Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2006 01:05:09 +0100
From: Jonas Henley <jonas_henley@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Kids of Indian Spring, Chapter 02

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this story. Feel free to share your
thoughts on the story. I like reading reactions, etc. and constructive
criticisms are, of course, always welcome. This is actually my first story
submission.

This continues on the same morning just after the recently 12 year old
dirty blond haired Nathan blows his friend Kelley, called by his last name
Tucker. Kelley (just a month older, but several months farther in
development, already having a few strands of hair under the arm to match
his small sparse honey brown bush down below) was unsure if that was
entirely a smart move on his part letting things get that far, but what
really occupied his mind in the shower afterward was how to make some
money. He was now becoming more preoccupied with it than Nathan had
been. Nathan, of course was becoming more preoccupied with other, newer,
realizations:


Chapter 02

Monday,   12 June 1995   (same day)
12:48 pm


"Where do you want to ride to?"  Asked Nathan. Both boys had decided
quietly to their own selves to not bring up or try to remember what had
passed between them. For Nathan he was hoping Kelley would not change their
friendship, or start looking at him like a queer. The revelation that
Kelley had already noticed Nathan looking at other boys (even before Nathan
realized his own interests) was both shocking and scary to the cute
blondish boy. Shocking because it made Nathan wonder even more who he was,
and what exactly he would be willing to do. And with whom? And over and
over? It was too much for him. He did not even fully understand what it was
he did to Kelley. He dimly realized that he had just given his best friend
(and another boy at that!) a blowjob. He could relate it to the schoolyard
taunts that kids often threw at each other, but that was about as far as
his mind would let him take it.  A cocksucker.

He would definitely need to think this over. And probably at another
time. (But he swallowed a boy's cum!  Sperm!  Some other kid's recently
made sperm!) It would be a hard thing to put out of his mind - no pun
intended.

"I want to go up to Coolspring and have a look around." Kelley
responded. The two boys seemed to have reversed their sense of urgency in
getting a source of income. Nathan quieted somewhat from his recent
experience with Kelley; and Kelley, now realizing they would have to have
money or the question of whether the boys liked boys or girls would be
moot, as no Sweetwater girls would ever go out with a poor kid from Indian
Spring.

"Come on, let's just go down the Indian trail and go swimming." Nathan
said.

"No, Nate, I'm not going to the new school in Sweetwater as the poorest kid
in the school. And one of the only few poor kids at that."

"Hey, I'm poor too. Except, we're not really poor. Just lots poorer."

"You know what I mean."

"Anyway, it's like you said; you can't get a job. You're only 12."

"I'm going to find one of those garden guys and ask him to let me work
after school and on weekends. Even just 20-40 dollars a week would be
great."

"Most of them are Mexicans. They don't get paid that much. They certainly
ain't gonna pay you that much."

"Don't be stupid, Nate. They get paid more than that. How come you think
only rich people is hiring them? Besides 20$ is a lot to me, but not a lot
to them. And quit saying 'ain't'."

"Yeah, but everybody's always making jokes about Mexicans, especially
always doing work in the yard and stuff."

"Yeah, well, people are stupid."

Nathan had been biking up the shallow incline behind Kelley. As they
crested the first ridge and could see Coolspring beginning ahead of them,
Nathan pulled up alongside Kelley, as it was only a lightly traveled road
that connected Indian Spring to Coolspring. Nathan looked over at Kelley
and said, "Hey Tucker, don't get pissed. I'm not making fun of them. I'm
just saying a lot of guys will probably make fun of you too."

Kelley looked over at his friend, his friend who had just swallowed that
new juice of life he had so recently begun making, swallowed it right from
his own penis. Right out of his dick. He looked back toward the first few
houses and the west gate of Coolspring as they biked toward it.

