Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2011 11:26:47 -0700
From: Flip McHooter <1977.flip@gmail.com>
Subject: So Cal Summer 1969-Chapter 21

The story below is a work of fiction, except the location. All characters
named are figments of my imagination. This story contains explicit sexual
situations between high school aged boys, (and some girls). If this is
illegal, etc., well you know the drill.

Also, because it's based in the past, some of it may not be politically
correct as I have tried to be true to 1969.

Thanks to everybody who has emailed me, I appreciate the tips and
feedback. Please let me know what you think of this chapter. Flip
1977.flip@gmail.com


Chapter 21


It was early Saturday morning just before the first light shined over the
mountain tops, after the crickets had stopped chirping but before the birds
started singing, when I woke up to the scary moans and cries of Jake having
a bad nightmare. During the night, I had let go of Jake and rolled over on
my back, my arms crossed over my chest like a statue. Jake, however, had
stayed in a fetal position and when I opened my eyes, I could only make out
the form of his snug body in the low light, pushed deep into the soft,
flannel sleeping bag. Sometime during the night either Jake or I had kicked
off the top sleeping bag and it was lying bunched up on the floor. He had
balled himself up so tight that I could roll him across the floor like a
bowling ball if I had wanted to. I leaned up against the tree house wall to
listen to see if I could make out anything that he was saying. There wasn't
much to hear, save for a couple of `no's' and one `get away' which bothered
me a little bit. I was trying to remember what you're supposed to do when
someone is having a bad dream. Do you wake them up or let them sleep it
off? Maybe I was confusing this with sleep walking, which my little brother
still did sometimes.

At any rate, he was starting to cry now. He'd moved around and was
stretched out and was flailing his arms and legs all jerky like. He must
have woken up Sloan, because I heard her whimpering over in her corner of
the tree house. I couldn't stand to see him like this anymore, so I rolled
over and wrapped my arms around his flopping arms and sissored my legs
around his jerking legs and then pulled him in real tight. He was putting
up a pretty good fight until I started calling out his name, quietly at
first and then louder because he wouldn't respond to me. Finally he woke up
with a jolting start, relaxed his body for a second and then burst out in
tears, sobbing like a little baby.

"Jake, Jake, mellow out, bud. I'm right here. I've got you, man. It's all
gonna be okay."

"No Ryan, It's n-not. I'm so s-scared," he said, starting off a whole new
round of sobs.

"C'mon Jake. You're starting to freak me out, buddy. It was only a bad
dream, just a scary nightmare! I'm right here and nothing's gonna hurt you,
ever. I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."

The sobbing started to taper off and then the hiccups started. Sloan got
up, stretched, and gave herself one of those good long shakes that only
dogs can do that start at her head and ends at her fluffy tail. After she
was through she wandered across the tree house floor and on over to
us. Standing at the foot of our sleeping bag, she watched us for a second,
and then stuck out her tongue and started to lick the bottom of Jake's bare
feet that were hanging off the end of the sleeping bag. He didn't notice at
first, but when she started licking between his toes he cried out in
surprise.

"Your goofy dog is, hic, licking my toes, and, hic, it tickles," he said,
trying to smile.

"Sloan, go lay down, girl. She just wants you to feel better," I said, in a
quiet voice. "Jake, are you okay now?"

"I think so."

"Do you want to tell me what the dream was about?"

"Yeah, hic. I remember it was really dark and I was somewhere outside all
by myself. I don't know where I, hic, was, but I knew someone was chasing
me. Then I re, hic, member that I fell down in the dirt and then someone
grabbed me from behind, by my hair. They wrapped their arms, hic, around me
tight, and then everything went black. The next thing that I remember was
that I was in a dark room, and, hic, I was real dizzy, like the floor kept
moving or my head, hic, was spinning all around. I was chained to a chair
real tight and I had a gag in my mouth. I couldn't move very much. I could
hardly see because I was so dizzy. Then, hic, I heard somebody say
something and then they were yelling at me and then they said they were
going to hit me. They slapped me so hard across the face that I fell over
on the hard floor and took the chair down with me."

