Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 17:03:36 -0800
From: Desert Guys <jg.ps@gte.net>
Subject: Jim and Jimmy Chapter Twenty-Three

Jim and Jimmy
A novel by Greg Bowden
jg.ps@gte.net

Chapter Twenty-Three
"But it's my last chance to find out how guys do it."

The time gods saw to it that it was a busy five years. Anton was recalled
to Paris for a year and then appointed Ambassador to Germany, a very
important and politically sensitive post. Marta loved it because she could
live a good part of the time in Paris, showing up in the German capital for
only the most important parts of the social season.

Jimmy expanded KBK once again and once again had to find new quarters for
it. David expanded his company as well and then merged it into KLK
Holdings. KLK Holdings then incorporated and changed its name to Keith,
Langford, Keith and Agizz, Inc. Both Jim and Shareff were elected to the
board of directors -- the other two directors being Jimmy and David -- and
got their names on the letterhead.

Dalton returned to Clear Harbor from England, explaining that he couldn't
get used to the cold and dampness. He also couldn't get used to his
provincial sister but he didn't mention that part. Jim and Shareff
installed him in his old quarters and let him look after them as he
wished. He lived happily for three years and then died quietly in his
sleep.

Little Anton really did grow up. He graduated from his school with honors
and enrolled in the University of California at Berkeley.

The most exciting event, however, was the engagement of Miss Claudine
Bouley to Baron Dr. Franz William von Belcher.

"Who?" Jimmy reached for the gin and tonic Ishmael held out on his tray.

"Baron Dr. Franz William von Belcher. He's a cosmologist," Jim said and
smiled. Shareff had caught him with this one, too.

David looked incredulous. "He's a hairdresser?"

Jimmy saw the smile on Shareff's face and thought for a moment. "Oh,
yea. One of those guys who think about the way the universe is put
together, right?"

Shareff raised his glass in a toast. "Very good, son. Very good. This one
does something with high energy physics although I'm not entirely clear as
to just what that is. In any event, it doesn't matter because Claudine has
her heart set on him."

"They've been here?"

"Oh, yes," Jim said. "Twice. The first time so we could meet him and the
second so he could make clear his intentions." He laughed. "You don't
officially become engaged to a young woman like Claudine without first
getting the approval of her very rich and very powerful grandfather."

Shareff sighed and nodded. "I'm afraid it's true. But it was only a
courtesy. Franz' father and I are old friends and sometimes competitors. It
will be a fine match for both of them."

The wedding was planned for June -- and at Clear Harbor. Marta had at first
wanted to have it in Paris but finally gave in to Claudine's nagging. There
would be, however, a reception in Paris a week after the wedding. Three
hundred had been invited.

David and Jimmy arrived at Clear Harbor two days before the wedding. They
had expected to find the place in complete chaos, with Marta shouting
orders in every direction, but they were very pleasantly
surprised. Absolutely everything seemed to be under Ishmael's control and,
as with Dalton before him, Ishmael brooked no chaos in his household.

The bride and groom were already there, the bride looking a little
breathless and the groom just slightly bewildered. They were both very
happy. They spent most of the cocktail hour and all of dinner staring into
each other's eyes.

The next morning Jimmy and David found Franz stretched out on the sand on
their little beach. He was lying on his belly in the slightly damp sand,
his bathing trunks discarded up the beach along with his towel. He looked
up as they approached.

"Good morning. I see you come for a swim as well. May I swim with you?"

They watched him turn over and stand up. He was a very handsome man with a
very beautiful body. He was also either well on the way to, or just coming
down from, a hard-on.

He caught their glance and looked down at himself. "The water isn't cold
enough here," he said with an embarrassed smile, "and I cannot stop
thinking about... tomorrow night. No man could, yes?"

"Yes, no man could," Jimmy said with a smile. "Come on, and if the water
isn't cold enough you can use our shower. That's guaranteed to shrink a man
up."

They swam for a while and when they got out the water and exercise had done
their job on Franz' dick. He accepted their offer of a shower anyway.

Franz was entranced with their bathroom. He said Claudine had described it
to him but he hadn't really understood. They all showered together, washing
each other's backs and splashing and laughing. They were, Jimmy said later,
"just like any three jocks down at the 'Y'" In any case, they found Franz a
thoroughly likable man. He was also a very secure man since he couldn't
possibly be unaware of their relationship.

