Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2012 12:18:05 -0800
From: h.schreiber@hushmail.com
Subject: Come Christmas Steve Chapter 1

			   Come Christmas Steve

				 Chapter 1

			 Going Home for Christmas

       There were shadows in Steve's past, that was certain. Whenever the
subject of family came up, he found a way around the conversation. We'd
been roommates in the freshman dorms since school started in September and
all I knew about him was that he grew up in Bozeman and he was on some sort
of privately funded scholarship. He was a serious student and studied more
than he played. Rarely would he accept an invitation to a party or other
outing with me or the other dormies. Not that I was some sort of social
butterfly, but I at least made some effort to partake of the college
life. He stayed at school over Thanksgiving break and I felt sort of bad
leaving him when I headed home. He said he didn't mind being alone for the
holiday and he would use it to catch up on some extra credit work. That
made me laugh out loud. "How can you 'catch up' on something that isn't
even required?" I asked. He just smiled at me. I was pretty sure he had no
need of extra credit, but he was just that kind of student who usually did
the extra credit work, making students like me feel guilty for passing on
it.

       Neither of us were exactly ladies men, having not been on an actual
date the entire time we were at school. I at least flirted here and there,
but Steve never did. I assumed he was shy around girls. It wasn't much of
an assumption since he never did more than answer a girl's questions in the
shortest possible way and with no follow up conversation of his own,
ever. I wondered a bit if he was gay, but I didn't really think so. There
were no other signs of it, not that I'd know really what sort of signs that
would be.

	"How are finals coming?" I asked, looking up from my small study
desk. The desk was littered with my open anatomy text and poorly scribbled
notes. I twisted to look at Steve who had just walked in from taking a
shower in the communal bathroom down the hall. His thick brown hair was
damp and disheveled. The towel cut across his flat stomach. The smooth
chest was slightly damp still, having been inadequately dried and below the
towel emerged his strong legs with well defined calf muscles. They were
lightly dusted with brown leg hairs from his knees to his ankles. He ran a
couple miles every morning for his fitness routine then did pushups and
sit-ups between our beds in the evenings.

	"Fine. Two more to go: algebra and music appreciation," he answered
while nonchalantly pulling the towel free from his waist drying his
chest. As he moved up over his shoulders, I was treated to a view of his
uncircumcised dick and dangling balls. They were average in size and he had
a nice triangular patch of thick brown pubic hair with a small treasure
trail leading up to his innie naval. The human body fascinated me and I was
thinking more and more about getting into the medical field in some fashion
but probably not as a doctor. The amount of schooling for that deterred me.

	"I just have this anatomy class left and then I'm out of here," I
said. "When are you heading home?" Steve slung the towel over his back and
swiped it back and forth causing his dick and balls to swing side to
side. Neither of us were shy about being naked in front of each other. I'd
grown up with three brothers and no sisters in the house so I'd seen my
share of dicks and balls and even boners now and then.

	"I'm not. I'm just staying here."

	"You're not going home for Christmas? Dude, what's up with your
family? How come you never talk about them?" I stood up and walked over to
my bed and hopped up onto it. The dorm room beds were really high off the
ground because there was literally no storage in the tiny rooms. So
everyone got blocks of wood and put under the legs of the beds to raise
them up and put storage boxes underneath them. My mom made me a large quilt
that hung way down to the floor. She'd used Montana State's colors and put
the logo on the center patch. I loved how warm it was. Steve just used the
school issued bedding and I planned on giving him a warm blanket for
Christmas because I could tell he froze at night sometimes. We had no
control over the heating and they turned it way down at night.

	"There's nothing up with my family."

	"There has to be. You never talk about them. You never really talk
about growing up experiences at all. You didn't go home for Thanksgiving
and you're not going home for Christmas. That's kind of messed up. Why
won't you tell me about it? I'm not judgmental about shit like that."

