Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 19:34:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: Thomas Gaige <togaige@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Abandoned Boy - Chapter 23

DISCLAIMER: The following story is FICTIONAL. It contains descriptions
of sexual activities between men, teenage boys, and between men and
teenage boys. If you are not over 18 years of age, or if you find this
type of story offensive, or viewing this material is illegal where you
are, then please DO NOT READ IT! If you choose to read it, then - I hope
you enjoy it!

			     The Abandoned Boy

				Chapter 23

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just as the period was ending, a substitute came to the door. I finished
my lecture, and told the kids what to do for homework, just before the
bell rang.

As the kids all got up to leave, I told Simon to wait. I quickly went
over my lesson plan with the substitute, then told Simon to come with
me.

"What's wrong?" Simon asked, as we headed to Tom's office.

"I don't know, but it involves your friend Rob," I said. "Tom told me to
bring you with me."

Simon suddenly looked worried.

 * * *

When we got to Tom's office, the first thing Tom said was "Simon, when
did you last see Rob Watkins?"

Simon looked a little scared then.

"Yesterday," He said. "Why? What's wrong?"

"He seems to be missing," Tom said. "His name came up on the absentee
list today. His parents never called him in. So I called them to see
what the problem was. I spoke with his mother. She seemed to be a
little out of it, almost like she was on drugs or something. She told me
though that Rob had left home a couple weeks ago. She was surprised, but
happy to hear that he'd been coming to school like usual."

"He's a run-away?" I asked, looking back and forth between Tom and Simon.

"Well... I'm not sure that's entirely true," Tom said. "If that was so,
he wouldn't have been coming to school regularly, and I expect his
parents and/or the police would've called or come in here right away."

"Did you ask her why she didn't notify us?" I asked.

"I did," Tom said. "The best I was able to figure out was that she was
upset Rob had left home, but that she didn't know why he'd left. She
thought her husband knew more about it. The strange thing was that she
said her husband had pretty much just stopped talking about Rob, as if he
didn't exist anymore.

"Like you said yesterday, this keeps on getting weirder!" I said to Tom.

Tom looked at Simon and said, "I know you know more about this Simon.
This is pretty serious. It's not a game anymore. Rob might be in
danger. I know you'll want to help him! I need you to tell us
everything you know."

Simon looked at Tom, then at me. I gave him a look so he understood that
I expected him to talk.

Simon sighed, then said, "I promised Rob I wouldn't tell anyone any of
this, but you seem to know most of what I know now, and if he's really in
trouble, I guess I have no choice."

"You're doing the right thing Simon," Tom said, "and I promise we'll do
whatever we can to help Rob."

"Rob didn't run away. His father threw him out," Simon said.

"What?" I interrupted, incredulously.

"You have to promise not to tell anyone this," Simon said.

"Unless, it's necessary to help him, we won't tell anyone," I said.

Tom nodded his agreement.

Simon sighed again and said, "His father found out he's gay, and threw
him out."

Tom and I looked at each other.

"Where's he been living?" I asked.

"Rob's got a few friends he's been staying with. I guess I'm one now
too, cause he's spent a couple nights with us too. I'm sorry I didn't
ask you first Greg, but I was afraid you'd say 'no', and Rob didn't have
anywhere else to go!" Simon said.

"You've been feeding him too, haven't you?" I said.

"Yeah, that's why the big lunches, and the 3 pot pies the other night,
and a couple times, I gave him some money for food too," Simon said.
"I'm sorry Greg. Are you mad at me."

"No Simon, I'm not mad at you. I'm a little disappointed, but not mad.
You don't have to be sorry for helping a friend who needed help," I
said. "You said I'd approve of what you were doing. I do approve
Simon. I think it's a wonderful thing that you want to help someone who
needs help. It's just your methods I have a problem with."

Simon looked quizzically at me.

"Giving Rob, food, and money, and a place to stay is fine. Very generous
and noble in fact. But... you're not an adult yet Simon. You should've
told me. Tom and I might have been able to help him in a better way." I
said.

"I'm sorry Greg. I wanted to tell you, but Rob wouldn't let me, so I
couldn't," Simon said.

