Kyle - Part 1 (#3)

Chapter 1

       I answered the phone on the second ring, and it was Gene Goodson, Kyle's dad. Rick was pouring over a seed catalogue, trying to decide what he wanted to plant that fall at home and at work.
       "Hello," I said.
       "Hello, Kevin. This is Gene Goodson."
       "Oh, hey, Gene, how are you," I asked. Gene rarely called our house, and he only ever did it when he wanted to talk to Kyle. Kyle wasn't there then, though.
       "I'm fine, Kevin. I hope you and Rick are good."
       "We're great," I said. "I hope this ain't no Seminole-bashing call." Rick and I had gone to Florida State University, and Gene had gone to the University of Florida. The rivalry between those two schools on the football field was a kind of motif that ran through every encounter either of us had with Gene, and it spread the fun of college football throughout the whole year.
       "The Gators only bash the Noles once a year. You know that. But when we bash, we bash good," he said.
       We kept up the banter for a few more exchanges. Then Gene said,
       "Kevin, I actually called on a serious matter."
       I could tell by the change in his tone of voice that it was something important, and the only thing I could think of was Kyle. Kyle was his sixteen-year-old gay son whom my partner/husband Rick and I had "adopted" the previous January. Kyle and Tim, Kyle's boyfriend and the son of our next door neighbor, had spent an enormous amount of time in our home over the last nine months, and we even had a bedroom that was officially theirs.
       "Is it Kyle," I asked. I'm sure there was a touch of urgency in my voice, if not downright panic.
       "Oh, no. He's fine. Full of piss and vinegar, thanks to you guys," Gene said.
       "What is it, then," I asked.
       "It's something I want to discuss with you and Rick. I was wondering if it would be convenient for me to come over right now."
       "Sure, Gene," I said. "Come on over." Rick and I were in just our briefs. Our foster son, Justin, was with his boyfriend, Jason, and we had been looking forward to some private time together. Rick got the "Oh, God!" look on his face when he heard me say that to Gene.
       "I'll be there in five minutes," he said, "and you and Rick put on some clothes." He chuckled.
       I chuckled, too. "Okay. See you in five."
       "I take it he's coming over," Rick said with a sigh. "Is Kyle okay?"
       "Kyle's fine. I don't know what he wants, but whatever it is, he sounded pretty serious. We better at least put on shorts," I said.
       We put on shorts and tee shirts out of respect for our son's dad, and he got to our house from his house down the street in less than five minutes. Rick and I would have walked, but Gene drove.
       "Hey, how you doing," I asked when I opened the door.
       "Doing great," he said. He and I shook hands, and he did the same with Rick. We gestured for him to have a seat, and he sat in the leather chair Rick had given me for Christmas.
       "Would you like some coffee or a coke or something, Gene," Rick asked.
       "You don't happen to have any bourbon, do you?"
       "Yeah, I think we do. If Kyle and Tim didn't drink it up," Rick said.
       Gene and I both laughed. Rick came back with drinks for all three of us, but I knew his was just a stage prop.
       "What's going on," I asked. "You sounded pretty serious on the phone."
       "Well, here's the deal. Y'all know about my businesses, of course. I'm about to expand big time. I have been given an opportunity to buy Harbor Resort."
       Rick and I looked at each other. We both knew that place well, and each of us individually had entertained doing our student internships there a few years before. We had each chosen Surfside Resort, the place where we worked, because they paid interns better, but we both knew the Harbor was on a par with our place, or better.
       "You're going to buy the whole thing," Rick asked incredulously.
       "I hope so," Gene said. "I've been working on this deal for six months, and I've been spending most of my time lining up investors. I think I have it worked out."
       "Oh, man, that's great," Rick said.
       "It is, Rick, and you and Kevin have been raising my son for me in the mean time," Gene said.
       "It's been our pleasure," Rick said.
       "I know that, Rick, but Rita and I are eternally grateful to y'all for what you have done for Kyle. But anyway, I'm here to talk business with y'all."
       I didn't know what to think, and I knew Rick didn't either.
       "I've been able to keep things going in my other businesses, but it has just about killed me. The next six months are going to be crucial to this deal, and I need to devote full time to it without having to be worried about the hotels, motels, and gift shops I already own. I need people that I know I can count on to run those for me, and I'm turning to you guys for help."
       "We've both got friends we can recommend, Gene," I said.
       "I'm not interested in your friends, Kevin. I want the two of you."
       I felt like somebody had thrown a punch into my gut at that moment. I was weak.
       "What exactly did you have in mind, Gene," Rick asked.
       "I've basically got two different types of businesses, both of which cater to tourists. I've got the hotels and motels, and I've got the gift shops. What I want to propose is that each of you become an executive vice president of my corporation. Kevin, I'd like to see you over the hotel-motel part, and Rick, I want you over the retail outlets. I will be completely tied up, so you'll each have a totally free hand at running those parts of the business. The only thing I will insist upon is that you not sell any of my properties without clearing it with me first." He smiled at the irony of what he had just said.
       "Jesus Christ, Gene. We're only twenty-six years old," I said.
       "So what?"
       "Aren't we sort of young to be in charge of something that big," I asked.
       "You haven't been too young to turn my boy from a scared little kid with the self-esteem of a mouse or less into a confident, self-assured young man who would take on the devil himself, if necessary, to protect y'all and Tim and Justin."
       "Is this about Kyle," Rick asked.
       "He told me you would ask that question when I told him about what I was thinking. Rick, do I impress you as the kind of man who would turn over a multi-million-dollar-a-year business to two guys just because they happened to have been nice to my kid? Don't get me wrong, Rick. I love you and Kevin for what y'all have done for Kyle, but I'm here tonight as a businessman. I have checked and double checked you guys out from a professional standpoint, and I know you can do the job for me."
       "Gene, this is pretty overwhelming, man. This is absolutely the last thing we were expecting," I said.
       "I know, and I'm sorry to spring it on you like this, boys, but I didn't know how else to approach you."
       "Would it be ungracious to talk about compensation," Rick asked.
       "I'm surprised it's taken y'all this long to get to the bottom line, Rick, but it's kind of a credit to your character that it did take this long. I'm offering two hundred thousand dollars a year, plus about an eighty thousand benefits package."
       Our mouths dropped.
       "That's for each of you, of course."
       Nobody said anything for a long time.
       "Well, look, guys. Y'all think about it, okay? Rita and I are going to Charleston tomorrow for a family wedding, but I'd like to know something Monday. Today's Wednesday. Is that enough time for y'all?"
       "It's plenty of time," Rick said.
       "I'm sure you'll have a lot of questions, and I'm sorry I won't be here to answer them. You can talk to my assistant, though. She's been with me for ten years, and she knows the business about as well as I do. Her name is Amy Rogers. Just give her a call. And she'll know how to get in touch with me anytime. My wife and her sister have been planning this damn wedding for months, but it couldn't have come at a worse time for me."
       "Thanks, Gene," Rick said. I said thanks, too, and we showed Gene to the door.
       "Oh, one more thing," Gene said as he was almost out.
       "What's that," I asked.
       "Well, George Murphy and I have sort of gotten to be pretty good friends, and he told me he put it in his will that y'all would have custody of Tim if anything happened to him."
       "That's right," I said.
       "What would you say if I asked you the same thing about Kyle?"
       "You mean if something happens to George Murphy we get Kyle, too," Rick asked.
       Gene was tickled at Rick at that moment. He started to say something two or three times, and each time he just laughed some more.
       "I think you and Kyle were twins separated at birth. How do you put up with the two of them together, Kevin," he asked.
       "It's a struggle, but I manage. Gene, ordinarily we'd want to talk something like that over, but I know where he stands on the matter, and I know where I stand. We would be more than honored."
       "Thanks, fellas. I sort of knew you were going to say that," he said. "'Course Rita and I aren't looking to buy the farm anytime soon, that's for sure. She and I are only forty-three, and Kyle will be long grown up by the time we check out, I hope."
       "What about Clay," I asked.
       "Clay's eighteen already, so he's an adult. Adults can't have legal guardians, evidently. But if it comes to it, I hope you'll both look after him and love him, too," Gene said.
       "You know we will, buddy," Rick said.
       We all shook hands again, and Gene left.
       Rick and I were both numb. We sat down on the sofa close to one another, but neither one of us said anything. It was the offer of a lifetime, but we hadn't been prepared to receive it.
       Rick spoke first. "What do you think?"
       "I don't know what to think. That's a lot of money, for sure."
       "I know. That, like, quadruples our income. I wonder if it will quadruple our work loads," he said.
       "That's what I'm wondering," I said. "I wish there was somebody we could talk to about it. I'm thinking we both need to take the next couple of days off to pick Amy Rogers' brain, don't you?"
       "For sure," he said.
       The back door opened, and Tim and Kyle bounced in. They were both as excited as two monkeys with a stalk of bananas.
       "Did y'all say 'yes,'" Kyle asked.
       "Did you know about this, you little ape," Rick asked. Rick and Kyle had a sort of ESP thing between them, and they teased each other mercilessly, but in great fun.
       "Yup," Kyle said. "I wanted to tell y'all so bad, but he made me give my word, on my honor."
       "Well, you did the right thing, Kyle," I said, "but we're just a little bit numb right now."
       "I think y'all should do it," Kyle said.
       "We're a little worried about the changes it might mean in our lifestyle, bud," Rick said.
       "I asked him about that, Rick. I knew that would be the first thing y'all would want to know. He said it would basically be an eight to five job for both of you."
       "Yeah, in the off season, maybe, but what about during tourist season? Your dad worked 24/7 this past summer," I said.
       "Yeah, but that was because of the new thing, Kev. He never worked that hard before," Kyle said. "He's got good people working for him at all of the places. Some of them have been with him for, like, twenty years or something. They know what to do."
       "Do you know Amy Rogers," Rick asked.
       "Oh, yeah. Of course I do. She's the best," Kyle said.
       "We're going to go see her tomorrow," I said. "If we can do these jobs and still have time for each other and for you guys, we'll take it. Am I right, Babe?"
       "You took the words right out of my mouth, Babe," Rick said. "Do you know about the other thing, too," Rick asked Kyle.
       "No. What other thing," Kyle asked.
       "You dad asked us to be your guardian if something happens to him and your mother," I said.
       His face lit up, and both he and Tim broke into huge smiles. "Oh, man! That is too good," Kyle said.
       "Hey, buddy, it'll only happen if your mom and dad die," Rick said.
       "Oh, yeah," he said, somewhat saddened. "I don't want them to die."
       "Well, they aren't, Kyle, but that's the arrangement, if, God forbid, they do," I said.

       We spent the next two days with Amy Rogers at corporate headquarters. The offices were really nice, and it was pretty obvious she was in charge when Gene wasn't there. We went over the details of the organization, where the various properties were located, which ones were the most profitable, and who the key people were. We spent about four hours on the phone with Gene from Charleston, and he answered the questions that Amy couldn't answer. It appeared more and more that Kyle had been right about the time demands of the job. When we broached that subject with Gene, he pointed out that he had been running both parts of the business by himself for years and that he had had time for his family. Dividing it between us would make it that much less demanding.
       By Friday night we had all the information to make a decision. We had asked Justin and Jason to stay home that night so we could talk to them, and, of course, Tim and Kyle were there, too.
       "Guys, Rick and I are going to take the jobs Gene offered us," I told them. The arrangement of the room was classic: I was at my end of the sofa, Rick was at his end, and the four kids were lined up on the floor facing us.
       Kyle and Tim let out whoops when I said that, but Jus and Jay seemed like they were in the dark. It suddenly dawned on me that Justin didn't know what I was talking about. He had succeeded so well in creating a life for himself with Jason that he wasn't really around home all that much, and he had been left out of the loop on that thing. I explained what was going on, and he seemed pleased but a bit worried.
       "What's going to happen around here," Jus asked.
       "It'll be the same as always, buddy," Rick said. "If anything, Kev will have even more time for us because he won't have those damn night things to be at."
       "It'll be even better," Kyle said. "Y'all will be the bosses, and if you want to be off a day, or go in late so you can run, Rick, nobody will say anything to you. It's good to be the boss."
       "Well, we'll see about that," Rick said, "but this is a tremendous opportunity for both of us. We had always thought that we'd have to move to get any major promotions. Now we don't have to."
       "Damn! I'm so happy," Kyle said. He was obviously excited, and he wiggled around and kissed Tim.
       "Keep still, man," Tim said, planting an elbow firmly into Kyle's ribs.
       Kyle was laughing hard, and he jumped on Tim to tickle him and wrestle a little. Tim was laughing, too. Justin looked at his little brothers with a smile on his face, but he broke the mood right then.
       "Jay and I were thinking we'd like to go to a movie tonight. Is that all right," he asked.
       "Sure. Y'all go ahead," I said. "That was all we wanted to talk about."
       "We're going to shoot pool after the movie, and we're spending the night at Jason's," Justin said. Like Tim and Kyle, he and Jay moved back and forth between houses.
       "Okay, bud. Have fun," I said.
       They left for the movie, and, a few minutes later, Tim and Kyle went next door to Tim's house for the night.
       Rick got up and turned off the overhead lights. He picked up my lighter and lit three candles that were in a little arrangement on the coffee table in front of the sofa. Then he turned off the lamp that was on. I knew what he wanted, and I wanted it as much as he did.
       He kicked off his flip-flops and pulled his shirt over his head. Then he undid his shorts and pulled them and his underwear off at the same time. He stood in front of me in the soft light, and I admired his body. He had a sharp tan line where his Speedo blocked the sun when he ran every morning, and his thick legs and huge shoulders made him look bigger and more powerful than when he had clothes on.
       He sat next to me and started taking my clothes off. Piece by piece he revealed my body to himself, and I surrendered my clothes willingly, eager for his touch. We moved into our usual position on the sofa. My back was against the arm rest, and my torso and legs were spread out in front of me. He got between my legs and rested his back against my chest. I moved my legs up over his, and I wrapped my arms around him. It had been a long time since we had sat that way nude, and feeling him in my arms caused a sudden, almost overpowering, surge of emotion.
       "I love you so much," I said.
       "I love you that much more," he said.
       "Could it get any better," I asked.
       "I don't think so, unless we could figure out how to get you pregnant."
       "Very funny," I said, as I squeezed him tight.
       We sat quietly, just enjoying the feel of one another. I watched Rick's penis start to move a little. It was almost imperceptible at first, but then it started to stiffen and grow to full arousal. Mine was doing the same thing, and I adjusted my position slightly to let it fill the space between my stomach and Rick's back. We knew that eventually we'd move to our bed, but we were in no hurry. The luxury of enjoying the quiet and the feel of one another was enough. I watched a bead of pre-cum form on the end of Rick's penis, and then, with time and the pull of gravity, it dripped down onto him, leaving a tiny hair of the stuff connecting his penis with the puddle beneath it.
       From time to time Rick rubbed the inside of my thigh with the back of his hand. I rubbed his chest occasionally, and he moaned a bit when I flicked my thumb over a nipple. We stayed that way for a long time. After a while, he started to lose his erection, but he came back to full attention when I rubbed his nipples. I knew he loved for me to do that, so I started rubbing his hard little nubs. He knew what I was doing, and he began pressing back against me so that my penis got the stimulation it needed. I kept up my assault on his nipples, and pretty soon his penis quivered and released a large drop of semen. I had seen him do that many times before, and I knew that if I continued stimulating him he would have more of those mini-orgasms before he finally reached a shattering climax.
       I bent my head down and tongued his right ear.
       "Ohh," he said softly.
       I continued working the body of the man I loved. He began pressing back against me with a decided rhythm. I was getting closer and closer to climax. I worked his nipples again, and, again, his penis throbbed out a drop of cum. He moaned a bit.
       His pace against me quickened, and I got to the brink of orgasm before he stopped and rested. I felt my own wetness on his back, and that made my dick slide up and down against him more easily. We continued softly and gently torturing one another with pleasure until finally we couldn't hold back anymore. Rick tensed in my arms, and he shot a ribbon of cum all the way up to his chest. Four more spurts followed. He bucked involuntarily just before he shot, and I knew he had had a big one. I climaxed a few moments after he did.
       "Wow," I said. "I thought the head of your dick was going to fly off."
       "I know. That was so intense. I'm sort of weak."
       I reached down to the floor for my briefs, and I used them to clean him and me up. My left leg was going to sleep, so we adjusted our position a little, without getting up. We drifted off to sleep.
       The next thing I was aware of was the smell of cigarette smoke. I opened my eyes, and it was already daylight. Rick woke up then, too, and we looked over at Justin and Jason sitting on the floor in their underwear grinning at us. Both boys were smoking.
       "Hi, guys. What's going on," Justin asked playfully.
       "Hey," I said. "What are y'all doing here? I thought you were spending the night at Jason's house."
       "We were, but we changed our minds," Jus said. "Is that okay?"
       "Of course it is, Justin. This is your home. You can stay here anytime you want to," Rick said. "But what could we do about it if it wasn't okay?"
       Rick was hard with morning stiffness, but he didn't try to cover himself in front of the boys. He got up, still a bit disoriented, and walked to the bathroom. I got up, too, and went behind him.
       "That was pretty incredible last night," he said when I closed the bathroom door. He was sitting on the toilet hunched forward so he could aim into the bowl. I heard his piss splatter against the porcelain, and he slowly moved to an upright position as he softened.
       "It sure was," I said. "I guess we gave Jus and Jay a pretty good show this morning."
       "Yeah, but so what?"
       "I know. They're big boys. They can handle it," I said.
       We finished in the bathroom and put on fresh underwear before going back into the den. The boys had made coffee, and Rick and I joined them for a cup at the table.
       "Y'all looked really cute, both last night when we got home and this morning," Jus said.
       "Why didn't y'all wake us up," I asked.
       "What would have been the point of that," Jay asked. "Y'all looked like you were comfortable enough."
       "True," I said, "but...hell, I don't know."
       "You guys are awesome," Jason said. "I wonder if my mom and dad do stuff like that when I'm not around."
       "I don't know your mom, Jay, but I doubt she's got a hard-on when she wakes up," Rick said. Justin thought that was hilarious, but Jay only smiled.
       Rick decided to skip his long run that morning because it was already pretty hot. It was September, one of the hottest months of the year. We flipped on the TV set, and the regular program was interrupted by a weather report. It seemed a hurricane was headed our way.

Chapter 2

       Tim and Kyle came over in the early afternoon of that Saturday in September, all excited about the hurricane.
       "We're going to miss school because of the storm," Kyle said.
       "How many days," Tim asked. Like Rick and me, Kyle had grown up in hurricane country, and he knew what to expect and what would happen.
       "That depends on when and where it hits," he said. "When we had Hurricane Opal when I was little, we were off school for over a week. That one was a real bitch, though. Really bad storm surge, and it just about destroyed the beach. They had to renourish it for there even to be a beach in some places."
       "What do you do when there's a hurricane," Tim asked.
       "A lot of people evacuate," he said. "They open schools for shelters, but that's for shit. We always go up to Dothan. Our problem here is flooding, unless the winds are so bad they knock your house down."
       "Where is Dothan," Tim asked.
       "It's in God's country," Justin said. "Alabama."
       "They don't get hurricanes there," Tim asked.
       "Well, sure they do, Babe. It's just about 70 miles north of here. They zip right on up the highway," Kyle said.
       "You mean that figuratively, not literally, right, Babe," Tim asked.
       "Whoa! Jump back! Where the hell did you learn that," Kyle asked.
       "In school. Where did you think I learned it," Tim said. He was teasing Kyle, and it was fun to watch them.
       "Where do y'all stay in Dothan, Kyle," I asked.
       He named a hotel that was part of an international chain. His dad owned a franchise for one of those here in Emerald Beach.
       "Does your dad know somebody," Rick asked.
       "Yes, sir," Kyle said. "The guy's name is Mr. Buddy, and he and my dad are good friends. He always saves rooms for us. Do y'all want some rooms, too?"
       "What do you think, Babe," I asked.
       "Well, if Gene gets his family out of here, I say we get our family out of here, too," Rick replied.
       "What about me," Tim asked. "I don't want to be the only one still here."
       "That's your dad's decision, Tim, but you guys are welcome, too, I would think," I said.
       "Hell, I don't want his ass up there. I'm going to look for me a cute boy if we go to Dothan," Kyle said.
       Tim walloped him on his arm, and Kyle laughed hard.
       "Do you think I'd go anywhere and leave you behind," Kyle asked.
       "I know you wouldn't," Tim said, and he kissed Kyle on the cheek.
       "Well, I'm ready to get this thing organized," Rick said. "If this is anything like coastal south Florida, the roads will be so crowded it'll take ten hours to get to Dothan if we wait too long."
       I called George Murphy and told him what we were thinking. He had heard a hurricane was in the Gulf, but he hadn't been watching the weather on TV, so he didn't know how fast it was moving or that it was headed toward us. When we told him what was up, he said he and Tim were definitely in.
       "What does your family do, Jay," I asked.
       "We went to Crawford High School for Opal, but my daddy said he's never going back there," Jason said. "I reckon we'll just stay home and say our prayers."
       "Would your parents let you go with us," I asked.
       "Yes, sir, they probably would," he said.
       "Call and find out, so we'll know how many rooms we'll need," I said.
       He called, and it was fine with them if he went with us. I talked to his mom, and she thanked me, as Gene had done, for being such a good role model for Jay. I was a little embarrassed because I hadn't really spent that much time with him. Since he and Jus were older and both worked and had cars, they didn't hang around with us nearly as much as Tim and Kyle did.
       "So how many rooms are we going to need," I asked when I got off the phone. "Jus and Jay, Tim and Kyle, George, and Rick and Kevin. That's four rooms, right?"
       "Yeah, I think so," Rick said. "Five counting Gene and Rita, of course."
       "What about Mont and Terry, and Sam and Fred," I asked. "None of them is from here, or from the coast, even. I'll bet they don't know they might need to evacuate."
       "Call 'em," Rick said.
       I got Mont on the phone, and, just like George, he and Terry didn't know what was going on with the weather. It really wasn't a surprise because it was a beautiful sunshiny day and just as hot as ever. There was a pretty stiff breeze, though, and I knew that was a sign a storm was on its way. I told Mont we were making plans to evacuate to Dothan if we had to, and he said to put them down for two rooms. Mont evidently knew he could speak for his brother Fred.
       I called Gene and told him what had been going on at our house. I told him we needed six rooms for us and our friends, and he said that wouldn't be a problem.
       "If we go, and I'm hoping we don't have to," Gene said, "that will be a good chance for you and Rick to meet some of my friends in Dothan. You never can tell when we might just be acquiring a property or two up that way."
       "That sounds good," I said. "When will we decide about leaving?"
       "I prefer not to leave for anything less than a Category 4. I will leave for a Cat 3 if they're predicting a strong storm surge, like they did with that last big one we had. He's a Cat 3 now, but he'll pick up strength as he gets closer."
       "Yeah. It happens every time with that warmer shallow water closer to shore," I said.
       "It sounds like you've been through one or two of these things, Kevin," he said.
       "Naw. Just all my life, is all," I said.
       He laughed. "You rascal," he said. "Given what we know, I think we need to leave just as soon as they open the shelters. It's an hour's trip, but for Opal it took people 12 and 13 hours to get to Tallahassee from here, and that ain't but 100 miles."
       "Rick and I were in Tallahassee for Opal. We remember."
       "I didn't think of that, but y'all would have been. Well, y'all know, then. Damn, our lights just flickered," he said.
       "Yeah. Ours did, too. You'll take care of setting it up with them up there, right?"
       "Already did. I sent e-mail to my friend just as soon as you told me how many rooms y'all need, and I'm printing out the confirmation right now. It's all comp, by the way. Remember that we always comp him and his when they want to come to the beach."
       "Okay," I said. "What's his name?"
       "Buddy Oliver. He grew up here, and we've been friends for more years than I care to remember. Tell Kyle to get his ass home and get his shit ready to go, okay?"
       "Okay. Bye."
       "Kyle, go home and get your shit ready to go when we need to leave. Jay, you and Tim need to do the same thing. We'll leave from here. Jus, you pack up, too. We're going to all take our cars. At least we'll have those if it floods here. Jay, make sure your car is high and dry if you decide not to take it. Let's get moving, guys. We're not panicking, but we're not farting around, either," I said.
       Everybody went in different directions. Rick and I packed our clothes. We decided to lay out all of our hanging clothes in the trunk of my car. We packed our "hurricane box," which had all our important papers, in the trunk, too. We moved as much of our stuff as we could, like my grandmother's silver, the computer, the big TV from the den, the stereo and other electronic gear from the entertainment center, and things of that sort, to the attic. Fortunately, the attic was fully floored, so we had plenty of space to put things. Our house had been built post-Opal, so it had had to meet the rigid "hurricane proof" building code the state had imposed on new construction after that event. We were pretty sure it wouldn't blow away, but we lived across the street from a lagoon that emptied into the Gulf, so a flood was entirely possible.
       We got it all done by two that afternoon. Everybody was back at our house, and our driveway and the street in front of our house looked like a used car lot. George came over to wait and watch with us, and Mont, Ter, Sam, and Fred were there, too. There were eleven men in our house.
       "What do we do now," Tim asked.
       "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going surfing," Rick said. "That southeast wind is bringing in some of the most awesome waves we ever get here, and I ain't missing it. Surf's up! Anybody coming?"
       Rick had six or seven surfboards, and he was always willing to share. His preference was for a long board, and he had two of those, but he had medium boards and short boards, too. George said he'd pass and stay home with an eye on the news, but the rest of us at least wanted to go down to the beach to watch him surf.
       We went to the motel where the boys had worked that summer. The beach was pretty much deserted, but there were a couple of surfers in the water. The waves were bigger and more numerous than I had ever seen, and the noise from the surf was almost deafening. It was definitely not a time to hold a romantic conversation on the beach.
       "Can you hang ten," Kyle asked Rick
       "Fuckin' aye, dude," Rick replied. He rarely talked to the boys that way unless he was very angry or excited or wanted to really emphasize a point. The fact that he used "fuck" with Kyle that time meant he was really excited, or playing the role of "surfer dude."
       "What does that mean, exactly," Mont asked. "I've heard 'hang ten' all my life, but I thought it just meant 'surf.' It must be some kind of skill, from what y'all just said."
       "The 'ten' are your ten toes, Mont," Rick said. "I can get right up to the front of the board, when I'm lucky and the waves cooperate, and I can have all ten toes in the water as I ride a wave. It's not that big a deal, but a lot of guys can't do it. I got smacked in the back of the head by my board a bunch of times when I was learning how."
       We watched the water, and a huge wave came across and made a "pipe."
       When Rick saw that, he said, "I'll be back." He took off into the water. He paddled out to where the surf was breaking, and he got right into it. He took a wave, and the two other boys who were out there with him let him have it. He rode it great, and I could tell that all four of our boys were in awe of what he was doing.
       "I wish I could do that," Sam said.
       "Come on. Let's do it," Kyle said.
       "I've never been on a surfboard in my life, Kyle," Sam said.
       Kyle gave Sam a quick verbal lesson.
       "Where'd you learn that," I asked.
       "Every beach kid knows how to surf, Kev," he said.
       I should have known.
       Sam, Kyle, and Tim grabbed boards and went out there. When they got to where Rick was, he flipped the boys overboard, and the four of them played for a while in the surf. Rick made them spread out, and they appeared to be working out a signal system so they'd know who got which wave. They were coming in pretty fast, so none of them had to wait long.
       Kyle went first, and he rode his wave all the way in. We applauded his performance from our position on the beach. Tim was next, and he did pretty well. He tried to hang ten, though, and the surfboard smacked him in the back of his head. We all held our breath until he popped up above the waves. He shot his surfboard a bird, and we all laughed. Sam was next, but he didn't last on the wave for more than fifteen seconds. Fred got a little worried when he went under, but he grinned when Sam popped up.
       Rick took the next wave, and it was a doozy. It was huge, and it turned into a pipe. We all more or less held our breaths while he was out of sight, but he rode through it, hanging ten. We all jumped to our feet when we saw him emerge, clapping our hands off.
       They kept at that for well over two hours. The wind was picking up, and our four surfers dragged asses and boards onto the beach.
       "You guys were so good," Rick screamed to be heard above the surf. "I can't believe it."
       Tim and Kyle sought Rick's approval above everything, and they were grinning so hard when he said that I thought their teeth would pop out. Sam, their assistant scoutmaster, was grinning, too.
       "We saw you hang ten on that pipe, Rick. That was awesome," Jason said.
       "Did you see ole Timmy get smacked when he tried it," Rick asked.
       Tim blushed.
       "Why are you blushing? Did you see these other pussies even try to hang ten," he asked.
       Tim grinned. It wasn't approval for a job well done, but it was definitely approval, and he loved it.
       We left the beach then and went back home. George had been watching the Weather Channel, which had already dispatched people to our area to cover the storm, and it didn't look good. They were predicting landfall on our beach at noon the next day.
       The local school superintendent and the Director of Emergency Management came on next. They announced that the shelters would open at 5:00 PM. It was then 3:15. The phone rang seconds later, and it was Gene.
       "It's time to move out," was all he said before he hung up.
       The guys who had been in the water took very quick showers together, and they were ready to go in less than ten minutes. We already had the cars packed, so we were ready to go.
       "I'll turn off the main breaker," Rick said.
       "Why? The stuff in the freezer will go bad if we're gone for a few days," I said.
       "Come on, New Orleans. You know why. Think," he said.
       "Oh, yeah," I said, after I thought about it. "Power surge."
       "Exactly. Come on, man, now. Remember your shit from when you were a kid," he said. "If you leave the power on, your house can very easily burn to the ground from the power surge when they turn it back on. You know that."
       "I'm going to give your ass a power surge, if you ain't careful," I said. Then, when he had finished laughing at what I had said, "Yeah, I just forgot."
       "We didn't know to do that," I heard Mont say to Terry.
       "I knew," Terry said. "We have hurricanes in South Carolina, too, you know."
       Mont just grinned at his buddy, and it reinforced what I already knew: he and Terry were just like Rick and me.
       The road to Dothan was crowded, but it wasn't yet bumper-to-bumper as we had feared it would become. Everybody who owned a car, and that was most of us, drove it. Tim rode with Kyle, and Jay rode with Jus, but every other car was owner-occupied on that trip. I listened to the radio for news, but there wasn't really any. I found the PBS station, eventually, and they had a news report from the Emergency Management Center.
       "This is going to be a bad one, by all reports," the news caster said.
       "No question about it. It's still a Cat 3, but it's fixing to become a Cat 4, and some forecasters are even predicting a Cat 5. We ain't had a Cat 5 here in recent memory, and, if that rascal gets up to a Cat 5, we'll see some incredible damage."
       "Hasn't the state issued new building codes to make buildings hurricane safe?"
       "Yeah, but that's just the new stuff built since Opal. That was just a few years ago. A lot of the older houses and buildings on the beach are vulnerable. The people need to heed the warnings and evacuate, especially from the beach or if you are within two blocks of water anywhere in the county."
       I wondered if Rick and the others were listening to that station. I had no idea what a Category 5 hurricane would do to our home or to the businesses Rick and I had just agreed to run, and I prayed fervently that we would be spared.
       The traffic was already heavy, and the first band of heavy rain pelted our cars. I momentarily considered pulling over because visibility was so poor. Several cars had done that. I reached the top of a small hill, and I saw what looked like Kyle's car pull over. I guess I'd better do the same, I thought, and I pulled off the road right behind his.
       Their car had barely stopped when the two of them jumped out. It was raining so hard they were soaked in seconds. There was a small bridge about ten feet in front of Kyle's car, and he and Tim ran over to it. Kyle kicked off his shoes, pulled off his shirt, and then wiggled out of his shorts.
       Oh, my God, I thought. What the hell is he doing?
       I couldn't see Tim's face, but he was moving around as though he were very excited. He went with Kyle to the rail on the bridge. Kyle stood up on it and jumped in feet first. Even though I knew I'd get wet to the skin, I couldn't stay in my car a second longer.
       "What the hell's going on, Tim," I shouted. The wind was blowing hard, and the drops of rain felt like tiny needles as they hit my skin.
       "A car went off the road and into this creek," Tim said. He didn't look at me. His eyes were focused on the water where Kyle was. Just then Kyle's head popped out of the water, but he went back under. "He's trying to get the driver out," he said.
       "Is his phone in the car," I asked.
       "Yeah," he shouted back, barely able to make himself heard over the noise of the wind and rain.
       I went to Kyle's car and called 9-1-1, but the line was busy. It was all I could do to keep from hurling the phone into the street. Then I dialed *FHP to call the Florida Highway Patrol. That was their statewide emergency number, and it was busy, too. I tried 9-1-1 again, and I heard the busy signal again.
       "Goddamn it," I said aloud.
       In another thirty seconds, a Highway Patrol car passed me. He was, like everyone else, going very slowly because the driving conditions were so bad. I leaned on the horn of Kyle's car for all I was worth, and the patrol car pulled over in front of Kyle's car. I ran to it.
       "Officer, a car went off the road into the creek," I said. I was excited, scared, and just a bit winded from running to the car.
       "Is anybody still in the car," he asked.
       "I assume the driver is. My brother is in the water trying to get them out," I said.
       "Can he swim," he asked.
       My frustration had been growing, but it peaked just about then.
       "Sir, I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job, but do you think you could go see if he needs help?"
       The guy looked at me like I had asked him to drive me to Dothan. Then, slowly and with as much passive aggression as he could muster, he got out of the car. He was wearing a rain slicker and rain boots. He pulled the rain hat down in the back to protect his neck, which I was almost positive was bright red, and walked over toward the bridge.
       Kyle was towing a woman through the water. She was conscious and screaming and crying. Tim flopped down on the bridge to take her arms when Kyle started to lift her.
       "Kevin, help me," Tim said.
       I flopped down beside him, and we each took one of her arms. With Kyle pushing and us pulling, we were able to get her up enough so that she could grab on to the rail of the bridge. She pulled herself up the rest of the way.
       The lady was young, probably late teens or early twenties, and she was hysterical. I couldn't understand what she was saying, but Tim did.
       "Kyle, get her baby," he screamed to his boyfriend.
       Kyle did a flip and went under again. In a matter of second, that seemed like hours, he was back on the surface with a little kid in his arms. The baby looked like it was about a year old. He handed the baby up to Tim. The mother tried to grab the baby away from him, but Tim screamed to me, "Kevin, stop her."
       Tim ran over to Kyle's car with the baby, set it down on the back seat, and immediately began giving it mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, alternating with CPR. The cop had gone back to his car. I hope that son of a bitch is calling an ambulance, I thought.
       Kyle pulled himself up on to the bridge, and he trotted over to his car.
       "Move over," he said to Tim, and he did CPR while Tim continued mouth-to-mouth. They were both hunched over the baby, and I couldn't really see it. In a second, though, I heard Tim coughing. Moments later, the baby was crying, and the boys had stopped what they were doing.
       The mother had been struggling in my arms trying to get away from me. She let out an ear-piercing scream when the baby cried.
       "They're hurting my baby," she bellowed. "I'll kill them for hurting my baby."
       "Lady, they just saved the baby's life," the cop said. "And they saved your life, too. Would you pipe down please, ma'am."
       She shut up completely when he said that. Oh, the power of a uniform, I thought. An ambulance pulled up, and two EMT's got out. One, a young woman, looked after the baby's mother, and the other one, a young man, looked after the baby. They took both, mother and child, into the ambulance. They must have been examining both of them because they didn't leave the scene. In a minute, the man came back out.
       "They're going to be fine. We're monitoring the baby's pulse and blood pressure, and we have him on oxygen. The mom is pretty crazy right now. We're going to take them into the hospital."
       His remarks were addressed to the policeman, but we all heard what he said.
       "These boys saved both of them," the cop said. "This one went into the water and brought them up, and this one did CPR and mouth-to-mouth."
       "He did CPR, too," Tim said, meaning Kyle.
       Everybody focused their attention on Kyle for the first time, and he was quite a sight. The rain had more or less stopped, but he was still wringing wet, of course. He had on a pair of small white briefs that weren't exactly bikinis but weren't regular-cut briefs, either. The cotton cloth was thin and transparent, and there was no doubt he was male.
       "Why did you take your clothes off," I asked, a little embarrassed at the way he looked standing there on the side of the road.
       "He did the right thing, sir. Having clothes on would have slowed him down, and they could have gotten caught on something," the EMT said.
       "That's what they teach us to do, Kev," he said, and Tim confirmed it.
       "Where'd you boys learn what you did," the EMT asked.
       "Scouts," they said in unison.
       "They're both Eagle Scouts," I said in my proud big brother voice.
       "Is that so? What are your names, boys," the officer asked. He took out a pad and pen to take notes.
       They told him their names, addresses, phone numbers, and ages.
       "You related to Gene Goodson," he asked Kyle.
       "Yes, sir. He's my dad."
       "You tell your dad J. R. Watkins said hello. That's me. We went to school together."
       "Yes, sir, I will," Kyle said.
       "You boys did a very brave and courageous thing today, and you saved two lives because of it. The governor has a special program to honor acts of heroism that kids do, and I'd bet money y'all are fixing to get an invitation to Tallahassee pretty soon."
       Tim and Kyle broke into huge grins when he said that.
       The lady EMT stuck her head out the back of the ambulance to tell the guy they were ready to go. He shook hands with the boys and me, and he wished us a safe hurricane. I smiled at the irony of that.
       "I need to follow them to the hospital," the patrolman said. "Are y'all headed out," he asked.
       "Yes, sir. We're evacuating to Dothan," Kyle said.
       The cop thought for a second, and then he said, "Let me see what I can do for y'all."
       He went back to his car, and we saw him use his radio. In a minute he was back with us.
       "The traffic's starting to get bad, so I made arrangements for y'all to have a police escort to the state line. Maybe that'll help some. You boys look good together. Take care of each other, you hear." Then he winked at them.
       He shook hands with them and with me, and then he and the ambulance left.
       "Y'all get some dry clothes on," I said.
       They moved quickly to gather up Kyle's discarded clothes and to get dry ones out of the trunk. They both put on jeans, which was rather unusual for them in the summer, and a polo shirt. Kyle's shoes were wet, so he put on sandals. I changed into dry clothes, too.
       They were beside themselves with excitement, and they were as cute as I had ever seen them.
       "Did you see him wink at us," Kyle asked.
       "Do you think he knew," Tim said.
       I started laughing at them with delight.
       "He said for us to take care of each other," Tim said.
       "And that we look good together," Kyle chimed in.
       "Would it matter if he knew you were gay," I asked.
       "Yeah," they both said at once.
       "I can see the headline now," Kyle said. "Queer Eagle Scouts Get Award for Bravery; Troop Kicks Them Out for Using Scout Skills to Save Two Lives."
       "It wouldn't say that in the paper," Tim said. "It's too long."
       Kyle rolled his eyes, and I couldn't control myself. Even Tim laughed when he realized what he had said.
       "Let's get in the car now, blondie," Kyle said. Tim punched him, and Kyle laughed and ruffled his hair.
       Two patrolmen on motorcycles drove up and gave us instructions to follow them. It was great moving through the traffic like VIP's. Having them with us let us go much faster than we would have otherwise been able to, and they saluted us and waved goodbye at the Alabama line.
       We got to Dothan and found our hotel on the Ross Clark Circle, a highway that went around the city. It was a very nice place, and Gene introduced us to Buddy Oliver right away. Gene made it very clear that we were Executive Vice Presidents of his company, and Buddy made it very clear to his General Manager that we were his personal guests at that hotel. Not only were we comped, we were comped VIP.   The fact was, Rick and I would have been willing to pay $150 a night or much more to save us and our boys and our friends from being killed in a hurricane, but we didn't have to. In fact, we were going to be treated like visiting royalty.
       "Gene, we need to get you and Rita and everybody else together in one place so y'all can all hear what happened to us on the way up here," I said.
       "What is it, Kevin," Gene asked. Rick didn't say anything, but he was dying to know what I was talking about.
       "The boys are heroes, Gene. They saved a woman and a baby from drowning. But let's let them tell it."
       "Well, I've got to hear this," he said. "Y'all come to our room. We've got a suite."
       We followed Gene. We said hello to Rita when we got there. We had been in her company several times, but we didn't really know her well. We called the rest of our crew and told them to come to the Goodsons' suite.
       There weren't enough chairs for thirteen people, so the kids and Rick and I sat on the floor. Rita and Gene dispensed the refreshments they had on hand, and Gene called room service for a couple of platters of hors d'oeuvres.
       "Tell us what happened," Gene said.
       Kyle took a deep breath and let it out noisily. "Okay," he grinned.
       "We were driving up the highway, and it started to rain real hard. I could barely see to drive, so I slowed way down. I was in the left lane, and a car passed us in the right lane going pretty fast. There was a big puddle of water on the bridge over a creek, and the car hit the water and lost control. It busted through the bridge railing and went into the water."
       "I saw it, too," Tim said. "I told him to pull over, but he was already doing it. We pulled over and jumped out. Kyle ran to the railing and took his shoes and clothes off. Then he jumped in."
       "You took your clothes off right there on the highway, Kyle," Rita Goodson asked, slightly horrified.
       "Yes, ma'am," Kyle said. "That's what they tell us to do."
       Rita started to object, but Sam cut her off.
       "Kyle did exactly what we teach them to do, Rita. In a situation like that, it's way too easy for clothes to get caught on something and for the rescuer to get hung up on something."
       "Well, if you say so, Sam, but..."
       Gene laughed at his wife's prudery. "Keep on, son," he said.
       "I jumped in and couldn't find the car at first. It was a dark maroon color, and it was dark under the water. I had to come up for air. I went back down, and I found it. I opened the driver-side door, and the whole car filled up with water when I did that. The lady wasn't wearing her seatbelt so I just pulled her out and carried her up."
       "He gave her to me and Kevin," Tim said. "We pulled her up while he pushed from below."
       "Was it hard getting the car door open," Rick asked.
       "Yeah. It was. I just realized that," Kyle said.
       "You were fighting the pressure of the water," Sam said.
       "I guess so. Anyway, we got the lady out, and I was about to get out, too. Then Tim said..."
       Tim jumped back in. "I heard her say something about her baby, so I told Kyle to go back after it. Him, I guess it was."
       "I went back in, but I couldn't see shit."
       "Kyle!" his mother said.
       Gene said, "Keep on son. You couldn't see shit, and..."
       Everybody, including Rita, laughed when he said that.
       "I couldn't see nothing. I felt around for the baby on the front seat, but it wasn't there. Then I opened the back door, and there it was. It was in a car seat, and it was all wrapped up in a seatbelt. I had to feel how to get it out of there. I did, though, and then I swam it up."
       "He handed it to me, and I felt for a pulse first thing," Tim said. "I rushed over to Kyle's car and got into the back seat. I started mouth-to-mouth and CPR, but it wasn't responding. Then Kyle came over. He took over the CPR part. Pretty soon the baby puked into my mouth, but that was good. Then it started crying. We stopped what we were doing 'cause we knew it was alive."
       "I heard you cough, but I didn't know it puked in your mouth," Kyle said. "That's gross."
       "I know," Tim said, matter-of-factly, like it happened every day.
       "Then the ambulance came, and they took over with the lady and the baby," Kyle said.
       "The policeman took our names and all, and he said we might be getting an award from the governor," Tim said.
       "Oh, yeah, Daddy. He said he knows you," Kyle said.
       "What was his name," Gene asked.
       "J. R. something," Kyle said.
       "J. R. Watkins," Gene asked.
       "Yeah, that was it, Gene," I said.
       "Oh, hell. I've known J. R. all my life. Good, good guy. A little on the lazy side, but a hell of a nice fella," Gene said.
       "He seemed real nice," Kyle said. "He even got us a police escort to the state line. That's why we weren't late."
       "Yeah, that sounds like something ole J. R. would do. He's like you and Tim, Kyle." Then, looking around the room, "Like all you guys, except you, George."
       "You mean he's gay," Kyle asked in disbelief.
       "Queer as a three-dollar bill," Gene said.
       "He's queer, and you still like him, Daddy," Kyle asked.
       I started to say something to Kyle when he said that, but Rick put his hand on my arm to tell me to be quiet.
       "Hell, yes. He's my friend. Listen Mister, you ain't too big a hero for me to put you across my lap and wear you out for implying that about me."
       "Oh, Daddy! Would you do that? Just like the old days?" Kyle was teasing his dad, and everybody laughed.
       Gene cocked his head toward his wife to indicate Kyle shouldn't say things like that in front of his mother.
       "Oh, Gene, please," she said. "It was funny, and you know it."
       Everybody laughed again.
       The hors d'oeuvres arrived about then, only it was twice the order Gene had made. They were followed by Buddy Oliver and his wife, and two other couples I hadn't met. It was suddenly a cocktail party.
       Rita got busy doing hostess duty. She asked Kyle to make drinks for the newcomers and to freshen the drinks of everyone else. I watched him go behind the counter/bar in the little kitchen to make the drinks. He made drinks for the new arrivals, and Tim delivered them. Then he made fresh ones for those of us who had been there. He disappeared for a few seconds behind a wall, and then he and Tim came out with two drinks each, one for each of them and one for each of the other boys. Jason tasted his and grinned. He said something I couldn't hear, and all four of them laughed, like they were getting away with something.
       Gene was talking to George. "I think Kyle just gave the boys a little cocktail," I said to them.
       "Well, they damn sure deserve one," Gene said.
       "I'll drink to that," George said.
       "So y'all don't have a problem with that--if, in fact, that's what he did?"
       "Kevin, didn't you do stuff like that when you were their age," George asked.
       "Guilty," I said. "You sound like Rick."
       "Let 'em have some fun, son," Gene said. "We're having a hurricane party, and they ain't going anywhere. Relax and enjoy yourself."
       "I guess I worry too much about them," I said.
       "It's 'cause you love 'em, and they don't even know how lucky they are to have you and Rick," Gene said.
       "But we know, Kevin, and we don't even have the words to thank you guys," George said. "Right, Gene?"
       "You got that right, George," Gene said.

