Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2015 17:44:01 -0500
From: JAMES HEADY <vector18@msn.com>
Subject: a Safe Place--Chapter 16

A Safe Place
By
James

Disclaimer

This story deals with sexual as well as romantic situations between
teenaged males.  Should you be offended by such material, or if you're not
of the legal age to read such material, then please find something else to
read.  Also remember to donate to Nifty so that these stories can remain
free to the public.

Caleb

The rest of that Thanks Giving Day Weekend, we just stayed around the house
and enjoyed one another's company.  Greyson and Daniel had Aaron over and
he was really nice and well-behaved.  Greyson described Aaron as being
around 5-2 and around 120 LBs.  He had black hair, dark-brown eyes and
smooth creamy skin.  He sat with us and talked for a bit that Friday
evening before going to Greyson and Daniel's room and that left Nathan and
I alone with one another.

I sat beside Nathan on the couch and we held one another and just enjoyed
the silence, then he spoke.

"I'm glad to see our boys making friends," he said and smiled.

"So am I," I replied.

We kissed a couple of times, then Nathan put his hand between my legs and
kissed along the right side of my neck which always got me immediately
aroused.  With that, I picked him up and took him to our room where I gave
him a deep and far more harder pounding than I think I ever had before.

0000

Greyson, Daniel and Aaron sat on the bed with Aaron between the two
brothers.  They had been talking about which music groups they enjoyed and
they talked a little about this when the two boys first met Aaron, but now
they were going a little deeper in to the conversation.  Once they finished
this conversation, Greyson leaned over to Daniel and whispered to him.
Once they finished their whispering, Greyson turned to Aaron.

"We want to show you something," he said.  "You remember when we were
talking about sex last weekend we stayed with you?"

"Yeah," Aaron said beginning to stiffen up.  He thought that Greyson and
Daniel were both hot and when they talked about sex that last Saturday
night at his house, they talked about what it might be like with a girl,
but they mainly talked about how much each one of them jacked off.  They
also talked about how good it felt, but they never showed one another their
cocks.  At that point, they were just content to talk about it, but Greyson
wanted to do more and he shared this with Daniel the next night once they
were back home.  Daniel immediately agreed and thought it would be a good
idea to get Aaron in to bed with them, at least once.

Greyson stood up and moved in front of Aaron and motioned for him to stand.
Aaron did as Greyson directed and then Daniel moved behind the boy and
Aaron looked around wondering what they had in mind.  Daniel placed his
hands on Aaron's shoulders and Greyson put his hands on Aaron's chest and
rubbed gently.  As Aaron's breathing got a little heavier, he started to
ask what was going on, then Daniel stretched out his arms and took hold of
Greyson's shoulders and Greyson did the same which essentially boxed Aaron
in between the two of them.

"When I closed the door after letting you two in, I locked it," Greyson
whispered and moved his lips closer to Aaron's.  "It's just the three of
us."

"What's going on," Aaron finally asked as he felt Greyson's lips touch his.
The boy was kissing him and then he felt Greyson's tongue slide across his
lips.  He moaned loudly and once his mouth involuntarily opened, Greyson
shoved in his tongue.  They kissed passionately and Daniel began moving his
hands up and under Aaron's shirt sleeves then began rubbing and brushing
his fingertips against his shoulders.  Then he moved his hands around to
Aaron's chest and began lightly pinching his nipples.

Greyson broke the kiss and Aaron was moaning as Daniel caressed his
nipples.  Then as he massaged his nipples, Daniel also began kissing the
back of Aaron's neck.  Aaron felt like he could come at any moment and
Greyson saw this.  He then began removing his clothes so that the two boys
could see.

Once naked, Greyson told Daniel to stop what he was doing.  Once Daniel
obeyed, Greyson moved in between him and Aaron and began to undress his
brother.  Once they both were naked, they turned to Aaron.

"You'll be joining us now," Greyson said to Aaron as he stepped closer to
him.  He began to help him off with his clothes, and now he was naked in
front of them.

"That's fucking hot," Daniel said.  "You look like you have almost five
inches when hard!"

"That sounds about right," Aaron said and smiled.  "You both look good too.
So what all do you want to do?"

