Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2004 10:16:02 -0500 (EST) From: "Publishing@TomCup.com" <publishing@tomcup.com> Subject: KOA Boy - Chapter 10 - By Tom Cup - A/Y Camping Copyright 2000-2004 by the Paratwa Partnership: A Colorado Corporation. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, except in the case of reviews, without written permission from the Paratwa Partnership, Inc, 354 Plateau Drive, Florissant, CO 80816 This is a fictional story involving alternative sexual relationships. If this type of material offends you, please do not read any further. This material is intended for mature adult audiences. Names, characters, locations and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. ********************************************************************** What's New at TomCup.com? KOABoy By Tom Cup Chapter 13: Added 04/17 My Symon by Rick Lawton Chapter 7: Added 04/09 * The Nasty Boys Club by Tom Cup Chapter 3: Added 04/04 * Calvin: Identity Crisis by Tom Cup: Chapter 3 Added 3/27 The Innocents Part 4: Paulo and Beto by Richard Dean: Chapter 19 Added 03/15 Short Story: On the Way to Walmart by Tom Cup: Added 03/14* Airport Voyeur Part 2 by Adam Bricker Chapter 4: Added 03/09* Lion of Bolognia by Tom Cup: Queen of Hearts Chapter 1: Added 03/07* My Symon by Rick Lawton Chapter 6: Added 03/03* KOABoy By Tom Cup Chapter 12: Added 02/29 YardWork by Thorn Added 02/26* The Innocents Part 4: Paulo and Beto by Richard Dean: Chapter 18 Added 02/23 My Symon by Rick Lawton Chapter 5: Added 02/13* *TomCup.com now offers an Executive Club membership! ** Tom Cup's "Of Our Teenage Years" is scheduled for publication and release in paperback in the Spring of 2004. Check it out at http://www.tomcup.com! ********************************************************************** The Paratwa Partnership, Inc. is a publication and marketing agency and is not responsible for the content of the Tom Cup Library, TomCup.com or its affiliate sites, or stories written by Mr. Cup or his associates. ********************************************************************** KOABoy By Tom Cup Chapter 10 No Longer Simple Morgan surprised me by dismantling our cover story with Bart. I felt betrayed by the conversation and entertained the idea of leaving both boys to their own devises at the earliest convenience. That thought was a farce. I had begun to believe the lie that I was Morgan's father. It was a pleasant lie to me. Hearing Morgan explain that he was a runaway, and that I had picked him up at a KOA, destroyed the illusion of permanence in my mind. However, Bart's nodded understanding was curious to me. "I like your bracelet," Morgan said. I glanced in the rear view mirror to see Bart covering the bracelet with his black leather jacket. His cheeks blushed. We drove on in silence until we reached Greely, Colorado. The smell of cow manure was rich in the air. Morgan, who had nearly fallen asleep, looked anxiously about the passing countryside. Bart's nose crinkled as he frowned. I got a perverse gratification from their nasal displeasure. After all, Morgan had blown our cover story without asking me, and Bart hadn't revealed anything about why he was on the road even though he knew I was traveling with a runaway minor. I wondered how long it would be before he would put two and two together and I would find myself taking him wherever he wanted to go. I pulled into the parking lot of a 7-11. "What you doing?" Morgan asked. "Going to see if there is a KOA nearby," I said. "We're going to stay here?" Morgan exclaimed. "What's the matter with here," I asked. "The smell!" Morgan said. "Suits me just fine," I said, throwing the camper into park, setting the parking break, and opening my door. Morgan sat with his head bowed as I trotted off to the convenience store to get directions. I was returning to the camper when I saw Bart walking toward me with his backpack in tow. He glanced back at the camper and then extended his hand to me. "Maybe I ought to catch another ride," he said. I caught my breath. Had he figured out what had happened between Morgan and me? Would I be stopped down the rode by a suspicious State Trooper who had a tip from a hitchhiking teenager about a man traveling with a boy that didn't belong to him? "Why's that Bart?" I asked, my voice a bit shakier than I intended, "You're welcome to ride with us." "Nah, I don't think that Morgan wants me too." "Why do you say that?" "He's crying and all. Saying he shouldn't have been flirting with me. It's cool. I won't say anything about you two to anyone. I appreciate how far you brought me." Bart moved passed me and headed for the convenience store. I stood staring at the ground. I was being foolish, jealous, and cruel in my manipulation. I felt ashamed of myself. "Bart!" I called as he reached the concrete walkway in front of the 7-11, "Come here a minute will you?" Bart looked toward the 7-11 and then toward me. He shrugged and readjusted his backpack over the opposite shoulder. As he did so, for the first time I saw the rainbow bracelet he was wearing. I chuckled. "Yeah?" Bart asked, titling his head and staring into my eyes. "I think you, Morgan, and I need to talk." ************ "OK," I said, pulling on to the road and continuing our journey south, "Here's the way I see things. I am in possession of two runaways, both of which I have now taken across state lines. If the authorities were to find out, I would be in deep shit." The camper remained silent. "So," I continued, "by the silence I assume that I am correct. You are a runaway, aren't you Bart?" Bart nodded. "How old are you?" "Seventeen." I looked into the reflection of his eyes in the mirror. "Sixteen," Bart corrected, "But I'll be seventeen in three weeks. That's the truth." I groaned. "So what the hell are you running from?" I asked. "He's gay too," Morgan said. "Now how do you know that?" I asked, "There are other reasons kids runaway." Morgan shrugged. "I just do. And besides, I saw his bracelet." My eyes met Bart's. He blushed fiercely. "I'll understand if you don't want to travel with me," Bart said, lowering his eyes. "No, no," I said, "I'm just a little confused." "Oh!" Morgan said, "I get it. You thought I just