       I mingled some, meeting the people who had come in with Buddy Oliver. One of the men was the president of the local Chamber of Commerce in our town, and he invited me to join as soon as we got back home.
       Sam and Fred pulled me aside.
       "It was unbelievable what they did," Sam said.
       "I know. And they said they learned how to do that in the scouts. I announced shamelessly that they were both Eagle Scouts. I wanted to say 'gay Eagle Scouts,' but, of course, I didn't."
       "It sounds like the cop would have been fine with that," Fred said.
       "Yeah. Now I find out," I said.
       They both laughed politely.
       "By the way," Sam said, "the scouts have special awards for bravery. I'm going to nominate them for one."
       "Really," I asked. I wasn't surprised that they did, but it hadn't occurred to me.
       "And I'm going to talk to a friend of mind who works for Boy's Life about doing a story on them, too."
       "What is Boy's Life," I asked.
       "It's the national scouting magazine. Just about every scout gets it, and most schools and libraries do, too. That story will make the editor hard for a week," Sam said.
       Fred and I laughed.

       I saw Kyle come out of a bedroom and head for the kitchen, where the booze was. I figured the boys were all in there smoking, and I wanted a cigarette, too. I knocked.
       "Who is it," Tim asked.
       "It's me," I said.
       "Oh. Come in," he said.
       When I opened the door, a wave of cigarette smoke met me. That was obviously not the main bedroom for the suite, and the boys were propped up on the two double beds that were in it. Justin and Jay each had cigarettes going, but Tim didn't. They had hauled off one of the platters of food, and about half of it was gone. I lit up a smoke and settled in one of the chairs that were around the small table.
       "What's going on, guys," I asked.
       "We're just talkin' and eatin'," Jus said.
       "And smokin' and drinkin'," I said.
       They got deathly quiet.
       "Are we in trouble," Justin asked.
       "That depends. How many drinks have you had?"
       "Just one," Jus said.
       "Justin?" My tone of voice said "Tell me the truth."
       "No, Kev. Just one each. Scout's honor," Tim said.
       "All right, but make the next one your last, okay, guys?"
       "Okay," Tim said.
       "Hooh! I was so scared I was about to shit my pants just now, Kevin," Jus said.
       Kyle burst in just then. He held up a liter of coke and a half bottle of bourbon. "Lookie what I got," he said. Then he saw me, and his eyes got the size of Frisbees.
       "One more drink each, okay," I said.
       Kyle burst into a grin. He poured drinks for the boys and me, and then I made him put the bottle of bourbon on the table next to me. He got on the bed next to Tim.
       Rick found us in a few minutes.
       "What is this, the den of iniquity," he asked.
       "Er, excuse me, but I think it's the Hall of Heroes," Kyle said.
       "I'll hall your hero," he said.
       "Ohhhhhhh," Kyle said seductively.
       "Shut up, asshole," Rick said around his laughter. Pause. "Seriously, I'm so proud of you guys right now, I can hardly stand it. Kyle, your dad's telling the story to those new people out there, and he's crying, man. And your dad's crying, too, Tim. We're so proud."
       Justin said, "The Few. The Proud. The Gay."
       That broke everybody up.

Chapter 3

       The living room of the Goodsons' suite became our headquarters at the hotel. They had a small kitchen, so it was convenient to keep drinks cold and to keep ice frozen. There weren't any formal meetings after the first one to tell the story of the heroes, but people drifted in and out all evening and all the next day.
       Rick and Tim and Kyle and I stayed up late watching TV. They had Movies on Demand at that hotel, so we watched American Pie 2 and The Gladiator. We had all seen both of them before, but they were fun to watch together. Kyle made popcorn in the microwave for us, and we periodically switched back to a local station to check on the storm. The Weather Channel had on-the-scene coverage, so we watched that a little, too. It got worse as the northwest quadrant of the storm approached. That was the worst part of the storm, and it always had the most rain and the highest winds.
       There were already reports of tornadoes, and several mobile homes were destroyed. The police and firefighters had to bear the brunt of emergency services, but other agencies, such as the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, were standing by to help, too.
       "Where did the tornadoes come from," Tim asked.
       "The storm makes 'em," Kyle said. "If there's a lot of them, they do more damage than the hurricane does."
       "Tim, when we drive home, you'll be able to see long stretches where tornadoes went through the woods. The trees will be knocked down like toothpicks, but the strip won't be very wide at all," I said.
       "Cool," Tim replied.
       Rick wasn't himself, at all. He wasn't saying much, but he was also very fidgety. His doctor had given him an anti-anxiety medicine for situations like the one we were in at that moment, and I wondered if he had remembered to bring it with him.
       Rick lit up a cigarette. He coughed a little when he first inhaled, and that got the boys' attention. They had never seen Rick smoke before, and they appeared a little surprised. He had quit smoking over a year before.
       "Did you bring your medicine," I asked him quietly.
       "Yeah," he said.
       "Did you take some of it," I asked.
       "No, but I think I need to. Let me finish this, and I'll go take some," he said.
       "Do you want me to get it for you? I don't mind," I said.
       He smiled at me, and I knew he did want me to get it.
       It only took about thirty minutes for the medicine to kick in. The doctor had said that was one of its strong points, and I could almost see him relax as it took effect.
       "How long do you think we'll have to stay here," Tim asked.
       "That's hard to say, buddy," Rick said. "The water won't stay high for very long, probably, if there is any, but it'll take them some time to get the power back on."
       "What do you mean," he asked.
       "In our neighborhood, the power lines are underground, so they're pretty safe. In most of the county, though, they hang from power poles. If a tree limb is blown off and hits the power line, it can knock the line down. We lose power when that happens," Rick explained.
       "They should cut limbs that are close to power lines," Tim said.
       "They do, Babe," Kyle said, "but it'll knock down whole trees. Big ones, too. You'll see."
       "I guess a big tree could crash into a house, too," Tim offered.
       "They do it all the time," Kyle replied.
       Tim was holding Kyle against his chest like I usually held Rick, and, pretty soon after that last exchange, Kyle went to sleep in his lover's arms. I watched Tim watching him, and if what I saw in Tim's face wasn't pure love, I didn't know what pure love was. Eventually, the movie ended, and we all went to bed.

       The weather was terrible when we woke up Sunday morning. After we made love, Rick and I lay in bed listening to the thunder and the wind. The rain was coming down hard, and it was barely light, even though it was close to nine o'clock. We heard a knock on the door. Rick asked who it was, and a timid voice said it was Tim. He opened the door, and it was both boys.
       "We know it's Sunday morning, but can we come in," Kyle asked. "Tim's scared."
       Rick opened the door wider to let them in. He and I were both still naked, but we had been around the boys naked so much that it didn't matter to any of us.
       "Come and get in with us," I said.
       The boys scampered into bed between Rick and me. It was a deluxe king-size bed, so there was plenty of room. Tim was trembling.
       "Are you cold," I asked him.
       "I'm just a little scared. I had a bad dream that scared me, and the storm is kind of scary, too," he said. "All of you guys have been through lots of hurricanes, but this is my first one."
       "What was the dream about? Can you tell us," I asked.
       "I dreamed Kyle drowned instead of saving that baby," he said softly.
       "Oh, Timmy, that is scary, but it was just a dream," I said.
       "I know, but I would die if Kyle died," Tim said.
       I didn't say anything, but I knew that was true. I knew he loved him that much.
       Rick flipped on the TV set and tried to get one of the stations from home. It didn't come on so he tried another one. The second station came in perfectly, and the announcer said that the first station we had tried, plus a number of radio stations there, were off the air because of the storm. The woman wasn't exactly gleeful over that news, but she wasn't sad, either.
       The station showed film of the hurricane. It had speeded up and had made landfall earlier than they had predicted. It had been upgraded to a Cat 4, but the storm surge wasn't as bad as it could have been because it had come ashore at low tide. There was local flooding all over the county because of the rain, but the Gulf and the enormous system of bays that dominated our landscape didn't flood.
       We stayed in bed for about a half hour, and then we decided to get up. Rick got up first and took a shower. While he was getting dressed, I went in and took mine.
       "Did y'all take showers this morning," I asked the boys when I was finished. It was obvious they hadn't shaved, so I wondered about showers.
       "We did yesterday afternoon when we first got here," Kyle said. "Do we stink?"
       "No. Of course not," I said. "I was just wondering.
       We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant, and it was the kind of buffet the boys loved. They saw several people they knew from home, and the place looked like it was full.
       That afternoon the worst part of the rain and wind came through Dothan. We lost power for a few seconds until the hotel's backup generating system kicked in, but otherwise it wasn't uncomfortable for us. The boys wanted to go swimming, but even they finally realized that it wasn't very safe to be outside and in a pool with all the lightening that was going on.

       By Monday morning the storm was gone. George, Rick, and I decided to go home, at least for the day, to survey the damage. Rick and I also had the little matter of our jobs. I had already made the mental transition to being Executive VP of Goodson Enterprises, but I hadn't so much as mentioned to anybody at my hotel that I was leaving. Gene had said we could have as much time as we needed to sever our ties with our company, and that process of severing had to begin that day.
       I got to work around ten o'clock, and I told the Director of Sales I had to speak with her.
       "I really didn't expect you to come in today," she said, after I had taken a seat in her office.
       "Well, we spent the night in Dothan, but I wanted to come in because I want to tell you something. I've been offered another job, and I really can't turn it down."
       She looked a little distraught.
       "I'm not surprised, Kevin. I knew it was just a matter of time before someone would discover you. May I ask who it is," she said.
       "It's Goodson Enterprises. I'll be Executive Vice President in charge of their hotel properties," I said.
       "I see. I know Gene, of course. Everybody knows Gene. You must have made quite an impression on him. I didn't even know he was looking for someone."
       I explained about the anticipated expansion without giving any details, and she listened carefully.
       "It's a wonderful opportunity, Kevin, and you'll be with this company many years, and will have to move around the country two or three times, at least, before anything remotely as big as that opens up with us. When does he want you?"
       "As soon as possible, of course," I said.
       She chuckled politely.
       "Frankly, you've been a huge resource for us, and there's probably no way I'll be able to replace you ever, much less in two weeks," she said. "Unless you need to hang around here because of the money, I'm going to let you leave any time you want to. We'll miss you. How does Rick feel about it?"
       I explained George's plans for Rick.
       "Oh, my," she said.
       While I was doing that, Rick was having the same conversation with his boss. His boss told him many of the same things mine had said to me, but he, too, told Rick he was free to leave whenever he was ready.
       We had to drive through town on our way back to Dothan, and the place had the look of a ghost town. None of the traffic signals were working, so we had to approach them as though they were four-way stop signs. Some drivers either didn't know that or failed to notice the darkened signal lights, and we saw at least three near accidents.
       "I talked to Gene," Rick said.
       "Oh, yeah? What did he say?"
       "He said that all of his properties escaped, with only minor damage at a couple of them. He said they had had enough time to get prepared, so they didn't even have any broken windows anywhere."
       "In some places," I said, "a situation like this would create a field day for looters. The cops and the auxiliary cops and the reservist cops are working 24/7 here, though."

       Back in Dothan, we hunted up the boys, who seemed more filled with energy than they usually were. Gene wasn't back yet, so Kyle joined us, Justin and Jason, and George and Tim for dinner.
       "What did y'all do today," Rick asked.
       The four boys grinned and looked at one another with devilment in their eyes.
       "It must have really been something," I said.
       "Oh, it was," George said. He was smiling, too, so I figured it wasn't too terrible.
       "Well, come on. Somebody tell us," Rick said.
       "We'll show you," Kyle said. "One, two, three."
       On "three," he and Tim raised their tee shirts up, and we saw what they had done. They had gotten their nipples pierced. They had matching gold loops in all four nubs.
       "Well," I said. I really didn't know what else to say.
       "Well, indeed," George echoed.
       "Are you okay with this, George," I asked.
       "Actually, I am, Kevin. I know it's fashionable, and it's not permanent, like tattoos. I really don't object," George said.
       "We get tattoos tomorrow," Kyle said.
       "He's teasing you, Dad," Tim said before George could start.
       "I really am teasing, Mr. Murphy," Kyle said.
       George got a look of relief on his face.
       "You should say Dr. Murphy, not Mr. Murphy, Kyle," Jason said.
       "I know. I keep forgetting that," Kyle said. "Maybe if he pulled some of my teeth I could remember."
       We all laughed at Kyle.
       "Why don't all of you just call me George," he said.
       "I couldn't do that, Mr. Murphy. Dr. Murphy, I meant. What if I call you Doc?"
       "Whatever you're comfortable with, Kyle, but, truly, George is fine with me," George said.
       "But it wouldn't be fine with my mamma and daddy, Doc," Kyle said.
       That night after dinner we all went for a swim in the hotel pool. There were two kids down there who were around the ages of our boys, and those two boys couldn't keep their eyes off the nipple rings three of our four wore. One of them had a small tattoo at the top of his bicep, and I suspected they were envious of the body decorations of our guys.
       We ended up playing pool fight, with those boys joining in as a team. Tim got on Kyle's shoulders, and I got on Rick's, and we faced off. I was a little nervous about horsing around too much with them because of their new piercings, and, in fact, we ended the game when one of Tim's started bleeding a little.
       George had been busy at one of the computers in the hotel lobby that were there for guests to use. He joined us in the living room of the suite. The kids put on shorts, but they sat around bare chested.
       "I did some research on nipple piercing while you guys were in the pool," George said.
       "What did you find out, Dad," Tim asked.
       "Do you have any idea how it originated," he asked.
       "No, sir," Kyle said, and everyone else shook their heads to indicate they didn't know, either.
       "It was actually the Roman soldiers who started the custom," he said. "They wore nipple rings as a sign of bravery. Historians believe they used them to intimidate their enemies, who could obviously see them in hand-to-hand combat."
       "That's petty cool," Kyle said.
       "Yeah," Tim said.
       "In light of your recent feats of bravery, I think it's fully appropriate that you have pierced nipples," George pronounced. I loved George to death, but George didn't talk to people; he lectured.
       I noticed Justin doing something to his nipple rings, and I asked him what he was doing.
       "Taking 'em out," he said.
       "Why, Bubba," Kyle asked. "Leave 'em in. They look so cool."
       "Yeah, but these things weren't put here 'cause I was brave, that's for damn sure," he said.
       "We think you're brave," Tim said.
       "I ain't brave. I'm just stupid, and I should have taken these out months ago," Jus said.
       "What do they stand for, then," Tim asked him.
       "Slavery." He said the word quietly, and nobody contradicted him or offered a wisecrack. It was a tribute to his brothers and his boyfriend that they understood what he meant and supported him in what he was doing.
       It took him a few seconds to get them out, but he finally did. He rubbed his nipples a little, not in any kind of sexual way but as a way of seeing what it felt like to be without them. I was proud of Jus for not giving in to the peer pressure Kyle and Tim exerted on him and for doing what he wanted to do.
       Nobody said anything for a few moments. Then Kyle broke the silence.
       "We're growing beards, too. All four of us."
       "I was wondering what that shit was all about on your faces," Rick said.
       "We're going to shave some, Rick," Kyle said. "We're going to grow goatees."
       Kyle had a pretty heavy beard for a kid who wasn't yet seventeen. He shaved pretty much every day, but you could see his dark whiskers below the surface of his skin even right after he had shaved. Tim's beard was even a lighter blond than his natural hair color, but it was definitely there. Jus had a beard about the color of Tim's, and I could tell his beard-growing project probably wouldn't be as successful as his brothers'. Jay had dark hair, too, but he had one of those kinds of beards where his moustache didn't actually connect with the hair on his chin. I thought it would be fun to watch their beards come in, if they stuck with it.
       "You guys are turning into studs around here," Rick said.
       "Have you ever grown a beard, Rick," Tim asked.
       "Not recently, but I did several times in college. I've got a spot where the hair grows in a swirl, though, and it's actually uncomfortable there for me not to shave for more than a couple of days. Besides, I feel dirty when I don't shave," Rick said.
       "I'm the same way, Rick," George said. "I can go for a day, maybe even two, but then I've got to scrape it off."
       "What about you, Kevin," Jus asked.
       "Yeah, I've grown 'em. In college, like Rick said. If I could go away for like two weeks where nobody could see me, and then return to civilization with a beard well underway, I wouldn't feel too bad about it. I just felt real self-conscious when I've grown them," I said.
       "Well, I ain't promising I'm going to grow it out, but I want to try," Kyle said.
       "Boys, y'all might not believe this, but when I was your age, if I showed up at school with a beard, I would have been sent home and told not to show up until I had shaved," George said.
       "Really," Tim asked, incredulity in his voice.
       "Really, son. I went to a private, all-boys Catholic high school, and they had a very strict dress code. For example, we couldn't wear jeans to school. No facial hair, either," he said. "If a guy showed up with an earring, he would have been sent home or made to take it out in the principal's office."
       "Damn, Dad," Tim said.
       "I went to exactly the same kind of high school, Tim," I said. "We had to wear a uniform, with a tie, to school every day. Earrings were forbidden. A lot of guys took them off in their cars before they came into the building in the morning and put them back when they got into their cars in the afternoon, but nobody wore stuff like that at school."
       "Damn, and you're modern, sort of," Tim said to me. That cracked everybody up.
       "I think it's time to put my antique ass in bed," George said. Again, more laughter. Good night, my sons. Good night, guys." And then he left the room.
       "Your dad is so cool, Tim," Jason said. "And yours, too, Kyle. I'm, like, in awe of them."
       "Is your dad hard to get along with, Jay," I asked.
       "'Get along with' is kind of a stretch," Jay said. "He ignores me, and I ignore him, as much as I can."
       "Does he know you're gay," Rick asked.
       "Yeah, and that's a big part of the problem. Ever since I told him, he's been really cold toward me. My mom's nice, though, and my sister," Jay said.
       "Do you want to talk about this right now, Jay," I asked. I could tell he was getting more uncomfortable by the minute.
       "Not really," he said. We let the subject drop.

       Power was fully restored at home by Wednesday morning, and the school system declared that Thursday would be a regular day of school. The boys had missed three days. Rita had said she thought they would have to make those days up, probably on Saturdays or during Christmas or Spring Break, and that had darkened the mood of everyone under the age of twenty-one. As it turned out, though, "hurricane days" had been built into the yearly schedule, so they didn't have to make up the days.
       Once everything was restored to normal in town, the media started running "human interest" stories about things that had happened during the storm. Both the NBC and the ABC affiliate TV stations in town picked up the story of our boys, the heroes, and the newspaper ran a story about them, as well.
       "Well, I guess your shit doesn't stink anymore," Rick said one night to tease them.
       "Kyle's still does," Tim said.
       We laughed, of course, and Kyle held his nose and pointed at Tim. That made us laugh, too.
       Over several days we got news of various medals and awards the boys were going to get. The Optimist Club that sponsored their scout troop gave each of them a medal and a plaque, and they threw in a two-hundred-dollar gift certificate to a local departments store for each of them, too.
       Just as Sam had predicted, they had a call from the editor of Boy's Life magazine, and he wanted to do a cover story about the two of them. They were sending photographers in from an agency they used to get their pictures, and a reporter was coming to interview them.
       "What if he asks us if we're gay," Tim asked about the reporter.
       "Has any other reporter asked you that," I asked.
       They answered in the negative.
       "So why would the guy from Boy's Life ask you that," Rick asked. "Besides, there aren't any gay scouts. You guys know that." Everybody laughed.
       They also found out they were going to receive a special medal from the National Executive Committee of the Boy Scouts, to be presented at an annual awards dinner in Washington, D.C. the following spring.
       The boys were really excited about all of the publicity they were getting and about all the awards they were receiving, but all of that attention had about as much effect on them as a pimple on their chins would have had. They never talked about what they had done, and all the praise didn't change their personalities in the least. They still laughed and joked and played around with each other, with Justin and Jason, and with us like they always had.

       Sam Stewart, the boys' assistant scoutmaster and, by then, one of our best friends, called one evening to see if we wanted to go camping with him, Fred, and his nephew the following weekend.
       "Your nephew," I asked.
       "Yeah. He's my sister's son. He's fourteen, and he's going to be visiting me for a few weeks, I think," Sam said.
       "You don't sound real excited about this," I said.
       "Well, I'm excited about him being here, but I don't really like the reason for his visit," he said.
       "So what is this all about, Sam," I asked.
       "He's gay, and he came out to my sister and her husband a couple of days ago. My brother-in-law sort of lost it, and they decided it would be best if Chad got away from there for a little while until his dad could calm down. Where else do you send a queer kid but to his queer uncle?"
       "Oh, it's too bad it happened that way," I said.
       "Yeah, it is. Chuck, his dad, is basically a good guy, and I know he'll come around eventually, but Chad is pretty upset right now, and so is his mom," Sam said.
       "Is he going to be going to school here," I asked.
       "He's officially on 'home school' status, whatever that means. He's enrolled in some kind of on-line program, so he probably won't get too far behind, but I doubt that school was a very happy place for Chad even before this came up," Sam said.
       "Why not," I asked. "What's up with him?"
       "Chad's not like Tim and Kyle, and Justin and Jason," Sam said.
       "Oh?"
       "Or you and Rick or us or any of our gay friends, for that matter," he said.
       "What is this kid, Sam? Some kind of monster," I asked.
       "Hardly a monster," he said. "He's just extremely shy and very effeminate, that's all. His only friend is a girl who has cerebral palsy."
       "Well, being effeminate is not exactly unheard of in the gay community, is it," I asked. I had intended for my statement to be humorous, but Sam didn't laugh.
       "Oh, of course not, but I think a lot of people find it rather off-putting," he said.
       I thought back to a conversation we had all had shortly after Jus had come to live with us in which he announced he wasn't interesting in what he called "drama queens." He had meant effeminate boys. I knew Rick didn't have much patience with effeminate guys, and I was pretty sure Tim and Kyle wouldn't find that type appealing, either.
       "We'll deal with it, Sam, and Chad will be a member of our family. Don't worry about us or the boys. Did you have someplace in mind for us to go," I asked.
       "Yeah, I was actually thinking of the Florida Caverns State Park, just north of here. Have you ever been there," he asked.
       "I've heard of it, but we haven't been there. Is it nice?"
       "Yeah, it's very nice. The caverns themselves are really interesting, although only one of them is actually open for tours. But the park is beautiful, and they have swimming and canoeing and horseback riding and biking and probably other stuff as well. I was thinking I would borrow some tents from the troop, and we could do some primitive camping, with showers and toilets furnished by the park, of course."
       "Yeah, that sounds like fun," I said. "I haven't done much of that, but I know Rick and Tim and Kyle have."
       "Cool. What say we rendezvous at your house Friday afternoon when we get off work and leave from there. It'll be light until eight or later, and we can get up there, set up camp, and cook while it's still daylight," Sam said.
       "Do we need to get together before then to talk about food and stuff like that," I asked.
       "That might be a good idea. How does tomorrow night sound," he asked.
       "That sounds good. Why don't y'all come over. Or better yet, let's all meet at the Goodsons' house around 5:30. We can swim and grill some hamburgers and hotdogs. The boys can get to know Chad, and we can plan our weekend. This is going to be fun," I said.
       "Y'all are too good. I knew I could count on you," he said.
       After we hung up, I told Rick what I had committed us too, and he got pretty excited about the camping trip. He got on the Internet, which was something he rarely did, and got information about the caverns and the park. I called the Goodsons to make sure I hadn't spoken out of turn by saying we could get together at their house, and, just as I had expected, Rita said she hoped I knew we didn't have to ask to use their facilities.
       "I know, Rita, but I thought you might like to know when a pack of boys is going to show up at your house," I said.
       She laughed. "Well, Gene and I will be playing bridge tomorrow night, but I know you can get by without us. By the way, Gene has had nothing but praise for the way you and Rick have been running things for him. We are truly blessed to have friends like y'all."
       "We've both been having a great time. It's been great not having to wear a suit and tie to work everyday, too," I said.
       She giggled the way a Southern lady was supposed to, and we concluded our conversation.
       I called the Murphy household and told George about the plan. In fact, I invited him to join us, but he said he saw patients on Saturday.
       "Really," I asked.
       "Yeah," he said. "The practice is open six days a week. I take Saturdays and am off Sunday and Monday. Tim Kelly works on Mondays, and we're there together the rest of the week."
       I had known that, but it had slipped my mind. Kyle was at their house that night, and, when I talked to him and Tim on their speaker phone, they were both excited about the idea of a camping trip.
       Justin and Jason were at our house, and they both had to work on Saturday. Jus actually worked for Rick, so I knew he could get the day off, but he said he wanted to work.
       "Besides, we have plans for a concert Saturday night. Shit-kicking music," he said with a grin.
       "That's fine," I said. "You don't have to go, but I wanted to include y'all if y'all were interested."
       The next evening, Sam, Fred, and Chad met us at the Goodsons'. I had told my guys that Chad might be a little effeminate, and they had all said they could handle that and were cool with that. None of us was prepared for Chad, though.
       Chad was small, maybe five-four, and he probably didn't weigh a hundred pounds. He was extremely pale. His hair was spiked up like Tim's and Kyle's, and he had seven or eight earrings in each ear. He had on several necklaces and two or three bracelets, too, and there was a ring on every finger of both hands. His skin was almost translucent. The crowning feature, though, was his makeup. He was wearing eyeliner and a sort of dark maroon lipstick. From his appearance, he could just as easily have been a girl as a boy.
       Tim and Kyle had been in the water a good half hour by the time Sam and Fred arrived with Chad, and, of course, they were naked. Both of them had had some growth in the penis department over the previous six months or so, and they were unquestionably man-size by then. They were still sporting the goatees they started growing during the hurricane, and by then they were pretty nice, especially Kyle's because of his dark hair. They got out of the pool when the guests arrived, and they wrapped towels around their waists to greet them.
       Sam introduced Chad to Rick and me, and then to the boys. Chad's voice was at least an octave above Tim's and Kyle's, and he shook hands with them rather reluctantly. It was pretty clear he was intimidated by them. He checked them out pretty thoroughly, though, and he certainly noticed the gold loops they each wore in their nipples.
       "Welcome to Florida, Chad," Kyle said.
       "Yeah, we're glad to have you, man," Tim said.
       "Thanks," Chad said. "This place is gorgeous, and this view is fabulous," he said.
       "Thanks. This is my house," Kyle said. "Hey, you want to swim, guys," Kyle said to everyone.
       "You know I do," Rick said.
       "Yeah, me, too," Sam said.
       "Do you want to swim with us, Chad," Kyle asked. His voice was incredibly gentle, and I knew he thought it was his responsibility to make sure Chad felt included.
       "Oh, no," Chad said. "I'll just watch. Besides, I didn't bring a suit."
       "You don't really need a suit," Kyle said, "but I've got a bunch of them upstairs, if you want me to get you one."
       "No, that's fine, er, Kyle, is it?"
       "Yeah, I'm Kyle. He's Tim," Kyle said.
       "I'll just watch," Chad said. He winked at Kyle, and Kyle sort of blushed a little.
       The rest of us shucked off our clothes and hit the water. Chad took a seat in one of the chairs that was around a table, and he watched us. Kyle had left his cigarettes and lighter on that table, and Chad lit one up after a while. He held it the way Justin had demonstrated months before how a "drama queen" held a cigarette, and I almost laughed when I saw him.
       "That Chad's a piece of work," Rick said to the four grownups in the pool.
       "Tell me," Sam said.
       "He looks like you, Sam, and he certainly acts like you," Rick said.
       "You motherfucker," Sam said, with a grin on his face.
       He dove underwater and tackled Rick. Rick went down with a mighty "ooooohf." Tim and Kyle took that as their cue for an attack on Fred and me, and a water war ensued between the three scouts and the three other guys. Fred turned out to be a pretty agile water fighter. Rick finally ended it by swimming up between my legs and taking my balls into his mouth. He bit down gently on my scrotum above my nuts, and that told me it was time to quit. He came up laughing his ass off, and I grinned at the love of my life.
       "Time to cook," I yelled.
       Everybody was pretty tired from the horseplay, so we got out of the pool. There weren't any towels at the deep end of the pool, where we got out, so we all just walked naked down to the covered area, where Chad was. Tim's and Kyle's dicks were both distended, but they paid no attention to them. The rest of us were shriveled a bit, if anything, but we didn't bother to dress in any way, either.
       Kyle, the future hospitality major, got the gas fire started in the grill, and he sent Tim inside to get the food. Those two boys were an incredible team in lots of areas, but food preparation at that grill was their absolute strongest point. There was a meat market-cum-deli about five miles east of the bridge in town that had some of the finest food around, and they had gone there after school that day to score pre-made raw hamburgers, sausages, and three kinds of salad. They had also gotten all the buns we needed and enough chips to feed twice as many people as were there. The Goodsons supplied the plates, napkins, silverware, and condiments.
       I offered a drink to Sam and Fred from Gene's liquor cabinet. I knew from years of experience that Rick wouldn't drink one, even if he said he would, so I didn't offer him one. Sam and Fred accepted, and I poured a drink for myself, too.
       "I'm dying to get into that house to see what she's done with it," Chad said.
       "Go on in and look around," Rick said. "There's nobody here but us."
       "Oh, please," Chad said. "I need a tour. How will I know what everything is?"
       "You know a table from a chair, don't you," Fred asked.
       Chad gave Fred a smirk. It was a friendly smirk, but it was still a smirk. "There is a lot of money here," Chad said, "and I know they have nice things. I want hissssstory, I want backkkkkground, I want deeeeetail." He gasped out those words.
       "Kyle can tell you all that," Rick said.
       "Oh, I am sooooo sure. I can hear it now. 'This baseball trophy I won in the fifth grade, and this one was from seventh grade.'"
       Chad was effeminate, but he was also very funny. All of us laughed at the trophy thing because we all knew Kyle and knew that that was about his level of comprehension of the history of anything in that house.
       Tim had set the long picnic table, and the salads, breads, and condiments were all laid out for us. Just about then Kyle said,
       "Weenies are up, boys," and he put a platter of sausages on the table.
       All of us chuckled at Kyle's double entendre, but Chad thought it was hilarious. Four naked guys and Chad moved over to the table to eat.
       "I love a hot weenie," Chad said, and we all laughed.
       Tim and Kyle brought a platter of hamburgers to the table about two minutes later, and they sat down to eat with us.
       "Wow, this is really good, guys," Sam said.
       "Thanks, Sam," Tim said. "Do you think this would qualify us for the 'cooking' merit badge?"
       "No question, buddy," Sam said.
       "Oh, my God," Chad said, "am I in a nest of Boy Scouts here, or what?"
       "Yeah," Sam, Kyle, Tim, and Rick said simultaneously. "You're in a nest of Eagles," Tim said.
       "Oh, well, excuse me," Chad said.

