Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2002 11:19:17 EDT
From: Bwstories8@aol.com
Subject: The Castaway Hotel-book 5, chapter 19

Legal Notice:
The following story contains descriptions of graphic sexual acts.
The story is a work of fiction and has no basis in reality.

Don't read this story if:
**You're not 18 or over,
**If it is illegal to read this type of material where you live,
**Or if you don't want to read about gay/bi people in love or having sex.

The author retains copyright to this story.  Placing this story on a
website or reproducing this story for distribution without the author's
permission is a violation of that copyright.  Legal action will be taken
against violators.

I wish to extend my thank you to Ed for his editorial assistance with this
chapter.

If you have enjoyed reading this story, you will find other stories by me
at http://members.tripod.de/wolfslair, in the 'Other Stories' section.

E-mail responses to the stories, story suggestions, or other 'constructive'
comments or advice may be sent to: bwstories8@aol.com.

                *    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Although the boys in these stories have unprotected sex, I strongly urge
all of you out there to be smart and protect yourselves from various
sexually transmitted diseases by using condoms when having intercourse.

                *    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

The Castaway Hotel-Book 5-by BW (Young-Friends).  Copyright 2002 by billwstories
Chapter 19 - Small accomplishments.               March 2002

I started my job, as interim Superintendent of my old school district, and
I went in to my office to get brought up to speed on what was on the agenda
for now.  I already knew much of what was happening, but there were a few
things I was unaware of.  It didn't take them long to fill me in on what I
needed to know, and then I was ready to fly solo.  All in all it wasn't too
bad of an adjustment for any of us, and everyone was being super nice.  I
knew this was just the honeymoon period, and it wouldn't always be like
this, but I'd try to enjoy it while it lasted.

One afternoon, after I got home from work, I discovered a letter that had
been sent me.  Actually, it had been sent to the Tom Cole AEA Memorial
Foundation and then forwarded to my attention.  Someone from the foundation
must have thought I should read this letter, so it was put into another
envelope and addressed to me.  When I opened it up, this is what I saw.

To the person who founded the Tom Cole AEA Memorial Foundation,

I just wanted to let you know that you helped save my friend's life.  You
didn't do it yourselves, but by letting me know how dangerous AEA is, you
made me talk to my friend and make him make me a promise.  I think that
promise saved his life.

Maybe I should explain how that happened.  My friend and I are both 15, and
he got into AEA because he heard his brother's friends talking about how
kewl it was.  They talked about what a rush you got, when you shot your
load while doing that, and said it was even better than normal.  My friend
thought this sounded great, so he started to do it too.  After our teacher
told us about the dangers of AEA, I tried to talk him out of doing this any
more, but he wouldn't stop.  He said it felt too good to just quit.  I did
get him to promise me not to do it unless someone else was there with him,
but he wouldn't just do it with anyone around.  That's why I was always
with him when he did it, and we both kind of just got off at the same time,
you know.  Even though I did it at the same time he did, I wouldn't try the
AEA.  One day he kind of passed out after he shot, with the piece of rope
still tied around his neck.  I was able to get it off him when I saw what
happened, or else he would have died.  I even had to give him
mouth-to-mouth, cuz he stopped breathing.  I'm glad I took that class from
the Red Cross.  I'm sure he would have died like that, cuz he had the rope
tied to the bar in his closet and then around his neck, while he sat on the
floor.  When he passed out, he kind of laid back, with his body on the
floor but his head dangling in the air.  It was really scary.

After that happened, I convinced him to give up messing around with AEA,
cuz that really scared the crap out of him too.  I thought I had lost my
best friend, and I was just glad I had known about this, so I could be with
him when it happened.  After I thanked my teacher for telling us about
that, he said it was only because of the stuff this Foundation sent him, so
he told me I should thank you also.  So thank you for helping me save my
friend's life, and neither one of us will ever try AEA again.

Your friend, Bobby


I was really moved by this letter, and now I knew we had saved at least one
life through our efforts, so maybe Tommy's death wasn't entirely without
purpose.  I decided to make a copy of that letter, to keep for myself, but
I was going to send the original, along with an additional note from me, to
Tommy's parents.  I thought they should also know that Tommy's death had
helped to save someone else from the same fate and I thought it might give
them a little solace, or maybe bring a greater sense of closure to their
suffering.  I hoped I would hear back from them about this.

