Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 10:10:40 -0700
From: Macout Mann <macoutmann@yahoo.com>
Subject: In the Great Depression 11

This is the final chapter.  As usual, let me warn against reading this
material if you are underage or if explicit homosexual activity is
offensive to you.

Of all the stories I have offered to nifty.org, this one has produced the
greatest amount of reader response.  I am grateful for all the mail I have
received and would appreciate any reaction you may have to the end of the
story.  Write me at macoutmann@yahoo.com.

These stories come to all of us without charge because of donations to
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Copyright 2014 by Macout Mann.  All rights reserved.



                         IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION

                              by Macout Mann



                                 Part 11

                               Jason Alone


Dedra makes a special breakfast, since Christopher is leaving.  Waffles
cooked in cast iron waffle irons on the wood range and served with Ribbon
Cane Syrup, along with Ham, and Figs with Cream.

As soon as breakfast is over Luke announces that they need to get underway.
It looks like rain, and the roads could be bad.  Christopher again gets
dressed in his traveling suit, Jason helps him see that he's packed
everything, and before the boys go down the stairs together for the last
time, Christopher hands Jason an envelope containing the promised testimony
against Andy.  Christopher thanks his aunt for her hospitality, and the
three males set out for Vicksburg.

Everyone is pretty somber en route.  Not much conversation.  It does
shower, but they still arrive a little before noon.  The train isn't due
until nearly two.

Luke takes them to the Carroll Hotel for lunch, and yes, they do call it
"lunch."  The Carroll was built in the 1890s, when folks thought Vicksburg
would become a metropolis on the Mississippi.  Obviously it was built many
times too large, but it boasts a very fine dining room.  It was quite
expensive.  A "regular dinner" could cost two dollars or more.

Although he doesn't visit Vicksburg very often, Luke is well remembered and
warmly greeted by the hotel's manager.  After all, the Cromwell name does
count for a great deal in these parts.  The nephews are introduced and
welcomed.

Their meal is quite different from what is served at the plantation.
Gumbo, minute steaks, fried potatoes, asparagus, yeast rolls, and bread
pudding.  The ever present iced tea is also there, however.

After eating, they spend some time on the bluff overlooking the "father of
waters."  There's a good bit of traffic on the river.  Finally, it's time
to go to the depot and await the train.  Mercifully it is on time.

Christopher and Luke exchange fond goodbyes, Christopher, the ever-polite
young gentleman.  Both boys are almost tearful, as they give each other a
cousinly hug and Christopher surreptitiously cops a feel, saying "I'm
goanna miss that."  Then he climbs aboard.

On the way back, Luke says, "Well Chris seems to be a really nice boy."

"I thought he was real keen," Jason replies.

"I always have some concern, when Matthew's children come down," his uncle
continues, "about how they'll act toward our negroes."

"Well, sir, no need to worry this time.  Chris treated 'em just like I do.

"That day we went to Grandfather's, he gave me a lecture about not letting
Will get uppity.  I think it was aimed more at Chris than me.  If it was,
it wasn't necessary."

"He get along with the other kids?" Luke asked.

"Real good.  Especially Sharon Willis," Jason laughed.  "Andy Osborne got
up on his high horse one time, and me and Chris had to put him down."

"How's that?"

"Oh, uh, nothing really.  Andy was just carrying on about Chris being a
yankee.  Typical white trash talk."

"Now that's not very nice, Jason.  Calling the Osborne's `white trash.'"

"Maybe not all of 'em, Uncle Luke, but I'd just as soon not be around Andy
Gump."

"Well I'm sure Will will be happy that Christopher's gone and you can get
back to helping him."



Jason is to stay at the plantation for three more weeks.  When he goes up
to his room after supper, he realizes how lonely those three weeks will be.
Jacking off just don't cut it after the great sex he and Christopher have
had.  Not that he doesn't do it at least three times a day.

He throws himself into his work, trying to tire himself out so that he
doesn't think about Christopher and sex so much.  Will even comments that
Jason must be trying to make up for the days that he spent with
Christopher.  Neither ever refers to the confrontation with Andy, nor to
the fact that Andy never comes to the swimming hole any more.

In his frustration, Jason does consider the possibility of getting with
Andy.  After all he knows that Andy is willing.  But he immediately
dismisses the idea.

He and Will keep the vegetable garden weed free, the grass and weeds in
front of the house trimmed to the point that it looks mowed, the cattle
well salted, the hogs slopped, the horses exercised, the radishes and
mustard greens picked, every task perfectly completed.  Jason's proficiency
exceeds both his uncle's and his father's expectations.

Will and Jason spend more and more time together.  Swim almost every
afternoon.  Jason has difficulty keeping from getting a raging hard-on when
they get naked together.  Half hard seems to be o.k.

Jason's nighttime fantasies turned to his friends back in Jackson.  He
relished the idea of teaching them the things that Christopher had
introduced him to.  Kissing, licking, feeling, fucking for real.

He was so fucking horny.  Could maybe he and Will?

THE END


AUTHOR'S NOTE WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED LATER

Useless to speculate.  After all, this is fiction.  But seven years after
the events described in this story, the most significant event in twentieth
century American history occurred: the attack on Pearl Harbor.  That
occurrence signaled the doom of the way of life that had been so entrenched
in the South.  Without the social upheaval caused by World War II, the
Civil Rights Movement would never have occurred.

Jase, Andy, and Will would all three have been called up in the first
peacetime draft in American history.  All three inducted for a year's
service at $21 per month.  Pearl Harbor would extend that year to the
duration of the war.

Chris would have finished college and would have joined—probably the
Navy—and gone to Officer Candidate School.  It is possible, but
unlikely, that his and Jason's paths would ever cross again.

It is likely that Ezra and Nanny would have both died before 1941 and that
Luke and his wife would have moved into the newer home that Ezra had built.
With rural electrification Ezra's house likely could have been provided
light and running water without their having to invest in additional
wiring.  However, new pumps might have been required.

The war would probably have put an end to the dream of Jason becoming
executor of a thriving Cromwell Estate.  He would take advantage of the GI
Bill and probably go on to become a doctor or lawyer.

Will would have saved enough during his years in the army to buy a few
acres for himself, as many of his compatriots did after the war.  That was
the beginning of the black rural middle class in the South.

Andy, having no desire for college, would probably have returned home and
married a local girl.

Jason's father, after Luke's death, would probably become executor and
preside over the liquidation of the Cromwell assets.  Many former
plantations were sold to combines of urban businessmen for use as hunting
preserves.  We can imagine Andy buying Ezra's property, tearing down the
historic home, and replacing it with a Jim Walter Prefab.