He paused for a few seconds and the hiccups finally stopped and then I
heard him starting to sniff, so I guessed that he was crying again. It was
still pretty dark outside and I couldn't really make out his face. "Go on
Jake. Tell me the rest so you can get it all out. Let it go so you'll feel
better," I said softly, rubbing his bare chest with my hand but still
holding him tight.

"Okay, but just keep holding on to me, please?"

"Yeah, buddy, I'm never ever gonna let you go. Ever. That's a promise," I
said, into his ear.

"I guess I must have passed out when I fell over with the chair and hit my
head. The next thing that I remember was that I had smashed my head real
bad on the floor `cause blood was trickling down my face and I could taste
it in my mouth. My face stung, too, where he hit me. I still couldn't see
who it was from down there on the floor, but I could sense that they were
still there watching me. Then they unchained me from the chair but retied
my hands behind me and I was chained to a pole so I couldn't really
move. One thing that I do remember very vividly was the smell. Either the
guy smelled real bad or the room I was locked in smelled bad. It smelled
like fish! I was really scared because I didn't know what they were gonna
do to me. I don't think I had any clothes on and I felt dirty."

"Was there more than just one guy?"

"I think so, but I only saw one guy, and I couldn't really see his face. I
guess I just sensed that someone else was watching what was going on from
behind. Anyway, like I said, I was chained to a pole so I couldn't really
move around all that much. Then the guy started to circle around me and
started yelling at me again but I couldn't understand what he was
saying. It was like he was talking in another language or something. He had
a big bowie knife and kept pointing it at my face and holding it up under
my chin. That's when I got really scared and started to yell `no' and I
tried to get away."

"What happened next?"

"I don't think anything. I just remember being really scared. That's when
you woke me up." After a couple of deep breaths he asked me, "Ryan, what do
you think it means?"

"I'm not sure. I've heard that dreams don't always mean what you think they
mean. Sometimes what you think is something completely different, or
completely the opposite. Do you remember having dreams like this before?"

"When I was a little kid I used to have them sometimes. Especially when my
parents would fight or when my dad was yelling and being mean to us."

"You don't think me butt fucking you last night had anything to do with
this, do you?"

"Oh no! I loved that. My butt is still all tingly," he said, looking up at
me and finally giving me a real smile.

"That's good! Geez. I wish I knew somebody who analyzed dreams and could
tell us what this really means."

"In our old apartment building there was a scraggly old lady who did psycho
things like that, reading cards and fortune telling and other weird
stuff. She looked kinda scary but was always nice to us."

"You mean like a psychic?"

"Yeah, that's it. She used to do that from the bedroom of her apartment. A
lot of crazy people would always be coming and going from there. She must
have been good at it because there were always a lot of people visiting
her. I bet she would know what this means."

"It probably doesn't mean anything. I get weird dreams too, sometimes, but
not nightmares like you just had. The dreams I get are really colorful,
like in full-on Technicolor, and really, really vivid. I remember one where
I was like in Morocco or someplace like that, trying to get out of the
Bazaar, in the little stores, and then all of the alleys turned into a
bunch of circus trains that started wrapping around themselves. Crazy,
huh?"

"I'll say. That sounds more like a bad acid trip."

"I know. So, are you okay now?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for being there for me. I'm glad you're here."

"Me too," I said, yawning.  We laid there for a while, not really saying
anything, and just stared up at the tree house ceiling listening to the
early morning sounds. I still had my arms wrapped tightly around Jake until
he started breathing normally again.

After a while, I asked him, "What do you want to do this morning? The sun's
not up yet but it will be any minute. Want to go for another naked nature
walk?"

"Yeah, but if we're gonna suck on each other, you need to wash off your
dick. It's got my butt all over it."

"It's cool. I washed my hands and dick off last night in the sink, but I
can do it again. I didn't want to go to bed with cum and goo and butt juice
on me. C'mon, let's get up. I've got to take a wicked piss."

The three of us got down out of the tree house and we walked over to the
ravine to relieve ourselves.

"I can't pee. My dick is too hard," Jake complained, once we got down on
the ground.

"Really? You can't piss with a hard on?"

