<<The Park BBS>>
Copywrite 1986

       UNEMPLOYMENT 
      by Mystery Guest           

I have had more than a nodding acquaintance with the unemployment 
beaurocracy in the past. In fact I have come to think of it as my 
second  career (at times,  my first).  It was a cold Wednesday in 
January.  The snow had long since given up any attempt at being a 
cheerful  white and had retreated into the gutter to  form  small 
islands  known as City Snow.  You know,  the kind that is  almost 
black from being encrusted in weeks worth of city air.  It looked 
like  it would last well into mid-July.  Nothing short of a  blow 
torch would budge it.   Winter was in high gear.  My coat doesn't 
prove much of a barrier to the wind.  It seeps in like a water to 
a sponge,  from the top and bottom, front and back.  People hurry 
by  in  the  traditional  shoulders hunched  posture  of  winter, 
keeping  their  eyes fixed on the pavement directly in  front  of 
their  feet.  Does hunching your shoulders make  you  warmer?  It 
must,  otherwise why would people do it?, Never seems to work for 
me though.

As  I  arrive at the unemployment office for my  bi-weekly  check 
signing  ritual  I am greeted by a line that seems to stretch  to 
infinity.  I groan.  I unpackage myself and am resigned to  spend 
the  better  part of the afternoon on line.  Fortunately  I  have 
brought  a book for just such an eventuality.   Unfortunately  it 
isn't War and Peace. I am surrounded by smokers. It's inevitable. 
I hate cigarettes.  Whenever I'm on any line,  or in any theater, 
the  smokers will somehow manage to arrange themselves around  me 
in  such a strategic manner as to insure oxygen starvation within 
30  minutes and reduce visibility to 3 inches.  However I  wasn't 
going to let the inconsiderate bastards win.  I have my  strategy 
all  planned out.  Even though I have neglected to bring fog  lig 
hts I know I can find the counter if I follow the trail of orange 
glows  and  listen for the words,  "sign here".  My  strategy  of 
reading  straight  through  this ordeal is  in  trouble  however. 
Somehow I manage to finish several chapters but after glancing up 
for the fiftieth time I realize I haven't the slightest idea what 
I read.

My  mind begins to wander.  I must have had a dazed expression on 
my  face as my eyes wandered across the room (what I  could  make 
out of it). Men. Many of them young. Construction workers between 
jobs,  military men just out of the service,  drivers, mechanics, 
government workers.  Every one with a different story.  Different 
background,  different  motivations  but the same  needs.  Money, 
food,  shelter,  clothing. Sex. The sexual energy was palpable if 
one tuned to the right frequency.  Men.  Out of  work.  Restless, 
tense,  strained, looking for satisfaction, fulfillment, release. 
I could see the sparks jumping from the slim lean hips overthere. 
There's an amazing basket behind tight black jeans on that one. I 
notice  an Asian fellow in front of me.  My eyes follow him as he 
approaches  the information counter.  I become hypnotized by  the 
motion  of his firm perfect buns as he walks away and imagine  my 
hands touching them.  He stops for a moment, my eyes linger. Then 
he  is  gone.  I try to imagine these men  behind  closed  doors, 
spreading  their  legs luxuriously bringing their hand  to  their 
crotch......

The  slight bulge between the legs of that Puerto Rican with wavy 
jet  black hair,  do I see a  firmness  there,  pushing,  moving, 
searching  for a more comfortable position as he shifts from  one 
leg  to the other?  I watch the dance a little longer;  a  little 
hint of an outline here,  a suggestion of a shape there.  My eyes 
travel up along the buttons on his shirt. The top two are undone. 
Why isn't he wearing an undershirt?   Isn't he cold? The firmness 
of  his  belly and chest are apparent through the  material.  Our 
eyes meet.  My heart skips a beat. I shift my gaze but don't look 
away.  I  notice  he continues to look my  way.  My  heart  beats 
faster,  by  breathing  becomes shallow.  I realize my desire  is 
becoming  to  obvious and shift the coat that I  was  holding  to 
cover  my  crotch.  Had he noticed?  How could he not  have?  The 
excitement  of  cruising  is  walking  that  thin  line   between 
revealing to much and to little; playing with the subtle dance of 
two energies trying to sence eachothers properties.  Knowing when 
to  look  away,  when to disengage,  when to leave the option  of 
leading  to your partner can mean the difference between  dancing 
all  night and going home alone.  The uncertainty of the  outcome 
makes a connection that much more satisfying.  Had I  misstepped? 
Had  I  crossed over an invisible line?  Was he looking at me  in 
anger or responding to my interest?  

