Timber Stone

Chapter 10

Copyright / Disclaimer
Copyright 2002, Duke Price

This story contains descriptions of sexual acts between boys of similar ages. If this is not to your tastes or is not legal in your locality, please leave now! The story and its associated characters are entirely fictional and any resemblance to people, living or otherwise, is purely coincidental.

If you are going to engage in sex, remember to please be safe!

Like every other author out in cyberland, I would love to hear what you think of my story. My email address is priceduke@netscape.net

Gramps sat down in one of the chairs and took a few hits off of his pipe. The five men sat there focusing on me. Dad had a worried look on his face. Chris’s father had his arms folded across his chest and was staring at the ceiling. Chris was slouched down on the sofa looking down at his lap. Gramps and Mr. Carlson were focused on me and patiently waiting for me speak. I noticed that Gramps had left his cocktail on the desk and so I went over and took a gulp of courage. I sat my ass down on the edge of the desk looked again at Gramps. He just nodded his head at me for me to proceed. I shook my head and said, "Yuck! How can you drink that stuff?"

No one replied. I sat there for a moment to collect my thoughts. I focused my attention on Dad who was now sitting on the edge of his seat looking more and more concerned. Laughing I said, "Dad no one is about to die, so sit back and relax."

I took a deep breath and said, " I’ve gone over this in my head a million times and now that it’s time to tell you I don’t know where to begin."

Sticking to the agreement, no one said a word. Dad sat back into the sofa and seemed a little more at ease. "I had this long speech planned to somehow soften the blow but now that I’m here I feel that it would be pointless. So I’m just going to come right out and say it. Dad, I’m gay."

Chris was still staring at the floor and nervously shaking his foot. Dad just sat there with a shocked look on his face as if trying to figure out if I was kidding. "There’s something else that I need to tell you. Chris and I are a couple…we’re in-love."

Chris’ Father mumbled, "You mean a couple of queers."

Dad, Mr. Carlson and Gramps turned and glared at Chris’ father. Dad said, "Hey, you’re talking about my son!"

Sitting down next to Chris I said, "That’s all I have to say."

I watched Dad’s reaction as the news slowly sank in. It was a look of disbelief and disgust. Smiling he shook his head and looking at me said, "You and your mother are two of a kind. She used to pull practical jokes on me all of the time."

I didn’t laugh and just stared at him so that he understood that I wasn’t joking. "You’re serious aren’t you?"

"Do I look like I’m joking?"

"No…Sammy…I don’t believe you."

I grabbed Chris’ hand and continued to look Dad straight in the eyes, "You’re not joking! I can’t believe it! How can you be gay? You don’t act girly!"

Dad started to look pissy and turned to Chris and said, "Have you been screwing around with my boy?"

I could feel my temper begin to rise as he glared at Chris. Chris looked as if he was going to crawl under the sofa. I glared at Dad and said, "Dad, its the other way around. I’ve been screwing around with him."

Dad and I were having a glaring match. I was determined to stare him down. After about what seemed an eternity Dad finally looked away, "Damn you Sammy. I never could stay mad at you. It’s those damn eyes of yours. It’s like having your mother staring back at me and bless her soul wouldn’t approve of me giving you shit about this. You were the apple of her eye and I wish she were here right now to help me handle this."

I run over to Dad and kneeling down in front of him started to cry. Dad ran his fingers through my hair as I hugged him for comfort. "Dad, I didn’t choose to be gay. No one in their right mind would choose to be gay."

I gave Dad a big bear hug and started crying again. "Please don’t hate me Dad. I love you."

"I don’t hate you. You’re my boy. Oh Sammy, what are we going to do? This must be my fault. Dad, what did I do wrong?"

I heard Gramps clear his throat, "You didn’t do anything wrong son. I think you’ve done a fine job raising your boy. He’s a fine young man who still needs guidance from his father."

"Dad I don’t know how to deal with this."

"There are going to be a lot of things in life that you are going to have difficulty dealing with. Things that you can’t change."