The next morning began quite differently although it ended the same way. It
began with a knock on the open French doors.

"Hey, Uncle Jimmy, Uncle David. You awake in there?"

"Go away, Anton. We're sleeping."

"I'll bet you're not. I'll bet you're doin' it. Can I watch? Please? I
still don't know how guys do it." He wandered in and threw himself down on
the bed between them. "Aw, I bet I never find out how guys do it."

David turned over and started to say something but Anon beat him to
it. "Wait, wait. I know, but I don't do this with just anyone. Only with
people I love, even if they are guys. Now come on. Get up. It's time for a
swim."

They got up and went for a swim. Afterwards they shared the shower.

"So, what do you think? About the Baron, I mean."

"Seems like quite a catch for your sister, from what I can see," Jimmy said
with a smile at David.

"Well, I guess he isn't marrying her for Grandpa's money. His old man is
loaded, maybe even more than Grandpa, and he gets it all when the old guy
kicks off, is what I hear."

"Actually," David said, "I think he may be marrying her because he loves
her. What do you think about that?"

Anton grinned. "I can relate. Wait 'till you see the doll I brought with
me. Love is definitely in season."

Jimmy shut off the water and tossed him a towel. "If you have some sexy
babe with you, what are you doing in the shower with two old men?"

Anton put his arms around Jimmy and hugged him close, then he did the same
with David. "Telling you I love you, too." He finished drying and then
hopped around on one leg getting into his underwear.

"If you'd sit down like a normal man you wouldn't risk killing yourself
getting dressed," David said, demonstrating.

"Too slow." He pulled on his jeans and tee shirt and was out the door.

The wedding was something to behold. Fifty or so guests had been put up at
the beach club on Barbados and were brought over to Clear Harbor in a small
fleet of boats. A huge canopy had been erected over the entire South
terrace to shade the guests during the ceremony and would be removed later,
when dinner was served. Before the ceremony, cocktails, wine and light
finger food were served in the garden by a small army of waiters under
Kingston's direction.

The proud parents mingled with the guests in the garden, Marta a vision in
designer blue silk. Anton, wearing his Ambassadorial medals and ribbon,
stole the show in Jimmy's opinion. Little Anton made quite an impression
too, dressed in well cut formal black and with a stunning blond girl on his
arm. He introduced her as Wendy something and Jimmy had to agree, she was
quite a doll. She also seemed to Jimmy to lack warmth toward Anton.

Parents, brothers and uncles aside, the true star of the afternoon was
Claudine, as beautiful as she'd ever been and somehow innocent, too, in her
gown of white silk with a net of pearls laid over it. Her bouquet was all
white as well, except for one brilliant red rose at the center.

The groom, in his formal afternoon clothes, was damn near as pretty as the
bride. Both Jimmy and David wondered if he was carrying a hard-on under his
pleated trousers when he came out and stood, with his attendant, waiting
for his bride.

When the ceremony was over the bride pulled the red rose from her bouquet
and presented it to her husband, saying something the guests couldn't
hear. Franz blushed as he accepted the rose and said something back to her
which made her blush as well. "It's going to be a long night," Jimmy
whispered to David as they watched.

The bride and groom had the courtesy to stay with the guests through dinner
but disappeared immediately after the cake was cut. They spent the night at
the beach club, in a small, private guest house, and left the next morning
for Honolulu where they would spend a week with all the other newlyweds.

--------------

David and Jimmy didn't see Claudine -- now the Baroness von Belcher -- for
two years after that and then it was for another wedding, this time
Anton's.

"So you're really going to marry this goofball?" Jimmy asked the extremely
pretty young woman with the close cropped hair. "I hope you know what
you're doing."

"Hey, go easy, Uncle Jimmy. You'll scare her off."

"No he won't." She turned to Jimmy. "And I do know what I'm doing. I always
do." She smiled, softening the statement a bit.

Her name was Charlotte Williams, she was twenty-four years old and she came
from a socially important family in San Francisco. She'd met Anton at the
University and immediately set her sights on him. He didn't have a chance,
even if he'd wanted it.

Ishmael announced dinner.

After dinner most of the family dispersed to their rooms, tired after their
flights and, for some, an afternoon in the sun. Jimmy and David were no
different from the rest.

"You know," Jimmy said, stripping off his clothes, "we seem to spend more
time here than we do at home."

