Date: Sun, 26 May 2013 08:40:51 -0700
From: Douglas DD DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: Diamond Dreams  Chapter 24

Welcome back. All of the Chapter One disclaimers apply as they will
throughout the story. The request you donate to Nifty also applies. It's
easy and important. Always be safe.

In this chapter the Mayfield Mustangs get an interim head coach.
Kraig, Kevin, Noah, and Eric ride to Sherman's house to get advice
on how to deal with the Lars issue.

Please, do write. thehakaanen@hotmail.com


CHAPTER 24
HEADING INTO SPRING

<Friday, February 20. Mayfield High School>

Of course, the talk all day at the high school was Coach Gardner
being suspended from teaching. The baseball team was concerned
about who would be coaching them.  This was the main topic at lunch
where many members of the team co-opted a group of tables so they
could gossip and speculate. The players sitting there ran the gamut
from freshmen to seniors. Not all of the players were together since
the school had two lunch periods, but a decent cross section was
represented.

"What a dumb shit," Connor said. "I mean we all knew Coach was
dipping the wick into Sara Collins, but damn, making out with her at
school is the mark of a true dumb shit. Even we don't do sex at
school."

"Speak for yourself," Rodney said.

"Huh? Are you calling me a dumb shit?"

"No, I mean you're saying all of us don't have sex at school."

"Jeez, Rodney, don't you have any pride at all?" Trey Mullen, a junior,
asked. "I can tell you're a frosh."

"Sometimes you just gotta take advantage of the situation."

"You said you guys knew that the coach was fucking Sara?" Mike the
Donkey asked. Mike was now a senior.

"We were pretty sure." Vince said.

"How did you figure that out?" Zach, another senior and a friend of
Mike, asked.

Rodney was the one who told the seniors about their detective work
and about how they had planned to take advantage of their
knowledge.

"So, who's the coach going to be?" Nolan asked.

"My bet it's Coach Sanders," Jerome said.

"Yeah, I mean he applied for it and everything," Connor said.

"What about Coach Hart, the new JV coach?" Cody, a senior and
another friend of Mike asked. "Wouldn't he be the next guy in line?"

"Coach Hart is just out of college. This is his first year teaching," the
Donkey said. "I don't see him ready to coach varsity baseball."

"Just remember that Coach Sanders is a faggot," Ralph, a senior,
piped up.

That statement got Marty to stand up. He had been sitting with Rich
at a table away from the heat of the discussion, saying nothing,
feeling shunned by his freshmen peers. "That's such bullshit," he
said. "Who cares what he is? He's a good coach, and that's all that
should count."

"We have a queer frosh standing up for a queer coach," Ralph said.
He pointed at the Donkey. "Are you letting the queer senior fuck your
ass?" he asked Marty.

Marty never got the chance to respond as both Zach and Cody stood
up and glared at Ralph. "That's enough, you douche bag," Zach said.
Zach had been the starting catcher on the varsity as a junior, playing
ahead of Ralph. There wasn't much doubt that he would be playing
ahead of Ralph this year as well. "Ain't nobody going to say I'm gay,"
he stated.

That statement was only partially true as Zach had had no problem
messing around boys since he first discovered sex. But he was also
not a virgin, with more than one female conquest. "The Donkey and
the Dawg are gay and we all know it. They are also two of my best
friends. Coach Sanders is the best baseball coach in this town. And I
don't know if Marty is gay or not, and I don't give a shit. I play with the
best and play for the best and am friends with the best. That's all I
care about." He took a couple of steps toward Ralph as he talked.

The lunchroom suddenly became silent as the other students looked
over toward the table to see what the commotion was, some of them
hoping to see a fight beak out.

"Come on over and hit me," Ralph said with an evil grin. "I'd love to
see your ass suspended for awhile." The lunch monitor took some
steps toward the table and both boys prudently sat down. The
atmosphere became calmer, but it was obvious that there was bad
blood between the two boys.