"No, Mr. Smarty Pants, I can't. Can you?"

"Sure. Watch and learn," I said.

I could piss when it was pretty hard, but not with a full-on raging boner
and I had to concentrate for a second to get the flow going. Once I relaxed
and got it going, I put my hands on my hips and leaned back, my almost hard
cock sticking straight out and pissing like a Grecian fountain. Jake just
stood there in amazement, watching me.

"Wow, that's so fucking bitchin'! Wish I could do that," he said, leaning
next to me. Then he grabbed my fat dick and started flinging it around like
a fire hose that got dropped on the ground and had a mind of its own. We
both started laughing at the sight of my pissing hard-on spraying all over
the place. Once we were done and had shaken the dew off, we headed up the
trail, Sloan hot on our heels.

It was a nice morning and luckily not all that chilly. We had grabbed our
Keds, but nothing else, and marched up the canyon for ten or fifteen
minutes or so. Once we got to my favorite rock in the sandy clearing, we
jumped up on the flat spot and stood looking out over the quiet valley.

"It's so cool that we can hang out naked all of the time, Ryan. You know,
we're really lucky to be able to do this."

"I know, it really is cool," I said.

"Hey! Have you gone up this trail any farther? What's up there?"

"My dad took me way up there once when I was little and I've gone up there
a few times by myself since then. It just winds up the side of the
mountain. It gets pretty steep up there and you have to watch where you're
going so you don't fall off the side and tumble down into that narrow
ravine. Well actually, up there it's more of a big canyon than a ravine. Up
at the top, there is an old cement pump house that dates back seventy-five
years or more from when this area was all farms and orchards," I said.

 "Maybe we can hike up there sometime and check it out. I bet it's cool."
After we finished looking around we settled down and Jake asked, "So what
do you want to do, my fat bonered friend?"

"I don't know, my skinny long-dicked friend. How does a nice sloppy blow
job sound?"

"That sounds great. I love being naked outside like this. It makes me feel
sexier somehow, with the wind blowing through the hair on my balls and
flowing over my naked ass," he said.

"I know what you mean. Even before I could shoot my wad when I was Jordy's
age, I'd come up here and get naked and run around and play with my dick. I
guess there is something about nature and the breeze blowing over your
balls that makes this feel extra good, like when you get goose-bumps all
over your arms. It makes my ball sack tighten up and feel funny. Hang your
legs over the side of the rock and lean back. Close your eyes and enjoy the
ride," I said, jumping down on the dirt.

"Okay. Hey wait a second," he said, leaning over and sticking his butt out
at me. "I've gotta rip a fart!"

It was a real good one too, so good in fact, that Sloan cocked her head and
just looked up at him with a quizzical look on her face.

"Dude, that was wicked! I wish I had a match. If we lit that one up it
would have been a super-big explosion."

"I know! I guess when you fucked me last night some air got in my butt or
something. C'mon man, suck me!"

I positioned myself between Jake's thick legs and got to work on his
dick. It was totally boned up and was leaking some dick juice out of the
tip. I loved that stuff and lapped it all up. The Breakfast of Champions, I
thought to myself. I ran my lips all along the sides of his shaft, getting
his boner all nice and slippery. After learning how to suck a cock all the
way down from that salesman at the sporting goods store the other day, I
stuck my tongue out and slowly guided Jakes long dick into my mouth. It
tasted nice and salty as I sucked it in deeper so that soon, my nose was
buried down all the way in his downy soft, pubic hairs. It smelled so good
down there!

"Oh, man, Ry. I love it when you suck up my whole dick like that. It feels
so bitchin'."

"I know. That guy taught us some good tips."

"You're right. That was fun."

I didn't reply, and instead started to bounce up and down on his hot rod,
while rubbing the inside of his thighs with the palm of my hands and
fingers. I'd rub my hands up his thighs and slowly wrapped my thumbs and
forefingers around his baggy balls and hard shaft, trapping the blood
inside and making his cock throb and drip with pleasure. The good thing
about being out here on the rock was that he was in that magic position
where his cock and my mouth were at the same level and I could easily suck
on him.