"Well, first off," Greyson said stepping directly up to him and turning him
then pushing him so he fell back on the bed.  He got on top of him and
pressed his cock against Aaron's hardened flesh.  "You don't think Daniel
or I believed any of that crap you said last weekend about wanting to get
balls deep in some chick's pussy do ya?"

"I kinda had to say that since we were at my parent's house when we talked
about that," Aaron said.  "I do like guys and I think about girls
sometimes, but they don't do much for me.  They never have and my parents
wouldn't really like it if they knew I liked guys."

"Hmmm," Greyson said and gave one of Aaron's nipples a long lick, then a
small nibble.  "So they wouldn't have liked that, or this?"

He kissed Aaron's lips, then rested his head on the boy's smooth chest.
Daniel lay down beside them and put an arm around Greyson's back.

"Seriously guys," Aaron said beginning to get nervous.  "They can't find
out.  They really wouldn't like it."

"It's okay," Greyson said and gave Aaron a soft kiss on his cheek.  "I was
just fucking with you a second ago about them, but I can tell you're
worried about them finding out.  I won't tell them."

"I won't say anything at all either," Daniel added.

"Thanks guys," Aaron said beginning to calm down and get horny again.

"No problem," Greyson said.

"You're welcome," Daniel interjected.

"Now, let's have a little fun," Greyson said.

Cool!" Aaron said and smiled.

Greyson moved down to Aaron's shaft and looked at it and looked at his
balls.  He also looked at the small amount of hair he had on the area above
his cock.  His cock was round and slightly thick from side-to-side.  It had
what looked like a large amount of foreskin and Greyson smiled at that,
enjoying the thought of playing with it.  He also took in the slightly
purple head of Aaron's cock and he looked once more at his balls which were
smooth, save for a few hairs which covered the front of them.  The hairs
were slightly long and he figured that Aaron would be developing down there
quickly and soon.

Greyson began to take the head of Aaron's cock in his mouth, then once he
had it all in his mouth, he began sucking him.

Daniel began to play with Aaron's nipples and this got the boy even more
closer to the edge.

"Oh!" he cried out.  "Oh man, this is so good!"

Greyson took his mouth away from Aaron's cock and began lightly sucking on
each of his balls.  Then he began slowly licking up and down Aaron's balls
and shaft sending him even closer to the edge.

"Fuck this is great!" Aaron hissed.

Daniel began to suck and lightly bite Aaron's nipples while Greyson began
sucking Aaron's cock again.  Soon though Aaron felt the orgasm building.

He felt his balls tighten up, his toes curl and a deep burning in both his
cock and balls, before he began erupting in Greyson's mouth sending squirt
after squirt of hot and creamy boy honey in to his sucking mouth.

"Fuck!" he growled as he came.  "Oh hell mother fucking yeah!  Oh fuck this
is so fucking good!"

Once he came down from his orgasmic high, he lay there while Greyson and
Daniel held him in their arms.  He saw that they were still hard and he saw
the looks in their eyes.  He moved to Greyson and began taking inch after
inch of his cock in his mouth and he began sucking up and down.

"Oh hell yeah!" Greyson yelled and placed his hands on the back of Aaron's
head.

The boy continued loving Greyson's shaft and he stopped to do some sucking
and licking on his balls as well.  Daniel was watching and he began slowly
stroking his own cock enjoying the show.  Soon though, Greyson was getting
closer and closer, then he grabbed a couple of hand-fulls of Aaron's hair
and held on tightly.

Aaron ignored the pain of having his hair held so tightly and enjoyed his
submissive role.  He felt happy and deeply satisfied serving as Greyson's
sexual friend, if that's what he was going to be to the two brothers.  His
thoughts were interrupted when Greyson shoved forward and flooded Aaron's
mouth with several large and powerful shots of his thick cream.

"Yeah, cocksucker!" he yelled.  "You're taken it aren't ya!  Ya like being
mine and Daniel's little Bitch and Cocksucker don't ya!"

Aaron swallowed every last drop of Greyson's fluid then moved on to Daniel.

"Wait," Greyson ordered.  "You're going to relax first before doing that."

He moved Aaron on to his back and kissed him deeply.  They kissed a couple
of times, then he aimed a look at Daniel.

"Give him a couple of kisses so he can relax, then he's going to do you,"
Greyson ordered.

Daniel did as he was told and then they just lay there for a few minutes.