told him about you and me for no reason. That's why you got pissed! Come on Dad, I'd never do something like that!" "Oh so now it's Dad," I said pretending to be hurt, which I really was. "I thought you wanted to be my Dad," Morgan whispered, and I heard the hurt in his voice. Bart stared between us. The conversation was going badly. I reached across the aisle and took Morgan's hand. "Yes," I said, "I still want to be your Dad. I'm sorry." "I'm sorry too," Morgan said, "I shouldn't be telling people things about us without asking you." I squeezed Morgan's hand once more, smiled in his direction, and then took grip of the steering wheel with both hands. "OK Bart. Your turn." "My turn?" Bart said. "Yes," I said, "We've just opened our hearts in front of you, time for you to do the same. What's going on with you?" "Nothing really." "Nothing? Look Bart, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on. It's a trust thing. We trust you so you trust us." "Why should I trust anyone?" "I don't know, Bart^Å You just need other people. There has to be a reason why you are running away from home. Maybe I can help. Maybe I can't. But it's worth a try and what do you have to lose? We're in Colorado, where you said you wanted to go, if you don't like what I propose after you tell me your story, I'll drop you off wherever you wish and we part friends. What do you say?" Bart shook his head. His hair folded over his face in waves of gold. "I don't know what to say," Bart whispered. "Is it your Dad?" Morgan asked. "I don't have a Dad," Bart said, "It's just me and Mom and my Uncle Alan." "So why are you running away Bart," I asked. "It's my Uncle. I mean^Å I know I'm gay and all but I don't want to do things with him. And^Å it's crazy^Å" "We've heard crazier," I said. "Mom would die if she knew I was gay, let alone that her brother was doing things with me^Å so I left. I didn't really think I would get far^Å not this far." I groaned. "You don't really have any place to go, do you?" Bart shook his head. "Why'd you say you were head to Colorado?" "It was the first place to pop into my head!" "Oh Christ!" "I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone would really pick me up." ************ I caught fading glimpses of the boys' conversation as we moved closer to Denver. They compared their feelings over several categories. What I learned was that they both were still kids. They were both sexually advance for their ages ^Ö Morgan more so than Bart ^Ö but they still talked about skate boards, movies and video games that they liked, among the conversation of what it was like to be a gay youth. Mostly, from what I gathered from the conversation, aside from the sex, they were both lonely. What bothered me about the conversation was that Bart genuinely loved his mother, and besides the guilt over the fact that he sometimes enjoyed his uncle's advances and sometimes didn't, he seemed to have a fairly good home life. "Look," I said, breaking into a conversation about extreme sports, "I think you should call your Mom, Bart. At least let her know you are all right." "Yeah," he said, "I think so too. I'm scared that she'll be worried." "Then why didn't you say so? You got to tell me these things Bart." I pulled into a shopping complex. Bart called his mother collect from a phone booth. Morgan and I stood leaning against the camper out of earshot, watching Bart nervously talking to you his mother. "What do you think?" Morgan asked. "About what?" I replied. "About Bart." "About Bart what?" "Come on," Morgan said, "You know." "I don't think that it would be a good idea." "Why?" "Morgan," I sighed, "Not everyone is as sexually free as you." "I think he likes me." "I'm sure he does. But that young man isn't in the same place as you. A relationship with you right now could hurt him." "What about a relationship with you." I rolled my eyes. "Not going to happen. I don't think he's into adults. So will you behave yourself?" Morgan shrugged and said, "I've been behaving myself." "Yes Morgan you have, but you also have that look in your eye." "What look?" "That look!" He smiled. "I'm horny," he whispered. "I gathered." Bart wiped tears from his face as he returned to the camper. He climbed aboard without a glance toward Morgan or me. I climbed into the drivers seat as Morgan climbed into the passenger seat. Bart sat cross-legged on the floor between us. "Well?" I said. Bart looked up at me with reddened eyes. "She knew," he said, "My uncle told her." "He told her about you and him?" Morgan asked. "No," Bart said wagging his head, "Just about me. She said I could come back. She said she would get me help^Å help so I could be^Å normal. I knew she would say that." Morgan and I looked at one another. There wasn't a person in the camper that didn't know that Bart's mother meant well. There wasn't a person in the camper that didn't know how much what she had said had hurt Bart. What Bart needed to hear was something on the lines of, "Son, I love you no matter what. Come home." He didn't feel like being fixed; he didn't want to be fixed. He wanted to be loved by his mother the way he is. "OK," I said, "What started out as a simple trip across country is no longer so simple. I now have two boys to take care of." "You don't have to take care of me," Bart said, "I can manage." "Sure you can," I said, "So let's all get a hotel tonight, something to eat, and kick back and relax. Tomorrow we'll figure out what's what. OK." "OK," Morgan said. When Bart didn't answer, Morgan added, "Come on. It'll be fun and it's not like I'm going to jump your bones or anything. I mean, unless you really, really beg." Bart laughed and nodded. We headed off to find a hotel. ********************************************************************** Send comments to: comments@tomcup.com To support this and other stories by the author, join at http://www.tomcup.com. If you like this story, check out Tom Cup's "Calvin: A Coming of Age Story." Available at Barnes and Nobles Bookstores, Amazon.com, your local independent bookseller, or from Tom Cup.com. Tom Cup's "Of Our Teenage Years" is scheduled for publication and release in paperback in the Spring of 2004. Check it out at http://www.tomcup.com!