"What?" asked Nathan as he waited for his friend to say something. It was a
weird, yet somewhat reassuring, look. He was definitely thinking something,
but he didn't respond for a while. Nathan was feeling better after that
initial scare. It started as an initial shock and scare of what he had
done, what his friend might think of him, and what it may mean he was or
was becoming. Then when he heard that Kelley saw him looking at, no lusting
at, apparently, other boys in their class, he got even more scared. But
still, his friend had apparently already known that before and hadn't
treated him any differently, up until that really weird make-out, sort of
make-out, this morning. However, after that, Kelley still seemed cool with
him. They were still getting along together; the only difference now
between them seemed to be this obsession Kelley had with finding a source
of money.

The boys rode on in silence up another short hill and into the subdivision
proper, or "Village", of Coolspring. Nathan began wondering if maybe Kelley
actually was interested in looking at or playing around with boys
too. Although Nathan had resolved to give that side of himself some more
thought later, a small part realized right now that he did indeed enjoy
looking at other boys. He liked wondering what they had underneath those
clothes, and received a thrill all up and down his insides whenever he had
gotten a glimpse of a particular boy here or there when swimming, in PE, at
camp, whenever. He liked them cute or rugged, grumpy or happy, friendly or
roguish. Lots of little things, or one thing only, could turn him on to a
boy.

He always had this subliminal interest in touching and holding parts of
other boys, and he had certainly enjoyed this morning. He was thinking, in
fact, right then of the feel of Kelley's dick in his mouth, the feel of
that bulbous head in the front of his mouth as he salivated around it, and
sucked on it, massaging it with his tongue. And that warm spurt afterward
that came out of Kelley's expanding flesh and just slid with a swallow down
his throat. He still wasn't sure how he would describe it, even to himself,
but he had liked it. He had liked it to the point where he now realized it
was fun and felt . . . . . different in an exciting way. He wanted to do it
again. But of that he was definitely too afraid to try on his own. Still
afraid of what might happen to his friendship and as well of what it might
mean about him.

"Stop it." Nathan heard Kelley say. Startled he looked over at him.

"Stop what, I wasn't doing anything."

"Stop thinking about it. It was just once."

"You're thinking about it too!"

"No I'm not. I'm just looking for some of those yard guys."

They pulled up to a stop sign and rested a moment, already several blocks
into the planned development.  "So if you weren't thinking about it,"
Nathan began, "what makes you think I was?"

Kelley just shrugged his shoulders and kept scanning the other streets,
deciding where to go.  "Just a guess. You were real quiet and not really
watching where we were going. I figured it was bugging you."

Now it was Nathan's turn to shrug. "Does it bug you?"

"What? That you wanted to do it, or that I let you?"

"Either."

Kelley let go of his handlebars and turned to face his friend.  "It doesn't
bother me any that you wanted to. And it wouldn't bother me none if you
really liked it. Did you?"

Nathan looked down and turned red before answering, "Yeah, I guess I did."

"OK. That's cool."

"You didn't like it?"  Nathan asked, still looking at the ground and now
kicking at some pebbles on the street.

Kelley turned away from his friend, looked off down the street to the left
and thinking before he answered.  "Well, I mean, it felt good when you were
. . ," he broke off and turned back to his friend who looked up, ". . .you
know."  Nathan nodded and Kelley resumed, now looking down the street
straight ahead of them.  "I mean it felt good cause of what you were doing
and not because it was you or a guy doing it. It felt kinda weird because
of that."  Now it was Nathan's turn to look away, down the street to the
right. Kelley looked over to his friend looking away from him and hurried
on with, "It wasn't anything to do with you, Nate. I mean, I didn't think
nothing bad about you, ever. I just don't think we should do it again."

Nathan just looked forward and nodded. Kelley added, "Nate, I, uh, I'm
sorry. I figured you would want to look, and I guess I didn't stop when I
should have. But I promise I never thought anything bad about you."

"You didn't?"

"Hell no, man. We're best friends, right?"

"Yeah. But, uh, Kelley . . . .  I really do like looking at guys."

"So?'

"So??"

"So? So what. It don't mean anything."

