Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 20:58:30 +0800 From: Dale de Leon <dale@toughguy.net> Subject: A Day Gone Wrong 6 A Day Gone Wrong _____________________________________________________________________________ Disclaimer: This is a story about a guy who incidentally, happens to be attracted to other guys. If all you're looking for is a quick thrill that you can jack off to, then sorry bud, this one's not for you. If that's not what you're after, well... sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. _____________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 9: That Seneferas is looking a little limp, wouldn't you agree? A ray of sunlight peeped in from somewhere and alighted on eyes. *Yawn* Ahhhh... that felt good. I haven't slept this well in such a long time. I yawned again and begun to clutch the soft pillow on Barry's bed. Barry? Barry who? I suddenly remembered where I was and sat straight up in bed. "Mornin' sleepy head! Errr... rather... good afternoon." Barry spoke up from the bathroom as he was brushing his teeth. I looked on the alarm clock on his bed and was surprised to see that it was 1:00 in the afternoon. Barry came out of the bathroom and spoke to me. "Heya pal, you just woke up a few minutes after I did. You hungry? Let's go down and get us a bite to eat." Seeing as I had nothing better to do, I got out of bed and followed him outside. >From downstairs I could hear the sound of kids running around and having fun. Barry led the way down the staircase and I followed right after him. From up ahead I could see a little boy and a little girl, who looked to be about 3 years old, running around the living room with their nursemaids struggling to keep up. "Whoah whoah whoah!! Slow down you little tykes!! Come up here and give ol' Barry a hug!" Barry called out to them. The two kids ran happily up to Barry as he bent down and picked them up. "Hiya Barry!!!" They said eagerly while giving him a big hug. "Oofff! The two of you are getting heavier and heavier every day." Then with that said, he turned around and presented the two tykes to me. "Say hi to my friend Dale." The little boy giggled and said, "Hiya Poo-poo Face!" The little girl giggled along with the little guy and clapped her hands. I grinned. "Hey Poo-poo Face!" I likewise called out to them. The two kids found that funny so they shrieked happily at each other. Barry laughed as well and handed them back to their nursemaids. "Cute aren't they? They're my cousins Vance and Vanessa. I think they like you." Barry confided as we walked to the dining hall. "They're super cute," I nodded in agreement. "Aaahhhh... we're in luck. They saved some lunch for us. Sit down, sit down. We gotta eat!" Barry took the head of the table while I sat at his left. A maid came out of the kitchen and Barry told her to get the two of us some juice. The maid promptly nodded and went back to the kitchen. I was looking at some pictures being framed on the wall. One was of a horse, running down a race track. "Hey Barry, what's with the picture?" I asked him. Barry looked up and smiled. "A beauty, isn't she? That's my uncle's horse, Mach 1. She's being kept as an investment over at the race tracks." I agreed. I'm familiar with horses. This one was a thoroughbred. "Okay Dale, food's ready. Let's eat!" The two of us began wolfing down on the rice and beef stew that was on the table. Barry began to speak up. "I still have no idea how we're going to find you a place to stay in the city. You?" I shook my head sadly. "No clue at all. Listen Barry, you don't have to worry about me. I'm sure I'll think up of something and I'll be out of your hair in no time." Barry was going to say something else when someone came in the dining room. A woman's voice spoke out. "Good morning Barry! Did you have fun last night?" "Oh yeah! Hey Aunt Chas, this is my friend, Dale. Dale, that's my Aunt Chas" Barry pointed out to her. I looked over to her direction and saw a comely woman who was probably in her late 30's. She greeted me with a smile and walked on over to us. I remembered my manners and stood up to greet the lady. "Good afternoon ma'am. My name is Dale." Aunt Chas touched my shoulder-blade and urged me to sit down. "Good morning Dale. Please, sit down and continue eating. Are you Barry's classmate?" I nodded. "As a matter of fact, I am." "Good," Aunt Chas said kindly then turned towards Barry, "Barry dear, if you're not busy this afternoon, could I request you to go on over to the hardware store and get me some fertilizer? My alotea flowers are looking a little limp." My ears perked up. Aloteas? I'm familiar with those. "Pardon me ma'am, might I ask what fertilizer you're using?" I queried the lady. "Oh... well... if I remember correctly, the gardener I bought it from explicitly instructed me to use cow dung. Why do you ask?" "Cow dung? Well... I'm not so sure about that. In my experience, horse dung mixed with a little ipil-ipil