Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 17:30:42 +0000 (GMT)
From: Veneration <veneration2003@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Stormchild  part 2

Disclaimer: This is a gay story and there are rude bits. If it's illegal
for you to read this, don't. If it offends you to read this, don't.

Comments are welcome to veneration2003@yahoo.co.uk.


Stormchild - Part 2
by Veneration

Chapter 4 Down the creek without a paddle

Sunday dawned, warm and sunny. I woke early, as usual, so by the time I was
ready to go on the walk, it was still much too early to pick up the boys.

I imagined going to the house and talking to Iris. 'The boys are still in
bed? Well, I'm up, so why don't I go to the their bedrooms and get them up
and get up them?' Yeah, right.

After waiting until a more reasonable hour, I drove to Woodton. There was a
great bustle of preparation and loading the car. Eric settled into the
front seat in a way that made it clear that this was his rightful place and
that no-one else was going to sit there. We set off, with Grant and Harry
chattering in the back, while Eric stared silently ahead.

"Alright, then?" I asked him.

Eric shrugged, then glanced at me and quirked his mouth.

"Yes," he replied softly. We were at peace again.

I had decided to take the boys on the Mandel Creek Walk. It was in the
hills, about 30 minutes drive away, and the walk was not too hard or too
long. At least, that is what I thought. The start of the walk led uphill,
through farmland. The path was steep in places and Grant and Harry were
soon complaining about how hard it was and asking when we were going to get
to the end. I started to wonder why I had invited the two younger brothers
and how I would survive the day.

When we came to the top of the ridge, we stopped for a rest and a drink of
water. That led to Grant and Harry to start squabbling over their drink
bottle, with each trying to wrest it from the control of the other. Then
Eric joined in by yelling at them to shut up and hitting them when they
ignored him. I found this very upsetting, but what could I do? Then were
not my children and I had no idea how to control unruly boys. All I could
do was to sit silently, frowning and looking disapproving.

The boys knew they were being naughty and after a while they started
glancing at me, to see my reaction and waiting for me to stop them. But I
did nothing and they began to hesitate and slow down as the fight lost its
focus. Finally, they were silent and staring at me as I scowled severely at
them.

"What?" asked Eric.

"I'm keeping fit," I responded.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Harry looked puzzled at my nonsense.

"Well, they say that frowning uses more muscles than smiling, so you should
smile and save energy. I say you should frown and keep fit."

Grant laughed. "What!" he exclaimed. "Frowning doesn't make you fit."

"Hey," shouted Harry, "I'm going to get some exercise."

And he leapt to his feet, put on the most ferocious scowl, and stalked
around the field making growling noises. Harry was an amazing sight in his
bright yellow shorts and bright red T-shirt with racing car decals, as he
pranced against the rural scene of green grassy fields, dark green
tree-covered hills in the background, and blue sky above.

Then Grant also leapt to his feet and stalked after Harry, scowling and
frowning and growling. I couldn't work out why they were growling, but it
seemed to be an integral part of the performance. They ended up face to
face, growled fiercely at each other, burst into giggles, and collapsed on
the grass in a heap.

"You guys are so weird," Eric laughed.

He looked over at me and grinned. He continued to gaze at me with a look
that became speculative and perhaps something else, but I wasn't sure what.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing." And with a small smile Eric looked away.

We continued on our walk and the boys were very cheerful as they bounced
down the hill towards the stream.

After we arrived at the banks of the creek I stepped to a low bush to have
a piss. In an instant the three brothers were ranged on either side of me,
in a semi-circle around the bush. We got our cocks out of our pants and as
we let go, four golden streams of piss arched towards the bush. The boys
laughed as they aimed their little weapons to make their streams meet and
cross.

I looked down at those cute little weapons; how could I not? I could see
their pricks peeking out from between their fingers. Harry's piss streamed
from the end of a tight little foreskin, while I could see the blunt knobs
of Eric's and Grant's dicks. I did not know if they were circumcised, or
had pulled their foreskins back, but I hoped to find out some time.