	"There's just nothing to tell. Leave it be." Steve didn't look sad
and there was no anger in his reply, he just seemed empty. I was sad for
him, though. I had an amazing family with two older brothers and a younger
one. We were tight with each other and I looked so forward to seeing them
again. Karl, my oldest brother was out of college and working as an
accountant in Bozeman. He had a steady girlfriend but not a live-in. Mom
would freak out if any of us did that. Tom, my next oldest brother, was a
senior at Dartmouth and planning to go on to law school. He was the braniac
of the group. Billy, my little brother, was living the dream as a junior in
high school. He was a high scoring hockey star on the school team.  It
seemed he was high scoring on and off the ice. Rumor had it he was fucking
a variety of hot chicks. He had the looks and athleticism. Except for
playing nasty in the hay barn with a couple cousins, I had no sexual
experience. I'd barely been on three or four dates.

	"All right, if you don't want to talk about it, I'll drop it, but
you are not spending the break here. No way I'm letting that happen. I'll
call Mom and let her know you're coming home with me."

	"No, I couldn't do that."

	"Why? And don't say you want to get a head start on next semester's
extra credit work or I'll be forced to kick your ass."

	He chuckled and pulled on his grey boxer briefs. It was the only
thing he ever wore. He had seven pairs of grey boxer briefs. He actually
had them labeled for the day of the week. It was weird. It made sorting the
laundry easy whenever we washed our stuff together though. "I just couldn't
impose like that," he insisted.

	"It's no imposition, believe me. My family would love to have you
come. On Christmas day, we have so many relatives show up for dinner, I
scarcely know them all. I swear we need name tags or something. My mom and
dad both came from big families and I have so many aunts and uncles and
cousins you can't believe it. I'm not giving you the choice. You're coming
- end of discussion." I jumped down from the bed and pulled my shirt off
exposing my slightly pudgy middle section. I'm not fat, but I could afford
to work out a little more than I do. Well that's obvious since I don't
really work out at all. I kicked off my fuzzy slippers that Mom gave me and
dropped my pants and pulled off my Hanes. Steve glanced at my naked body
with no reaction as he pulled his Wrangler jeans on. I pulled my towel free
of the bottom bed rail where we hung them to dry and wrapped it around my
middle. "After I shower, we'll go get some breakfast at the slop hall. Want
to?"

	"Sure." Steve was looking at my anatomy text and smiled. "You
really have to study this section? I thought you'd already know all about
this."

	"I do smartass. But they use all the wrong terms for things. I
bombed my quiz on that section when I labeled the female parts as cunt and
hooters and dick and baby-makers on the male chart." He broke into his
infectious laugh. I loved how he laughed and it made me laugh whenever he
did. I was wiping tears from my eyes as I headed out the door and down the
hall. I was pleased to find Whittaker just stepping out of a shower stall
and no one in line for it. Whittaker was a tall red headed goofball from
Wyoming with the biggest dick I'd ever seen. We had horses with shorter
ones back home. He wasn't shy about showing it off either.

	"All yours Steele," he said as he stepped past me dripping wet. I
hung my towel on the hook and turned the water back on. It was instantly
hot since Whittaker had just gotten out and I followed my daily ritual of
grabbing the shower nozzle and arcing it around to rinse out any snot
rockets or urine or worse yet, cum. I'd stepped in something slimy early on
and ever since then started rinsing the tile floor before stepping in. I
imagined Whittaker could unload a gallon or two if he cranked one off in
the shower.

	I loved taking long, steaming hot showers. Mom always limited us at
home and if we went overtime, she'd simply go shut the hot water valve
off. That always worked. I hated it when I got caught with a head full of
shampoo and no hot water to rinse it with. With four boys, five counting
Dad, I guess she had to take some controlling measures. The dorms seemed to
have unlimited hot water and I took advantage. Steve asked me what the hell
took me so long several times. He was into efficient showers. Get in, wash
up, get out, brush teeth, shave and then go to the dorm room to finish
drying and comb his hair.

	This particular day, however, I wanted to go eat and then get back
to studying for my final. I soaped up and scrubbed under my pits then over
my chest. I liked the feel of my soapy hands roaming over my body and I
longed for the day someone else's hands would do it. I followed my inguinal
'V' down into my blond pubic patch and lathered up my dick and balls. I'd
never seen an uncut dick before college and besides Steve's, I'd only seen
a couple here at school. I was fascinated by them for some reason. I was
especially curious about Steve's since I saw his most often. I wondered
what it would look like boned. It was a gay and weird thought to have, I
knew, but I couldn't help entertaining it from time to time. This was one
of those times. I pulled my foreskin down and covered my tip with it
imagining what it would look like if I were uncut.