I bobbed up and down on his hard cock for a while and then I felt the
tell-tale signs of his impending explosion. So I stopped and concentrated
on licking and sucking his balls, then all around his perineum, just before
his hole. I didn't want to go any further `cause he'd probably blow another
righteous fart at me. I moved back up a little and started to nibble on his
rubbery ball sack again, pulling the loose skin into my mouth and rubbing
it gently between my teeth. His ball sack seemed to be getting hairier and
that really turned me on.

Before I jumped back on his long shaft, I took in a good long whiff of his
musty boy scent. It smelled like a heady mix of sweat, love juice and
something else I couldn't quite place. I'd have to try and figure that
out. Then, taking the big stick all the way down, I tried something new and
started humming a tune that I heard recently and was stuck in my head. He
really seemed to like that and before long his balls had shrunk up closer
to his body and he was starting to wiggle his body around a little. He had
been watching me do him, but now his head was slung back and rocking from
side to side, his mouth open and his eyes closed. He was moaning in
pleasure, something that he always did just before he shot a big load of
steaming white teen-boy juice.

"Ry, baby, here it comes. This one's for you, man."

I took a chance and deep dicked him this time and was rewarded with three
good blasts of boy dick juice that went straight down my throat and on into
my stomach. I was so happy that I could finally do that! I pulled up and
took just the head in my mouth and sucked out the rest of Jake's seed. It
was so tasty. When I had sucked out the last of his load and when his dick
started to get too sensitive, I released my prey and looked up at him. What
a sight: Sitting back on his elbows, his head tipped to the right, eyes
closed and a big smile of bliss on his face. The early morning sunshine was
lighting up his features and he looked so hot and satisfied. My man was
fucking boss!

Apparently, he could sense that I was staring at him because he opened his
eyes to look at me, and once he focused on me, his smile grew even bigger.

"What? Why are you staring at me?"

"Do you know how sexy you are Jake?" I asked.

"How do you figure?"

"Well, you just got your rocks off and every bone in your body is
relaxed. The sun is shining on you, lighting up your long, wavy
golden-brown hair in a way that makes it sparkle. You've got one leg up and
your thighs spread, showing off your beautiful dick and big balls, and your
cute little pucker is clenched up tight. Cum is still leaking out of your
pee hole from your half-hard dick and glistening in the light. I wish I had
a camera. You make me so hot, dude, I can't stand it sometimes."

"C'mer you. I love it when you talk like that," he said, bending down and
planting his lips on mine. Then he pried my lips apart with his tongue and
started to occupy my mouth, licking and tasting every nook and cranny,
searching for the last remnants of his load.

"That kiss just got me all boned up again, Jake. Hurry up and lets change
places."

"Okay," he said, standing up on the rock and stretching his back.

 I sat on the rock while Jake jumped down and got between my legs. "How did
you do that thing with your throat to make my dick feel so good?"

"I did something new. I pretended that I was singing to your dick. I was
singing Bad Moon Rising and your dick was the audience. It was loving it!"

"I know. That was so bitchin'! Me and my dick love that song."

"You know, Coop taught me a new word the other day and it has to do with
that song. He called it a `mondegreen' and it means something like misheard
or misquoted. I think it's French or something. Anyway, the lyric in that
song sounds like `there's a bathroom on the right' when he's really singing
`there's a bad moon on the rise'. Isn't that weird?"

"Yeah that's trippy. How does he know all that shit?"

"I don't know. He's just full of useless information like that," I said.

"He sounds like a good guy for Lisa. I just wish they would become
friends."

"Yeah I know, me too. When they're ready it'll happen I bet. I can see it."

"Do you know any more of those monkeygrams?" he asked.

"What? Oh, you mean mondegreens? Yeah. Lemme see. How about excuse me while
I kiss this guy?"

"Okay."

"Okay what?"

"I said okay, you can kiss me!" he yelled.

"No, you chowder head! That's a line from Purple Haze. `Scuse me while I
kiss this guy' is really `Scuse me while I kiss the sky'!"

"Oh yeah," he giggled. "Jimi Hendrix. You got another one?"