Not long after lunch the players got word that there would be a
meeting for those planning to turn out for baseball. Those who had
not yet turned in their paperwork were reminded to bring it as soon as
possible in order to be eligible to participate in the first practice.

It wasn't until they entered Coach Fitzgerald's classroom and saw
Coach Sanders sitting on the counter by the window that they knew
who their new coach was going to be. The excitement was palpable.
Coach Fitzgerald was in the room, along with Coach Hart. As the
boys who had played for Coach Sanders or Coach Fitzgerald
expected, the meeting started on time.

Coach Fitzgerald commented on the "unfortunate circumstances"
surrounding Coach Gardner being suspended from teaching and
coaching, then introduced Coach Sanders as the interim coach. All of
the ball players knew him, but having him stand before them as their
varsity high school coach was a new experience.

Coach Sanders told them that he was sorry to meet with them under
the current conditions. He kept that part short and went directly into
his expectations of all of the players, whether they were varsity or JV
players. He told them that there would be an emphasis on
fundamentals, respect for their teammates, sportsmanship, and
playing hard every inning of every game. He said that Coach Hart
would remain the JV coach. When asked who was going to take
Coach Sanders's place at the middle school, Coach Sanders told
them that Coach Ecklund, Coach Fitzgerald, and Coach Drake, the
middle school athletic director, would probably try to find a summer
league coach who had the time to help.

When the athletic contracts were handed out, Coach Sanders walked
around the classroom, making eye contact with many of the players
as he let them know his expectations regarding the dreaded contract.

"Not to belittle the previous coach, but I know there were some things
that were overlooked during the past few seasons. One of those is
the alumni drinking party. Quite a few high school players seem to
end up there. Everybody had fun and kept on playing like nothing
happened. Well, gentlemen, that ends now. That contract will be
enforced to the letter, and anyone ending up at that party or any other
party where alcohol is served to minors will be done for the year. The
same goes for any use of alcohol or illicit drugs." At the same time he
finished his lecture he ended up at the front of the room looking over
his new charges.

"Any questions?" There were none. Everybody knew Coach Sanders
was a person who backed up what he said. The team left the room
with some of the seniors wishing Coach Gardner would have kept his
hands out of Sara Bennett's pants. They weren't prepared to actually
have to work hard to play baseball. That was what football was for.

"Do you really want to play for that faggot?" Steve asked Connor as
they entered the hall. Steve, a sophomore, used to be good friends
with Connor, but they had drifted apart some when Steve started high
school. They had had a couple of physical confrontations over the
past year.

"You've already played for him. You know he's a good coach, so
don't give me that bullshit," Connor said.

"What, are you a queer lover or something?"

"Yeah, or something," Connor said. "Now go talk to Ralph and your
buddy Crawford and see if you assholes can say something
intelligent."

"I won't forget this," Steve said.

"Suck my dick," Connor retorted. Connor was not the type to be
intimidated by anybody, especially Steve, his former friend and
current rival.

"Nice job," Marty told Connor after Steve walked away.

"He's a stupid redneck dickhead," Connor said.

"I thought you said you were a redneck."

"I am, but I'm not stupid and I'm not a dickhead, and that makes a big
difference.  It means I can hang with guys like you."

"What do you mean guys like me?"

"You know, gay guys. And don't go getting all pissed off at me,
because I don't give a shit. You're my friend and any good redneck
stands up for his buds."

Marty nodded, happy that he had a friend like Connor, as weird as he
was at times.

<Monday, March 2, Mayfield High School>

After six practices the Mayfield Mustang baseball players had a pretty
good idea of what was expected of them, if they hadn't figured it out
already. Coach Sanders had practices that were crisp and well-
organized. There was very little down time. Players from the varsity
and JV were expected to be involved in something all the time, even
if it was shagging fly balls. Coach Hart was impressed. He and Coach
Gardner had laid out a practice format, but it was nothing near the
complexity and stress on fundamentals that Coach Sanders laid out
in his practice outlines.

