home.
It had also been good of her to assume a maternal
friendship with Philip. Tom and Mark flanked their
dad's sides, talking with him as they walked up the
flagstone pathway, leading to the front door.

"So, dad, are we going to get a cook?" Tom asks.

"I'm not sure. It's a possibility that we might be
able to swing it, to have a cook for dinners. I think
we can fend for ourselves for breakfast and meals on
weekends."

Mark cuts in, "Do Tom and I have to mow the lawn?"

"Hey, I don't want you guys to start to get lazy, like
Mrs. Bridges!"

"She's a nice lady, isn't she dad?"

"That she is, Mark."

Tom adds, "I just figured she would dump us at the
front door with our luggage and hightail it outta
here."

Mark answered the remark quite nicely, "I don't think
Mrs. B is that kind of lady. She's sorta like mom."

"Yeah? How so, Mark?" Tom asked, on the defensive.

Barry liked the way the boys were talking about their
departed mother and comparing Bernice to her. Tom's
remark seemed logical. After the passing of a parent,
changing their residency doesn't necessarily warrant a
immediate settling of feelings. Barry knew that it
would take time and nurturing to at least settle the
atmosphere some. The mending process had begun. Barry
hoped the change in their lives, moving to West
Richland, would help all of them geton with their
lives. This fact troubled Barry and he saw that their
exposure to Bernice and Matty helped.

"If I have to hold this door open any longer, a bear
is going to come bolting out of the woods and welcome
himself!"

Tom and Mark, running ahead of their dad, spoofed on
Matty's words, "Coming mother dear!"

Barry stood there, hands on his hips, laughing, as
Bernice put both boys in a tickling fit, until Barry
found his way to the entrance of the 'bears den'. As
Barry entered, he became struck by amazement, as much
as Tom and Mark when they viewed the open, vaulted
ceiling of the contemporary home and the wooded
balconies.

"This is very nice, Bernice."

"Thanks, Barry," she cordially replied, bubbling over
in smiles.

He then added, "Are you sure you sent us the pictures
of the right home?"

Right away she replied, "I thought you wanted
something more traditional."

"Oh, I'm not complaining."

"Well, it's not too late to change your mind, Barry."

"Hi guys!" Philip appears, like he owns the place, a
jug of Gatorade in his hand. "Matty says help yourself
to anything in the fridge. That is, except the beer
and wine."

It's Tom that boldly tells him, "Lead us to it,
Squirt!"

"Whooooa, wait up there fellas."

But Bernice shoos them on, "Don't worry about them.
You'll find that Matty and I are very informal
people." Bernice then, standing in the middle of the
balcony, yells out like a hogcaller, "Matteeeeeee!"

"What's up, mom?" the nineteen year old calls down
from the wooden, railed in planking. Chad appeared
with him, their hair kind of out of whack.

"Mr. Barr and I are taking a walk. Take the kids into
Donovan's and pick up a dozen or so steaks and
anything else the kids want to munch on. I'll leave a
couple of bills on the table at the front door."

Matty replies congenial, "Okay Mom. No problem."

"No problem?" Bernice reiterates, directing it towards
Barry.

"Um, yes. A phrase we have back east."

Bernice tries out the phrase some more. "No problem...
no problem. Hmm, I like the sound of that... no
problem. I'll have to try that on my clients next
time."

Arriving at the front door, Bernice opens her handbag,
pulling out four fifties.

"Oh no, let me treat."

Bernice says rather forward, "No way, buster. You
might just fall in love with what I'm gonna show you
and you're going to need every penny to afford it!"

Barry compromised, leaving two fifties, to add to
Bernice's.

%

"C'mon guys, over here," Matty directs the gang
towards the three car garage.

Philip calls out, "Aren't we going in the white
elephant?"

However, the four newcomers are quickly swayed from
the monstrous animal, to the sleek jaguar. "Shit, this
is nice!"

Philip says, "Ooooh, I'm gonna tell dad you cursed,
Chad!"

Tom, the more outspoken, teases, "Then who ya gonna
run to at night when the boogedy man comes in your
room, Squirt?"

