Date: Sat, 06 Oct 2001 12:53:16 -0400
From: Tom Cup <tom_cup@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Lark  -  G/M Y/A Fantasy

The Lark
By Tom Cup
Copyright 2001 by the Paratwa Partnership: A Colorado Corporation. All
rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means electronic or mechanical, except in the case of reviews, without
written permission from the Paratwa Partnership, Inc, 354 Plateau Drive,
Florissant, CO 80816

This is a fictional story involving an adult/youth sexual relationship. If
this type of material offends you, please do not read any further. This
material is intended for mature adult audiences. Names, characters,
locations and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination
or are used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual events or locales, or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

************************************************************************
Author's Note: This story is being release simultaneously to Nifty and the
Tom Cup Library to thank all my readers for the love and support shown me.
Your comments and encouragement have been invaluable to me.  Thank you.

************************************************************************

This story is part of the Tom Cup Short Story Library.  Join the Tom Cup
Library at: http://tomcup.iscool.net to support this and other stories by
Tom Cup.

New at the Library:

The Lion of Bolognia Chapter 8 (Kevin Chapter 22)
Calvin, Chapter 27
Angel, Chapter 12
David's Christmas Present (Revised)
The Day My Life Began by Miguel Sanchez
A Place Called Home, Chapter 6
In Memory of Steve, Chapter 1
Terms of Living, Chapter 2
Tommy -- The Return, Chapter 2
Haying Season (Short Story)

Thank you for your support, and as always your, e-mail is much appreciated

************************************************************************

The Lark
By Tom Cup

I was twenty-nine.  He was a beautiful and charming being; unlike any I had
ever seen.  His hair was a loin's mane of red sunshine; eyes of Irish green
that whispered only a hint of his agelessness; movements full of grace,
slender; boyish in physique. But it was his laughter that caught my
attention. His voice sang and danced around me. As I turned to seek out the
sound, our eyes met and he smiled.  All the sounds of the tavern around me
vanished in that moment.  My only thought was that I would throw myself at
him and beg him to make love to me.

"I'm Robert," he said extending his hand as I approached.  I took his hand
in mine and electricity shot up my spine.  No stiff hand of death here; no,
rather, the warmth of an angel.  Smooth. Soft. Youthful. Inviting.

"Manuel," I replied.

"Sit. Join me," he said.

"Sure," rushed from my lips as I took the stool next to him.  "Can I buy you
a drink," I inquired.  That laugh again, it sent passion stirring through
every fiber of my being.

"Something red I should think," he said.

I replaced the beer I ordered with a glass of the house red and joined him
in a toast.  "So," I began, "I've never seen you here before."

He smiled at me knowingly. "And I have never seen you here before. Tell me
Manuel, are you planning on seducing me?"

Now it was my turn to laugh. "I think I'm the one being seduced," I said

"This is my first time here in a very long time," he said staring into my
eyes, "The place hasn't changed much."

Now, I had been coming to `The Lark' since I was eighteen; three full years
before I could legally attend the gay Philadelphia bar; and I had never seen
this guy before.  I would have remembered.

"How old are you?" I inquired.

He smiled leaning forward and replied, "Much older than you would believe."

"Okay," I said inspecting him more closely; but the more I looked at him the
more youthful appeared, "You can't be more than twenty-one, twenty...  My god,
you could be mistaken for a teenager! How old are you?"  His head flew back
as he laughed then he took a final sip of wine and placed the glass on the
bar.

"Come on," he said, "Let's go to my place."

We walked slowly toward Society Hill.  I was amazed by the wealth of
historical information that my young friend produced from memory. He spoke
of the building of Wanamaker's' in such reflective tones that I almost saw
the men constructing the building.  He spoke of the difficulty in casting
the Liberty Bell and the events that lead to it being donated to the City.
He reminisced over the Musulu. I had heard many of the stories before, of
course, but he made the stories come alive, like a favorite uncle reading a
pet bedtime story, the stories nuzzled your heart and became a faithful
friend. I was drawn into his telling of the stories, and he was bathed with
a glow from the telling.