"How about the Stones You Can't Always Get What You Want?"

"Okay, buddy, sock it to me!"

I started clearing my throat to start singing in my raspy voice, "I'll
never win a Grammy for this but here goes: You can't always get what you
want, you can't always get what you want, but if you gripe sometimes, you
just might find, you turn into seeds!, Oh Yeah, Baby!"

"That one's funny, so funny in fact that I had to rip another fart!"

"I got wind of it. I think you better suck my dick now."

"Okay," he said, still laughing and squeezing my bouncing boner. "What song
should I sing?"

"How about Ride my See-Saw by the Moody Blues? When I hear that song now I
think of you riding my see-saw!"

"Oh, baby! I can really dig that. Take a free ride, take my place, have my
seat, it's for free," he sang as he settled in between my legs and started
fisting my dick. Then he grabbed it like a microphone and started singing
the song again and bouncing around. "Ride, ride, my seeeee-sawwww."

"Dude, just suck on it. If you keep singing like that we're gonna have all
kinds of weird animals coming around here and wonder what we're doing. You
sound like a gorilla on Quaaludes!"

"I'll gorilla you, mister," he said giving my dick a hard squeeze.

"Okay, okay! I take it back."

He jumped on my dick for real now, pulling back the foreskin and sucking up
the head real good. I was so horny that I had a pool of pre-cum nesting
just under my `skin, and Jake was busy lapping it all up. Then he started
to use the tricks that the salesman had told us about; the ones that I had
just used on him. He opened up his mouth real wide and then stuck out his
tongue a little ways, taking my fat dick in his mouth. His mouth was all
wet and slobbery and he was able to really coat my shaft with his saliva,
mixing it up with my leaking dick juices. God, I thought, this feels so
fucking awesome! I wanted to lay out here in the warm sunshine with my dick
buried in Jake's mouth forever.

"Dude, ride my see-saw! Oh, yeah, ride it man!" I groaned to myself.

Because he was in such a great position to suck on my dick, he seemed to be
able to add more and more of it in his mouth with each thrust. My fat cock
was really slipping in and out of his lips easily now, when he started to
hum. Oh, man that felt so freakin' good! I started to match his downward
thrusts by pushing my dick into him. He almost had the whole thing in his
mouth! It looked so hot. My legs wide open in the morning sky, as my dick
disappeared deep into his hot mouth. How cool was this? Then he started to
hum that great song a little bit louder. All too soon I was about to blow.

"Hey, man. I can't take much more of that. When I shoot can you take it
with my dick way down your throat?"

"I'm not sure. I don't want to choke or hurt your dick."

"Then just suck on the knob and I'll jack it off into your mouth. Keep my
load in there and then let's kiss and we can share it again, okay?"

He didn't say anything, but I guess he figured it out. He deep throated me
as best he could a couple of more times and then when he felt I was at the
point of no return, he slid back up to my knob so he could catch my hot
load. It took me only a few more seconds to pump my seed into his hot,
waiting mouth. Oh, god, that felt so good. So good, in fact, that I
couldn't watch anymore and I had to lay back against the rock and arch my
back as my hips pushed my steaming load out of my nuts, through my hard
boner and into Jake's waiting mouth.

Once I was through with my spasms of lust, I leaned down and grabbed Jake's
cheeks with both of my hands, tenderly placing my lips onto his. He had a
glimmer of excitement in his eyes as he parted his lips into my hungry
mouth, delivering my hot, steamy sperm and swirling it around with his
sticky tongue. Man, this was so sexy! We swapped and swirled my hot load
with our tongues until there was nothing left. Sad that there wasn't
anymore, we finally broke our kiss.

"C'mer you! Crawl on top of me," I told Jake once we were done sucking my
seed.

He climbed up the rock and slowly laid his hot body down on top of me. We
kissed that way, out in the wild, naked save for our shoes, in the early
morning sunlight- two fifteen year old boys, without a care in the world,
sucking face and grinding our hot sweaty bodies into one another. After a
while, but not really wanting to interrupt the moment, I told Jake that we
had better start getting back or we'd be out here all day.