Chad could see Philip getting a bit riled up about
Tom's lack of sensitivity.

"Hey, he can fight his own battles, Tom, so just back
off of Squirt here."

Philip replied, "You tell'm, Chad!"

Their father wouldn't here it from Philip, of the
cursing episode.

They thought they were headed for the Jaguar, until
Matty interrupted, "No guys, this way."

"Nice wheels, Matty," Chad commented.

Matty replied, "Yeah and the rest of the car is kind
of nice, too."

Chad repeated to himself, 'Oh boy, do you and I need
to talk, Matty!'

In no time, they had zipped out of the garage, headed
back towards the 'city' of West Richland, in the SUV.

%

Side by side, the two walked and chatted.

"No sidewalks, huh?"

"They were going to, but I reminded the developer that
this is 'not' a main road and sidewalks would just not
fit in with the beauty of the area," Bernice replied.

"Nicely forested here."

"Yes, that's why I grabbed up the first plot of land
and also the largest parcel."

"Being a real estate agency can have it's dividends, I
suppose."

"That it can." Of course Bernice meant it in a
different frame of mind.

"So quiet, too."

"Was it a city that you lived in, Barry?"

"Oh no. Country, but not like this. Our house was
located in shouting distance to the next home, plus
the land had been stripped of most of the trees when
the developer came in. Crying shame."

"I know what you mean, Barry. It's happening all over
the world. The landscape is being stripped in the name
of vanity. Then they wonder why communities are washed
away in floods. I mean, a tract of land leveled by a
forest fire is one thing, but manmade deforestation is
a sin."

"Looks like somebody coming down the hill."

"That's Stevie Clark out for his run. Let's meet up
with him, I'll introduce you."

Barry's amazement caused him to grin, as Bernice took
off like a bat out of hell, in the runner's direction.
He definitely knew now that Bernice was no slacker.

"Steeevieeee!" That hogcalling voice rang out, loud
even to cause a flock of forrested birds to take
flight. "Stevie Clark, wait up!" The running figure,
switched directions and headed towards Barry and
Bernice.

"Hey, Bernice how's by you?"

Barry eyed up the lanky stud.

"Good. Steve, I'd like you to meet your new colleague,
Barry Barr."

"Nice to meet you Barry."

The two exchanged handshakes.

"Likewise."

"Stevie Clark, you better zip up!" Bernice scolded.

"Oh Bernice."

"Don't you oh Bernice me, Steve Clark, after you spent
a month out sick last year!"

Barry smiled at Bernice gave Steve the motherly
treatment, as if he were Squirt. Walking right up to
Steve, Bernice pulled the zipper of his open sweat top
up to his chin. Funny thing is, Barry got a feeling of
disappointment at the enveloping barechest, which he
sensed to himself as a strange feeling, deep down
inside.

"You almost snagged my adam's apple in the zipper,
Bernice!"

"You're lucky it's not the other zipper or I'd snag
more than that!"

The two men giggled.

"Oh, you're so bad, Bernice!" Steve exclaimed.

Bernice realized her sin and commented, "Pardon my
French thinking, Barry."

Barry began ribbing on the caring woman. "Don't know
about you Bernice. Might have to take you out back for
a swishing!" The two cracked up in laughter, leaving
Steve in the dark.

"I'll explain it to you sometime, Steve," Barry posed.
"Private joke."

Bernice offered, "C'mon and jog down to the Chatsworth
place with us, Stevie."

Jog is right. Barry almost readied to unbutton his
shirt, as the two took off at a jogger's pace, running
along the side of the road. They slowed when they
noticed Barry just behind them.

Steve extended, "We'll have to get you into the
neighborhood exercise league."

"League?"

Bernice filled him in, "Yes. It started out with a
couple of us meeting along the road, out for our own
benefit. At certain times there were more and more
neighbors coming out, adults, kids and soon we were
grouped."

Steve asked, "Are you into jogging or weight lifting,
Barry?"