He watched me, smiling, as I examined his place. He loved wood.  Lamp table,
coffee table, mantle work, bookcases, and vases all made of various exotic
woods and all, so he claimed, made by him.  I found it hard to believe that
anyone as young as he appeared could produce the quality of the work in the
room. I also did not for a minute believe that he own this home in the midst
of Society Hill. But I wanted to believe him.  I could not help myself. The
look of his eyes, the curve -- and wetness -- of his mouth, the flow of his
hair, the length and delicacy of his fingers, and the very shape and moments
of his body pulled me into his world. I needed to believe him.

I hated the fact that I was one step away from being over the hill.  My
youthful prejudices were coming to haunt me. When I was sixteen, just coming
into my own, openly experimenting with my attractive gayness, I would never
go near a man over twenty-nine.  Men older than that, no matter what they
had to offer, did not interest me.  Now I stood at the threshold of thirty,
waiting for age to place youth outside of my reach -- pull it away from my
touch.

He sat invitingly on the sofa  -- left leg crossed over right, -- his left
hand beckoned me. I staggered forward. All my fantasies were caught up in
the moment. It didn't matter to me how old he really might be -- fourteen,
fifteen, sixteen -- he embodied youth. I desired him. My heart raced, my
breath was shallow, my sex hardened. I may be twenty-nine but I'll have this
boy tonight.  I may never have another night like this but I will have this
night, with this boy.

He was wonderfully pliable. He bent to my every wish, my every desire. We
lay naked together, him beneath me, our flesh burning each other. My mouth
covered his lips.  My hard member pressed against his, throbbing.  His hands
cupped my ass. I played with his hair, breathed in his scent, drew pleasure
from his firm skin and toned flesh. His body, vicariously, became mine.

"I know what you want."

Did he? Did he know as I enter the sweet tightness of his dark passage that
I wished to remain there forever? -- That I would give my immortal soul not
to age one more day, to remain this side of thirty, to forever hold the keys
of maturity and yet claim the prize of youth, as I was at that moment united
with his young body? -- Could he understand how when he turned me away and
went back to his long, lazy, afternoons of camaraderie with schoolmates that
I would be crushed? I would be thrown down, cast away, forgotten and left to
age, alone?

He was nibbling on my neck as I continued sinking deeper into him. God, I
did not want this ecstasy to end. His hands massaged me. His body danced
beneath me. His mouth sucked my neck. The sensations built until I became
feverishly hot and faint. I ground my cock into him, feeling it swell,
charging toward climax.  I screamed as the hot magna of my passion erupted
within him.

"Now we are one," he whispered.  I sank into a deep, satisfied sleep.

*****

The room was dark when I woke.  His tender figure sat on the bed, still
nude, watching me. He was beautiful. I wanted to weep. He hadn't left. He
was still with me.

"Happy birthday," he said.

"What? Oh, my birthday isn't until tomorrow... how did you ..."

"You've slept through the night and day.  Today is your birthday. I gave you
a present. I gave you what you wanted."

I sat up. "What? I have been sleeping..."

"Shhh... Don't worry. You don't have to work anymore; you will never be older
than you were yesterday. Just as I will never be older than the sixteen year
old boy that I was 208 years ago."

I ran my hand over my neck. I understood.

We went back to the Lark. I was twenty-nine with boyish energy and
appetites.  I understood why he picked me.  Just as I understood why I
picked Jim.  I had heard him complaining about turning sixty. Life, it
seemed to him, was about to end. No young twenty or thirty something would
ever look his way. That was the way things were for the gay. I smiled at
Robert as he drifted toward a downcast middle-aged soul.  I sat next to Jim.

"Can I buy you a drink?" I asked.

He smiled. I lay my hand on his, sending electricity through his body. I
would give him what he wanted. Life is such a lark.