Dad almost seemed defensive, "Like what? I didn’t cause any trouble."

"Ha! Remember the time I found you down at the lake with four girls."

"Oh, I forgot."

"Put yourself in my shoes. I couldn’t sleep at night because I was worried sick that you’d knock up some poor girl."

"Sorry Dad."

Then I heard Chris’ father say, I don’t understand how you two boys can like each other that way! The thought of doing it with a guy makes sick!"

I heard Chris angrily say, "Dad, I don’t understand how you can like girls."

"What do you mean? Women are beautiful! They’re soft with nice butts and titties."

"Well I think guys are beautiful. Some have soft smooth skin with cute little butts and well defined chests!"

"Yeah but they have whiskers on his faces."

"And girls have whiskers on their legs and under their arms. Hell some women have facial hair!"

Chris’ Grandfather said, "Silence!"

Then I heard Chris’ father say, "But Dad, queers are an embarrassment to man kind."

Chris said, "Finally, you said it! You’re embarrassed of me!"

Chris sounded hurt when he went on to say, "Dad, I have tried to be a good son, but no matter how hard I try in your eyes it’s never good enough."

"Oh come on Chris! I think you’re a good son. You just need help."

"Help! What help! Can’t you get it through your thick head…"

Mr. Carlson said, "Hey! That’s enough! Mr. Johnson and I want to tell you boys something."

Sounding sarcastic, Chris’ father said, "Oh, I can’t wait for this."

Mr. Carlson looked at his son and said, "Fred where did you learn to be such an inconsiderate jerk?"

With a look of embarrassment, Chris’ Dad just sat back and didn’t reply.

Mr. Carlson said, "Sam, go sit next to Chris. We have a long story to tell you all."

Looking at Gramps he said, "Art, where should we begin?"

Gramps pulled the pipe from his mouth and said, "Well, I’ll start out if you don’t mind?"

Mr. Carlson nodded in agreement.

"Well when we were 12 years old. Nick and I were best of friends. We were inseparable. Nick and his family lived just a couple of miles down the road from mine. We used to skinny dip in Johnson’s lake, go fishing, hunting, and camping. We had fun didn’t we Nick?"

"We sure did Art. Remember when that buck chased us up a tree."

"Hehe, how could I forget. We were stuck up in that tree for hours before our brothers who were 17 at the time scared the buck away. They were laughing so hard that they looked like they were going to wet themselves…….."

_____________________

With a big grin on his face Jack said, "It’s safe to come down now. Art, Mom wants you to come home for dinner."

Fred said, "You too squirt, Momma would give you the switch if she knew that you were running around out here butt naked."

We quickly dressed and followed our brothers home. I said, "Fred you won’t tell Momma about us running around naked?"

"No brother. Heck, me and Jack go skinny dippen all the time."

Jack said, "Yeah, who needs a swimming suit."

When we saw our brothers wrap their arms over each other’s shoulders, Nick and I did the same. We looked up to our brothers and mimicked them any way we could. They always looked out for us and they seemed to enjoy our company. They’d take us to football games, baseball games, movies. They taught us to swim, hunt and fish. The Carlson’s were carpenters and our brothers built the cabin that’s still standing by Johnson’s Lake. Nick and I did what we could to help them build it. It was fun because it was like building one great big tree fort. They called it their home away from home.

_________________________

Smiling Gramps said, "Pretty nice home away from home don’t you think?"

Chris and I smiled in agreement.

Gramps continued the story. "It was a beautiful hot afternoon. We’d finished our chores and decided to go for a swim in the lake. We found our brother’s clothes strewn about in front of the cabin. We were used to seeing each other wandering about in the nude and didn’t think much of it. We looked in the cabin and that’s when we heard some strange noises. There was moaning sounds coming from up in the loft. I told Nick to wait here while I went up to see if there was something wrong and that’s when I saw our brothers doing things that I thought only boys and girls did. I stood there in shock. I must have made a noise because both guys looked to see who it was at the same time. They quickly covered themselves up with the blanket that they were lying on. I quickly climbed down the steps and ran out the door. Nick followed me out."