While Coach Sanders's coaching experience consisted solely of his
being a middle school junior varsity coach, there was no question that
he was more than ready to take control of a high school baseball
program. The first week went smoothly, with minimal griping about
the pace of the practices and the expectations of the coach.

The amount of griping changed when Coach Sanders posted the
team roster. When Steve saw that he would be on the JV team, he
went ballistic. "Coach Gardner promised me I'd be on the varsity," he
said vehemently to Coach Sanders before Monday practice started.
Of course, he didn't mention that the promise was made provided he
shoved Marty under the bus. Coach Sanders suspected that was the
case, however, since he'd heard all about Steve saying he'd been
drinking with Marty at a party. He knew Steve wouldn't confess to
adults that he'd been drinking unless there was a big reward to be
had. The more he learned about the webs Coach Gardner had spun,
the more disgusted he became with the man.

"Do I look like Coach Gardner to you?" Coach Sanders asked the
angry sophomore. "If you want to play varsity on this team, you earn
the spot, not make deals with the coach."

"What, are you out of your fucking mind? What do you mean make
fucking deals? You know I can really fuck you over if I want!" Steve
shouted loudly enough for the ten or so players close by to hear. He
became aware of the close proximity of his teammates and lowered
his voice some.  "All I have to say is you came on to me and you get
to follow Gardner out the door. At least he went after a girl."

"I think it's time for you to run your laps," Coach Sanders said coolly.

"I don't have laps to run."

"Oh, yes you do. I just assigned them. Start with twenty times around
the field. I'll decide then if you ran them hard enough or if you need to
run more. I won't have a player using that language on my team and
on my ball field, let alone have it directed to me. Come see me after
your twenty laps are up." Coach Sanders wanted to make it clear that
his punishment was for his being disrespectful and not for his stupid
threat in front of the whole team.

Coach Sanders had never been impressed with Steve's brainpower,
or lack thereof. But one thing that did impress him is that Steve took
off running his laps without complaint. Coach Sanders had one of his
two equipment managers count Steve's laps. When Steve reported
back to Coach Sanders, he was panting heavily. The coach knew
he'd run all twenty laps and had run them hard.

"Okay, good job. Now get into the line at third for the drill." As for
Coach Sanders, that was the end of the confrontation. He knew kids
and knew how to work with them. He understood that holding
grudges was not the way to educate anyone. For him the incident
was over, but he also knew kids well enough that he was certain it
was not over for Steve.

<Saturday, March 7>

The practices went as well as they could for the remainder of the
week considering that spring rains had come. Two practices had to
go indoors, while one other had the players dodging scattered
puddles on the field. There was a four team jamboree on Saturday. It
was a modified round robin, with each team matching up in a three
inning game. That gave each team three abbreviated games. The
Mayfield Mustangs were pleased to win two of the three. They were
even more pleased to finish the last game before the rains started up
again. Next week, the games would be starting up for real.

But not everything that weekend concerned the high school players.
Some of the middle school players had issues as well, and four of
them decided to bicycle out of town to visit a man that they had
gotten to know, one of them rather well.

They could have used Highway 12 and arrived at their destination
more quickly.  But, although the main highway had wide shoulders,
the thought of cars whizzing by at 60 miles per hour made the boys
and their parents nervous. So they stuck to the back road,
remembering that Bobby had had his accident on a back road. On the
other hand, he hadn't worn his helmet. All four of the bicycling boys
were properly helmeted.

As they peddled towards their destination, each of the boys had his
own thoughts. Kevin's went back to the day in August that he met
Sherman, the man they were riding to visit. Kevin's adult friend, Mark,
had introduced him to the locomotive engineer, and, after a slow
start, the two had hit it off as friends.

Kevin knew from Mark that Sherman was gay and liked boys. Mark
had had an affair with Sherman when he was Kevin's age. Mark also
knew that Kevin had a thing about wanting sex with an adult, so he
saw it as a perfect match.