"That's the reason I'm disappointed Simon," I said. "Instead of coming
to me and telling me about this, you lied to me, and went behind my
back. You didn't trust me enough to tell me what was happening."

"I'm sorry Greg. I never meant to lie to you. It was Rob. I didn't
know what to do. I had made a promise to him, not to tell anyone his
secret! I didn't know how to keep that promise without the lies and
sneaking around. I know now it was wrong. Rob might be in real
trouble. I'm sorry!" Simon said.

Simon looked guiltily down at his sneakers then. Tom gave me a 'give the
kid a break' look.

"It's OK Simon," I said. "I understand, and I'm not mad. You were in a
real difficult position, and you did try to do all the right things. You
tried to help your friend, who really needed it. And you tried to keep
your promise to him. And, in reality, now that you know he might be in
trouble, you're being adult enough to do what you have to to try and help
him, even if it does break your promise to him. So, you've done good.
Just... in the future, if something like this comes up again, please
don't hide the problem from me. I might've been able to help Rob. At
the least, he could've just stayed with us, without having to sneak
around. Anyway, enough about your hiding all this. Now, is there
anything else you can tell us about the situation? Anything you know
that might help us find Rob? Do you have any idea where he might be?"

"No, I don't," Simon said, sadly. "And thanks for understanding about
me, and not being mad. I promise I won't keep things from you anymore.

"Thanks Simon," I said. "I'm glad to hear that. And in reality, you did
a really great thing for Rob. You're right, I'm proud of you! Why don't
you get back to your class now. If you think of anything else that might
help us to find Rob, get a pass to come tell me or Tom right away."

"OK," Simon said, smiling a little, and taking a pass I handed to him,
that I'd been writing as I spoke.

"Simon," Tom said. "Do you know the names of any of the kids Rob hangs
out with?"

Simon told us the names of two or three students, but said they were the
only ones he knew of, although there were probably more. He said he
didn't really know Rob that well yet.

Simon left then and went to his class.

Tom and I discussed the situation, and we couldn't come up with any other
ideas on how to find Rob, other than by talking to his friends. Tom
called Rob's homeroom teacher and talked to her a minute. She gave Tom
the names of some more kids Rob hung out with. Tom brought up all the
kid's schedules on his computer, and printed them out. We split them up
and each went to talk to a few of Rob's friends.

An hour later, we were sitting back in Tom's office again. None of the
boys we talked to knew anything, except one, a boy named Curt. He didn't
know where Rob was at the moment, but he expected to see him later that
afternoon at his house. I told him to have Rob call me when he got to
his house. He said he would.

"Guess all we can do is wait now," Tom said.

Agreeing, I went back to my class.

 * * *

That afternoon, Ethan had to work. Tom came over though. We waited for
Curt to call, but he never did. At suppertime, we called Curt. He said
that Rob had showed up an hour earlier, but had left a few minutes
later. Curt said Rob had asked if he could sleep there, but Curt's
family had company from out of town, and there wasn't any room. I asked
Curt if he knew where Rob was going when he left, but he said he didn't
know. I asked him if he'd given Rob my message and phone number, and he
said he had. I thanked Curt and asked him to call me if he ran into him
again. He said he would.

While Tom and I fried up some cheeseburgers, I had Simon call all Rob's
friends we knew of. He was nowhere to be found.

"Well, at least we know he was OK a couple hours ago," Tom said.

"Yeah, but where is he now? And where is he going to sleep? It's going
to be frigid tonight!" I said.

We ate quickly, then went and drove around looking for Rob. We tried the
mall, and the library, and the grocery stores. We checked any place that
was warm and open to the public. Rob was nowhere. On the way back to the
apartment, I saw Simon looking across the road at the ball fields, and
the baseball dugouts.

"You don't think he'd be there? Do you?" I asked.

"I don't know," Simon said.

I turned into the ball field access road and drove over to the nearest
field. We all jumped out, and ran over to the dugouts and checked. No
Rob.

We got back in the car and headed back to the apartment.