David tossed his shirt into the hamper in the corner. "I know, but it's
next to impossible to get them to come to us, or even meet us somewhere. I
honestly don't think they've left Clear Harbor since Claudine's wedding."

"Speaking of Claudine, I think she's pregnant. So does dad. And I think
Franz does too. Did you see that silly grin he has on his face?"

"Yea, I did. Same grin he had when he couldn't get his dick down, before
the wedding. Anyway, if she is pregnant she won't say anything until after
tomorrow. She's too kind to steal Anton and Charlotte's day. And you know
it would."

They had a quick shower and settled in to bed. Predictably, they were
awakened in the morning by a knock on the French doors.

"Go away, Anton. We're not doing it so there's nothing to see."

Anton bounded into the room and, as usual, threw himself on the bed between
them. "But it's my last chance to find out how guys do it."

"Then you'll just have to remain uninformed. I assume you do know how guys
and girls do it?"

"Yea. I got that one down pretty good. We going for a swim?"

They went for a swim and then took a shower. Anton was bouncing off the
walls.

"Will you calm down and stand still for a minute," Jimmy said when they
were getting dressed. "Save some of that energy for your wife, tonight." He
waited a minute, then, "You happy about this, about getting married?"

"Oh, yes. Dad's really happy about her and Mother seems gets along with
her. She's... Well, she's darn near perfect and we're good together. Yea,
it's going to be okay."

The socially prominent Williams' were just a little ticked off at their
daughter for letting herself be talked into having the wedding out here in
the middle of nowhere. On the other hand, the prospect of the wedding being
held on the private island of Mr. Shareff Agizz was altogether too good to
miss. Besides not having to pay for the thing, there were business contacts
to consider. Both of the senior Williams' would get good mileage out of the
whole affair. Of course, there would be a reception when they got home --
for about a hundred people.

Mrs. Williams thought it very strange that the grandfather's business
partner lived in the house with him and wondered if... But then thought,
no, nice people weren't that way and she never had understood business
anyway. Besides, there was that Mrs. Bouley, Charlotte's soon to be
mother-in-law. She was a worry.

The wedding went off perfectly except for two small things: The father of
the bride got drunk and fell asleep in his salad and the groom was impotent
the whole of his wedding night.

And the Baroness von Belcher? She was pregnant, as everybody thought, and
six months later delivered a healthy baby boy. The boy would grow up with
his father's intelligence and looks and his grandmother's cunning, a potent
combination.

Jim and Shareff went to Munich for the birth since they couldn't convince
Claudine to have the baby at Clear Harbor. Marta was there, too, although
Claudine's father was involved in some delicate negotiations and had to
stay in the capital. Claudine, having some of her mother's stubbornness and
all of her determination, labored for only three hours before bringing
forth her child.

The trip was more difficult than Jim and Shareff had expected and it left
them both very tired. They cut their stay short and flew back to Clear
Harbor as soon as they were sure that Claudine and the baby were well past
any danger. Jimmy and David went out to spend the Fourth of July week in
Clear Harbor and the four men had an exceptionally enjoyable time
together. Both Shareff and Jim seemed to want to reminisce and both of them
told some wonderful tales.

Jim talked about Brazil and, for the first time, told the story of the
twins on the beach which everyone found quite amusing. Then he remembered
the time the company gave him a new plane and described the crew that went
with it. "There was a steward on that plane, Toby I think his name
was. Didn't I once send him to you, Jimmy?"

"You did. Doug and I took him to bed." Jimmy smiled, the memory slowly
coming back. "As I remember, he was very cuddly and a lot of fun. I think
he stayed the night with us."

"Ah, I always did think that boy was one of us," Jim said with some glee.

Jimmy laughed. "Well, you sure had him fooled. He was sure you were
straight and was even concerned about what you might do if you found out
about me. We told him not to worry too much about it."

For a week the four of them talked into the nights, remembering the past
and laughing about things they hadn't been able to laugh about at the
time. Several of these evenings they spent in the cool water of the pool on
Jimmy and David's terrace and the rest were on the beach, sitting near the
line of the surf. They were naked, of course, and seemed always to be
touching one another here and there. They grew closer than ever before.

------------------
To be continued
All comments, criticisms, suggestions are gratefully received and always
answered.
Greg
jg.ps@gte.net