Kevin soon found himself visiting Sherman frequently. Sherm, as he
liked to be called, had his own exercise equipment. It didn't take long
for the two of them to take turns riding the stationary bike. Sherm also
started Kevin working on a steady program with his weights.

"Ask your coach what is appropriate for a boy your age and we'll go
from there." Kevin went to Coach Kennedy, the middle school football
coach, for advice. He gave Kevin some pointers on weight training for
a boy who played football and played catcher on his baseball team.

Sherm also yanked Kevin away from video games by teaching him to
play chess. Kevin then learned how to lose, until he found himself
able to pick up some occasional victories over his mentor. Sherman
told him that playing chess would help him to be able to think and plot
ahead, a skill that a good catcher should master. He also helped
Kevin deal with the world of being a gay teen, something he'd had
experience with when he was growing up. The two often just sat and
had long talks.

Ironically, even though Kevin was now with a man who was willing to
have some kind of sexual contact with him, and Sherman was with a
boy who was eager to try sex with an adult male, it took a long time
for the inevitable to happen. Kevin had felt an immediate affinity to
Mark in sixth grade when they met during a Mayfield middle school
game that Mark had umpired. It took Kevin and Sherman longer to
develop a relationship. Part of it was that Kevin had been more
physically attracted to Mark, who had been in his mid-twenties at the
time, than he had been to Sherman, who was in his late thirties.

The inevitable happened on a Sunday afternoon in early December.
Because of a steady rainfall, Sherman picked Kevin up. Kevin had
already introduced Sherman to his parents, not wanting to keep the
friendship a secret. He had learned from the lessons of his older
brother, Keith, that his parents would accept a lot, but lying and
keeping major secrets was not on that list.

After working out in Sherman's exercise room they were both hot and
sweaty. They each were wearing baggy gym shorts and no shirts.
One of the things that impressed Kevin about Sherman was how he
kept himself in shape. The teen was finding the adult's toned body
more and more attractive. Kevin liked looking at the fine hairs on his
chest, the treasure trail disappearing into his shorts, the thicker hair
on his muscular legs. Sherman had told him that since he had a job
that had him sitting all day, he needed to do all he could to keep his
body in shape. Kevin could see that the man was successful in that
endeavor.

Usually, after they exercised, Kevin showered first and Sherman went
into the shower after Kevin finished. They both had seen each other
naked during the process. Kevin had not felt the least bit self-
conscious about stripping in front of Sherman. After all he'd blown his
wad twice with Mark watching. But he didn't feel sexual around
Sherman. Getting naked in front of him was like being naked in front
of his father—it was just being naked, nothing else.

Sherman, on the other hand, was enamored with Kevin's thirteen
year old body. He loved the smooth look of it, the athletic sleekness it
had. The only hairs he saw were those on Kevin's head along with a
slight golden sheen of tiny hairs on the boy's arms and legs, and a
small patch of pubic hair.

"Your body is developing nicely," he remarked on this occasion.
"Those weights are doing their job." Kevin grinned and proudly flexed
his bicep.

Kevin's dedication saw him building some definite muscle mass,
making him somewhat bulkier than his twin brother, Kraig. It was the
first time in their lives that their growing progress differed. Kraig, the
soccer player and outfielder, was more dedicated to running and to
building up agility and endurance. Kevin, the football player and
catcher, was more interested in building strength.

On this occasion, Sherman's phone rang just as Sherman and Kevin
entered his bedroom to get ready to shower. Sherman answered it,
said a few words, and hung up.

"No really big hurry," Sherman said, "but I have to get you home
quicker than we'd planned. Somebody called in sick and they want
me to take the Sunday grain train out to the harbor this evening."

"Okay, no problem," Kevin said.

"We might squeeze some cribbage in if we shower quickly." Sherman
had taught Kevin to play cribbage as well as chess, and the two loved
playing each other.