"So you don't think I'm gay?"

"Dude we're just kids. You never even made out with a girl, and I know for
sure I ain't. So how would you know?"

Nathan smiled and said, "Don't say 'ain't'. You ain't a retard."

Kelley laughed at being caught out sounding like a hick, by Nathan of all
people. "OK," he said, "I ain't gonna say it no more."

They both cracked up at this one. Nathan had been tempted to ask if Kelley
would ever think about blowing him, but he realized that he had received
all his answers about Kelley for that day on that issue. So instead he just
said, "So, now what?"

"So now we find us a job. Nate, I know what you were saying back there
about the Mexicans, even though we shouldn't keep calling them that. Most
of them are American."

"OK, I'll stop calling them Mexicans."

"But you are right. Everybody makes fun of them. And I think you're right
that they'll make fun of us too."

"So what are we going to do?"

"So, we're not going to work in Sweetwater. Only here. And we aren't going
to tell anybody in Sweetwater, right?"

"Right."

"Not even Tyler and Blaine."

"They're our friends, they ain't gonna make fun of us."

"They ain't?"

"OK, OK! They aren't. And they won't tell anybody else, either. Why are you
always trying to be proper now, anyway?"

"Because I don't want anybody making fun of us. They're going to look for
anything to make fun of us; at least some of them will. I don't want to
help them out. And no, just don't tell anybody, even Tyler and
Blaine. Please?"

"OK, I won't. Are we going there after we find our boss man?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Good, maybe they'll want to go swimming. So which way?"

"I don't know. What do you think?"

Nathan pointed straight ahead and said, "Well that way goes to the sort of
downtown part of Coolspring. We could still go there if you still wanted to
do that hanging out on a street corner thing."

"Man, Nate, shut the fuck up, that's not what I was trying to say and you
know it."

Nathan was laughing and replied, "Well, you said it. But we won't find the
gardeners too much that way, and down to the right is all them garden homes
and some apartments. I say left, cause it's got the bigger houses down that
way."

"OK, I say left, too."

With that the boys took off again and headed down the deserted streets of
the Coolspring mansions.

After riding for a while with no luck, the boys' enthusiasm and spirit
began to wane.  "I'm not so sure I want to do this, Tucker."

"What? Come on Nate, you were saying just as much as I was about how it
will suck not having money. All those guys will treat us like crap."

"I know." Nathan said quietly.

"And none of the girls will do anything with us, either."

"Yeah." Nathan responded flatly and got a glance from Kelley.

"Hey Nate, hold up." And they both came to a stop.

"What?"

"I was just thinking." But he stopped, unable to go farther with his
thoughts.

"Congratulations. I know that must have been very difficult for you."

Kelley cracked a smile, but just said, "Shut up, fucker. No, it's just, uh,
well, uh, hard to start saying."

"You don't think I'm going to like girls? That I wont want them paying
attention to me? Cause I do!"

Nathan had responded a little angry, and Kelley was actually truly taken
aback. That hadn't exactly been what was on his mind. "No Nate. It isn't
that. I mean I know you will. You know it's just that. . ., " Kelley
screwed up his face as though he were trying to come up with the words.
"Well, you know, I figure you might want and go try something with a guy
again."

Nathan was going to respond angrily but stopped himself. It was true. He
knew it. He just nodded his head and looked down.  "Yeah, I know. But I'm
not that stupid, Tuck. I know I'd get my ass kicked to Christmas and back
around. And then my parents might find out, and I'd be fucked for sure."

"You can't tell anybody or look at people at school, either. Or anywhere in
Sweetwater, really."

Nathan just nodded.

"I mean it, Nate."

"I know, I know. I won't." He hesitated before going on.  "So you really
don't ever want to do anything like that again?"

"No, Nate. Don't you think that would be just, like, too weird?"

Nathan looked at him and smiled. "Yeah, I guess so. I guess it would
be. You know," and here he hesitated again, smiling before continuing, "I
just wanted to say, and I promise I won't say anything else, but I just
wanted to say that, uh, you, uh, you know . . . . . . . well, you're pretty
hot."

