Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 18:34:05 -0700 From: borischen <borischen@zoho.com> Subject: camping in kentucky, chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen. The Conclusion. One hour later Lee rumbled into the driveway. I was nervous not knowing how he'd look. I didn't want to do anything wrong. He walked around the back of the house onto the deck kind of expressionless. He leaned over to look in the hot tub just to see if it was still empty. Yes, it's still empty. He walked in the sliding door while I was on the little kitchen computer ordering delivery pizza, same as last time with extra wine, sides and dipping sauces too. Lee walked up behind me as I was typing-in my credit card info sliding his hands under my shirt one going for my belly button the other for my chest. His touch was super soft and electric. I twitched a couple times from his energy and my anxiety about how he'd be. I clicked <SEND> on the order, the screen said about 29 minutes `til delivery. Stepping back from the computer I mumbled that out loud. They know me at the pizza place, I always get priority delivery after the pizza is done. I turned around and stood up, we hugged. He sort of laid his head against mine and just stood there holding firmly. We didn't speak, he never cried or said much of anything really. I got this sadness vibe from his body. We just stood there, me leaning back into the edge of the counter, him feeling sad holding on for support. He sniffled a couple of times but that was it. I was catching this `Lee as a small sad abandoned boy' vibe from his body. I think we stood there for almost ten minutes not speaking. Finally he backed up. I saw tears in his eyes. I laid one hand on his upper chest. "Need a shower?" I asked. "I thought you ordered pizza?" "Oh shit! That's right. Should be here soon." I glanced at the clock, it was due in like ten minutes. The pizza place was rather close-by. I could drive there in four minutes. We went to the den holding hands, him following behind. We turned on the TV to a movie channel but kept the volume low. We sat close side by side on the sofa holding hands. Time flew by, in what felt like five minutes I heard a vehicle outside. Well, we heard a car stereo thumping outside. Then came the knock on the sliding patio doors. I got to my feet and signed for the delivery, carried the box to the table in the den and called him to come eat. It was a small feast. But Lee wasn't overly talkative. Almost half the pizza was gone before we both switched to the hot wings, poppers and wine. We both got stuffed, he seemed more relaxed. I shut off lights in the den and turned down the can lights in the ceiling. Most of the light came from the TV. It was dark outside now. "Your truck locked?" I asked Lee. "Oh! Uh... No I didn't." He got to his bare feet, walked out the patio door. In about a minute Lee returned with the cardboard box he set on the table. I got up to get him a knife, assuming he wanted to open it. Which he did. Gently he cut the tape across the top and lifted the four flaps. There were layers of clear plastic under the top. He grabbed the top one which contained a copy of the will, clearly labeled as such. Under that were some legal document folders, some were thick. We saw business cards stapled to the covers. Next came a thick bag full of photos, just like he guessed it contained photos of his parents wedding, their younger life, Uncle Dave as a teenager, his father as a child and baby and his father's parents as well as his paternal grandparents. There was something like a family tree inside too. He pulled out a newspaper clipping about the accident that killed his parents on their motorcycle. Next came a layer of thick blue plastic, taped shut. Lee carefully slit the tape, lifted the top, stopped, looked at me, dropped to the chair and started to cry. I was already sitting looking at photos through the unopened ziplok bag when he stopped and sat quickly. I thought at first he sliced his finger or something with the knife, but he didn't. I looked at Lee, he looked back at me with eyes swamped with tears. I had no idea what to say. He wasn't like boo-hoo-hoo crying but tears were running down his cheeks to his shirt and jeans. I got to my feet after being frozen for a few seconds and grabbed some of the paper towels that came with the pizza handing him a wad to use. Lee blew his nose and wiped his eyes and face. "What is it?" I asked. With that Lee stood up, his lower chin quivering as he tried to resist crying but not doing a very good job. I put my hand on his hip as he reached back into the bag in the box and pulled out a pack of $100 dollar bills, the wrapper said $2000. "Wow," was all I could manage to say. But Lee wasn't through. He lifted the box dumping it on the large wooden table, the bundles fell out landing all over the table and floor. He shook and shook as more and more and more fell from the box. Finally the light blue plastic bag dropped on the pile, he dropped the empty box behind him then landed back on his butt on the chair with his elbow on the table, his face in his hands, tears still dripping down his cheeks. I started stacking up and organizing the bills into stacks of ten bundles or $20,000 per stack. They