"Sounds good." Then Kevin thought of what he and his friends so
often did. "We could shower together," he said casually. "I mean we
have seen each other naked and stuff and it would be faster."

Sherm was surprised and pleased by Kevin's suggestion. "Sure, why
not? You're right it would be quicker."

The two stripped. Kevin admired Sherm's thick pubic patch, his long
hanging dick, his big, low slung ball sac. He didn't find it as attractive
as what Lars had to offer, but he did find it sexy and stimulating. For
some reason he found it even more so as the two entered the
bathroom off the master bedroom. It was a walk-in shower with plenty
of room for the two of them. Kevin was surprised to be half hard by
the time they got under the water, while Sherman was amused to see
Kevin's developing tumescence.

They were soon both wet from hair to toe. Kevin's young adolescent
cock was now completely boned up to its four and three-quarter inch
length. Sherm noted its curving beauty, along with the smoothness of
Kevin's ball sac, and the patch of pubic hair curled at the base of his
young adolescent cock.

"Wash my back." Kevin said. He was not at all ashamed of his boner;
in fact he was almost glad he'd popped one in front of his new friend.
Sherman washed him gladly, now admiring the beauty of his hard,
smooth, athletic ass, its white skin glistening with wetness. He
washed the boy's back and let his hands drop to the boy's ass
cheeks, washing them as well. Kevin let out a coo of pleasure,
spreading his legs slightly. Sherm took the hint and let his soapy
hand enter the cleft of the boy's butt.

"Thanks, that feels nice," Kevin said.

Sherman stopped what he was doing and asked Kevin to wash his
back. When Kevin turned around he saw that Sherm's man tool had
grown to a thick, hard seven inches, poking up slightly. It was the
biggest hard-on he had ever seen and without thinking he tried to
wrap his hand around it. He found it difficult to close his fingers
around the chunky shaft.

He pulled his hand back, quickly apologizing for his audacity. "It's
okay, Kevin," Sherm said. "We both knew this moment was going to
come sometime. It was just a matter of both of us being ready."

When Kevin looked back at that afternoon, the events were a blur. He
suddenly found himself being dried off by Sherm, who paid close
attention to his teen pecker, his smooth balls, his bubble butt. He
found himself in bed next to the big engineer, trying to get his mouth
around the substantial girth of his big cock, as he licked the length,
sucked the head. He licked and sucked until the man loudly emptied
his balls into the eagerly waiting mouth of the thirteen year old. He
found Sherman's man cum different from the teen cum of Lars, or
Kraig, the many friends he had given blow jobs to. It was thicker,
stronger tasting—good, but not as good as the seed of his peers.

Sherman tried to return the favor, but he barely got his tongue on the
base of Kevin's cock when it blew its load of teen seed, spraying it
over Kevin's chest, belly, and onto the covers of Sherman's bed.

"Oh shit, I didn't mean to cum so fast," Kevin apologized. "I got mega
turned on. And I messed up your blankets."

"I'll get them cleaned. And I once had a hair trigger like that. In fact
today was actually pretty fast for me."

The two lay quietly for a few minutes when Sherman asked Kevin if
he had any bad feelings about what they'd just done.

"Nope. You know I wanted to do it. I was thinking it would never
happen because we were having too much fun exercising, playing
games, and just plain talking. I guess it's like you said, we had to wait
for the right time."

"So it would seem."

"But I do have to say one thing; Lars is my boyfriend."

"Understood. I have no intention of replacing him. I would be happy to
continue as your friend and mentor."

Kevin and Sherman had had sex three more times since then, even
though they met more often. On some visits they got busy playing
games or working out, enjoying each other's company, but not
wanting to be sexual. They did shower together each time after they
exercised, however. Their sex never went beyond oral sex, which
suited them. One thing Kevin discovered was that he enjoyed having
Sherman spill his thick cum over his body and then rubbing it all over
his torso.

Kevin realized that now Sherman was one of the men he respected
most in his life, joining his father, Coach Sanders, Coach Miller, and
Mark. These were all men whom he trusted completely and with
whom he felt totally at ease.