He got that last part out almost short of breath but with a huff to laugh
it off somehow.

"Really?"

"Yeah, dude," Nathan continued, noticeably awkwardly, "you've got a really
nice body. I like, uh, I like. . . ." He was going to say 'I like looking
at it' but realized that would be going too far. So Nathan just lamely
finished up with: "I like, think the girls are gonna really like it."

"Yeah? Thanks dude. I mean it's kind of weird, but uh . . ., " And here
Kelley also tried to laugh it off but smiled, and blushed ever so slightly,
at the compliment.  "Well, it's kind of cool to hear."  He was picking at
some imaginary dirt or fuzz at his handlebar, but then became more serious
and looked over at Nathan. "But just cool hearing it this one time."

"Oh, totally. Yeah, just this time."

"You're not going to say it again?"

"No. No way."

"And nobody outside Indian Spring is going to catch you looking?"

"Uh, no."

"Good. Sorry, just trying to look out for a friend."

While that awkward moment was passing they looked up the street they were
on. There on the right was a pickup and a trailer, with a mower and various
other equipment still in it. Sure enough they looked in the yard and saw a
Hispanic man about late 30's looking down at the grass in the yard, as
though he had missed a weed. In truth, he was looking for discoloration
that may suggest a need for more fertilizer, or maybe some iron. He didn't
notice the boys as they started back up their bikes and cycled across and
up the street toward him.

He also didn't notice them as the boy in red wind shorts stopped and the
boy in jeans kept going (Kelley had continued wearing his jeans in case, or
in the hope that, some lawn and garden company proprietor, such as this
very man, may actually hire him on the spot). The man, Ernesto Salvador,
had started the company up three years ago with a childhood friend, Carlos
Martinez - the man, in fact, for whom Ernesto's son was named. The two men
had come over from Mexico and worked in the fields of Southern California
when they were 16. It was hard work, and they fortunately found a ticket
out when hired to work three years later as handymen and cleaners at a ski
resort in Wyoming. It was there that both men met their future wives, who
were maids at the resort.

They all worked hard to gain citizenship, wanting, but not quite
succeeding, to become naturalized before their children were born. Ernesto
had two children (Carlos and Diego) and Carlos had one in between those two
(Mateo), before the couples finally achieved naturalization. The men in the
meantime had grown restless for warmer weather and returned a bit further
south during a slow ski season. The ski resort needed to downsize its
workforce and generously paid the transportation cost for the two couples
moving. They did not actually have a lot of accumulated material wealth, as
all four had saved their money, hoping for a better education and better
life for their kids. Ernesto and Carlos at first took jobs as daily wage
earners with a landscaping business that was owned, actually, by a senior
in high school.

The boy had built up the business from the age of 13, when he had started
mowing lawns in his own neighborhood.

Two years later, after he graduated, the boy decided he wanted to go to
college. Ernesto and Carlos, with their saved earnings, bought him
out. They now ran the business together, each supervising two teams of
workers and often working a third themselves, sometimes together. On the
third team they sometimes allowed their sons to work for spending money and
to help them learn the value of earning money and paying their own way. The
men were much happier and comfortable now, but still took their business
and family security very serious. In fact, once they were comfortable that
the business could supply them with a steady income, although seasonally
variable, they each began to push their wives to better their own economic
futures. As a result the two women enrolled in nursing school, where they
were doing well at this time.

So Ernesto was a man that was comfortable now in his life, having come a
long hard way, but with a lot of pride and interest in his business. So as
he surveyed his customer's lawn, he did not at first notice the boys. He
briefly looked over when he heard, "Hey Tucker, where are you going?"
Ernesto saw the boy on his stopped bike. The dirty-blond haired boy waved
at him. Ernesto nodded but went back to his grass. The back of his mind,
which always took in the details of what he saw and processed them slowly
but surely, told him that these were not wealthy kids - not from the bikes
they were riding or the clothes they were wearing. They didn't belong in
this neighborhood. So he glanced back up quickly to make sure they were
moving on. He could see them riding off now, the blond kid trying to catch
up to the first one, and he went back to his yard - the two kids already
forgotten.