don't bundle 100's into as thick a strap as they do fives or ones. The bills must have been packed in tightly too because the more they got handled the larger the pile became. The bills smelled musty and old. Lots of them looked like old 1960's style of $100 dollar bills. All green. Lee mostly sat on the chair sniffling, staring at his legs while I stacked the cash into piles. Soon I had to get a pad of paper and calculator. One hour later I had the mess cleaned up, off the floor and into piles that covered my table. By my count he had a stash of about $490,000. All in secret un-reported cash. I counted 245 bundles of $2000 each. I poured Lee about two more glasses of wine and got him to drink both, chased by two shots of Jack, then turned off the lights and pulled him by hand to bed. He walked like a zombie the whole way. Next to my bed in the darkened room I slowly removed all his clothes, he stunk a little after his long ride to Lexington and back but I took him to bed, set my alarm, and got in behind him. While we were spooning I slowly rubbed his arm, sometimes his chest, shoulder and hair, but not for very long before we were both asleep. ---- My alarm clock went off early. I went to the kitchen and called-off sick for today, Tuesday. Lee came to the kitchen soon after I called the factory. He wasn't due back to work until Wednesday. Today, he looked in much better spirits. "What should I do with all this cash?" "Well, you cannot put it in the bank because the IRS will take quite an interest and probably confiscate it as suspected drug money. So it's gotta never see the light of day." "Yeah, I can see that. So what should I do with it?" "Well we know how much room it takes up, so why not get a safe from Office Depot or something and at least keep it invisible. You can probably use it in small amounts and never attract any attention." "Should I quit work?" "No. You're not that rich. One trip to the hospital could kill this stash, that's why it needs to be a closely guarded secret, just you and me." "I guess I can afford to finish the cabin myself now." "Yep you could do that, just don't make it look too conspicuous or the wrong people might start asking questions." "Yeah." He said then took in a deep breath and let it out. "What about the property itself, what happens to it? Did the lawyer say anything?" I asked. "Oh yeah, it's mine now. That's what those folders are, the transfer of the land, his insurance annuities and railroad stock too." "What are they worth?" Lee looked puzzled briefly, then pulled a business card from his pocket he got in Lexington. On one side was the name of an investment banker, the other side, he glanced at and handed it to me. I turned it sideways and tried to figure it out but it appeared not including the land but just investments in the railroad since about 1948 and his insurance Lee would get a monthly allowance from all that around $7000 a month if he left it as-is now, which is what David Charters lived off. Mostly he took the cash, saved it in bundles at home somewhere. I handed the card back to him. "Well maybe you can quit your job." I offered. "I really like what I do and the guys I work with." He said without expression on his face. "Why don't you look into buying one of those little convenience stores on Pleasant Ridge Road to make some cash and something to do during the day. Just stay down there. Let's be honest, your heart's in those hills, not in boring Dayton." Lee walked up to me taking my hands then hugging me again. We slowly rocked slightly side to side like we're slow dancing in the kitchen. ---- That morning we went to town and bought a safe for his secret cash stash. Lee made some calls to people he knew in Claryville, one was to a realtor. We put the safe in my bedroom closet then cleaned up the mess from last night's dinner before we left. About 12:30 we drove back down to LV. We sat on the log sofa and made drawings of how to build-out the rest of the cabin. In town he called a buddy of his, the guy we rented the backhoe from. About one hour later we met in the parking spot near LV and hiked down to the cabin. This guy was impressed with our handmade shack. We discussed plans. Within one hour they shook hands and parted. Then we drove home after eating an early dinner at an Italian place in Claryville. I went to work the next day with lots of non-work stuff on my mind. ---- Three weeks later the three additions to the cabin were completed. This gave us three 8x8 rooms, an 8x8 courtyard in the center, indoor plumbing, and a 15'x15' array of solar panels with battery storage, a tiny clothes washer and clothes lines, and a forty foot tower with cellular antennas and a nice CB antenna on top. They built a square deck in the empty space in the center of the four cabin modules we have now. But we have to go outside to go from one room to the other. One room is our bedroom with my old full size mattress and bed frame. Another is the room we built for Lee to do stuff relating to the store, he got a new computer and a small desk to do books. Our old original section is the living room with a small sofa and a small TV and radio. The second unit has the bathroom and kitchen in one area, which is odd but it works for us until somebody takes a really