"I like this," Aaron said.  "Truthfully, I've always wanted a guy making me
do stuff to him.  I mean in that controlling way."

"I'm glad to hear that," Greyson said.

"Well, if it's anyone who knows how to make a guy do what he wants, it's
Greyson," Daniel said and smiled.

After a few minutes of silence and the boys lying there enjoying the
skin-to-skin contact, Greyson put a hand on Aaron's shoulder.

"Okay, you're going to take care of my brother now," he demanded.  "Do to
him what you did to me."

Aaron was hard again, especially because of Greyson's soft but
authoritative tone.  He moved on his knees between Daniel's legs and began
sucking him.  He did all the same stuff to him as he did to Greyson, then
he felt Daniel's hands on the back of his head holding it while he began
fucking his mouth.

"Like that, Bitch?" Daniel growled as he looked down at Aaron.

Aaron moaned in appreciation, and he felt Greyson move and he felt him
reach underneath him and began playing with his nipples.  Aaron moaned as
his nipples were stimulated by Greyson's touch, then he felt Daniel's cock
thicken up and get a little harder.

"Oh yeah Bitch!" Daniel growled and began coming.  Aaron swallowed it all,
then the two brothers grabbed him and turned him shoving him back so that
he was on his back.  They began kissing all over his chest, his stomach,
sides and then they took turns sucking his cock and balls.

Soon, Aaron was moving closer and closer to the edge.  Greyson was sucking
him and then Daniel took over.  Then after a few minutes, Greyson took hold
of the sides of Daniel's head and pulled him off of Aaron's cock.

"We're going to jack you the rest of the way and we're going to lick up
your cum," Greyson explained.  "That way, we both get some."

"Fucking love it!" Aaron said.  They did what Greyson said they'd do and
soon, Aaron was jumping off the edge of the cliff once again.

He gave a loud scream, then threw his hips up in the air and he came even
harder this time and it felt like he'd never stop squirting.  Soon though,
he was finished and the two brothers began licking his cream.  They shared
some in a kiss, gave him a kiss with the last drops of cum in their mouths
and once the three of them shared a few more kisses between them, they
moved so that Aaron was laying in between them, and they fell asleep.

0000

Caleb

I awoke later that night and heard the door to the boy's room open.  I went
out and Aaron said hi to me.  I said hi back and he went in to the restroom
and did his business, then went back in and lay back down with Greyson and
Daniel.  I knew that they were sleeping in the same bed.  I should say that
I was sure they were.  I knew our boys wouldn't be the type to make their
guest sleep on the floor and he wouldn't want them sleeping on the floor
while he took the bed.  I thought a moment about seeing if Aaron wanted the
bed in the guest room, then decided against it.

I went out in to the living room, sat down after getting a glass of wine
and remembered more of mine and Nathan's life together.

Chapter 16

Caleb

Sunday of that weekend on which Justin came to stay with us was a dark and
cold day with several inches of snow blanketing the ground.  It was removed
from the roads early enough so that travel was possible.  I was happy about
that since we had things to do that day.

We dropped Nathan off at his house a little earlier that afternoon since we
would have to have a family meeting concerning Justin.  We had gotten a
report from the hospital and they said that Margie was awake and that she
had regained consciousness that morning.  She knew her name, but they had
to tell her the day and date which was only natural.  She was by no means
ready for visitors, but she was at least awake.

Once we dropped Nathan off, Kevin came back from Cody's house, and we
hugged him and he gave Justin a hug.  Once he unpacked, he joined me at the
kitchen table.

"We should wait here for mom and dad," I said.  "When I got up this morning
and had breakfast, they said they'd be having a family meeting with us
later on today when you got home."

"Okay," he said.  "I'll wait here with you."

Alicia joined us and we waited for my dad to come in to the kitchen and sit
down.  My mom was getting Justin from his room and she was telling him that
we needed to have a meeting with him at the kitchen table and that he
wasn't in trouble or anything.

Once we were all seated, my dad began.

"As you know Justin," he began and his gaze settled on him.  "You're
staying with us this weekend because of what happened to your mother."

"Yeah," he said.

"She is very sick and she's still in the hospital and from there, she'll be
taken to a treatment center once she's strong enough," he continued.  "She
can't stop drinking on her own Justin.  Even if she tried right now, she'd
probably go to a bar before the night was over, so it's really at the point
that she needs help to stop."