"Hey, bud. We better get going. We need to take a quick shower `cause were
both dirty and stinky. And we've got a busy day today," I said.

"No problem-o. Do you think your dad is really going to let me drive the
Camaro?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Well my dad would never do anything nice like that for me. He always
promised me and Lisa lots of things, but he never came through. You're
lucky your dad is so cool," he said, as we got up and started walking back
down the trail.

"Yeah, I guess I am lucky. I never thought of it that way `cause they're
just always there. Sometimes I take my folks for granted, you know what I
mean?"

"Yeah, I do. Your parents are bitchin'."

We got back to the pool house, took a quick shower and then headed into the
kitchen for some breakfast. Everybody was in a good mood, even my mom, and
I guess everybody forgot about her little episode with the booze and pills
last night because no one brought it up. She was even making my favorite to
eat: French toast and bacon. Yum.

Everybody laughed and joked around and later, after we ate, Jake, Jordy and
I headed out to fill the wheelbarrow up with top soil, then we ran it over
across the street. While we were filling in the tire holes, my dad met
Mr. Jacobson and then they took a close look underneath the
microbus. Whatever they saw made my dad get really pissed off, because he
came storming back across the street and asked us if we had seen anybody
mess with the van.

"No, Dad. We didn't. Why are you asking?" I asked.

"Because it looks like the brake line was cut. And the cable to the
emergency brake was snapped, too. Something like that wouldn't just happen
all on its own, out of the blue."

"Oh, shit," I said, under my breath.

"Who would want to do that?" Jake asked.

"I don't know, son. Maybe it was just a prank," my dad theorized. "Have you
or Lisa pissed anybody off so much that they'd do that to your van?"

"No sir, nobody knows we're living here except my dad and he wouldn't do
that to us," Jake said. "At least, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't. I hope not
anyway."

"Hey, Dad? Yesterday afternoon, I was letting Jordy's friend, Chris, out
the front door so he could go home with Enzo after they went
swimming. There was a car parked down the street with a guy sitting in the
passenger seat having a smoke. He seemed to be minding his own business,
but afterwards, I thought it was sorta weird because he didn't belong
here. I didn't see a driver, either. But then I forgot about it. Do you
think they might have had something to do with this?"

"I don't know Ryan. I think I'll give that detective that helped us out a
couple of weeks ago a call, just to be on the safe side. It just seems to
me that this is too coincidental," my dad said, the Army MP coming out of
him.

"Wiley, I think Daisy saw that car that Ryan was talking about. Maybe that
cop should talk with her too," Mr. Jacobsen said.

"I'll mention that to him, Harold. I'm going to go in and give him a call."

My dad crossed the street and went inside just as Jake, Jordy and I were
finishing up fixing the Jacobson's front lawn. Once the grass grew back in
you wouldn't be able to see any sign of the channels that the microbus made
yesterday. We waved good-bye to Mr. Jacobson and headed back across the
street to put the tools away in the garage.

"Do you guys think someone broke those brakes on purpose?" Jordy asked us
once we were back across the street in the garage.

"No, little man, I don't think so. I wouldn't worry too much about it," I
said, not believing myself and hoping that I sounded convincing.

We put the tools away and then I went in the house to get the car keys so I
could back out my mom's station wagon from her slot in the garage. Our
second chore of the day was next and we needed the room to move stuff
around so we could set up the weight set. Dad came out of the house a few
minutes later and told us that the cop would be here later on to check out
the microbus. He didn't want it moved in case he thought that someone had
tampered with it. He said he was going to let Lulu and Lisa borrow the
station wagon until the microbus was fixed. He also said that he was going
to get his company car early this week and that they were going to be
driving it up north instead of the wagon. Mom was going to be driving the
Camaro and the thought of that made me giggle.

For the next couple of hours, the four of us guys worked and sweated in the
garage. We rolled the Austin-Healey along the side of the garage and then
covered it up with some old parachute fabric that my dad had found in an
army surplus store. Then we placed a tarp over the top so it wouldn't leak
inside the cabin, because the soft top didn't fit real tight anymore. Every
now and then I would look over at my dad as he ogled the beautiful little
blue car. It must have held some really good memories for him, I thought. I
pictured him driving fast down the road with one of his girlfriends from
before he met my mom, wind blowing through their hair. Then I thought how
cool it would be for me and Jake to go cruising down Pacific Coast Highway
with the top down on a hot, sunny day.