I noticed the boys look over to check out my equipment. They each seemed to
be very interested in what they could see, so I made sure that my hands did
not hide their view of my man cock. When I finished, I milked out the last
of the piss and shook off the last few drops. But then as my cock started
stiffen under the attention of the three boys, I thought it was time to put
it away. Three little boy pricks disappeared and, as the boys switched
their attention to the creek and the walk, the moment was forgotten, though
not by me.

Mandel Creek meandered from side to side of a small valley between steep
hills. We had to cross the creek frequently as we followed it
downstream. At first we could jump from bank to bank, then had to find
stepping stones to get across. Finally, inevitably, each of us ended up in
the stream when we missed one of the crossings. Fortunately, the water was
only ankle deep. After that, we splashed or jumped or hopped from stone to
stone as our inclinations took us.

Once we got to the road, it was time for lunch. Afterwards, I rested on the
stream bank and watched the boys play in and around the creek, laughing and
chattering, throwing stones in the water, and splashing each other. After a
rocky start, the walk had turned into a success as the boys were clearly
enjoying themselves.

When the boys had had enough and joined me, we walked the short distance up
the road to where the car was parked. Grant strode ahead, but Harry walked
beside me and held onto my hand. Eric moved to my other side. He bumped
against me, arm to arm, then briefly brushed the back of his hand against
mine as we walked.

We returned to Woodton, where I delivered three tired, but happy, boys to
their mother.

"Thank you for taking the boys," she said. "It was certainly made the day
much easier for me and it was good to have a break away from them."

However, while the words were thankful enough, the tone was formal and
reserved.

Iris continued, "I really don't know why you would want to bother with
three young boys who are a real handful and who you don't even know."

Aha! Iris was suspicious of my motives. And yet, while she was correct
about my interest, I didn't take the boys on the trip to have my wicked way
with them. I could see that their home lives were difficult and suspected
that they didn't have much going for them, so I wanted to do something for
the brothers. While they could be horrible little imps when they were bad,
I was beginning to find that they could also be nice kids when they were
good.

"They were no trouble," I reassured Iris. "It was a pleasure taking them on
the walk."

"Yeah, it was fun. Can we do it again?" asked Harry.

Instantly, Eric stormed at him. "No you can't. You've come with us once and
you don't have to do it again." He wanted to keep me to himself.

"Why not?" Grant argued. "We can if we want."

"Boys," I interrupted before the argument could deteriorate further into a
fight.

They looked at me and let their argument subside into silence. Iris
observed this, with her mouth slightly open in surprise at the sight of her
sons being under control. I thought this was a good time to leave and made
my farewells.

There was a cheery "Bye" and "See ya" from Grant and Harry, but nothing
from Eric. My stormy boy was mad at me again.


Chapter 5 Couch potatoes

It was Friday evening and I had just started cooking dinner when I heard a
knock at the door. When I answered it, there was Eric, with a shy smile and
looking a little uncertain at my welcome.

"Hi, what a surprise. Come on in."

He followed me into the house. "What are you doing?"

"I am just about to start dinner."

"Oh." Eric paused, then "I haven't eaten yet."

"Well, would you like to stay and have dinner with me?"

"Yeah, cool."

"I'm having pasta," I warned him.

"That's OK."

I chopped up some more vegetables, and got out some more dried pasta and
store-bought pasta sauce. You don't think I used fresh pasta and made my
own pasta sauce, do you?

"How's school?" I asked during the meal. Lame, I know, but I have never
known what to say to boys.

"OK."

"And how's homework, now that you are at high school?"

"It's boring."

"Doing your homework is very important, you know, so that you can do well
at school."

"Oh, man," Eric complained, "I don't need to hear that crap again."

"Well, if you are going to eat my food, you are going to have to listen to
me nag."