 * * *

As I was parking, Tom's cell phone rang. It was the police. Someone had
broken into the school. All they could see on the remote monitor at the
police station was that it was one person. It looked like an older boy
with light hair they said. The police were there now, and wanted Tom to
come over and unlock doors for them while they searched for the intruder.

"You don't think it's Rob do you?" Simon asked.

"I hope it is!" Tom said.

"Simon, you should stay here," I said. "In case it isn't Rob, and he
shows up here looking for help."

"OK," Simon said, and he climbed out of the car and ran into the
building.

I backed around and headed to the school, completely ignoring the speed
limits.

When we got there, we found the police scattered around the outside of
the building. Tom and I went up to the front door. Tom unlocked it and
we went inside, with several of the officers. Some stayed outside, in
case whoever it was tried to leave. First thing Tom did was unlock the
office and turn on the lights throughout the building. Then he went to
the bank of security camera monitors.

Almost immediately, we saw a tall thin boy with spiked blond hair walk
past one of the cameras on the second floor.

"It's Rob!" I said.

"Tell your officers not to be rough with him," Tom told the policeman in
charge. "We know him, and he's not here to cause trouble."

The officer looked at Tom questioningly, but Tom had already picked up
the PA system's microphone, and turned it on.

"Rob!" Tom said into the microphone, and his voice came through the PA
System's speakers up in the ceiling.

On one of the cameras, we saw Rob freeze and look up at the ceiling.

"It's Mr. McGrath, Rob," Tom said into the microphone. "Simon's dad, Mr.
Winslow's here too. We can see you on the security camera. It's OK
Rob. You're not in any trouble, so you can come out. Please come down
to the office, so we can talk."

Not knowing what to do, Rob bolted and ran into the nearest boy's room.

"Let me go up and try to talk to him," I said.

"No, he could be armed," the cop said.

"He's not armed!" Tom said. "Please! Let us handle this!"

Before anyone else could say anything, I ran out of the office and down
the hall to the nearest stairwell. I took the stairs two at a time. In
less than a minute I'd made it from the office downstairs to the boys'
room upstairs. Breathing a little heavily, I walked into the boys' room,

It appeared to be empty. The doors to the stalls were all closed
though. I didn't see any feet sticking down from behind any of the. I
stood still and held my breath and listened for a minute. I heard what
sounded like a slight sniff.

"Rob! It's Mr. Winslow," I said. "You know. Simon Banning's foster
father. The guy who walked in on you naked in the kitchen the other
morning. I know you're in here. Nobody wants to hurt you. You're not
in any trouble. Mr. McGrath and I just want to help you. So, why don't
you come on out."

A couple seconds went by, then I saw a pair of sneakered feet touch down
on the floor in the last stall down at the end. A moment later, the
stall door opened, and Rob Watkins stepped out. He looked scared and
embarrassed.

I smiled and said, "I'm glad we found you. We've been worrying about you
all day. I promise you, everything will be alright."

Just then, Tom and a couple policemen walked into the bathroom. Rob
suddenly looked scared.

"Guys, it's OK. He's one of our students, and he's OK," I said. "Can
you back off and give us some space please?"

The cops looked at Tom, who nodded his assent. They left then. Rob
still looked a little scared.

Tom looked back and forth between us a couple times, then he said, "It's
OK Rob, you're not in any trouble. I'll fix things with the cops.
Meanwhile, Why don't you talk with Greg a few minutes."

Tom looked at me a moment, then left.

"Did he mean it? I'm not in trouble for being here?" Rob asked.

"If he said you're not in trouble, you're not!" I said.

"Simon ratted on me, didn't he?" Rob asked.

"Not really," I said. "He didn't tell us anything. Only in the end,
after we already knew what was going on, he did finally confirm that we
were right. He kept his promise to you right up until we all started
getting worried about you! He only broke his promise to try and help you,
so please don't be mad at him."

"Fine," Rob said, "but if he didn't tell, who did?"

"Your mother," I said.

Rob looked at me unbelievingly.

"When you didn't show up at school today, Mr. McGrath called your mother
to see where you were. She told him then." I said.

"Oh," Rob said.

"C'mon," I said, "School's no place to spend the night."

"Where are you taking me?" Rob asked, uneasily.

