Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:58:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: firehose Joe <firehosejoe@yahoo.com>
Subject: To Thine Ownself Be True Chapter 26

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Shakespeare (Hamlet)

Thanks to Chael for assistance proofing the story. This
is wholly fictional with no reference intended to persons alive or dead.

Please do not distribute to other sites without permission of the
author. Comments can be sent to firehosejoe@yahoo.com



The year is 1971. The occasion is Alex' 25th birthday. The bit of
conversation is with Zach Bertrand. Zach's background and brief family
history follow. Though absent from this chapter, Alex's sexual escapades
and wrestling will continue in future chapters. Good reading!

From the previous chapter:

"My pleasure, Bud. You know, taking a page out of your playbook and leasing
the plane was the smartest idea I've ever stolen. Makes trips like this
from the coast so easy. So when are you going to come back to the Bay Area?
That last visit was just too short. We packed a lot into it. I hated to see
you go!"

"By the way, have you kept up your wrestling? That was one hot match at the
club. I want to see your bod in action again."  Zach sank his hand in his
trouser pocket and fondled his swelling member as he grinned at Alejandro.

Alejandro looked down and smiled. Zach was such a cock tease. He knew Zach
was, at the moment, just messing with his mind; but given half a chance
would have taken the action inside to the bed.


Chapter 26

The fact that Zach referred to his San Francisco as `Frisco' seemed a bit
`cowboy' to Alejandro. Zach was given to affectations occasionally –
given to them in a way that added to his appeal and zest for living.

They both served on a museum board in San Francisco and had quickly became
friends. For a `rich boy', Zach could be disarmingly down to
earth. Alejandro liked that. Zach Bertrand was the model of an easy-going
personality. He had an artlessness with people that Alejandro envied.

Zach's family fortune was founded on the gold rush of 1848. Legend had it
that his forebear had come from New England, via Cape Horn bringing with
him a flour mill, along with products to stock a dry goods store. While in
transit, news of the gold rush broke.

Learning of the rush when he landed, his ancestor set up his first store
near Sutter's Mill. His ancestor had seen that the true mother lode came
from the ever-swelling population in search of the magic metal. Scraping
together capital, he expanded his ventures to a small town called Yerba
Buena, a coastal encampment that was to become San Francisco.

Knowing the appetites of the newly minted men of fortune, he built brothels
and saloons, along with legitimate businesses that provided for the needs
of the miners. For those new arrivals, he provided all a miner needed, save
luck with the sluice and pan. For those returning with the yellow metal, a
hot bath, good food, `companionship' and a clean bed were availableat a
price.

Within a few years, he was one of the first millionaires in the Bay
Area. That fortune had since been parlayed countless times as California
had grown. As with many families, there were the occasional wastrels who
squandered their portions, but the bulk had been preserved, reinvested and
leveraged in the development and politics of the new state.

Zach's father had a knack for development and had been, for years, one of
the movers and shakers in the expansion of the San Francisco Bay Area. His
influence and financial reach were vast. He was a man of enormous ego and
matching appetites. His marriage to a beautiful socialite was more for
decoration and connections than anything else. Neither had wanted the
inconvenience of children.

Zach's arrival, late in their lives, proved to be of little consequence to
their daily lives. Reared primarily by his nanny, with the supporting cast
of family servants, he could have turned out like many of his acquaintances
- a self-serving, petulant rich boy. However, the formative magic in his
life came from his close association with his nanny and her husband.

Zach was naturally inquisitive, graceful, and athletic. Handsome and well
liked by most of his peers, he thrived at his private school. Intelligent
and intuitive, he soon learned to please his parents with his own version
of being seen and not heard. At dinner, when he was deemed old enough to
join his parents at table, his deportment was nearly flawless. Maria, his
nanny, had schooled him carefully.

He made a game of name-dropping and quickly learned which of his friends'
families were on his mother's `A' list socially. More importantly, he
quickly learned to read his father's expressions of approval and
disapproval. However, his father's appraisals never fazed Zach nor changed
his opinions and interactions with friends.

His mother and father, nominal Catholics at best, were glad to have Maria
and her husband, Juan, take young Zachary with them to church. At their
knees, he learned the rubrics of the Mass, the basic tenants of the faith
and saw the true application of Christian charity practiced in their poor
parish. Though he attended St. Mary's Cathedral with his parents on
Christmas and Easter, his spiritual home was at the Chapel of Our Lady.

As Zach matured, he realized he'd have neither his father's flair and
passion to develop businesses and build buildings nor a desire to be a
political mover and shaker. Instead, he turned his attention to money
management. After finishing his MBA at Wharton, he came home, and with his
father's blessing (and sigh of relief) began to work with the family
foundation.

The conservative posture of the investment analysts had led to laziness in
their management of the fund. Of course, that was only Zach's opinion. As
long as the monthly reports and year-end statements were showing profit,
Zach's father was satisfied. Zach, however, saw much greater potential for
growth.

With his father's permission easily gained, if just to have his son happily
occupied and using his expensive education, Zach began to manage some of
the investments. Soon his limited portfolio was showing significant
returns.

This proved a satisfactory filler for his time, ambition and intellect but
only accentuated the other unfulfilled areas of his life. Zach, weary of
providing his own relief, began tentatively to explore the rich homosexual
opportunities available in San Francisco.

Imprinted in his imagination was his ideal of a man. A rowdy college
roommate had initiated him to the pleasures of man sex as they had rolled
and wrestled in their apartment. Unconsciously, Zach searched out men who
might fill that need. Experience soon taught him that most men who enjoyed
that contest for dominance wanted to fulfill their own needs in ways that
Zach couldn't bring himself to accommodate.

Zach looked to Alejandro as a friend and perhaps more. Their interactions,
their sex, their compatibility promised hope that something might develop.
If he honestly faced his intention and need, Zach realized in quiet moments
of introspection that what he most deeply wanted was a lasting relationship
with another man. He knew the Church would frown on it, not to mention his
family. He'd cross those bridges when the time came.

When He looked at Alejandro he felt a connection. No, he felt a longing
both in his heart and a pressing sexual need to be with this man. He didn't
know what their future would hold. He was almost afraid to hope that it
might become a relationship but he was willing to take the chance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

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