Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2017 02:45:38 +0000
From: Douglas DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: Aiden  Chapter 24

Thanks for returning. Aiden learns the definition of a sexual term from
Muddy and gets some lessons about life from Marty.

Please give to the Nifty Archive. Keep the stories coming.

CHAPTER 24
MUDDY AND MARTY

After breakfast on Friday, Aiden rode with Larry and Phil into downtown
Mayfield, such as it was. Larry parked the car in front of Ben's Hardware
and Hunting Supplies and entered the store. The building the store
occupied had been built over a hundred years before. Hardware and
general merchandise stores under various owners had occupied the
building throughout its history. Aiden thought the store was a very cool
place to shop.

Ben Crenshaw, the owner, greeted them when they entered. "Hello,
coaches, and welcome to the store." He saw Aiden looking around the
cluttered store. "This must be the new member of your family I've heard so
much about," Ben said as stuck out his hand.

 Aiden took it just as Larry had instructed him, being sure to give it a firm
squeeze. "Always shake a hand like you mean it," Larry had told him.

"What about a fist bump?" Aiden asked.

"Just be sure not to break any knuckles," Larry chuckled.

"I'm Aiden," the boy told the shopkeeper.

"My pleasure," Ben gushed. Aiden wasn't sure how to respond to that, so
he said nothing. "What can I help you gentlemen find?"

"Tell him, Aiden," Phil said.

Aiden told Ben that he was going to spend the night with some of his
friends and that he needed a sleeping bag.

"I happen to have the exact item to help you out," Ben grinned. He led
Aiden to the hunting and camping section of the store. Phil and Ben held
back, letting the boy take care of his own business. One of the many things
they'd learned about Aiden was that while he could be quiet and reticent on
occasion, he was not a shy boy and was not afraid to talk to adults.

Ben pulled a bundle down from a shelf. He untied the cover and pulled out
a dark blue sleeping bag. "What you want is a bag that won't make you too
hot indoors, but will keep you warm outdoors."

He unzipped the bag and had Aiden feel the lining. Aiden liked the warm
softness on his fingers. He also liked the images of elk, bear, fish, and
beavers that decorated the lining. The smile on the face of nine-year-old
told Ben that he'd guessed right when he picked that specific item. Ben
knew his customers, and his reputation was such that many outdoorsmen
drove to Mayfield from Centralia to shop at Ben's store.

"It is also roomy enough to sleep two," Ben grinned. Aiden gave him a
startled look. "Hey, I was boy once, hard as it is to believe."

"I'll take it," Aiden said, his boy soprano exuding a confidence that pleased
Ben. It told him the two coaches were doing a hell of a job raising the lad.

"Aren't you going to ask how much it costs?"

Aiden turned and pointed to his dads. "That's their job." Ten minutes later,
Aiden left the store with his dads, the proud owner of a beautiful new
sleeping bag.

After they got home, Aiden put his sleeping bag and his overnight bag next
to chair he liked to use when looking out of the front window. He then went
to the downstairs half-bathroom, locked the door and dropped his jeans
down to his ankles. He looked into the mirror and pulled off his t-shirt. He
then admired his black briefs. While he wasn't yet sophisticated enough to
understand why, he knew those were the best briefs to wear to the
overnight.

Right around two that afternoon, Miles's dad pulled into Aiden's driveway.
Aiden had been sitting in the window seat watching the highway. He was
ready when the car pulled up. He hugged his dads, picked up his backpack
and sleeping bag, and went down the stairs to the driveway.

"Well," Phil said.

"Well what, my love?"

"We have our first night alone since our son moved in."

"What do you plan on doing about it?" Larry asked.

Phil planted on a long, deep kiss on his husband's lips. "Whatever it is I
have in mind—I plan on doing it more than once."

"How about round one in the rec room?"

Phil's answer was to turn and head for the room, shedding his clothes
along the way.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Miles was nervous about the first sleepover at his house. He and his
mother had gone through a great deal of negotiating over sleeping
accommodations. Miles wanted to use his bedroom, but his mother pointed
out that the available space on the floor was inadequate unless he picked
up the various projects he had going on, which he wasn't going to do. She
suggested sleeping in the living room.