Sounding worried, Nick said, "Are they okay?"

I didn’t answer. So he shook me and asked, "Art are they okay?"

I shook my head yes. "I think they’re okay."

We didn’t go back inside. Finally Jack came out of the cabin all sweaty and naked. He ignored us and ran down to the lake and dove in. After taking a quick dip in the lake he got out and put on his clothes. He looked up at me and said, "Art, we need to talk."

I looked at Nick and said, "You stay here while I talk with my brother."

I followed my brother a ways down along the beach. Finally he stopped and sat down in the sand. "Art, I want to apologize to you. You shouldn’t have seen that. We were being careless. However, since you saw us, I think you deserve an explanation."

I didn’t know what to say. So I just sat there waiting for him to speak. "There are some people who prefer being with the same sex. Some call it being queer. The fact of the matter is, Fred and I love with each other. In-love the same way as a husband and wife would love each other. Do you understand what I’m saying Art?"

"I think so. You were trying to get Fred pregnant?"

Jack almost choked and said, "No, only a man and woman can make babies."

"Then what were you two doing?"

Scratching his head, he said, "Let’s see… how can I explain this to you. When men love either a girl or boy, they have the desire to be inside their lover. You’ll understand when you get older. For now you’ll have to trust me on that one."

"I love Nick. Do you think I’ll want to be inside of him?"

"Do you ever think about kissing Nick?"

"Ick, no! I’d never want to kiss Nick!"

"Then more than likely you won’t ever want to do that to him. Most guys grow up wanting to kiss and be inside of girls."

"I see. Maybe I’m like most guys."

"Art, I need to ask you a favor."

"Anything brother. You name it."

"Promise me that you won’t tell anyone about what you saw us doing up in the loft…or tell anyone that we’re queer."

"Is being queer a bad thing?"

Looking sad, Jack took a deep breath and said, "Some people feel it goes against what God intended and sometimes in the name of God mistreat those that are queer."

"Then I won’t say anything."

"Thanks little brother. Oh and one more thing. Can you guys knock before entering next time?"

"From now on we will knock."

"Come on let’s get back to the cabin. If I know Fred he’s probably fretting about in there as we speak. He’s such a worrywart, but I love him. I love him to pieces."

When we got back to the cabin, Jack said, "You boys wait out here."

Jack picked up Fred’s clothes and went inside the cabin. Nick whispered, "What’s going on?"

"Umm, you’ll need to ask your brother. Let’s go swimming."

We pulled off our clothes off and jumped in the lake. It must have been a good hour or more before our brothers came outside of the cabin. Fred looked nervous and pale. I yelled, "Hey guys are you going to come in for a swim?"

They looked at each other and said, "Sure we’ll be right in!"

_____________

Chris’ Father said, "So Uncle Fred was queer, just like my boy."

Chris started to get up. But before he could I grabbed his arm and whispered, "Remember what I said about losing your temper?"

He sat back down and said, "Okay Sammy."

Chris’ Grandfather glared at his son and said, "Son, where in God’s name did you learn to be so prejudiced against homosexuals?"

"I don’t know."

"Well I know one thing, you are one ignorant SOB!"

Chris’ Dad got up and said, "I’m not going to listen to any more of this BS."

Chris’ Grandfather was obviously outraged by his son’s comments, "If you leave now, you can start packing your belongings and move out of my home. You can also kiss your inheritance goodbye too. And so that you understand where I’m coming from, when you dishonor my brother, your Uncle, you dishonor me."

Chris’ Grandfather’s lips quivered as he spoke. He obviously was feeling emotional.

Without saying a word, Chris’ Dad sat back down in the chair.

Still focusing on Chris’ Father he went on to say, "My brother and Art’s brother were one of the best men I’ve ever known. They are my heroes and you will not dishonor their memory! Do I make myself clear!"

Looking very puny, "Yes Dad."

Trying to get Chris’ Grandfather’s attention, Gramps said, "Nick?"