Other things at this time weren't going as well.  The search for the new
Superintendent was going smoothly, but more slowly than any of us would
have liked.  The school district had posted advertisements in the local
newspaper, as well as the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh papers, and they had
also posted it with some of the online job search organizations and in
professional publications.  The letters of application and resumes were now
beginning to roll in, but not in the quantities we might have wished, and
the committee would meet occasionally to go over them.  The committee
members would immediately weed out those that didn't meet the minimum
requirements or the ones where the applicant's credentials didn't seem to
be quite what we were looking for.  If they made it through that process,
then we would conduct telephone interviews with them, to get an impression
about their personality, educational philosophy, communication skills, and
whether we were interested enough in them to have them come for an
in-person interview.  When asked, we would tell them it would be a couple
of weeks before we would contact those we were interested in, to set up a
time for such an interview, and then we'd advise them our plan was to hire
and have the person onboard by mid-August.

Over 80% of the applicants who had reached that point were eliminated by
the time we finished the telephone interviews, for various reasons.  Some
did not share the same educational philosophy or goals that the board had
established, while others didn't seem to be able to think on their feet or
their personality would be too abrasive to fit in with the locals.  Others
were eliminated because they didn't seem to have the required verbal skills
necessary for someone in such a high position, as this person was in
essence the spokesperson for the entire district.  One was also eliminated
because of the grammatical and usage mistakes he made when answering
questions, such as choosing words that were inappropriate in that context.
It appeared this would be a long and time consuming process, so we had to
focus on the end results, and not on a speedy timeline.

During this time I also started my new trio on their driving lessons.
Although I wasn't so worried about Trey and Nick, I did have some questions
where Vinnie was concerned.  I wasn't sure if his muscular problems would
cause him problems in driving or require him to use special equipment, like
hand controls instead of the traditional foot pedals.  I wasn't exactly
sure how to broach this subject with him, as I didn't want him to think
that I was trying to discourage him from getting his license, but I needed
to know that he wouldn't be at a disadvantage or at risk because of his
handicap.  Eventually I just decided that I had to try to do this as
tactfully as I could.

"Vinnie, I know you want to get your license, but I do have some questions
to ask you about this first."

"Okay, that's not a problem."

"I'm glad you feel that way, and I hope these questions don't offend you."

"Don't worry about that.  I owe you way too much to let anything bother
me."

"Well, I hope so.  First, are you going to need any special equipment or
anything different to learn how to drive?"

"Nah, I know I won't."

"How do you know that?"

"Well, my dad used to let me drive the car on back roads, and I could
operate the pedals with no problems.  It wasn't that hard."

"Okay, if you're sure."

"I am.  You'll see."

"I'm sure I will.  We'll go out Saturday for the first time, okay?"

"Yeah, that'll be great."

"Well, I'll let you tell Trey and Nick then.  You three will make up this
group."

"That sounds good to me.  I'll let them know.  Thanks, Pop."

The first lesson actually went pretty well, as I just gave them some basics
and let them drive around the empty school parking lot, so I could get a
feel for where they'd be starting from and how much work we'd have to do.
This was the most diverse group I had worked with to this point.  You see,
there was Trey, my meek, quiet, and thoughtful one, juxtaposed against
Nick, the aggressive, sweet-talking conman, and then there was Vinnie, who
was bright and confident, yet had those limitations to overcome.  I somehow
knew this class wouldn't just be a repeat of the others, yet I surmised
that it might be the most rewarding of all my efforts.  In a way, I was
really looking forward to this challenge, and the individual victories that
awaited us at the finish line.

After we got back home, I jumped on the computer and discovered I had
received another email from Ricky.  That reminded me of something.  Even
though it was only June, I figured I had to start planning for Ricky's
birthday, which was on July 7th.  I would talk it over with the boys, to
see what they thought we should get him, but we'd have to send it within a
week or two, giving it plenty of time to arrive there.  I would suggest
that the boys try to get some ideas from Ricky, discreetly, when we talk to
him on the phone or through the emails.  They didn't seem to mind my
request to discover what he might want, in fact I think they liked that
idea, but I figured I'd probably send him some extra money tooo, so he
could enjoy himself and be able to do more things while he was there.