"But, mom," Miles protested, "then you'll know everything we're doing."

"And just what to you plan on doing that you have to keep so private?"

"We're gonna just be wearing our underpants."

"Well, there sure isn't anything private to see underneath them," Miles's
older brother John chortled.

"Shut up."

"Boys, let's keep it civilized," their mother scolded them.

"I'm just saying," the twelve-year-old said. "They got nothing to see under
your undies."

"John!"

"Whatever." Having made his point, he walked out of the living room. Miles
was glad that his brother would be spending the night with his friend Lloyd.
John was happy he wouldn't have to hang around with his brother and his
immature friends. Instead, he and Lloyd would experiment more with what
they learned about sucking each other's cocks.

"Mom, how about we use your work room upstairs? It has tons of space on
the floor for us to put our sleeping bags."

After a some more urging, Miles's mother agreed to the compromise with
her younger son. "Just don't even think of knocking anything out of place,"
she warned in a way that Miles knew he wouldn't want to suffer the
consequences.

Aiden, who had been picked up by Miles's father, was the first boy to arrive.
Within a half hour, Rusty and Muddy had joined him. The good weather of
the past few days was holding and the boys took advantage of it. They took
a soccer ball and walked to the park. They would have ridden their bicycles
except for the fact that Aiden didn't have a bicycle.

At the park they met the Clauson brothers—one was in fifth grade and the
other in third. They got a soccer game going with three to a side, making up
the rules as they went along. Miles, who knew that Aiden was the
responsible one in the group, put him in charge of checking the time to
make sure they got home by four-thirty. Since it was almost dark by then,
there wasn't too much danger of being late.

Following a dinner of leftover turkey stew with buttered rolls and apple
cobbler a la mode for dessert, the boys were given the run of the television
in the living room, along with a selection of movies to watch. Aiden and
Muddy were used to wearing just their underwear at home and Aiden
suggested they strip down. While the naughty boy in Miles liked the idea,
and had told his mother that was what they were going to do, he still wasn't
sure of how she would react. The thought of how his mother would react to
the idea had him turning it down.

No matter how they were dressed, the four of them were still prepubescent
boys, and that often meant wrestling. Muddy and Aiden were sitting close
to each other on the couch and started touching each other while watching
the movie. A knee bang here, an elbow jab there, a rib punch, and a crotch
grab by Muddy and somehow they were rolling on the floor. Muddy had
hold of Aiden's balls when Miles's mother came into the room and brought
a quick stop to the mayhem. Because she was blocked off by the back of
the couch, she didn't see the location of Muddy's right hand.

"That is not appropriate behavior! Stop before you break something," came
the scolding from Miles' mother. "If you want to wrestle do it outside."

"Sorry," came the chastened voices of Mudrak and Aiden as they
scrambled back up on the couch.

"You guys gotta be careful or I'll never get to have an overnight again,"
Miles admonished his friends after his mother left.

"We said we were sorry," Aiden grumbled. And then, as is often the case
with young friends, the little squabble was forgotten and their attention went
back to the movie, at least in part. Of course there was chatter going on,
both about the movie and about other things.

"You grabbed my nuts," Aiden told Muddy, as if he didn't know.

"I don't mean to make you mad," Muddy apologized. "I was having fun."

"I'm not mad," Aiden told him. "You can do it now if you want."

"Yes, for real?"

"Nailed," Aiden grinned. Muddy, Miles, and Rusty had no doubt what the
smallest boy in the group was referring to.

"You're lying," Rusty said, although he knew Aiden was telling the truth. He
simply wanted proof.

Muddy felt Aiden's little nail through his jeans. "It is the truth," he confirmed.

"I want to see," Rusty said. He got out of his seat and walked over to where
Aiden was sitting. His hand replaced Muddy's in Aiden's crotch. "Yep, it's a
nail." He looked over at Miles. "You want to make sure we're all telling the
truth?"

"I guess I better." He replaced Rusty and surprised Aiden by pulling down
his zipper. Aiden, who had loved the attention being paid to his little boner,
felt a shiver course through him as Miles felt him up through his briefs.

Aiden emitted a small groan, which got Muddy to say, "I think Aiden likes
what Miles is doing."