Eric grinned at me and returned his attention to his food. I feasted my
eyes on his sweet face, serious with concentration as he ate, luscious lips
and glimpse of teeth when he shoveled food in his mouth. Eric may have the
face of an angel, but his table manners were far from dainty.

After we had finished eating, Eric said "Thanks for tea, it was nice."

"Nice? Really?"

"Well, not very."

"Hah! I never said that I could cook."

"That's for sure."

"Cheeky devil. Don't you know that it's polite to lie and say how good the
food was, when you are a guest for a meal."

"It was fantastic, marvelous, wonderful. It was the best meal I have ever
had in my whole life and I will never forget it," Eric enthused in the most
unconvincing voice imaginable. He roared with laughter at the joke and I
sat back and smiled to see him so happy.

Eric helped me wash the dishes, then followed me into the living room. I
sat on the sofa and he plopped down beside me.

"Are we watching TV?" he asked.

"Yes, sure."

I reached for the remote and when Eric scooted along the sofa towards me, I
wrapped my arm around his shoulder. He leant against me and rested his head
against my chest. And that is how we spent the evening, cuddled together on
the sofa. When I got up to go to the toilet, Eric would wait to pull me
back down on the sofa and wrap my arms around him again. What were the TV
programs like? Almost certainly rubbish, but I was hardly aware of them as
all I could think of was the boy in my arms.

Eventually, in spite of toilet breaks and getting supper, I had to make a
move as I was starting to get very stiff. No, it was not what you
think. Holding someone starts to get uncomfortable after a while, even
someone as cute and cuddly as Eric. And even though I loved looking down at
this head resting against my chest, it was getting very bony and
heavy. And, to be honest, his hair needed a good wash.

"It's getting late. I think it's time I take you home."

Eric looked up at me with wrinkled brow. "But I don't want to go. Can I
stay the night?"

Stay the night? Now there was a thought to make my heart beat faster.

"Well, yes, you can, if your mother says it's alright."

"That's OK, we don't have to ask her. She thinks I'm staying with Dad
tonight."

"I'm afraid that doesn't make it OK. We have to phone and let her know
where you are and get her permission for you to stay."

"Please don't phone," Eric begged as he looked at me with his bright blue
eyes. "She will just get mad and make me go home."

How could I refuse such a request, and from such a sad looking boy? So,
after some more pleading, I gave way, even though I knew Iris would not
approve.

'Aha,' you think. 'This is where I say that I only have the one bed and
that Eric can either share it with me, or sleep on the floor. Which will
then lead to a night of torrid sex.'

The thought did cross my mind, but in fact I had three spare beds and Eric
had to have seen them in the time he had spent in the house. So I put fresh
sheets on one of those beds and we retired for the night, separately. The
thought of Eric in bed, in the next room, gave me a hard-on. I grabbed my
hard cock, but the thought of having a wank seemed such a sterile pleasure
at that time with a sexy boy so close, so I turned over and went to sleep.

Something woke me during the night and when I opened my eyes, there was
Eric, standing by my bed.

"Can I sleep with you?" he whispered.

"Of course."

I lifted the duvet and he scrambled into bed and snuggled up against me. As
I wrapped my arms around him, Eric gave a big sigh and fell asleep. And
what did I do? Nothing. What Eric wanted was comfort, not sex, and I
couldn't betray his trust. I lay awake for ages, with racing pulse and
rigid, straining, cock, before finally falling asleep.

When I woke in the morning, Eric was still in my arms, but turned so that
he was facing away from me. My hard-on was pressed against his bum. I gave
two quick thrusts against it with my cock, before I could make myself
stop. Any more and Eric would be waking with a wet patch on his butt where
I had come against him, and I couldn't do that to the boy.

Besides, I badly needed a piss, so I disentangled myself from Eric and got
out of bed. I looked down at his angelic, sleeping face on the pillow. It
was too bad I was starting to care for Eric so deeply, or I might have
found the temptation to ravish him irresistible. And I rather suspected
that he would have let me. Instead, I just sighed and left the room.