"I see," he said sadly.

"We don't know when she'll be strong enough to leave the hospital for a
treatment center," my mom began.  "It'll probably be in the next couple of
weeks.  So what we're saying to you, is that you won't be going back home
for a long time.  You'll definitely be staying with us this week coming up
and we'll get you to and from school."

"Okay," he said.

"I'm sure this is all really scary for you," my dad said.  "You're going to
be safe here though.  There's not going to be any drinking around here and
if your aunt and I do drink, it's just a small glass of wine and that's
about it.  Right now, we don't even have any alcohol in the house actually
and I don't have any plans to get any in the next few days or anything."

"Your Uncle is right," my mom said.  "There won't be much drinking if at
all, and you won't have to worry about coming home finding your Uncle or I
drunk at all."

"You also won't have to worry about anyone getting you dressed and ready
for a bus at night that's not coming either," my dad said.

"Wait, what?" I asked in disbelief.

I knew only a little of what Justin's life was like at his mom's house,
especially in the last few days of him living with her, but he mainly would
talk to my parents about it all and I'd be out of the room letting him
talk.  I hadn't heard that part of it yet.

"Yeah," my dad said.  "She actually had him get dressed so he could ride
the bus to school this past Thursday night.  That's how bad she is with the
drinking, she can't even tell the difference between the time of day
anymore."

"I'm just glad I'm here right now," Justin said.  I went over to him and
hugged him.

"I'll do everything I can to be a good friend to you," I said as we held on
to one another.  "I'll help you if I can and I want you to feel safe here."

"I'm beginning to feel safe here already," he said.  Once we separated, I
reclaimed my seat and we continued talking.

"For now though," my mom began.  "We're going to go out and start getting
you some new stuff.  We'll start with new clothes and a few other things."

"Thanks!" Justin said and smiled then went and hugged her.

Kevin

Once back in my room, I lay on my bed after we all got back from the outing
to get new clothes for Justin.  We had an early dinner at a Steakhouse and
Justin enjoyed the food.  We all enjoyed it.

As I lay on my bed, I thought back to the night before at Cody's house.  I
remembered how we lay naked in one another's arms talking and occasionally
kissing and caressing.  Things even got a little sexual, but we didn't
actually come.  We still wanted to wait.

0000

We lay on Cody's bed that Saturday night once we made it official that we
were going to be one another's boyfriend.  We made out for a while and then
I moved so that our bodies were pressed together.  I felt Cody's cock which
was hard, leaking and rubbing against mine.  It felt so good and I began
moving against him.  He moaned while we rubbed our erections together, then
I turned so that I was on top of him and he was on his back.

We moved against one another for a few more moments, then I felt myself
getting close to coming.  I broke the kiss and stopped moving.

"I don't want to come just yet," I said and kissed his cheek.  "I hope you
understand."

"I do," he said and smiled at me.  "I want to just enjoy our kissing and
touching one another's bodies."

Once back on our sides, I held him in my arms and he lay with his head on
my chest.

"I love you Cody," I said.

"I love you too Kevvy," he replied and we shared a soft kiss.

We moved apart then and Cody's eyes went to my cock which was in between
soft and hard.

"You like looking at my shaft don't you?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said and blushed then gave me a heart-warming smile.

"I love looking at your shaft too," I said.

"May I touch yours Kevvy?" he asked.  "I promise I'll just touch it and
that's it.  No tricks."

"I'd love that!" I replied and kissed him tenderly on the lips.  "May I
feel yours once you finish touching mine?"

"Yeah!" he exclaimed.  "I'd love feeling you do that!"

I lay there waiting for him to move his hand down to my cock.  Then he took
it gently in his hand and shivers of pleasure ran through me.  I smiled and
moaned softly.  I moved on my back and spread my legs so he could have
better access to it.

"That feels so good!" I said.  He moved his hands to the tip, moved his
hands along the rest of my shaft, then moved them to the base of it.

"Your shaft feels really warm and smooth!" he said and smiled.

"I'm glad you like it," I said and smiled back.

"Would you like to feel mine now?" he asked and turned on his back like I
was.

"You forgot my balls," I said and kissed him on his lips.