Kraig went with Kevin to Sherman's house on occasion, but he never
had sex with his brother's friend. Kraig didn't have the urge to play
around with an adult that his twin brother had, although Kraig did find
himself getting turned on by Hunter's father.

 Eric and Noah, who'd ridden with Sherman in his locomotive more
than once, also visited. There was never any sex. Eric and Noah both
found Sherman's advice on growing up gay as invaluable and liked
him as an adult friend, but never had any desire for sexual contact
with him.

"I can't tell you much about being boyfriends," Sherman told Eric and
Noah. "All of my gay relationships have been a bit more casual, but I
can tell you about the wonders and pitfalls of being gay." He knew
that Noah had been traumatized by the death of his friend, and he
knew that Noah and Eric had an old friendship that was budding into
something bigger. He told them the same thing he had told Kevin,
things would happen when they were ready for them to happen and
that they shouldn't worry about making it happen faster. And, like
Kevin, they listened to the kindly and wise locomotive engineer.

Noah, too, was thinking about the past, but his thoughts didn't go as
far back as Kevin's did. He thought about their talks with Sherman
and about how he somehow knew he was ready to go all the way
with Eric, not just sexually, but in their relationship. Sherman had told
him to trust his instincts, and he had, and it seemed to have worked.
If only he could be that successful in purging himself of his dark
secret.

He thought about the two of them coming out to Eric's parents and
how they'd been loved and accepted. He thought about the evening
they'd talked to Noah's parents. Noah had already come out to them
with Bobby, so this was more a matter of telling them that he and Eric
were now boyfriends. Nicky, Shane, and Lisa were invited to sit in on
the discussion.

"That's great news," Seth McCall said. "I can't think of anyone better
for you to hook up with. I can see how much happier you are when
you are around Eric." Clara McCall gave Eric a huge, loving hug, her
eyes moist with tears, some of her worries and fears for her son
purged by the knowledge that Noah had a loving, loyal, intelligent
boyfriend in Eric.

"Welcome to the family," Shane said. "Noah got himself the best,
without a doubt."

The parents soon left the children to themselves. Lisa smiled at Eric.
"I guess this means you're never going to fuck me,"

"In your dreams, maybe," Eric said.

"What about me?" nine year old Nicky asked.

"You want me to fuck you?" Eric asked.

"Nobody else will," Nicky said with a slight whine. "Noah keeps
promising, but he's never done it."

"I will when you're ready," Noah said.

"What about you, Eric?"

"I will when..."

"...when I'm ready. I know, I know. But will you still give me blow
jobs?" Nicky asked.

"Anytime," Eric said, realizing his mistake as soon as he said it.

Nicky got out of his chair and headed for the stairs. "Any time means
now, right?"

Noah looked at Eric and laughed. "You just got snagged."

"What should I do?" Eric whispered.

"Let's head to my room and suck his little thingie. We'll work to tone
him down later."

That was how Eric and Noah came out, got naked with Noah's little
brother, and worked together to bring Nicky to three dry cums in a
two hour period. Eric would learn that Nicky was going to try to be a
frequent participant in the sexual affairs of his brother and his
brother's boyfriend.

But he also learned that while Nicky was aggressive about his sexual
involvement, even as a sexually immature preteen, he did not have a
sense of entitlement. Once he was satisfied, he gave Noah and Eric
each a chaste kiss on the lips, picked his clothes up off of the floor,
and headed for his room, leaving Noah and his boyfriend to make the
kind of love one would expect from older boys, or maybe even young
men. This time Eric let Noah top him, which he found as satisfactory
as his topping Noah had been. Eric discovered that, unlike with Scott,
sex with Noah was always completely fulfilling, no matter who played
what role.