I was having breakfast when Eric came into the kitchen in his T-shirt and
baggy boxers. His hair was badly tousled, he looked three quarters asleep,
and his boxers were tented out. Judging by the profile, I could tell there
was a boy cock at half mast behind the thin cloth. So close and yet so
inaccessible. It was too bad.

"Good morning, " I greeted him.

"Hmmph."

"Do you want breakfast?"

The only reply was a sort of mumble. This was not a morning boy and, taking
the mumble as a yes, I got Eric some breakfast.

"Martin?"

"Yes?"

"Can we do something tomorrow?"

"Yes, certainly. What would you like to do?"

"Can we go for a swim?"

"Of course."

"You aren't going to ask Grant and Harry to go too, are you?"

"Well, I think I might, yes."

"But I don't want you to. Why can't just the two of us go?"

"That would be very nice, but it is not very fair on your brothers. We are
already doing things together, whereas Grant and Harry probably don't get
taken anywhere very often."

"But they are little shits and they always spoil everything," Eric whined.

I tried to explain. "Grant and Harry are the only two brothers you are
likely to have. I know that they can be annoying, but if you can be a bit
tolerant and make allies of them, then you will always have their support
in the future when you may really need it. If you lose their loyalty when
they are young, you will never regain it, or their support, in later
years. Family can be so much stronger than friends, who come and go and
can't always be relied on. I think you should make an effort, Eric. After
all, I'm sure you annoy your brothers too, sometimes."

Eric was silent after that little speech and was quiet in the car as we
returned to Woodton. Perhaps he was thinking about what I said, or more
likely he had rejected my attempt at preaching.

Then it was time to face the mother. Iris was in the kitchen, where the two
younger brothers were having their breakfast. Iris was surprised and rather
suspicious at seeing me.

"I thought you were staying with your father," she said to Eric.

"He joined me for breakfast," I hurried to explain before Eric could make
things worse, "so I decided to bring him home."

While what I said was not false, it was definitely misleading. Truth can be
a very flexible thing, when used to deceive. Besides, I didn't fancy the
idea of explaining that Eric had spent the night in my bed, when I hadn't
even had the pleasure of molesting him.

Iris frowned, but before she could say anything more, Harry joined in the
conversation.

"Last week's walk was so much fun. Can we do it again?"

"We are going swimming tomorrow," Eric explained. "Why don't you guys come
with us?"

"Hey, cool," exclaimed Harry.

"You are inviting us to go out with you and Martin?" asked Grant.

"Yeah, I guess."

"That's not what you said the other day about Harry and me keeping out of
it, or else."

"It doesn't matter what I said. I can change my mind, can't I?" Eric yelled
and he stormed out of the room.

All that was left to do was to make the arrangements. I could see Iris'
suspicions about why I was spending so much time with her precious babies,
warring with the desire to get rid of the brats for a while. The wish for
peace won. I drove home, thinking about my fiery boy and his
brothers. Perhaps it was too soon to wish for the storms between them to
change for the better.


Chapter 6 Water babies

Sunday, swim day. Public swimming pools are marvelous and intensely
frustrating places. There are acres of semi-naked boy flesh to feast your
eyes on. And then there is the gut-tightening anticipation of the changing
room, with the prospect of seeing naked boys. This is frustrating and
usually disappointing.

Pre-pubescent boys are unselfconscious creatures who are usually happy to
strip naked when changing. I always enjoyed seeing their cute little naked
bodies and their cute little dicks, but they were too young to be of sexual
interest.

Young men in their early 20s or even late teens are sometimes ready to get
naked and display their solid swinging cocks and dangling balls. But while
I liked to check out their equipment, and it's only polite to do so if they
are going to make the effort to exhibit themselves, they were of limited
interest to me.