"Oh, yeah!" he said.  His hands moved to my balls and he felt the hairs,
the smooth skin and he rubbed them gently.  Once he finished, I turned and
did the same to him.

His cock had a nice plump head which was purple with being so hard.  His
foreskin when pulled forward went over to completely cover up his cockhead
including the piss slit.  I pulled it forward a couple of times then pulled
it back.  He moaned softly as I did this.  I smiled; it felt good when he
did it to me a moment ago as well.

I felt his smooth balls as well and felt the few hairs he had on them.  I
moved my hands then lightly ran my fingers through the patch of pubic hair
above his cock.

"I like that!" he said and smiled.

"Me too," I replied.

I lay down and turned on my back and let him run his fingers through my
patch of hair, then we shared a kiss and lay in one another's arms just
talking and occasionally making out and caressing one another's sides and
rubbing each other's shoulders, backs and butts gently.

0000

Remembering all of that made me hard and I felt my cock twitching in my
pants.  I got up off the bed, walked to my bedroom door, made sure it was
locked and walked back over to my bed.  Once standing with my back turned
to the bed, I removed my clothes and fell back.

I moved so that I was lying full-length on the bed with my head on the
pillow.  I began lightly pinching my nipples and rubbing them gently with
my fingertips.  I then began brushing my fingertips all over my chest,
stomach, sides and around my neck which got me really hot.  As I did this,
my cock began to twitch more and more.  I stopped for a few minutes and got
myself calmed down.

After a few minutes, I took my cock in my left hand which was the hand I
used to jack off with.  I began stroking up and down and as the foreskin
pulled back, a large amount of precum coated the palm of my hand and the
creamy and squishing sounds were louder this time around because of how
much of the creamy fluids I produced while thinking of Cody and our feeling
one another's cocks the night before.

With my right hand, I began lightly squeezing each of my nipples.  I did
one, then the other while stroking.  I took my right hand after a few
minutes of this and moved it to my balls and began stroking them lightly
from the beginning of the sack and to back behind it where I lightly
tickled that area.  I then moved my index finger so that I was lightly
moving quick circles around my rosebud.  I hadn't even thought of doing
this and I began getting even hotter and even more excited.

While I did that and stroked my cock, I imagined that Cody was moving his
index finger in circles around my rosebud.  I then imagined him beginning
to move his tongue around my rosebud after having replaced his finger with
it.  I then imagined him beginning to push his tongue in and as I began
stroking faster, I thought about him pushing in until he had it all the way
in and was eating me out.

As I got closer, I thought about him taking his mouth away from my hole and
lowering it on to my cock and sucking me.  As I thought about him sucking,
then deepthroating me I began to move closer to the edge.  Then in a couple
more strokes, I was feeling my orgasm building.

My balls began to tingle, my cock began to stiffen up even harder, and I
felt a deep burning in my cock and balls, but mainly in my cock which
burned, but felt amazingly wonderful at the same time.  I threw my hips up
in the air and gave a deep growl that slowly built until I gave a loud roar
which I kept from voicing to the whole house by turning my head and pushing
my mouth in to my pillow as I came harder than I had ever known before in
my life!

After I came, my hips fell back on the bed and I went limp.  I felt more
tired than I had ever known and I was beginning to get more and more
exhausted.  I cleaned up my cum, then got a quick shower, then put on a
pair of boxers.  Once spraying some air freshener, I unlocked the door, but
kept it closed.  After that was done, I went and covered myself and fell
deeply asleep.

0000

Caleb

Alicia and I sat on Justin's bed while he lay on his back.  We were helping
him wipe down his stump from having had his prosthetic leg on all day when
we were out.  He had gotten his shower a few minutes before, but it helped
when we used a rag with soap and water on it, then a towel to dry it.  His
stump was actually a few inches of his leg with shin bone included, then
his whole knee.  So he at least had enough so that the doctors could fit a
prosthetic leg on for him to walk though as far as I was concerned, they
could have come up with a better model of leg for him to use given how it
would rub the sides of his stump raw close to the tip of it.  Lotions
helped keep the skin moisturized, but just barely.

Another issue he would have to deal with, at least until he was fully grown
was surgeries on his stump.  When he had a growth spirt every few years,
his shin bone would grow faster than his skin could tolerate and though it
never got to the point of ripping all the way through the skin, it still
would hurt him when walking.  The last surgery he had was back when he was
eight and the doctors figured that he wouldn't have to have another surgery
until he was 11 or 12.

