Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:51:35 +0100
From: A.K. <andrej@andrejkoymasky.com>
Subject: Lesson of Life 4/5 (young friends)

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LESSON OF LIFE
by Andrej Koymasky (C) 2008
written on January 12, 1993
translated by the author
English text kindly revised by "wet0blanket"

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USUAL DISCLAIMER

"LESSON OF LIFE" is a gay story, with some parts containing graphic
scenes of sex between males. So, if in your land, religion, family,
opinion and so on this is not good for you, it will be better not to
read this story. But if you really want, or because YOU don't care, or
because you think you really want to read it, please be my welcomed
guest.

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CHAPTER 4 - A friendship changes in love

As soon as I could meet Dario in private, I told him I imagined another
pleasurable way we could make love together. My friend was curious and
wanted me to explain to him, but I told him that rather than telling him
with words, I would show him at the first opportunity.

Dario then told me that he too had thought a lot about it and that he
would have liked us to meet more often to do those things, and not only
once in a while at Blackberries Cove.

"When the weather will become cold, we can't go there to do it, can we?"
he concluded, studying my reaction.

"You are right, for sure. But where can we go? Surely not at your home
nor at my home..." I said.

I thought that the Commander was lucky having the keys of his sister's
holidays house. I also thought that undoubtedly it would have been much
better and more agreeable being able to do it on a soft bed instead than
on the grass or on that flat rock as Dario and I had done up to then.

"We should find a safe, quiet place only for us, don't you think?" Dario
said, thoughtfully.

"Yes, and possibly also with a good, soft bed... but how? And where?"

"It would be wonderful being able to do it on a bed..." my friend said
looking at me with dreamy eyes and a pleased smile.

Possibly it was his dreamy expression, possibly because Dario was my
best friend, but in that moment I felt a very strong impulse to embrace
and to kiss him. I looked around, saw that there was nobody around, so I
did it. I took him in my arms, held him tight to me and kissed him on
the lips... I felt him stiffen for a moment, so I let him go, fearing
that he didn't appreciate such effusion.

"Why did you do that, Cosimo?" he asked me in a low voice.

"Because I had to do it. Because... because I love you." I said,
observing his reaction, slightly worried that he might take badly both
what I did and what I just said him.

"I too love you, Cosimo. I love you very much..."

A little encouraged I asked, "Very much? How much is... very much?"

"You are the most important person of my life." he said with such a
beautiful smile that I felt tempted to kiss him again.

"Yes, but... when you will meet a girl that you like, then you will
marry her, and I, even with the best of luck, will just be one of your
friends, won't I?"

He looked at me seriously, then slowly and with a low voice, said, "I
don't want to get married. In fact, I will not marry, if you also don't
... I want to be always with you."

My heart filled with sweetness, "Dario, I would really like it to be
possible. But how can we do? It seems that my old people are already
thinking about it...

"About what? Finding a wife for you?"

"Hey, nothing is yet decided, because I still have to do my army
service. But afterwards, you know how it is..."

"But would you like to marry?" he asked, seeming alarmed.

"No, I would like not to marry and I would like to stay only with you...
forever."

Dario brightened up, "For me, Cosimo, if you swear to me that you will
not marry, I will swear to you that neither will I. I want to stay with
you... I... I think that..."

"You think, what?"

"Aren't you going to laugh?"

"No, I swear."

"I think that... that I... I am in love with you!"

"Then why didn't you accept my kiss, Dario?"

"I just wasn't expecting it... that's why."

"But did it annoy you, when I tried to kiss you?"

"No, on the contrary..."

"Then why you don't kiss me now?"

"Somebody could come... or else I would kiss you. Yes, I surely
would..."

"Dario, when did you fall in love with me?"

"I became aware of it only a few days ago, but I think it already
started when we were together in the primary school." my friend said in
a low voice, then asked, "And you?"

"Possibly it is the same for me too. But now... oh, good Lord, what can
we do now? Now that we have said it to each other... now everything is
different, isn't it?"

"Of course now everything is different... Cosimo, why we don't just run
away together?"