I  try to remain casual while my heart was  racing.  The  snaking 
line crept along. As we get closer and closer to each other I get 
more and more uncomfortable.  I don't look at him as we pass. Now 
he  is  behind  me and I am relieved to have  an  opportunity  to 
regain  my composure.  I feel the whole room must be watching the 
drama.  We pass eachother twice more, the last time just brushing 
as  we pass.  Was that a faint smile on his lips.  I reached  the 
counter  first  and pray they wouldn't send  me  to  unemployment 
limbo  known  as C section,  in which people have been  known  to 
vanish  and  never be heard from again.  I must have  been  tense 
because  the clerk told me it wasn't necessary to engrave my name 
just sign it. Everybody's a comedian. As I left the counter I can 
see  him but he can't see me.  There were maybe ten in  front  of 
him. 

For some people cruising is as casual as going out for the Sunday 
paper.  I am not one of those people. For me it's high drama. I'd 
passed  up  too  many opportunities in the past,  which  I  later 
regretted.  I was determined not to add to that list. I stationed 
myself  by the door so that he couldn't leave without  my  seeing 
him.  Seconds passed;  minutes.  I shift nervously. What could be 
taking so long? Oh no, maybe they sent him to C section. Suddenly 
there  he is.  He hasn't seen me yet.  I go to the first door and 
hold it for him. He notices me. As I hold the second door I pause 
for a moment. His hand brushes across my ass as we exit. Our eyes 
meet. Sunlight splashes across his face. As it glances across his 
skin  I  notice the beautiful smooth olive  luster,  like  finely 
crafted and polished wood. The catchlights swim in the deep brown 
pools of his eyes.  I catch my breath.  "Hi",  I smile. He smiles 
back.  "Hi".  "Boy,  what a line, I thought we'd never get out of 
there",  I begin brilliantly. "Yeah what a line, something huh?", 
he matches my brilliance. 

We  begin  the process of feeling each other out (as  opposed  to 
up)."  My name is John." "I'm Jose." "You from around  here?",  I 
enquire.  "Nah,  I live on Grand St.,  over the bridge, where you 
from"? "I'm in Queens, near Forest Hills". "And they send you all 
the way to Brooklyn"?  "I think they send you to the farthest one 
just so you won't get to like it to much",  I try to be  amusing. 
"Nah,  they  wouldn't do that".  It quickley becomes apparent  we 
won't be discussing Nietzsche over tea and crumpets this evening. 
Perhaps his talent lies in another direction. As we walk down the 
street we exchange work and personal backgrounds. I was surprised 
to find out he was in the navy.  Just what I've always wanted:  a 
sailor.  "It  was  real  interesting.I went all over  the  world. 
Remember that bombing in Beiruit?  I was on one of the ships they 
sent in." I try open ended questions to test his response. "Is it 
true  what they say about sailors?" "Yeah,  well that depends  on 
what they say,  some of it is". I get bolder, "Can't have much of 
a sex life on board ship I guess." "Well you'd be surprised",  is 
his only response.

As we walk aimlessly and talk we start to relax.  Our hands brush 
and our shoulders bump,  I'll touch his shoulder to make a  point 
and he'll touch me.  Our eyes meet often. We walk close together. 
I  glance  at his body admiring the outline of his firm  ass.  He 
keeps  the zipper of his coat half way up and the top buttons  on 
his shirt are still open.  The wind thoughtfully flaps his  shirt 
opened and closed to reveal small hard brown nipples standing out 
on  his broad smooth chest.  I resist the strong urge to take one 
of them in my mouth. 

I can just make out the shape of his ribs and the gentle waves of 
muscle on his stomach. As a train roars by on the elevated tracks 
above  us I pause to look in a store display.  He follows me  and 
stops just behind me and to my left. I can smell his sweet breath 
and feel it on my neck, and the warmth of his leg and hip pressed 
my thigh. We stay that way for endless seconds. I turn slowly. We 
face eacholP;)?His breathing is more obvious.  His eyes flash. In 
that  moment  we understand eachother,  our  destination  becomes 
clear. Now for the logistics. 

As  we resume walking I try to stear the conversation in  a  more 
productive  direction.  Burned out tenement shells stand  against 
the orange glow of sunset as we turn the corner. The last shining 
spikes  of  fire  peirce the ruins and shoot out  through  gaping 
holes where once were windows.  With each step new sparks  appear 
and vanish,  flashing like broken glass. The wind blows our words 
down  the  street and into the gutter with the empty coffee  cups 
and plastic wrappers. Darkness descends and the streetlights wink 
on.  We  walk together in silence for a while.  "Starting to  get 
cold.  Hey, ya doing anything tonight, Jose"? "Yeah, I got a date 
with  the President".  "Think he'll mind if you're  late?"  "Nah, 
he'd  rather  go fuck Nancy anyway" We laugh out  loud  together, 
acknowledging  our  mutual  predicament of  endless  supplies  of 
unproductive time on our hands, and fear of an uncertain future.