He quit glaring at his son and said, "Allow me to apologize for my son’s ignorance. Art, please carry on."

"My brother Jack, was one of the nicest guys I’ve ever known. Like Nick’s brother he used to let me tag along where ever he went. He taught me what it was to be a gentleman…what it was to be courteous, sincere and have self-control. He had more courage in his little finger than I could ever have. He always looked out for Nick and me. I never once witnessed him being disrespectful and always treated me as his equal…."

_______________________

Tired and shivering, I got out of the lake and laid naked on the beach to allow the burning rays of the sun warm me up. I sat and watched the three guys frolic around in the water. As Fred was getting out of the water I couldn’t help but laugh as I watched my brother jump on Fred’s back for a piggyback ride. Jack jumped off of him when Fred began tickling his belly. With Fred in pursuit Jack ran down the beach but was soon tackled to the ground. They rolled around on the beach as if trying to get the upper hand. Fred was built like Chris. Six feet tall and ripped, so of course Fred got the upper hand. Art and I just sat there laughing at our brothers as they continued to wrestle on the beach. Sleepy eyed, I laid my head back down on the sand and closed my eyes and enjoyed the sun’s rays. I was rudely awaken by a black fly biting my face and just happened to look over to see what my brothers were doing and that’s when I noticed that Jack was now on top of Fred and I could see Fred’s erection sticking straight up over Jack’s butt. I looked at Nick and saw that was watching them too. Winking I said, "They’re in-love."

"Yeah, so?"

"You know? Like husband and wife."

"You mean like girlfriend…boyfriend?"

"Aha. You can’t tell anyone about it."

"I won’t."

"Promise?"

"Promise…hope to die."

Since we stuck to them like glue, it didn’t offer our brothers much time to be alone.

__________________

Chris’s Grandfather said, "My brother finally sat down with me in private and told me about their love affair…

"Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you Nick? I love Jack. If it was legal, I’d marry him."

He told me about how queers are not accepted and are looked down upon. I told him that I wouldn’t tell anyone.

_______________

Mr. Carlson looked at Gramps, "I’d like to jump ahead?"

Gramps nodded in agreement.

"It was 1943 and our brothers had just turned 18. They were anxious to fight the Germans and Japs so they volunteered to be in the armed forces. Because they didn’t want to take the chance of fighting next to one another, Jack chose to enlist in the Airforce and my brother chose the Army."

"Before they left to fight in the war, they arranged to get us our own post office box."

Fred said, "We will be sending letters to you squirts at the house. Jack and I will also be sending letters to this post office box, but because our letters will probably be censured they will be addressed to alias names so that anyone who reads them will not figure out that we are queer. My letters will be addressed to Jacky and Jack will be addressing his to Frieda. Jack and I bought as many stamps as we can afford. We’ll send you more money in the future. We want you to forward the letters using a different envelope. Here are the addresses. Can we count on you two do that for us?"

"Yes brother, we would do anything guys? Let us know if we can do anything else."

Fred and Jack thought for a moment and after looking questioning at each other, Fred said, "Yes, there is one more thing. This will be difficult for you but if one of us…you know…dies…we want you to write one remaining as soon as possible. We’ve heard that the delay in getting the mail can be long, so if we don’t receive mail, we don’t want to be left wondering, so it’s going to be important for you two to forward this information to us as soon as it arrives. Jack and I have decided that we want to know as soon as possible where and when it happened."

I stood there looking at my brother fighting back the tears as he told us the unspeakable. "Fred, I don’t want to hear anymore of this talk! We’ll do as you say."

I wanted to be brave but couldn’t help but cry. My brother held me in his strong arms.

The day before they went off to the war we gave our brothers time to be alone out at the cabin. We wanted to be with them in the worse way but we knew that they needed to be alone. Art and I arranged to have a combined party that evening with the Johnsons and the Carlsons. We wanted to make sure that our brothers spent as much time as possible together. In a way it was sort of selfish on our parts because we each wanted to spend some time with both of them. It was a somber occasion. No one really ate much. Art and I sat in our brother’s laps with our arms wrapped around them. Because Art and I loved each of the men equally we’d sometimes exchange places so that I’d be sitting in Jack’s lap and Art would be in my brother’s lap. I could see a look of concern and anticipation in their eyes as they hugged us. I just didn’t want them to go.

