Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 22:00:06 -0500
From: Jeff Allen <jeff_allen15@hotmail.com>
Subject: Love of a Lifetime Part 4

This is a fictional story dealing with love and consensual sexual
activities between males.  If you are not of legal age, reside in an area
where viewing such material is illegal, or are offended by homosexuality
and/or homosexual themes, leave this site now.

The author retains all rights to this story.  No reproductions or links to
other sites are allowed without the permission of the author.


LOVE OF A LIFETIME

PART 4

     Rev. Baker's sermon that Sunday morning was on finding joy.  He said
that we humans too often overlook joy and that we need to take time to
appreciate all the joyful things around us.  I was impressed, this man's
words had connected with my emotional needs two Sundays in a row.
     I noticed that Emily Johnstone was slower moving than she had been the
previous week.  She was clearly out of breath by the time C.Z. and I got
her from the church to the car.
     I asked C.Z. if he wanted to run that afternoon, but he said he had to
do some mowing around the Christmas trees to get the paths cleared so folks
could move easily when they came looking for their tree.
     I volunteered to help so that afternoon Larsen and I cleared branches
and used the weed eater to trim around the Christmas trees.  At least I
helped.  Larsen kept finding branches and bringing them up to C.Z. or me
for us to throw.  The day was clear but much cooler than the day before so
we kept our shirts on as we worked.  I was disappointed because that meant
I wasn't able to look at C.Z.'s body while we worked.
     That evening I picked up some take out Chinese food to bring back to
the Johnstone's for dinner.  C.Z. insisted on paying for part of the food.
Emily Johnstone didn't eat very much, but she did take a lively part in the
conversation during dinner.  We all laughed and enjoyed the dinner.  All of
us were tired so Larsen and I took our leave right after dinner and headed
home.

                        ********

     We had a heavy, cold rain the last week of October that stripped all
the remaining leaves off the trees.  The mountains suddenly had the
melancholy brown and barren look of November.  C.Z. and I got together on
the weekends but didn't see each other during the week because he was so
busy with the paper route, driving the school bus, school and homework.  He
usually called once or twice in the evenings during the week.  C.Z. always
did the calling since I was reluctant to call their house in case Emily had
already gone to bed for the night.
     I found projects for him and me to work on around the house on
Saturdays.  I insisted on paying him for the work, and I fed him lunch and
often dinner as well.  On Sundays, I usually met the Johnstone's at church.
That gave me another opportunity to see C.Z., but I found that I also
enjoyed the experience of the service and Rev. Baker's sermons continued to
be interesting and helpful to me personally as I continued to struggle to
make sense of my feelings for C.Z.
     I helped C.Z. with preparing the Christmas trees a couple of more
times on Sundays before Thanksgiving, but most Sunday afternoons he stayed
home to do their laundry and tend to his mother.
     On Saturdays after finishing whatever job had been scheduled for that
day, C.Z. and I would jog and then do some light workouts with the weights
taking turns spotting for each other.  We always took our shirts off while
working out.  I enjoyed seeing his muscles strain with the weights and
having the occasional skin to skin contact as we worked.
     C.Z. got into the habit of bringing a change of clothes with him when
he came over.  After jogging and working out with the weights, we would
take turns in the shower.  After his shower he always pulled on the old
sweats and tee shirt that I had loaned after our "accidental" first
meeting.  I didn't mind because that meant I had a good view of his cock
unfettered by any underwear moving beneath the fabric of the sweats while
we ate dinner.  I suppose he did it to tease me.  It worked.  He would
change into his own clean clothes when he was ready to go home around nine
or ten in the evening.
     Often we traded back rubs before or after dinner.  Another reason I
didn't mind him wearing the sweats was because they rode very low on his
hips allowing wider access for my hands and fingers as I massaged him
without having to decide whether or not to take a chance and stick my hand
INSIDE his pants.
     We became more familiar with each others' bodies, and each time we
were just a little more bold in what we touched and how far down the other
person's ass we would go.  By the weekend before Thanksgiving our range of
massaging extended around the shoulders to the front of our necks to the
collar bone.  We had extended the range of our hands on the side to include
the outer edge of the pectorals and the intercostals.  The previous weekend
C.Z. had loosened the tie of his sweat pants before lying down for his back
rub.  The looser waist let me get my hands about half way down the globes
of his ass and bring my fingers around to the front of his hip bones.
     On that Saturday evening before Thanksgiving I made sure to wear sweat
pants sans underwear myself and loosened the draw string before lying down.
After working my shoulders, sides and back, C.Z.'s hands moved down to the
area of my waist.  Soon he was moving across the top of my ass cheeks and
around front to my hip bones.  His thumbs moved into the top of the crack
of my ass with each stroke.  Suddenly I felt his hands on my left thigh
working the muscles through the fabric of the sweats.  This was new
territory!  He had never touched me there before during a back rub, and I
must have jumped a foot at his touch.