"Mine and Simon's apartment," I said, smiling. "I expect you're hungry,
and probably tired too. You can stay with us tonight, and together,
we're going to figure out a way to help you."

Rob looked at me uncertainly for a minute, but then walked toward me, and
followed me out the bathroom door.

 * * *

By the time I'd gotten Rob down to the office, all but a couple of the
police officers had left.

Rob looked a little scared when they looked up at him.

"It's OK Rob," Tom said. "Like I said, you're not in trouble. The
police officers do want to speak to you for a moment though. They just
want to talk, that's all!"

The two cops stepped over to us.

"May we have a minute alone with the boy?" one of them asked.

Rob's eyes got bigger.

"Meaning no disrespect," I said, "but I don't see why that's necessary.
You can speak to him in front of me."

The cop looked annoyed, but I thought Rob's shoulders seemed to relax
ever so slightly.

The annoyed cop looked at Rob and told him that he wasn't in trouble,
only because Tom was refusing to press charges. They told him that if
Tom had pressed charges, he'd have been arrested for breaking and
entering and burglary at the least, and if convicted, he'd end up in a
youth detention center! They warned him about ever doing anything
illegal, saying they had his name now, and if he did screw up, they'd
throw the book at him.

"Nothing like reminding a kid that the police are there to help him if he
needs it," I remarked.

"I have your name too!" The officer said, glaring at me.

"That works both ways Officer... Hunt!" I said, reading the name off his
tag.

"What don't you understand?" Officer Hunt said to me. "This boy broke
into the school and was wandering around in it alone, with God knows what
on his mind!"

"I didn't break in!" Rob said suddenly. "One of the doors into the gym
was unlocked!"

"Guys! Please!" Tom said. "Greg, Officer Hunt's just trying to do his
job. Why don't you take Rob into the office now. And, Officer Hunt,
you're not aware of the entire situation here. We are, and we're
handling it. Rob's a good kid. He really doesn't need reminders from
you. A lot of the kids that attend school here could use them I guess,
but not this boy. Thank you though for all of your efforts."

The officers nodded to Tom and turned and walked out of the building.

 * * *

Once the police were all gone, Tom asked Rob to show him the unlocked
door he'd come in through, and we locked it up. Then Tom shut off the
lights through the building, and we left.

"I'm sorry about all the trouble I'm causing you," Rob said, as we got
into my car.

"It's OK Rob, it's not your fault," I said.

We rode silently back to the apartment then.

 * * *

Simon grinned when we walked in with Rob. Rob smiled slightly.

"Hungry?" I asked.

Rob looked at me uncertainly.

"It's OK to say 'yes'," I said, smiling.

Rob smiled slightly and nodded at me.

"You like cheeseburgers?" I asked.

"Yes," Rob said.

"How many would you like?" I asked.

"One will be fine, thank you," he said.

"He'd prefer two," Simon piped up.

"That's what I figured," I said, grinning.

"House rule Rob. If I we offer you something, it's OK to accept it, and
it's OK to tell us if there's something you want or need too!" I said,
smiling at him.

"OK, Thank you Mr. Winslow," Rob said, blushing a little.

"You're welcome, and please - outside school, call me Greg!" I said.

"OK," Rob said, smiling finally.

Tom and I left the boys in the living room and went out to the kitchen to
cook Rob's supper for him.

 * * *

"So are you OK?" Simon asked Rob.

"Been better," Rob replied.

"It'll be OK. Greg and Tom will help you," Simon said.

"But how? I can't go home anymore. I'll probably end up in a foster
home," Rob said.

"Well, they're not all that bad. Look at me!" Simon said.

"No foster home's as nice as this!" Rob said. "You musta really stepped
into a lucky pile of shit to end up here!"

"Well, why don't you wait and see. At least now, you don't have to worry
about where you're gonna stay. Greg'll let you stay with us till
something's worked out," Simon said.

"I guess," Rob said, dubiously.

"Get washed up Rob! Your burgers are almost ready," I called from the
kitchen.

Rob smiled slightly, and got up and went to the bathroom.

 * * *

While Rob ate his supper, the three of us sat with him and had some
dessert. It was a relatively quiet meal.