The next day I buried my head in my mother’s bosom and cried as the train pulled away.

_________________________

I watched as Mr. Carlson quit speaking. His lips quivered as he wiped a tear from his eye. Gramps handed him a drink. "Here Nick. Gentlemen why don’t we take a little break."

I looked at Chris. He had tears in his eyes. Kissing him on the cheek I grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. I led him over to the refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of root beer. Staring off into space Chris’ Father who remained seated on the sofa. Gramps stayed by Nick and was patting him on the shoulder as if consoling him as he blew his nose. Dad came over to us and said, "Is there anymore root beer in there?"

"Sure Dad." I pulled one out and handed it to him.

Dad stood next to me and gazed off into the direction that Chris and I were both looking. In the corner of my eye I could see Dad taking sips of his soda and after wiping his mouth said, "Some story aye?"

I took a sip and said, "Sure is. I’m going to go over there and take look at those pictures on the wall."

I studied the picture of the young man in front of the B-17. I brought my face closer to the picture and could definitely see a resemblance to myself. I jumped when I heard Gramps behind me say, "Well done Sammy."

"What?"

"You didn’t beat around the bush and you didn’t ask for approval."

Over in the distance I could see my Dad and Chris still standing where I’d left them. With furrowed foreheads both men were looking in my direction as they sipped on their sodas. Gramps turned to see what I was looking at and said, "Hmm, looks like they’re having fun."

"I hope they can eventually become friends. They can both be so hot headed."

"It looks like your Father is trying."

"That’s because Dad knows that he’ no match for my stubborn determination."

Gramps replied, "Or maybe he’s curious about the man that’s stole his son’s heart? Or could it be that he knows it’s better to be a friend opposed to an enemy of your mate?"

"You’re right. Dad’s no dummy."

"Don’t underestimate your father."

"He did take it a lot better than I thought."

"Maybe you should go rescue them?"

"Thanks Gramps."

As I walked towards Dad and Chris I heard Gramps clear his throat. "Okay everyone, have a seat."

I motioned for Dad and Chris to come and sit down next to me on the sofa. With Dad on one side and Chris on the other, we sat in silence waiting for Mr. Carlson and Gramps to continue the story about their brothers. Chris’ Dad isolated himself as he continued to sit in the big leather chair in the corner of the room.

Gramps said, "I will continue the story because there are some things that I would like to say during this time frame. Our Fathers were very hard workers and didn’t have much time to spend with us boys, so we depended on our brothers to give us guidance. They were always there for us. I think you can all appreciate what our brothers meant to us. My brother was flown out on a transport plane to the airbase that he was to be stationed at."

________________

Jack said, "I’m going to miss you Art."

I gave Jack a big hug and kissed his cheek. I couldn’t speak because I was crying too hard. The last thing he said to me was, "Be good squirt!"

Through the tears all I could do was watch his feet walk away from me. I finally looked up to see him wave at us as he walked into the airplane.

_______________________

"The letters came streaming in almost on a daily basis. We did as they asked and didn’t read them. We placed them in a new envelope and forwarded each letter on. Sometimes we’d slip one of our personal letters in too. We were happy to do this for them because we knew that if they continued to write that they were okay."

"Fred was later assigned to the 778^th Tank Battalion."

We watched as Gramps pulled a picture from the wall and handed it to Chris’s father. In the picture was a young man in a helmet smiling with only his head and shoulders sticking out of the top of the tank. "As you can see in the picture, he looks like boy. He was only 18 years old. My brother was assigned to the 384^th Bombardment Group."

Gramps went over and pulled the picture off of the wall that I had been staring at. In it was a young man in a black leather flight jacket and cap. He looked a lot like me. Dad handed the picture to me and then handed it to Chris.