       After the meal, Sam, Kyle, and I lit up cigarettes. Kyle noticed Chad seemed to want one, too, so he extended his pack to him. He took one and lit up. Again, Justin's "drama queen" image came to mind.
       "I didn't know you smoked, Chad," Sam said.
       "Just occasionally," he replied. "But let's keep it our little secret, shall we?"
       The way he said that was funny, and we all laughed a little.
       We talked about the camping trip, and Kyle got us notepads and pens to make lists of what each person would be responsible for. We decided on three tents and that the three boys would bunk together.
       "Aren't you afraid of what a fag might do to your boys," Chad asked.
       "What do you mean," Kyle asked.
       "Kyle, I'm gay," Chad said. He used a kind of mock confidential tone of voice and a stage whisper that was pretty cute and pretty funny.
       "Chad, so are we," Kyle said in the same tone. He even imitated Kyle's prissy facial expression, and everyone, including Chad, laughed.
       "Oh, please," Chad said.
       "Chad, it's true. We're all gay. These guys have been a couple for about nine months, and Kevin and I have been together for over four years. We're even married to one another. See?" Rick held up his hand to show Chad his wedding ring.
       "Did you think you were the only gay guy here," Tim asked Chad.
       "Well, I knew Sam was gay, and I assumed Fred was, but I had no idea about the rest of you," Chad replied.
       "Tim and I are as queer as a thirteen-dollar bill," Kyle said.
       "I thought the expression was 'as queer as a three-dollar bill,'" Chad said.
       "It is, but we're a lot queerer than that," Kyle replied. Chad laughed hard at that line, and the rest of us joined him in his laughter.
       He got pretty serious after his laughter died down.
       "So nobody here will make fun of me," Chad asked. There was a poignancy in his tone of voice that let me know that Chad had been made fun of a lot in the past and that it had hurt him deeply.
       "Oh, no, Chad. We'll make fun of you, but not because you're gay. I make fun of these two all the time," Rick said, indicating Kyle and Tim.
       "And we make fun of him, too, Chad," Tim said. "But the point of it is fun, not hurt."
       "I think maybe I like you, Tim," Chad said.
       "Yeah, but he's mine," Kyle said, and he kissed Tim on the cheek to emphasize his point.
       Chad broke into a broad grin. "Wow," he said.
       "Let's swim some more," Kyle said.
       He and Tim stood up. They were still naked from before. Chad stood up to join them, much to everyone's surprise.
       "Do you want me to get you a suit," Kyle asked kindly.
       "No, that's okay," Chad said. "I'll just wear what you're wearing."
       Chad and the boys walked down to the other end of the pool before Chad took off his clothes. Kyle got into the pool first, and Tim pushed Chad in when he was showing a little apprehension about going in. Kyle caught him, and Tim did a cannonball right on top of the two of them. All three boys giggled.
       "I can't believe this," Fred said.
       "I know," Sam said. "That's the most we've gotten out of him in the three days he's been here. Those kids are incredible. They're just so natural that it's almost contagious."
       "But you knew that, Sam," I said.
       "I hoped that, but you're right, I should have known that about them," he said.

Chapter 4

       After Sam and Fred and Chad left, Rick and I helped the boys clean up from our cookout. They didn't bother to put their clothes on, but Rick and I got dressed.
       "So what is this," Rick asked, "a nudist colony?"
       "Do you want us to get dressed," Tim asked. "We're just going to get undressed again as soon as you guys leave."
       Kyle slapped Tim playfully. "Don't tell them that."
       Rick and I both laughed, and they did, too.
       "Tim, buddy, I don't care if you never get dressed," Rick said. "By the way, I noticed tonight that both of you have put on some growth down below."
       "We're both turning into showers and growers," Kyle said, and they both beamed with pride at the enhanced size of their equipment.
       "It's got to be one or the other, Kyle," I said. "You can't be both a shower and a grower."
       "Well, that ain't fair," he said.
       We laughed again.
       "By the way, boys, I want to say how proud of you I was tonight," I said.
       "Yeah, me, too. Sam said Chad hadn't said in three days as much as he said tonight with you guys around," Rick said.
       "He was a nice guy," Tim said. "But why is he so feminine?"
       "The word's effeminate, Tim, not feminine, although it means the same thing, more or less," I said.
       "Effeminate, I meant. Why are guys like that," Tim asked.
       "Well, nobody really knows," I said, "but gay guys aren't the only ones like that. There are all kinds of theories about it. I've read that even kids as young as three can be effeminate."
       "That's the way they show a lot of gay guys on TV and in movies," Kyle said.
       "Like that guy Emmett on Queer as Folk," Tim said. "Of course, that guy Niles on Frazier is supposed to be straight, and he acts like that, too."
       "It's part of the stereotype of gayness, guys. Do you know what I mean by that," I asked.
       "Not really," Kyle said.
       "A stereotype is like a set of characteristics that a lot of people associate with a particular group of people," I said.
       "Like black people liking watermelon and fried chicken," Tim asked.
       "Exactly, Tim. Probably most black people do like watermelon and fried chicken, but not all of them do."
       "I like both of 'em," Kyle said.
       "So do I, and so do most people, probably," I said, "but for some reason it's caught on in our culture that all black people like those two foods. With gay people, it's being effeminate. You both know it's not true of most of the gay guys we know, including you two, and there are tons of straight guys who are effeminate, too."
       "Is that why Chad gets made fun of," Tim asked.
       "Yeah," I said. "There might be other reasons, but that's the main one."
       "Tim, you said something tonight that was just perfect," Rick said. "You said something like we make fun of each other to have fun and not to hurt. I was so glad you said that because that's exactly what we do. We make fun to have fun, including the person we're making fun of."
       "I know. I do and say stupid things that you guys make fun of, but you've never hurt my feelings. I think Chad gets his feelings hurt."
       "You do and I do and Rick, especially, does," Kyle said.
       "Hey, watch it, Mister," Rick said, and all of us chuckled a bit.
       "Do you see what just happened. Kyle said that to tease Rick. Rick knew he was teasing, and Tim and I did, too. That's making fun to have fun," I said.
       "Exactly," Rick said. "Have you guys ever been picked on or been made fun of about being gay?"
       Kyle shook his head, but Tim said, "Last spring when I was going out for baseball this guy called me a fag a couple of times, but he called other guys that, too. He wasn't exactly picking on me, but David got mad as hell about it."
       "How would you guys handle it if somebody did pick on you about being gay," Rick asked.
       "I'd just tell him to fuck off," Kyle said.
       "Yeah, me, too," Tim agreed.
       "What if he, or they, started roughing you up? What would you do then," Rick asked.
       "I wouldn't just take it, that's for damn sure," Kyle said.
       "Me, either," Tim echoed.
       "Yeah, but what would you do?"
       "If we were together, we'd stand 'em down, right, Babe," Kyle said.
       Tim agreed.
       "Yeah, but what if you weren't together? Or what if there were six of them and only the two of you? What would you do then?" I really didn't think the two of them would ever have that kind of problem, but I was glad Rick was forcing them to think about it and make some plans on how they would handle that situation, if it were ever to arise.
       Neither boy responded to Rick.
       "There's safety in..."
       "Numbers," Kyle said excitedly. "We'd get Philip and Ryan and David and our other friends to get our backs."
       "You're on the right track, Kyle, but your friends can't always be with you. Tim might not even be there. What you do is you run like hell to where other people are, son. You get somewhere where there are others. If you're at school, you haul ass to the office. If you're at the mall, you haul ass to the food court or some other place where there are lots of people. And you yell your head off. You let the people there know you are in trouble."
       Both boys were obviously thinking over what Rick had just said.
       "I guess on that baseball field, I should have run over to where Coach was," Tim said, "if that boy looked like he was going to attack me."
       "Right," I said. "If somebody's going to attack you, they won't do it in front of a whole bunch of witnesses. You get your ass someplace where there is somebody in authority, if you can. At school it might be the office or the library or into a classroom where a class is going on. You get someplace safe. And what Rick said is right. You scream, you yell, you let whoever is there know that somebody is trying to get you."
       "Is that going to work every time," Kyle asked.
       "Maybe not, Kyle. I don't know about every single situation you may be in, but I know that it's going to work more times than not," Rick said.
       "It makes sense to me," Tim said.
       "Me, too," Kyle agreed.
       "Do y'all know anything about gay history," I asked. "Our history?" I knew that was a huge change of subject, but what I wanted to say was definitely related to harassment.
       They both shook their heads.
       "Have you ever heard of Stonewall Inn," I asked.
       Again, they both indicated that they hadn't.
       "Stonewall Inn was a gay nightclub in New York City," I said. "In June of 1969, the police busted in the place and started tearing it up. The guys like Chad who were there--the sissies--stood up to them. There was rioting for two nights at that place. And do you know what happened because those sissies stood up to the police?"
       "No, sir," Kyle said.
       "A whole new movement for freedom from oppression was born in this country, boys. It's called Gay Liberation. A couple of years later the Gay Pride movement started. It got people thinking. Kyle, I would bet money that if Stonewall hadn't happened, your dad would not have an openly gay married couple running his businesses for him, and he would not have allowed his two gay sons to be honest with him about who they really are."
       "My dad wouldn't be prejudiced, Rick," Kyle said.
       "Your dad is definitely not prejudiced, son, but he wouldn't have known any different," Rick said. "Do y'all know who Matthew Shepherd was?"
       They shook their heads "no."
       "He was a gay college student in Wyoming. He was effeminate, just like Chad is. He was in a bar one night, and these guys took him for a ride. They ended up killing him. They beat him severely and tied him to a fence for him to die and for the wild animals to eat him."
       "They said he made a pass at them," I said. "Let's say you were in a bar, and a drunk girl came up to you and made a pass at you. Let's say she put her hand on your dick, even. Would you take her out and kill her?"
       I could tell Tim and Kyle were stunned by that question.
       "Of course you wouldn't. But that's what those guys did to Matthew Shepherd. But nobody knows for sure he even did that."
       "This is really serious stuff, but it's confusing me," Kyle said.
       "We're not trying to confuse you, buddy," Rick said. "It's just all coming out real fast. I think Kevin and I both had pretty much forgotten that you and Tim are gay adolescents who live in a very different world than our world. Chad brought it home to us tonight, boys. It's just kind of all tumbled out of us at once."
       I checked my watch, and it was only 9:30. That was important stuff we were talking about, and it wasn't yet too late for us to keep on with it.
       "Kevin, can I have a cigarette, please," Kyle asked.
       "Sure, but where are yours? They were right here."
       "I know, but I gave 'em to Chad. He didn't have any."
       Kyle lit up.
       "How many is that for you today," I asked.
       "This is number two," he said.
       "How many did you have yesterday," I asked.
       "None."
       "Why do you smoke at all, Kyle," I asked. Then, "Never mind."
       Pause.
       "Look," I said, "all of this stuff we've been talking about is related, and Chad's being effeminate brought it all out. The four of us, and Justin and Jason, and many of our friends, owe guys like Chad a huge debt. All of the gay guys we're close to--the four of you boys, us, Sam and Fred, Mont and Ter--nobody ever looks at us or hears us talk and thinks we're gay. Everybody who sees us in casual situations thinks we're straight. And, as a result, we never make them think about homosexuality and the fact that a large number of people in our society aren't straight. But the Stonewall people, and guys like Chad, do make them think. And, hopefully, one of the things they think about is what happened to Matthew Shepherd and a million other gay guys who have been made fun of, harassed, beaten up, and even killed just because they were gay. Does that make any sense?"
       "Yeah, it makes sense to me," Kyle said. "We need to honor guys like Chad; not make fun of them."
       "Kyle, you have an incredible way of getting right to the meat," I said.
       "Yeah. Tell me about it," Tim said.
       We paused a second while we processed what Tim had said, and we howled with laughter.
       "The smoker," Rick said, and that made us both laugh hard again.
       "That's the second time I've heard y'all say that about me," Kyle said. "What is that all about?"
       Rick was still laughing, but he tried to explain.
       "Before we met you, we knew Tim had a friend who smoked because I had seen the two of you in his yard when I had come home at lunch to check on some sprinkler work I had had done in our back yard. Y'all were both smoking. Then George told us about you, and he said you smoked. We didn't know your name, so we referred to you as 'the smoker.'"
       "Okay, I get it," Kyle said. "That isn't the only way you think of me, though, is it?"
       "Kyle!" Rick was irate. "We think of you as our son, man! Our little brother! You know we love you like our own flesh and blood."
       "Yeah, I know that," he said. His voice was breaking a little. "Next to Tim, I love you and Kevin the most, Rick."
       "Kyle, we love you and Tim totally. We love Justin, too, but it's different. You guys are our little brothers," Rick said.
       "Jus is our brother," Kyle said.
       "I know, Kyle, and that makes Kevin and me happy, man."
       "Why does every serious conversation end with somebody crying," Kyle asked, a grin on his face and tears very close to the rims of his eyes.
       Rick said, "Because there's so much love in our hearts. That's why. Sometimes it just builds up and has to come out of our eyes."
       "Our love comes out of our dicks, too," Tim said with an absolutely straight face.
       Kyle rolled his eyes at his buddy, and Rick and I laughed.

       Sam, Fred, and Chad showed up at our house around 5:30 on Friday afternoon, ready for our camping trip. Chad's coloring was a light pink, as though he had spent some time in the sun, and he wasn't wearing make-up. He still had small gold loops in his earlobes, but the other ear jewelry was gone. There was one gold chain around his neck and one gold bracelet on his left wrist, and he had reduced the finger rings to one on each pinky. Maybe that's his idea of roughing it, I thought.
       Our two spermlets had been at our house since three o'clock, the earliest they could get there after school let out at 2:30. Justin was there, too. He knew Sam and Fred, and he shook their hands, as usual. He hadn't met Chad, yet, though, so we introduced them.
       When I introduced them, Justin's body language and facial expression said he had nothing but contempt for Chad.
       "Jus, can I talk to you for a minute in the kitchen," I asked. "I need to tell you some stuff for when we're gone."
       He followed me in there.
       "That didn't go too well just now, Jus," I said.
       "What? With that sissy," he asked.
       "Yeah. With Chad. He's our friend, Jus," I said.
       "Man, Kev, that is so fucking put on, it makes me want to puke," he said.
       "I know, but he's our friend," I said. "And it might not be put on. That might just be the way he is."
       Jus thought for a few moments.
       "You mean that sissy shit ain't an act?"
       "I don't think it is, Bubba," I said. "He needs friends bad. Just like you did."
       Justin thought for a few moments. Then he said,
       "I'm his friend, starting now, I guess."
       "I'm proud of you, little brother," I said, grinning broadly and hugging him.
       "I'm proud of you and my other big brother, too. What's my other big brother's name again?"
       "Get your sorry Alabama ass in there, boy," I said, laughing at what he said and at the delight I felt in him after such a short time.
       "Yes, Rick," he said.
       "Oh, I'm gonna get you for that," I said, laughing hard.
       "Are you coming with us, Justin," Sam asked. He was no doubt figuring out whether there were enough tents and sleeping bags for everybody if Jus were coming.
       "No, sir. I've got to work tomorrow. I'm staying home," Jus said.
       As we were getting into Rick's car, I heard Sam explain to Chad who Jus was. We've got quite a family, I thought.

       The Florida Caverns State Park was in a rather hilly area to the north and east of where we lived. Rick had been hunting around there before, but I had never been there. Most of Florida was relatively young in geological terms, but that part of the state was relatively old. They were finding fossils of dinosaurs in underwater caves at Wakulla Springs south of Tallahassee, and I wondered if there were any of those fossils around where we were.
       It didn't take us long to set up our camp site. Tim and Kyle pitched the three tents for us, and they then gathered firewood for a campfire. It was nice to be with experienced campers because they knew how to do things efficiently and well. Chad tried to help out where he could, but it was obvious he didn't really know what to do without explicit direction from one of the boys.
       By the time things were set, it was time to cook dinner. Rick, Tim, and Kyle took charge of that, and in no time my stomach was growling because of the delicious smells that were coming off the campfire. Chad and Sam went for a little walk, and Fred and I stayed back to watch the others work. I asked Fred if he wanted a drink, and he said he did. Technically, alcohol was prohibited in state parks, but I had done some checking with some of the people at work who had lived around there all their lives. Apparently, those laws were on the books to prevent groups, like fraternities, for example, from coming in and staging a wild weekend party. People like us, who had a drink or two before dinner, weren't in any danger of the law.
       "Kevin, you and Rick and these boys are incredible. Chad couldn't stop talking about y'all last night," Fred said.
       "The kids said they liked him," I said.
       "Well, he loves them. Tim and Kyle are apparently the first boys he's ever felt even remotely comfortable with," he said.
       "That's really too bad, you know? That there haven't been other boys, I mean. He's a nice kid," I said.
       "I'm one of those gay men who has a hard time with effeminate guys," Fred said. "Chad is very smart, and he's also very well read. He knows a lot, and he's funny, too, but I just cringe at his mannerisms. Sam does, too, and Chad's his nephew."
       "Those three over there don't like that, either," I said, meaning Rick, Tim, and Kyle. "And, frankly, I don't find that appealing, myself. But like I told Justin tonight, Chad's our friend, and we have to accept our friends."
       "I'd never do or say anything to hurt that kid," Fred said. "In fact, I'd fight for him, if I had to."
       "Fred, it never crossed my mind that it would be any different with you, man. Please don't think I thought that, for even a second," I said.
       "Oh, I know," he said.
       We sat in silence for a few moments.
       "Fred, stop me if I get too personal, okay," I said.
       He nodded.
       "I know you and Sam are dating, but are you guys living together?"
       He laughed.
       "We don't know," Fred said.
       "Oh," I said. That answer didn't really help.
       "We still have separate places, but we spend more nights together than we do apart, Kev," he said. "I had a very terrible thing happen to me not too long ago."
       "You lost your partner," I said.
       "Yeah." He said that more as a sigh than a word. "We had been together since we were fifteen, and it was only getting better and stronger when he died. I like Sam very, very much. He's a wonderful guy, sensitive, compassionate, loving, but I'm not sure yet that he's another Randy, you know?"
       "How long have you guys been dating," I asked.
       "I don't know. A few months. I dated Mike for several months after your Super Bowl party. Now, Mike is my best friend, but it just didn't happen between us, you know?"
       "I know. Mike is one of my best friends, too, remember?"
       "Oh, how well I know," he said. "Mike has a history, too, of course, just like Sam and I do. The thing that's so wonderful about those two boys over there is they're just like me and Randy. Fucking high school sweethearts. No baggage. No pasts to interfere. No ex-lovers lurking behind every pillow for those two. God, I hope they make it."
       We were both quiet for a moment. I felt so incredibly attuned to that man at that moment. He was so vulnerable, so alone, yet so hopeful.
       "Can I hug you right now," I asked.
       "Oh, God, I wish you would, Kevin. This is so hard."
       I gathered up Fred in a huge hug. He wasn't crying, but he was close, and so was I. Rick saw us and smiled. Then I saw Kyle notice us and say something. Rick gently bopped him on his head with the barbecue tongs he was holding, and all three of them laughed.
       Sam and Chad came back to the campsite just then, and Sam bent down and kissed Fred hello.
       "Hey," Fred said. "Did y'all discover anything?"
       "Well, we didn't discover anything, but the mosquitoes discovered me," Chad said.
       "Oh, so you're like me," I said.
       "What do you mean," Chad asked.
       "If there is a fire ant anywhere in this park, it will find me, Chad," I said. "Or a mosquito or a yellow fly."
       "Oh, yellow flies are the absolute worst," he said.
       "I know. I've got some medicine that I take to keep bugs away from me. Would you like to take one," I asked.
       "Where did you get it," he asked.
       "From a friend who's a doctor," I said. "It works good, man."
       "You have friends who are doctors," he asked incredulously.
       "Yeah. My parents do, anyway. But I guess they're my friends, too. Anyway, do you want the medicine," I asked.
       "Oh, yes, puh-leeze," he said.
       God, Chad, you are so gay, I thought, as I got up to get him the medicine.
       Rick and the boys set the food on a large picnic table that was in our campsite, and they called us over to eat. Everybody took their seat, and Chad looked like he was poised to dive in.
       "Chad, wait up, please," Sam said. "Kyle, as senior Eagle here, will you invoke the Great Spirit upon us and this meal?"
       Kyle nodded. He took Tim's hand and the hand of the man next to him. Tim did the same, and we all joined hands.
       Kyle prayed:

           "Great Spirit, come and live in this camp of brothers. You made us, and we belong to you. You made us needy yet bountiful, diverse yet the same. You made us friends.   Help us to rejoice in our differences and to celebrate our sameness. You caused our mother, the earth, to render forth this food. May it make us strong to honor her and one another. Great Spirit, come and live in this camp of brothers."

       "Whoa, dude! That was awesome," Tim said. He and Kyle knocked their fists together. They were both grinning so hard I expected them to pop their fillings out, if they had any.
       "Did you just make that up," I asked. "That wasn't a traditional scout blessing?"
       "Not at all, Kevin. That was the best one I've ever heard in--what? fifteen years of scouting? That really was awesome, dude," Sam said.
       "Thanky, thanky," Kyle said.
       We all dug into the food. All, that is, except Chad. He was sitting next to Rick, but I noticed how he was acting. He sat perfectly still, and tears were in his eyes, ready to fall at any moment.
       "Chad? Little buddy? Are you okay," Rick asked.
       Everybody stopped eating and focused on Chad when Rick said that.
       "I've never been with people like you before," Chad said.
       "Are we making you sad, buddy," Rick asked.
       "Y'all are making me so happy, Rick. I listened to that blessing. I knew that was about me. I know I'm strange. I know I'm different. I'm always strange and different, but I don't feel that way here. I don't feel separated from y'all, like I always do every other place I am. I feel like I belong here."
       "Of course you belong here. You're our brother, asshole," Kyle said.
       Chad broke into a huge grin. "Nobody has ever said that to me before to have fun with me and not the hurt me, Kyle."
       "Nobody's going to hurt you here, Bubba. This is a safe place," Kyle said.
       "You called me 'Bubba,'" Chad said.
       "Yep, and everybody here knows what that means. Now, you better eat your steak before Rick grabs it off your plate."
       Suddenly, a piece of a leaf of lettuce flew across the table and hit Kyle on the cheek. It stuck to him. He pealed it off dramatically and stuffed it into his mouth.
       With total seriousness that only the actor that Kyle was could muster, he said, "I see that the Great Spirit has sent me a little more salad. The Great Spirit knows that the senior Eagle in camp needs his strength to put up with Life Scouts who cannot take a joke--because they don't understand it," he stage-whispered the last phrase to Tim.
       What was going on between Kyle and Rick was pure theater, and, I, for one, thought it was hilarious.
       "Eat your food and shut up," Rick said.
       Kyle grinned. "I got you, didn't I," he asked Rick.
       "Yeah. But so what? Shut up and eat."
       Everybody laughed at that one.

       After dinner everybody lounged around the fire. It was late September, so the fire, while being an essential part of camp, was making everybody sweat profusely. Tim and Kyle took off their tee shirts and sandals, and it wasn't very long before everybody but Chad joined them.
       "Anybody know any dirty jokes," Kyle asked.
       "I got one in e-mail the other day," Rick said.
       "It seems three couples go on a cruise, two straight couples and a gay couple. The ship sinks, and all six of them drown. They go to heaven, and St. Peter meets them at the pearly gates.
       "'Sorry, but you can't come in,' he tells the first couple.
       "'Why not,' the guy asks.
       "'Because you loved food too much when you were alive,' St. Peter says. 'You even married a woman named Candy.'
       "The next couple comes up, and he turns them down, too. The reason: they loved money too much, and the guy even married a woman named Penny.
       "When he heard that, one of the gay guys turns to his partner and says, 'This doesn't look too good for us, Dick.'"
       Everybody but Tim laughed appreciatively.
       "Do you get it," Kyle asked him.
       "I don't know," Tim said.
       "He loved dick too much," Kyle said.
       "His partner?"
       "No, his partner's dick," Kyle said. Frustration was growing in his voice, and Tim appeared to be playing right along with him.
       "I know his partner's Dick. How can loving your partner too much keep you out of heaven," Tim asked.
       Rick and Chad were about to burst from holding in their laughter. Kyle noticed, and a light went on in his head.
       "You're teasing me, aren't you?"
       Tim's face broke into a huge grin.
       "You monkey," Kyle said. He jumped on Tim and pushed him down. When Tim was on his back, Kyle put his mouth in the middle of Tim's stomach and gave him a loud, wet raspberry. Tim was laughing so hard he could barely breathe, and the rest of us were laughing at their play. They finished horsing around, and Kyle took Tim in his arms and pulled him to him, with Tim's back against Kyle's chest. It was the way they often sat at home to watch TV, imitating what Rick and I did. In about a minute, though, they broke apart because it was too hot to sit like that.
       "I wish I had a boyfriend," Chad said.
       "Have you ever had one," Sam asked.
       "No. I barely have any friends at all," he said. His voice wasn't strained, and he didn't appear to be looking for sympathy. He was just stating a fact.
       "You'll get one, Bubba. It's pretty lonesome, isn't it? That's what it felt like to me, anyway, before I met Tim."
       "Lonesome doesn't even come close to describing it. Of course, I don't know what I'd do with a boyfriend, even if I had one," Chad said.
       "You mean, like, sex," Tim asked.
       Chad blushed and looked down.
       Kyle started to say something, but Tim shook his head "no," so Kyle shut up. Then he said, "Are we going to rent canoes or horses tomorrow?"
       That effectively changed the topic of conversation, and we went on to talk of other things.
       Around ten o'clock, the three boys went to their tent, and the rest of us stayed up a little while talking about them.
       "You know what Kyle was going to say when Tim made him shut up, don't you," Rick asked.
       "No, what," Sam said.
       "He was going to tell Chad that he and Tim would be glad to demonstrate sex for him," he said.
       "You know, it occurred to me he might say that, too," I said. "I'm glad Tim didn't let him."
       We heard giggling coming from the boys' tent.
       "Maybe that's what they're doing right now," Sam said.
       "I wouldn't put it past 'em," Rick said. I looked at him questioningly. "Yes, I would," he said on second thought. "They wouldn't do that."
       "I'll bet they're talking about sex, though, don't you," Fred said.
       "I hope so," Sam said. "I don't want to be the one to do it."
       "I know what you mean," Fred said. Then, "Do you guys talk to Tim and Kyle about sex?"
       "Not on any kind of regular basis, but we have talked about it quite a bit," I said. "We told them no questions about sex were off limits."
       More giggling from the tent.
       "They have been so nice to Chad," Sam said. "He thinks they're heroes, or something. Which they are, but he doesn't know about that. They're his heroes."
       "They like him, too," Rick said. "How old is Chad."
       "Fourteen," Sam said. "That was a tough age for me, and it's even tougher for him."
       "Well, now that he's got some buddies, maybe it'll get easier," Rick said.
       "He asked me this morning if I thought there was a chance he could live with me permanently," Sam said.
       "What did you tell him," Fred asked.
       "I said we'll have to wait and see. What would you have said?"
       "About living with you or living with me," Fred asked.
       "About living with me," Sam said to clarify what he meant.
       More giggles from the boys' tent.
       "I honestly wouldn't have a problem if he lived with you, Sam," Fred said. "I'd still be hanging around."
       Sam smiled like that was exactly what he wanted to hear.
       The fire was out, and it had cooled down a little. It was still too hot for a sleeping bag, but by then I thought that we'd be able to get to sleep. We said good night to our friends, and Rick and I went to our tent. The boys were still talking and laughing, and I thought how lucky little Chad was to have Kyle and Tim for friends.

       The next morning over breakfast Rick said, "How late did you guys stay up last night? There was a lot of talking and laughing going on when we went to bed."
       All three of them blushed.
       "Chad knows what to do with a boyfriend now, though," Tim said.
       Chad giggled a little and blushed a lot.
       "Chad, there's no shame in wanting to know about sex, son. It's your right as a human being. You got it from the two experts, by the way," Rick said.
       "I know, Rick," Chad said. "There was something Tim and Kyle didn't know about, though."
       "What was that," Rick asked. I knew he thought we had covered just about everything with them.
       "When you dress up in diapers, does Kevin spank you when you wet yourself?"
       Everybody at the table burst out laughing, as much at what he said as at the fact that Chad had said it.
       "I'm going to wring your neck," Rick said, pointing at Kyle.
       "Moi," Kyle asked innocently.
       Then Rick laughed, too.

       That weekend at the caverns sealed a friendship among the three boys that I figured would last a lifetime. Chad went home with Sam and Fred for a long weekend in the middle of October, and the decision was made to let him stay with Sam until the end of the school year. His father had calmed down by then, and he and Chad had patched up any differences they had. When his parents saw what a changed boy Chad was by then, they knew instinctively they couldn't deprive their son of the environment on the beach.
       Chad certainly didn't become a macho man, but Rick and I noticed some subtle differences. He never wore make-up after that first evening, and he started using the odd four-letter word. He clung to a gold loop in each ear, but that was the extent of the pierced jewelry he wore. Eventually, he got his nipples pierced, but he stopped wearing the rings when one of them got infected slightly. His voice actually changed and moved into a more manly register. He still described "outfits" as "cute," and there were still lots of "fabulous" things in his life. He tried out for a play at school with Kyle and Tim, and he talked about "doing" the "show" while they were in rehearsal.
       Most importantly, though, Chad started asserting himself. First with Tim, eventually with Kyle, and then even with me and Rick. He was never obnoxious about it, but he increasingly demanded that his opinion be taken seriously.
       "Can you believe the change in him," Sam said one evening, right after Chad shoved Kyle in the pool and started running when Kyle got out and chased him.
       "It's unbelievable," Fred said. By then he and Sam were officially living together, and Fred saw the difference in Chad even more than we did.
       "He seems pretty happy now," Rick said.
       "'Happy' doesn't begin to capture it all, Rick," Sam said. "It's like he's become a person and not a stereotype. Oh, by the way, there may be a little boyfriend action lining up."
       "Tell! Tell!," Rick said.
       "He's met a kid at school, it seems. The boy's a junior, and he's as much of a flamer as Chad is, or was," Sam said.
       "They had a date last weekend," Fred said. "The guy came and picked him up and everything. Chad wanted him to come over here to meet everybody."
       "Why didn't you let him," I asked. I was excited for Chad and more than a little disappointed the kid hadn't come.
       "His grandparents came to town yesterday," Sam said, "and his mom is taking everybody out for dinner tonight. Believe me, he wanted to come. He knows Kyle and Tim. He thinks they're studs."
       I chuckled at that last comment.
       "They are studs, Babe," Rick said.
       "Did I say they weren't," I asked. Rick was one of those people who saw the boys' flaws and pointed them out whenever necessary but who resented the hell out of anybody else doing so, except me, usually.
       "They're studs with hearts," Rick said. Everybody smiled.