nasty poop, if we think it'll stink bad we can still use the outhouse. Two days after he signed for the deed transfer for the store he called Atlas Custom Tire and told them he quit but offered no explanation only thanks for reliable employment. Kline's Bait Shop is about three blocks up the hill from his uncle's place. It's a 1500 square foot store with coolers, gas pumps, propane tanks, and beer license. It was basically like a 7-11 that sold bait and fishing supplies too. ---- In September I got a job working at Lewis Chemical in Claryville as a chemist. It's a smaller family owned company with 30 employees that makes quick home mouth swab tests for alcohol, herpes, HIV, pregnancy, and two of the latest West African hemorrhagic diseases. The owner has about fifty patents and only works two days a week. He drives a custom Bentley convertible to work and lives in an enormous home way up in the hills on a road with no name. Lee moved out of the mobile home park two weeks after he bought the bait store, my place went up for sale three weeks ago, we close tomorrow at a title company in Cincinnati. Lee bought a used Yamaha ATV he uses to ride to work and home if the weather's okay, he had a trailer hitch welded on too. We got a used garden trailer to haul stuff from the truck to the cabin. I sold my car and bought a used Subaru 4x4 car with lift kit and all terrain tires. We started living full time in the cabin in the woods about three weeks ago. We have plans to add a mesh net roof over the center courtyard deck. Lee bought a headstone for his uncle that sits over the spot where his ashes got dumped along with his house's ashes. He's enrolled in classes online since our internet service now by LTE is reliable mostly all the time since Verizon put in a new tower only five miles from us. His goal is a business management bachelor's degree within three years online from UK Lexington. ---- In 2018 we bought a closed convenience store in town on the south-west side and remodeled it into a delivery pizza place. Our plan was using the latest kitchen technology to make the best pizza and sandwiches with delivery service, but very little dine-in space. The gas pumps were removed along with the vending machines too. We named it Dave's Gourmet Pizza Delivery. He makes a point of hiring local teens who have it rough at home. All of them seem to need parenting when they first start working there. Lee mostly stays at the bait and tackle place. We turned a profit after one month of operation. We even got our own android ordering app. I continued to work at the chemical company in town. Lee still runs the little store. He hired a cousin to run the pizza place, she seems to know how to do it because it's making a ton of money. My focus at work has been something cheap to take the place of the injected protein test for TB exposure. My goal was a tiny strip with a little window that changed color from grey to yellow in the presence of TB antibodies. It would cut the testing cost from dollars and days to pennies and minutes. This could be worth a ton of money. ---- In November we flew to Cleveland to get married, stayed the night and flew home the next day, drove back from the airport in Cincinnati. ---- That night we were sitting on the sofa listening to the radio in the front room, the original part of the cabin. I had my laptop running on my lap with a mouse on the cushion between us. "What's that you've been seriously working on for like the last month now?" Lee asked leaning into my side laying his arm around behind me, resting his chin on my shoulder. "I had an idea for a house, larger than this but much more secure, cheaper to heat than this old drafty cabin with the cold floors and less of an impact on nature in the valley after it's done." "Lemme see." He said leaning over more. I turned the computer so he could see better and zoomed out to see the floor plan all on the screen at once. "How's that different from what we left in Ohio?" "This is an underground house. The roof'd be a concrete slab. The floor, outer walls, and some of the inside walls, all concrete." "Underground? How you gonna build an underground house in a place with no cement truck access?" "Well, that's the problem. But it only has to be solved one time. They got these concrete pumping trucks with loooong extendable tubes, this place is downhill mostly all the way, right?" "Yeah, I know what you're thinking but how you gonna get a pumper to the parking spot without sinking in the dirt road?" "That's easy, the pumper doesn't carry any cement, but the delivery trucks will. They can bring smaller loads and only deliver during the dry summer months when the dirt road is hard packed. When was the last time anyone got stuck on that?" "Like five years ago during the spring." "Like I said, the concrete isn't the problem. We'd have to remove a bunch uh trees, hire a backhoe guy, we know they can get back here like we did once. We hire the foundation contractor, a plumber, painter, well driller, and electrician. The septic system we built would have to get buried, and the well would have to get pulled and moved too, we could hire that done. And we'd have to rent something to live-in during construction. I bet we could get the whole thing done in less