	The attention being paid to my phallus structure, and in particular
the corona ridge of my glans penis, caused blood to infuse into my corpus
cavernosum, producing a firm erection. I took a handful of scrotum and
rolled my testis between my thumb and fingers locating the epididymis and
vas deferens. I traced it up until it disappeared beyond my pubic
bone. Then I poured a healthy glob of conditioner into my palm and smeared
it over my pulsating erection. I gripped it, pressing my fingers into the
corpus spongiosum. I started slow at first, sliding my slippery hand up and
down my shaft, enjoying the tingling sensations. After a minute or two, I
added a fresh supply of conditioner and coated the middle finger of my
opposite hand. I double checked to make sure the plastic shower curtain
with the mold on the bottom was pulled all the way from edge to edge and
squatted slightly. I reached between my legs and inserted my coated finger
into my clenched sphincter muscles as far up into the recesses of my anus
as I could manage. I'd discovered this little pleasure around age fifteen
and employed it regularly since.

	With my finger in place, I resumed the attack on my dick at a
quickened pace and was quickly rewarded with the emerging sexual
pleasure. Tingles spread across my forehead and down the side of my
face. My body twitched and contorted in small jerks as shocks of sexual
energy shot through me. I curled up my toes against the tile floor just
before the explosion. I shuddered and gasped under the hot water streaming
over my back as the muscles in my ass clenched and spasmed on my finger
intensifying the expulsion of the sperm laden semen. As was my custom, just
before shooting my first load, I'd open my eyes in a frantic urgency to
watch it happen. "Ohhh, yeah, cum Shaney cum." I moaned under my breath as
I stooped a bit lower and propelled a spritz of cum onto the tile
wall. Again it came and then a third time. I plucked my finger from my ass
and used that hand to steady myself against the wall. I continued to slowly
stroke my tender dick nice and gentle as the last bit oozed from my tip. I
relished the post orgasmic buzz and regained my breath.

	Once recovered, I splashed water against the tile wall to rinse my
thick cum down the drain. I didn't want to leave any evidence behind. I
washed my ass and legs and then verified my dick was back down enough to be
seen in case someone was waiting for the stall. It passed inspection for
being soft enough to not be suspicious but still pudgy enough to look
bigger than it really is. I liked that and actually hoped there would be
someone there waiting who I could show it off to. I pulled the curtain free
and was rewarded with not one but two impatient guys there to witness my
expanded dick. I took my towel off the hook and stepped aside waving the
short, Hispanic kid in with a sweep of my hand. "Took long enough," he
grumbled as he stepped in without taking his towel off. He definitely
copped a peek at my dick as he pulled the curtain shut. He slipped his
towel out of the edge of the curtain and hung it on the hook so no one
could see him naked. Some guys were really shy like that. Most were,
actually. If you grew up with a band of brothers, you got over that pretty
quickly. I assumed Steve must have had brothers in whatever messed up
family he came from because he was not body shy at all.

       The other guy was secretly peeking at me while he leaned against one
of the sinks on the opposite wall from the showers. I made no attempt to
hide it since it was still showing off a bit. However, from the attention
it was getting, I felt it start an upward movement and slight swelling and
I realized I had to get that under control quick or risk the embarrassment
of popping one in front of my one man audience. I had no desire to become
the topic of common room gossip so I turned away and finished drying my
dick and balls and then wrapped my towel around me tightly and headed off
to the dorm room. I found Steve at his desk dutifully studying his algebra,
calculator in hand. He didn't turn to look at me as I finished drying and
dressed. I was a bit disappointed since I was still sporting a pudgy and
would have liked to show it off for him a bit. Once dressed in my jeans,
boots and flannel, I suggested we head to the cafeteria. He agreed and
immediately closed his book and stood up. We both had the unlimited meal
cards and he definitely put his to use. I was amazed how much he could put
away without getting fat. He had filled out since we became roomies,
however. When he first arrived he was skinny in an unhealthy way.