Afterward, I asked Simon to go to his room, while Rob, Tom and I went and
sat in the living room. Simon seemed mildly annoyed, but resignedly
walked off down the hallway.

"I know things don't seem good for you right now Rob," I said, after we
were sitting together in the living room. "I promise though, that you
won't have to worry about having food, or a place to stay anymore. No
matter what happens, Tom and I will make sure you're taken care of."

"Thank you," Rob said quietly, looking a little embarrassed.

Tom smiled and said, "We want to help you Rob, but in order to do that,
we're going to need to know everything that's been going on, that lead
you to leave home."

Rob looked cautiously at us. We both looked back at him as warmly and
benevolently as we could.

"We know most of the story already Rob. How about you tell it all to us
though, so any holes in what we know, get filled in," I said, smiling
slightly.

Rob looked at me a moment, then finally, his shoulders sagged, and
looking down at the floor, he began his tale.

"To begin with, I don't know if you know it or not, but I'm adopted. My
birth mother was only 14 when she had me. She and my birth father, who
was a couple years older than her, were druggies. They were always
high. The doctors don't know why I didn't end up with problems because
of it, but I didn't. Anyway, My birth mother's father and mother made
her give me up for adoption. I was only a few days old when I was
adopted by my parents." Rob said.

"Things weren't really bad," Rob continued. "My mother loved me and she
was a good mother. But she isn't really a strong person. I wouldn't say
she's a druggie, but whenever something stressful happens, she always has
to take valium or something for it. A doctor prescribes it for her, so
it's not illegal!"

Rob looked at us worriedly, like he expected us to call the police on his
mother.

"That's OK, Rob," Tom said. "Sometimes people need to take medicine."

"Yeah," Rob said. "My father and I have never really been close. If it
wasn't for the fact that my mother wanted a baby, but couldn't have one
for whatever reason, I don't think they'd have adopted me. I don't think
he ever really wanted kids. He never treated me badly though. But, he
never really spent any time with me either. There's only been three
times I can remember my father taking an interest in me. When I was 5 or
6 and all the other kids started playing "T" Ball in Little League, my
father signed me up, and took me to the practices and games. I sucked
though, and I hated it. I know he was disappointed. He loves baseball.
I think he had plans for me to get into Pop Warner Football too, but,
seeing how I sucked at baseball, he let that drop."

"He didn't do much with me for a couple years then," Rob continued, "not
until it was time for Cub Scouts. Soon as he could, he signed me up for
that too. He was even an assistant den father. That wasn't too bad
really, but he seemed to spend most of his time working with the other
boys. One night my mother asked me how I liked scouting, and I told her
it was OK. She asked how I liked having Dad as a den father. I told her
then that I thought the other kids liked having him there a lot, because
they seemed to be having a good time with him. Later I heard Mom
hollering at him about spending time with the other kids, and not me.
That's when I heard him say 'Maybe the other kids appreciate me more than
he does. I've tried to do things with him. He never seems interested.
The other boys are!' They had a big fight then. It ended with my father
yelling 'well you can be sure things would've been different if he'd been
born of my sperm!'"

"Oh man! I'm sorry about all that Rob!" I said.

"You get used to it after a while," Rob said. "Well, I managed to finish
out the year in Cub Scouts. We went on the father/son campout in May,
and that was the end of my scouting career. The weather sucked, the food
sucked, everything sucked. I hated it, and was miserable. I guess my
mood rubbed off on my father. He'd been happy about the trip, but as it
went on, he became just as miserable as I was. Then, the day we went on
the hike up the mountain, I slid on a wet rock, fell, and rolled down the
hill a few yards. It was a good thing there was a pine tree in the way,
or I might have fallen a good distance and really gotten hurt bad. As it
was, I'd broken my arm. That was the end of our camping trip. Dad
packed us up and drove us home. We stopped on the way, at the hospital,
and they casted me. Neither of us ever went back to the scouts after
that."

"It's too bad all those bad things happened," Tom said. "Sometimes a
camping trip like that can bring a father and son closer together."