Chapter 5

(Kyle's Perspective)
       Summer ended way too soon. It always does, but that year we had to be back in school on damn August 8th. I couldn't believe it when they told us that before the old school year had ended, and I was even more pissed about it the faster that date started coming around. A lot happened in the summer, too. Tim and I got a new brother, Justin Davis, a real shit-kicking redneck from some place in Alabama. He was pretty cute, and all, but he was really a prick at first. He even got mad when he found out Tim and I were gay because we hadn't let him blow us the day before. Jeez! I got him a job at the motel where Tim and I were working, and I came up with some bullshit job description that let me and Tim spend most of every day together. It was basically two jobs being done by three guys, and, if my dad hadn't been so busy buying his new resort that summer, he would have seen through that scam right away.
       I lost it one Sunday morning, and I got so mad at him I wanted to beat the shit out of him for disrespecting Kevin and Rick and then disrespecting me and Tim. I held back, though, and I'm glad I did. Pretty soon, he started coming around when he realized he was stuck with us whether he wanted to be or not.
       One of the things that happened that made Justin have a little more respect for us, I think, was a conversation we had with Kevin and Rick about sex. Mister Justin had been this whore, and guys used to fuck him, and he'd suck them off, all the time, for money. We started talking about gay sex, though, and Tim and I knew ten times more about it than he did. Hell, he didn't even know you got hard from kissing, or how to do the finger. Justin had been with a whole lot of guys, but he didn't know shit about sex compared to us.
       And speaking of sex, me and my little sex monkey had us plenty that summer. We slept together every single night, just about, and we did sex every time. And the thing was, it kept getting better and better. We kept thinking up new stuff to do with one another, and it was always fun.
       "Come over here," he said one time when he was in the bathtub at my house. I was naked and hard, just from watching him.
       "What," I asked him.
       He soaped up his hand and put it around just the head of my dick. He swirled it a few times, and then he concentrated everything on just the head. He never touched the shaft, like you would do if you were jerking a guy off. Just the head.
       "Does that feel good," he asked after he had been doing it for about five minutes.
       "Yeah," I said. "It feels like I'm really close, but I know I'm not going to shoot until you stroke it all the way up and down."
       "I read on the Internet about doing this," he said.
       Every now and then I would shudder a little bit because it felt so good. He would outline the head of my dick so gently with one finger that I could barely feel it, but it would make me think I was about to lose my load. Then he would use all of his fingers on it, like he was picking a strawberry or a fig or something. He kept doing it for a long, long time, and my dick was so hard it even sort of hurt a little. When I finally did shoot, the stuff hit the wall clear across the tub.
       Another time I was inside Tim. He had sucked my dick a little while before, and I had shot my stuff in his mouth. I knew I was at a good angle because I could feel his prostate with the tip of my dick, and I was giving him everything I had. He was loving it, too, moaning and wagging his head back and forth on the pillow. All of a sudden he got stiff as a board, and his ass muscles clamped down on me inside him really hard. I pulled back a little bit, and I felt the ridge around the head of my dick slide over his sweet spot. I left it there and pulled up on his legs to put more pressure on the spot. He shot his juice like a geyser. But I didn't stop. I just made tiny movements inside him, rubbing against that place for all I was worth.
       "Oh, my God, Kyle. Oh, my God," he said. He said it fast, like he never wanted it to stop. I knew he was feeling good.
       Then it started again. He got really stiff all over, and he pumped out a second load. When I saw it happen, I popped off inside him. Whoa! That was really intense for both of us.
       It wasn't always as good as those times, but it seemed like we both learned what the other one liked. A lot of times we didn't butt fuck at all. A lot of times we would just kiss--we always kissed, no matter what else we did--and rub on each other and suck each other's dicks or nipples or both. It was just so good to touch him, to feel him against me, to know that he was hard because of me and I was hard because of him.
       It was during the summer that I decided that Tim was going to be mine forever. I knew we were young, too young, probably, but at some point I also knew I never wanted anybody else but him. We would both look at other boys and get hard and all, but I gradually got to realize that Tim was going to be my man for the rest of my life. And it wasn't just the sex, as good as that was. It was just him, all of him. We were Kevin and Rick's little brothers, but I think we were like them in the love we had for one another, too.

       We had a big-ass storm at the beginning of September, and we all went to Dothan to escape. On the way there Tim and I saw an accident. I was driving, so I pulled off the road right after it happened. The car had gone off a low bridge into a creek or a bayou or something. The only thing I could think of was a movie I had seen one time at a scout meeting where almost the exact same thing happened. The boy in the movie didn't waste any time in getting in that water after that car. I did the same thing. I stripped down to my briefs and dove in.
       It was like I was standing outside of myself watching me. The me that was standing watching was scared shitless, but the me in the water didn't have time to think about being scared. In the movie, the boy was with his friend, and the friend stayed on the bridge to help the victim out of the water. Well, that's exactly what Tim did. I pulled a girl out of the car, and then I had to go back to get her baby. Tim was so calm and so sure of what he was doing that he gave me courage. We had to revive the baby.
       Everybody thought Tim and I were heroes, and we got a lot of publicity about it. Tim and I never really talked about it, though. To us it was just something we had had to do.
       The coolest thing was we had to go to Tallahassee to get awards from the governor of the state. That was on a Friday, and we got our awards at a little ceremony at the state cabinet meeting. The meeting was at nine o'clock, so all of us--me and Tim, our parents, and Kevin and Rick--went over there the night before. Me and Tim had a hotel room to ourselves, and, yep, we made love Thursday night and Friday morning.
       The assistant governor had called a few days before to make sure we'd be there. She wanted us to wear our scout uniforms to get the award. That was cool with us, especially since the stuff we had done to get the award we had learned in the scouts.
       "Here, put these in your shirt pocket," I said, handing him a pack of cigarettes.
       "No, I'm not doing that," he said. "I never carry cigarettes, and I'm damn sure not going to be smoking today. You know that."
       "I know, but think about it. There we'll be, two little queers with cum still seeping out of our assholes, dressed in uniform, with a pack of cigarettes between our hearts and our Eagle badges as we're honored for bravery. Oh, this is too good, Babe," I said. "You've got to do this."
       All of a sudden, I saw the devil in his eyes. Then he started grinning. Then I knew he would do it.
       "God, I love you," he said. "How do you come up with this shit?"
       "I don't know, but isn't it great? Isn't it, like, irony on irony on irony," I asked.
       "Yeah, it is. But I don't have cum seeping out of my asshole," he said.
       "I don't either. I meant that figuratively, not literally," I said.
       He grinned and raised his arm to backhand me. I knew he remembered when I had made fun of him during the storm when he said something about figuratively and literally. Instead of hitting, me, though, he kissed me.
       Later on, when we told Rick and Kevin what we had done, they both laughed so hard I thought they were going to pee their pants.
       The ceremony was really cool. They gave us each a medal that we could wear in uniform, a certificate, and a thousand bucks. We both had plenty of money, but that was nice. The next day was the best, though. We were invited to be in the governor's sky box at the FSU-Georgia Tech football game. My dad was beside himself, getting to hob-nob with all the big shots and all, and he pretended he loved FSU, instead of the Florida Gators.
       Kevin and Rick were pretty pumped about being there, too. There was a guy in that box who was about their age, and he was pretty flaming. He flirted with both of them during the whole game. It turned out he was a nephew or cousin, or something like that, to the governor.

       The next big thing that happened was we met Chad. Oh, what a guy. We both wanted to like him because he was Sam's nephew, and we loved Sam. Kevin told us he was "a little effeminate" before we met him, but Kevin didn't know him yet, either. He was a lot effeminate. The thing that got me was he was wearing make-up when we met him. And I know that shouldn't bother me, but it did. I mean, Tim and I bleached our hair and got these things put in our tits, so we weren't all that different. But he was wearing lipstick and eye shit, and that just turned me completely off right on the spot. And he talked kind of funny, too.
       He told us he was gay, and he said he knew Sam was gay and thought Fred probably was, too. He shit a brick when he found out Kevin and Rick are gay, and me and Tim are, too. But that kind of loosened him up a little. I had known a few guys like him, but maybe not to that extent. I hated it when jocks and other boys picked on those guys for no reason. I've always been pretty accepting of everybody, even if stuff they did sort of turned me off to them.
       That was a Wednesday night when we met Chad. We had fun with him on Friday night, though, when they took us camping up in Marianna. He said in front of all those old guys that he didn't know squat about sex. When he said that, I thought to myself, Buddy, you ain't leaving here tonight without knowing what you need to know.
       I made us go to our tent sort of early because I wanted me and Tim to have time to talk to him. All me and Tim were wearing was our shorts and our underwear, and we got rid of the shorts right away. It was pretty hot in the tent, but somehow just taking our shorts off helped us cool down a little.
       "Take your clothes off, Chad," Tim said. "It's too hot to sleep in your clothes."
       Chad looked like he was shy or something, so I said,
       "Chad, we've already seen it, man. Don't you remember swimming with us Wednesday night? You've got a nice one. You're wearing underwear, aren't you?"
       "Yeah, but now don't make fun, okay," he said. "Don't laugh when you see them."
       "Okay, we'll try not to laugh," I said.
       Me and Tim wear briefs, but they're the kind you have to pull down in front when you pee. They don't have a hole that you can get your dick through, and they're kind of smaller than regular briefs that have the pee hole. I think they call them sports briefs, or something like that. Chad was wearing something about the size of a postage stamp, though, and it was red trimmed in black. We didn't laugh when we saw them, but we wanted to.
       It was way too hot to get into our sleeping bags, so we just lay down on top of them. I had a little battery lantern that gave enough light so we could see pretty good, but it wasn't bright enough to keep you awake if you happened to just drift off to sleep.
       "Kyle," Chad said.
       "What?"
       "Never mind," he said.
       "No, what," I asked.
       "What did you start to say tonight after I said I don't know what I would do with a boyfriend?"
       "I know what he started to say," Tim said. "He started to say we'll show you what to do."
       Chad and I laughed, but Tim was right. That was exactly what I was going to say.
       "Would you guys do that," Chad asked.
       "No, we won't show you, but we'll tell you," Tim said.
       "Okay. At least that's something," he said.
       We told Chad a lot of stuff that night. We told him everything we could think of that Rick and Kevin had told us, and we told him some stuff they hadn't said but that we had figured out on our own. It didn't take long for all three of us to get big ole hard-ons.
       Chad propped himself up on his elbow and leaned over toward us. Then he said,
       "I've never seen an erection besides my own."
       Me and Tim didn't say anything. I figured Chad wanted a peek, but I wasn't going to volunteer.
       "Can I see yours," he asked kinda softly and shyly.
       "You can see mine, but you've got to show me yours, too," I said.
       "Me, too," Tim said.
       "You go first," Chad said.
       I got up on my knees, and my dick was sticking so far out it pulled my underwear away from my stomach and I could see the top of it. I pulled my briefs down, and Chad sort of made a little sound, like he was surprised or something.
       "You next," I said to Chad.
       "What about Tim," he asked me.
       "He'll be after you," I said. I wasn't going to let this guy see everything and then not show us what he was packing, that's for sure.
       He slowly got up on his knees like I was, and he pulled down his underwear. His dick was just like mine and just like Tim's when his skin was pulled all the way back. It wasn't quite as big as ours were, but it wasn't that much smaller, either.
       Tim knelt down and showed his stuff.
       "Can I touch them," Chad asked.
       I figured that was next, and I had already decided I'd let him if he asked.
       "Okay," me and Tim said at the same time.
       He put his hand around my dick. He did it real gentle, like he was afraid he'd hurt me if he put too much pressure on it. His hand felt good. Then I knew what was going to happen next, too. He started stroking us. He did it pretty good, but Tim had to stop him to show him how he liked it, using his foreskin. It didn't take us long, as sexed up as we were that night.
       Tim took Chad's dick into his hand. "Babe, do the finger," Tim said.
       We made Chad lay down on his back and spread his leg. I got out some lube and squirted some on my finger. I found his place right away when I stuck it in him, and he sort of squirmed a little when I did that. Then Tim started stroking him. Chad turned out to be a noisy little fucker, too, moaning and groaning.
       "Not so loud," Tim said, and Chad muffled his voice.
       It didn't take Chad long at all to get off. When he shot, his ass clenched so hard on my finger I thought he had broken it. He didn't, though.
       We gave him some tissues to clean up, and me and Tim wiped off the little bit of stuff we had gotten on us.
       "Was that the first time anybody did that to you," Tim asked.
       "That was the first time anybody even touched me," he said. "Thank you. It was wonnnnderful."
       "No problem, dude," I said. "That means you're not a virgin anymore. You're a man, just like the rest of us."
       Chad did something cute. His eyes got huge, and he put his hand over his mouth. We all laughed.
       "Chad, Tim and I hadn't talked about doing this tonight, but I think we both wanted to help you out. I don't do stuff with other guys unless Tim is right there doing it with me, and I don't do any ass fucking or cock sucking with anybody but Tim. Alone."
       "The same for me, Chad," Tim said.
       "I don't get what you mean," Chad said.
       "Well, me and Tim are in love, and we belong to each other. What we just did was playing around, just having fun, and we don't mind doing that with guys we like. But when we have sex, we make love, and we don't do that with anybody but each other," I said.
       "I understand. I just feel so honored you did what you did, Kyle," Chad said.
       "It was fun, Chad. I'm tired. Let's go to sleep," I said. We didn't bother putting our underwear back on, and I went to sleep pretty fast.

       The next morning we wrapped towels around ourselves to go over to the shower house. It was pretty close to where we were camped, so it didn't take us long at all to get there. There were two boys around our age and a man who might have been their dad. The boys scoped us out pretty good when we took our towels off, but I didn't mind. They really checked out Tim good, though, because of that foreskin he has. The dad left a minute after we got there, and he told the boys to hurry up. They didn't, though. They wanted to get in as much as possible. Tim put on a show for them, too, pulling his skin back and then stretching it out away from the head of his dick. One of the boys started getting hard, but that could have just been because he was a kid. They both hurried up when that started happening.
       The three of us laughed hard when they were out of the building.
       Tim and I cooked breakfast for everybody on a gas grill we had brought. We made scrambled eggs, bacon, and biscuits in a frying pan that had a lid. It's easier to make them like that in a fire, but we didn't need a fire, as hot as it already was. People from the north always think Florida is a wonderful place because it never gets very cold there, but they don't know just how terrible the heat is.
       When we were all sitting at the table, Rick said,
       "What was all that talking and laughing about in your tent last night, guys? It sounded like y'all were having fun or something. That's not like y'all, Tim and Kyle."
       He was teasing us because having fun was what we did the most of.
       "We had some teaching to do," I said.
       "Oh?"
       "Yeah," I said.
       "Chad, did they teach you how to be a horny little boy like they are," Rick asked.
       "I already knew how to be horny," Chad said. "I needed them to teach me what to do about it."
       Everybody really laughed hard when he said that.
       Rick raised his eyebrows at me. If anything happens or goes wrong, he always thinks I'm the one responsible for it, never Tim. A lot of times I am responsible, but Tim does his share of stuff, too.
       "Are we going to have any elaboration," Rick asked.
       I waved my middle finger back and forth a little, and only Rick could see it. He gave me the "okay" sign, but I was the only one who could see that.
       We had a real good time the rest of the weekend. We couldn't decide if we wanted to ride horses or rent canoes, so we rode horses on Saturday and rented canoes on Sunday. We went into the cave, too, and that was pretty awesome. By the end of that weekend, Chad and me and Tim were good friends. We didn't do any sex Saturday night, even though I wouldn't have minded, but we were so tired when we went into our tent that we all just went right to sleep.

Chapter 6

(Rick's Perspective)
       Our weekend with the boys at the Florida Caverns park was a lot of fun. Kyle communicated silently to me at breakfast on Saturday morning that he and Tim had filled Chad in on man-to-man sex, apparently even with a demonstration of "the finger." The boys were off somewhere, and it was just the four adults around the picnic table that had become our unofficial headquarters.
       "Well, fellas," I said, "one of the boys became a man last night."
       "Chad," Kevin asked.
       "Who else?"
       "Do you have any details," Sam asked.
       "Not many, but I do know that Kyle taught him what 'doing the finger' is all about," I said. "The way I figure it, they got in that tent and started talking about sex. Pretty soon, all three of them were hard, and one thing sort of led to another. Chad probably jerked Tim and Kyle off, and they worked on him as a team."
       "That's kind of touching, you know," Fred said. "It's like they took charge of him."
       "I know. I love those two," Sam said. "Chad is so fucked up."
       "Well, I'd say he's definitely fucked, at least finger-fucked, but I don't know that he's all that fucked up anymore, Sam," Kevin said.
       We all chuckled at what Kevin said.
       "He sure was happy this morning. I guess that's a sign of getting laid. If you call what they did getting laid," Sam said.
       "Sure it was, Sam, for guys their age," Kevin said.
       "I guess. Those boys are definitely more advanced sexually than I was at their age," Sam said.
       Kevin and I agreed with him about ourselves. I noticed Fred said nothing. Kevin had told me about a conversation he and Fred had had the evening before and about the fact that Fred and his partner Randy had been together since they were fifteen. I was pretty sure Fred and Randy had discovered "the finger" by that age.
       "Sometimes I wonder if boys that age should be having sex," Sam said.
       "It hasn't hurt Tim and Kyle," Kevin said. "Or Justin and Jason, either, for that matter. Tim and Kyle are in love, and it could well be a life sentence for those two."
       "But Kevin, they're so young. How can they possibly be able to fall in love for life at their age," Sam asked. He wasn't being argumentative, and he obviously had the boys' welfare at heart.
       "Sam. Babe. It can happen. Trust me," Fred said.
       All of a sudden it dawned on Sam and the rest of us what Fred was talking about.
       "Oh, Sweetie, I'm so sorry. That was so insensitive of me," Sam said. I could tell he felt awful for what he had said without thinking.
       Fred gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Don't feel that way, Babe," Fred said. "You're right. In most cases, guys like that would be split up by the time they were eighteen, but I don't sense that with those two. My sense is they're in it for life together, and wouldn't that be great?"
       "It would be wonderful," Sam said.
       "I've been wondering if two straight couples in a situation like this one would be saying the same thing we're saying," Fred said.
       "I kind of doubt it," I said. "They'd be worrying about pregnancy, even if the word never came up. And about the daughter's reputation."
       "Or virginity. Chad didn't lose his virginity, after all, did he," Sam asked.
       "Hell, yeah," Kevin, Fred, and I said in unison.
       "Really? I guess I'm just a prude when it comes to sex," Sam said.
       "Yeah? Since when," Fred said with a big grin. We all laughed.

       The boys had been off renting horses for us while we had been talking about the recent deflowering. They were mounted when they came up, and they were leading the four for us to ride. Tim and Kyle weren't wearing shirts, and their gold nipple rings reflected the sun. I thought of what George had told us about the Roman soldiers wearing nipple piercings as a sign of their bravery, and those two boys on those horses were the very embodiment of the brave Roman soldier to me that day. They were strong in body and in soul, and their ebullience was contagious.
       Kyle convinced Chad to take off his shirt. Then he dismounted and went to their tent for some sun screen for him. Kyle applied it to Chad's back and legs, and then he handed him the bottle to put it on his face and chest. I watched the tent grow in Chad's shorts as Kyle touched him. Kyle saw it, too, and he slapped at it with a downward swat when he finished.
       "Ouch!," Chad screamed, and he and Kyle both giggled.
       We took off on the horses at a slow trot, but, pretty soon, we got to an open field. Kyle smirked at me, as though to say, "Catch me if you can," and he took off at a gallop. I couldn't let that puppy get the better of me, so I nudged my horse on after his. Kyle was obviously a schooled rider, but I wasn't. My ass bumped up and down hard on that saddle with every step that horse took.
       Kyle and I were way ahead of the rest of the guys. We got to a place where there were planted rows of hedges, obviously a jumping course, and Kyle got really excited.
       "We have to jump," he screamed to me.
       "Okay," I screamed back.
       Jump?! What was I thinking? I had never jumped a horse before in my life. I had no idea how to do it. I could get killed, I thought.
       Kyle took the first hedge with grace. Then he reigned his horse in and turned around. The horse jumped it a second time, coming in my direction.
       He gave me some cursory instructions on what to do.
       "Let's go back some and jump together," he said.
       We did that, and my horse barely cleared the hedge. Kyle was laughing at me, and I shot him a bird. That only made him laugh more.
       We kept that up for a couple of hours. Finally, he decided the horses were tired and needed water and rest. I needed water, rest, and an energy transfusion. He and I were on the ground under a huge oak tree. He lit up a cigarette, the first I had seen him smoke since we had gotten there. He offered me his pack. He had done that several times since he had seen me smoke that one cigarette during the hurricane a few weeks before, but every time I declined. That was Kyle, though.
       "So what really happened last night," I asked.
       "What do you think happened," he asked in return.
       "I think y'all were talking about sex, and you all got hard. Chad wanted to see your erections, so you showed him. He showed you his. He wanted to touch you and Tim, and you let him. He started jerking y'all off, and you both shot. Tim jerked him off while you did the finger. Am I right?"
       "You know you're right. It happened exactly like that," he said.
       "I thought so."
       We were both quiet for a while. Every few minutes we'd get a puff of breeze that reminded us that someday, maybe, it would cool off.
       "Why do we think so much alike," he asked.
       "Does it bother you that we do," I asked in return.
       "Not at all. I want to be exactly like you, and Tim wants to be exactly like Kevin. I think that could work, don't you?"
       "Buddy, we know that about you and Tim, and do you have any idea how happy that makes us," I asked.
       "It makes me happy, too, that we're so much like y'all," he said.
       He finished his smoke and rubbed it out on the grass.
       "Bury that butt. What kind of scout are you, anyway," I asked facetiously.
       "I'm the kind who didn't smoke on camping trips. At least, not too often."
       "Right. Not too often."
       He kicked up a hole with his heel and buried the cigarette butt. We got back on our horses and rode some more.
       The next morning Kevin rubbed my butt, as he often did. In the years we had been together, my butt had never hurt, but it did that day.
       "Too much saddle yesterday," he asked wryly.
       "I guess so. Does yours hurt," I asked.
       "A little. Will you put some salve in it for me," he asked in his cutest way.
       "How can I resist," I asked, and we made love.

       Kevin had to work late on Wednesday night, so I went to the gym for my workout by myself. I had done that before, of course, but it wasn't as much fun without him, and I had the added problem of finding myself a spotter.
       As I did my workout on the machines, I noticed a guy I had never seen in there before. Since we went to the gym at more or less the same time several times a week, we pretty much knew all of the regulars who were part of the "after work" crowd. That guy kept staring at me, though, and a few times, when he caught my eye, he didn't turn away as guys usually did. In fact, a few times he smiled at me. I smiled back to be polite, but I tried not to look at him, even when I knew he was looking at me because I didn't want to send any false messages if that guy happened to be gay.
       The man was in his late twenties or early thirties, about six-two, maybe two hundred pounds, maybe two-ten, and his hair was very dark. He wore it short, and it was neat around his ears and neck, so I figured he had just had a haircut. His overall physique was nice, not too bulky but not really lean, either. His face was easy on the eyes, too. He was what a lot of people would consider handsome.
       I finished my routine with the machines, and I went over to the free weights section of the gym. When Kevin wasn't there, I usually asked somebody else to spot me, and I'd do the same for him. Since the section was empty, though, I hoped somebody would come along to give me a hand.
       I did all the routines I could that didn't require a spotter. I went to the water fountain and drank two glasses of water, and then I went back to the free weights area. The new guy was there.
       "Hi," he said when I walked up.
       "Hi. I haven't seen you around here before. I'm Rick Mashburn," I said, extending my hand.
       He shook my hand. "Jerry Taylor. I've never been here before. I just moved to town two weeks ago, and I haven't done anything all that time. I just joined the club tonight. Have you been coming here long?"
       "Yeah, about three-and-a-half years. It's a good place. They keep it clean, and the machines are always in good repair. Nice bunch of people, too," I said.
       "Glad to hear it," he said. "It looks like I made a good choice." Pause. "What kind of work do you do, Rick?"
       "I work for Goodson Enterprises. Ever hear of it," I said.
       "Can't say that I have," he replied.
       "There are two parts of the business, hospitality and retail. I run the retail side," I said.
       "Hospitality," he asked.
       "Hotels and motels. They have eleven of those. They have sixteen gift shops, and that's what I work with," I said.
       "You seem kind of young to be in charge of something that big," he said.
       "I'm twenty-six, and I thought I was too young for it when Gene Goodson offered me the job. But so far it's worked out," I said.
       "If you're getting the job done, then you're not too young, right," Jerry said.
       "I guess. What kind of work do you do," I asked him.
       He hesitated for a moment, like he was trying to remember what he did for a living.
       "I'm in counseling," he said. "I said that wrong. I do counseling, I'm not in counseling. Although there are people I know who think I should be in counseling myself."
       I chuckled at his play on words.
       "Have you done any work with sexually abused boys," I asked. I was thinking of Justin.
       He looked very pained. "Er, no."
       The look on his face when I asked about sexually abused boys made me wonder if he had been one when he was younger. Since he didn't ask why I had asked about that, or say anything else, either, I let the matter drop.
       "Say, I usually work out with another guy, but he had to work tonight. Would you mind spotting me," I asked.
       "Not at all," he said, "if you'll do the same for me."
       "Sure, I'll be glad to."
       I got on the bench and started my workout. Jerry didn't take his eyes off me, but that was okay because I needed his help and didn't want him distracted by something across the room. I pumped out my usual sets.
       When it was Jerry's turn, I had a sense that he was trying to look up the leg holes of my shorts. I had forgotten to bring a jock that night, but it really didn't bother me that he was peeking.
       He finished his routine. "That was good," he said. "Thanks."
       "Thank you," I said. "It was nice to meet you, Jerry. See ya around, man."
       "Nice to meet you, too, Rick.
       "Well, I need a shower," I said.
       "Me, too. Tell me about the whirlpool," Jerry said.
       "What about it," I asked.
       "Well, is it clean," he asked.
       "It's spotless. They make you take a shower before you use it, and they use all the right disinfectant stuff. It's safe, and it's great, too. I'm thinking I'm going to use it myself tonight," I said.
       "I'll join you, if you don't mind," he said.
       "Glad for the company," I said.
       I slipped off my shorts, shirt, and shoes and put them into my locker. I got out a towel for after the whirlpool, but I didn't bother putting it around my waist. I was all sweaty, and I didn't want to get sweat on my towel before I needed to use it. Jerry must have had the same idea, and he and I walked naked into the shower room. He stood at the shower head next to me, sort of facing me.
       I knew Jerry was checking me out, but I didn't mind. We were naked around the boys a good bit when we swam at Kyle's house, and I didn't have anything to be ashamed of. I don't like to talk in the shower because it's hard to hear what the other guy is saying, so we both just went about our business of getting clean.
       After the shower, we went into the next room where the whirlpool was. It was empty, and we lowered ourselves in. Jerry wasn't right on top of me, but he wasn't across the pool from me, either.
       I groaned as I was getting in the water.
       "Feels good, doesn't it," he said.
       "Yeah. My ass has been sore as hell since the weekend, and this hot water really feels good," I said.
       He looked at me funny. "Oh," he asked, sort of raising an eyebrow.
       "I went horseback riding with my little brother Saturday, and, like a fool, I let him trick me into galloping a lot and even jumping hedges. I'm not very good at that to start with, and I hadn't ridden in years. All that pounding on the saddle bruised me up some," I said.
       "The hot water should fix you right up," he said.
       "Yeah."
       I closed my eyes and let my head fall back to rest on the rim of the whirlpool. The water felt so good, and I was tired. I started to drift off, a little. I thought while it was happening that I couldn't let myself go to sleep in that water. It was like in class or in church or in boring meetings. I wasn't really asleep in the technical sense, but I wasn't really fully conscious either.
       Kevin put his hand on my thigh, and that felt good, too. He rubbed me a little there, and then he moved up to my penis. He held it a few seconds, and I felt some stirring down there. Why was Kevin doing that in a public place? We never did stuff like that in public, I thought.
       I sat up straight with a start.
       "Jerry, not that, okay," I said.
       He pulled his hand away as fast as a gunshot. "Rick, man. I'm so sorry. I totally misjudged you. I didn't have any reason to think you were gay. I don't know what got into me. I am so sorry." Jerry was panicking.
       "Jerry. Calm down. No harm done. I am gay, but I'm married," I said.
       "You're gay, but you're married," he asked, somewhat in shock.
       "Yeah. I'm gay and I'm married. To a guy," I said.
       "Rick, I don't know how to apologize for what I did. It was stupid of me, and way out of character, I can assure you," he said. I knew he was embarrassed, and I felt sorry for him. He seemed like a really decent guy, and I hated it that he had to resort to that sort of thing.
       "There's no need to apologize, man," I said. "After two weeks, you're just horny as hell. I can understand that."
       "Two weeks? Try six months, but that's still no excuse. I should be able to control myself, and I didn't."
       "I thought maybe we could be friends, but if you're going to beat yourself up about that every time I'm around you, I don't know...."
       "I would like for us to be friends very much. I need friends desperately, and not for sex. Just for friendship," he said.
       "Kevin and I--he's my partner, my husband--have a lot of friends, and some of them are gay. I think everybody's in a relationship right now, but we're just a bunch of guys who hang out together, go swimming, watch games, go to movies, go out to eat. One guy's got this humongous boat, and we go out on that. We go camping. We just do things friends do together."
       "That sounds wonderful," he said.
       "Kevin is usually my workout partner. You can meet him next time you both make it here at the same time. I've had about all of this hot water I can stand. I'll see ya soon," I said, and I got out of the whirlpool.
       I took another quick shower to wash the whirlpool water off, and then I got dressed and left.

       Kevin was already home when I got there.
       "Hi," I said, and then kissed him. "You're home earlier than I thought you would be."
       He hadn't really had to work that night, but he wanted to. One of our big hotels was hosting a government conference, and he had gone to their food function that night to make sure everything was done according to his standards. He had been the Events Coordinator at his hotel before he'd gone into sales, and he wanted to make sure personally that the staff at that hotel did things the way he wanted them done.
       "Hi. Yeah, the staff at that place is great," he said.
       "You mean you didn't find anything to get on to them about," I asked.
       "Of course I did, but it was really very minor stuff. I've got a meeting with their Events lady tomorrow morning, but I congratulated her on a job well done before I left tonight."
       "That was considerate of you. Where are the kids?"
       "Tim and Kyle are at Kyle's house, I think. Justin's at class, and then he was going to spend the night at Jason's so they could study together," Kev said.
       "Study together, or study each other," I asked.
       He laughed. "I think we both know what the answer to that question is."
       I went back to our bedroom and stripped down to my briefs. Back in the den, I went through the mail.
       "Do you want me to make you a snack," he asked.
       "Thanks, but I stopped on the way home and got a waffle cone of yogurt," I said.
       "Was it sugar-free yogurt," he asked.
       "Yeah. Sugar-free and fat-free, supposedly," I said.
       "Well, you better get over here, boy, and let me give you some of that sugar you missed out on tonight," he said.
       The way he said that was so cute that I got all warm inside. We got into our usual position on the sofa. He wrapped his arms around me, and then he engulfed my legs with his. I felt completely relaxed and at ease at that moment. Being held by Kevin was what I imagined being held by God would be like.
       "Did anything unusual happen at work today," he asked.
       "Nothing at work, but something unusual happened at the gym tonight," I said.
       "Nothing unusual ever happens at the gym when I'm there, except that now and then I can actually do all the exercises you force me to do," he said.
       "Very funny," I said. "What happened tonight wouldn't have happened if you had been there." I told him the full story of Jerry.
       "It sounds like you handled it well. At least he wasn't embarrassed. I know how much you hate for people to be embarrassed."
       "Oh, he had to have been embarrassed," I said. "How could he not be? I hope we can get to be friends with him, though. He's really a nice guy, and very needy."
       "Well, we'll see."
       We didn't really talk after that, but we communicated a great deal on the tactile level. When we got in bed around ten, we were so hot for one another we almost set the bed on fire.

       The next day around three o'clock, Kevin opened the door to my office while he was saying "Knock, knock."
       "Hey, Babe. What's up."
       Kevin and I each had a suite of offices on the fifth floor of the six-story Goodson Building. We each had corner offices with huge expanses of glass overlooking the Gulf of Mexico on two sides. Even though we were just down the hall from one another, we didn't have many reasons to see one another during the work day, except for social calls like that one. Gene's office, on the top floor, was obscenely large, and he even had a "nap room," a kitchen, and facilities to serve dinner to about twenty people. Our workplace was first class by anybody's standards.
       "I needed a break," he said. "I've been working on the consolidated sales force thing, and I couldn't take another minute of it."
       About a week after we went to work for Gene, Kevin had a bright idea that Gene thought was brilliant. There were eleven hospitality properties in the company. Four of them were very large franchises of international hotel chains, and they pretty much ran themselves. They each had a full sales force, and they were all profitable. The other seven, though, were another story. They ranged in size from 250 rooms down to the little fifty-room motel where Tim, Kyle, and Justin had worked during the summer. There was a sales person here, two sales people there, and none of them communicated with each other or worked together. At the two smallest ones, the GM's handled whatever sales work was done. Kevin's idea had been to create one sales force for all of the smaller properties.
       "How did the meeting go with the Events lady from last night," I asked.
       "Great. She had a longer list of picky shit than I did," he said.
       We both laughed.
       "What have you been doing," he asked me.
       "The inventory system, of course," I said.
       My bright idea, which Gene also loved, had to do with our inventory system, which was really a system in name only. We had a warehouse that stocked everything we sold in the gift shops. One of the problems was that there was no control of which "Goodson" took what out of it. Kyle, his brother Clay, Rita and Gene Goodson, Kevin and I, the Goodson boyfriends, and God alone knew who else, had free run of the place. Kyle supplied cigarettes to all the smokers in our family circle from there, and the boys were encouraged by Gene to "shop" there any time they needed something that we had in stock. I had absolutely no problem with that, if that's how Gene wanted to run his business. I did, however, have a problem with no record of any of that being kept. I also figured out pretty early on that shoplifters were robbing us blind in the gift shops. That was both an inventory problem and a security problem, and I was working on solving that, too. I already knew I was going to have to fire some shop managers over that, and I was in the process of building air-tight cases against them.
       "Let's go get some coffee. You want to," he asked.
       "That sounds good," I said.
       The first two floors of the Goodson Building were retail establishments. Together they constituted just one of the sixteen places I was in charge of. There was a famous-name coffee shop on the ground floor, and that's where we went.
       There weren't very many people in there when we went in, and we got a table on the covered deck in back that overlooked the beach and the Gulf. A very, very cute waiter, probably a college student, took our order, and he had it there in remarkably quick time. We fixed our coffee the way we liked it, and Kevin lit a cigarette after he took a sip of his.
       "Monte called me a little while ago," Kevin said.
       "Oh, yeah? What's Mont up to? If he wants us to go out on the boat, then my answer is 'yes.'"
       "No, it's not that," Kev said. "Terry found out at work late yesterday afternoon that he has to go to the far east. He leaves Saturday."
       "Jesus Christ! What's going on over there," I asked.
       "Mont doesn't know. He said that if Terry knows, he can't even tell him. It's some kind of top secret government stuff, though."
       "Jesus, so little notice. Was Mont devastated," I asked.
       "He was actually calmer than I thought he would be. He said they've always known that it could happen this way. It sort of reminded me of George Murphy having to go to war with almost no notice."
       "How does Ter feel about it," I asked.
       "We didn't really talk about that, but I guess he's as good with it as Mont is. Ter won't be in any danger, though, and that's a blessing," he said.
       "I'll bet this is all related to the World Trade Center thing, don't you," I asked.
       "I don't know. Probably. Mont wanted to know if we can all get together for a kind of send-off dinner for Ter Thursday night," he said.
       "What did you tell him," I asked.
       "I told him you have a meeting of the running club on Thursday nights that you usually go to," he said.
       "Kevin! They're our best friends, man. I wouldn't miss that dinner for anything, much less some boring-ass running meeting."
       "And then I told him we'd be there," he said.
       "You shithead! That is the perfect name for you. Ed and Craig knew exactly who you were when they gave you that nickname, you little shithead." I was laughing, and he was, too.
       "Would you gentlemen care for a refill," the waiter asked. He had no idea who we were, and that was just fine. We said we would.
       "He's cute," Kevin said.
       "I know. I audition all the male wait staff personally. It's just part of my job," I said.
       "Audition? I'm going to audition your ass tonight, buddy." He was laughing and could hardly talk.