       He piled on the hash browns, pancakes and sausage. He poured
buttermilk gravy over the hash browns and smothered the pancakes in maple
syrup. Three glasses of orange juice and a toasted bagel later, we headed
to a table near the window. We watched the students walking by as we ate. I
had oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins with wheat toast. I hadn't liked
the spreading bulge I was developing and decided I'd better cut back a
bit. I had a cup of coffee, black. Occasionally, I'd make the obligatory
comment about a hot chick walking by and Steve would give a perfunctory
grunt. Sometimes he would comment on the overdressed kids. It bothered him
a lot when people overdressed. Growing up in a rural farm community,
overdressing was never something we did. We were happy to get two shirts
and a new pair of boot cuts for school clothes each year. My dad ran a few
acres on his own, and had a little livestock but nothing more than a hobby
farm. Mostly, he made his living by doing welding and farm equipment
repair. He was really good at what he did and I thought, as I got older and
could recognize it, that a lot of the farmers took advantage of his kind
heart and good nature. Oh well, it was what it was and when I tried to say
anything about it, he snapped at me. That wasn't like him and I wasn't sure
if it was because he knew it and didn't like having it pointed out or if he
thought I was being a snotty dickhead. Either way, I never brought it up
again. Truth is, he'd saved enough to help all of his boys get into school
and he'd had all of us start our own college funds and work summers to put
money into them. By doing that, and with the Pell Grant, I was able to get
by with only an on-campus job. My brother, Tom, was going to have to go
into some serious debt for law school.

	By the time I had only a couple of spoonfuls left, he was just
mopping up the last of the syrup with his bagel. I never saw anyone put it
away like that and I grew up with three brothers. I didn't think anyone
could eat more than Karl but Steve put him to shame. No contest. I pulled
out my cell phone and Steve got up for more OJ. He asked if I wanted more
coffee but I declined. I didn't want to be too caffeinated for my
final. One cup wakes me up, two gets me jittery. I remember it being a big
deal that I drank coffee over Thanksgiving break. It wasn't something kids
did at our house and apparently being away at college hadn't yet qualified
me as an adult. I wondered what they would have thought about having a
beer. Don't get me wrong, I'd been to a kegger or two in high school, but
to openly drink one around the house would have been complete anarchy. So I
hadn't gotten into the party scene at college and neither had Steve. As far
as I could tell, he had no vices. I'd never even caught him jacking off at
night in bed. Since he didn't date, I was sure he must be doing it
somewhere, so I suspected the shower and probably an occasional yank on the
toilet. Not that I cared, of course. It just seemed odd. I remember when
little Billy learned to do it, he'd keep me up nights while I pretended to
be asleep so he could get his little rocks off. It was awkward for me
though, being the older one. I really did have to wait for him to be asleep
before pulling on it for years. Usually, I'd fall asleep waiting and miss
out. Once he started though, it was okay for me to let him just pretend to
be asleep when I needed one as well.

	I called and Mom answered right off. I explained about my roommate,
Steve, and how he had nowhere to go for Christmas and that his family must
be dysfunctional or something and of course, Mom insisted that he come for
Christmas break. When Steve arrived back at the table, I was in the middle
of hearing about May Bell's delivery the night before. Hearing how Billy
and Dad were up to their arms in blood from it made me glad to be at
school. It was a little steer and would grow up to become steaks and
hamburger one day. I never named the steers - only the cows. It's really
hard to eat things with names.

	Steve caught the drift of the conversation as I was wrapping up and
he started shaking his head at me. "Hey Mom, Steve would like to talk to
you and thank you for the invitation. Here he is." Now he was scowling at
me and waving the phone away. He refused to take it from me as I reached it
across the table but after I shook it at him a couple times, he reluctantly
plucked it from my hand.