It was those sexy boys in their early to mid teens, who were in their early
flush of puberty, I craved to see. But unfortunately, these are the boys
who are the most awkward and self-conscious about their changing bodies, so
are most likely to keep them hidden from view. Usually the most that could
be hoped for under their long, loose shirts, were glimpses of arse or ends
of dicks.

But that morning, I could only wait and see what would happen with the
three Jansen boys.

It was the usual business of collecting three excited boys from their
home. Eric opened the door for me with a big smile. I thought he looked
particularly sexy in his sky blue shorts and gray sleeveless T, though I
wished he would lose his white cap as it obscured his sweet face. Grant was
almost as tall as his brother. He was also good looking, but had stronger
features than baby-faced Eric, with high, prominent cheekbones. Grant was
wearing a red T-shirt and tan cargo trousers, which was a pity as boys'
legs should never be hidden. And then there was Harry, with his cute little
elfin face and cheeky grin, in his blue floral patterned shorts and lime
green T-shirt.

We arrived at the swimming pool, where I paid and led the boys into the
changing room. They stood alongside me at the bench and I kept an eye on
them, while trying not to be seen looking, while they undressed.

The boys kept their tops on as they removed their pants. Oh well, it was
only to be expected, I supposed. Under their pants, each boy was wearing
brightly patterned satin boxers, which appeared to have become the standard
uniform for boys. The boys slipped off their boxers, but as they were
modestly turned away from me, all I could see were glimpses of rounded
white bums.

Harry glanced in my direction and saw that I was naked, as it was my habit
to strip completely before putting on my togs. His eyes instantly focused
on my hairy groin, then he looked up at my face, hesitated, and removed his
T-shirt. Harry faced me, so that I got a good view of his naked body. His
prick was a small spike, with the end of his foreskin tapering to a point,
and his balls were an undeveloped mound underneath. And his reason for
showing me his naked body? Perhaps he was using my example as a role model;
or perhaps it was a sign of friendship and trust; or perhaps he thought
naked bodies were vaguely naughty and he wanted to join in on the
naughtiness.

The other boys continued to be modest as they quickly changed. When Eric
was finished he looked over at me and at my cock, just as I was covering it
with my togs. He licked his lips and looked away again as he put his
clothes in a plastic bag.

Pools are wonderful places for getting physical with boys. It is an
acceptable and apparently innocent way of having lots of bodily contact,
grasping and caressing naked flesh, and so on. And what about the boys,
what do they think of all this? They are young animals, where it is
natural, and even desirable, for them to play together with lots of
physical contact. But the way modern western society has developed, it
becomes increasingly difficult for boys over about 11-12 years to find
acceptable ways to do this. When they do get the chance, they revel in
it. Such physical contact during their play is innocent, of course, and yet
also sensual. Even young boys are sexual creatures, though not in the way
that adults think of it.

So, when we played in the pool, all four of us sought as much physical
contact as possible. I tossed them in the air, so that they fell in the
water with an enormous splash. That was very popular, but very tiring. We
swam towards each other underwater. When I swam underneath a boy, he would
sit on my back, so that when I rose for air, he would be clinging to my
shoulders. I would attempt to dislodge him, although not very hard, and he
would cling tight until he was ready for a different game and let go.

We wrestled furiously, which was a great chance for my hands to rove over
the boys' bodies. The only thing was, I often didn't know what part of the
body I was touching, and sometimes even which boy it was. Did I ever grab
any rude bits? I could only hope. Did they ever grab my rude bits? Well,
yes, one time a boy's hand burrowed into my groin and firmly grasped my
package for a moment, before letting go. I was surprised, but wasn't about
to object. I looked at the boys to identify the culprit, but could not as
all I could see were three bright-eyed happy brothers.

Eventually, it was time to get out of the pool and dress. That is, I was
exhausted and needed the rest.

"OK boys, it is time to finish our swim now," I told them.

They immediately protested. "Not yet," and "Can we stay a bit longer," and
"But we are having fun."