       "I've got class tomorrow night. You want me to miss class to go to some stupid dinner," Justin demanded.
       "Monte and Terry are our best friends, Jus," Kevin said.
       "So? They're not my best friends," he said.
       "Bubba, they're your friends," Tim said. "Haven't you had fun on their boat? Don't you like 'em?"
       "Yeah, I know they're my friends, and, yeah, I've had fun on their boat, and yeah, I like 'em. But they don't run my life," Justin said.
       "What do you owe a friend, Jus," Kevin asked.
       "I don't know. You tell me I've got to be in class every night, and then you tell me I have to miss class so I can go to a party. You tell me, Kevin."
       Kyle had been quiet up till then, but I knew he was about to speak up.
       "Why are you being a butt-hole about this," Kyle asked.
       "This is none of your fucking business, Kyle, so shut the fuck up," Justin said. He was angry.
       "Yeah, it is my fucking business, Davis. We're a family. We're all the fucking family you've got, dude. You don't give a shit about that class tomorrow night, and you fucking know it."
       "I said mind your own fucking business, man. And I meant it," Justin said.
       "Are you calling me out, dude? 'Cause if you're calling me out, I'm ready. Right now, man," Kyle said.
       "Who? You and these three fruits?"
       "Jesus Christ! I ain't fucking believing you, dude," Kyle said. "Back yard. Right now. You and me. They stay inside. Let's go."
       Kyle stood up and started storming out, and Justin was right behind him. I got up and blocked their way.
       "Sit down. Both of you," I said. "What the fuck are y'all doing?"
       There was silence.
       "Kyle, I knew you were going to say what you said, and I think you're right about Justin needing to be there. But did you really think he'd want to go just because you beat him up, assuming you could beat him up?"
       "No."
       "Justin, what's up with you, man? You've missed class before for concerts and I don't know what all. This isn't about missing class. What's it about, Jus?"
       He didn't say anything.
       "Jus," I asked.
       "I had a very bad day today, okay?. Jason told me he didn't want us to be boyfriends anymore. He told me he didn't think we were right anymore. How could he do that?" Justin started crying.
       Kyle did something that made me so proud of him. He went over to his brother and hugged him. He had wanted to take Justin out minutes before, and there he was, consoling him and comforting him. What a kid, I thought.
       "We didn't know, Bubba," Kyle said. "We didn't know."
       "All I ever did was love him, Kyle," Justin said. "He was the first person I ever loved, and you fixed us up. Please don't be mad at me. Please let me still be your brother."
       "You will always be my brother, Jus," Kyle said. Kyle was crying then, too. "We'll all be brothers forever."

       The next night, Tim, Kyle, and Justin all rode with Kevin and me in my truck. Kyle and Tim had slept in Justin's room the night before, but I knew there hadn't been any sex among them. They had wanted to comfort Justin, and, from his attitude, they had succeeded.
       "I think you're going to get a nice waiter tonight, Jus," Tim said.
       "I guess that could happen if I give him the right tip," Justin said.
       "Oh, God, that was bad, Jus," Kevin said, but we all laughed anyway.
       "I know," Kyle said. "You can be Chad's date."
       "I'd rather be your sister's date," Jus said.
       We laughed.
       "I don't got a sister," Kyle said.
       "Do you think Chad is your brother?"
       The boys laughed.
       "Hey, what is this," Kevin asked. "Put down Chad night? We expect better of you guys than that."
       "Yes, sir," Kyle said. "We're sorry."
       I thought about the fact that Kyle could be both our son and our boss in a heartbeat, if something happened to Gene and Rita. He knew all of that, and he was smart enough to understand the implications of it, but it didn't affect him in the least. Kevin and I were his parents, as far as he was concerned, his big brothers, at least, and he was content with that.

Chapter 7

(Kevin's Perspective)
       We went to one of those sports bar and grill places with our friends that Thursday night. I knew Justin was hurting because of what Jason had told him, but my main focus was on Monte and Terry. Those guys had been together longer than we had, and I knew they were as committed to one another as Rick and I were. True, it was only a short separation, but I knew that would be very, very hard for Rick and me to endure. The same would be true for Mont and Ter.
       "Are you guys okay with what's going on," I asked, after we had ordered drinks.
       "Well, we're not exactly okay with it, but we know there isn't anything we can do about it," Mont said.
       "That's not exactly true, Mont," Ter said. "I could quit my job."
       "Yeah, but you've worked so hard to get ahead at work, Babe. I could never ask you to do that," Mont said.
       "You just don't want to have to support me," Ter said. Mont laughed, and we all followed his lead.
       "You all know what's been going on with us. What's been happening with you guys," Mont asked.
       Rick eyed me to see if I was cool with him telling the story of the guy at the gym, and, of course, I was. He told what happened in the gym and whirlpool.
       "I would have done him," Justin said, when Rick had finished the story.
       "Would you really, Bubba," Kyle asked.
       "I would tonight. After what Jason said today," Justin said.
       "I wondered why Jay wasn't here tonight," Mont said. "What happened? Did you guys break up?"
       "He broke up with me. I didn't break up with him," Justin said.
       Awkward pause.
       "I love him. I don't want to break up with him," Jus said.
       "Sometimes people need a little space in a relationship, Jus. To see if it's as important to them as they think. Mont and I did that," Ter said.
       "Y'all broke up," Justin asked.
       "Yeah. For about a month," Ter said. "We were both miserable about it, though. I had some roaming eyes for a very short time."
       "But we patched it up, Jus. You and Jay can, too," Mont said.
       "You guys have taught me so much," Jus said. "I was so fucked up about gay sex when I met y'all. Seeing Kevin and Rick, and Tim and Kyle, has taught me what the word 'relationship' means. And you, too, Mont and Terry. You guys have it, and I want it."
       "It'll happen for you, Bubba," Kyle said. "If not with Jason, with some other really neat guy. Don't worry."

       Saturday morning we were all at the air force base to see Terry off. It was like when we had seen George Murphy off. Monte and Terry cried, of course, and we cried for them, looking at them from a distance.
       We invited Mont to come home with us, and he accepted. We went to a restaurant and got some lunch before he came over, and Rick and I sat with Mont on the sofa the rest of the afternoon. We didn't talk much, and all of us sort of felt the sorrow that was plaguing our best friends.
       Around two o'clock Jason showed up. He looked like he hadn't slept for a long time, and he obviously hadn't shaved that day. He wanted to see Jus, so we called him from his room. Tim and Kyle were out doing whatever they did; skateboarding, probably. Jus ushered Jason back to his room. We kept watching whatever game was on, and all three of us went to sleep.
       Tim and Kyle woke us up when they came in.
       "That's Jason's car out there," Tim said. "What's he doing here?"
       "He came to see Justin," I said.
       "How long ago," Kyle asked.
       "A couple of hours, I guess," I said.
       "All right," Kyle said, and he and Tim did the high-five. "They've worked it out."
       I looked at my watch, and it was almost four o'clock.
       "Guys, we need to get ready for church," I said.
       Kyle wasn't Catholic, but he went to church with us on a regular basis. We had missed the weekend before because of our camping trip, but that was okay.
       Jason belonged to the Methodist Church, but he had no problem going with us to Catholic services. Justin had no recollection of belonging to a church in his past, but he actually though he had been baptized at some neighbor's insistence when he was about ten. Nobody had a problem with that. Justin was our brother, and his religious affiliation didn't matter in the least. Mont and Ter weren't church-goers, either, but Mont wanted to be with us that night, so he decided to go with us, too.
       We all piled into Rick's car to go to church. We walked in together. George Murphy got there at the same time we did, so we all marched in with him, too. The eight of us took up a whole pew.
       We fumbled around with the hymn book and the book that had the readings in it. A couple of guys had grabbed bulletins as we walked in, and we passed them back and forth, like we really cared who had donated the flowers that week or who the Masses in the coming week were being offered for.
       Finally, the lector said for us to stand to greet our priest-celebrant, Father Jerry Taylor.
       Father Jerry Taylor was just as good looking as Rick had said he was. All during the Mass I kept looking at his consecrated hands, and I kept seeing his consecrated hands wrapped around my baby's dick. He spotted Rick in the crowd, and he stared at him and averted his eyes almost instantly. The boys and George and Mont had no idea what was going on, but it was very obvious to us that Jerry was embarrassed.
       After Mass Father Taylor stood on the steps of the church to greet the people and to say good bye to them, as was the custom.
       "Hi, Jerry," Rick said, as we left the church.
       "Hello," Jerry said. His voice was totally neutral, as though he had never seen Rick before.
       "This is Kevin," Rick said. "Kevin Foley. I told you about him."
       "How do you do, Kevin? I'm Father Taylor," he said.
       "I'm fine, Father. How are you," I asked.
       "I'm fine, too," he said.
       "Why are you acting like this, Jerry," Rick asked. "We're your brothers, man. We're going out to eat after this. Come on and go with us."
       "I have to close up the church," Jerry said, as though that meant his whole evening was booked.
       "We'll help you, man," Rick said. "Close it up, boys. Father is going to eat with us."
       Tim told them what to do, and they had the church building secured in no time. He knew to lock the sacristy doors, and we all knew to lock the main doors and side doors of the church.

       Jerry pulled Rick aside, and I could tell that Jerry was embarrassed and apologetic. Rick's body language let me know that he was trying to make Jerry comfortable. They talked for a few minutes, and then Rick walked over to our group.
       "Babe, can I talk to you for a second," Rick asked me.
       He and I walked away from the rest of our group. The four boys were curious about what was going on. Mont and George were talking, and I was sure Mont was filling George in on where Terry was.
       "Jerry would really like to join us, but he's uncomfortable with such a large group. He wants to talk to you and me," Rick said.
       "That's cool," I said. "Let's tell the rest to go ahead without us and to meet us back at home later on. Is that okay?"
       "Yeah," he said.
       We sorted out our dinner plans, and we made it clear to everyone that we'd all meet up at home after dinner. Rick gave Kyle the keys to his car so he could drive the kids. Rick and I would ride with Jerry, and Mont would ride with George.
       I suggested we go to the Pelican's Post because I knew the rest of them would go to our usual place. Jerry needed directions, but that wasn't a problem.
       Once we were seated in the restaurant, Jerry started.
       "Kevin, I want you to know how sorry I am about what I did the other night at the gym."
       "Don't beat yourself up about that, okay," I said. "Did you ever think that I might consider that a compliment? That my man here is desirable to other guys, but he chooses me?"
       "It's big of you to look at it that way," Jerry said.
       "We don't want to hear any more about how sorry you are, Jerry," Rick said. "Let's just get on with being friends, okay?"
       "Well, I'm more than ready for that," Jerry said.
       There was a brief pause as we all scanned our menus. Rick and I had eaten at that place once or twice before, and the menu was an eclectic mix of southwestern food and traditional dishes, like hamburgers and vegetable soup.
       "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to have a drink," I said.
       "I think I'll join you," Jerry said.
       I ordered a Martini, and Jerry ordered a double scotch on the rocks. Rick ordered iced tea. We also ordered our food.
       "Where are you from, Jerry," I asked.
       "Boston, actually," he said. "My parents live here now, though, so I guess I'm sort of a local by default."
       "Boston, eh? We've been there," Rick said. "Are you a Red Sox fan?"
       "What Boston kid isn't," Jerry asked with a cute grin.
       "What's your read on all the stuff that's going on in Boston with priests and kids," I asked. "It seems like it's a pretty big scandal."
       "That's why I'm here," Jerry said.
       "What do you mean," Rick inquired.
       "It was a case of wanting to get the hell out of Dodge," Jerry said. "I got caught in a compromising situation with a guy about six months ago. It didn't make the papers, thank God."
       "What happened," Rick asked.
       "It was pretty much like with you the other night, Rick," he said. "Only he and I got it on. Then he arrested me. He was an undercover cop, and he had me dead to rights. I got off with six months' probation, but it was pretty embarrassing, as you can imagine. That's why what I did with you the other night was so incredibly stupid on my part."
       "We're going to forget about that," Rick said.
       "Jerry, help me out here," I said. "You're a priest and you're gay?"
       "Yeah. Why is that a surprise, Kevin," he asked.
       "I don't know. I mean, I know some priests are gay, just like in any other group of men, but are a lot of priests gay? And if they're gay, do they have sex?"
       "In my ordination class there were sixteen guys. Twelve of us are gay," Jerry said. "Most of them, maybe all of them but me, are totally faithful to their vow of celibacy, and I'm faithful most of the time." He paused for several moments. "This is hard to talk about, guys."
       "We don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to," Rick said.
       "No, I do want to talk about it," Jerry said. "It's a national crisis, at the moment, and people need to discuss it. I want to say this, though. I am not a pedophile. I've never touched a kid inappropriately, and, God willing, I never will. I don't really understand where those guys are coming from. I mean, it's one thing to be gay, but it's a whole other thing to want to have sex with kids."
       "We understand that completely," I said. "One of those boys that were with us in church tonight was sexually abused for years. He tried to come on to us at first, but neither of us would ever do anything with him. He's healing now. We had a little crisis with him the other night because his boyfriend called it off, but he came over this afternoon, and I assume everything is okay with them now. The boyfriend was with us in church tonight."
       "Is he the one you asked me about the other night, Rick? You asked me if I had had any experience dealing with sexually abused kids," Jerry said.
       "Yeah. You had said you do counseling. His name is Justin, by the way. We call him Jus most of the time."
       "I'm not really a trained counselor, like a psychologist or anything, but I've done a good bit of counseling as a priest. I've worked with a good many gay kids, too. They are often so needy. They just want to know they're not alone. That it's okay to be gay. That they're not some kind of freak or something."
       "We know what you mean," I said. "All four of those boys with us tonight are gay. Justin is our foster son, but the other three are more or less our little brothers. Two of them, especially. They spend a lot of time with us, and I think we've helped them some with what it means to be gay."
       "Rick, you said the other night that you guys are married, right," Jerry asked.
       "Well, of course not legally, but we are in every other way," Rick said. "A priest even heard our vows, blessed us, and blessed our rings. He signed our certificate, too."
       "Really? And you both wear wedding rings. That is really cool," Jerry said.
       "Yeah, we're in it forever," I said. "We've been together over four years now. I realize that's not a lifetime, but it's a start on a lifetime."
       Our food came, and we dug into it.
       "So why are so many priests gay," Rick asked.
       "I've thought about that a lot, Rick," Jerry said. "I've read a good bit about it, too. I guess it's sort of the nature of the life, in some ways."
       "What do you mean? I don't really understand what you're getting at," Rick said. "Don't you guys take vows or something?"
       "Yeah, we do, and I think that's a big part of it. Okay, follow this. The Church says you can't do anything about being gay, so it's not a sinful state anymore. But you can't have sex with anybody if you are gay. That's still officially a sin. You're this good kid who wants to please God and do what the Church says, but you're gay. You look around. You see the priesthood, where you have to be celibate whether you're gay or straight. You think, That's not a bad life. You're helping people. You're bringing them the sacraments. You have a certain status in the community, especially in a big Catholic city like Boston. You think, If I have to be celibate anyway because I'm gay, why not become a priest?"
       "Was that your thinking," I asked.
       "Yeah, more or less. Plus, I had a lot of encouragement from my family. My parents really encouraged me to become a priest, especially my mother. They didn't know at the time that I was gay. Hell, I'm not sure I really knew. That's not exactly true. I knew, but I was pretty deep in denial."
       "Have you ever had a boyfriend," Rick asked.
       "Yeah. Once. For about eight months. It was when I was a deacon. You have to do a kind of internship in a parish for a year after you've been ordained a deacon, and I met this guy then. He was interested in the priesthood, and we spent a lot of time talking and going out. We got to be very good friends. I already knew he was gay, and one day he asked if he could kiss me. From there it was...you know."
       "Yeah, we know," I said. "Do a lot of gay priests have, er, boyfriends?"
       "Some do, for sure. They're human beings just like you and Rick," he said. "But, of course, celibacy, or chastity, is the expected norm. When I'm with a guy, I'm breaking my vow, and there's no question about that. It's a major wrong for me."
       "Were you, like, run out of town in Boston," Rick asked.
       "No, not at all. I requested a year's leave of absence from the Boston Archdiocese. I saw the pedophile scandal coming, and I wanted to be away from there when it broke. I couldn't leave Massachusetts for six months because of my probation, otherwise I would have been out of there sooner. The bishop here knows my history, and he was willing to give me a chance. I almost screwed that up with you, Rick," he said.
       "Do your parents know," I asked.
       "My parents know I'm gay, and they're fine with it, as long as I'm celibate. The only people who know about my arrest are the Archbishop of Boston, the bishop here, and you guys," he said. "I took a real chance in telling you about it, but I felt I owed it to you."
       "Well, you don't owe us anything," Rick said, "but we're flattered that you felt comfortable telling us about it. It won't go any further, that's for sure."
       "I appreciate that. It actually feels good to have somebody else know about it," he said.
       "How'd it happen, if you don't mind talking about it," I asked.
       "No, I don't. I did something totally stupid. I went to a rest stop on the Interstate and picked the guy up. I didn't know it at the time, but the police had had a bunch of complaints about that place, so they had a couple of undercover officers assigned there at night. The cop and I were the only two people in the men's room. I performed oral sex, but I didn't get off myself. How's that for irony?"
       "That stinks," I said. "I'm surprised the guy went through with it that far."
       "So was my lawyer. They got me for public indecency, but he, of course, wasn't arrested. My lawyer said that they'd probably throw the book at me if they knew I was a priest, given the present climate there, but I was able to keep that little fact off the record. Not even my pastor knows about it," he said.
       "Is the other priest here gay, too," Rick asked.
       "I don't know for sure, but my suspicions are that he is," Jerry said. "I mean, I did some snooping on the rectory computer, and he's definitely been to gay Web sites. That's usually a sign, isn't it?"
       "Yeah, but he might just be curious, too. Who cares, really," I said.
       "Your attitude is great, Kevin, but I'm not sure everybody in the parish would feel the same way as you and Rick do. Do you know what I mean," Jerry said.
       "This is kind of awkward, Jerry," Rick said, "but are you interested in hooking up?"
       "Actually, I'd love it, but I've done a lot of soul searching in the last few days, and, no, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to try like hell to keep my vow of chastity," he said.
       "We'll support you any way we can," I said.
       "For sure," Rick agreed.
       "Guys, I know it's not that late, but tomorrow is my big day," Jerry said. "I need to get home. Thanks for listening and for being so understanding. Can we get together again?"
       "It's our pleasure, Jerry," I said. "Here's my business card. It's got my cell phone number on it. Give me a call when you feel like hanging out."
       Rick gave him his card, too.
       "Thanks, guys."
       Jerry dropped us off at home. We shook hands and said good night.

       Back at our house the four boys, George, and Mont were engrossed in the Saturday night movie on HBO. There were three large baskets with popcorn leavings in them and soup bowls all over the place with ice cream stains on them.   We kept a candy dish on the coffee table, and I had filled it up with miniature peanut butter cups that morning. It was empty except for the foil wrappers. The kids were sprawled on the floor, and George and Mont were on the sofa.
       The movie ended about ten minutes after we got home.
       "Whoa! That was totally awesome," Kyle said.
       "No shit," Jus said. Everybody pretty much agreed with him and Kyle, even if their language wasn't quite as vivid.
       "Kevin, Rick," George said, "do you know Father Taylor?"
       "I met him the other night at the gym, George. I'm about the closest thing to a friend he has here. Well, Kevin and I, after tonight," Rick said.
       "He seems like a really nice man," George said. "I went to his Mass last weekend, too. When he was introducing himself, he said he's from Boston. That's our old stomping grounds, too, of course."
       "Yeah, I knew that," I said.
       The kids excused themselves and went back to Tim and Kyle's room.
       Rick was sitting next to Mont. He put his hand on Mont's shoulder and kneaded it a little.
       "How are you feeling, Buddy," Rick asked.
       Mont let out a pretty deep sigh.
       "I'm okay. I've been thinking about him constantly, of course. Much more than I would if he were here," Mont said.
       "If you want to camp out here for a few days, Mont, this is your home away from home," I said.
       "You all don't need me in the way," Mont said.
       "What is this, dude," Rick asked. "You know you're always welcome in this house."
       "Thanks, Rick, and thank you, too, Kevin," Mont said. "I kind of would like to stay here tonight, if that's all right."
       "Of course it's all right," I said. "You can sleep in Rick's room."
       "Rick's room," Mont asked.
       "We call it my room, but it's really a spare room with a bed in it. That's where I store my stuff. You ain't sleeping with me, buddy." Rick was grinning big.
       "Shit, I thought I was going to get some nookie tonight," Mont said, also grinning.
       "Nookie. Yes, I remember it well," George said.
       That made all of us laugh because of the way he said it.
       "I've got an idea," Mont said. "Are you all interested in going out on the boat tomorrow?"
       "You know I am," Rick said, "and you know those boys are."
       "Let's do it, then," Mont said. "Let's call Sam and Fred, too."
       "Mont, would you mind if we invited Jerry, too? Father Taylor, I meant," Rick asked.
       "What do you think, asshole," Mont asked jokingly.
       "I think somebody who is sleeping in my bed tonight had better not bring up the word 'asshole,' if he knows what's good for him," Rick said.
       "Yeah, promises," Mont said.
       George laughed so hard at that line I thought we'd have to call out Tim and Kyle for some mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
       We called Sam and Fred, and they and Chad could go. Rick called Jerry, and he could go, too. We set the time at 11:30 to give Jerry a chance to get his ten o'clock Mass in. Rick and I agreed to shop for food and drink the next morning, so the party was set.
       "Is Father Taylor gay," George asked out of the blue.
       "That's a question he needs to answer for you, George," Rick said.
       "Not anymore," George said. "And, of course, it's fine with me. I just never thought I'd be a minority in my own homeland."
       That made everybody laugh.
       We called the kids out of their rooms, and they got really excited about going out on the boat. We told them Sam, Fred, and Chad would be going, too, and that Father Taylor would be joining us as well.
       "Maybe Father Taylor and Chad can hook up," Kyle said.
       "Whoa! Bubba! Come here and sit with me," Rick said.
       Kyle did as Rick said.
       Rick put his arm around Kyle.
       "What was that all about, man?"
       "It was a wisecrack, Rick. I didn't mean anything by that," Kyle said.
       "Come on, son. This is Rick, remember? What were you thinking, Kyle?"
       "I guess I was thinking priest, queer boy. Perfect match."
       "Kyle, baby, that is so wrong, man. Jerry is gay, but he's not after kids, any more than Kevin and I are. He's a gay priest, but that doesn't make him want to go after kids. I know you've heard a lot about it in the news, but Jerry's our friend. He's hurting right now, just like Mont is, but for different reasons. Are you okay with that? Are all of you okay with that," Rick asked the room.
       They all said they were.
       "Kyle, when was the last time you had a shower," Rick asked him.
       "Yesterday morning."
       "Please go take one now," Rick said.
       "You don't like the way I smell," Kyle asked. There was devilment in his voice and in his eyes.
       "Actually, you smell very good, Kyle, and I'm sure every gay horse in Northwest Florida has an erection for you right now. But you really do need to clean up. And shave, too, okay?"
       "I'll take a shower, but I'm not shaving till tomorrow morning. You and Kevin don't shave on Saturday, and I don't either."
       "Fair enough, Buddy," Rick said. "Now get your ass in that bathroom and clean up."
       Kyle got up to shower, and the other boys went back to their rooms.
       "You are incredible with those kids, Rick," George said. "I'm way too formal with them. I could never have brought that off the way you did."
       "You don't know Kyle as well as I do, George," Rick said.
       "Yeah, that's true. But more and more I think of him as my son. My second son."
       "I think you're right, George. I really think you're right on that one, buddy," I said.

       The next day we all converged at our house to go to the boat. There were nine guys, and that was way too many even for Rick's Trooper. Kyle drove his car with the four boys, and the rest of us went in Rick's car.
       "So, Father, I understand you're a Boston boy," George said. "I'm a Boston boy, too. Back Bay, actually."
       "I'm not in your league, George. And the name's Jerry, not 'Father,'" Jerry said.
       "We're all in the same league here, Jerry. We're all tramps. Tramps like us...Baby we were born to run," Rick said.
       "These guys are anything but tramps, Jerry," George said, "and their hearts are in the right place."
       "I know that, George," Jerry said.
       "What do you make of the scandals going on in the Archdiocese right now," George asked.
       "Well, it's pretty dreadful, actually," Jerry said. "Most of the priests are pretty demoralized. I talked to one of my classmates recently who said he doesn't wear his clericals anymore out of embarrassment."
       "Oh, my," George said. "Do you think Cardinal Law will resign over this?"
       "I rather doubt it. In fact, he said he wasn't going to," Jerry said.
       "I read something in the New York Times last Sunday about the Vatican saying they should stop ordaining gay men priests," I said.
       "I heard the same thing on the news," George said.
       "Well, that would be a damn shame," Rick said. "You don't have to be gay to be a pedophile, that's for sure. I hate how people are linking those two things in their minds. We've got enough of a public relations problem just being gay. Now all this shit is just making it worse."
       "Anyone who knows a gay man knows that homosexuality and pedophilia aren't the same thing," George said.
       "Do you think there's anybody who doesn't know a gay man," Mont asked. He had kept quiet until then.
       "Very good point, Mont. And I see what you mean," George said. "It's like the stereotype of effeminacy. From what I've read, only about twenty percent of gay men are effeminate, but that's the stereotype."
       "You seem to know a lot about homosexuality, George," I said, teasingly. "Are you sure you're telling us everything about yourself?"
       Everyone laughed.
       "Well, with a queer son, a queer son-in-law-in-training, two queer best friends, and an almost-exclusively queer circle of friends, I've made it my business to find out everything I can about it. And since I've gotten to know you guys, I'd be proud to be queer myself," George said. His tone was more serious than I had intended my joke to elicit from him.
       "Well said, my man," Rick said.
       "Indeed, George," Jerry said. "By the way, what type of work do you do?"
       I watched Rick's lips curl in a smile at what was going to come next.
       "I'm an oral surgeon," George said.
       Rick burst out laughing.
       "Why do you do that every time I say what I do for a living?"
       "Because every time you say you're an oral surgeon I want to say, 'And Kevin's an anal surgeon,'" Rick said.
       That made everyone laugh, especially George.
       We got to the marina and found a place to park. Sam, Fred, and Chad were already standing there waiting for us. Chad was completely jewelry-free except for one small gold loop in his left ear. His hair was spiky, of course, but that was the style all the boys liked.
       We introduced Jerry to the three of them, and then we unloaded from the cars the stuff we had brought. The kids carried all of it, as we expected them to do. It occurred to me then how take-charge they were without having to be asked.
       Jerry was suitably impressed with the boat, and the kids were as excited about it as they always were. We motored out to Dune Island, docked, and set up our little camp in more or less the place we had set up on previous visits. Somebody had brought a volleyball and a net, and before long we were ready to organize a game. Rick and Kyle appointed themselves captains, and they were getting ready to pick sides.
       They did the scissors-paper-rock thing to see who would pick first, and Kyle won.
       "I want Chad," Kyle said.
       "What," Chad asked in disbelief.
       "You ever been picked first for a team before, Chad," Sam asked.
       "Now, Uncle, dearest, what do you think," Chad asked. He exaggerated his effeminacy, and everybody but Jerry laughed.
       "I want Kevin," Rick said.
       "Yeah? Well I want Tim," Kyle said.
       "And I want Mont," Rick said.
       "I want Justin."
       "I want Jerry."
       "And I want Jason," Kyle said.
       "Well, I want George," Rick said
       "I want Sam," Kyle said. He gritted his teeth when he said that, presumably to intimidate Rick. Rick grinned at him.
       "Oh, yeah, asshole? Well, I want Fred," Rick said, matching Kyle's aggressive tone of voice.
       "You don't scare me, boy," Kyle said.
       "Yeah? Well you scare the hell out of me every time I look at that face," Rick said.
       Neither Rick nor Kyle could hold back the laughter after that exchange, and the rest of us laughed as well. I looked at Jerry, and he seemed delighted at what was going on.
       "Let's shoot for dicks or suits. Winner gets dicks."
       "What did he say," Jerry asked, a little taken aback.
       "He wants them to shoot to see which team has to wear suits and which team plays naked," I said. "Are you okay with that? I can stop it, if you aren't?"
       "Is this what you guys ordinarily do," Jerry asked.
       "Yeah, pretty much," I said.
       "Hell, let's do it," he said.
       Rick and Kyle shot again, and, again, Kyle won.
       "Get them suits off, dudes," Kyle told his team, and he scrambled out of his own.
       Each team had a little huddle. Rick told the grownups the positions he wanted us in to start off. Kyle, presumably, did the same thing with his team.
       "Those little bastards got the advantage," Rick said, "but we can't pay any attention to them, hear guys? We play this game fast and hard. I'm not sure how equal the match is, but don't forget, Tim and Kyle play beach volleyball all the time. This is their sport. Is everybody clear on the rules and such?"
       "I could use a refresher," George said.
       "We only score points when we serve. We get three taps per side to get it over the net. The first one is usually a block, the second one sets up the spike, and the third one is the spike over the net. It'll be coming in very fast and very hard. It the server's good, it'll be low. Let the back guys make the block to set up the front guys for the spike. A one-handed volley is okay, the way we're playing it. Make 'em dive in the sand as much as you can. It's more fun playing naked like they are except when they have to dive into the sand. Then it's sandpaper time on those dicks. We've got to use that every chance we get. The game's 15 points, or 12/7, but I doubt it will be that lopsided. Is everybody okay with what I said?"
       "Rick, you're going to need to help me out from time to time," George said.
       "No problem, George. Jerry, are you cool with this," Rick asked.
       "I'm kind of like George. Beach volleyball isn't a sport I've played before, but I'm game," Jerry said.
       "Okay, let's go get those little weenies," Rick said. We all laughed.
       Little weenies (actually not all that little) they might have been, but they beat us in the first game 15-13. We swapped courts. Thanks to a few unbelievable saves by Rick, some pretty good spiking by me, and some incredibly powerful serves by Jerry, we won the second game.
       "Hold up," Rick said to Kyle. "Let's rest a minute."
       Every man and boy on the beach was drenched in sweat. I was thirsty as hell, and I figured everyone else was, too. We drank water from the bottles we had brought in the coolers.
       "Has everybody noticed how good Chad's doing," Tim asked.
       Chad absolutely beamed when Tim said that.
       "I did," Rick said.
       "I can't wait to get home to check out the Web site for the Gay Games in Sydney," Chad said. "I wonder if the volleyball team has all its members yet."
       Of course he said that for comic effect, and we all laughed.
       "Maybe you could just provide the balls," Justin drawled.
       Chad got an incredibly excited look on his face when Justin said that, and we all howled.
       "Oh, what an honor," Chad said. We all laughed again.
       "You guys are pretty incredible," Jerry said.
       "Jerry, I'd never been around a bunch of gay men before I met this crew," George said, "and I've never known a more accepting group of people in my life. I'm glad you were able to join us."
       "Thanks, George. It's been an eye-opener for me, for sure," Jerry said.
       The third game, the rubber match, as Kyle and Rick insisted on saying repeatedly for comic effect, was nip and tuck all the way. Kyle made a magnificent save, sliding across the sand on his belly, and he came up screaming "OHHHHHHHHHH. My dick's on fire!"
       Everybody laughed, but we also sympathized.
       At one point, Kyle had a spike that could have sent the ball directly into Rick's face. He purposely aimed it at me, though, and I scored a point when it bounced off Chad's knees.
       "Thanks, Bubba," Rick said.
       Kyle smiled at his alter self.
       "You'll get me next time, right," Rick said.
       "You got that right," Kyle said.
       The final score of that game was also 15-13, in favor of the kids. They all ran into the Gulf to celebrate. They played around a while in the surf.
       "This is absolutely unbelievable," Jerry said.
       "No, it's not," Rick said. "I knew they would be good."
       "I don't mean the score, Rick," Jerry said. "I mean just the general sense of community I feel with you guys. You people all love each other, don't you?"
       "Yeah, we do. What's wrong with that," Rick asked.
       "Wrong?!! It's all right, Rick. It's the way God intended people to get along. It's what I've been looking for all my life."
       "Well, those boys are special to us," Rick said. "They're our little brothers, you know?"
       "That is very obvious, and thank you for including me in your family," Jerry said.

       When the boys and Sam came back from the water, Kyle wanted to know who wanted to go find the fort on that island. That was our fifth visit there on Mont's boat, and they still hadn't located the fort.
       "I'm staying put," Sam said, as he put on his bathing suit.
       "What time do you want us back," Tim asked.
       "We're going to eat at 5:30," Mont said.
       "Can we borrow your watch, Rick," Tim asked.
       Rick handed Tim his watch. The boys took off, still naked, and the adults settled down for naps.

Chapter 8

       All the guys had a great time on Dune Island. The boys finally found the ruins of the fort, and they really liked that.

       "I can't believe the change in Chad in the last few weeks," Mont said, as we drove home. "He's not that little wimp anymore, is he?"
       "Chad's come a long way, that's true," Rick said. "Those five boys are really close. They really are brothers, now."
       "I've never seen anything like them before," Jerry said.
       "Chad turned everybody off at first, Jerry," I said. "He was very effeminate, and still is, but they tease him about it now. Did you notice that?"
       "Yeah, I did, Kevin, and he plays along with their teasing, too. He even plays into it. That is so great for him. It's like he knows he's totally accepted by them."
       "He is, Jerry," Rick said. "By all of us. Those boys think of him as their brother."
       "It is so profoundly Christian, I can't even stand it," Jerry said.
       "What does that mean," Rick asked.
       "It means that's the way things are supposed to be, Rick. Now shut up and drive," George said.
       "Yes, sir, Doctor Oral," Rick said.
       Everyone laughed.

       When we got home, Justin asked if he could spend the night at Jason's house. We knew what they wanted to do, and it was fine with us. They didn't even come in with us. They both drove their own vehicles, though.
       There were a couple of messages on the answering machine. One was from my brother who wanted to know where the hell we were. The second one was from Gene Goodson.
       "Hi, guys," the message said. "Rita and I got a call from Jeff, Clay's boyfriend. Clay is in the hospital, and has been for a couple of days. We're driving down to Gainesville to see about him. Jeff sounded pretty worried, but we're not. I just wanted to let you know. Y'all take care, and take care of Kyle, too, please. Bye."
       "Jesus Christ! What is that all about," Rick demanded of me.
       "You heard the same thing I did, Babe. I don't know," I said.
       "I'm sorry, Babe. I know you don't. It makes me nervous, though, you know?"
       "It makes me nervous, too," I said. "I'm calling George. He might know what we can do," I said.
       I called George and played the recording for him.
       "Let me call some people I know down there," George said. "That medical center is enormous, though. Wish me luck, guys."
       About thirty minutes later, George called us back.
       "Hey. It doesn't sound real good. He's in a coma."
       "What?!!" Rick almost screamed that into the speaker phone.
       "Apparently, he went in with a real bad headache Thursday. He had had it for a couple of days, and Jeff finally made him go see about it. They admitted him to Shands--that's the teaching hospital at the University of Florida--and they put him on a drug for the headache. That's pretty rare that they would do that."
       "So what about the coma," I asked.
       "Evidently he had some kind of reaction to the drug. His brainstem started leaking cells, and he went into the coma." Pause. "He's not going to make it, guys," George said quietly.
       "He's not going to make it? What do you mean," Rick demanded.
       "He's going to die," George said, flat and final.
       "How can he die, George? He's a kid, man," Rick demanded.
       "I know, Rick, but he's going to die. Jeff was a basket case on the phone, and I'm sure Rita and Gene will be basket cases, too. Is there any way you guys can go down there?"
       "Where are the kids, George? Do you know," I asked.
       "Tim and Kyle are here," he said.
       "Justin's at Jason's house," I said.
       "Are they asleep, George," I asked.
       "I don't think so," George said.
       "Will you go with us, please," I asked George.
       "Of course," George said. "We can be ready in a half hour."
       Rick and I hauled ass to get bags packed, to call into work to let them know we wouldn't be there the next day, and to pack some clothes.
       "Take some dress clothes, okay," I said to Rick. "They'll give you a hell of a lot more respect at that hospital if you show up in a coat and tie than they will if you're in jeans and a tee shirt. Trust me on that," I said.
       "No problem, Babe," he said.

       We all drove down to Gainesville in Rick's Trooper. George had told Kyle that his brother was probably not going to make it before we got to the Goodson house, and, needless to say, Kyle was a mess. He hugged me and Rick like he was hanging on to us for his own life, and we cried with him over his brother.
       "He's my best friend," Kyle kept saying, over and over.
       Tim was totally consumed with concern and compassion for his lover. He held Kyle gently in his arms through the whole drive. It took us about four hours. We called ahead to a hotel very near the hospital and booked three rooms. We found out that Rita and Gene were staying at the same place, but they weren't at the hotel. We assumed they were at the hospital with Clay.
       We went to Shands right away. The place was truly enormous, as George had said it was, but the lady on duty at the reception desk in the lobby was able to direct us to where the Goodsons were.
       Rita grabbed Kyle in a death grip when she saw him. Seeing Kyle made her cry again, and, of course, Kyle cried as well.
       "Thank you for coming," Gene said. "It's really bad."
       We told Gene what we knew from what George had been able to find out.
       "A father's not supposed to bury his boy," Gene said. "That's just not the way it's supposed to be."
       "Do they have any idea what happened," George asked.
       "He had some kind of reaction to the drug they gave him," Gene said. He named the drug, but it was something that I had never heard of.
       About that time a doctor came into the waiting room where we all were, and he asked to talk to Rita and Gene in private. They came back in after a few minutes, and they were almost paralyzed.
       "We had to give permission for them to unplug life support," Gene said.
       "Can I see my brother one more time," Kyle whimpered.
       "Yes, son," Gene said. "You can go in, the doctor said. All of you can, if you want to."
       Rick, Tim, and I went in with Kyle to say goodbye to Clay. Jeff was already in there. Kyle very gently picked his brother's head and torso up off the bed and gave him a huge hug.
       "I love you," Kyle said. "I'm so sorry this happened to you, Clay. I wish I could make it un-happen. I love you." Kyle kissed Clay very gently, and then returned him to his resting position. We left as Rita and Gene came in to say goodbye to their boy.