"It's not possible. First of all, we are both penniless. Second, we both
have to do our army service and if we run away we will become deserters
and end up in jail."

"Well, then, just after our army service. And about money, possibly we
can find a job... we can go to Milan, or even abroad, to look for a job,
can't we?"

We both were excited at that thought. Dario's eyes were shining and I
knew that also my eyes must be shining with the same light.

A few days later, while I was carrying some flour sacks on the barrow
from the farmers' cooperative to my father's bakery, I met Commander
Guglielmo Gerbi who was coming out of the barber's shop.

"Good morning, Commander." I greeted him.

"Oh, Cosimo Puddu. I was just thinking of you. Listen, today in the
afternoon I have to go to our headquarters in Cagliari. Would you like
to come with me there? We will be back in time for supper."

"I would really like to come, Commander... I have just to ask my
father."

"Then come in front of the carabinieri's post at two o'clock, punctual.
And in Cagliari I can possibly have a surprise for you."

"If you don't see me at two o'clock punctual, it means that my father
didn't let me come..."

"Alright, Cosimo. But try to come."

"Am I turning you on, Commander?" I asked him in a low voice, with a sly
smile.

"Just looking at you, Puddu, you make me aroused." he answered,
seriously.

My father didn't raise any objection, so already at five minutes to two
I was waiting in front of the carabinieri's post. Brigadier Guglielmo
Gerbi came out of the door almost at once.

"Get in the car," he told me taking the driver seat.

He switched on the engine and we left. Along the road I got the idea I
could ask for advice about what Dario and I could do. He for sure knew
the world and life way more than we two...

"Commander, may I tell you something?"

"What?"

"I think that today, if we fuck, it will be the last time..."

"Oh, really? How came that you made up your mind? You too like doing it,
don't you?"

"Of course I too like it, Commander. I would like doing it with you all
the times you want, but..."

"But?" he pressed me without looking at me, continuing to drive.

"Well, you see, Commander, the fact is that I fell in love..."

"Ah, yes, I see. You got a girlfriend. Who is she, a girl of our
village?"

"No, Commander... it's not a girl... it's a boy."

Brigadier Guglielmo Gerbi turned a moment to look at me, somewhat
surprised, then looked again at the road.

"I bet it is that Dario Piras, of the Piras who have a house near the
lake."

"Yes, Commander, exactly him."

"Yes, I see. And he too is in love with you."

"Exactly so, Commander. This is why, you see... If you want to do it
once more with me, today, I would not say no to you, but then... I would
like us to stop, if you allow."

"Cosimo Puddu, you don't have to ask me permission, do you? If you want
to stop doing it with me, we stop it, nothing more. But I have to ask
you something."

"Yes, Commander?"

"Are you sure you two are in love? At times the boys do such things
between them, but then they meet the right girl and they marry and all
ends there. Do you understand this?"

"Of course, Commander Gerbi. But we swore to each other that neither of
us two will ever marry... We two want to live together."

"Here in this village? In Tratal"as? God forbid, you would have
everybody against you, they would damn you, crucify you, don't you
understand that?"

"Yes, we know. So we decided that after our army service, we will
emigrate somewhere, we will find a job and we will live together. Don't
you think that we can live together without so many problems?"

Brigadier Guglielmo Gerbi didn't answer me at once, but was thoughtful
for some time. He then let out a sigh.

"Cosimo Puddu, on one hand I envy you two, not only because you love
each other, but also for the courage you show thinking to leave
everything in order to live together. But at times such courage is
nothing but foolhardiness. I say that you should thing carefully about
it. Don't think it would be easy for two people as we are, to live
together, to love each other like any couple, in our society. Yes, in a
big city like Milan, or abroad, it would be easier than in our
villages... but don't think that even there everything would all be
roses."

"But we want to try. If we remain here, our families will force us to
marry, and anyway we cannot live together here in Tratal"as."