The four bicycling boys shook their heads free of the wandering
thoughts that drifted through them as they rode into Sherman's
driveway. He greeted the tweens at the door, informing them that
cups of hot chocolate would be ready as soon as they got their coats
and hats and gloves and scarves off. The temperature had been a
moist 45 degrees and the boys were all chilled. Sherman also had
them remove their wet pants and tossed them into the dryer. Most
boys their age would be a little self-conscious about sitting in his
house in their underpants, but the four of them knew and trusted
Sherm and were perfectly comfortable with him.

After a lot of chit chat about baseball and trains and how everybody
was doing at school, the conversation finally got to the purpose of the
visit. The boys talked about the concerns they had regarding Lars
and his restrictions, about their fears that Hunter's father, who they
knew was in frequent contact with Lars's dad, might still restrict
Hunter, and of course their general fear that their coming out to the
world would be detrimental to their overall well-being.

"My understanding is that Lars got a bit of a break, that his father
cracked a little," Sherman said.

"Yeah, he is going to be able to play school ball, but he can't go to
any of meetings of the Go to State Team, he can't play summer ball,
he can't go to any of our houses, even the straight guys, and we can't
go to his," Kevin said.

"You mean there are straight boys in your little group?" Sherman
asked. "I'm referring to you eighth graders, of course."

"Danny, Scott, Carl, just to name three," Noah said. "I believe Lars's
father is probably under the mistaken impression that Eric and I are
straight as well."

"Why are you afraid that Hunter might be restricted? I assume you
mean by restricted that he won't be able to play summer ball either."

"You gotta understand Hunter and his dad," Kraig said. "I'm surprised
he got totally off the hook on this. His only restriction is him and me
not being able to overnight with each other."

"His dad thinks Kraig might turn Hunter gay," Kevin said.

"Does his dad know Kraig is gay?" Sherman asked.

"No, but the way Lars talked about gay stuff when we got caught,
Hunter's dad might think I am. And Kraig is my twin brother and he
might be, too. I mean Hunter was sucking Kraig's dick when we got
caught."

Eric cringed slightly at Kevin talking about sucking dick with an adult.
He didn't know that Kevin had had sexual relations with Sherman.
Only Kraig knew that. The special, private secrets the twins shared
were locked between the two of them.

"Here's what I think, for what it's worth," Sherman said. "First, I don't
know the fathers involved. I've never met Hunter, but I have met Lars.
I think both fathers are trying to be good fathers, even if Lars's father
has probably overreacted." He looked at Kevin as he continued. "I
know your father has tried talking to him, with little success. I know
Lars's dad is trying to pressure Hunter's father to join him in putting
up a fence between his son and you `gay' boys. I don't know if there
is much that you can do about it."

The four boys sighed audibly and Sherman went on. "I know the four
of you rode out here on a cold, damp day to find some kind of
satisfaction, and I apologize that you wasted your trip. But I'm just a
locomotive engineer who happens to be a gay man. There really isn't
much I can tell you about the dynamics of dealing with fathers. You
know that from dealing with your own, as I did from dealing with
mine."

They bantered back and forth a while longer until Noah ended the
discussion. "I think everybody didn't hear the things they wanted to
hear, including me. But I guess we all heard the things we needed to
hear, which is there isn't anything we can do about all of this and to
quit worrying about it. We should be concentrating on things we can
do something about."

"That seems to be the theme of our lives these days," Eric said.

"And a good theme it is," Sherman told them. "That is one of the
toughest things to learn at any stage in life."

Sherman then cooked up toasted ham and cheese sandwiches for
everybody. They talked some and watched a college basketball game
on television while they ate. They didn't bother to don their dry pants
until they were ready to leave.

Three of the boys left. They wanted to get home before dinner and
before it got dark. Kevin stayed, saying he wanted to do his exercises
with Sherman, and that Sherman would drive him and his bike home
in his pickup. The only exercise that the two of them got, however,
was the kind that happens when a man and a boy get naked and get
on a large bed and show how well they understand the workout
involved in mutual masturbation and oral sex.

Next: School Baseball Begins