"Not us!" Rob said. "Anyway, my father spent less and less time with me
after that. I've been a huge disappointment to him. We're nothing
alike, and neither of us likes anything the other does. He's into
sports, camping, and stuff like that. I like music, computer games, and
things like that. There's only one thing that my father and I have in
common. We both like cars."

"Well, there's something for you to do together," I said.

"Yeah, and it was actually starting to work too," Rob said. "When I was
14, my father bought a 'project car' - you know - a beat up car that
needs a lot of work, but has the potential to be a good car again, that
you can keep or sell?"

"Never really heard it called that, but I know what you mean," Tom said.

"Well," Rob continued. "Dad bought this Mercury Cougar. He got it
really cheap, because it needed a lot of work. I guess I surprised both
him and Mom when I went out to the garage and started watching what he
was doing. A little while later, Mom came out and said 'Howie, why don't
you let Rob help you?' My father looked curiously at me, but said 'You
wanta help?' He looked shocked when I said 'Sure!' Mom was smiling then
when I got up and went over and he started showing me how to change the
spark plugs. Dad let me help him with everything, and after a few weeks,
we had the car done. It looked great! I couldn't believe it when while
we were out driving around in it, my father pulled into an empty parking
lot, and told me to change places with him. I was confused, but I got
out of the car. 'Go on - get behind the wheel' he'd said. Completely
shocked, I got in the driver's seat. 'You helped fix her up. You should
get to drive her too before we sell her' he'd said. 'But I'm only 14!'
I'd said. He laughed and said he was 14 when his father taught him to
drive. Then he told me to listen to what he said. Then, he taught me
how to drive, and had me driving around in the empty parking lot. That
was the absolute best half hour I ever experienced with my father!"

Rob had tears in his eyes, as he stopped a moment and took a swallow of
soda.

"That sounds like it was a lot of fun Rob. That's the way it should
always be for a father and son," I said.

"I know," Rob said. "Except for when we're working on cars, it's not
that way for us though. My father sold that car. I wish he'd kept it.
It was my favorite. Anyway, winter was coming, so he didn't get another
one. We were back to our usual lives. In the spring, he got another
project car though. He let me help him fix that one up too. It wasn't
as much fun as the Cougar had been. It was more work. And, when we went
out to test drive it, he let me drive again, but I hit a pot hole really
hard and blew a tire. He got pissed at me. He fixed the tire and sold
the car soon after that."

"We did another car later that summer," Rob went on. "Then this past
summer, we did one in June and July. Since I turned 16, Dad also taught
me to drive on the road. In September, I got my driver's license. We
also got another car to work on. I asked Dad if I could buy it, and if
it could be mine after we fixed it up, but he said that no son of his
would be driving a shit box like that. He said that the next project car
we got, he'd help me find a good one and let me buy it. Then we'd fix it
up to be my car. We were still working on the 'shit box' yet, when
everything went to hell."

Rob rubbed his eyes and took another drink of soda.

"Can you tell us what happened, Rob?" I asked.

"Well..." Rob said, looking at the two of us a minute, trying to size up
what our reaction would be, before he continued. "I don't know if Simon
told you this or not, but I'm gay."

Tom and I exchanged glances, and I said, "I see. Well, that's OK with
us. Do your parents know?"

Rob looked at us curiously, then said, "I don't know if my mother does or
not. I expect that by now, my father's told her. He does know. That's
the reason I'm not living at home."

"I take it your father doesn't approve?" I asked.

Rob smiled and snorted, "That's putting it mildly!"

"Can you tell us what happened?" Tom asked, quietly.

Rob looked at us a minute, then launched into the next part of his
story. "Well, I figured out a couple years ago already, that I was gay.
I mean, I've never had sex with anyone. Not with a guy or a girl. I
know though that I'm not interested in girls, but that I can't take my
eyes off of a good looking guy. Well, I knew my parents didn't like
gays. Especially my father. He's always making fun of them. So I kept
my orientation a secret. I was pretty good at hiding my true feelings
too. Neither of them wondered much about why I never had a girlfriend,
because I am usually rather shy. And, whenever I was around my father, I
made sure to notice any good looking girls that went by. He never
figured it out. Not until a couple weeks ago at least."