	"Hello," he said almost seeming unsure if he should. He held it
awkwardly away from his ear and looked very uncomfortable with it. It was
hard to believe, but he didn't own a cell phone. I doubt there was another
student on campus or on any campus on planet earth for that matter who
didn't own a cell phone. When I pressed him about it, he simply said it was
an unnecessary expense and there was no one who needed to call him and no
one he needed to call. He was annoyed by the absence of pay phones anywhere
on campus and pretty much anywhere else. When he did actually need to make
a call, he borrowed my phone or someone else's but mostly mine. I didn't
mind but I just couldn't imagine not having one. If I had to give up my
dick or my phone, I'd choose to lose the phone but I'd definitely have to
think on it a bit first.

	"Well, I really wouldn't want to impose," he said. I rolled my eyes
and shook my head. "Yes, Ma'am, I guess so then. Thank you very much,
Mrs. Steele." He handed the phone over to me and said, "She's hard to turn
down. I see where you get your stubborn streak from."

	I laughed. "I actually got a double dose of that. I'm not sure how
my parents have survived together as stubborn as they both are. So, this is
going to be fantastic. You'll love it up there at the ranch. I'll show you
all around."

	"You live on a ranch?"

	"Not really, but Dad likes to call it that. Most of it is grazing
land. Still, it's pretty wild west up there."

	"How big is it?"

	"Getting kind of personal aren't you? How big is yours?" I
snickered.

	"What?" Steve looked confused at first then the corner of his mouth
pulled up into a grin. "You've seen how big mine is, roomie. Neither of us
is making the Guinness Book of World Records. I meant, how big is your
ranch?"

	"It's only 25 acres and a lot of it is dry farm and grazing. I'm
not real sure about the city of Kalispell itself, but the whole surrounding
area is around 100,000 people, I'd guess. We're just seven miles north of
Flathead Lake which is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the
Mississippi. We're not very far from Glacier National Park. That place is
amazing. We can call and find out if the Going to the Sun Road is open and
if it is, we can drive up to Lake McDonald. It's breathtakingly beautiful."

	"Sounds wonderful."

	On our way back to the dorm, I asked, "So is there something
special you want for Christmas?"

	"What do you mean?"

	"You know, for a gift. Is there something you'd like?"

	Steve looked at me for a while and then responded, "I hate to break
this to you, but there's no such thing as Santa Claus. I learned that a
long time ago."

	That was the first time I'd ever heard bitterness in Steve's
voice. I felt pity for him. Not really pity, it was more like empathy I
felt. "I wasn't talking about Santa Claus, I was talking about me. Is there
something special you'd like me to get you or would you rather just be
surprised?"

	Steve stopped in his tracks and looked at me. I stopped and turned
around, "What?" I asked.

	"You're planning on giving me a Christmas gift? Why?"

	"Because we're roommates and I like you? Why wouldn't I?"

	Steve's lips were pressed together and he pulled them side to side
as he struggled against becoming emotional. He reached up and rubbed the
sleeve of his well worn jacket across his eyes. Finally, he managed to
speak, his voice trembling as he said, "You don't have to."

	"I know I don't have to. I want to. So is there something you need
or something you just want? Or should I just surprise you?"

	"No. Nothing really I can think of. You really don't have
to. Letting me come home with you is enough of a gift."

	"Okay, a surprise it is then. I'll have to think on this. I have
one idea but I need to think of something a little more personal for you to
go with it." I grabbed him by the sleeve and said, "C'mon, let's go study."
He was silent and deep in thought. He had me make a detour into the student
union so he could get some money from the ATM. I'd never seen him do that
before. He rarely spent any money on anything besides his lab fees and
school supplies. We both hit the books until early afternoon when we had to
go take the finals at the testing center. We walked over together and
checked in with our student ID cards. Two hours later, I'd guessed at as
much as I was able to about the human body and turned in my exam. Steve had
finished his algebra and was busy on his music appreciation final. The
single electronic gadget Steve owned was an iPod Mini that he listened
to. He had all kinds of music on it from classical to jazz and rock to
rap. One of his few free time activities was to go to the computers in the
library and check out new music, and whenever he could manage it, he would
tune the TV in the commons room at the dorm to American Idol. Now and then,
he'd have to endure a snide comment about who chose to watch that gay
shit. But he just ignored rude and mean comments for the most part. He
never argued if someone wanted to change the channel.