Hi Dad,

My host parents took me to see some of the area over the weekend.  It was
really neat.  They kind of live in the foothills of the Blue Mountains
here, and they took me there to see some of the places that everyone comes
to see.  They took me to this place called Echo Point, so I could see what
they call the Three Sisters.  It's three mountains jutting up into the air,
but it's supposed to be three sisters who were turned into stone. They said
it's part of some Aboriginal legend.  I guess that a long time ago there
were supposed to be these three beautiful sisters in this tribe, and that
three brothers from another tribe fell in love with them.  The problem was
that the tribes didn't really get along, so neither tribe would let them
marry.  This made the brothers mad, so they captured the three sisters and
took them away, but this started a big war between the tribes.  This put
the three sisters in danger, cuz they might get killed during the war, so a
witchdoctor from their tribe turned them into stone, to keep them safe.  He
planned on turning them back into women, after the war ended, but the
witchdoctor got killed during the war.  The problem was that only he could
turn them back, so they have been left as these rock mountains ever since.

Peter and I even walked up and down what they call the Giant Stairway.
It's got like 800 steps to it, so that's why my host parents didn't want to
go with us.  We had a great time, but it can be a little scary.  I slipped
once and thought I was a goner.  Peter just laughed at me and I just sat
there, as I was afraid I crapped my pants, but that didn't happen, thank
God.  Well it was still a good time.  I got even with Peter when we got
back home, though.  The next morning I sneaked into his room and pounced on
his bed while he was sleeping.  I scared him really bad.  I think he even
peed himself a little, but he wouldn't admit it.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about their house.  It's what we would call a
ranch house, and it has three bedrooms.  The biggest bedroom is my host
parents' bedroom, and then there's Peter's room, and the guest room, which
I use.  They have a kitchen, dining room, and what they call a lounge room.
That's kinda like our living room or family room.  They have a pool too, so
Peter and I will do some swimming.  I'm hoping to talk him into
skinny-dipping with me when his parents aren't home.  Maybe we can get
Kylie to come over and join us, lol.  Oh, yeah, maybe I forgot to tell you.
Kylie is the girl that Peter introduced me to.  We've been talking a bit,
getting to know each other.  She's kinda nice.

Well, I'll write again in a few days.  Love you all and miss you, but not
that much.  Hehehe Please write me back.

Love, Ricky


Everyone got a kick out of Ricky's email, as it was vintage Ricky.  It
showed that he is still the adventurous one, the prankster, and he can have
a good time with either boys or girls.  He's very versatile and adaptive,
and it sounded like he was enjoying himself.  I did get a little concerned
when I read about his slipping climbing those stairs, but knowing Ricky, he
probably played that up to make it sound worse than it was, just for our
benefit.  It probably wasn't nearly as bad as it sounded, or at least I
hope it wasn't.  I'll try to get a couple of the boys to respond to his
emails, after we get each one.  That way he'll get a chance to hear from
all of them, without being overwhelmed all at once.

The search for a new superintendent was not going very well.  We weren't
sure if it was because this opening happened kind of late in the hiring
season, which would have meant that most qualified candidates would have
accepted other appropriate positions by now.  As a rule, superintendents
are usually brought on board as soon as the old school year ends, while
openings for other positions might be filled up until the new school year
begins.  No matter the reason, we knew the quality of the applicants we
were getting weren't meeting our standards.  Out of all the letters of
application and resumes we went through, we did phone interviews with
fifteen, and only two of them were good enough to be considered for a face
to face interview, yet we weren't totally thrilled with them either.  We
decided to extend the deadlines, hoping that others might apply, but we did
invite those two to come for a two-day visit and interview.  One of the
candidates was male, and the other a female, but neither had a solid
administrative background, nor did they give any indications of what
changes they foresaw happening educationally in the near future, no matter
how much we tried to draw them out.  Above all else, the district needs a
leader with definite visions for this job, so we'd just have to keep
looking.