"Yo, wait up, Tucker!"

Kelley slowed down and let Nathan catch up to him.

"Hey man, why didn't you stop? I thought you wanted to get a job."

"I don't know. Just didn't."

"Why?"

"Just decided I wasn't sure about asking is all."

"You don't want it now?"

"No, Nate I want it. I need it. And you do too, you know."

"I know. So why didn't we stop?"

"Guess I was kind of scared to ask."

The two boys rode a little further through the subdivision without
talking. Nathan could sense the frustration going through his friend, while
Kelley struggled against the fear of the unknown that could produce known
reward (that unknown of going to a strange man, an adult, one that he has
never met, one who might only really speak a language he has never learned
and definitely comes from a different background, and ask for a job when he
has never worked, has no skills, and is only 12) versus the fear of the
known that could produce unknown pain, humiliation, and suffering (that of
recognizing he could never fit in with the kind of kids that will make up
95-98% of his new school and his misery only compounded by being without
money and hopelessly noticeable for his relative poverty). The latter
struggle was only reinforced as Kelley and Nathan continued to ride their
bikes through the neighborhood. They were becoming more conscious of two
things.

The first thing was that they definitely did not fit in with a "Village"
that hosted these kinds of houses, and this many of these kinds of houses
as well. It wasn't that every house in Coolspring was a mansion; to the
contrary, most were normal sized upper middle class houses. The problem was
that there were not many upper middle class houses in Indian Spring. The
abundance of extremely large houses on expansive lawns just drove home the
knowledge that they would never be home here in Coolspring. The same could
be said for Sweetwater. Although Coolspring was wealthier than Sweetwater,
it wasn't enough to give the boys any leeway on comfort in either
Village. Even when the house size diminished to something more closely
approximating the square footage of their own homes, or maybe even smaller,
the three car garages that some of these smaller homes still sported, the
occasional Jaguar parked outside, the smell of chlorine on the air, all
clued-in the two boys that there was still vastly more money accounted for
in these homes than both of theirs put together.

The second thing was that the neighborhood wasn't so deserted as they had
originally expected. There were people out - in their yards, on the
porches, walking dogs or strollers. Most of these were women or older
people; but they all were citizens of this fine Village. They belonged
here. And Kelley and Nathan both had the feeling that a good number of
these people were eyeing the two boys and thinking that these two did NOT
belong. And if the boys were letting their imaginations tell them that,
then they had very realistic imaginations on this point. Many of the
residents really were looking at these two boys on their bikes, who so
clearly did not belong on this street, or probably any other in the whole
Village. They were not entirely thrilled to see outsiders, unless it was a
respectable visitor to a specific house, or employed workers, such as the
yard men, a plumber, a handyman to change out the storm windows, etc. And
these two did not fit any of the excusable categories; and the boys were
well aware of it and well aware of the thoughts going on behind those
faces.

It brought the reality of needing a source of income for the coming year
much more sharply into focus. Each boy thought about it on his own as they
traversed the rest of Coolspring on their bikes. It was Nathan who finally
broke the silence and said, "I don't think any of these people want us in
their neighborhoods."

"Me neither. It's not going to be any different at Sweetwater when school
starts up."

"Yeah I know. We are going to need money."

"Yep."

"And we can't tell our classmates we have to work a lot for it, either."

"Nope."

"But if we have money, then we're in."

"Sort of."

The boys pulled up to another stop sign and stopped their bikes.

"What do you mean 'sort of', Tuck? I thought that was the plan. Get some
money, new bikes, new clothes, and some spending cash, and we're in just
like everyone else."