     "Lift your hips up."

     I complied and he pulled the sweats down over my rear end to about my
knees.  Since I wasn't wearing any underwear my naked butt was staring him
in the face.  He brought his hands down onto my thigh again and started
working the muscles.  I thought I was going to have an orgasm right then!
He gradually moved his hands up both thighs toward the area where my legs
joined my ass and then I felt his fingers move ever so slightly into the
crevice of my ass and up over each cheek.  Again I thought I was going to
cream the floor!  Just when I thought I wouldn't be able to take any more,
he playfully swatted my butt, stood up, and announced that it was time for
him to head home.  I was both frustrated that the massage had stopped and
relieved that I wouldn't embarrass myself by cumming all over the floor.

     I stayed on the floor while C.Z. got ready to leave.  There was no way
I could get up given the state of my arousal.  I couldn't even turn over on
my back or side so I pretended to be dozing.

     As soon as he was out the door, I rolled over and jacked off.  I was
so turned on that it only took three or four strokes before I shot a huge
load all the way up to my chin.

                       **********

     C.Z. and his mother came out to my cabin for Thanksgiving dinner.  I
had asked the week before what he and his mother did for Thanksgiving, and
he'd replied that they didn't do anything special.  Despite carrying the
names Carter, Zebulon, and Johnstone, all common names in Carterville, the
closest relatives they had in town were second cousins, and they didn't get
together with them very often.  C.Z. said that his mother used to make a
big dinner before her heart troubles started, but now it was too much for
her, and it made no sense for him to do a big dinner for the two of them
especially since Emily didn't eat very much.
  So I invited them to come over for Thanksgiving.
     After they'd accepted the invitation I had a few moments of panic.
  This could be a disaster in the making; at the very least it was going to
be a real adventure in stretching my cooking talents.  I'd never done a
turkey and dressing before.  Grams had cooked the meals when I was growing
up, and when Andrea and I were married we always got together with other
yuppie couples and shared the cooking duties.
     I got advice from Nancy at the bank on how to cook the turkey and make
the dressing.  She made it sound easy, but I was still nervous about making
a big meal.

     I shouldn't have been nervous.  We all had a great time.  Emily sat on
the couch with Larsen and alternated making suggestions with laughing at
C.Z. and me working in the kitchen.  Thank heavens I'd managed to get the
turkey in the oven before they came over!  C.Z. brought over a pumpkin pie
that he'd made under Emily's direction.  Together he and I peeled potatoes
and prepared the salads and vegetables.  Everything got done at about the
same time, and the meal was tasty even if it was my first attempt at a
holiday meal.

                       **********

     The next morning I went over to the Johnstone's to help with the
Christmas tree sales.  C.Z. had warned me that customers would start
showing up bright and early on the day after Thanksgiving to pick out their
trees, and he was right.  There were already two strange cars in the drive
when I arrived at 7:30..
     The process was simple.  The potential customers were given a measured
pole and a strip of plastic tape to tie around the tree of their choice and
invited to walk through the tree stand to find the "perfect" Christmas
tree.  Sometimes whole families...moms, dads, kids, and dogs...were running
around eyeing the trees.  When the right tree was located, C.Z. or I would
take the chain saw, cut the tree, haul it out, and help load it into or
onto the customers' cars.  The entire three-day weekend was busy.  I lost
count of the number of trees that moved out of the lot with most of them
going to Asheville and Atlanta, and even some to Charlotte.
     Larsen enjoyed the whole process.  He had children and other dogs to
romp and play with.  He had a constant supply of fresh throwers for his
sloppy, slobbery tennis ball and constant attention.  Both he and I were
exhausted by the end of each day.
     During the times when C.Z. and I weren't cutting or hauling or loading
a tree, he told me about the process of raising Christmas trees.  It was
much more labor-intensive than I had ever imagined.  I'd thought you just
planted the trees, waited a few years, and then cut them.  He explained
about the trimming, fertilizing, pest control, and marketing.  This was the
Johnstones' major source of income so the whole process was critically
important to them.