The driving lessons were going pretty well, but we did need to make some
adjustments.  One was that we switched between the Grand Am and the
4-Runner Vinnie had donated to the family, because it seemed to be easier
for Vinnie to operate the pedals in the 4-Runner.  It might have had
something to do with the angles of the seat to the pedals, as the Grand Am
was lower, and laid out in a more horizontal fashion, but the other boys
didn't mind switching back and forth.  My biggest job with this group was
trying to get Trey to be a bit more aggressive at times, like when he was
accelerating to prepare to pull into traffic, and I had to pull the reins
in on Nick, as he tended to be a bit over-aggressive.  Vinnie, on the other
hand, had learned he had to be a little aggressive if he wanted to succeed,
just to overcome the obstacles he encountered in life, but he also knew he
couldn't get too aggressive, because of his disability and the limitations
it imposed on him.  Surprisingly, at least to me, he seemed to be doing the
best of all of them, and I wasn't even sure at the start if he'd be able to
drive.

The following Monday, we received another email from Ricky, and he still
seemed to be enjoying himself over there.


Hi Dad and everyone else,

I had a really neat weekend.  My host family took me to a couple of
different places, and I had a lot of fun.  On Saturday we went to the
Australian Wildlife Park, which isn't very far from here, and it was really
neat.  Although I've visited other zoos and wildlife parks with you before,
this one wasn't like those, because of all the different animals they have
here.  I knew about some of them before I came, but there are even more
than that, and they were really neat.

When we went to see the koalas, they had a raised platform that you could
walk along, so you were even with the tops of the eucalyptus trees.  That
way you could see the koalas while they ate, and watch them where they
really live.  It was really pretty kewl.  The koalas look like real-life
teddy bears, and they're so neat that you almost want to grab one and take
it home with you.

They also have five species of Kangaroos there, even an albino kangaroo,
and wallabies, which are like small kangaroos.  They also have dingos,
which are reddish brown wild dogs, and wombats, which look like really
small bears.  The emus look like small ostriches, and the goannas are
lizards, well, actually they're sand monitors.  The park had eye-level
underground viewing areas, so you could see the wombats and goannas
underground, where they spend much of their time.

They did have other animals that were really neat too.  They had fairy
penguins, which are the smallest of the penguins.  They only get to be
about ten inches tall.  They have blue feathers on their back and white
feathers on their fronts.  They also had some Tasmanian Devils, which
surprised me, cuz I thought they were only cartoon characters.  The real
ones are about the size of a cat or a badger, and they're black, with a
white chest.  These are not animals to mess around with, cuz they can be
really mean.  They have lots of sharp teeth and they attack each other like
all the time.  Most of them have patches on them where the fur is missing.
These are just scar areas from where they were bitten by other devils.  I'm
glad my brothers are that bad, well not quite.  hehehe

There was also this big saltwater crocodile, and some smaller ones too, but
they said the big one was the largest one in captivity.  It looked really
ferocious, especially in the underwater viewing area.  I probably wouldn't
even make him full if he ate me, though I'm glad I didn't have to worry
about that.  lol

Well, that was Saturday, and we spent the whole day there.  Then Sunday we
went back to the same general area, to go to Wonderland.  That's kind of
like Disney World.  They say it's the largest amusement park south of the
equator.  They have all sorts of rides and shows, and they even have a
thing called Blinky Bill, which is a giant koala costume, kind of like
Mickey Mouse.  Some of the rides were neat, even though some of it was
geared to the little kids, just like Disney World, but it was still a great
time.  I think if I can get Kylie to go out with me, I'll try to bring her
here.

Peter and I have been really close and we've had lots of fun.  It's like
winter down here, so I couldn't get him to go skinny-dipping yet, but I
will.  Oh, I forgot to tell you about school.  I'm taking all business
courses down here, because I've decided I want to major in marketing in
college.  Dad, you've always said I could sell sand to a thirsty man or a
bikini to an Eskimo, so I thought I'd go with my strengths.  lol

Well, I enjoyed all your emails, and Peter read them too.  I had to explain
some things to him, but he's cool with everything.  I even thought maybe he
could come visit us sometime, so he could get to know all of you.  I'm sure
everyone would like him, especially you Dad.  He's a little like me, that's
why.