"Look Nathan, we're always going to be outside. We're never going to be
Sweetwater kids. The rest of the stuff, the money and all that, will just
make it easier to blend in. Go low, you know. Be able to hang out without a
big target sign on our nicest Wal-Mart clothes, maybe get some girls
interested in us."  He had been gesturing while he was talking, but on this
last point he looked over at Nathan, smiled and added, "or whatever."

Nathan punched him in the shoulder, getting the innuendo right off, but
smiled back.  "Hey, don't ever forget you let me."

"Yeah, I know."  But now Kelley was a little uncomfortable with the memory
of what they had done. He tried not to show it to Nathan though; and he was
still concerned at the trouble Nathan could get himself into by showing any
interest in guys at their school. So he added, "That too, though,
Nathan. You'll never be in Sweetwater enough that they would go easy on you
if they ever thought you were looking at other guys. You have to keep that
in Indian Spring, or camp, or wherever."

"So you mean, like, I can look whenever we go swimming at the creek?"
Nathan was still smiling, giving Kelley a hard time on purpose.

"Perv."

"Pervee."

"Dude, that doesn't even make sense."

Nathan just shrugged in response. The two boys now sat looking at another
four-way option contemplating life in general and each slowly coming to the
inevitable 'So What's Next' question. Kelley's mind was still
subconsciously wandering to solve the unique part of Nathan's share in
their outcast predicament. He didn't even realize he was thinking about it,
but he did realize an idea was there once it started forming.  "Duncan
Cormack." He said out loud.

"What?" Nathan asked wondering what the red headed Duncan had to do with
anything. The boy was a few months older than them, just a little bigger
than Kelley, and in their grade. His family also lived in Indian
Spring. They were a little more mainstream middle class, which in reality
did not mean much of a difference in Sweetwater, and nobody in Indian
Spring cared either, for different reasons. The Cormacks were a pretty nice
family, pretty large, and pretty catholic as well. Duncan and his little
brother Ian, who was 10, were the closest in age to Kelley and Nathan,
though. "What about Duncan?"

"You like him right?"

"What do you mean? Everybody likes the Cormacks. They're all pretty nice."

"Well I mean, what do you think about Duncan?"

"Oh."  Nathan gave a short laugh. "I get it."  He was half feeling like he
wanted to yell at Kelley for continually insinuating that he liked nothing
but guys, half wanting to yell at himself for not having the energy, or
even interest, really, of either yelling at Kelley or himself, and half
(and this was the half that was really more like three quarters or more)
actually considering what he thought of Duncan Cormack. Duncan was a nice
boy, but for the most part all boy. He liked to play outside, ride bikes,
pick-up baseball games, shoot hoops at his house, and all that. He wasn't
too shy to go skinny dipping in the creek, whenever the wild mood swept
through some of the groups of Indian Spring boys (and sometimes
girls). Rumor had it that he had already made it with a girl, but he wasn't
the type that would talk about it. What Nathan now found himself
considering was the physical interest he could have in Duncan. He was
noticing in his mind's eye that he could bring up the clothed features and
body shape of the Scottish/Irish descent boy rather well.

Nathan began slowly thinking about the curves down the back of the boy, the
solid muscle of a burgeoning adolescent, the reddish, slightly browning
hair, the freckles on his face, wondering if they went lower, much lower
that is, on his body. He didn't have nearly the freckles as Connor and
James, his older brothers still at home, had. Nathan began wondering how
much heft Duncan's package had, if there was any hair, how many wrinkles
that scrotum now had . . . .

"Hello Nathan! This is Houston, do you read me?"

Nathan turned to his friend, blushed and then turned away.  "Oh, yeah,
well, I guess he's OK."

"Right. You guess. Anyway, I bet he'd do it with you."

"Huh?"

"I bet he would let you suck on his balls."

"Shut the fuck up, Kelley."  Nathan turned away pissed.

"Well, I bet he would. Anyway, what do you want to do?"

There was no answer as Nathan continued ignoring Kelley, looking off down
the street to the left.