"No, I have to get out as I'm exhausted. Any more and I will collapse. And
as we are in the water, that means I would probably drown."

"We'll have to give you mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, then." Harry giggled
at the thought.

Now there was a thought, indeed.

"Yes, you would. And who's going to volunteer to give me mouth-to-mouth?"

"Yeech," laughed Harry.

"Gross, no way," protested Grant.

Eric didn't say anything, but gave a thoughtful smile. I wondered what it
was that he was thinking. That giving me the kiss of life might not be
completely revolting, perhaps? Even his brothers didn't really look very
disgusted, in spite of their words.

I could see that we weren't going to make progress, so I gathered the boys
into my arms in one enormous bundle, and started wading towards the end of
the pool. As I walked, one of the brothers grabbed my cock. He squeezed it
and felt the outline of my cock and balls. I immediately went hard, of
course, and that exploring hand caressed the outline of my erection, from
the base to tip. This was not a quick grope, as happened earlier, but a
full exploration of my hard-on.

You would think I would know which boy was playing with my cock, but all I
could see were three laughing, squirming boys. I was peculiarly vulnerable
because, as my hands were full, I could not grasp that hand, to stop it's
exploration or at least discover who it belonged to. And as for the
alternative of asking loudly for all around us to hear, 'who is playing
with my cock?', somehow I didn't think so. My only real objection was that
it could become very embarrassing. I was getting close to coming in my
togs, and if I survived that hazard I would have to worry about everyone
seeing that I had a hard-on when I got out of the pool.

I made it to the changing room, without coming in my pants, or anyone
obviously noticing my erection, though it did shrivel fast enough after I
got out of the water. The boys followed me into the changing room and
stood, facing me, on the other side of the bench. I removed my togs, so
that I was naked before I started drying myself. I was well aware that I
was exposing myself to the brothers' gaze. It was an invitation to inspect
my man cock and, who knows, it might provide an example for them to copy.

Harry immediately followed suit and stripped naked, happy to do what I
did. He was innocent of the sexual undertones of our nudity, although he
was very interested in inspecting my equipment. For my part, I was always
happy to have another look at his cute little boy prick.

As soon as I had undressed, Eric had stared intently at my groin. He looked
across at Harry and saw that he was also naked, looked back at me, then
after a pause started to untie the drawstring of his costume.

'That's my boy,' I thought, 'show me what you've got.'

And he did, standing openly for me to inspect him. Eric had a long,
slender, tubular cock that was circumcised. His balls were developed and
dangling. He had a small patch of blond pubic hair in each corner of his
groin, joined by a narrow strip of hair across the base of his cock. It was
such a sweet thing, that I could have feasted my eyes on it all day.

I tried not to stare too intently or obviously, or drool too much, but if
Eric didn't notice it was only because he was busy looking at my larger and
hairier package. Eric was old enough to be sexually aware, probably
sexually obsessed like all teenage boys, and his joining me in my nudity
was a gift of trust.

And what of Grant? He also had a good look at what I had to offer, but then
all little boys like looking at men's cocks to get an idea of what was
going to happen to them one day. Grant also saw that his brothers were
naked, but after drying his torso he put on his T-shirt. This boy was too
modest to display himself. His T-shirt was too long to show anything as he
removed his togs and dried himself and I thought it would be rather too
obvious to crouch down to look under it. But I'm sure Grant didn't realize
when he slipped on his boxer shorts, how revealing that could be. As he
lifted his leg to step into them, the bottom of his T flipped up to give me
a quick glimpse of his balls and the end of what appeared to be a
circumcised prick.

I wondered at one or both of the older brothers being circumcised, while
Harry was not. It had become unusual for boys of their generation to be
cut, unlike previous decades, such as in my generation, when circumcision
had been a lot more common. Perhaps their parents had finally thought
better of the procedure after the two oldest boys had been born.

I also wondered which boy or boys had been sufficiently interested to grope
me in the pool. But with these thoughts, my cock started to stir, so I
thought I had better dress and return the brothers home.