"With heavy losses of life, there wasn’t much time for training and so our brothers were quickly transferred to the European arena of the war. When they were transferred, the letters halted for a few weeks but then gradually began to flow in. We noticed that some letters were delayed by as much as a month in getting to us. So when we got them we didn’t waste any time in forwarding them on. Both of our brothers were later moved to fight the war in and over Normandy. The letters became sporadic. Sometimes we’d get 2 or 3 at a time. As time went on we ran out of stamps and envelopes so we did work for the neighbors to make enough money to buy more stamps and envelopes. I’ll never forget the day that Nick came over to the house to let my family know that his brother had been killed in action. Nick and I didn’t cry…no we had a more pressing issue on our minds…like how in the hell we were going to craft a letter to break the news to Jack. We had mom help us write it. We quickly sent it off to him along with the letters that we had already received from Fred. I think it was only about 3 weeks later that we were notified by the Airforce that Jack’s plane had been shot down and was presumed dead. Eyewitness reports stated that a German fighter collided with Jack’s B-17 and it went down in the water. His remains were never recovered. As for Fred, his remains were buried in Normandy. For me and I don’t know about Nick, but I never felt that there was any finality after we received word about our brothers. There were no bodies to grieve over or bury. I was remained in a state of denial. I felt like there was a huge hole in my heart with the loss of our brothers and for the longest time didn’t believe the reports because for well over a month we continued to receive letters from our brothers that they had sent prior to their deaths."

Gramps picked up the two envelopes that we had retrieved from the cabin. He held them up for us to look at. "These two envelopes contain the letters that arrived after we were notified. We were relieved to find out that Jack never received our letter notifying him of the Fred’s death because all of the letters that we forwarded after we were notified of Fred’s death were all returned to us. Nick and I couldn’t bring ourselves to discard the letters. For the longest time we debated as to whether we should read them. We wanted to know what was going on in their lives prior to their deaths. Nick and I felt cheated and we needed answers. One day we went to the cabin and sat in the middle of the room on the wooden floor. We sat there staring at the envelopes. I finally just picked one up and opened it up. It was weird because it felt like Jack was only a dream. I remember sniffing the letter in hopes of finding some semblance of my brother. To convince myself that he truly existed. I used to go in his bedroom to look at his things. I refused to allow Mom to give away anything."

"Most of the letters were simply love letters but some described graphic depictions of the war. For example he described a plane that went down after it lost its rudder. They could hear the screams of the pilots as they rode the plane down to the ground. He hoped that if his time should come that it be quick. Fred never wrote about his experiences. He was the worrywart…the protector. And knowing Fred, he didn’t want to worry Jack, so he just wrote about his dreams of being together again and that thinking about him was what kept him sane in these insane conditions that he was made to endure. They also described their hopes of one-day getting jobs and then building a place of their own. They would write back and forth agreeing and disagreeing on the layout of the home. They wanted to have it all figured out by the time they got back home so that they could get started on it right away."

To my surprise Chris finally spoke up and said, "Grandpa?"

"Yeah?"

"You said that you two felt guilty. Why?"

"Why? Well, the scars of war never really go away. Art and I felt guilty later in life after we were married and had children of our own. And because we felt that we needed to honor our brother’s request for secrecy we never told our parents about their secret. We struggled with it because being parents ourselves we realized that our folks would have wanted to know about this part of their son’s lives. If we were our brother’s parent we would have wanted to read these letters. Our mothers never discarded their son’s letters that were written to them. We found the letters one by one after our parents passed on. I don’t know about you Art, but I felt that we robbed them of something specia…"

Mr. Carlson was interrupted by the loud sounds of sobbing emanating from over in the corner of the room. Chris’ father had his face buried in his hands as he cried uncontrollably. Chris immediately got up and ran to his father’s side. "Dad?"

Mr. Carlson also went over to his son and knelt down next to him as Chris and him attempted to comfort Fred.

Gramps came over to Dad and I and said, "Let’s give them some privacy and go downstairs."