"What happened then?" I asked.

Rob started talking again. "I was at school one day. When I came home,
I realized someone had been in my room, looking at my stuff. Certain
things weren't the way I'd left them. In particular, an old back pack I
kept under the bed was lying on top of the bed. It was open. I knew I
was in deep trouble then. I kept a couple of gay porn magazines, a tube
of KY, and a dildo in that back pack."

Rob had turned red in the face, and looked at his feet when he mentioned
the dildo.

"Go on," Tom said, gently.

Rob looked up at us a minute, then went on. "Everything was still in the
back pack, but obviously someone had seen what was in it. I'd left it
closed, under my bed. I looked out the window, and realized I was up
shit creek. My mother's car was gone, but my father's was home. I
walked through the house, looking for him. Eventually I found him out in
the garage. He was working on the car. He didn't say anthing to me. He
didn't answer me when I said Hello. I didn't say anything else. I
walked over and picked up some sand paper to work on the fender I'd been
working on the previous night. Before I could start sanding, my father
straightened up and looked at me. He asked me if I'd been up to my
room. I was practically shitting my pants suddenly. I told him I had.
He said he'd been up there a little while earlier, looking for a gapping
tool he couldn't find. He thought maybe I'd put it in my jean's pocket
and forgotten about it. He said he saw my jeans on the floor and walked
over and picked them up to look in the pocket. The belt loop was caught
on something under the bed. When he'd given it a tug, the jeans had slid
out, pulling a knapsack with it. The knapsack had been open. Then he
said 'I want an explanation for that THING that fell out of it!' 'What
thing?' I'd asked, terrified now. 'That woman's sex toy!' he'd
hollered. I stood there, unable to speak. I could feel my face
burning. 'And don't lie to me! I saw the faggot porn too!' he bellowed
after a minute."

Rob was nearly in tears now, as he told us about his encounter with his
father.

"It's OK Rob," Tom said.

"Take a break. Have a hit of soda," I said, smiling ryely at him.

Rob smiled ruefully, rubbed his eyes, and took a big swallow of soda.
After a minute he picked up his tale.

"What else could I do?" Rob said. "I told him I was sorry he'd had to
find out that way, but that the things he saw were mine, and I had them
because I was gay. He just stood staring at me. After a minute he
started yelling at me, ranting and raving, telling me I wasn't old enough
to know what I wanted. I told him I was, and I did. We got into a big
fight then. I really don't want to go back over all that. The upshot
was that he threw a wrench at me. He missed. But, I hit him in the face
with an oil filter I picked up off the bench. He started swearing and
chasing me around, trying to hit me, and screaming at me, calling me a
faggot, and telling me I wasn't his son, and to get the hell out of his
house, and never to come back! It was NOT a pretty scene! So I did the
only thing I could think of. I ran away from him. Just like that, I ran
away from him, and my home."

Tears were trickling down Rob's cheeks then. I got up and moved over to
the other couch and sat down next to him. I put my arm around him.

"I'm so sorry Rob," I said, hugging him gently.

Sniffling, Rob looked up at me. As I smiled sadly at him, he turned into
me and pressed his face against my chest and began crying. I squeezed
him gently and held him as he wept, telling him every so often that it
was OK, that he would be OK.

Eventually, Rob stopped crying and sat up again.

"I'm sorry," He said.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," I said, smiling a little.

"I'm a freak, and nobody wants me!" Rob said, miserably, looking at me.

"No you're not, and that's not true!" I said.

Rob was inconsolable though.

Hoping to take his mind off his idea that nobody wanted him, we
eventually got Rob to tell us where he'd been and what he'd done since
the day he and his father had had their fight. He'd gone to his friend
Curt's house, and had spent the night with him. The next morning, he
snuck into the house and packed up some of his things. As he was
sneaking back down the back stairway, he heard his parents fighting about
him. His father was telling his mother that he, Rob, was no good, and
that he'd left for good, and they should forget he ever existed! He
could tell from his mother's responses, that she had already been taking
her valium. Although she was crying, her responses were slurred a bit.
Rob left then, and hadn't gone back since.
Until tonight, he'd been lucky enough to have friends offer to put him up
for the night. Tonight though, nobody'd been able to help him. So, he
figured the heat was on at the school, and he knew usually at least one
door was left unlocked, so that's why he'd gone back to the school. He
didn't realize the security cameras were hooked into the police
department, and that there were silent alarms on the doors, that went off
at the police department as well.