Oh, and things I might want or need here, could you send some jockeys for
Peter.  The kind they sell here aren't as soft and he loves mine.  He wears
size 14/16.  And maybe you could send something special for my host
parents.  They've been really great to me, making sure I get to see and do
things while I'm here.  I'll talk to you about that on the phone when I
call, Dad, cuz I'm not sure what would be a good gift for them.  I know
you'll have plenty of ideas, though.  As far as my birthday goes, just call
me that day and wish me a happy birthday in person.  Remember, it will be
the 6th there, or the morning of the 7th, but I'll look forward to your
call on that day.

I love you all, Ricky


A short time after we all read the email from Ricky, Nick came up to me and
made an announcement.  "Pop, I think I want to sign up to be an exchange
student next year, like Ricky did."

"Oh, really?  I didn't know you were interested in anything like that."

"Yeah, I think it would be neat.  I'd really like to get to live in another
country.  I mean, you know I can survive on my own, I think I proved that
before, so do you think I can?"

"Well, before we decide that, you'll have to call your parents and get
their permission first.  If it's okay with them, then we'll get the ball
rolling on that when you go back to school.  Would that be okay with you?"

"Yeah, that would be great.  Should I call my mom and dad now?"

"I'm not sure they'll be home yet.  Why don't you wait until later tonight,
or you can just wait until you go back there.  Remember, you are leaving
this weekend to spend a few weeks with them.  Did you forget that you and
Brandon are flying out together?  He'll fly with you to Oklahoma and then
he'll catch another plane to get to Texas.  Don't forget, your parents took
their vacations during this time, just so they could spend time with you."

"Yeah, I remembered I was gong, but I don't really want to wait until then
to ask.  I want to know now."

"Well, we still won't be able to do anything until the fall, so there is
really no need to hurry this."

"And I'm going to miss Nigel and the boys coming here too, aren't I?  Dang,
I almost forgot about that."

"Only some of it.  We'll wait until you're back for the fun stuff.  While
you're gone, we'll probably only take them to see Philadelphia, Pittsburgh,
and New York City.  You've seen those places."

"Okay, but I wouldn't mind going again."

"I know, but you'll have fun with your parents.  They are really looking
forward to spending time with you, because they haven't seen you since
Christmas."

"I know and I'm glad they want to spend time with me now, so okay.  I'll
wait until I go there to ask, but only if you promise we'll get this
started as soon as we can."

"I promise.  That won't be a problem.  Have you narrowed down the countries
you want to go to?"

"Well, Australia sounds nice, but I'm pretty open.  I'm pretty good at
Spanish, as I had to use that a lot when I ran away, and I've even kept in
practice with Carlos.  We IM each other in Spanish most of the time."

"Well, it sounds like you have thought this out."

"Oh, I have.  Every time I see an email from Ricky, I know I want to go.
He sounds like he's having a real blast over there."

"Yes, I think you're right about that.  Well, it sounds like a plan, so
we'll talk about it more when you get back."

"Thanks, Pop.  I knew you'd help me do this."

"Don't thank me yet, not until your parents agree to this too.  I don't
want you to get too excited about this until they say it's all right too."

"Okay, I'll try not to."

Well, this was something I hadn't expected, but I knew I couldn't commit
for him to do this without his parents' consent and input.  I don't think
this will be a problem, however, as I feel this would be an excellent
opportunity for him to continue to grow and develop.  I think maybe I'll
have to sit down with him, to see what he might want to do with his life
after high school, before we get too far into this process, but I think he
must actually be thinking ahead now.  That's an accomplishment with Nick,
as he has always been more focused on what pleasure he could receive here
and now.  Except for his sudden interest in music and the guitar, I've
never seen him become this committed to something that didn't have to do
with sex.

              *    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Author's note: Thank you to all of you have already written, and I see
there are still some people interested in having me continue this series.
I will let you know in the final chapter (20) of book 5 what I decide.
Sincerely, Bill

              *    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

If you have enjoyed reading this story, you will find other stories by me at
http://members.tripod.de/wolfslair, in the 'Other Stories' section.
E-mails may be sent to: bwstories8@aol.com.