Iris was waiting for us in the house when I delivered her sons.

"Did you thank Mr Lynn for taking you swimming?"

"Yeah, thanks Martin, it was loads of fun."

"We had a wicked time. Can we do it again some time?"

Eric frowned momentarily at that, before smiling at me and saying how much
he enjoyed himself.

"That's alright, boys. I really enjoyed myself too."

Oops! Perhaps that wasn't the wisest thing to say as Iris frowned at my
words.

"It's very kind of you to spend all this time and effort with the boys,
but, really, its too much, and I don't know why you bother. They can be
very difficult and you are taking too much trouble ..."

I tried to reassure Iris that it was no bother at all, but she had not
finished with what she had already decided to say.

"For a stranger to do all this, well, we don't need charity as I can look
after the boys perfectly well myself. And what you doing with the boys is
not ..., well, it's just not proper. So I want to thank you for all you
have done, but you have done quite enough. In fact, I insist that this must
stop now and that you must not have anything more to do with the boys in
any way."

After hearing that bombshell, Grant and Harry started to protest, but Eric
exploded in rage.

"It's not fair," he yelled. "You always spoil everything. We finally find
someone who likes us and wants to spend time with us and do things with
us. And now that things are going right for once, you are going to stop us
seeing Martin and ruin it all. You are ..., I ..."

"Eric," I interrupted before the argument could get any further out of
hand.

He stopped abruptly in mid-yell, mouth still open, and looked at me. How
could Eric even have heard me, let alone respond, as I had spoken firmly
but not loudly? Perhaps, in some way, we were becoming closely attuned.

"Why don't you and your brothers leave the room and give your mother and me
a chance to talk."

Eric looked appraisingly at me for a moment, then with a jerk of the head
for his brothers to follow, he walked out. It was then time to deal with
their mother.

"Iris, I appreciate your concerns, but I assure you that you have nothing
to worry about. As I have come to know the boys I can see that they are
basically good kids. I know that they can be a bit wild at times, but I
have begun to care for them and all I want to do is help. I know that life
is difficult for you and the boys, and that your ex-husband is no help at
all."

Iris looked unconvinced. "That's all very well, but ..."

"I know that you are a good mother," I interrupted, "And that you do a
fantastic job." Liar, liar, pants on fire; I didn't think any such
thing. "But the boys do need a male role model and I would feel privileged
if I could help with this. I do care for your sons and I promise that I
would never do anything to harm them."

"I don't know," Iris replied, as she started to look increasingly
uncertain. "Life gets so hard at times."

"Yes, of course, and if I can take the boys out sometimes, that will make
life a little bit easier for you. I think you will find that the boys will
be happier and better behaved around the house."

Iris sighed, no doubt tempted at the thought of getting some peace and
quiet every once in a while. "I will have to think about it."

That was all I was likely to achieve, and it was time to let Iris think
about where her self-interest lay. I suspected that Iris' concerns for her
sons were mostly because she felt that society expected her to worry about
them. So I said goodbye and left.

Eric followed me out to the car. "Is it going to be alright, then?"

"Yes, I think so."

"So, I can see you again?"

"Yes, if you want."

"Cool."

Eric briefly laid his hand on my arm through the open window of the car and
stepped back to let me leave.

"See ya, lad," I said as I drove off.

"See ya, Dad," he replied with a cheeky grin.

Dad? I liked the sound of that, but found the implication that it made my
desires incestuous rather disturbing. And my promise to Iris that I would
never harm her sons? By her definition, I would likely break that promise
if I had the opportunity. But I did care for them and they would never be
physically or mentally worse off for knowing me. If we happened to have a
bit of mutual pleasure in the meanwhile, I didn't define that as harm.

As I drove home I thought that, being someone who likes to keep a very calm
and controlled life, it was disconcerting to become involved with such a
stormy, emotional boy.