than eight weeks." "Cost?" Lee asked still looking at the computer floor plan. "My estimates if we keep it simple and just the essentials, a two bedroom, kitchen living room combo, one bathroom, utility room with extra shower and toilet, and one extra room, three sky lights, and two access stairs one traditional, one spiral, we could get it done, un-painted, no kitchen, simple bathroom, un-finished for about $78,000." "What about property taxes and permits?" "It's super-efficient, plus we're off the grid. In Kentucky it meets the requirements for an experimental eco-home, non-taxable until the year 2200. I read the laws at the library." "Can we afford it?" "Hon, we've like never touched your cash stash, your allowance alone is enough to pay a mortgage and we make enough from the two stores to save-up and pay in advance in just five months if nothing major goes wrong." I replied with a smile, reaching over to squeeze his thigh. "You think we could start this year?" "Yeah, I think we should. You see anything wrong with these plans?" "What would stick out above ground?" "Two doorways, like two little sheds, the rest would be grassed over. The sandbox goes and the old stone cook stove too. Everything we built, goes." ---- We both worked on the To-Do list calling contractors, getting prices on stuff, finding cheaper ways to get things done. The basement contractor suggested a few changes, and added drainage around the house, something I completely forgot about. The well driller guy said he could place a two inch well by hand but it would take five days instead of two days. We could keep our old pitcher pump. We hired a lawyer to work with the county about the permits and to clarify the tax status that our plans met the requirements, which it did. ---- Late spring we started building, which meant we would be living like hermits for about eight weeks. We also decided to mostly live in the back room of the bait store, which had a simple bathroom with shower, refrigerator, and sofa bed. Our old cabin and shower was dismantled into a pile of neatly stacked lumber. We made arrangements to be able to precisely replace the firing position for the shooting range after construction was done. One week later the guy with the backhoe arrived to collapse and bury the old septic tank and outhouse, our stone and mortar kitchen stove and the outdoor shower. Next he started excavating the big foundation hole. After he was done with that we paid him to pull tree stumps from the area of trees we cut down to enlarge the parking area to allow for the concrete pumper truck. The general contractor came in with the concrete supplier and the company that owned the pumper truck to take measurements, yes it was possible. With the extra expense of having smaller loads delivered but more of them it raised the cost by about $3000 but it was still do-able. The concrete pumper guy said it was just like pouring a large slab for a building like a shopping mall where the truck couldn't get close-in. They would use the trees and temporary posts set in the ground to support the pumping tube. He said they do this sort of job all the time. Plus, being downhill most of the way made it even easier. Within two weeks the hole was done and the footer poured. Three days later the floor was poured while a different crew set the foundation wall forms with the plumbing and electrical pipes inside. A week after that they returned to pour the walls, which took the longest. Three days later the wall forms were removed. The backhoe guy returned to dig the septic tank holes and the trenches for the pipes and drainage field but the tank had to be made on-site like ours was originally. This time the whole system was to county health department codes. While all this was going on the well driller set-up a make-shift rig like they would have drilled for oil in Texas in the late 1800's. He sunk a new two inch well to about 110 feet and capped it off, ready to use. He said it was naturally pressured, we should never remove the well cap because a huge stream of water would gush out. In other words, our pitcher hand pump couldn't ever be used on this well, it would gush out a flood of water 24 hours a day. A painter guy sealed the walls inside with a primer while the drainage contractor ran three inch flex tubing in several layers all around our poured walls after sealing the outside with this black tar crap. While this was going on the contractor was building a temporary roof-like structure on top of the walls while the stairs were also being built. This temporary roof was only the support for pouring our concrete roof. The well was connected to the plumbing and the solar system connected to the new wiring. The final pour was the slightly bowed roof. It sat to cure for a week when they arrived to remove the roof supports inside to support the poured concrete roof, five inches thick with reinforcing rod, just like the rest of the structure. The outside dimensions were 24 feet by 60 feet. Next week the final sealing primer was done, the well driller had the plumbing working, the entrance sheds were complete, and for the first time we had two outside doors with locks! Really all that needed to be done was paint, furniture, heating (because the inside would stay