We  drive to my house in the silence of mutual understanding.  He 
asks me to stop at a McDonalds for a bite to eat.  The thought of 
doing so repulses me, but I pull in anyway. I decline to join him 
saying,"It's  against my religion,  I'll just  wait  here".  "You 
Jewish"?,  he says.  "No - healthy,  I like health food",  I say, 
hoping to keep the explanation as short as possible.  Through the 
plate glass I watch him bring up the rear (literally) as the line 
he's on slowly creeps along toward the robotic counterperson. The 
image  of my lips on his firm round nipples keeps recurring.  His 
order seems to take forever.  My desire for him is becoming  more 
insistent.  But  finally  he  emerges carrying his  (the  thought 
amuses me) two all beef patties and special sauce.  Soon I'll  be 
filling his order.  At a stop light I ask, "Ever do it with a guy 
on  ship"?  The  question makes him uncomfortable and he  becomes 
evasive.  "Oh well,  ya know sometimes ya just gotta do something 
or  ya go crazy.  Sometimes it's a couple of weeks before ya  see 
land.  I  hear  a lot about that stuff going on but I  don't  see 
much.  You can find it if ya know where to look though". I'll bet 
I know where to look.  I feel the pants at my crotch expanding. I 
think he notices as he glances over.  Suddenly I get angry at the 
driver  whose  been  ahead of us for the  last  fifteen  minutes. 
"C'mon shithead,  let's go". I regret betrayQneke impatience as I 
jab the accelerator with my foot and jerk the wheel to the  right 
to pass the coma victim. I glare at him as I shoot by. Jose offer 
me some fries and I take a few for public relations purposes.

"Well here we are",  I say as I pull into the driveway,  "the Taj 
Mahal.  I think it's safe to go in,  the tours have ended for the 
day.  Sure hope the servents remembered to clean up".  "Must be a 
bitch being rich", he says.  "Murder". I hold the door for him as 
we  enter and catch his clean sent as he goes by.  We sit at  the 
kitchen  table,  he moping up the the ketchup with the  remaining 
fries  and  I munching on a rice and buckwheat dish I had in  the 
fridge for just such an occasion.  "Do you like that stuff. Looks 
kinda tasteless",  he offers.  Determined to do an end run around 
that  conversation I counter with,  "Feel like  some  TV?  C'mon, 
let's see what's on".  He grabs my arm as I get up and I sit back 
down.  He  pulls a joint from his pocket holds it in front of his 
face,  suddenly  very serious and asks,  "Wanna toke"?  My  focus 
shifts between the joint and his eyes.  I notice his long  curved 
lashes  for  the  first time as his eyes are fixed  on  mine  and 
debate  with  myself whether to take up his  offer.   Normally  I 
avoid drugs of any kind but a chance to fulfill a fantasy doesn't 
come  along very often and,  I decide,  this time caution takes a 
back seat to passion.  "Sure let's go in here." He follows me  to 
the couch.

I turn on the TV. Jose has already lighted the joint. As I sit on 
the  opposite end of the couch watching him put it to his lips  I 
can  feel  the  excitement and anticipation start  to  build.  He 
inhales  deeply,  strains  to keep from coughing and  offers  the 
joint  to  me  as  the twisted ropes of  smoke  curl  toward  the 
ceiling.  Almost before the smoke hits my lungs they are on fire. 
My  head  is spinning and my heart starts pounding  in  my  chest 
while  I strain to hold it in.  I hand back the lethal  cigarette 
with  tears  in  my  eyes the steam explodes  from  my  lungs  in 
coughing spasms.  Jose is amused.  He smiles the knowing smile of 
an  expert acknowledging the foibles of a novice.  Slowly he gets 
up,  walks over, sits down next to me and says "I'll show you how 
it's  done".  He watches me steadily for a moment,  then  slowly, 
deliberately  takes a long deep toke,  leans over me and  presses 
his lips to mine. I am helpless to resist. My mouth opens and the 
hot  passion of his lungs erupts into mine.  My heart is  racing. 
Our lips glide past oneanother and my tounge finds his.  I put my 
right  hand behind his head and my left on his ass.  I  pull  him 
closer and feel his dick moving, pressing hard against me through 
his jeans. 

We  race to remove our clothes.  I watch his uncut hardon pop out 
as he removes his briefs. He wins the race and helps me come in a 
close second.   Quickly we are in eachothers arms pressed closely 
together kissing deeply.  I want all of him all at once and can't 
decide where to start.  My lips slide over his neck.  As my  hand 
slowly  closes  over  his full dick he sighs.  I take  his  tight 
almost hairless balls in my mouth and release them several times. 
My  tounge slides up and down his thick shaft.  I want  badly  to 
take  it  in my mouth but resist.  He arches his back  and  moans 
lightly. I feel the strength of his hard dick as my fingers close 
around it and lightly stroke it.  I lean back and watch his solid 
smooth powerful body respond. My lips close delicately around his 
hard  firm nipple and touch it with my tounge as my fingers twist 
and massage the other one.  "AAHHHHH" he  responds,  "MMMMMMMMMM" 
and  starts  running his fingers through my hair.  I work on  the 
other  one as I lay on top of him feeling his dick  pressing  and 
rubbing against my belly.  My hand travels over his body savoring 
the smoothness and tightness of his skin beneath my fingers. 