       We left the hospital around two o'clock that morning, heading for the hotel we would spend the night in. Nobody said a word on that short trip. Tim and Kyle went to their room after saying goodnight to us in the lobby.
       "That was awfully fast," George said. "They're going to harvest as many of his organs as possible right away, and they'll also do an autopsy tomorrow on his brain. My God, I don't know how Rita and Gene aren't crazy."
       "I know," I said. "What a fine guy he was."
       As we were talking, Jeff came into the lobby.
       "Can I talk to you guys? I don't want to be alone," Jeff said.
       "Yes, absolutely, buddy," Rick said. "Come here."
       Rick hugged Jeff tightly. In the grief that the family was experiencing, we had forgotten all about Jeff, Clay's chosen one.
       "I'm sorry we forgot to tell you to come with us," Rick said.
       "That's okay. I love him so much, Rick. He's everything to me," Jeff said. He began to cry.
       How long have you known each other," I asked.
       "Almost a year and a half. We were planning on a life together," he said.
       "Did the hospital people give you any grief about being with him," I asked.
       "At first they did. Mr. Goodson lied to them, though, and said I was Clay's brother. Then they gave me free access to him," Jeff said.
       "Good for Gene," Rick said.
       "Will you stay here with us tonight, Jeff," I asked.
       "If you'll let me," he said.
       "We can get three people in a king size bed," I said. "Are you cool with that, Babe," I asked Rick.
       "You know I am," he said.
       It was almost three by the time we all got into bed. Jeff slept between Rick and me, and we took turns holding him until he went to sleep. We slept until ten the next morning, and we met up with everyone else, including Rita and Gene, in the hotel restaurant for breakfast.
       "Jeff, you'll come home with us, I hope," Gene said.
       "Yes, sir. I'd like to," he said.
       "Our boy's gone, Jeff, but I hope you'll continue to be our son."
       "That's about the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me, Mr. Goodson," Jeff said.
       "We know how much you meant to Clay, Jeff," Rita said. "You are so young to have to deal with his loss. Have you called your parents?"
       "No, ma'am. I'd rather not do that," Jeff said.
       "Did they know Clay," she asked.
       "They know who he is, but I really haven't spoken to my parents since I came out to them right after Clay and I started dating," he said.
       "I take it they weren't supportive," Rita asked.
       "That's kind of an understatement," Jeff said. "I guess I've been officially disowned."
       "Oh, Christ, son," Gene said. "Kevin, as soon as we get home, put him on your payroll, please."
       "I'll do it," I said.
       Jeff was at a loss for words.
       "I really don't want to leave school, Mr. Goodson. I really can't work for you," Jeff said.
       "I didn't say for him to put you to work, son. I said for him to put you on the payroll. There's a big difference. You're working for me right here in Gainesville." Gene pronounced it Gaines-vul.
       "But how can I," Jeff asked.
       "Don't argue, Jeff. Just cash the check every month, man," Rick said. He grinned at Jeff, and Jeff grinned back.
       Tim and Kyle didn't say anything during breakfast, but they each made two trips through the buffet line.
       "What happens next," I asked.
       "They're probably doing the autopsy right now," George said. "We should have the results tomorrow afternoon. Gene, Rita, you can probably plan the funeral for Thursday or Friday."
       "Do you know what he wanted, Jeff," Gene asked.
       "Yes, sir. He wanted to be cremated. We had talked about that after a movie we saw a while back. That's what he said he wanted."
       "What do you want, son," Gene asked.
       "I don't know," Jeff said.
       "We have a friend who's a priest," Rick said. "He didn't know Clay, but he knows Kyle and us. Maybe he can help."
       We finished breakfast. Rita and Gene wanted to go back to the hospital, but they told us to go on home.
       "Are you sure, Gene," George asked. "We can certainly stay, at least until the autopsy report comes in. I might be able to ask some questions you wouldn't think of."
       "That would be good of you guys, George. Jeff, do you think you could handle packing up his stuff," Gene asked.
       Jeff didn't respond.
       "If it's too soon, I'll understand. And by the way, I want you to have whatever of his you want, okay? I know he's got some furniture, and I want you to keep that. Also, any clothes of his you can wear. His computer, too. Have you got a car?"
       "Yes, sir. An old one," Jeff said. "Nothing as nice as Clay's, that's for sure."
       "Well, keep his car, too. It actually belongs to the business, and, since you're now an employee, you get a company car. Forever. We'd like to have his most personal stuff, though. Photographs, anything he might have written of a personal nature, letters, that sort of thing."
       "We'll help him sort it out," I said. "I know the kind of stuff you want, Gene."

       Rita and Gene took off for the hospital, and we went back to our rooms to freshen up. A half hour later we all met back in the lobby and drove to Jeff and Clay's apartment. Kyle wanted his brother's baseball glove, a couple of caps he had liked, and some of his CD's. His "papers" were thin, indeed, and then Tim thought to check the hard drive of his computer. He saved a bunch of files to a couple of CD's. It turned out Clay had quite a large collection of gay porn videos that he had downloaded from one of the newsgroups on the Internet, and Kyle made Tim copy those to CD also.
       "I'm saving bandwidth, okay," Kyle said, when I said something to him about doing that.
       I laughed at him. "Mister Internet Conservationist," I said, and he laughed, too, for the first time since early the evening before.
       We hung around their apartment, rather than going back to the hotel or to the hospital. I checked in with Gene a couple of times by cell phone to see if they needed anything.
       "I made arrangements with a funeral home at home," he said. "Will you call your friend the priest?"
       "I'll be happy to," I said.
       I got Jerry on the phone and explained what had happened. He was most sympathetic, and he said he would take care of all the arrangements for a memorial service at our church. The Goodsons were Presbyterians, but they really didn't belong to a church, as such. Jerry said he would take care of an obituary, too, and I put Kyle on the phone to give him the details. Kyle made sure that Jerry knew Clay was also survived by his loving companion, Jeff Martin.
       By five o'clock, our breakfast had long since been digested, so we called Gene and Rita about meeting us somewhere for dinner. They suggested a place, and Jeff knew how to get there. We met them for dinner, and the mood of the group was much lighter than it had been at breakfast. We were all still pretty somber, but we did manage some conversation.
       The next day, George went with Rita and Gene to the conference with the doctors about the autopsy. As he had predicted, George was able to ask many pertinent questions that non-medical people would never have known to ask. Rita and Gene were satisfied that Clay had gotten the best care that could have been provided. The unfortunate bottom line was that the drug Clay had been given, standard treatment for a migraine, had messed up in his system. There was no evidence that Clay had been using any kind of drugs, illegal or legal, and there was no alcohol in his system. The drug had been administered exactly as it was supposed to be, and the doctors said, and George agreed, that there were no counter indications in Clay's medical history, which was almost non-existent, for its use. It had been one of those terrible medical accidents that sometimes happen.
       Rita and Gene were comforted by the autopsy report, but only as much as parents can be when their first-born is taken from them suddenly and without warning. We left Gainesville Tuesday afternoon to return home to the beach. Jeff came with us, but Tim and Kyle rode home with Rita and Gene.
       "Jeff, how old are you and Clay," Rick asked.
       "He's nineteen, and I'm twenty. He was a grade ahead of himself. I think he skipped first grade, or something like that. We're both sophomores in college," Jeff said.
       "I hope you'll think of us as your family from now on, Jeff," Rick said.
       "You guys have really been wonderful to me," Jeff said. "I've been thinking that maybe I need to relocate to be near you. Florida State has a campus in your town, don't they?"
       "Yeah, they do," I said. "But give it some thought before you move. You're set up pretty nicely in Gainesville, and, as much as I hate to say it, the University of Florida can be a good place for you. Where are you from, by the way?"
       "Ft. Lauderdale," Jeff said, "but I won't be going back there much."
       "It's a real downer about your parents," I said.
       "Well, they did the same thing to my older brother. He's gay, too, and they booted him out when he was a junior in high school. I shouldn't have told them about me and Clay, but I figured they had had time to get used to the idea that people in our family could be gay. I couldn't have been any more wrong."
       "They kicked your brother out when he was a junior in high school," George asked in disbelief.
       "Yes, sir. That's when they found out about him. It's really just my dad. My mom didn't want to do that to her sons," Jeff said.
       "If you move to the Panhandle," George said, "you can live with us."
       "Oh, Mr. Murphy. Thank you, sir," Jeff said.
       "It's George, Jeff. Or you can call me Doc, like Kyle does. Both are fine with me, but most everybody in our circle in on a strictly first-name basis; kids, too," George said.
       As it turned out, Jeff actually lived with us, and not with the Murphys. Considering the amount of time that Tim and Kyle spent at our house, it seemed more natural.

       Jerry did a wonderful job with the memorial service for Clay. Not surprisingly, the Goodsons had a huge crowd of friends who attended, and it seemed that a very large number of Clay's friends from high school, or wherever, attended, too. Jason was at Justin's side, and it occurred to me that Jason had been a friend of Clay's before he had ever met Justin.
       Everybody went back to the Goodsons' house after the service, and Gene announced that he was establishing a full tuition, books, and room and board scholarship in Clay's memory. It had to be at either the University of Florida or Florida State University, and Jeff would be the first recipient. The only string attached to it was that the recipient had to be a gay male whose parents had abandoned him when they found out he was gay.
       Jerry was overwhelmed at Gene and Rita's largesse, and, of course, Jeff was beside himself over it.
       Gene made a point of letting all their friends know that Clay was gay, and that he and Jeff were a couple. I had been proud of my own father all my life for many, many things he had done to help people, but I was no less proud of Gene that late afternoon. All the good-ole-boy grammar faults were gone from Gene's speech when he made that announcement, and he was as sincere and gentle and accepting as I had ever seen a man be.
       Things really didn't change for us after the memorial service and the events surrounding Clay's death. Rick and I went to work every day and dealt with the things we had to deal with. Kyle, with the resilience of youth, grieved for his brother for a time, but he got back into the swing of his life fairly easily and quickly. Rita needed some counseling to deal with her grief, but she, too, got back to normal life fairly quickly. Jeff came "home" to the Panhandle every weekend for the rest of that semester. Rick's room became Jeff's room, and we had a house full on Friday and Saturday nights.
       Jerry became a regular member of our circle that fall, and, in mid-October, he came out to all of us. We were all at Kyle's house for a pool party following the FSU-Duke game on a Saturday evening when he told us. Many of us already knew, of course. Jerry emphasized that he wasn't interested in "hooking up" with anybody because of his vow of celibacy, and I think everybody respected that. We were a group of people who accepted everybody and anybody, with no questions asked, and Jerry really seemed to need us at that point in his life.

       Mont called me the week after Jerry's big announcement.
       "Can we catch something to eat tonight? Just us? No kids," he asked.
       "It'll have to be just you and me. Rick's out of town tonight and tomorrow night at a gift show in Atlanta," I said.
       "I'd like for him to be there, too, but I understand," Mont said.
       "What's the matter, buddy? You sound pretty down," I said.
       "I am. It's about Terry," he said. "Actually, it's about me and how much I miss him."
       "Well, that's understandable, don't you think? When your spouse goes away for a long time?"
       "Of course it is, but I just need to be with a friend who understands," he said.
       "I definitely understand. Rick wasn't home last night, which was okay, but he'll be gone tonight and tomorrow night, too. I'm going to start getting pretty lonely, too."
       "At least you know where he is. I don't even have that satisfaction. Terry could be anywhere. I've gotten three e-mails from him, and that's all. He uses a Yahoo account, so I couldn't even trace where they came from. A specialist in computer forensics probably could, but I can't. Hell, he could have been right here in town at the Air Force base, for all I know."
       "Don't fret about that. Let's meet at 6:30 at our usual place, okay?"
       "That sounds good. I'll be there," he said, and we hung up.
       Mont got us a table before I got there. He drank very little, but that night I noticed he had a beer in front of him when I arrived. I ordered one, too.
       "So, you don't know where Terry is," I started off.
       "No. I know that the project has something to do with the Far East, but that's a hell of a big area. It could be Japan, Korea, the Philippines, anywhere. I guess even Pakistan. That's considered the Far East, isn't it?"
       "Yeah, I think so. Surely he's not in combat, though, right?"
       "Oh, no. He's a weapons engineer, but he wouldn't ever be sent into combat. He works for the Navy, but he's not in the Navy, like George was," Mont said.
       "I know you guys have been together a long time. How old were you when you met," I asked.
       "We were the age of Clay and Jeff. We were both sophomores at Tech, and it was pretty much love at first sight. Ter was living in a dorm, but I had an apartment just off campus. He spent more nights at my house than he did in his dorm room that year, and the next year he convinced his parents to let him move off campus. Guess who his roommate was?"
       I chuckled.
       "Are your families all okay with everything? I mean, both you and Fred?"
       "They were disappointed, I think, but now they're very happy for us. Ter's parents are divorced, but both his mom and his dad are okay about us."
       We made small talk during dinner, and then we went to a movie. I enjoyed spending the evening with Mont, and I thought he felt a little less lonely because of it.

       The kids had two-and-a-half days off school near the end of October, so we decided to take them to my parents' place in North Carolina. We decided to leave on Wednesday at noon. It was about an eight-hour drive, so we could get there by mid-evening if we got on the road promptly. Everybody slept at our house Tuesday night, and they had their things with them.
       Rick's Trooper held five people semi-comfortably, but we would be six on the trip. I rented a van that could hold seven passengers and that would still have room for everybody's luggage. I picked the van up Wednesday morning, and we left the minute the guys pulled in from school.
       Everybody was excited about the trip. We had gone on quite a few outings with the boys, but that was our first road trip of any duration.
       "Tell us about the cabin," Kyle asked.
       "Well, it's on the outskirts of a little town called Highlands, and it's pretty high up on a mountain. In fact, it's right at 5,000 feet, which is a little less than a mile high," I said.
       "It has two stories. Upstairs is a huge living room that has a stone fireplace in it. There's the kitchen and a pretty big eating area with a long table that a dozen people can fit at. There's also a master bedroom and big bathroom up there."
       "Why are the living room and kitchen upstairs," Tim asked. "That seems kind of weird."
       "It's really not, though, Tim," Rick said. "It's really ground level from where you park the car."
       "I don't get it," Justin said. "How steep is this mountain?"
       "It's very steep right there, Jus," I said. "Rick's right. After you park the car, you walk on this little porch-like walkway to the back deck. The back deck is on the same level as the living room level of the house, but the deck juts out over the mountain and is held up by poles as big as telephone poles. We'll probably spend a lot of time out there. There's a hot tub on the deck, and it's big enough for all of us to get in together."
       "That sounds cool, er, hot," Kyle said for comic effect. We laughed politely.
       "Downstairs there are two bedrooms, a game room, a laundry room, and a big storage room. You all will sleep downstairs, and Rick and I will sleep upstairs. Y'all don't mind sleeping two to a bed, do you?"
       "Very funny," Jason said. Of the four boys, Jay was the only one who still wasn't completely used to our joking about sex, but by then he didn't turn scarlet anymore when something like that was said.
       "So the cabin sleeps six people," Tim asked.
       "Actually, the living room has two sofa-sleepers, and the game room has two futons that a person can sleep on. So the house can handle twelve people," I said.
       "What's there to do around there," Kyle asked.
       "We have four mountain bikes, and there are great places to hike around there. We'll explore Highlands and Cashiers and some of the other little towns in the vicinity. There's a great mountain to climb, too, that's within a short range of us. In the winter time we ski and snowboard at a ski place about seven miles away from there. Oh, and there's the hot tub, too. That's fun at night," I said.
       "Do you think it'll snow," Kyle asked.
       "Not this early. This is the best weekend for fall color. We might get some frost at night, but don't count on snow," I said.
       "Did you say it has a fireplace," Kyle asked. "I can't remember."
       "It has a fireplace in the living room and a wood-burning stove in the game room. We'll probably have to use them, too," I said.
       "Oh, man, this is so cool. Thanks for taking us, bros," Kyle said.
       "Yeah, thanks," the others chirped in.
       "It is cool," Rick said. "We're going to have us a fine time. Next time we do this we'll plan it enough in advance so that everybody can go."
       "I like it with just the six of us," Justin said. "But it will be fun with the others, too, though."
       We rode in silence for a while. The boys were checking out the scenery, and, of course, scoping out any car we passed for cute boys. We stopped to eat around six o'clock, and we did a grocery run at the same time. We'd have to shop in Highlands the next day, but at least we were able to buy the makings of breakfast. For once, Rick agreed to get regular eggs in the shell, instead of the egg-white stuff we usually ate. We got sausage and bacon, too, and bread for toast. We bought some instant grits, milk, coffee, juice, and some pastries. We had enough to feed breakfast to a small army. I hoped it would be enough for at least one meal for us.
       It was already dark when we got to the place. We unloaded the van, and the kids went downstairs to check out their accommodations. They came back upstairs where Rick and I were, more excited than they had been when we left home.
       "Damn, you call this place a cabin," Justin said in disbelief. "This is like a borderline mansion or something, to me. Damn!"
       "I had exactly the same reaction the first time I came here, Jus," Rick said. "I was expecting something rustic, with an outhouse, maybe."
       Tim had begun exploring the closet in the living room. It was chocked full of just about every board game you could think of. There were several decks of cards, too.
       "Does this computer work," Jason asked.
       "It did the last time we were here," I said. "Turn it on and see."
       He did, and it did.
       "I could live here," Jus said. Of the four boys, he was the most taken with the place, but all of them were impressed.
       "Let's go check out the deck," I said.
       All of us were wearing the Florida uniform--shorts and tee shirts--and it was pretty chilly out on the deck. I turned on the hot tub to get it ready for us. There were flickers of light here and there.
       "What are those things," Kyle asked.
       "Lightenin' bugs," Jus answered. "Ain't you seen them before?"
       "Oh, that's right," Kyle said. "Do they sometimes call them fireflies, too?"
       "Not where I come from," Jus said.
       "Guys, grab some firewood from that stack, and let's go inside until the water warms up. I'm getting cold," Rick said.
       We did as he suggested, and Tim and Kyle made a fire for us. We all sat on the sofas, snuggled up to our significant other for warmth until the fire started to take the chill out of the air.
       "I wish we had some marshmallows," Jason said.
       "Ah! Let's see if we do," Rick said.
       It was usually easier to leave non-perishable food at the cabin rather than to haul it home, and it was entirely likely that there was a bag of marshmallows around the place. In fact, it turned out there was, so we roasted marshmallows on straightened coat hangers.
       "Did y'all ever have roasted marshmallows wedged between two chocolate-covered graham crackers," Kyle asked.
       "Oh, yeah," Rick said.
       "Those are really good," Tim said.
       "We'll have to get some tomorrow," I said.
       The hot tub was ready. I told everybody to get a towel, but I suggested we undress inside. Rick and I got undressed in our room and wrapped our towels around our waists. The boys got undressed downstairs and paraded up with their towels draped over their shoulders. I had seen them nude a hundred times or more by then, but I had rarely seen all four that close together at one time.
       There truly is beauty in the nude male form, I thought.
       "What have you guys done to your pubes," Rick asked.
       "We trimmed 'em," Kyle said. "You like?" He held out both arms for us to admire his pubic hair.
       "We're still using rubbers," Jus said. "Got to keep it trimmed so it don't hurt when you pull 'em off."
       Jason blushed when he said that. Justin noticed, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. It was rather touching.
       "It doesn't look bad. I just hadn't noticed before," Rick said.
       "Are you checking us out, big boy," Kyle asked playfully. He grabbed Rick's towel and pulled it off him.
       He laughed. "I'm going to throw you skinny little ass off that deck, little boy," Rick said to Kyle.
       Rick grabbed Kyle in a headlock and gave him a noogie.
       The contrast between the hot water of the tub and the chilly night air was great.
       "This makes me horny," Kyle said.
       "Everything makes you horny," Rick replied.
       "That's his job, Rick," Tim said. "I like it when he's horny."
       "You don't think Rick likes it when Kevin's horny," Justin asked.
       "Er, guys, I know it's only us, and I know everybody gets horny, but do we have to talk about it," I asked.
       "Are you afraid of popping a bone, Kev," Justin asked.
       "Guys, y'all know our rule. Sex is private. Y'all have been really good about following that rule. Let's don't change that, okay," I said.
       "Yes, sir. I'm sorry. That subject just popped up all by itself," Kyle said.
       "Kyyyyyyyle," I said in a warning tone of voice, and everybody laughed hard at our exchange.

       That night, after the boys had gone to their rooms to take care of whatever it was they wanted to take care of, Rick and I got into position on one of the sofas. The lights were off, the light from the fire softened the room with a romantic glow, and the warmth from the fire ignited the fire in both of us.
       Rick got a comforter to put over us on the floor. He lay me on my back, and he got on top of me. We shared a passionate kiss.
       "I love you," he said.
       "I love you, too," I replied, and we kissed again.
       "Do you think it's okay in here," I asked.
       "Yeah. They're all down there fucking each other. They won't bother us. Besides, we're covered up."
       "Okay. I want you bad right now, Babe. Kyle was right. That water in the hot tub made me so horny I was afraid I wouldn't ever be able to get out of there. As it was, did you notice everybody was at least half hard when we came inside."
       "I saw that," he said. He kissed me again, and then he let his mouth wander to my chest. He sucked and nibbled at my nipples. Then he pulled my briefs off and scurried out of his own. He took my cock into his mouth, licking it, tasting it, teasing it. My balls were next. He drew each into his mouth and gently circled each one in turn with his tongue. He moved to my anus, and the tender part between it and my balls. He licked, sucked, tongued.
       "I need it now, Babe," I gasped.
       He used saliva to lube himself up, and he entered me effortlessly. He ground the head of his cock into my prostate, and I felt my pre-cum spurt a little. He brought us close and then rested. Close again, and rest. Finally, when I was breathing so hard and so fast I felt as though I had been running, he took us both over the edge. We lay there joined together for a time, not talking, just loving. His breathing sounded like he was asleep. I nudged him awake, and we went to bed, still sticky with love.

Chapter 9

(Kyle's Perspective)
       When Doc told me about Clay, I didn't believe him. I knew he wouldn't lie to me, but I just couldn't believe my brother was sick. He sat me down on their sofa and held me.
       "I know this is hard, son, but it's true. We need to get ready to go to Gainesville. Your mom and dad and Clay need us there right now," he said.
       He was so gentle. I was upset, but I really hadn't figured out what it all meant. Tim came over and sat next to me, and he put his head on my shoulder.
       "I love you, Kyle." That was all he said, and that's what made me break down. I loved him more than anything. More than Clay, more than my parents, even more than Kevin and Rick. He cried with me, and that made me happy at the saddest part of my life.
       I don't remember much at all about the trip to Gainesville. I know Tim held me in his arms the whole time, and I remember nobody talked much. Doc sat in the back seat of Rick's car with me and Tim. I was in the middle, and it was like my lover and my second dad were trying to do everything to protect me.
       We went to the hospital, and my mom and I cried some more together. Then it was time to go into the little room where Clay was to tell him goodbye. I couldn't make myself say those words. I hugged him and kissed him, but I couldn't just say, Goodbye, Clay. I couldn't make myself think of it as goodbye.
       Jeff was there in that room with Clay. I could tell Jeff really loved him, too. I had only met Jeff a few times when he had come home with Clay, but I knew they intended to spend their lives together, just like me and Tim. Who would have ever thought they would have had so little time?
       That night in bed Tim snuggled me up real close. Usually, I get hard just from seeing him naked in bed like that, and I always get hard as a railroad track when we snuggle in bed. That night, though, nothing happened. The next morning I knew I was all right, though. I enjoyed making love to Tim that morning, but I felt a little guilty about it. I thought about Clay and Jeff while Tim was fucking me. I wondered if they had done that. I wondered if Jeff would find another boy to love. I didn't think I ever would find another one like Tim if that had happened to him, and I felt bad for Jeff.
       A ton of people showed up for Clay's service. It wasn't a funeral, exactly, because he was cremated. I think they said they took him from Gainesville to Jacksonville to be cremated, but I wasn't sure of that. I wasn't sure about a lot of stuff that went on those days. I just know I never saw him again after we left that hospital room.
       It was hard for my mom and dad, but especially my mom, for a few weeks after Clay died. At first she got real protective of me. She made me spend every night at home for a couple of weeks after he died. It was okay for Tim to stay with me, but she wouldn't let me stay at Tim's house or Kevin and Rick's house. One time she said she didn't like the idea of me driving. What was I supposed to do? Walk?
       "Dad, what's up with Mom," I finally asked my father.
       "It's hard for her right now, baby. It's hard for all of us, I know, but your mother is just really having a bad time with Clay's death. If you can be a man about this, Kyle, for just a little bit longer, she'll come around."
       "Yes, sir, I will be. I can be tough when I have to be, but, Dad, I..."
       "I know son. Your mom and I are so proud of you and Tim, just like we are of Clay and Jeff, we don't know what to do. I know she thinks that if she loses you on top of losing Clay she'll die."
       "Yes, sir," I said.
       "Give it another week, okay, Bubba. She's seen her counselor four times already, and I'm noticing some improvement. If she's not better in a week, I'll step in, okay? I know you're a young man and you need your freedom. You've never disappointed us, and I know you won't start now."
       "Okay, Dad," I said.
       "Where's your boy," Dad asked me.
       "I don't exactly know. I think he might be with Philip and Ryan," I said.
       "Why don't you go find them," Dad said.
       "Yes, sir," I said.

       One night a couple of weeks after that Jerry dropped a bomb shell on us. We had all gotten together at Kevin and Rick's house to watch football on TV. It was a pretty big crowd. Besides Kevin and Rick, and me and Tim, Jus and Jay were there, and Jerry, Mont, Sam and Fred, and Chad were there, too. Jeff had been coming home to Kevin and Rick's house every weekend since Clay died, and he was there, also. Doc had to work on Saturdays, so he wasn't there. After the game, we all went to my house to swim and cook out.
       We swam for a while, and then we cooked chicken on the grill. We were all sitting at the big picnic table on our patio, and Jerry said he wanted to say something.
       "You guys have given me a home and taken me into your circle as a friend.    You guys have been open and honest and loving toward me, but I haven't been totally honest with you. You all know I'm a Catholic priest. Well, I'm one of the gay priests you've probably read about in the news lately. I've never been comfortable being gay until I met this group of people, but I've always been gay. Thank you for accepting me into your hearts as a 'straight' man, and now I hope you'll accept me as a gay man, a gay priest."
       Nobody said anything when he said that. Then Rick finally talked.
       "Jerry, that took real courage. This is a very homophobic group, as you know," he said.
       Everybody laughed.
       "Thanks, brother, for trusting us," Rick said. "And, guys, this is just in the family, okay? Don't say anything about it at school or anywhere else, okay?"
       "Who would care," Justin asked.
       "Well, a lot of people might, Jus, so please keep it to yourself, okay," Rick said.
       "Do you want us to try to hook you up," I asked. "I didn't know much about the Catholic religion."
       "Kyle!" Kevin said.
       "I wish somebody would hook me up," Chad said.
       "We're working on that, Bubba," I said. Everybody laughed.
       "That's a fair question, Kevin," Jerry said. "Don't you guys have a rule about no question being out of bounds?"
       "Yeah, but..." Kevin started to say.
       "The answer is, Kyle, I appreciate the offer, but I'm trying really hard to live the vow I took," Jerry said.
       "Does that mean you've never had sex," Justin asked.
       "No, I have, Jus. But I promised God I wouldn't as long as I'm a priest. I want to stick to that, if I can. I've broken that vow a few times, and I can't swear that I won't again. But you guys have been a huge support for me, and with your help, I think I can make it," Jerry said.
       "How can we support you, man? All of us are having sex," Jus said.
       "Not all," Kevin said.
       I looked at Jeff. He had his head down, like he didn't really want to be talking about that. Then I looked at Mont. He and Terry hadn't been together for a couple of months. Then I looked at Chad, and his eyes got big, like he was excited about what I had said a minute before.
       "You guys around this table right now are about the closest thing to a real Christian community I have ever experienced. You accept everyone, and you judge no one. Kyle, when your brother died, many of you went to Gainesville to be with your parents and with Jeff. The fact that Jeff is here right now means you love him and you accept him. And he feels comfortable here, or he wouldn't keep coming back. From what I've been told, Chad came into this group a misfit in every respect. Look at him now. He's thriving here. Fred lost a life partner a little over a year ago, but he's found love and acceptance in this group. Justin, where were you a year ago? In shackles and naked, waiting for the next guy with twenty bucks to fuck you."
       "Whoa! It cost fifty bucks to fuck me, dude," Justin said. He said that real cute, and everybody laughed.
       "Oh, excuse me," Jerry said, as he laughed. "My point is, guys, you love one another. Some of it's sexual, of course, but you love one another way over and above sex. You love one another as brothers, unconditionally and without asking questions or judging one another. That's all Jesus ever asked us to do."
       Jerry had a real knack that night for stopping conversation because, again, nobody said anything. Kevin and Rick both had big tears in their eyes, and Sam, my assistant scoutmaster, was sobbing quietly. Fred put his arm around Sam in a real cute way.
       "Who wants dessert," I asked.
       That kind of broke up the tension. We all felt real good about what Jerry had said, and I knew it was true. I didn't have his learning or background to say it that way, but we were brothers. We did love one another, and we did accept everybody without making judgments.
       Rick had made a big-ass chocolate cake with orange juice in the middle, mixed with chocolate sauce. I took that to the table with bowls and spoons for everybody to eat it. I also got out two half gallons of vanilla ice cream to go with it. Damn, that was a mighty good cake, and I decided to ask Rick to teach me how to make it.

       We got our grades on the next Monday, and mine were off a little. Tim had straight A's, like he always got, but I had two B's and a couple of C's. We looked at each other's grades at lunch the day we got the report cards, and Jay and Chad had all A's, too.
       "I'm the dumb one here," I said at our table in the restaurant we always went to. "You guys probably don't want to hang with me."
       "Jesus Christ, Kyle! You're the fucking center of us, man," Jason said. He had switched to our school from the one in town he had been going to. I think we were his only friends there.
       "He's right, Kyle," Chad said. "You're the big brother of us all. Even though Jus and Jay are older than you. You're the one who keeps us together."
       "I'm going to use the excuse of Clay dying, if my parents get on to me about my grades. I'll do better next time. I promise," I said.
       We concentrated on eating for a few minutes.
       "Kyle, the other night when you said you were working on somebody for me, did you mean that," Chad asked.
       "Yeah, I did, actually," I said. "There's a guy named Gage who's in my drama class. He's a junior, and I think he's somebody you might like."
       "Is Gage gay," Chad asked.
       "That's the part I don't know," I said. "No offense, okay, Bubba? But he acts gay. Before you start kicking my ass, admit you know what I'm talking about. My best gaydar instincts tell me he is, Chad."
       "Do you mean he's like me," Chad asked.
       "Yeah, that's what I mean. Do you hate me for saying that," I asked.
       "Do I hate you for looking out for me? For sitting with me here, right now, and being my friend? For trying to hook me up? Yeah, Kyle. I hate you for all those reasons." Pause. "You dumb fuck."
       Everybody laughed when we realized Chad was just being sarcastic.
       "Well, look at two o'clock, Bubba," I said. Gage was off to Chad's right. Gage was sitting at a table with three girls, and he seemed to be entertaining them quite a bit. He was what Jus would call a "drama queen," but he was also about the best looking guy in the school.
       "How well do you know him," Chad asked, obviously interested.
       "We've given each other a couple of blow jobs. That's about it," I said.
       Tim was sitting next to me, and his elbow hit my gut like a streak of lightening. It hurt like hell, but that didn't stop me and him from laughing our asses off.
       "How do we meet," Chad asked.
       "Come to play practice this afternoon. I drop him off at home almost every day we have practice. You sit and watch the play practice, and I'll give you a ride home with us," I said.
       "I see a plot developing," Chad said.
       "By the way, how do you usually get home from school," I asked Chad.
       "Cheese wagon," he said.
       "Today you ride with us. Starting today, I should say. If you like Gage, you can ride home with us every day, but we only take him home when we have to stay late for play practice. Anyway, we'll figure it out, okay?"
       Chad was laughing with delight. "Okay, big brother," he said. I really liked it when he said that. Chad was extremely funny and likeable, once you got past the makeup and fingernail polish he had worn when we first met him. He was still pretty femme, but I didn't care. Tim and I weren't really out at school, but we knew some people suspected we were gay and boyfriends. Nobody messed with us, so we didn't care what the rumors might be.
       That afternoon, Chad showed up at play practice, just like I had told him to. He sat about halfway back in the auditorium. He watched some of it, but he also did homework. I couldn't blame him. Our Town was a damn good play, but when you see the same scene, the same lines, even, over and over again, it gets boring.
       After practice, Tim, Gage, Chad, and I all went out to my car.
       "Gage, this is our friend Chad," I said.
       They shook hands.
       "What grade, Chad," Gage asked.
       "I'm a ninth grader," Chad said.
       "Cool. I'm a junior," Gage said.
       We drove a couple of blocks.
       "Do you guys want to get something to eat? I'm fucking starving," I said.
       "Yeah. Absolutely," Tim said. I swung into a fast food place, and we went in.
       We ordered at the counter, and then we took our food to a table in the back of the restaurant. There was a table of three girls from our drama club. We told them hello as we passed, but that was the only contact we had with them.
       "Where are you from, Chad," Gage asked. "You don't sound like you're from around here."
       "I'm from Mississippi. I'm living here with my uncle right now," Chad said.
       "Oh," Gage asked.
       "Yeah. It's not good at home right now," Chad said.
       "What did you do? Come out to them, or something," Gage asked.
       Tim and I looked at each other, our eyes as big as the buns our hamburgers were on.
       "Something like that," Chad said.
       Oh, shit, I thought. Those two really cut to the fucking chase.
       "Mine were more accepting, but, of course, they pretty much always knew," Gage said.
       "I thought mine did, too," Chad said.
       "Do you guys have even so much as a clue about what we're talking about," Gage asked me and Tim.
       I shrugged.
       "We talking about the fact that we're both gay," Gage said. "If you guys have a problem with that, we'll find another way home, okay? That's who we are. Take it or leave it."
       Tim and I looked at one another and grinned.
       "Go ahead and laugh," Gage said. "It's not something we chose to be, you know?"
       "Tell him, Chad. What are you waiting for," Tim asked.
       "Are you sure," Chad asked.
       "Yeah. Go ahead," Tim said.
       "These guys are gay, too, Gage, and they've been a couple for almost a year," Chad said.
       "No, way," Gage said.
       "It's true, Gage. Do you think we'd lie about that, man," I said.
       "Oh, my God! My world is collapsing," he said. "How can you two be gay?"
       "How can you, man? How can anybody," I asked.
       "I just...I'm like...I 'm weak," Gage said.
       "You may be weak, but don't be weak because we're gay, because we are," I said.
       "And do you, like...have sex, and all," Gage asked.
       "Yeah, we do. Just about every day, in fact," Tim said.
       "Oh, my God! I thought only guys on the Internet were gay and had sex."
       "Gage, cut the shit, man. We're gay, we have sex, we're in love. Now deal with it," I said.
       "Oh, my God! I need a cigarette so bad right now," Gage said.
       "Well, let's go. I've got some in the car," I said.
       "You smoke? Oh, my God!"
       I thought Gage was like this parody of a gay kid, something they would do on Saturday Night Live or something, to make fun of gay stereotypes. But there he was, right in front of us. Gage was funny, whether he meant to be or not. I didn't laugh at him because I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but he was funny in the way he acted.
       Gage, Chad, and I all lit up smokes in my car. That was the first time I had seen Chad smoke in a long time, so I knew he wasn't an addict, like I was. That was my first one in a couple of days, too, and it tasted real good to me.
       That night in bed at his house, Tim and I talked about Gage and Chad.
       "Do you think they'll get together," Tim asked, after we had made love.
       "Jesus, they were made for each other, Babe. We'll have to keep them under our wing, okay?"
       "Yeah, but I don't want to do with Gage what we did with Chad on the camping trip," Tim said.
       "I know. But we won't have to. Chad knows what to do, even if Gage don't," I said.
       My baby kissed me good night, and we went to sleep.