around 60 degrees all year long) and appliances, the comforts of home. That afternoon we started carrying-in some of our belongings from the back room of the store and my storage rental garage. It took a long time for the solar hot water heater to come up to temperature. We used my old kerosene camping heater which warmed it up to 79 on its lowest setting. What we had to live on that day was a hot plate, a battery powered radio, our full size foam mattress and several sleeping bags. The county and state inspectors made their final checks today. They looked at the primer white walls, bare concrete floor and laughed at the work we still had in our future. They both signed off, mostly because they knew the contractors and approved of our plans, plus they average three of these type of homes a year in the state. They're all about the same. Ours was small at 1400 square feet. Ours was the first to be totally off the grid. Ours was also the first gay owned underground eco home in the state of Kentucky. That evening we hiked, our first time to the road on foot, following the path we drove for our first backhoe adventure almost two years ago now. We had a silent service for David Charters by his grave, Lee said he'd be happy with how things turned out. We walked back along the creek to home, past the spot where we used to bucket shower in the 45 degree water, across the field, up the hill then down into the valley. We stopped to remember the first load of blocks to build the septic system and our first ever 3g wireless signal to check our emails. We stood on the front of what used to be the sand box where our tents once stood remembering the first time we slept together, Lee carrying all his stuff into my tent. Now standing on that spot, which is mostly sparse grass and areas of dirt since grass is hard to grow in the woods, we stare at the clearing where our house is buried, there is one vent stack like from a barbeque smoker, two small sheds with wood doors and screen doors, sheds that sit over the tops of our two stairways. Over to the side is a small steel pipe, the top of our water well, sticks out of the ground maybe a foot with a cap on top. Way off in the background to the north is the large steered array of solar panels that follows the sun part of the day then moves back to the east to await its return the next morning. It moves like an old satellite dish. And our radio tower, 40 feet tall galvanized steel with a long LTE directional antenna, a CB antenna on top with one TV antenna aimed to the north towards Cincinnati just below the CB antenna. We walked across the hard packed earth towards the smaller entrance which goes to the steel spiral stairway, which still scares me. If you slip on this thing it's like a guaranteed serious laceration needing stitches. It's all bolted and welded steel, flat black and narrow too. We could never use it after drinking wine. We decided to go to the furniture store tomorrow after work. For now we were still using my camping cooking gear outside until we got stuff we could use in the kitchen we hadn't built yet. There was one base cabinet section in our empty kitchen room so the plumbers could run the water and sewer lines, otherwise it was an empty primer white room with a single light bulb in a simple fixture in the ceiling. Mounting cabinets to the concrete walls would not be fun. Before going inside Lee pulled the anti-roll pegs off the closest log sofa, together we rolled it onto the soil over our roof, halfway between the entrance sheds and replaced the stabilizer pegs. Now, it officially looked like home! We were able now to use a proper toilet that flushed like normal and a shower with hot running water. We had a nineteen gallon water heater but the low amperage heating element took much longer to recover. It would only recover quickly during direct sunlight on the array. The sunlight tubes in the ceiling lit the utility room, kitchen, and living room. After showering together we went to bed early. We both worked tomorrow then we needed to go in search of bedroom and living room furniture and maybe a kitchen table and a desk to start planning the kitchen and bathroom. We also needed paint and lots of home stuff we never had the room or need for. After we showered together we walked to the bedroom both commenting on how cold the floor felt on bare feet. It was smooth sealed concrete. There was still some slight odor of paint. The bedroom had no skylight, so we used the rechargeable headlamps as we both set our alarms for the same time. I was first in bed, the mattress laid on the floor, our clothes in heaps in the corner. We had no furniture only a couple of plastic laundry baskets. We laid on our backs holding hands. "I love you Lee." I said staring at the dark concrete ceiling above us. "You know what's weird?" "No, what?" "Being underground like this, I have no idea what's going on outside. In the cabin we heard everything, here it's like it all disappeared. I can hear my brainwaves now this place is so quiet." "It's gonna take some time gettin used to it. I'm just glad the work is over, now it's time to make this feel like our home, right hon?" I said. "Right. Home. And I love you too." Lee replied but I was like way too tired to talk much. I closed