Dad and I followed Gramps down the steps and shut the door behind us. After a while Mr. Carlson came down and sat next to Gramps at the bar. "Chris and Fred are having a heart to heart talk. I think my son just came to the realization that life can be short and his behavior towards Chris is creating an impenetrable barrier between them and that if he doesn’t do something now he may lose his son."

"I hope they can work it out because I know it really bothers Chris that he and his Dad don’t get along."

Dad said, "Sammy can we talk in private?"

"Sure."

I followed Dad into the locker room and sat down on the bench. "I have to get this straight in my head so be patient with me. Do you really like Chris?"

"More than just like, I love him."

"So you are really physically and mentally attracted to him?

"Yes."

"So it was love at first sight?

"No. First it was just physical."

"Please explain."

"The first time I realized that I felt something for him was when he was suffering from heat exhaustion. He scared the crap out of me! I unbuttoned his shirt to cool him off and that’s when I felt it."

"Felt what?"

"You know…felt it."

"No I don’t."

"I felt this ache in my gut and between my leg. Look, this is embarrassing!"

"Don’t be embarrassed. I’m a guy…I know this feeling. Go on!"

"Well…I wanted to kiss him. Can you believe that? There’s Chris half exposed and close to death and I want to kiss him."

"Well did ya?"

"No! At that time I didn’t even know that he liked me!"

"So what else led you to believe that you loved him?"

"There was the night that I happened to be walking by his bedroom and saw him asleep nude with a huge erection. All I could do was stand there and gaze upon his beauty as nasty thoughts ran through my head and felt my penis get hard."

"And it was at that moment that you felt that you loved him?"

"No. I mean he made me ache but it wasn’t until I got to know him better that I came to the realization that he fills a hole in my heart that I didn’t even know existed. And that I now love him body, mind and spirit. Now I feel like I’d be lost without him"

"Loving relationships are not all fun and games."

"I’m learning that. I don’t pretend to know anything about loving a mate but I do feel that he is someone that I can be patient with."

Dad went into spiels of laughter, "Hehehehe! That’s very funny!"

Then he became serious and said, "I loved your mother very much but there were times when she would drive me crazy with her little idiosyncrasies but I could never get mad at her. God she was quite a gal."

Dad swallowed and said, "Son I’m not going to lie to you, this is going to take me a while to get used to. Chris seems like a fine young man and I hope he treats you good. His father and I have been friends since childhood. You probably don’t remember this but you and Chris used to play together a lot. I’ll have to get out the old family movies. Chris’s mother and your mother were also friends and when she died, they quit bringing Chris over to play. Busy with his job, Fred would come over only when he had time to play a round of golf. Before your mother’s death we were like one big family. Chris’ Grandfather was over here a lot too until he moved away. Times were good back then."

"Dad, times are still good. I’m in-love with a wonderful guy and you are at the top of your golf game."

I could see Dad wince when I said ‘guy’ but then he must have realized what he’d done and smiled, "You’re right son. Things are good. I just have to open my eyes and see it. Come on son, lets go out and see what the guys are doing."

We went back out to the bar to join Mr. Carlson and Gramps. They were sucking on their pipes looking at old pictures. "Hey, take a look at this Sammy!"

I looked at the picture of naked little red headed boy pulling around a red wagon. Gramps said, "Do you know who that is?"

"No."

Laughing Gramps said, "It’s Chris. He must be 2 or three years old. Don’t tell him this, but we used to joke around that he was going to be able to tickle the girls in places that we could only dream of."

Dad, Mr. Carlson and Gramps began to laugh. I didn’t find the humor in it and said, "And now that’s not going to happen is it."

All three quit laughing. Dad said, "You’ve got to lighten up man!"

"Dad, he’s a little self-conscious about his um…his penis size."

"What do you mean! I’d be proud as hell to have a pecker like that!"

Not seeing the humor in what he was saying, I said, "Dad, think about it...him and me?"