"A little of each, but not too steadily at the moment.
Since my wife passed on, I haven't been able to keep
up a constant pattern of going to the gym."

"I'm sorry to hear of that, Barry."

"Thanks Steve."

"Recently?"

"Yes. This past summer."

Bernice could sense that not only did Barry's voice
take a dip in upbeat rhythm, but his pace began to
slow. "Oh look! You can see the roof of the Chatsworth
from here!"

Barry needed to bend over and catch his breath for a
moment, as they got to a clump of bushes and
evergreens, before Bernice's surprise.

"I'm going ahead to open up the place. You two men
come in, when you're fit."

"Quite a nice lady, that Bernice."

"Yes, that she seems to be, Steve", Barry heartily
agreed. "If it wasn't for her, my boys and I wouldn't
be half as settled as we are now."

"Interested in the Chatsworth place, are you?"

"Well, Bernice has sent me tons of pictures of the
place two doors up from her."

"Right next door to the Stanford's."

"Oh? I thought Bernice said that 'we' would be
neighbors."

"What Bernice means is by neighbors, is anyone within
a twenty mile radius!"

"I can believe it. What a friendly gal."

"She's a gem alright. However, if you did purchase the
Chatsworth place, Barry, I'd be your backyard
neighbor."

"That so? I think Bernice mentioned that you have
children."

As the two walked, they talked. Mainly about Steve.
Revealing the details of his clan, he found almost a
mirror of his own family, in the Clark family. Aidan,
eleven years old, Eric, fourteen, Denis, sixteen and
the oldest, Sean at nineteen.

"Barry, there's something I need to get off my chest."

"Shoot," Barry said, wanting to see what was on
Steve's chest.

"I don't know how open you are to ideas, but my boys
are adopted."

"No problem for me, Steve."

"I guess what I'm driving at, Barry, is that they
didn't grow up with a mother."

"Well, I have to give you credit then, Steve. Being a
single parent and raising kids today, is very tough.
And four, no less."

"No, I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"What I'm trying to convey to you, Barry. Is that my
boys were raised, some of the time, by two dads. I'm
gay."

"Hmm... I see. You didn't have to tell me that,
Steve."

"Maybe it is a mistake. Not everybody is comfortable
with it."

"I have no problem accepting that, Steve."

"There's more though. None of our... my boys are not
biologically related."

"Oh?"

Before the two could round out their conversation the
lane bellowed with a blast of animalistic calling.

"Will you men get a buzz on it?" Bernice yelled out in
her hogcalling manner.

"Bernice calls!" Barry joked.

"Hee heeee... she can be quite the persuasive one."

"It seems I'm leaving you hanging here, Barry."

"Yes and I'd like to hear you out, Steve. Maybe after
we get settled, we can get our family's together."

Just that small comment, took a load off of Steve's
mind. There were many loose ends to his story of the
evolution of his family, but right off the bat, to
Steve it didn't seem to phase Barry as something
judgemental or biased.

"I almost turned the light out and forgot about you
men!"

"Yeah, sure Bernice, not with what you're making off
of this sale."

"I should take you out back for a swishin', after that
remark, Stevie Clark!"

Even though Steve didn't have an idea of what the
replacement of swishin', for switchin' meant, he found
Bernice hilarious.

%

"I can't believe how nice and friendly Mr. Donovan
is." Tom and Mark commented.

"I'm going to tell dad to shop there all the time,"
Philip also added, sitting there and eating the free
dixiecup of ice cream.

Chad reasons, "Well don't expect it all the time,
guys. I think Mr. Donovan only did that because we're
new in town."

However, Matty set Chad straight, "Nope. Mr. Donovan
treats all the town's kids like that and all the
time."

"He must be nearly broke!" Mark added.

"Nope, he's been doing it for years. The guy's made a
mint ten times over."

"Pepper or spear, Matty?"

"Pepper or spear what, Squirt?"

"Mint."

"Dummy," Chad stated to the youngster, "Matty meant
mint, like in the Denver mint... money, dah?"

"There's that word again."

"What word?" Tom and Mark asked at the same time, then
added, "Deja vu!"