my eyes briefly because I was suddenly really sleepy but I knew I had unfinished work to do... ---- I turned onto my side facing Lee laying my hand on the center of his chest then sliding my hand across his chest letting my finger tips gently, slowly encircle his womanly sized nipples one at a time, they never got hard. Then I went to his tummy to sneak a finger to the bottom of his belly button, then down to the base of his dick, slowly I stroked it base to head then up and down a little near the head. I leaned in to give him a kiss, Lee turned his head, we met lips to lips, tongue to tongue, I continued my stroke. He likes it somewhat firm and mostly towards the very end. He got hard fast, just like me. I slipped downward from his face to his chest stopping to nurse on his large tits briefly, then down to his stomach hole then at the monster dick I really love. I worked it gently for a while as Lee moaned in pleasure. I gently stroked my own dick with one hand while I worked his head and used my other hand to work the shaft. I could feel his leg muscles tighten and relax as he slightly worked opposite my head movement. He was thrusting slightly northbound while I was slowly suckling southbound. It was fun trying to stay synchronized. Lee usually runs about the same time from first contact to orgasm, today was no exception. When I thought he was close I stopped working myself and grasped his nuts instead. Sure enough they were drawn up all the way and tightly packed into firing position. He started oozing this time, not shooting. He oozed and oozed, thicker than normal which made it hard to swallow so I ended up with a cool mouth full of hard to swallow jizz. I pulled off quickly this time, sliding my head back to his right nipple leaking some there, then to his mouth where I used my tongue to press about 2/3 of his semen back into his mouth with a mix of my saliva too. I heard him moan with surprise at getting such a large quantity of himself back, like a customer return or something. During the process of pushing his jizz back into his mouth I slid on top, completely laying on him, my hands on the sides of his head. We laid in a stack touching nose to nose, breathing each other's air, I could feel his smile even though the room was too dark to see much of anything. "Why'd you do that?" "It's too thick to swallow, we've been outside working most of the day today, we're probably dehydrated, made your semen too thick. I wanted to return it, just like at Walmart. I kept the receipt." "Fucker." He laughed in my face, bouncing up his head to lay several kisses on my mouth. Not wanting to accidentally smash my face into his I slowly lowered to his, our lips touching gently laying a series of tiny kisses on each other's lip tips that just stunk of genuine affection. We didn't need to say the words, we felt the feelings crossing chest to chest. We stayed like that for a time then I stood up and shuffled over to my pants pocket in the corner of our bedroom, totally in the dark. I felt the foil packet of lube, got it out and brought it back to the mattress on the floor, our first night in our new home. I lubed myself then his crack while he laid on his back, knees pointed at the ceiling, heels up almost to his buttocks. Next I lifted his thighs towards his shoulders, he grabbed `hold pulling them up lifting his hips off the mattress. 'Ready in all respects,' was the phrase I remembered from the movie 'U-571.' I slowly slid myself vertically in his valley, felt the spot and started to push. Light at first, then firmer. On Lee he has a hard time relaxing at first but once you penetrate he does just fine, it's just that first quarter inch that's the hardest. Unfortunately it's also the very head of your dick which ain't exactly made of bone. It's sort of like trying to push a marshmallow into the top of a two liter bottle. I pressed-in then he gave way, I literally slipped right in. Lee dropped his legs letting them spread wide apart, his heels dropping onto my back. I lowered myself to his tits to nurse once again. My favorite position, dick inside Lee, mouth sucking on his tits. This was like totally Lee, my everything was his, my total sensory system was all about him and his body. We were united in so many ways right now I could have easily cried at the beauty of the moment. I never tell him how emotional I really get inside when I fuck him. I loved everything about us right now, I loved everything about his body. There was no way we could be closer or more joined in unity than right now. Lee laid back and moaned softly in pleasure. I slowly slid Mister Wiggly in and out as he prepared to launch his attack. Somewhere low in my loins the little guys I imagine in navy uniforms were down there pumping the gel with millions of little snake-tailed soldiers into the firing pump tank. The command given, 'Arm the Pumps!' I felt a growing feeling of warmth, pressure, and bliss emanating from my torpedo room. Lee was also supporting my entire weight. My hands on his shoulders, my face buried in his chest, my lips soaking wet and smashed against his left nipple for the best seal, my balls drawn up into combat position, my dick freely sliding in and out of his silky warm vagina. All up and down the gangways of my