     C.Z. warned me that every weekend from Thanksgiving until Christmas
would be filled with folks getting their trees.  He said that they'd even
had people knocking on their door on Christmas Eve to get a tree.  Again he
was right.  Those four weekends were busy from sunup to sundown.  Larsen
and I helped both days of those four weekends, and we fell into an
exhausted sleep each night.

     The weather stayed fairly mild for that time of the year right up
until two days before Christmas.  When the cold and snow finally arrived,
they arrived with a vengeance.  The snow started around noon on the day the
public schools got out for Christmas vacation changing the mountains from
the bare, dull brown of late autumn/early winter into a white fantasy land
straight out of a Courier and Ives scene.
     After living in Charlotte for four years, I'd forgotten how beautiful
the snow could be.  I'd also forgotten how slippery the damn stuff made the
roads.  Even though I had four wheel drive in the truck, I slipped several
times the first few days before I got used to driving in the snow again.

     C.Z. and his mother came out for Christmas dinner.  Emily stayed on
the couch with Larsen at her side and offered suggestions as C.Z. and I put
the dinner together.  It snowed lightly during the day.  We had a fire
going in the fireplace.  It was a nearly perfect day.
     After dinner we exchanged presents.  Emily was always cold because of
her poor circulation so I gave her a warm cardigan sweater.  I gave C.Z. a
fleece- lined winter coat to replace one that had definitely seen its
better days.  Larsen got a box of dog biscuits.  C.Z. and Emily gave me a
winter scarf and gloves.  It was a simple Christmas but emotionally
satisfying.
     After the gift exchange, C.Z. took Larsen outside to chase snowballs.
Larsen LOVED chasing snowballs, but it frustrated him at the same time
because he could never figure out where the things had gone when they
disappeared into the snow.  It was great fun for the humans!
     With C.Z. out of the room, I took the opportunity to okay some plans
with Emily for C.Z.'s 17th birthday the first week in January.  He was a
basketball fan, and I wanted to take him to game at Chapel Hill.  I had
arranged for the tickets and had secured someone to stay with Emily and
check on Larsen while we were gone.


     Emily warmed to the plan immediately.  "I feel bad that C.Z. has to
miss out on so many things that teenage boys should be doing because he has
to take care of me."

     "Emily, I've never heard him complain about that."

     "No.  He never complains.  He has all of the sense of responsibility
that his father lacked.  Still, he deserves to be able to do some 'normal'
kinds of things.  You've been a great friend for him, Andy."

     I blushed.  "I enjoy having him...and you around.  It's like he's the
younger brother I never had."

     "I know.  I can see the connection between the two of you.  You've
been a tremendous help with the paper route and the Christmas trees.  It
eases a lot of the burden from C.Z.  Thank you."

     Before I could reply C.Z. and Larsen came bounding in from the
outside.  Both of them shook the snow off leaving big clumps by the front
door.  Larsen ambled over to his spot in front of the fire, and
C.Z. settled on the couch near his mother.

     I told C.Z. about my plans for his birthday.  His eyes grew wide.  He
looked over at his mother for approval, and she nodded.  He jumped up, came
over to my chair, and gave me a hug.  In all of the physical contact that
we'd had with the backrubs, we had never shared a hug.  I hugged him back.

     He whispered in my ear.  "Thanks, Andy.  I love you."

     "I love you too, C.Z."

     I saw tears in Emily's eyes.

(To be continued)