"It feels really good," Aiden moaned. "Put your hand inside my undies,"
Aiden told Miles. Instead, his friend pulled his hand out of his pants.

"Mom might catch us," Miles said and Aiden zipped back up.

"What about your dad catching you?" Rusty asked.

"He caught John jerking here on the couch off right after school started. He
didn't get mad or nothing. Just talked to him and me both about sex and
about being private. But he said don't let mom catch us. Mom is okay about
me and John and even dad being in just our underwear sometimes, but
pretty soon she gets tired of it and tells us to get dressed. She's weird
about that stuff."

"Kinda like Gordy is weird about sex stuff," Aiden pointed out.

"No, mom is weirder," Miles insisted. "Gordy just won't do everything with
us, but he'll do some stuff. But he don't get mad like mom can get mad."
Aiden decided that Miles equated getting mad over being in your
underpants as being weird.

"I have a big nail," Muddy said. "But, I will wait to show you it."

"I think we all have nails," Rusty speculated. The nodding heads told him
he was right.

As soon as the movie ended the boys decided it was time to retire to the
work room. After saying the requisite good-nights to Miles's mom and dad,
they went upstairs and grabbed their toothbrushes, toothpaste, and
whatever else they needed to get ready for bed. Their room was on the
small third story of the house. There was no bathroom on the that floor, so
they had to go back down to the second floor bathroom. Aiden was
surprised that he and Miles were the only ones who used dental floss.

They had packed themselves into the bathroom, taking turns brushing and
cleaning. They also took care of pissing, none of the four being
embarrassed by peeing while their friends watched. Their erections had
gone flaccid since they'd left the living room. As they clambered out of the
bathroom, Miles's mom came up the stairs. They were happy they'd waited
to strip down to their underwear.

"No wrestling," she instructed them.

"We won't wrestle mom."

"Good, because if you do it will be a long time before you have your next
overnight."

The four boys swore they wouldn't wrestle and headed up the stairs, aware
of Miles's mom standing at the bottom watching their butts disappear.

"I always thought your mom was nice," Aiden said, "but she's in a bad
mood tonight."

"She's like that for John's sleepovers too," Miles said. "Dad says having
boys all over the place makes her nervous. She keeps waiting for
everybody to get in trouble and break stuff."

"Do John's friends get in trouble?"

"Sometimes. But nobody ever got sent home and he still gets to have
sleepovers. But she told me because we were just little kids she was gonna
watch us real close."

"I am not a little kid," Muddy stated emphatically. He was already stripped
down to his boxers.

"I know. You're ten and we're all almost ten, so we're not little at all."

"I got nail." Muddy pulled down the front of his boxers, showing his thick
four inches of boy meat.

"I swear that Muddy is bigger than John is down there."

Muddy grinned as he slowly stroked his boner. "I am as big as my brother
Josif." Josif was twelve. "I am naked. Why are you not naked?"

"Miles's mom might come in," Rusty said.

"If we're quiet, she won't come in," Miles assured him.

Aiden quietly removed everything but his black briefs. "Those are really
cool underpants, Aiden," Miles told him, which told Aiden that he'd made
the right choice of underpants. "I liked them when I was feeling your
wiener."

Thinking of Miles fondling him on the living room couch got Aiden instantly
hard. He pulled his briefs off and was the second one of the boys to get
naked; Miles and Rusty quickly joined him. All four boys were now erect.

"That was fun what we did at Gordy's house," Aiden said.

"You mean doing the jerking off?" Muddy asked.

"Yeah. I liked jerking you off. Then, when I got home I had to jerk off worse
than ever in my life."

"Did you do it?" Miles asked.

"Yeah, but I don't know why I was feeling that way."

"My brothers say it means you are horny," Muddy told him.

"That's what John says, too," Miles said.

"Muddy, do you know what sixty-nine means?" Aiden asked.

"Where did you hear that?" Muddy was sitting on the small guest bed
masturbating and hoping one of his friends would take over the task.

"Yesterday from Sammy Bednarzyk. I think it is about sex, right?"

"John knows Sammy," Miles said. "They're both in seventh grade, but they
aren't friends. John says Sammy is like a sex stud or something."