mind red lights rotated slowly around as the alarm sounded 'GENERAL QUARTERS, BATTLE STATIONS!' Within seconds the heat became nearly too intense. It felt like the bow-end of the ship might catch fire. The order, FIRE! I could hear it echo throughout the entire imaginary vessel. The pumps jerked violently straining their mountings when they spun-up to life going from dormancy to full capacity. The pleasure of their sudden start sent shock waves of bliss from bow to stern. Between tightly clenched teeth I grunted `FUCK' again as it started and I shoved HARD against Lee again and again and again. Sweat poured from my entire body. Sailors everywhere ran for cover. Again and again I thrust my hips forward as hard as I could. I lost count of how many times I fired at him. Slowly my mouth slid off Lee's left nipple dragging my lips across his chest. I felt weak and dizzy. I felt the smooth warm skin of his edible chest across the center of my face. Something grabbed my head pulling me forcefully upward. Lips. Not sure but I felt something like lips. Our mouths smashed together. In the background I heard my name being shouted. "Jim. Jim!" It sounded familiar. Now my mouth was full of someone else's tongue, I still felt too weak to do anything but breathe. I was panting and drenched. "JAMES ZIMMER!" He yelled. "Huh? What?" I asked. "Wake up." "What?" "It's time for work." Said the familiar voice. I stood up, I felt woozy. The room was dark and cold. I walked across the cold hard floor to the next room, it was our brand new underground living room. Lee was standing in the middle of the room beneath the skylight tube in jeans but no shirt. I smiled. He held out a mug of coffee, steam rising off the top. I looked around, saw the camping heater still running. I was naked, stinky. Remembering where the bathroom was I went in taking about a 180 second shower then got out to dry off with a towel we were sharing for now. It felt damp but that was okay knowing it was the love of my life that had used it. Lee and I walked up the steel spiral to daylight. The birds were singing, the sunshine creating angled shafts of light through the trees to the ground, we walked in silence up the hill to our vehicles. We didn't talk much this morning. We both drove to the main road, he turned to the west, me to the east. ---- Today I would meet with the lawyers to agree to the terms to sell my patent for the oral strip TB test to my employer for nine million. Lee would spend his day selling worms and snacks to people trying to catch our local trout. These were our ordained paths in life. Both of us doing what we were put on earth to do. Both of us in love. Lee had no idea I had this patent or was about to sell it, but either way it meant neither of us needed to work again if we wanted to. I drove from the lawyer's office to the bait store at 2pm after depositing the check at the bank. First time the guy behind the counter called me `Mister Zimmer.' I got us a reservation at the nicest steak restaurant in Covington. Lee usually leaves the store around 3pm when the night lady takes over. Our reservation was for 5pm at the Bouquet Restaurant on Main Street, downtown. We still had about half our clothes at the bait store in the back room so I knew we got that covered. Lee was surprised to see me walk in the door, it opened with a squeak to a few smiling patrons parked on chairs by the minnow tank. Little kids love the minnow tank he says it's where he does his outreach looking for kids in the same or worse situation as he had ten plus years ago. "Hi stranger!" He welcomed me with a smile. "Well hello there Mister Charters!" I responded in a lowered but still excited tone. You've won a steak dinner at Bouquet's in the city tonight at five if you can get away and have the proper attire?" I spoke also sounding like it was me asking if we had nice enough clothes here in the back of the store. "Oh, I'm sure that's not a problem. What's the occasion?" He asked. "It's a surprise." I said raising and lowering my eyebrows to convey it was not something I could say out loud in the store. Lee caught on instantly. "Just one moment while I go check." He slipped in the back room, gone for about half a minute then returned with a smile. "Nope. Decent clothes are not a problem." "When's your replacement coming?" I asked. "She's due in about an hour. Why don't you go get cleaned-up and then baby sit the minnow tank so we're ready to go when she gets here." He offered, I smiled and headed for the end of the counter slipping into the back room which had been our home until yesterday for about two months now. I got my shower done quickly, then shaved and got dressed in the clothes he set out which were black jeans and a nice long sleeve shirt, clean boots and socks. I knew he had something similar. In a dark restaurant few people would notice I was wearing black jeans instead of dress slacks. In all honesty I truly didn't care. By 4pm we were cleaned dressed and walking out the front door into my car. We drove through Claryville onto the highway to downtown Covington to Main Street looking for their sign. We both ordered steak. They put us at a secluded table for those with romantic or business affairs to discuss and wanted a small amount of privacy. The