We talked a little while yet, and Rob understood that he wasn't in any
trouble, that we weren't upset with him, and in fact didn't care that he
was gay, and that we wanted to help him. He seemed a little more relaxed
then, but not a lot. He was still extremely worried about what was going
to happen to him.

"What's going to happen now?" he asked, finally, looking worriedly at us.

"Well," I said, looking at Tom, "it's getting late, so for tonight,
you're gonna stay with me and Simon. Tomorrow, we'll think about it some
more and together, I'm sure we'll come up with a solution. Leastwise
we're gonna make sure you're taken care of until we come up with one."

"Sorry to interrupt," Simon said, as he walked from the hallway toward
the kitchen.

"It's OK, come join us," I said.

Simon surveyed us all, then sat down next to Tom.

"Rob's gonna stay with us tonight. Maybe longer. We're going to see
what we can do to help him out." I said.

Simon smiled and said, "Cool! He can bunk with me."

"I-I can sleep on the couch if you'd rather," Rob said, looking back and
forth between Simon and I.

Simon grinned and said, "I have a big bed. Besides, you might feel
better if you have some company. C'mon, it's late. I'm going to bed.
You should too. You look exhausted."

Rob looked at me questioningly. I smiled and said, "Go on, unless YOU
would prefer the couch. We'll talk more tomorrow."

He smiled slightly, then thanked Tom and I for everything, before
following Simon down the hallway.

 * * *

"Wow! What a tale!" Tom said.

"Sad, isn't it?" I said.

"Ultra-sad!" Tom said. "You know, legally we're supposed to call in
Social Services."

"I know. Thanks for letting it go at this point," I said.

"Do you have a plan?" Tom asked.

"Only thing I can think of is going to see the parents. In particular
the father," I said.

"You think that'll help?" Tom asked.

"Can't hurt to try," I said.

"Want me to come?" Tom asked.

I grinned and said, "I'd like that."

"OK, Tomorrow we'll go see them. Right now, since you have a house
guest, I guess I'll go back to my place," Tom said.

"Sorry," I said.

"I'll live. Tonight at least," Tom said. "Um... what about Ethan?"

"I know. He's due over tomorrow night, and somehow, I doubt Rob will be
gone by then," I said.

"He deserves to know. Especially since Rob's sharing Simon's bed," Tom
said.

"I know. I doubt the two are getting sexual though." I said.

"No, but still," Tom said.

"I know. We'll deal with that tomorrow too!" I said.

"OK then," Tom said, getting up.

We said good-night to each other, then I went and got ready for bed.

 * * *

I thought I'd lay awake all night, worrying about what to do for Rob, but
I was so exhausted, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Meanwhile, down the hallway, in Simon's room, Simon and Rob were laying
in bed next to each other, both staring up at the shadows on the
ceiling. Rob told Simon everything he'd told Tom and I. By the time he
was finished, Simon heard him sniffling again.

"c'm'ere," Simon said, drowsily.

"huh?" Rob asked.

"C'mon. Roll over and snuggle up to me," Simon said.

"But we're both naked," Rob said.

"It's OK, this won't be sexual," Simon said.

Rob was surprised, but he felt so alone, that he turned and rolled over,
so he was laying on his stomach, half on, half off, Simon's left side.
He was straddling Simon's left leg, and his cock and balls were plastered
up against Simon's left thigh, and he could feel Simon's genitals rubbing
the outside of his left hip. Simon adjusted his position a little, then
wrapped his arm around Rob and hugged him. Rob was so overcome by
Simon's simple gesture, that he began crying.

The two boys lay together, as Rob wept quietly, and Simon gently stroked
his shoulder blades. Eventually, Rob fell asleep. It took a while
longer, but Simon eventually fell asleep too...

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The next chapter in this series will be published shortly.