"Have you ever done a sixty-nine?" Aiden asked Muddy.

Miles sat next to Muddy and replaced the ten-year-old's hand with his own.
Muddy let out a satisfied groan as he got his wish.

"Yes, I do sixty-nine with my brothers and some of my cousins. It is very
fun. I do it with my sister, but not so much. It is not as fun. I like it when they
have cocks."

"So, what do you do?" Rusty asked. He was now as curious as Aiden. Both
boys were slowly masturbating themselves as they watched Miles work on
Muddy's erection.

"It's putting our cocks in our mouths," Muddy answered.

"That's impossible," Aiden said. "You can't put your cock in your mouth.
Nobody can." It would take a while, but he'd eventually learn that he was
wrong.

"No, I put his cock in my mouth, like we said at Gordon's house. And he
puts mine in his mouth as same time."

"Huh?" came the confused question all at once from Aiden, Miles, and
Rusty.

"I show you," Muddy told him. As much as he didn't want Miles to stop, he
stood up, disconnecting his erection from his friend's hand.

"I ain't putting your thing in my mouth," Aiden squeaked.

"We will just, how is it said?  We will fake it." He pointed to Aiden. "You lay
on bed on your side."

Aiden did as he was asked. Muddy lay facing him, with his head pointing in
the other direction. "This is sixty-nine. I put your cock in my mouth and at
same time mine is in your mouth and we suck them until we have a cum." It
was all Muddy could do not to put Aiden's steel nail into his mouth.

"Do your brothers make cum?" Miles asked.

"Yes, both do, but Josif not so much as Stefan. I make it, too"

"So you quit before it comes out, right?"

"No, I let them shoot cum in my mouth and I eat it."

That elicited a trio of "Ewwwww" from his three friends.

"I can't believe anybody does that," Aiden said. "That is so gross. Gordy
say it's totally beyond gross."

"I like it," Muddy said defensively.

"Just because I wouldn't do it don't mean it's not okay for you. I guess you
don't think it's gross."

"No, I like it," Muddy repeated.

"Well, we all have boners," Miles said, eschewing their euphemism of "nail"
for an erection. "I want to get the feeling."

"Me, too," Muddy said.

"Me three," Aiden chimed it. "But it's called an orgasmism."

"No, orgasm." Muddy was pleased that he was able to correct Aiden's
English.

"How about you and me give each other one," Aiden said to Muddy, "and
Miles and Rusty can give each other one."

"I never had one before," Rusty said.

"I've had some with John. But he has to be real horny to give me one when
I give him one," Miles told them. "And the last few days he's been real
horny a lot."

Since the bed didn't have room for them to lay flat, the boys spread their
sleeping bags across the floor and lay on top of them. While Aiden had
jerked off Muddy at Gordon's house, it had not been mutual masturbation.
This time it was, and for the second time in his life, Aiden enjoyed jerking
off another boy while he returned the favor.

Next to them, Miles showed Rusty the basics of masturbation. Rusty said it
felt weird and that it was "sorta gross" for everybody, including himself, to
have their hand on someone else's wiener. Being gross, didn't stop him
from doing it.

Since they didn't have any lotion, Muddy showed them how to use spit and
rub it in. "Is better to just put it in your mouth," Muddy reminded them, "but
you don't do that."

After that the talk stopped and the only noise was the boys frapping each
other, their ragged breathing, some high pitched grunts, and soprano
squeaks as Aiden had a dry cum, followed by Muddy soon after. In their
fourth-grade world, Aiden and Muddy saw themselves as experienced at
mutual masturbation. It was a bit more awkward for Miles and Rusty. As
good as their cocklets felt, they finally got tired and stopped. Rusty still had
a bit to learn. Everyone admired the two clear drops of boy seed on
Muddy's belly.

Muddy suggested they share sleeping bags. "It is much fun to sleep naked
with a friend. I can sleep with Aiden."

But, the boys were tired. Plus, Aiden wanted to enjoy the smell and feel of
his new sleeping bag by himself. He remembered how nice it had been to
sleep naked with Gordon, and sleeping with Muddy sounded even more
fun, but he wanted his first night in his new sleeping bag to be just for him.