"Deja vu?" Matty also questioned.

Chad began educating Matty, telling him the meaning of
'dah' and then Deja vu, the phrase Tom and Mark used
whenever they said the same thing at the same instant,
as if reading each other's minds.

"What's that, Matty?"

"What?"

"That rock we just past, thrusting up out of the
mountain?"

"Oh 'that'. One of nature's little weirdies."

"Weirdies?"

"Yeah. My mom said that one day, about two hundred
million years ago, it just decided to pop out of the
side of the mountain."

"Interesting. I'd like to take a look at it sometime."

Tom mentions, "Yeah, Chad has rocks in his head!"

"At least I don't go around with a sack of knitting
needles!"

"I like knitting, so cut that crap, bro!"

"Touche!" Matty said on Chad's behalf.

Philip asks, "What about your tushie, Matty?"

Philip never got an answer, but it sure filled the SUV
with laughter that almost brought on tears, plus
followup puns about Matty's ass.

The conversing moved over to Chad, busting on Tom's
big butt! Philip only understood some of the
conversation.

Finally they pulled in through the Bridges' iron
gates. Exiting the SUV, Chad reminded Tom and Mark of
the paper sacks in the back.

Phillip helped Chad, "Yeah, Tommy and Mark, come back
and help before Chad takes you out back and gives you
a swishin'!"

Chad, mussed Phillip's hair, then planted a paper sack
of potato chips in the lad's arms. Matty and Chad
followed the multicolored the flagstone path to the
front door.

"Aren't you going to pull into the garage, Matty?"

"Hmm... you want another peek at the 'wheels', huh
Chad?"

"At least you know what I'm referring to now."

"Yeah. It's 'cool', Chad."

Philip ran in the front door, carrying a brown grocery
bag, hugging it as if it were a friend. His face
almost got planted in the stranger's stomach, blocking
the doorway.

"Hey, who are you?"

"Who are you, little man?"

"I asked you first!"

"I asked you second!"

"Alberto, meet 'Squirt'!" Matty provided the answer.

"Sqeert?"

"Or Philip."

"Who's Albearto?" Philip grilled Matty.

"I'm the cook," Alberto offered, taking the shopping
bag from Philip's hands. He didn't let Alberto off the
hook yet, following him.

Doubting he could really be one, Philip grills the
distinguished man, "What can you cook?"

The two walked into the kitchen, Alberto carrying the
sack, Philip and he carrying on a man to 'man' talk.

"Let's see, bear stew, antelope pudding, zebra ice
cream."

"There's no such thing as zebra ice cream."

"Oh yes there is and to prove it to you, young man, we
are having it for dessert tonight."

"Wow! This I gotta see!"

Philip's eyes were as wide as saucers, wanting to
become a believer in the zebra ice cream! Of course
Tom and Mark knew this to be some type of scheme,
though they liked Alberto and the way he led Philip
on.

"How would you like to help me make dinner, Philip?"

"Yeah, sure. Are you French?"

"A little bit. I'm three different kinds of people."

"That's funny. You look like one," Philip replied,
dead serious.

"Hee heee... I am a little bit French, a little
Italian and a little Spanish."

"Wow! You sure are mixed up, Alberto!"

That sent Alberto into a riotous laughter. He knew he
would be getting along with Philip very well. He set
about fitting Philip into a white apron, edited for
his size and having him sit at a tall stool at the
butcher block counter, mid kitchen.

"I hope this isn't something that's going to be all
oozey and make my hands greasy."

"Salad? I hardly doubt it, Philip. I think you will
have some fun. See, you take the head like this and
'kerplunk'."

Holding the head of lettuce up, Alberto smashes it
against the table surface.

"I think my dad would say that's too vilence."

After giggling, Alberto showed Philip how to tear it
to pieces, placing it in the big round, wooden salad
bowl. He set about his stove duties, leaving Philip to
have his fun.

%

continued....

        Copyright 2005 T. Chase McPhee  All Rights Reserved.



dont strike a fault, unless you can admit you've slipped..T Chase McPhee