Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2011 16:07:05 -0500
From: terry@thestorycloset.org
Subject: Climbing the Hill - Chapter 3 - Hunter's Fall

The following story is fiction and may contain sexual content and
situations between males of various ages.  If it is illegal for you to view
such content then please leave this page immediately.  All characters and
names are figments of my imagination and are not meant to resemble or
portray any person in real life - past or present.

All work is copyright protected by the author, me.  No reproduction is
permitted without explicit permission from me.

Enjoy!

========

Three - Hunter's Fall

Thank god for my work. It's the only thing that kept me sane for the first
month or so after Scottie left. It was to the point that I think mom was
going to have me see a shrink.

Though, she and I have never really discussed it; I think she pretty much
assumed that Scottie's leaving was a large part of my depression. I guess
I'm going to have to break down and really talk to her about who I am. IF I
can figure that out for myself first!

Late August and September were busy times for me. School started again,
yuck!, and the autumn harvest kicked in. I spent a lot of afternoons and
evenings taking in hay, chopping fodder and getting things ready for the
winter months. I generally don't do the day to day stuff at the
farm. Mr. Yoder, the old farmer I work for, generally just has me help out
with harvest, planting, and bailing hay and such. And no, he's not Amish;
though his family was Amish a generation or two back. He's a really nice
guy and always treats me well.

I guess he knows this is my spot up here because even though there are no
cattle here, or crops, he keeps my little plot on the hill mowed. And he
really doesn't have to. It's not even his property. It's part of the
property my grandparents left to my mother. Mr. Yoder rents about 120 acres
off of us for planting and grazing. The other 100 or so acres are my
stomping grounds. They're pretty much woods and a few steep meadows that
wouldn't be good for much other than just to roam in.

I've always loved it up here in late autumn. The leaves are down, the air
is crisp and fresh and there's a brisk breeze blowing through the trees
making that mystical whooshing sound as it blows though.

Halloween is coming up soon, and mom's decorating the house now. Pumpkins,
witches and ghosts are all over the front porch. Mom really likes to dress
the place up on holidays.

Me, well.. I'm doing my normal late afternoon pondering session. Did I
mention that I ponder a lot? And, YES, a lot of that pondering still
concerns Scottie. It's just, well, he didn't just leave. He ceased to
exist, more or less. No forwarding address to contact him. Nobody seems to
have known his family very well. I've asked around and they all just knew
Scottie's family as the people in old Mrs. Harris's house. I even asked
Mrs. Harris about them, and she didn't know much. She rented the house to
them, in case you're wondering.

Sometimes I wonder if I just dreamed it all. You know, that over-active,
hormone driven, teen imagination - and all that stuff. But in the end, I
know it happened.

I still have his clothes from when he had the electric fence accident. And
YES, I washed them. Heh, I sleep wearing his shirt. Mom saw me walk into
the bathroom with it on one morning and she gave me a very strange look;
but she never said anything about it.

What still bugs me is how much the whole thing bothered me. I mean, well, I
didn't even seem to realize I felt anything for him until the last few days
before he left. Yeah, we spent a lot of time together and stuff, but I
never really thought it was anything more than friendship.

OK, damnit! It still bothers me. I think I cried enough tears to supply
Morton Salt for a year. And I think I better head home before I start
again.

After the long trek home I head to the back door to sneak up into my
room. Not sure I want to face mom at the moment. "What the fuck?!" I mumble
to myself as I realize the door is locked. Guess I have to go in the
front..

"Todd? That you, Hun?" I hear as I walk in the front door.

"Yeah mom. How come the backdoor is locked?" I ask.

"Oh, I didn't realize it was locked when I closed it last time. Sorry `bout
that", she responded. "There's a letter here to a Mr. Todd Conlon, by the
way", mom said - holding the letter out to me.

I grab it and take a look at the envelope. Interesting, no return address;
though it is postmarked from our post office. Probably something from
someone at school.

Opening the envelope I realize it's a Halloween card. On the cover of it is
a picture of a goofy looking ghost holding up a sign with a bunch of mixed
letters on it. On the inside written in bold type it says "Even ghosts can
be dyslexic - Happy Halloween!", then further below in handwritten script
"That's what happened to me every time I tried to tell you, Toddy. Hope I
didn't scare you too much. Happy Halloween - S."

No!

Why won't he let me get over him?! Just when things are slowly getting back
to normal he sends me this!

When I realize that my eyes are more than just a little wet I dash towards
the steps. I can't have mom see me like - .

"Todd - Stop" mom says - her tone pretty much telling me that I better
listen.

As she grabs my shoulder and turns me around she says "Todd, what the -
Aww, honey.. this has to stop now."

Mom pulls me into a hug just as the flood gates really open up.

After a few minutes of just standing there holding me she pulls me over to
the couch and sits me down. "Todd, we need to talk about this now. I've
watched your emotions bouncing around all over the place for the last
couple of months and it's been driving me nuts seeing you hurting. I'm not
going to just sit here and watch it anymore", she says with a worried look
on her face. "I was waiting in hope you would come to me and tell me what's
been bothering you, hun. I'm not waiting anymore."

Looking me right in the eye, she says "Todd, I love you. I always have and
I always will. You're my baby boy. You mean the world to me and nothing is
every going to change that."

"Keeping that in mind - I know this has something to do with Scott", she
continued as I dropped my eyes to the floor.

Lifting my chin, she continues, "Honey, I saw this coming about six months
ago. You two were very close even from the start; but soon I started
noticing something else developing. It scared me at first. A physical
closeness was developing between you. I really don't think anyone else
would have noticed it - but I'm your mom, and we know these things", she
finishes with a smile.