Dad’s smile faded as he came to the realization of what that may mean for me. "Oh god Sammy. I have to get that mental picture out of my head. Dad get me a drink!"

I could see the concern in his face. His face got red and then he looked at me and said, "If he so much as hurts a hair on your head…!"

Just then Chris and his Father came strolling down the stairs. "Hurt who?"

Dad just grunted at him.

Gramps cleared his throat and said, "You know Sammy, I think that your father may have a valid concern."

I was motioning for him to shut up, but he ignored me.

Fred said, "What concern?"

Dad said, "Look, can we just change the subject?"

Fred said, "What subject?"

Gramps said, "Sexual intercourse."

"You’re right. Let’s change the subject."

"Ahem, Gramps, I think that Chris and I can figure this out on our own. We won’t do anything to hurt each other."

Dad said, "You’ll use condoms? Right?"

I looked at Chris and said, "Yeah, sure."

"Mr. Johnson, I would never do anything to hurt Sammy."

"And I would never do anything to hurt Chris."

Dad took a sip of his beer, "I figured I’d have a sex talk with Sammy but I never envisioned having a group discussion."

In an attempt to change the subject I said, "So Dad, what were you doing with four girls down at the lake?"

Dad appeared to reminisce and then a smile came across his face. He looked over at Fred. "I wasn’t the only guy there. And there was more than four girls."

I looked over at Fred who was looking down at his drink trying to keep from laughing.

Snickering Dad said, "We had quite a little harem didn’t we Fred?"

Fred slammed his fist on the bar and started laughing. "We had some pretty wild nights!"

I looked over at Gramps who was looking at Dad. Dad looked up at Gramps and immediately quit smiling. Then he looked at me and said, "We were bad. And we really put ourselves in danger of contracting a sexually transmitted disease."

"Dad, I don’t think promiscuity is a good thing either. Besides, I’m in-love with only one person…Chris."

"Sammy, are you a virgin?"

"Yeah why?"

Dad looked over at Chris. "Are you a virgin too?"

"Yes."

Fred looked at Chris, "What about that boy you used to be friends with?"

"You mean Kyle?"

"Yeah."

"We messed around a little bit."

Fred said, "Define a little bit?"

Looking nervously at me he said, "Umm, we used to have jack off sessions."

Everyone just sat there staring at Chris and when he noticed it said, "I’ve never had anal intercourse!"

There was an almost audible sigh of relief amongst the men in the room and I just found out something about him that I never thought to ask. Chris came over and sat down next to me. "Look, my relationship with Sammy goes way beyond sex. At first I thought Sammy was just another pretty face but he is much more than that."

Chris placed his arm around me and speaking to the guys said, "I have to admit when I first saw Sammy I was in-lust. He was a distraction that I had to get rid of and so I decided that the only the way to do that was to attempt to get to know him and find out just how big of a jerk he is and to also determine if he is straight. My first thought was that he doesn’t have friends so he’s got to be a jerk. But what I found was just the opposite. To my amazement I found him to be beautiful inside and out and I can’t help but love him. He makes me feel complete. Before I met Sammy, I was lost. Sammy came along when I was slipping further and further into the abyss of depression…depressed because I didn’t feel good about myself and to make matters worse, the father that I had always looked up to, also disapproved of me. Sammy gave me a reason to live because he’s someone that I now look up to and is someone who loves the real me."

I kissed Chris’ cheek and then he went on to say. "I really didn’t want Sammy to come out of the closet for fear of how you guys would react, but being the stubborn person that he is, did so anyway. He also urged me to be here tonight and thanks again to his stubborn determination and with wisdom beyond his years, he has managed to bring dad and me closer and now I have hope that Pops and I can become good buds again."

With tears in his eyes, Fred gave Chris a thumbs up.

Chris got up and hugged his father. Dad turned to me and said, "I’m proud of you son."

"Thanks Dad."

"Hey Gramps do you have anymore pictures of my man in the buff?

Gramps smiled and opened his picture album. "I think I can do better than that. I believe I have a picture of of you and Sammy playing together in the nude."

"What?"

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