We had thrown out a bunch of crap and were almost done putting together the
weight set when Detective Bouner showed up to talk with my dad. They went
down the street to Jake's driveway to get a look underneath the bus. We
were practically done with the garage, so the three of us kids decided to
get in a little swimming until it was lunch time, and after that, we were
headed down to the track to drive the Camaro. That was going to be fun, I
thought to myself, and I was looking forward to it. The three of us shucked
off our clothes and dove into the cool, blue water. Jordy fooled around in
the shallow end like usual while Jake and I swam our laps. It sure felt
good to get out of that hot, dusty garage.

Dad came back fifteen or twenty minutes later and told us that the cop
couldn't tell for sure if the microbus was tampered with or not, but he
said that he was going to add it to the disturbance report that he filed
the other day when Lulu and Ace got in that big fight. It didn't sound like
the cop was very interested, and my dad seemed kind of pissed. Then my dad
ditched all of his clothes and did a big cannonball blast into the pool,
making a huge splash, soaking Jordy and making Sloan run for cover. We had
a great time playing different pool games, which of course made Jordy laugh
uncontrollably, so much that he probably peed in the pool.

The four of us fooled around for about an hour and then my dad left to take
a quick shower to rinse off all of the chlorine. He told us we needed to
get moving if we wanted to practice driving down at the race track parking
lot. He didn't have to tell us twice, and in seconds we were in the pool
house taking our showers. Actually, we took one together, but no messing
around for us this time. Ten minutes later we were standing out in front of
the garage next to the Camaro waiting for my dad to show up. It was a
beautiful day, a little windy but just enough to blow the smog away. It was
cooler today too, which was nice. When my dad finally showed up a few
minutes later, the three of us jumped in the car and took off down the hill
for Arcadia and the Santa Anita Race Track.

The race track had been built around 1933 or so on what was left of Lucky
Baldwin's old rancho.  It was designed in this really cool turquoise and
white Streamline-Moderne style with a big grandstand and dirt and grass
track. Lots of movies had been made out here over the years because quite a
few movie stars owned race horses and always seemed to be hanging out
there. Even the Marx Brothers had filmed a black and white comedy
here. Loads of awards had been made here over the years, too, and lots of
big wagers had been won. But it also had its dark side. In the early 40's,
the vast, empty parking lots were used for Japanese internment camps,
locking up innocent citizens in tents and cheap plywood cabins during World
War Two.

For us though, the parking lot today was a huge, empty, flat area where we
could learn to drive and not run into anything or anybody. There weren't
any trees or light poles around for us to crash into, which made this the
perfect place to drive. I went first as Dad told us about the basics of the
Camaro, most of which I already knew. This car was his baby, and at barely
six months old he was loathe to let it go. I remember when he had ordered
it from Mission Chevrolet down in San Gabriel and how excited he was when
he first got it. It was a Z28 model, red with white stripes and a cool fin
on the trunk deck. He special ordered the Rally Sport package that had
these crazy automatic headlight covers. He even went wild and ordered the
twin Holley Carb's, which meant that this car could probably beat the shit
out of Coopers dad's Shelby GT500 Mustang! Maybe once I got my license I
would challenge Coop to a race out at Irwindale Speedway. That would be
cool! The inside of the car was black vinyl and had a four-on-the-floor
shifter. Above that were a few gauges and an AM-FM 8-Track stereo that was
state of the art and had four stereo speakers, not that you could hear it
when it was peeling out.

Once I had settled into the driver's seat, I put on my lap belt and then
started her up. I let out the clutch and gave the car some gas. Actually,
too much gas as I burned out and left a long line of skid marks fishtailing
across the asphalt. My dad didn't get very mad, and instead had me try
again until I got the car's handling down tight. After forty-five minutes
or so, I was able to run through the gears with ease. Jake and I traded
places in the driver's seat and I folded myself up like a pretzel in the
small back seat.