So, each boy slept in his own sleeping bag. Aiden loved new one and had
been especially pleased when his friends complimented him on the wildlife
designs on the lining. Aiden had had some sexual fun with his friends on
the sleepover, but, like all of them, except Muddy, his sexual urges were
still a bit suppressed. Aiden knew doing sex things felt good, but other than
that it was all quite mysterious with things line sixty-nines which didn't
sound like it would feel good at all.

He fell asleep not thinking of what he and Muddy had done together, but
thinking of his upcoming lunch with Marty.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Nobody showered in the morning to keep from using a lot of hot water.
Miles would have his shower after his friends left. Aiden, Muddy, and Rusty
would shower or bathe when they got home. Rusty usually took an evening
bath, while Muddy showered or bathed depending on the circumstances.

"We could have had a bath together," Miles said. "That wouldn't have cost
any extra money."

"We couldn't all fit in your bathtub," Aiden pointed out.

"We would if we took turns," Miles giggled.

Rusty's mother picked him up just after ten while Muddy left to walk home a
few minutes later. Phil picked up Aiden at quarter after ten.

At 12:15, Aiden was sitting on the chair at the window watching the rain
come down. Mortimer and Horace were sitting together on his lap as to
help him spot Marty's car.

Larry was amused by Aiden's excitement. He thought about giving the boy
a hard time for being set to go fifteen minutes before Marty was due, but
decided not to. That unbridled eagerness was one of the beauties of his
son's personality and he didn't want to belittle it in any way.

Marty arrive right on time. Aiden set Horace on the chair and bounced to
the door, opening it as Marty walked up the stairs. Marty could remember
walking up those steps to his coaches' house since he was a young teen—
the place had been special to him then and was special to him now.

Aiden wrapped his arms around Marty as well as he could considering he
was carrying a teddy bear.  "I have Mortimer for you," Aiden told Marty in
case his favorite baseball player hadn't noticed.

"Why don't you put Mortimer over there on the chair next to Horace. I'll take
him when I bring you back home. This way they can enjoy each other's
company little longer."

"Cool." Aiden did as he was told and walked back to the door. "They don't
really enjoy each other's company you know—it's just our story."

They walked down the steps and Marty had Aiden sit in the back seat.
Aiden knew it was the law for small kids like him to sit in back, but he was
hoping that Marty didn't know it so he could sit in front.

As Marty started off towards Mayfield, he gave his opinion on Aiden's
stuffed animal comment. "I don't know about how Mortimer and Horace
feel. That might be our story, but they are our friends. They loved us
unconditionally when we needed it. They might not know they loved us, but
we know it, and that's what makes them real to us."

Aiden thought about what Marty had said as they went past the state park
and then drove over the dam. "I get it," he finally said. "They're real to us
even if nobody else thinks they're real. Like in a book. The characters in a
book aren't real, but when we read the book it's like they're real people."

"It's a pleasure being your friend, Aiden. You are one very sharp dude."
While he couldn't see it, Marty could feel the pride emanating from his little
charge.

They arrived at the Burger Barn and sat at a table towards the back of the
restaurant. Marty was recognized and greeted by a few of the customers.
One lady came up with her son, a redhead who looked to be seven or
eight. She greeted Marty, telling him how much she and her husband had
enjoyed watching him play all of his three sports at Mayfield, but watching
him play baseball and winning a state championship had been the best of
all.

Marty had been a three-sport player, lettering in football, basketball, and
baseball. He was a senior on the first of Coach Sanders' three State
Champions and had been named the MVP of the State Tournament.

"Bobby, do you have something to ask Marty?" the mom asked her little
son.

He held out a sheet of paper his mother had acquired from the server at the
counter along with a pen. "Mr. Marty, do you think I could have your
autograph please?" he asked nervously.

"Not a problem," Marty grinned, writing, "To my friend, Bobby."  He signed
his signature with a flourish. The boy picked it up, looked at it, and gave
Marty a mile-wide grin.

"Thank you," he said shyly.

"Yes, thank you for your time and kindness," the mother said. As they left
Aiden could hear what Bobby said to his mother. "That boy is so lucky he
gets to have lunch with a baseball star." Once again, Aiden's chest swelled
up with pride. He knew the boy was totally right—he was lucky.