Kelley repeated himself and leaned forward toward his friend, "So, what do
you want to do?" saying each word as a sentence itself.

There was still no answer and Kelley started again, but got no further than
saying Nathan's name before his friend turned around in anger and also
shouted, "I want to suck on his balls, OK? You happy?"  He remembered they
were still on a public street and his voice and reaction lost energy
continuing, "I want to suck (sigh) his balls. I want to put his dick in my
mouth. I want to know if he can cum, if he's bigger than you down there
too."  Nathan was now totally deflated. He just managed to get out one more
statement.  "Sorry."

"For what?"  Kelley said, and meant it.  "What are you sorry for? So what
the fuck? You want to do that? What do I care? I bet Duncan would even let
you."

"No he wouldn't."

"I bet he would. And I know it would never get out of Indian Spring, if he
did. Or even if he didn't, and you asked him anyway. He does right, you
know. What happens in Indian Spring stays there. He wouldn't treat you bad
either. I'll even help you ask him."

"No don't!"  said Nathan, now startled.  "Don't do that, Tuck."

"All right, whatever, dude. I'd just rather it be with somebody who's one
of us than anybody in Sweetwater."

"Look it doesn't mean anything. It's just a phase or something. My dad says
weird stuff would happen when I started going through puberty. I've got to
be starting it sometime soon. Let's just go back and go down the Crazy
Indian to the rope swing or something."

"OK. That's cool with me. I guess I'll come back sometime when I get the
balls to ask for a job."

The boys were about to start up and turn around and head for home when they
heard a voice from the lawn of the corner house where they were standing
with their bikes.

"Hey, boys."  They turned to the voice and saw an older gentleman with
white hair and a blue short sleeve button-up shirt walking toward them.
"Can I help you two with something?"

"Uh, no sir."

"You live around here?"

"No sir, we live in the valley. In Indian Spring."

"Uh huh, that's what I thought. I don't suppose you are visiting friends
here."

"Uh, no sir."

"I didn't think so. It doesn't sound like you two boys have any real reason
to be up here, does it? At least not a good reason. I think it's best you
turn around and head on back to where you live. You can ride your bikes,
such as they are, around your own neighborhood."

Kelley knew what kind of answer Nathan was liable to give to this rude, but
not entirely unexpected, dyswelcome. He grabbed his friend's arm before he
could say anything and just said quickly, "Forget it, Nate. Let's just go."
He then added for the suspicious homeowner, "We're going, sir."

Nathan at least had the self-control to wait a little more than half a
block before loudly disclaiming "What - an - asshole!"

Kelley looked back and saw the homeowner watching them go, knowing he would
probably report them as possible troublemakers and/or thieves, vandals,
whatever, to his neighborhood watch anyway.  "Yeah, I know Nate, but he
isn't alone. You see how most of these people look at us. Damn, their kids'
play clothes probably even come from the Gap."

"I haven't even seen any kids anyway."

"Me either. Not that many at least. I think they're even more stuck up here
than they are in Sweetwater."

"I'm glad neither one of them ever got hold of Indian Spring in that land
battle they was having. I wouldn't want to live in either one of them. Even
on the edge."

"We wouldn't be living in Indian Spring anymore if one of them had won that
battle, Nate."

The silence only lasted another block before Nathan said, "All right, that
settles it. We're going back and asking that guy if we can have jobs."

"Yeah. We have to. I can't afford to chicken out again."

"I'm not going to let you."  Nathan replied.



So, the end of this shorter chapter, but will the boys manage to get a job?
Just imagine those two - hot and sweaty, working in the yard. Various
smears of dirt on their chinos and t-shirts, swiped across their
foreheads. Hair matted by sweat then ruffled as it dried. Bending over to
pull those last weeds up out of the edge of the drive, pants pulled tight -
up against tight and tired 12 year old buttocks, that shirt riding up to
reveal . . . . ? Guess we better hope they get those jobs. I hope the
writing style is good for you.

-Jonas