"That is certainly true ... Anyway in a short time both of you will get
the call-up papers for your military service, so you would have more
than one year to think about it, to make your decision. After your army
service, if you are still in love with each other, and if you still are
determined to emigrate to stay together... well, you can then come to
talk again with me, and if I can I'll help you both - my boys."

"You would really do that for us, Commander? You are so kind..."

"Go on with you, 'kind'! But ... whenever I can, I have always given a
helping hand to my boys, so I will give a hand also to you, and
willingly, in whatever way I can."

"But what about you, Commander, didn't you ever fall in love?"

"I? No, not I. It is a luxury I can't allow myself to have with the work
I'm doing. Moreover... I like variety, and I only like young boys like
you."

"But it's so great being in love..." I said, thinking of my Dario.

"Yes, it could also be great, at least as long as it lasts. But when it
ends it is worse than hell."

"If you were never in love, how can you say that?"

"I've eyes, I see it way too often around me. And I'm not saying this
only about those like us."

I then thought that if the Commander liked young people like me, he
could possibly like also Dario... he could also possibly do it also with
Dario... At this thought I felt some jealousy.

"Commander, will you promise me to tell me the truth, if I ask you a
question?"

"Of course I will not promise you without first knowing what you are
going to ask me."

"But it is useless for me to ask you if I don't know if you would answer
me the truth or not."

"So then forget it."

"But I would like to know..."

"Well, then try it..."

"You... did you ever try it with Dario?"

"No, never with him. And that's the truth."

"Why? He is a beautiful boy, isn't he?"

"Yes, he is a beautiful boy, I totally agree. But I don't try it with
all our village boys... And as I tried with you, I didn't try with him."

"Why did you choose me?"

"Because I knew you would accept without many problems."

"How could you know?" I asked, somewhat amazed, looking at his
expression to read in it what he would probably not tell me.

"Because I have been keeping an eye on you for some time, as I always
keep an eye on everybody in the village, but mainly you boys."

"So then?"

"So then I understood that you are like me, that girls don't at all turn
you on, don't make you horny. And I also understood you would not refuse
my advances. And I was not wrong at all."

"But how can one understand all that?" I asked astounded.

"Experience, just experience."

"But someone, sometime, refused your advances, didn't he?"

"It could just be luck, but it never happened. Even though some of them,
after a while, asked me to not call them any more."

"Like I just did?"

"Like you, yes, even though for different reasons."

"But here at our village, are there others besides Dario and me who like
doing it only with another man?"

"There are, there are. I know at least a dozen such men."

"Really? I would never have guessed it... It's useless for me to ask you
who they are, right? You would never tell me, would you?"

"Exactly so, Cosimo Puddu."

"But now, if you don't do it with me any more... would you look for
another boy?"

"Possibly not immediately, but I think sooner or later I would find
another one."

"Do you already have one in mind?"

"More than one."

I tried to guess who the Commander was thinking about... But I was
completely unable to imagine who it could be.

"What age was the youngest boy with whom you did it, Commander?"

"He was sixteen. At that age according the law they are already free to
chose with whom to have sex."

"And the oldest one?"

"A boy of twenty-four. He was already married..."

"He was married? But he liked...?"

"Yes, he liked..."

"Why you don't do it with him any more?"

"He is now too old for my tastes. Moreover he also became fattish. I
like young and lean boys, you understand?"

I never talked so long with the Commander. I had always considered him a
man of few words, taciturn, laconic. During that trip I discovered he
was a rather different person, even though I never saw him smile. Who
knows why the commander never smiled, or almost never? The only time I
saw him sketch a hint of a smile, I felt he seemed even more handsome
than usual. Possibly, I told myself, that man had to have in himself too
big a sadness... or possibly he got into the habit of not smiling,
because of his job. If at times he smiled would he seem too human... or
was he afraid he would lose his authority? who knows!

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CONTINUES IN CHAPTER 5

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In my home page I've put some more of my stories. If someone wants to
read them, the URL is

http://andrejkoymasky.com

If you want to send me feed-back, or desire to help revising my English
translations, so that I can put on-line more of my  stories in English
please e-mail at

andrej@andrejkoymasky.com

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