He  suddenly gets up and pushes me down on the bed.  He straddles 
me on his knees and starts slowly stroking himself.  I know  what 
he wants.  I want him inside me.  I want him to fuck me,  bad.  I 
reach  over to the drawer and get a rubber,  rip open the package 
(hoping I hadn't damaged the contents in my haste) and handed  it 
to  him.  He pauses,  looks at it,  frowns but with my assistance 
puts it on.  I am more excited as I watch it unroll slowly on his 
rock hard shaft that stands out straight on his flat belly like a 
nail on a board.  I get the cream from the drawer and hand it  to 
him.  He  knows what to do.  As we kneel facing eachother he puts 
the  lube on his finger,  touches it to my asshole and starts  to 
massage it slowly and his finger slips in.  I inhale sharply.   I 
want him inside me desperately.  I take his dick in my hand, move 
closer  and rub it against my asshole.  He pushes me down  again, 
almost roughly. I raise my legs and put them on his shoulders. He 
puts some lube on his sheathed cock,  presses it against my  hole 
and gives a little shove.  I gasp from the pain,  put my hands on 
his  hips  and  ask him to withdraw.  I breath deeply for  a  few 
moments.  He waits,  not sure what to do. "Slow", I say, "OK"? We 
try again.  He applies gentle firm pressure this time. Slowly the 
head of his dick enters.  "You OK"?, he asks. "Yeah, you got it". 
He pushes and I watch his thick brown cock slide completely  into 
me  until the bush of his curly pubic hair is pressed against  my 
balls. 

The  first few strokes are uncomfortable and I ask him to go slow 
but gradually I relax and he moves more freely.  I take his  hand 
and put it on my nipple.  As he starts to rub, press and twist my 
tit,  through  half closed eyes I look into his,  put my hands on 
his ass and guide him in and out.  He understands what I want and 
starts  shoving  harder  and deeper still watching  my  eyes  for 
response.  I watch the muscles on his legs and stomach ripple and 
move,  and his balls swing with each plunge.  The cream is  lying 
next  to  me.  On an impulse I put some on my middle  finger  and 
without  warning  press it up into his asshole.   Judging by  the 
look of surprise and his frantic pleading expression on his  face 
no-one had ever done this to him before. He starts to protest but 
doesn't and begins pumping harder,  firmer, more deliberately. At 
the same time my finger probes the soft inside of his asshole.  I 
love  watching  his cock plunge in and out,  his  firm  washboard 
belly pounding against my hips.  "OOOOO, yeah, that's nice, yeah, 
you're doing real good Jose, ahhhhhhh", I encourage him. To break 
the tempo I urge him to slow down, but he won't. He becomes wild. 
His  strokes  become quicker and shorter.  His  eyes  glaze,  his 
tounge  sticks  out and he starts breathing in  rasps,  making  a 
sound from his throat with each quick thrust,  "UH, UH, UH". "You 
like  when I stick my finger in your asshole"?,  I move my finger 
for  emphasis.   He  responds  with  a  grunt  and  more  frantic 
movements,  then  stops fucking for a moment and presses his  ass 
down on my finger.  He moans when I finger fuck him.  Suddenly  I 
feel  his ass tighten and he starts fucking with shorter  quicker 
strokes  and  louder more desperate groans.  I stroke my dick  to 
match  his  rhythmn  and feel the heat  beginning  to  rise.  His 
asshole  closes  around my finger in spasms and I  plunge  it  in 
deeper. He lets out three or four loud gasps, "AH, AH, AH, AH". I 
grab  Joses ass tightly and pull him into me as he watches my cum 
start spilling out over my belly and chest.  I see only his  hard 
smooth dark body pressed against mine as I gasp for air. 

He withdraws slowly and we fall together exhausted. After cleanup 
operations  we  lay  in eachothers  arms,  motionless,  for  many 
minutes,  neither of us wanting to move.  I turn to him, kiss his 
forhead  and  draw  my fingers lightly across  his  smooth  olive 
cheek,  which  in the dim light looks almost black.  He runs  his 
fingers  through  my hair and gently kisses me  on  the  lips.  I 
shiver.   Suddenly I'm cold.  I pull the blankets up to our chins 
and  we close our eyes.   Good night sweet prince,  wherever  you 
are.