"That was really cool," Aiden told Marty.

"It was, but I am probably going to have to get used to the whole autograph
thing." He picked up his menu, even though he already knew what he
wanted. He'd been eating at the Barn since he was a little boy. Aiden had
to peruse the menu to see what he wanted.

After they ordered their burgers and milk shakes they continued their
conversation. "Are you making use of your new glove?" Marty asked.

"Yep. Daddy hits me ground balls in the back yard, but we also go to the
cages in Centralia and they have this humungous room which is like an
airplane hangar or something."

"And it has a small infield lined on the turf," Marty said, "where Coach hits
you thousands of grounders."

"You've been there."

"Anybody who is serious about baseball around here goes to the complex
to practice."

"Marty, did you pitch?"

"Yes and no. I was like ten the last time I pitched—that's the yes. But, I
never pitched from when I was in middle school on, and that's the no."

"Dad and daddy want me to try pitching. We've been practicing."

"Sweet. From what I've seen and heard you have a strong arm for a little
shit."

"I am not little," Aiden protested.

Marty rubbed his head, making his usual disheveled hair even worse. "No,
you're not. Anybody with a heart as big as yours could never be called a
little shit or a little anything else." Aiden flashed his signature grin.

"Marty, if I pitch I can't play third base."

"Bro, third is a goal, not a destination. It's something you work for. At your
age, you'll be playing all over the field. Every team needs pitching, and if
you're good at it, you will pitch. You can't pitch every day, so you need
other places to play, too. I just happen to think third is the best."

"I think so, too, because you play there," Aiden grinned, not realizing how
transparent his hero worship was. And if he did realize it, he wouldn't have
cared.

The conversation stopped for a moment as their lunches and milkshakes
arrived. Marty had a raspberry shake while Aiden picked chocolate. The
shakes were not poured out of a soft-serve machine, but were made from
scratch at the Barn. Aiden thought they were the best shakes in the world.

"Did you have a good time on your overnight?" Marty asked.

"Yep. I got to sleep in my new sleeping bag and it was really nice."

"You didn't invite anybody to join you?" Marty smirked.

"I wanted my first time to be just for me."

Marty thought he might have had the same reaction when he was nine, but
then he never had overnights when he was nine. He knew that when
puberty hit him, there was no question what his choice would have been.
Sex in a sleeping bag with another boy was like a touch of heaven for him
as a pubescent boy. Sadly, a lot of those nights were dim memories
because he'd been too drunk or stoned to remember things.

"Trust me, bro, that will change soon enough."

Aiden decided to ask Marty the same question he'd asked his dads not
long ago. "Marty, do you think I'm gay?"  He was expecting the same
answer he'd gotten when he'd asked his dads. "I think you're Aiden."

He did not expect Marty to say, "Why do you want to know?" Aiden scooted
over closer to his big "brother".

"Me and Muddy jerked each other off before we went to bed. We were
naked." Marty was the only person Aiden knew that he felt he could confide
everything to.

"Nothing gay about that when you're nine, or the, or eleven, or twelve,
maybe even thirteen...hmm, fourteen we might have to start thinking about
it, but not real hard. You and your buddy were playing and learning. Don't
worry about the gay shit, just have fun." Marty felt a stirring in his loins as
he thought of Aiden naked with his buddy as they pleasured each other's
little hard-ons.

"That's what my dads told me. I mean about messing around. I didn't tell
them about what me and Muddy did."

"The Coaches are smart guys—listen to them. You're going to get hornier
and hornier over the next couple of years, and it sounds like you have
some friends you can play with.

"Did you say your friend's name was Muddy?" Marty asked.

"It's Mudrak, but we all call him Muddy."

"Sweet. That's what friends do a lot; make up nicknames for each other."

"I didn't like gay guys when I came here. Everybody to told me they were
bad."

Marty ruffled the boys' hair again. "Just remember that `everybody' is
usually wrong. And anybody who tells you not to like somebody because of
their color, or their sexual orientation, or because of any other prejudice is
somebody you should never listen to. I take it you don't feel that way now."