"Thanks for helping me with this," he said.

"It's no problem," I said.

"We're happy to do it," Alicia chimed in.

"I usually do this myself," Justin continued.  "I'm just glad you guys
offered to help this time."

"We just figured that you could use some relaxation this weekend," I said.
"We're here for you Justin.  I don't want you to ever forget that."

"I won't," he said.

I moved the rag on the tip of his stump, sides, front and back, then Alicia
began drying it.

"Let us know if this hurts," she said looking down at Justin's stump.

"I hope we've been gentle," I added.

"You guys have been really nice and good to me while you've been doing
this," he said.  "You guys have been really nice all weekend since I've
been here."

"I'm glad," I said.

"Anything I can do to help I'll do it," Alicia interjected.

Once his stump was dry, I found the lotion and asked if Justin wanted me to
put it on and he said that would be fine.  I put some in the palm of my
hand and rubbed it in both hands.  Once completely covered, I began
applying it to his skin.  I must have rubbed too hard around the tip of his
stump, because he let out a grunt of pain.

"I'm sorry," I said looking down at him.

"It's okay," he said.  "That part always bothers me."

I tried to be a little more gentle and it seemed to work.  Once that was
complete, I put away the lotion and Alicia rang out the wet washcloth, and
it as well as the towel were draped over the edge of the bathtub.  She came
back and we both sat back down on the foot of Justin's bed.  At that
moment, I began to think about what it would be like if he was my son.  I
probably couldn't fully appreciate that position in a young boy's life at
that period in my own life, but I felt like I was starting to get an idea
of this concept.

Justin asked if we could lay on either side of him and put our arms around
him like Nathan and I did Friday night and we did.  He relaxed in our
embrace and he began drifting off to sleep.

"I love you Justin," I said softly, then kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"I love you," Alicia interjected.

"I love you guys too," Justin said, then he was asleep.

After almost half-an-hour of lying there and holding the sleeping angel,
Alicia and I got up carefully so as not to wake him.  We covered him and
after each of us placed a kiss on his forehead, we turned out the light and
closed the door.  I turned and side-by-side, Alicia and I walked back to my
room.  We sat on my bed and there was a silence for a moment, until Alicia
broke it.

"I was watching you with him while we took care of his stump," she said.
"You'll make a wonderful father someday."

I smiled and thanked her.

"I mean that too," she said.  "You've been really sweet to him.  You've
also been really patient with him and if you continue letting everyone
who's in your life help and guide you, I think you'll definitely make a
good father one of these days."

"Thanks," I said.  "I'm starting to think about what it would be like to be
a father.  I know I couldn't go out and start bringing up a child right
now, but I have that protective feeling towards Justin that fathers, or at
least most of them have towards their own children."

"Well, if you have children someday," she began.  "I should say that if you
and Nathan are still together in a few years and you guys have children,
you'll both make grate parents for them."

"Thanks," I said.

"You're welcome," she replied.  "I should be getting to bed now, since it's
almost 10:00."

"Me too," I responded.  We stood and hugged for a moment.  "I love you
Alicia."

"I love you too Caleb," she replied.  Once we separated, she went back to
her room and after I turned out the light, I went over to my bed and got
under the covers.  I heard a knock on the door a moment later and I called
for whoever it was to come in.  The door opened and footsteps neared my
bed.

"We just wanted to say goodnight," my mom said.

"We'll see you in the morning," my dad interjected.

My mom hugged and kissed me first, then my dad did the same.  I hugged and
kissed each of them back and turned on my side towards the door and where
they were standing.

"I love you guys," I said as I began drifting off to sleep.

"We love you too," my mom said.

"We sure do," my dad added.

My mom shut off my bedside light since I was closer to sleep now.  They
kissed me on the cheek, then walked out of my room closing the door.  Just
before drifting completely off to sleep, I felt a deep and over-taking
since of safety and warmth close around me knowing that I was in my bed and
under the covers.  I also felt these feelings even more so, knowing that my
brother, sister, cousin and parents were in the house with me.  Finally, I
fell asleep for the night.

Author's Notes

I figured I'd end on a light and peaceful note this time.  So everyone have
a good evening and I'll see you guys in Chapter 17