	I asked him why he never told guys like that to fuck off and he
gave me an interesting answer. "Have you seen the Lion King?" he asked
me. Of course I had. "Well there's always a few lions in the group who want
to be king and if you do want to be king, you have to constantly battle to
earn that position. Once you have it, you have to constantly battle to keep
it. I don't want to be king. I don't want to fight for it. If you're not
the king, though, sometimes you have to bend over and take it up the ass if
that's what the king wants and life's better if you do it without a
fuss. Hopefully, you get a good king."

	I was back in the dorm and already starting to pack for the trip
home when Steve walked in. "How'd it go?" I asked.

	"Good, I think. How about for you?"

	"All right. I'm pretty sure I got all the proper terms for the
reproductive system this time."

	Steve smiled and said, "That's good. So I have a quiz for you
then. Let's see if you know it. I've always been curious about it but never
think to look it up when I'm on the internet."

	"Uh-oh," I said, "I'm about to get embarrassed, I think. Go ahead,
lay it on me."

	"On a guy's dick, what's that little bit of tight skin under the
head called? The really sensitive part." "The whole ridge of the dickhead
is sensitive because it has tons of nerve endings there. It's called the
corona."

	"No, I'm talking about just the little part that like connects the
underside of the dick to the head. Here, I'll show you." Steve undid his
jeans and pulled down his zipper. Then he fished his dick out but it was
constricted in the fly of his boxer briefs. So he just pulled the waistband
down and tucked it under his balls. He took his dick in his fingers and to
my utter fascination, peeled his foreskin back over his dickhead and
touched the small connective bit of skin he was talking about. As he pulled
the skin further down his shaft, it tugged on his dickhead.

       I stared in rapt admiration of his well proportioned dick and the
unfolding of the mystery of what lay beneath his long foreskin. It was like
unwrapping a Christmas gift as he pulled the skin covering free of his pink
head. In the weirdest way, I wanted to reach out and touch it - to feel it
and hold it. "Oh, that's the frenulum preputii penis also called frenulum
of prepuce of penis. Frenulum means 'little bridle' in Latin and we have
them in several places in our bodies where a little elastic tissue is
present to hold things in place or to connect one tissue to another. If you
rub your tongue up between your upper lip and gum you'll feel a frenulum
and there's another one in your lower lip as well us underneath your
tongue. Girls have them on their clits and there are some in the digestive
tract as well. In the case of the penis, the elastic tissue runs all the
way around here." I reached with a finger toward his exposed dick but
hesitated. "Do you mind if I touch it?"

       "No. I don't mind."

       I traced my finger all around the underside of the ridge and up
along the frenulum. "The elastic tissue runs all the way around the
underside of the ridge and connects here where the head, or glans as it's
properly called, is split. It connects the foreskin to the glans." As I
slid my finger along the sensitive frenulum, he instinctively
twitched. After I pulled my finger back, he slid the skin back over the
head and put his dick away, zipping and buckling up his
jeans. "Thanks. I've always wondered about that." Then he added as he
started organizing his desk, "What's the plan for getting to your ranch?"

       "The Rimrock Stages bus leaves tomorrow at 11:30 and we arrive in
Kalispell at 6:45 in the evening. Someone will pick us up at the station
and take us up to the ranch."

       "Oh, the bus. How do I get a ticket?"

       "Already done. I booked us right after my exam."

       "So how much do I owe you?"

       "Nothing. Don't worry about it."

       "Look, I appreciate the offer to go with you but if you won't let me
pay my way, I'm not going. I'm not going to be a charity case. Got it?"

       That was another first for me. I'd never heard him get forceful and
even on the verge of anger before with anyone and certainly not with
me. "Okay. I didn't mean anything by it. I just thought since I invited
you, I should get you there. It's $150 dollars round trip." I saw his
expression change briefly as he digested the amount. It was clear that was
a big number for him. "Look, I really want you to come and if that's too
much, just pay me what you can. I'll let you work off the rest later."

       "No. I have it. I just didn't think about it. I have to go into town
for a bit. I'll be back before the cafeteria closes for dinner."