"No way. My dads are gay and are awesome. You're gay and you're my
bro. Timothy in the book my dads and I are reading says the same thing.
He says everybody is the same on the inside and Phillip says he can't tell
what color Timothy is on the dark."

Marty recognized the story right away. "It sounds like you're reading `The
Cay'. That's a great book."

"You mean you've read it?"

Marty nodded. The fact that Marty had read the book moved it up in Aiden's
mind from being a great book to being one of the all-time great works of
literature.

Aiden nodded. "I can't wait until you and Rich get married. That's going to
be so fun to watch. I can call Rich my uncle or something. I hope I get to
see you play a baseball game in the spring," Aiden said as he performed
one of his shifts of topic.

"Funny that you mention that," Marty grinned. "Your dads and I have been
talking about you and one or both of them coming out to Pullman to watch
the might Cougars play, and maybe a series against the Huskies or one of
the Oregon schools."

"Yippee, that's even better than a wedding," Aiden gushed. That got Marty
laughing so hard he almost dropped to the floor. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing big, little bro. I just happen to love you a lot and you putting
baseball ahead of a wedding—while it's pretty funny, in a lot of ways I like
how you think.

"Did you have fun, yesterday?" Aiden asked, worried that Marty would think
he was selfish because they were mostly talking about himself.

"I did, and thanks for asking. I had another turkey dinner at my dad's house
with my brother, my step-mom, and my little baby brother. After dinner, I
went with my dad, Mr. B., and Rich's brother Mikey to an AA meeting in
Centralia."

"What's AA?"

"Alcoholics Anonymous. It's for people who want to stop drinking."

"But you never drink," Aiden said, "so why do you need to go? I mean, you
can't stop what you don't do"

"I need to go so that I never drink again," was Marty's straightforward reply.

Aiden gave that some thought and then nodded. "I think I get it. It's like
taking medicine when you're sick or something so you don't get more sick."

"Close enough, bro."

Aiden slurped the last of his milk shake, which was Marty's signal that it
was time to go. Marty paid his bill. As he and Aiden headed out the door
they were stopped by Bob, the owner of the Burger Barn.

"In case I don't run across you, Marty, good luck this spring. Go Cougs."

"Thanks, Bob."

"And I hope somebody takes you high in the draft, cuz they're getting a
great ballplayer and person."

"I appreciate that."

"Is this Coach Sanders' nephew?"

Marty let Aiden answer the question. "Coach Sanders is my daddy and
Coach Miller is my dad and I'm their son," Aiden corrected him.

Bob reached out for a handshake and was surprised with Aiden returned it
with a firm little grip. That handshake told him all he needed to know.
"Kiddo, you couldn't ask for better dads than those two."

Marty went into the house with Aiden after bringing him home. "I see
Mortimer and Horace had a great time together. They're still right there on
the chairs," Marty said.

Marty hung for a few minute chatting with his old coaches while Aiden
listened in, hanging on to every word. Before Marty could pick up Mortimer
and head for the front door, Aiden stopped him and grabbed his hand.

"You gotta see something before you go." He almost dragged the big
athlete up the stairs to the landing and then to his bedroom. He opened the
door and pointed to his corkboard where the two eight by tens of Marty
playing a college baseball game were pinned. "Those are the best pictures
in my room. Dad said he's going to get some frames so they can be hung
really good and not get torn or anything. He said nobody will see the
pinholes."

"I am honored to be featured in your room, bro."

"Thank you for giving them to me."

They went downstairs where Marty picked up Mortimer. Aiden sat in the
chair by the front window with Horace on his lap, and watched Marty's
taillights disappear down the highway.

As he drove toward Mayfield, Marty couldn't help recalling the struggles
he'd had with his own sexual orientation as a young boy and how difficult it
had been to finally admit his homosexuality to himself and his family and
friends. He began to have a few feelings of doubt about what he'd told
Aiden. When he arrived at the Bednarzyk' house, he picked up Mortimer
and climbed out of his Honda. As he and Mortimer looked at each other,
Marty imagined he saw Mortimer nod at him. That nod, whether real or
imagined sent a warm feeling through him. He walked into his apartment,
confident that he'd told Aiden exactly the right things.


Next:  Busy December.