leaves makes for a much richer fertilizer. You know, Barry told me all about your horse. You could save a lot of money if you just had your groom over at the stables to save some of its dung for you" I told her. "Really? What a marvellous idea!!! How come you know so much about flowers?" Aunt Chas asked me. "Dale's a farmer from the province," Barry spoke up, beaming with pride. "Really now? Oh good! Young man, you must come with me at once," and with that she led me by the arm as the three of us went outside to where a swimming pool was located. There were some Seneferas palm trees lined around it. Aunt Chas began handling one of the palm leaves. It wasn't looking too good. "Dale, I had just bought these palm trees a few weeks ago and it just distresses me to find that they are not doing too good here in my place. Would you happen to know why it's dying." I knelt down and grabbed a clump of dirt lined around it. It felt kinda moist. "How often do you water these palms?" I asked her. "Oh... often. I'd say at least once a day." Aunt Chas replied. "I see. That's the problem ma'am. We have a Seneferas palm tree back in my hut at Sitio Maringgit and we hardly ever water it. It looked so much healthier than the ones you have here. Try cutting back its water allotment and perhaps it'll fare better. Seneferas palm trees are hot climate plants and are not used to so much water." Aunt Chas beamed happily. "Oh good! Young man you are so clever! I wish I could find a gardener who had your knowledge about plants." "Eureka, that's it!!" Barry's face began beaming excitedly. Aunt Chas and I looked at him surprisedly. Barry continued, "Dale, I've figured out a way to solve your problem! I know a great place for you to stay at!" I looked at Barry with a perplexed expression. "Where?" Barry broke out into a wide smile and looked at his Aunt Chas. "Why here, of course!" Chapter 10: Now You're Talking! I sat pensively down a chair and watched Barry pace back and forth. It was already 6:00 in the evening and we were waiting for Barry's uncle to get back home from work so that Barry and his Aunt Chas could sell the idea to his uncle who owns the house. I had figured Barry to be the a true blue Kanluran city-boy. It turns out that he's also a province-lad like me. His real family was back home in Leyte, where his father owned vast tracks of land as a rich haciendero. Barry was just here in Kanluran to get a proper education over at Sto. Domingo. In the meantime, he was bunking in with his relatives who were living here in this house. Luckily, Aunt Chas had warmed up to the idea of having me stay here and be her gardener. Barry was more than enthused, and he couldn't wait to tell his uncle about it. His uncle was, of course, Aunt Chas' husband and the padre de familia of the household. It would take his final approval to get me employed here. "Barry, I want to thank you again for working this out for me. You don't know how much this means to me. Thank you so very much." Barry nodded and continued pacing back and forth. "Yeah well, save the thanks for later when you get accepted. We're not through the woods yet." I thought about it. "Let me guess... tough uncle?" I asked him. "And then some," he replied. "My uncle is a pretty much okay guy, but lately he's been having a lot of problems and right now he might not be in a receptive mood. Listen Dale, I don't want you to get your hopes up or anything, okay? This might or might not work, but I'll be damned if I don't at least give a good fight for you." I nodded. "Well... whatever the outcome, thanks all the same. You're a real pal." Suddenly, we heard a car honk from outside the house. The sound of footsteps rushing to open the gate greeted my ears. Barry looked down grimly. "He's here." My heart began thumping fearfully. This is it. The moment of truth. "Let's wait for Aunt Chas to butter him up first, okay? He's been through a long day at work and it'll take a woman's touch to soften him up for us. Auntie will explain to him the need to have you over here." Barry explained. I nodded. About 10 minutes later, a maid came up and called for us. "Senorito Barry... you're called to Senor's office." Barry got up. "Let's go Dale." The two of us got down the stairs and approached a door leading to his uncle's private office. Barry grasped the doorknob. "Okay pal... here goes nothing." He opened the door. I followed him inside, curious of meeting this gruff uncle of his. I looked around and found a chair turned against us as a male voice behind it was conversing on the phone. The guy finished talking and slowly swivelled the chair to face us. My heart skipped a beat. I could not believe my eyes as I finally found myself facing Barry's mysterious uncle: Miguel Javier!!!!!! to be continued... ================================= How do you like the story so far? Tell me all about it at dale@toughguy.net All comments are welcome, although I can't guarantee an immediate reply.