       That was the first time Tim and I had talked about what we had done with Chad on the camping trip, and I sort of got the impression he was sorry we had done it. That wasn't the only time we had done something like that, though.
       Kevin and Rick were very strict about sex being something you did in private. They didn't want us making out heavy or groping each other in front of them. I could understand that. They didn't do stuff like that in front of us, even though I knew they had a lot of sex for guys their age. They knew we couldn't help getting hard-ons for each other sometimes, but we just couldn't do anything with them unless we went to our room and closed and locked the door.
       When they weren't around was another story, though. One night they were out with some of their friends, and it was me and Tim, and Jus and Jay at their house. Tim and I were sitting on the sofa like Rick and Kevin did, and Jus and Jay were in the same position on the floor. None of us had shirts on.
       I was holding Tim, and I started rubbing his chest. He didn't make me stop, even though I knew it was making him hard. In a few minutes, he sat up and moved me around so we were side by side. He kissed me, and I kissed him back. At first it was just playing around, but pretty soon we were making out pretty heavy. Justin and Jason saw what we were doing, and they started it, too. Tim and I would kiss for a while, and then we'd stop and watch the two of them. Then they'd stop and watch us. I think we were sort of turning each other on, without even touching.
       Tim kept pulling at his dick because he was trying to get it more comfortable in his shorts.
       "Let me help you with that," I said. I unzipped his fly and dug around in it trying to get his dick out through the piss hole in his underwear.
       "What are you doing," he asked.
       "I'm looking for the damn piss hole in your underwear," I said.
       "What you're doing feels great, but it doesn't have a hole. I have to pull them down to pee," he said.
       I opened the button on his shorts and pulled them down a little. His dick made a huge tent in his underwear, nice and rounded where the head of it was. I leaned down and started mouthing his dick through his briefs. He moaned.
       Jus and Jay got real curious to watch what I was doing. They got on their knees right in front of us. I could see both their hard-ons pushing against their shorts.
       I worked on Tim for a few minutes through his underwear. Then I pulled them down so that his dick was free. I took it into my mouth. Jus tugged Jay away, and they got on the floor. They both took their clothes off, and they went at each other's dicks with their mouths at the same time. Tim liked what he saw, so he made me take off my shorts, too, and we did what the other two guys were doing. We did it for just a few minutes before we had to shoot.
       After that, we didn't get dressed. Tim and I sat on the floor with Jus and Jay, and we all got real hard again in just a little while. We played with each other's dicks off and on for a couple of hours. Eventually, though, we couldn't stand it any more, and each guy sucked off his boyfriend a second time.
       After that, we did that pretty much whenever it was just the four of us home alone. We only ever made our own boyfriends come, but we did a little rubbing of everybody. Jus and Jay both had good bodies, just like me and Tim, and I think we all just had fun playing sex. Jus, Jay, and I all wanted the couples to fuck in front of each other, but Tim said "no," so we didn't. I had promised him and Kevin and Rick I would never do anything sexual that he didn't want to do, and I kept that promise.
       Another thing we did with those boys that we never did when Kevin and Rick were around is hang out naked. They always made us put on underwear, except for swimming and on the island, but at my house or Tim's or theirs when no grownups were around, we got naked to just hang out. Most of the time we'd get hard. A few times me and Tim, and Jus and Jay, jerked each other off, but most of the times when that happened, we just enjoyed being hard together.
       I never knew if the big brothers suspected anything. If they did, they never mentioned it.

       Chad and Gage started dating. I had figured they would, and they seemed like they had a lot of fun together. Gage had a car, so he and Chad started hanging out with us. One night the three couples all went to the mall together, and that was the night I almost had to beat the crap out of Gage.
       We were going to a movie that started at ten o'clock, but we went to the mall around seven to eat and to look around. After we ate, Justin and Jason went to some boat store that was in the mall, and me and Tim looked at clothes, music, some software, and then spent a little while in the book store. We were supposed to meet up with everybody in front of the theaters at 9:45. Chad and Gage were already there when we got there, and they were holding hands! I liked holding Tim's hand as much as anything, and we always did it when we were watching TV or just talking. But we only ever did it in private. There those two were, holding hands for anybody to see. Jeez!
       "Cut it out, man," I whispered to them.
       "Cut what out," Gage asked.
       "Holding hands. Don't do that here. People will see you and think you're queer," I said, still in a whisper.
       "We are queer," Gage said in a regular voice.
       "Shut the fuck up and stop it, man," I said, a little louder than a whisper, but still not in an ordinary voice. There weren't very many people around inside the mall, but the theaters were right next to an outside door, and the whole wall was glass. There were probably a dozen kids out there smoking before the movie, and I could see a couple of girls staring at Chad and Gage.
       "Let's go, Tim," I said. I went to the ticket booth and bought our tickets, and me and him went inside the theater. I bought us each a large popcorn, a chocolate candy bar, and a large coke. That stuff cost more than the movie tickets, but that was okay. We went into the movie and got seats. Jus and Jay came in right behind us, and they sat with us. We were sort of near the back of the theater, and Chad and Gage came in and sat about four rows in front of us. A few people sat in the rows between them and us.
       Justin was sitting on my right, Tim on my left.
       "Why are you so pissed off," Jus asked. "Did I do something?"
       "No, you didn't, Bubba," I whispered, "but those two fruits down there did."
       "Jesus Christ, Lil Rick," he said. He said that to be funny and to make me not so mad, but it didn't work that time. "What did they do?"
       "I'll tell you later. Just forget about it for right now. The movie's starting."
       I tried to concentrate on the movie. It was a comedy, but I didn't laugh all that much when the others did. I didn't want to look at Chad and Gage for fear of what I might see, but I couldn't keep from doing it. Chad leaned his head onto Gage's shoulder.
       "Aw, fuck," I whispered when I saw that.
       "I think I see the source of the problem," Jus said.
       "Yeah. Exactly. Goddamn it! That fucking pisses me off. I'm going to have to beat the shit out of both of 'em. If they want to do that shit, they can do it at home or someplace private. Or at least somewhere where I'm not."
       "They ain't really doing nothing," Jus said.
       "The hell they aren't. They probably have their dicks out, jerking each other off," I said.
       Then Gage kissed Chad. It wasn't a mouth-to-mouth kiss, but anybody who noticed knew it was a kiss.
       "That's it. They're dead," I said.
       "Babe, you want me to go talk to them," Tim asked.
       "And tell 'em what, Tim? You heard what he said out there." I was really mad, and everybody could tell.
       Tim put his hand in my lap and started rubbing my crotch. He had never done anything like that before in public, and I knew he was only doing it then to calm me down.
       "Please don't do that now, Babe," I said.
       "You can do it to me, Timmy," Jus said. He said it real cute, and it made me laugh a little. Tim stopped when I asked him to.
       Somehow I got through the rest of the movie, but I was so pissed off I don't even remember what it was about. When it was over, Chad and Gage walked out hand in hand. We got up and walked out behind them, making sure there were several people between them and us.
       When they got outside, several people made comments, like "ain't that sweet" and "look at the little fags." Those were some tough-looking guys, too, saying that. Jason knew a couple of them from his old school, but they just nodded to him and him to them as we walked passed them.
       Everybody piled in my car, but nobody said anything. I flipped my cell phone over the back seat to Chad and Gage.
       "Call your parents and tell 'em y'all are spending the night at Kevin and Rick's house," I said. It wasn't an invitation; it was an order.
       "Kyle, why are you so pissed off," Chad asked. He said it like he really didn't know.
       "We'll talk about it when we get home, okay," I said.
       I drove way too fast through town and across the bridge. We lived pretty far from the mall, and that trip usually took thirty minutes, if the traffic wasn't bad. That night it took fifteen.
       "Hey, guys," Kevin said when we went inside. He and Rick were sitting in their usual position on the sofa with all their clothes on. "Y'all are home earlier than I expected."
       "Lil Rick is pissed off, and he's got a right to be. Y'all better get into big brother mode," Jus said. The way Justin talked made some people think he was a dumb redneck, but that boy was anything but dumb.
       "What's the matter, Kyle," Rick asked.
       "Phew." I let out a deep breath. The six kids got on the floor facing the guys, who both sat up straight on the sofa as they got into big brother mode.
       "Can I have a cigarette," I asked.
       "Kyle, you haven't asked for permission to smoke in this house in six months, bro," Rick said. "What's wrong?"
       I lit up a smoke.
       "We need to talk with Chad and Gage about what it's okay to do in public," I said. I was working real hard not to get mad.
       "What happened, Chad," Kevin asked.
       "Gage and I were holding hands in the mall outside the theaters," Chad said.
       "And what else," I asked in a hard voice.
       "I'm not sure I know what you mean, Kyle," Chad said. Chad was really nervous, and I hated that, but what he and Gage had done wasn't ever going to happen again.
       "You rested your head on his shoulder during the movie, and he kissed you a couple of times," I said.
       "Oh. That," Chad said.
       "Why did that make you so angry, Kyle," Gage asked. He wasn't being sarcastic or anything. It was like he really didn't get it.
       "Gage, I suspect Kyle was angry because you did something that had the potential of getting you and Chad in big trouble," Kevin said.
       "What do you mean," Gage asked. He really didn't get it.
       "You heard what those guys said to you guys when we were leaving the mall," Tim said.
       "Guys like that have said stuff like that to me all my life, Tim. I'm used to it," Gage said.
       "Yeah, but, man, it wasn't just you tonight, you know," I said.
       "What do you mean," Gage asked.
       "It was the six of us. We were on a fucking triple date, man. We were with you guys," I said.
       "Gage, I think what Kyle is trying to say is that what you and Chad did was potentially dangerous for all six of you," Rick said.
       "Are you ever going to stop hiding, Rick," Gage asked.
       That made Rick so mad he was probably seeing stars. He didn't explode, though. Instead, he took a deep breath and said, in a very calm voice,
       "Gage, Kevin and I have been fully out to everyone we know for four years. These rings we wear are a sign of our public commitment to one another. We have never, ever denied our love for one another, and we have never lied and said we weren't gay if someone asked. But we don't wear rainbow suspenders or hold hands in public or put signs on our cars that say, 'Vandalize me. I belong to a queer.' There are too many people out there who are filled with hate for homosexuals, man. We have a ton of gay friends and a ton of straight friends, and sometimes our gay friends and our straight friends get together over here for parties. But you absolutely have to be careful, man."
       "You're making me feel like it's wrong for me to like Chad," Gage said.
       ''Gage, Tim and Kyle got you and Chad together, remember? They set it up for you. They like you. So do Jay and Jus. They're your friends. They want to be your friends. We all know it's not wrong for you to like Chad or for him to like you. We rejoice in that. We celebrate that. But they don't want you boys to get hurt. Or themselves, either, because they're out with you," Kevin said.
       There was a long pause when nobody said anything.
       "So," Gage said. Pause. "This really isn't Queer as Folk, after all."
       That broke the tension, and everybody laughed hard.
       "That's an ice cream line, if I ever heard one," Rick said. "Let's hit it, Eagles."
       That meant Rick wanted me and Tim to help him make ice cream for everybody. We always did that when a crisis was over. We went into the kitchen, got out the ice cream and all the other stuff we put on it, and made eight gigantic banana splits for us. When we took 'em in the den, everybody was amazed at how much stuff we had been able to get into those soup bowls.
       "Kyle, you were right and I was wrong," Gage said. "I never looked at what we did tonight from the way you said it. It won't ever happen again, if you're still willing to be our friend."
       "I was never not willing to be your friend, Gage," I said. "That's why we had to talk, man, 'cause I want to be your friend. I want to hang out with you guys, go out, just be like brothers, you know?"
       "Tim, where'd you get this guy," Gage asked.
       "What do you mean," Tim asked.
       "He's actually all right, isn't he," Gage asked.
       "All right?!! He's the best," my Timmy said. He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.
       "Ain't that sweet," Jus said sarcastically.
       "Look at the little fags," Jay said, laughing.
       "Shut the fuck up and eat your ice cream," I said.
       After that night, me and Tim, and sometimes Jus and Jay, too, went out with Chad and Gage pretty regularly. Sometimes Philip and Ryan would go out with us, too. In all those times, I never saw Chad and Gage even touch one another on the arm while we were in public. I hated it that they couldn't hold hands waiting for a movie or kiss one another in public. I wanted to do that with Tim, too, but we just knew we couldn't do that. We lived with it and learned to love one another around it.

Chapter 10

(Kevin's Perspective Back in North Carolina)
       The boys woke up before we did the next morning, and they were scampering around in just their underwear when we went out to the living room. It really felt good to be greeted by the warm air coming from the fireplace and the smell of fresh coffee brewing.
       "Good morning, sleepy heads," Kyle said, teasing us.
       "What time is it," I asked.
       "It's eight o'clock. Did we have a little pretend Sunday morning this morning," Kyle asked. He could be incredibly cute at times, and that was one of them.
       "None of your business," I said, and he laughed.
       "Step out on the deck for a few seconds," Kyle said. "It feels so good."
       Rick and I took his suggestion, and it did feel good. It was cold, and the frost was still very evident, but it was bracing. I could smell the pine trees that were spread in front of us. In the distance, I saw the Christmas tree farm, with it's neat rows of cone-shaped trees. I heard one or two of the bear dogs--reputedly bear dogs--howling off in the distance. I could see the house next to ours, but that was the only human habitation in view. Rick and I counted the ridges, as we had done several times before, and that morning we could see seven in the distance. We saw many patches of color down below us. It was a little muted from that distance, but I knew it would be spectacular up close.
       We went back inside and warmed ourselves in front of the fire.
       "So, what do you guys think of the mountains in the morning," I asked.
       "Totally awesome," Jason said. "This is the first time I've ever been to any place like this. It about took my breath away when I saw it."
       "Me, too," Jus said.
       "I've been in some mountains before," Tim said. "Mostly in Europe. These are beautiful in a different way, though."
       "You never told me that," Kyle said. "Which ones in Europe did you see? The Alps?"
       "Yeah. You been there," Tim asked.
       "Yeah," Kyle said. "And those other ones in France, too. They start with a P."
       "Pyrenees," I asked.
       "Yeah, that's it," Kyle said.
       "Have you guys never talked about where you've been in Europe," Rick asked.
       "Not really," Tim said. "Why would we?"
       "Yeah, right," Rick said, "when everybody's been to all the usual exotic places, why bring it up?"
       I caught his irony and smiled. He winked at me.
       The boys made a great breakfast for us, and we ate every bite they cooked. There was a microwave in the kitchen, but they hadn't used it, preferring instead to cook everything on the stove top. I could tell the subtle differences in taste, and the aroma of the cooked food was almost as good as the food itself.
       "Don't start the dishwasher right away," I said, after we had eaten. "I reckon y'all all need showers, right?"
       They all did. They needed shaves, too, their experiments with goatees having vanished weeks before.
       "We need to double up for showers to save hot water, and nobody touches the other one," I said.
       The boys grinned big.
       "Kyle, you shower with me, Tim with Jason, and Rick with Justin," I said.
       "Damn," Kyle said. "Ain't no fun in this house this morning."
       "Exactly," I said. "It's all about conservation."
       We showered, shaved, and got dressed in about thirty minutes. I thought that was pretty good for six men. When we were ready, we all drove into Highlands to get groceries and to check out the town. We ended up eating lunch at a mom-and-pop sandwich shop. After lunch we went into a shop that featured Japanese flower arranging.   The two proprietors were middle-aged men who were stereotypically gay and an obvious couple.
       I introduced myself, and Steve, one of the guys, knew my mother.
       "Are you interested in flower arranging, Kevin," Steve asked.
       "No, not really," I said.
       "What about your wife? Where is she, anyway? I'm sure I could interest her in a class or two," he said.
       "It's my husband, not my wife. He's over there, and he might be interested," I said.
       "Husband?!!"
       "Yeah, you got a problem with that," I asked, knowing he didn't but wanting to have some fun.
       "Oh, my God! Please!"
       I grinned at him.
       "And who are the kids," he asked.
       "They're our little brothers. Queer, too," I said. "That one right there," I said, pointing to Jus, "is our foster son. That's his boyfriend, and the other two are just our little brothers. They're boyfriends, too."
       "Are y'all from New Orleans," he asked. "I know your mother is."
       "Well, I am, originally, but we live in the Florida Panhandle now."
       "Oh, my," he said. "You're all so incredibly masculine."
       Jus came up right at that moment.
       "Kevin, these damn things look good enough to eat," he said.
       "Oh, and who might you be," Steve asked.
       I saw Justin misreading Steve's question, even as he was asking it.
       "I'm Justin, and I'm just in." He said that very seductively, and he took a half step closer toward Steve than was normal.
       "Jus," I said. I arched my eyebrows at him.
       He stepped back, suddenly. "Shit, what am I doing," Jus said. "I'm sorry, Mister."
       "No harm done, son," Steve said. He looked at me knowingly, and I nodded. Justin walked off.
       "You all have simply got to come to tea this afternoon," Steve said.
       "We'd like that," I said.
       "Five thirty. Upstairs here," Steve said. "I can't wait to tell Frank. Just take all the time you want to look around." Steve scurried off to find Frank, and I thought I heard Frank squeal a bit.
       Back in the van I said, "They want us to come to tea this afternoon. Five thirty."
       "Were those guys gay," Tim asked.
       "No question about it, Bubba," Rick said.
       "What does 'come to tea' mean," Justin asked.
       "I'm not really sure, Jus," I said. "Having tea can be a big ceremony in Japan, so it might be that. On the other hand, having tea in England is a meal. I don't really know what we can expect."
       "Having tea" was British High Tea at Steve and Frank's place. Those guys had basically set up a meal for us, complete with several courses. I drank some scotch with them, but Rick and the boys had flavored waters before the meal. It lasted from 5:30 until eight o'clock, and they were the very model of the gracious host. They served actual tea, but they had it in both the hot and iced varieties. It was very elegant, and I was glad the boys had an opportunity to experience that.
       Steve and Frank were extremely sophisticated and urbane. They had traveled extensively, and they regaled us with stories of their adventures. Having tea deep in a cave in Morocco was the most memorable, given the present occasion.
       "We have to have them over while we're here," Rick said as soon as we were back in the car.
       "I know. How about Saturday night," I asked. "Will you cook?"
       "Ab-so-lutely," he said. "Call them tomorrow and invite them. They are too much fun to miss."
       "I don't get it," Justin said. "Y'all like them two drama queens?"
       "We like those two men, Jus," Rick said.
       "Yeah, but they ain't men. You guys are men, and you ain't nothing like them," Jus said.
       "Don't you like Chad," I asked. "He's like them."
       "You know I like Chad, Kevin. Why'd you say that, man?"
       "That's what Chad's going to be like in thirty years, if he's lucky," I said.
       "Jeez, they don't get over it," Justin asked.
       "No. No, they don't, Jus."
       "Well, shit," Jus said.

       We spent all of Friday on the mountain bikes or hiking. On Saturday morning we climbed our local mountain. The view from the top was magnificent. It was a little cloudy when we first got up there, but that all burned away as the day progressed. We took a picnic lunch, and we enjoyed the view and just being out in nature. Tim had a little trouble breathing at a mile and a half above sea level after he and Kyle had been chasing one another, but he assured us he was fine.
       We got home around two o'clock from our mountain climb, and we got started working on dinner. We really wanted to impress Steve and Frank because they had obviously gone out of their way to impress us. Rick, Kyle, and Tim grabbed the van as soon as we got home. They came back by four o'clock with a car load of food. Rick had opted for Chicken Pontalba, which was one of my favorite dishes. That was classic New Orleans "company food," and it consisted of a bed of small cut potatoes and onions, cubes of ham, chunks of fried chicken, topped with a delicious béarnaise sauce. If it all came out right, it was incredible.
       We hadn't brought any liquor with us, so Justin and Jason and I went in search of a liquor store when Rick had gotten home with the groceries. We finally found one, and I bought the best bottle of single malt scotch they had. The boys were impressed at how much it cost, but I assured them that $45 for a good single malt wasn't expensive. I also bought some wine.

       Steve and Frank arrived at the cabin promptly at seven o'clock. They each brought a host gift--a bottle of scotch for the adults and a huge box of candy for the kids.
       "What have you fellows been doing while you've been here," Steve asked.
       "Some of just about everything," I said. "We climbed the mountain today. That was a first for Justin and Jason."
       "Yeah, that was really cool," Jus said. "Rick took his binoculars, and we could see forever from up there."
       "Have you done any hiking," Frank asked.
       "Yes, sir, we hiked and rode bikes all day yesterday," Kyle said.
       "Gawd, I wish I had their energy," Steve said.
       "I know what you mean," Frank said. "My son was the same way when he was a teenager."
       "You have a son," Tim asked. "Where is he?"
       "He lives in Durham and goes to graduate school at Duke University," Frank replied. "He just got married last month."
       "Are you gay," Tim asked.
       "Tim," I said to remind him of his manners.
       "That's perfectly all right, Kevin," Frank said. "Yes, Tim, I'm gay, and Steve is my partner. I know what you're probably wondering, and, yes, I fought hard not to be gay. I got married in college and managed to produce my son. His mother and I have been divorced since he was two. He's twenty-four, now. He lived with Steve and me for several years, and we're still very close."
       "I think it's cool when gay guys have kids," Jason said. "I don't know if I could ever do it with a girl, though."
       "I could," Kyle said.
       "You could do it with anything," Jus said.
       He and Kyle tapped knuckles.
       "Hey, watch it, Bubba," Tim said.
       That made us all laugh, especially Steve and Frank.
       We made small talk for the next hour or so. The aromas coming from the kitchen were wonderful, and both of our guests commented on the fact. Tim and Kyle set the table. Rick was the kind of cook who liked to serve the plates himself before taking them to the table. That probably was a rub-off from his restaurant experience, but it worked fine.
       He called us to the table at 8:15, and we spent the next hour devouring his work. The chicken dish was the best I'd ever tasted it, and Steve and Frank insisted on having the recipe. Rick simply recited it from memory as Frank wrote it down.
       We played a game of trivia after dinner while the kids cleaned up the kitchen, and then they joined us for a couple more games. We decided on two-man teams of one adult and one boy, and Rick and Kyle were paired together. Tim and I were partners, and we ended up winning.
       We waited for dessert and coffee until we had had time to digest our dinner a little while. Rick had made an Italian cream cake that was outstanding. The evening ended at eleven, and our guests went home after a thoroughly enjoyable time.
       "They didn't seem to act as gay tonight as they did the other day in their store or at their house," Kyle said, "especially Frank."
       "It might have been the atmosphere of the flower shop, Kyle," I said. "But you're right. I noticed the same thing."
       "Does anybody want to go for one last soak in the hot tub," Rick asked.
       We all did, so he turned it on. It was in the low thirties outside, and the air was crystal clear. There wasn't a great deal of pollution in our own area, but the high humidity from our bays never let it feel quite that pristine at home.
       "I wish we didn't have to go home tomorrow," Jus said. "This has been the most fun trip I've ever been on. Hell, it's the only trip I've ever been on."
       I mentally marveled at how much Justin had grown and changed since that day in June when we had first met him. He fit in perfectly with the boys and with our adult friends, and he was making remarkable progress in school. He had even mentioned the possibility of going to community college when he got his GED, and Rick and I strongly encouraged him to do just that. He liked to work, so he wouldn't give that up for full-time study, but he was still only seventeen, so he could take four years to complete the two-year program and still not be very far behind.
       "I wish we didn't either," Kyle said. "But we'll have lots to tell everybody about. It's always good to get home, too, even if you dread it."
       "Do you think I'll ever be able to come back here," Jus asked.
       "You really don't get it, do you, Jus," Rick asked.
       "Get what?"
       "Get the fact that you're our son, Bubba. We can't adopt you, but we would if we could. You're going to always be part of our family, and you'll always be welcome here and in our house at home. We love you, Justin," Rick said.
       Everyone was dead silent while Justin processed what Rick had said.
       Justin wiped at his eyes with his wet hands.
       "Happy tears," Tim asked.
       "Yeah," he said, the tears making it almost impossible for him to speak. "I love y'all, too." With that, he sobbed and laughed at the same time.
       Rick was sitting next to Jus, and he put his arm around his shoulder in a hug. I wished I had had my camera out on that deck at that moment to preserve on film the happiness in the eyes of my man and on the face of our son.

       The drive home the next day was really beautiful through the mountains of north Georgia. It had been dark when we had driven that stretch of road on the previous Wednesday, but that day we got the benefit of the magnificent fall foliage. The sky was the darkest, brightest blue that I could ever remember seeing. The sky was never that blue at home because of the humidity. The boys even commented on how blue the sky was.
       We got home around four o'clock. Jason's car was at our house, as was Kyle's, and the two of them, and Tim, actually went home to their own families.
       We had several phone messages on our answering machine, including three from Tyrone Williams, Justin's case worker.
       "Kevin and Rick, this is Tyrone Williams," the first message from him began. "Please give me a call as soon as you can. Thanks. Bye."
       "Kevin and Rick, this is Tyrone Williams again. It's Saturday afternoon, around three o'clock, and I figure you guys must be out of town. Please call me as soon as you get in. Thanks. Bye." There was urgency in his voice that time.
       "Kevin and Rick, this is Tyrone again. I need to talk to you guys as soon as possible. Please call me." His voice was even more urgent in that message than it had been before.
       "Shit, I hope I ain't in some kind of trouble," Jus said.
       "Why would you be," I asked. Frankly, I hoped it wasn't about him, too.
       "I don't know. I just don't feel good about it, that's all," he said. "It would be just my luck after how happy I've been for them to want to pull me out of here."
       "That ain't gonna happen, Bubba. Who else would want your sorry ass? Huh," Rick asked in fun.
       I dialed Tyrone's number, and he answered it on the first ring.
       "Tyrone, this is Kevin Foley. We just got home. What's up?"
       "Oh, thank God, Kevin," Tyrone said. "Is Rick there?"
       "Yeah, he's right here. Do you want to talk to him," I asked.
       "I want to talk to both of you together. Have you got a speaker phone?"
       "Yeah." I turned on the speaker, and Rick and Justin huddled around.
       "Hi, Tyrone," Rick said. "Justin's here, too. Is that okay?"
       "Hi, Rick. Hi, Justin. Yeah, it's fine if he hears this. Here's the deal. I've got a fourteen-year-old boy that needs emergency placement for a few days. He ran away from a foster home in Tallahassee and hitch hiked here. He can't go back to that foster family, and I don't have any place here to put him."
       "How long is 'a few days,'" I asked.
       "I don't really know," Tyrone said. "It could be a week, or it could be longer. I honestly don't know."
       "What's his name," Rick asked.
       "His first name is Brian," Tyrone said.
       "Cool name," Jus said.
       "He's a cool kid, Justin," Tyrone said. "I think y'all will like him."
       "Why'd he run away," Rick asked.
       "It's related to the fact that he's gay, Rick," Tyrone said. "That's all I'll say right now, but I'll fill you and Kevin in on everything in private, okay."
       "Sure, Tyrone. Can you give us a few minutes," Rick asked. "We'll get right back to you."
       "I can't ask for more than that, Rick. By the way, he's not particularly troubled that we can tell, any more than any other fourteen-year-old."
       "Who happens to be gay," I said.
       "Yeah, that, too," Tyrone said. "Well, let me let you guys talk, but I sure do hope you'll say 'yes.'"
       "What do y'all think," I asked, after we had hung up.
       "There's room in my heart," Rick said.
       "What about you, Bubba," I asked Jus.
       "If there's another kid who ain't happy now but who could be as happy as I am by living here, I say bring him on. There's room in my bed," Jus said. He was teasing, but he was pretty damn cute saying that.
       "Yeah, right, Romeo," Rick said. "What would Jason say if he heard that?"
       "He'd say, 'Bring him on!'"
       Rick and I laughed at Jus.
       "So is it 'Bring him on!' then," I asked.
       "Yeah," Rick said. "Bring him on."
       I called Tyrone back and told him our decision. He said he'd have Brian at our house in thirty minutes.
       "Jus, did you take a shower this morning," I asked.
       "No, did you?"
       "Yes, as a matter of fact I did, and I shaved, too. Now go do both," I said.
       "Why? Nobody shaves at night unless they're going out," he said.
       "You do tonight. Now go do it before I do it to you," I said.
       "Don't make your threats sound so much like promises, Bubba," he said.
       Rick and I laughed, and Jus did, too.
       "Get in there," I said.
       "Yes, sir," he said and went to clean up.
       "'Yes, sir'? Kyle and Jason must be rubbing off on him," Rick said.
       "I know," I said.
       Justin came out of his room in about twenty minutes. He had on his 501 jeans, which by then had faded to a nice soft blue and had shrunk a size or two, and his cowboy boots. His shirt was nice, also.
       "Damn, you look good. You got a date or something? Who is she," Rick teased.
       "Get out of here," Jus said.
       "You do look good, Jus," I said. "And you smell good, too. Is that the cologne Jason gave you?"
       "Yeah. I put some on my balls, too. He likes for me to do that," Jus said.
       Rick roared with laughter. All of the kids teased me like that, probably under Rick's unconscious encouragement.
       "Thanks, Jus. I was worried about what your balls smelled like," I said.
       Then it was his turn to laugh his ass off, along with Rick.
       "Actually, he don't like for me to put it on my balls because then they don't taste good," Jus said.
       "Okay, that's enough. Thank you," I said.
       Rick was laughing so hard he could hardly breathe.
       "There's a conspiracy in this house against me," I said.
       Rick laughed and kissed me quickly on the lips just as there was a knock on the door. I answered it, and it was Tyrone and Brian.
       Tyrone introduced us to Brian Mathews. He was a very nice looking kid, probably five feet, six inches, and maybe 130 pounds. He had medium brown hair that was fairly short and combed, brown eyes, and he had a faint light brown moustache that was less a fashion statement than a testimony to the fact that he was a young adolescent who hadn't yet started to shave. He was dressed in a tee shirt, cutoff blue jeans, and white leather tennis shoes. There were no visible piercings or tattoos, not that that would have mattered. I noticed that his hands and feet were disproportionately large, so I suspected his growth spurt was about halfway through. His hand was softer than most boys' hands at that age, at least softer than our boys', when I shook his hand.
       "It's good to have you here, buddy," Rick said.
       "Yeah, welcome, Brian," I said. "This is Justin Davis, our son."
       Justin had started checking him out the second he entered the house. Justin gave him one of his beautiful smiles when they shook hands. "You done come to a good place, man," Jus said.
       "Why don't you show Brian his room, Jus," I said.
       "Which one is it?"
       "Put him in my room," Rick said.
       "Where's Jeff going to sleep," Jus asked.
       "I don't know. We'll work that out, okay. Just put him in my room."
       "Is he going to sleep with you," Tyrone asked, somewhat warily.
       "Of course not. I sleep with him," Rick said, meaning me.
       "Who's Jeff," Tyrone asked.
       "He's Kyle's brother's boyfriend. He comes here every weekend from college, ever since Clay died," Rick said.
       "Who's Clay? Oh, never mind. Y'all work it out. I know it's safe here for him, no matter what the room arrangements are," Tyrone said.
       "Tyrone, please have a seat," I said. "Tell us about Brian."
       Tyrone sat in a chair at a diagonal to the sofa, where Rick and I sat.
       "Well, as I said on the phone, he's gay. He comes from the Tampa Bay area, and his step-father caught him looking at some gay porn on the Internet. He beat the kid and kicked him out. The people in Hillsborough County had a hell of a time placing him in foster care; then they found a family in Tallahassee that said they wanted a gay foster son. That's where they placed him."
       "When did this happen," I asked.
       "About three months ago. He was in care in Tallahassee, and it seemed that things were going well. As it turned out, though, the man of the house had a thing for boys, or so Brian claims."
       "Oh, shit," Rick said.
       "Yeah, exactly," Tyrone said. "Of course all of this will be thoroughly investigated, but Brian says the guy came on to him. He resisted the man's advances. Eventually, the guy raped Brian. Or tried to.   He took it for a month or so, and then he ran away. I can't say I blame him, either."
       "Of course not," I said.
       "Anyway, the Beach police found him sleeping in a dugout at a ball park, and, of course, they called us on Friday."
       "Where did he spend the last two nights," I asked.
       "At my house," Tyrone said. "But my wife is going to leave me, if I keep doing that. That's why I was so desperate to get him over here."
       "Was he sexually active before the foster placement," I asked.
       "No. As far as I can tell, the only thing he ever did was look at naked boys on the Internet," Tyrone said.
       "That doesn't mean he's gay," Rick said.
       "Oh, I know. I'm not going to tell you how I know that, but I know," Tyrone said.
       Rick and I both grinned at him, and he grinned back.
       "But he says he's gay. I don't know how a kid that young can know that, but he says he's positive he's gay."
       "Oh, they know," Rick said. "Trust me."
       "I do. That's why I'm here," he said.
       "Has he been in school," I asked.
       "Not this past week, but he was before that. He's in the ninth grade," Tyrone said. "His school grades are pretty good, too. He's a pretty smart kid."
       We heard peals of laughter from the back of the house.
       "It sounds like they're getting along," Rick said.
       "Yeah. Listen, guys, I've got some papers here for you all to sign. I went ahead and got a temporary custody order with your names on it, just in case you said 'yes.' You need to sign them, and I need to get going. I need to get home so I can take my family to church."
       "You dog," Rick said. "You knew we'd say 'yes,' didn't you?"
       Tyrone sort of chuckled. "Yeah, I pretty much did." He grinned at us.
       Justin and Brian came into the den just then.
       "Jus, go next door and get your brother. Then y'all go get Kyle and come back here. We have to have a family talk tonight," I said. I tossed him my keys. "Take my car."
       "Yes, sir," Jus said, and the two of them left.
       "Who's his brother," Tyrone asked. "And who's Kyle?"
       "You met them, Tyrone. They're the two boys who found Jus at the motel last summer," Rick said.
       "Oh, yeah. And they saved somebody's life or something, too, didn't they? I read about them in the paper."
       "A woman and her baby, during the hurricane," Rick said. "Kyle's older brother died about a month ago, and his boyfriend, Jeff, now considers this his home on weekends. It's a real long story."
       "You guys are something else, that's for sure, and thank God for you," Tyrone said. "Well, I've got to go. You will get Brian in school, right?"
       "Absolutely," I said. "Probably Tuesday morning, though. We'll give him a day to get adjusted. Is that okay?"
       "You all are the daddies," Tyrone said. "Oh, by the way, we had Brian tested for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, and he's negative. We'll do it again in six months, just to make sure. You just need to know that. Night guys, and thanks, from the bottom of my heart."

       The boys all came in about ten minutes after Tyrone left. Our three knew to get on the floor in front of the sofa, and Brian followed their lead.
       "Everybody's met everybody, right," I asked.
       "No. Who are you? Where am I," Kyle asked.
       "I knew you were going to say that," Rick said. The two of them laughed.
       "Are we ever going to eat again," Jus asked.
       "Well, I see that serious conversation won't be possible for a while. Let's go eat," I said.