       "Want some company?"

       To my surprise, he said no. He wanted to go alone. That set me back
on my heels a bit. He pulled on his coat and left without any
explanation. I finished packing my duffle and then jumped onto my bed. I
pulled my pants and boxers down around my knees and fiddled with my
frenulum while I replayed the extraordinary scene out in my mind's eye of
Steve exposing his dickhead in front of me. I pulled my shirt and
undershirt off and pulled one off. At the special moment, I opened my eyes
and called out, "Oh, yeah, cum Shaney cum. I lay there with warm cum on my
chest and belly for a minute before fishing some Kleenex off my desk to
wipe up with. I pulled a bottled water from the small cooler we kept under
Steve's bed and used it to get the sticky residue off. I went down to the
commons area and played some ping pong and just chatted with the other
dormies about finals and Christmas plans until Steve got back. He had
several packages that he squirreled away in his closet. It dawned on me
that he'd been out Christmas shopping. I needed to do a little of that
myself and cussed myself for not taking advantage of my time like he had
done. We headed for dinner and again he ate like it was his last meal. He
went back three times for another serving of meatloaf and potatoes. That
night, I was awakened by him sneaking out of the room with his packages and
a roll of Christmas wrapping paper. I smiled to myself at the childlike
expression of excitement on his face. I could see his innocent joy even
with the faint light of his desk lamp, which he'd lowered near the desk to
reduce the amount of light given off. I drifted back to sleep and didn't
hear him come back in.

       The next morning, he was shaking me awake. "Hey, don't we need to
get going? We need to eat and get down to the bus station." I sat up on an
elbow and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. He was fully dressed and shifting
impatiently from one foot to the other.

       "Okay. What time is it?"

       "Eight. Cafeteria's been open for an hour already. I walked down and
had first breakfast already. Now it's time for second breakfast."

       "What are you? A freaking hobbit?"

       He chuckled, "No. C'mon. Let's go. Get up."

       I crawled out of bed and slipped on my fuzzy footwear then padded to
the toilets to drain my bladder. When I got back, Steve was on my laptop
browsing the internet for information on Kalispell and Glacier National
Park. "This really is beautiful country. I'm excited to see it. And I'm
excited to meet your family. Thanks for inviting me home with you. It's the
nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. I mean it."

       "No big deal. I'm glad you're coming. I'm anxious to show my friend
where I grew up."

       He smiled endearingly at me and said almost wistfully, "We are,
aren't we?"

       "We are what?" I asked.

       "Friends."

       "Yeah. Of course." He smiled and told me to hurry up and get dressed
and he'd meet me in the commons room. I found him alone watching the news
on the big TV. Everyone was already up and gone or still sleeping. We
headed down to second breakfast and then we stopped again at the ATM on the
way back.

       We spent almost no time back in the room because he wanted to make
sure we were early to the bus station. He took his backpack and a bag full
of wrapped gifts. He checked his pockets for his wallet and key and then
hurried back to his desk to retrieve his beloved, though outdated, iPod
Mini from his desk drawer. "Is that all you're packing for two weeks?" I
pointed to the backpack.

       "It's pretty much everything I need. It's pretty much everything I
have." He joked as he unzipped the top, "Two pair of jeans rolled up, three
shirts, some socks and underwear. I'm wearing two t-shirts, a dress shirt,
a flannel, a sweater and my jacket. That's a trick I learned whenever I
went anywhere so nothing got stolen while I was away."

       "Weird. But I guess it works." He pulled his Montana State ball cap
on and we headed out the door to the shuttle into town. We talked for a
while as we rode the bus and I tried to steer the conversation toward his
home life and growing up years but he steered it right back to me growing
up in Kalispell and peppered me with questions about it. Eventually, we
both put our ear buds in and watched the winter scenery pass by out the
frosted bus windows. I let him have the window seat since I'd seen it all
numerous times before. I closed my eyes and caught up on some of the sleep
going to second breakfast had cost me. Around two, we stopped for a break
so the driver could flirt with a waitress at a roadside diner and we both
ordered up a hamburger and Coke for lunch. Then it was back on the bus for
another four hours.