waiter kept an eye on us from a distance trying not to interfere, as per my reservation request. "So what's the big surprise?" Lee asked with a big smile thinking I was going to tell him I loved him even more now. "Can I pay for dinner tonight?" Is all I said right then. "Uh, I thought we agreed that would be my job?" "We're celebrating my retirement!" I announced with a big smile, reaching for my glass of red Merlot offering to clink glasses with him. "You're way too young to retire I thought?" "Not anymore." I insisted still holding out my glass as he slowly fumbled for his without taking his eyes off my face. "You get fired?" He asked with raised eyebrows. "Nope. I sold a project I've been working on myself for a few years now. I sold it to my employer." Lee managed to clink my glass finally then took a sip from his. He had the expression of wanting to know more. "You ever hear of Tuberculosis?" "Yeah, I think so but I don't really know much about it." He replied looking like this was an awfully odd thing to bring up at the most expensive table in the most expensive restaurant in northern Kentucky. It's a billion dollar business, mostly in stopping the spread. Till now, the test has always been a shot under the skin of an expensive protein, then you wait a couple days and have a certain person feel your shot site for signs of a reaction, which then means you need blood tests and a chest xray. All very expensive, time consuming, and uncertain. I developed an oral swab at work, using a simple disposable test strip that costs about a dollar to make, you hold it under your tongue for about ten seconds then watch a window for a color change, green for negative, orange for positive in the presence of Tuberculosis antibodies, 98% accurate three days after exposure." I said beaming with pride. "So what does that mean?" "It means I sold my patent to my employer today and tendered my resignation too." "Like how much?" "Like enough for both of us to retire tomorrow and never work again, maybe do some traveling. There any place you always wanted to go see? Egypt, Tokyo, London, Florence? Any place?" He just stared at me without answering. I reached into my shirt pocket pulling out the deposit slip. I laid it on the table by his wine glass and slid it a little bit towards him. Lee squinted to read the small print on the bottom of the deposit ticket from our bank where we had both business and our joint personal account. I could see his lips reading the number and counting the zeros, his eyes raised up as he converted it into English. I could almost hear his brain saying ` Nine thousand, ninety, nine hundred thousand, nine million. "Holy Fuck!" was all he said at a tiny whisper. Without skipping a beat, Lee gestured for the waiter, I thought he was ordering a bottle of Champaign or something. "Uh Ben, is it? My friend here will be paying the tab tonight. Can we get the check now please?" The waiter turned to walk away. Lee looked at me with this big smile, he raised his hands over the table and slammed then hard on the top on both sides of his plate with a huge bang. All around the dining area people turned to look. "Sonofabitch!" He yelled loudly while everyone was still staring. The waiter thinking something was horribly wrong ran back with the little tray, I signed it, he handed me the card and we both left. Out in the parking lot Lee was beyond happy, he was almost intoxicated acting but not staggering. We headed for the house driving at a slow pace the whole way. Our conversation was focused on taking our first ever vacation. On the way home we decided on London and Paris where two gay boys would be safer. That night on the computer we ordered some furniture, paid extra for delivery to a transit company we found who would accept the freight then put it in a small trailer and pull it from the main road back along the creek and right to our front door without getting stuck in the soft ground near the water. We also priced a two week bus tour of London, Normandy and Paris France. But we both needed passports and luggage first. ---- We ended up selling the bait store in 2019 but keeping the pizza place where we both worked three days a week. We closed the dining area only offering delivery or carry-out. With all the amenities we offer employees there was a year waiting list for jobs at Dave's Pizza. We also decided to take a chunk of his secret cash to make a large anonymous donation to the no-kill dog shelter in Covington. Lee walked in one day in sunglasses and a UK Bulldogs sweatshirt, asked to speak to the manager, asked if donations were accepted, handed her a folder with $140,000 in musty old one hundred dollar bills and walked out without telling them who he was. The story made the CBS network news and all the local media, nobody could figure out who he was. I was on my knees by the sofa swallowing his seed while the report was on the TV with the sound muted. Anonymous donor or not, we're both in love. Life is fantastic and so is our sex. The End. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. Your feedback appreciated. A special thank you to everyone that took the time to email. Follow me at gayauthors.org Boris Chen Yuma, Arizona. comments to: borischen zoho com I reply to all emails.