"How could you know, mom? I didn't even realize it until just before
Scottie left", I asked.

"I didn't know, Todd. But I had my suspicions. I actually read up on it -
to see if I'd maybe done something wrong to cause it. I read books,
magazines, whatever I could find. Slowly I realized that it's just
something that is; that even you, most likely, didn't have any choice in
the matter, if you actually were attracted in some way to guys. And
honestly, I don't understand it. But I don't have to. All I have to
understand is that you're my son, whom I love very, very much, and that who
you choose to love is your choice and not mine."

I slowly open up and tell mom about the last day or so before Scottie left,
and about the kiss on the hill - with tears running down my cheeks the
whole time.

"And, then as things are finally calming down, I get this" I say while
handing her the card.

"Aww, honey, I know this brings it all back up again. But honestly, I think
Scottie was scared to death. This is his way of explaining himself to you"
she says, trying to calm me.

"I wish he could know that I don't hate him, that it's just the
opposite. But I have no way of letting him now that. He caught me off guard
when he kissed me. I wasn't angry, I was shocked!", I said in frustration.



We went on discussing the situation for another few minutes, but I was
yawning big time. The stress of the evening had totally worn me out.

I hugged mom, thanked her, and told her I love her then headed up to bed.



*******

Rolling over in my bed I look over at the clock on my dresser. WOW! I guess
I was tired. Good thing it's the weekend or I'd be in deep shit for missing
school.

But, since it is Saturday, I just roll back over and stretch. Sitting there
just daydreaming, I happen to glance down and notice that "Little Todd"
needs some attention.

Well, he's not THAT little. I'd say I'm a bit larger than average - I
think. But then again, I'm far from a professional on the subject.

Soooo.. After a few minutes of strenuous morning arm exercise (what did you
expect? I am 16 for fuck sakes!) and a quick cleanup session, I run across
the hall and jump in the shower.

Clean and refreshed I run downstairs and fix a bowl of Lucky Charms. Mom
bitches at me for eating sugary cereal; but now, since she knows about my
secret, I'll just tell her it's because I think the leprechaun on the front
of the box is hot.

Wow, it sorta feels strange to think something like that. In a way, it
feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

After finishing breakfast and putting my dishes in the sink I head upstairs
and put some warm clothes on. I'm in the mood for a late morning
walk. Maybe I'll get lucky and see some deer up on the hill. We usually get
a lot of deer this time of year on our property because we don't allow any
hunting.

Grabbing an old cane I use as a walking stick, I open the back door and
head down the hollow. It's a beautiful fall morning. The crows are cawing
in the distance and the blue jays are out in force getting fat before
winter sets in. We have a lot of hickory and oak trees on our property so
there's an army of squirrels running around across the forest floor
grabbing acorns and nuts for their winter store.

I figure I'll take the back way up to my spot. There's a small beaver dam
on the creek further up the hollow and I want to see if any of them were
out in the pond. Our place would be a hunter's paradise if we actually
allowed hunters. But mom has always been adamant about not having anyone
killing animals on our property, and I guess the thought of it bugs me too.

Well, that was a wasted detour. Didn't see one damn beaver. Or should that
be dam beaver? Heh, ok, my jokes suck. Heading further up the hollow, I can
see the tree line up by my pondering spot, so I veer off that way. As I get
nearer the top of the hill I notice some movement in the bushes at the very
edge of the tree line.

I start walking slower, keeping low so as not to scare whatever is up
there. Might actually get lucky and see a deer.

As I get closer I notice that whatever it is it's awfully dark - too dark
for a deer. But it's too big to be anything else.

I start creeping much slower as I get near, trying to sneak up as closely
as I can.

"What the hell?! It's a person. Another fucking hunter to run off", I'm
thinking as I stand up - preparing to yell at the guy.

"Hey! This is private property. We don't allow hunting so you're
trespassing", I bellow. The guy is dressed in a dark coat and cap and blue
jeans.

I musta scared the shit out of him because all at once he looks in my
direction then bolts the other way. I'm thinking "What the fuck is going
on?" and take off after him.

As he gets to the top of the hill, he crosses over the tree line and trips
over the old, half broke down, fence that runs along the line and he falls
face first into the woods.

Seeing my chance - I sprint over to where he fell, swinging my walking
stick up over my head. All at once my brain overrides my adrenaline rush
and I think "Oh fuck, if this is a hunter he probably has a gun!"; but it's
too late - I'm pretty much committed since I'm nearly on top of him.

Standing with my stick readied over my head, just in case, I jump the fence
line - just 3 feet away from him.

"TODD!! Please!! Don't!!" I hear in a very scared voice.

"What the fuck?!" I'm thinking. As I'm lowering my walking stick he lifts
himself up into a sitting position and finally turns to face me

Staring out from below an old dark, dirty baseball cap, and a shock of
dirty blond hair are the most beautiful deep, dark green eyes I've ever
seen.

As I lower my walking stick, he says in a very scared and tired voice
"Todd, I'm sooo sorry."

I take two very slow, deliberate steps toward him and hold out both hands
to help him up off the ground.

As I pull him up, my heart pounding in my chest, feeling as scared as he
looks; I put an arm over his shoulder and pull him in for a huge hug.

Finally, releasing him and stepping back, with tears running down my face I
tell him "Scottie, the card you sent. What you said in it was wrong. You
said it perfectly that night you left me." And with that, I lean in and
kiss my Scottie.

==============

This is my first attempt at writing a story.  Please feel free to contact
me at terry@thestorycloset.org with any comments or feedback.  A few newer
chapters and updates of mine, and other author's stories, can be found at
http://terry.thestorycloset.org .

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