Surprisingly, Jake was a natural, not burning any rubber and accelerating
like he had driven for years. My dad was impressed and told him so, and I
got a little jealous, but bit my tongue. Jake practiced his shifting and
when he got up to fourth gear we were doing almost eighty miles an hour. I
was totally impressed.

It was getting hot out here on the wide black-top, and we started to get
hungry. My dad suggested that we run down Huntington Drive and go to
Twohey's Drive-in for some tasty burgers and onion rings. I always made
sure to order their bittersweet hot fudge sundae when we went there. That
was bitchin', with lots of chocolate and whipped cream and chopped
nuts. Dad didn't like us to eat in the car, but this was an exception
because he liked to show off his Camaro and look at the pretty girls that
were working at the car-hop.

We were halfway onto our second burger when Dad said he wanted to talk with
us about something important. Actually, he said he had two things to
discuss with us. We had been having such a great time and I was a little
worried about what he wanted to say. Jake was riding shotgun and I was
sprawled out in the back seat when I saw Jake shoot me a weird glance out
of the corner of his eye, letting me know that he was wondering the same
thing that I was.

"You know, fellas, that both your moms and I are going away next weekend up
to Uncle Gus's farm. Ordinarily I wouldn't be worried about leaving all you
kids home alone by yourselves, but the incident with the bus and the broken
brake line has me a little worried. Maybe it's my training as an MP in the
Army, but I'm usually pretty correct when I sense something is wrong. I
guess what I'm getting at is that I can't help but think that someone is
out to hurt somebody."

"What do you mean, Dad?"

"Well, a lot of things have happened in the last couple of weeks, and taken
separately they don't really mean much. But if you put them together it
seems to me like something that could become serious. Ace and your mom had
that ugly fight, and then one night you guys heard something sneaking
around under the tree house. Then the brake line was cut. That one really
scared me because one of you kids could have been hurt by that."

"So what are you trying to tell us, Wiley?" Jake asked.

"I guess I'm asking you boys if you think Jake's dad or someone else is out
to hurt somebody, I need to know about it. Please don't get defensive,
Jake, I'm only asking because you know him better than we do, and we've
never really had any problems living up here before," he explained,
finishing up his cheeseburger.

"If I thought that my Dad was going to do something to us or Mom, I would
tell you right away. I guess you know that my folks used to fight a lot
before, but he never did anything to hurt us physically. He's said a lot of
nasty things and yelled nasty words at us over the years, but I don't think
he wants to hurt us," Jake said.

"That's good to know, son. I can't imagine a father wanting to harm his
children, but I guess it does happen, and I just want to make sure all of
you guys are going to be OK. Maybe it's just someone playing pranks. Since
we don't really know if anything is going to happen, I want you boys to
promise me something. While were gone, I want the four of you to stick
together. I want all of you to sleep in the house and make sure all of the
doors and windows are always locked. Just generally look out for each
other. I'm sure nothing is going to happen, but I'd enjoy my trip a little
better if I knew you boys were on your toes and watching out for Jordy and
Lisa. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, Dad. It does. We'll be careful, I promise."

"Yeah, Wiley. We'll take care of each other and make sure the doors are
locked. You don't have to worry about us. You guys go and have a good
time. We'll be okay."

"Good, I'm glad to hear that. I was also thinking that tomorrow I'd show
you boys and Jordan and Lisa a few simple self-defense moves. Just to be on
the safe side so you can protect yourselves. What do you think about that?"

"I think it's a great idea, Dad."

 "Yeah, me too. Thanks, Wiley. I guess you never can be too careful. Lisa
will appreciate it I think, even though she says that she isn't scared of
anything," Jake said.

"I'm proud of you boys, you know that? You're both going to be fine men
when you grow up." Dad said, sucking down some of his shake and thinking
for a minute. After looking around to make sure people in the other cars
couldn't overhear us, he said "The other thing that I want to discuss with
you boys is awkward for me, so give me a minute to figure out what I want
to say. It has to do with sex."


***Special thanks to Jason T. and Hans for the great help with editing this
chapter.