       It was about ten minutes to six when we got in the van.
       "We've got time to make the six o'clock Mass," Rick said.
       "Okay, let's do that," I said. "We've got a lot to be thankful for. Maybe Jerry will say the Mass."
       "Brian, these three jokers are going to get a little snack, but me, you, and Jus won't get shit," Kyle said.
       Brian laughed a rather deep-voiced laugh. That was the first time we had heard a sound from him, and I was just a little surprised at how deep his voice already was.
       "You mean Communion? I'm going to get it, too," Brian said. "I'm Catholic."
       "Justin, we're outnumbered big time now, Bubba," Kyle said.
       "I ain't afraid of no Catholics. I got big-time connections with the Klan, if I need 'em," Jus said.
       "You do," Brian asked, rather amazed.
       "No, course not," Jus said. "That was kind of like a joke, Bri."
       "Well, I didn't know. Don't be mad at me," Brian said.
       "I ain't mad at you, dude. What the hell made you think that," Jus asked.
       "Well, I can't stand for people to be mad at me," Brian said.
       "Ain't nobody mad at you. We're too busy being mad at Rick to be mad at anybody else," Jus said.
       "Why are you mad at me," Rick asked. He used an exaggerated pouty voice to sucker Jus in.
       "I was teasing you, bud. We ain't mad at you," Jus said. He sounded frightened that Rick really thought he was angry at him.
       "I know, and I was teasing you back, Jus," Rick said.
       Jus pretended to sob.
       "Jesus Christ, Bubba! Are you crying? I'm sorry, man," Rick said.
       "No, I ain't crying, but you're going to be, when I get through with you," Jus said.
       Everybody but Brian laughed.
       "Brian, buddy, welcome to the tease-fest," Kyle said.
       We all laughed again.
       Jerry didn't say the Mass that night; the pastor did. We didn't hang around chatting because we were eager to get some food. We went to the sports bar and grill that was our crowd's hang-out, more or less.
       It was a great place. The food was excellent and reasonably priced, the service was good, and the atmosphere was very masculine. It was a place where guys went to eat, drink a few beers, watch a game, shoot pool, play ping pong, and otherwise just hang out. It wasn't a franchise, so there weren't any of the "cute" antique decorations around the place. The two brothers who owned it treated their customers like friends, and Rick and I had spent many evenings and Saturday afternoons there with our friends, both gay and straight. Both brothers knew us and the boys, and they both made it a point of coming over to our table at least once every time we went in there. The fact that they had some incredibly cute boys working as waiters didn't detract from the ambiance, either. They knew we and many of our friends were gay, but it didn't matter a bit to them. In fact, I sometimes wondered if they didn't also play for our team.
       We all ordered iced tea, although I got mine half-and-half and Rick got his unsweetened, unlike the boys. I liked my tea a little sweet, but I had learned early on in life that you couldn't trust a tea-maker in a southern restaurant to not pour a whole five-pound bag of sugar into a pot of tea. We studied the menu and made our choices.
       "I'm paying tonight," Kyle said.
       "No, you're not," Rick said.
       "Just hide and watch, Bubba," Kyle said.
       "Kyle, you're not paying for this meal. Kevin and I are," Rick said.
       "Rick, we just came back from a totally unbelievable long weekend, totally at y'all's expense. I've got money that I earned, man. I took a bunch of money on that trip, and I didn't spend a dime of it. Please let me do this."
       Rick and I looked at one another. I knew he was as proud of Kyle at that moment as I was, and I was so proud I was about to burst. Our sons were becoming men, whether we accepted it or not, and that was the first time any of them had asserted their manhood in that traditional kind of way.
       "Okay, it's yours. Now let me re-think what I want to eat so I can get the most expensive thing on the menu," Rick said.
       He and Kyle looked at one another, grinning, and the communication between the two of them in that gaze was almost palpable. Rick and Little Rick. Rick and his true son.

       Conversation during dinner was rather sparse, as it often was when we were concentrating on food. We finished at the bar and grill by 9:30, and we were home by 9:45. It was time to talk, and the boys got in place on the floor in front of the sofa.
       "Guys, Brian is going to be with us for a while," I said. "We don't know how long, but he's the newest member of our family."
       "Brian, I guess you know we're all gay, and we know you are, too. So that's not an issue here, okay," Rick said.
       "Yes, sir," Brian said. I could see some of the apprehension and tension leave him.
       "Here's the way it is," I said. "You and Justin are our foster sons. Rick and I each have custody of the both of you, and he and I are a team. Don't try to play us off each other because that won't work. Tim and Kyle are our little brothers. We're named as their guardians in their parents' wills, if anything should happen to them. They have their own room in this house, just like you and Jus have. It's their room, so respect that."
       Brian nodded. I knew we were hitting him with a lot, but I also thought he was bright enough to take it all in.
       "We're all guys in this house," Rick said, "and guys tend to talk and act like guys. You're going to hear language from time to time from all of us, and if you want to use it, that's okay, too. You're going to hear wisecracks and jokes about sex, too, Brian, but that's what guys do. Just because we're queer doesn't make us any less guys."
       "That won't be a problem," Brian said.
       "Shit, you should have heard this little fucker earlier tonight," Jus said. "He said stuff that made me go red, so you know how bad that must have been."
       "I did not! Why are you saying that," Brian asked.
       "He's saying that because he's teasing you, Brian," I said. "We tease each other a lot in this house. It's sort of like verbal affection, you know? We tease each other because we like each other and we like to play around. You heard Rick and Justin playing with each other in the car earlier tonight. When I was a kid, my brother and I would do that constantly. When one of us got the other one, we would say 'got you last.' That was pure play, and that's what the teasing is all about here, too, Brian. If it ever looks like people are ganging up on you, like they do on me, and you're getting your feelings hurt, just say so, and it will stop right then."
       "We don't gang up on you, do we," Tim asked.
       "Not enough to hurt my feelings, but y'all tease me more than anybody else, I think," I said.
       "I'm an equal-opportunity teaser," Jus said.
       "Yes, you are," I said.
       "Is Brian going to go to Beachside," Kyle asked. "If he is, he can ride with me and Tim."
       "Yeah, but not tomorrow," I said. "We'll go up to school tomorrow and get him registered, but he'll start on Tuesday. And thanks for the ride offer, Kyle."
       He just nodded.
       "Can I ask a question," Brian asked.
       "Of course. That's another thing, Brian. No serious question is ever off limits here, about sex or anything else," I said.
       "This isn't about sex, although I do have some of those for another time. I was just wondering how old everyone is," Brian said.
       "That's a very good question," Rick said. "Oh, and do you know everybody's names?"
       "I know first names, Kevin, but not last names," he said.
       Rick looked at him for a second, and then he broke into a smile.
       "You did that on purpose, didn't you, you little monkey."
       A huge grin lit up Brian's face.
       "Way to go, buddy," Kyle said. "That was your first tease, and you couldn't have picked a better, or easier, target."
       We laughed at Kyle, but I also had a feeling of delight over what Brian had done. He hadn't been among us for more than three hours, and already he was catching the spirit of our family.
       "I'll easy your target, mister," Rick said to Kyle.
       "Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho," Kyle said in pretend laughter that was fraught with double meaning. The others grinned and chuckled, but Brian got a pained and very apprehensive look on his face.
       "Brian, one thing you should know about us is that, even though we're all gay here, Rick and I have never touched a guy but each other in a sexual way in our lives, and we never will as long as we're both alive. We tease and joke about sex all the time, but any sex that takes place in this house happens in private between two guys who both want to do whatever they do," I said.
       "Absolutely, Brian, and these guys can vouch for that, man," Rick seconded.
       "Bri, around here, you get a hard-on, you got to go to your room when these guys are around," Jus said.
       "It ain't that strict, Bri," Kyle said, "but sex is for private, and only when both dudes want the same thing."
       "I was a little bit worried," Brian said.
       "I know. We should have explained that earlier," I said. "Now for names and ages. I'm Kevin Foley, and I'm married to that lug. I'm twenty-six."
       "I'm Lug Mashburn, and I'm twenty-six also," Rick said.
       "Lug Nuts, more like it," Jus said.
       That time everybody laughed, including Brian.
       "I'm Justin Davis, I'm seventeen, and I am the man among the boys."
       "I'm Kyle Goodson, and I'm going to be seventeen in just a few days. We'll see what happens then, Mister Justin Davis."
       "I'm Tim Murphy, and I'm fifteen. I hang out with Kyle."
       "Only it don't hang when you're with him," Jus said. More laughter.
       "I'm Brian Mathews, and I'm fourteen. But I'll be fifteen in January."
       "Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen," Rick said, pointing to each boy in turn. "I don't think we're old enough to have kids this age, Babe."
       "You mean, you couldn't shoot when you were seven? I could," I said.
       "That is an ice cream line, if ever I heard one," Jus said. "Can we?"
       Rick and I looked at each other, even as we were laughing at Justin's pun. We knew it was late, but it was also a very special occasion for our family.
       "Yeah," he and I said together.
       "Eagles up," he said, and Tim and Kyle stood up to help him.
       Brian's eyes opened wide when he saw the soup bowls of ice cream they brought out.
       "Do you guys do this every night," Brian asked. I noticed he had had no more trouble polishing off his bowl of ice cream than he had his steak, vegetables, salad, and baked potato at dinner.
       "This is a special thing we do when we're celebrating a family occasion," I said. "By the way, Brian, you can have anything in the kitchen, except the beer and liquor. That's for adults only."
       "Not even a beer," he asked, incredulously.
       "Son..." I started to say in a very serious voice.
       "He's teasing, Kevin," Kyle said.
       "Were you teasing, Brian," I asked.
       "Yes, sir. I've never even had a beer," he said.
       "Good one, little buddy. You sort of had me concerned, too," Rick said.
       "What's a beer," Kyle asked, the innocence dripping off his tongue.
       Everybody laughed.
       Kyle, Jus, and I lit up cigarettes, and Brian looked pretty surprised that the two boys were smoking. He didn't say anything, but I could tell it wasn't something he expected.
       "Who's staying here tonight," Rick asked.
       "I told their daddies we needed them for the night," Jus said.
       "It's almost midnight, and we all need to get to bed," Rick said. "Y'all have school and work tomorrow. Is the bed made up in Brian's room?"
       "Yeah, and no cum stains, either," Jus said.
       "Imagine that," I said. They laughed.
       The four boys put their arms over each other's shoulders to walk back to bed.
       "It looks like we've got us a second son," I said, after they were gone.
       "A fourth one, don't you mean," Rick asked.
       "Yeah. We're pretty prolific breeders for two fags, aren't we," I asked.
       "Yeah, and I love it. I'm not running tomorrow," he said suggestively.
       "You got some energy down here for me, big boy," I asked, as I groped his crotch.
       "More than you can handle, big boy." He kissed me in the middle of the den, and we went into our room to make love.

Chapter 11

       Rick and I woke up at six the next morning. We lay in bed for a while, enjoying the warm cuddle we were in.
       "Are you taking Brian to school today, or am I," he asked.
       "I'll take him. Maybe I can see Sally Ortega," I said.
       "Who?"
       "She's the principal. I met her last year when George made us Tim's guardians while he was gone," I said.
       "Should I be worried," he asked.
       I laughed.
       "Okay. I need to get that van back. I was thinking I need to trade the Trooper for something bigger. What do you think?"
       "I think that's a good idea. Try to find something that'll seat eight people, okay?"
       "Eight?"
       "Well, the four of us, Tim and Kyle, Jason, and George. That's pretty much what the line-up is going to be, isn't it," I asked. "If Brian gets a boyfriend, we won't invite George."
       "My ass! The boyfriend can sit on Brian's lap. Or Tim can sit on Kyle's lap. Kyle would love that, anyway."
       "Those two really are a couple, aren't they?"
       "Yeah, I think Fred was right. They're lifers. Let's get up so I can cook a decent breakfast for them," Rick said.
       And so we did.
       Rick cooked a nice breakfast, with scrambled egg whites, toast, and link sausage. We never knew who or how many would be eating at our house, so we were always well stocked.
       "This is really good," Brian said.
       "Thanks," Rick said.
       "Do we all go to the same school," Brian said.
       "Y'all do. I don't," Jus said.
       "Why not," Brian asked.
       "'Cause I'm in adult school. It's a long story," Jus said. "I'm going to take my GED in January, if the good Lord says the same, and the creek don't rise."
       "What does that mean," Brian asked.
       "It means I'm an alternative student. I ain't going to school this morning. I'm going to work. I'll go to school this afternoon."
       "Are you going to be able to go to college," he asked.
       "Oh, yeah. Starting next year," Jus said. "I'm going to have me a life."

       We got the boys off to school. I remembered what it was like to go back to school after a long holiday, and I had hated it. I was sure they felt the same way. We had truly had a wonderful time in North Carolina, but, in my mind, that was only a foretaste of good times together to come.
       Brian and I were still sitting at the breakfast table. He seemed so vulnerable right then.
       "How'd you sleep last night, buddy," I asked.
       "Okay," he said.
       He was fully dressed in the clothes he had on the night before. They were the only ones he had with him, and it was obvious he had been wearing them for days.
       "Have you had a shower this morning," I asked.
       "No."
       "Let's do this. Let me see if we can find you some clean underwear that belongs to one of the boys, and then you take a shower. I'll wash your clothes for you, and then later on we'll go buy you some, okay?"
       "What do I put on after my shower," he asked.
       "Just your underwear is fine, until your clothes are dry. Are you shy about doing that?"
       He shrugged.
       "If you're shy, just wrap a dry towel around your waist. We hang out in just our underwear a good bit, but I know some guys don't like to do that, and that's okay," I said.
       "I'm not that shy," he said. "Those boys are really nice."
       "Oh, yeah. They are. You all are probably going to get to be good friends. Brothers, even."
       "Are Tim and Kyle boyfriends," he asked sheepishly.
       "Yeah, they are. They're a cute couple, don't you think?"
       He looked down like he was embarrassed or something. Then he said, "Do they, er..."
       "Do they have sex," I asked gently.
       He nodded.
       "What they do is private and between them," I said, "but, yes, they do. Does that bother you?"
       He shrugged.
       "Have you ever had a boyfriend," I asked.
       "No."
       "Do you think you'd like to have one," I asked. "Someday, I mean?"
       "I guess so. If he doesn't want to hurt me," he said.
       Oh, poor baby, I thought. I wanted to hug him to me and protect him from everything.
       "Are you talking about hurting you having sex," I asked.
       "Yeah," he said.
       "Do you want to talk about this, Brian? We can if you want to, but we don't have to," I said.
       "I want to," he said. "I just don't know what to say."
       "Do you know how men have sex with one another," I asked.
       "Sort of. One guy sticks his penis into the butt of the other one, right?"
       "Well, sometimes guys do that, but that's not the only part of having sex. That's usually called anal sex, or just fucking. Did that man in Tallahassee do that to you?"
       "He tried to, but I wouldn't let him. I squeezed real tight. He poked at me with his penis a bunch, but it wouldn't go in. It hurt, though. What he did."
       "How many times did he do that," I asked.
       "Once. That's when I ran away."
       "Did he do anything else to you," I asked. I was trying my best to be as gentle and non-threatening as I possibly could, but I wanted to know something about the extent of the damage that bastard had done.
       "He made me touch it. He did that a few times. Maybe ten. Maybe more. At least that didn't hurt, except that he grabbed my wrist really hard to make me do it."
       "Did his penis ejaculate," I asked. I had no idea of what kind of vocabulary he had to describe sex, and I wasn't even sure if he knew what "ejaculate" meant.
       He nodded. "He said he was coming," Brian said.
       "Yes, that's a word to say instead of 'ejaculate.'"
       "He wanted to put it in my mouth, but I wouldn't let him do that, either. He grabbed my face and tried to force me to open my mouth, but I wouldn't. He did that a couple of times, and that hurt, too."
       "Brian, what that man did to you wasn't sex. It was violence. He abused you. Sex happens between two people who care about each other and want to make one another feel good. It's never supposed to hurt or make you feel bad. A lot of gay men do put their penises in their partner's mouth or butt, but they do it because the partner wants them to. And it feels really good for both of them when they do it."
       "Do you and Rick do that?"
       "Yes, we do, Bri," I said. "But we do it as a way of communicating our love for one another. Rick would never do anything to hurt me, and I would never do anything to hurt him. The same with Tim and Kyle, and Justin and his boyfriend."
       "Justin has a boyfriend?"
       "Yes. His name is Jason, and he's a really nice boy, too. Just like the others."
       "Where does he live," Brian asked.
       "He lives in town, but he goes to the same high school you'll be going to. I'm sure you'll meet him soon. He comes over here a lot. All the boys do."
       "Do they get picked on at school," he asked.
       "No, but they're careful about who they tell that they're gay. Some of their friends know they're gay, but I don't think it's common knowledge. They'll watch out for you, though. They have two friends who are effeminate, and I think they get made fun of sometimes. Nobody ever tries to hurt them, though, as far as I know. The principal has a gay son, and the school is pretty tolerant."
       "He does?"
       "She does. The principal's a lady. Mrs. Ortega. I met her last year. We'll probably meet her today. Let's talk some more later, okay? Maybe when Rick gets home?"
       "Okay. I've never known anybody else before who was gay . I've never talked about this to anyone. I've known I was gay for a few years, but I never told anybody until after my step-dad caught me that time."
       "Well, you can talk about it all you want to here, and you can ask any questions you want to, also. You don't have to hide who you are here. You can totally be yourself," I said. "We all understand and accept who you are because that's the way we are, too."
       He smiled at me when I said that.
       "Now, go ahead and get your shower. Come on, I'll show you where we keep the towels. There's shampoo in there. Do you shave?"
       He smiled as though to ask if I was crazy.
       "You really need to, Bri," I said.
       "You think so?" He beamed when he asked that question.
       "Yes, I do. Rick has an electric shaver you can use after your shower. I'll show you how to do it. I need to shave myself, so I'll demonstrate."
       "Wow," he said.
       "Let's find you some underwear."
       I didn't want to root through anybody's dresser drawers, but there were some of Tim's clothes still in the laundry room. I had washed them for him, but they weren't folded yet. I found a pair of his briefs and gave them to Brian. I started the washer so the water pressure wouldn't drop while he was in the shower.
       "Those belong to Tim. They should fit you okay. Put your dirty clothes in the hall so I can get them started," I said.
       He went into the bathroom and closed the door. A minute later a hand came out, and he dropped his clothes on the floor. I picked them up and went through the pockets. He had a wallet, but that was the only thing in his shorts. I started to see what he had in it, but I caught myself before I did.
       It didn't take Brian long to get his shower. He came out into the den in just his briefs, so I got a chance to see how he was built. He wasn't big, but he was definitely solid. He had no fat on him at all, that I could tell. The bulge in his crotch suggested that he was well along into puberty. He also had hair under his arms, but there wasn't any anyplace else.
       "Are you ready to shave," I asked.
       "Yeah. This is really neat. My first shave. The first for a lot of things today, Kevin. Thank you for being nice to me." He smiled his bright, clear smile, and it went right to my heart.
       I got Rick's shaver and some pre-shave lotion.
       "First, you put this on," I said, putting some of the pre-shave on my face. I handed the bottle to him, and he did the same.
       "Then you just run it around, like this," I said, demonstrating how to use the shaver. I looked at myself in the mirror as I shaved. Rick and I were both wet-shave men, and I really didn't feel clean after an electric shave. I didn't think Brian needed to start scraping his face just yet, though. Tim, Kyle, and Justin all wet-shaved. Maybe they can teach Brian how to do it, I thought.
       After I finished, I handed the shaver to him. He turned it on and did exactly what I had done. It isn't brain surgery, after all, I reminded myself. As he was shaving, Brian got an erection. Those happened around our house all the time, of course, and I was sure that doing something as manly as shaving for the first time was getting to him. When he finished, I pointed out a place on his chin he had missed. The hair was very soft and light in color, but it definitely needed cleaning up.
       When he was finished, he turned to me and smiled his wonderful smile.
       "Looking good, dude," I said. I rubbed the back of my hand against the line of his jaw. "As smooth as a baby's behind. You need to do that at least once a week for now, okay?"
       "Okay," he said. He reached his hand down to his crotch to adjust his briefs, and it was as though he discovered his erection for the first time. He turned bright red and turned away from me. I put my hands on his shoulders and turned him back to face me.
       "Hey, Brian. It's okay, man. You're living in the hard-on capital of America in this house. It happens around here all the time. When it happens in the den or somewhere, we just ignore it till it goes down. Justin was just teasing last night when he said hard-ons aren't allowed here. Okay? We all know nobody can help getting them."
       "Okay," he mumbled. "It's embarrassing, though."
       "I know. Why don't you go on into your room till it's gone, if you're embarrassed, okay? That's what Rick and I do."
       "Okay. What do the other boys do?"
       "Sometimes they go in their rooms, but sometimes they just wait it out in front of everybody. They don't embarrass easily. We never play with them in public, though, okay? Or with our nipples, either."
       "With your nipples?"
       "Yeah. A lot of guys have sexually sensitive nipples. It's a sexual turn-on for them to be rubbed or played with."
       He blushed again.
       "Thanks," he said. "I don't know if mine are or not."
       "Well, I don't exactly know what to say," I said.
       "Okay," he said, and he went into his room.
       I went into my bathroom and put on aftershave. It didn't tingle like it did after a blade shave. I had gotten dressed in jeans and a tee shirt after my shower that morning, so I put on something a little more professional looking. I didn't bother with a tie, though. One fringe benefit of working for Gene was that I could leave off the tie whenever I wanted to. I wore one most days, but that day I wasn't going to.
       I put Brian's clothes in the dryer and poured myself another cup of coffee. I hadn't had a cigarette yet that morning, so I lit one up. He came in in a few minutes and sat at his place at the table.
       "Do all of you guys smoke," he asked.
       "Justin and I do. Rick doesn't any more. He used to, though. Does the smoke bother you?"
       "No. Kyle smokes, too, doesn't he?"
       "Yeah. Kyle and Jason both smoke. So do those two guys I was telling you about before. Chad and Gage. The effeminate ones. I guess quite a few of us do smoke. Do you?"
       "I have a few times, but not usually. Does Tim smoke?"
       "Occasionally, I think. Nobody really smokes a lot. I guess Jus is the heaviest smoker in the crowd, and he doesn't smoke a whole pack a day or anything like that." Pause. "What subjects were you taking in school in Tallahassee," I asked.
       "Geometry, English, biology, and p.e.," he said.
       "Just four subjects," I asked.
       "Yeah. The school was on something called the block schedule. The classes were long, like an hour and a half."
       "That's right," I said. "I remember now. That's what they do here, too. They'll probably have to call your old school for your records, but I'm sure you'll be able to start class tomorrow."
       "Excuse me. I have to use the bathroom," Brian said.
       "Sure. Go ahead."
       "Do you mind if I take something to read?"
       "Not at all. Take a magazine, if you want to," I said.
       "Okay. Thanks."
       What a great kid, I thought. I was glad the abuse hadn't been any worse than it was, but I made a mental note to talk to Rick about counseling for him, anyway.
       He came back into the den in about fifteen minutes, just as the dryer was announcing that his clothes were ready. I got up to get them for him. They were soft and very warm. He went into his room to get dressed, and he brought out the pair of briefs I had given him earlier. I showed him where the dirty clothes hamper was and told him to put his in there, too.
       Our first stop was the school. I didn't bother to call ahead, but I remembered to take all of the foster care paperwork. The lady at the reception desk greeted me, and I told her I needed to register a new student. Before she could say anything, Principal Ortega came out from a room behind the desk. She looked at us with the half smile that was her normal facial expression.
       "Hello. I know you. You're Tim Murphy's foster father, aren't you? It's...Ken?"
       "Kevin. Kevin Foley," I said.
       "Of course, Kevin. I'm Sally Ortega."
       "Oh, I remember. You actually made quite an impression on me the last time I was here. Tim's back at home now, though. His dad is back from the Indian Ocean. I'm here with my newest foster son. This is Brian Mathews. He's a freshman."
       "It's nice to meet you, Brian. Are you ready to start today?"
       "I was thinking he could start tomorrow. He just came to us last night, and he doesn't have any clothes with him. We have to go shopping."
       "I see. Let's go to guidance, Brian, to get you registered. Where were you in school before?"
       He named a high school in Tallahassee.
       "The principal of that school is a good friend of mine," Sally said. "In-state transfers are a piece of cake," she said to me.
       I waited in a chair in the reception area. Sally came back through in a minute.
       "Come on into my office so we can visit a bit," she said. I followed her. "So, tell me about that cutie you brought us, Kevin."
       "Well, his placement with us in supposed to be temporary, but I know he'll end up staying with us as long as he needs to. He's from the Tampa area, but he was in foster care in Tallahassee until he ran away from there last week. Tyrone Williams called us for emergency placement, and, of course, we said 'yes.' He got along great with the other boys last night," I said.
       "Other boys?"
       "We have one other foster son, and of course Tim and Kyle Goodson are our honorary little brothers," I said.
       "That's pretty remarkable. Most foster parents won't take adolescents," she said.
       "Well, there's a hook. They're gay," I said. "Nobody really wants them but us."
       She didn't say anything, but I could tell she had a million questions.
       "I can tell you have questions, and that's okay, as long as you promise confidentiality," I said.
       "Kevin, you have no idea how much confidential information I carry around in my head. Wild horses couldn't drag it out of me," she said. "Is your other foster son one of our students?"
       "No. He goes to the adult school. We got him in June. We found him in a motel where Tim and Kyle were working. He was in shackles and was working as a prostitute for other men."
       "Oh, dear God! How's he doing?"
       "He's doing great. He has a boyfriend, and he's supposed to take the GED in January. Then he's going to the community college," I said.
       "Any emotional scars," she asked.
       "Oh, I'm sure there are many," I said. "Right now, though, he seems pretty happy and well adjusted. It has taken him a while to learn how gay men can live together in peace and love, but he's coming along."
       "Don't you wish you could just strangle the guy who did that to him? I assume he had a pimp, or somebody like that," she said.
       "He's in jail awaiting trial for the murder of an undercover police officer," I said. "He'll probably get the death penalty."
       "Good. He deserves it for what he did to your son, if not for the murder. Tell me about Brian."
       "He's from Tampa, as I said. His step-father kicked him out of the house when he found out that Brian is gay," I said.
       "Goddamn it! Sorry, I don't usually talk in such an unprofessional manner, but it ticks me off when I hear about parents like that," she said.
       "They put him in a foster home in Tallahassee because that family was willing to take a gay kid. It turns out, though, the foster father was sexually molesting him. That's why he ran away," I said.
       "My God," she said, a tone of disgust in her voice. "Well, thank God he's got you and your partner to look after him and to set an example."
       "We'll do the best we can. My partner is Rick Mashburn."
       "Yes, of course. Rick. You two young men certainly have your work cut out for you. If I can help in any way, please don't hesitate to call on me," she said.
       I took it that that was a signal that our visit was over.
       "I have the foster parent papers here, if you need a photocopy," I said.
       "You think of everything," she said. She called her secretary and asked me to follow her. I did, as she copied the papers.
       "By the way, Rick and I have new jobs. Here are our cards." I gave her one of my cards and one of Rick's.
       "Thank you. That's very helpful. Have a good day," she said.
       "You, too," I said. We shook hands, and she left.
       Brian was finished in guidance and waiting for me at the reception desk.
       "Did you get it all squared away, buddy," I asked.
       "Yeah. They have exactly the same courses here that they had at my old school," he said.
       "That's probably what Mrs. Ortega meant when she said in-state transfers are a piece of cake," I said.
       "Yeah. I guess." I could tell he was about as interested in the technicalities of running a school as I would have been at his age.
       "We're going to go into town to do some shopping for you in a little while, but first I want to take you to where Rick and I both work. I want you to meet my boss. He's Kyle's daddy," I said.
       "Really? Cool."
       We drove to the Goodson Building, and, if Brian was impressed, he didn't let on. We took the elevator up to the fifth floor, and I showed him my office.
       "Damn, this is nice," he said. "Oh, I meant to say 'darn.'"
       "You heard what Rick said last night about language, man. It's okay to say stuff like that. You can't do it in front of everybody, but you can us. I hadn't even noticed it until you called it to my attention."
       "It's going to take me some time to get used to being able to be myself all the time," he said. "My mom and step-dad would have freaked, if they had heard that."
       "Speaking of your mom, have you been in touch with her since you've been gone?"
       He suddenly got the saddest look on his face I had ever seen, and tears came to his eyes.
       "They don't want me anymore," he said, his voice thick with emotion.
       "What happened? Did you try to call them," I asked.
       "I talked to her, and that's what she said. She said I had been an accident anyway and that they were better off not even knowing me." By then he was weeping. I had a box of tissue in a desk drawer, and I took it out for him to use.
       "Come here," I said. He got up and walked over to me. I grabbed him a tight hug. "We want you, and don't ever forget that. We want you a lot. We're going to turn this sad boy into a happy boy."
       "I don't know if I'll ever be a happy boy," he said. He had begun to calm down.
       "Oh, yes you will be. Your brothers and Rick and I will see to that, little man. You're already fitting in with them and with us. It'll take a while, but you'll be happy. I promise you that."
       "I hope so," he said.
       "I know so. Let's get you washed up." I had a full bathroom off my office, so I took him in there. He washed his face in the sink.
       "This is nicer than my house in Tampa," he said. "Do you live here?"
       "You know where I live. I live at home with you and Rick and Justin. I probably could live here, though. It's nice enough, isn't it?"
       "Yeah. Do you ever cook in that little kitchen," he asked.
       "I make microwave popcorn sometimes, but that's all. Let's go see if we can find Rick," I said.
       We walked down the hall to his suite of offices. He was on the phone when we got there, and his secretary told us he would be just a minute.
       "Cheryl, this is our newest son. His name is Brian Mathews, and he was born last night," I said.
       "Nice to meet you, Brian. I'm Cheryl Meyers. Rick's already told me about you, so welcome to the family."
       "Thanks," he said.
       "Who's he talking to," I asked.
       "Actually, he's talking to your brother. You can go in, if you want to," Cheryl said. "I just wanted to visit with Brian a few minutes."
       "We'll see you later, okay," I said to her. Brian walked into Rick's office ahead of me, and Cheryl gave me the okay sign and a big wink. I grinned and nodded.
       "He just walked in, Craig," Rick said. He switched to the speaker phone.
       "Tell him hi for me," Craig said.
       "Hi, big brother," I said.
       "Hi, Shithead," Craig said. "I hear you and the Ironman got you another one."
       "Yeah, and he's right here in the room, listening to everything you're saying," I said.
       "Hi, littlest brother. I'm Craig, Kevin's older and much cuter brother. Welcome to the family, man."
       "Hi," Brian said. "Nice to meet you." He seemed a little shy, all of a sudden.
       "How old are you, Brian? You sound like a man, dude," Craig said.
       "I'm fourteen. I just have a deep voice. I'm still a boy."
       "He's a good boy, too, Craig. You'll like him," I said.
       "Well, when am I going to meet him, and Justin, too, for that matter? And Tim and Kyle? Y'all get in that new-ass car of Rick's and get over here."
       "We've got responsibilities. Besides, y'all are coming for Thanksgiving, aren't you? That's only three weeks. The last time I talked to Mom and Dad, they said everybody is all set," I said.
       "Hell, yeah, we're coming. Cherie says she needs some of that Emerald Coast sunshine," he said.
       "Has it been bad weather there," I asked. I used to keep up with the weather in New Orleans, knowing that their weather today would be our weather tomorrow or the day after, but I hadn't checked lately.
       "No, it's been all right. Hot as hell, though," he said.
       "We went up to the cabin for a long weekend this past weekend," I said. "It was crisp, to say the least."
       "I know, you dog. Rick told me about it."
       "How long have y'all been on the phone," I asked.
       "About forty-five minutes, and I've got to get off. I've got to be in court in a half hour. I love you, all my brothers. Take care of each other."
       "We love you too," Rick and I said in unison.
       "You take care of our sister, too, you hear," I said.
       "Don't you worry a second about that. Well, listen, I really do have to run. Bye."
       "Bye, Craig," Rick and I again said in unison. Then we hung up.
       "Let's go look at the car," Rick said, as soon as the connection was broken.
       "Did you buy it already," I asked.
       "Yep. I took the first eight-seater I saw. You're going to like it, too. How has your day been, Brian?"
       "It's been real good so far," he said.
       "Look at me," Rick said. We were already walking toward the elevator. "Let me see something. What'd you do to your face?"
       "I shaved," Brian said, grinning proudly.
       "First time," Rick asked.
       Brian grinned some more and nodded.
       "Did you get a hard-on," Rick asked.
       "God, why did you ask him that," I demanded.
       "Because I got hard every time I shaved for the first two or three years I did it. It was something about being a man, I guess," he said.
       "I did get one," Brian said, shyly.
       "Good for you, buddy," Rick said. "See?"
       "He did," Brian said, and then he blushed.
       "Well, he gets 'em all the time, too. Don't think he don't. He gets one every time he comes within ten feet of me. 'Course, you can't notice 'em. Size problems, you know?"
       "You asshole," I said, laughing. "He's lying, of course. About not being able to see them, I mean."
       Brian laughed hard at that line.
       Out in the parking lot, Rick showed us his new car. It was a full-size Bronco, and it was beautiful. He demonstrated all of the things he could do from a distance with the little thing on his key ring, and I was impressed. I could lock the doors and open the trunk on my car with mine, but he could do a lot more.
       "Y'all want to go for a ride," he asked.
       "Well, you know I do," I said.
       "The kids are getting out for lunch right now. Let's go to the place where they eat and surprise them," he said.
       "Let's do it," I said.
       We piled into the car, and it was a beauty. Everybody always loves "new car" scent, and that baby reeked of it.
       "Oh, Babe, I don't want anybody smoking in the car, okay," he asked.
       "Oh, yeah? Who do you think is going to ride with you, then," I asked.
       "Oh. Good point. Never mind."
       I didn't smoke in the car on that short trip, but I knew I would in the future.
       We got to the hotel that had the great buffet that the boys ate every school day for lunch just as they were pulling into the parking lot. It was Kyle, Tim, Jason, Chad, and Gage, all squeezed into Kyle's car. They parked, and Rick pulled in right next to them. They didn't recognize the car, of course, so they didn't really pay it any mind. Tim got out of the shotgun seat just as Rick got out on his side.
       "Oh, excuse me, Tim," Rick said, as he shoved Tim backward a little.
       "That's okay. It was my fault." Tim still didn't realize who it was.
       When Kyle had realized it was us, he jumped out of his side of the car and ran around the back of his.
       "Goddamn! What the fuck is this? Did you rent this thing," he asked excitedly.
       "What the fuck this is is my new car. I bought it this morning," Rick said.
       "No shit! This is fucking gorgeous," Kyle said. It had been a while since I had seen him that excited.
       "Thanks. You're gonna piss yourself, if you don't calm down," Rick said.
       "Oh, yeah. I do have to go really bad, too. Can we take the afternoon off and break it in?"
       "Absolutely not. Now get your ass inside and piss, so we can eat," Rick said.
       Kyle kind of scampered into the motel ahead of everyone else. I figured he really did have to go pretty bad.
       As we were walking in, I said, "Guys, this is Brian Mathews. He's our new foster son. Tell him your names."
       They introduced themselves, and they all shook hands. It turned out they all knew who Brian was from what Tim and Kyle had told them about him, and they all acted like they had known him all his life.
       "Did you get registered, Bri," Tim asked.
       "Yeah. I start tomorrow," he said.
       "What's your schedule," Chad asked. He was a freshman, too, so he probably hoped Brian would be in some of his classes.
       Brian pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket. "First is English. Second is biology."
       "Who with," Chad asked.
       "Redfern? Do you know her?"
       "Him. It's Mister Redfern, and I'm in that class," Chad said, beaming. "What else?"
       "Third I have p.e.," he said.
       "Satterwhite," Gage asked.
       "Are you in there," Brian asked.
       "Yesssss. Oh my God, it's hell. You'll hate it," Gage said. "There are absolutely no cute boys, except you, of course, and he always makes me play skins. May God condemn him to hell for all eternity for what he's doing to me."
       "Has he been messing with you, buddy," Rick asked, concern in his voice.
       "I wish! But do you have any idea what I look like with my shirt off, in shorts?"
       Gage was extremely thin. We hadn't been around him very much, and he had never been to any of the pool parties at Kyle's house. I had a mental image of Gage in shorts and no shirt, and it wasn't very attractive.
       Kyle joined us in the lobby, just as Gage had made his last pronouncement.
       "You are such a drama queen," Kyle said.
       "I know, and here I am without my tiara," Gage said. Everybody laughed.
       We sat down, ordered quickly, and filled our plates at the buffet line. On the basis of the amount of food the boys had on their plates, I fully expected to read about that place going belly up the next morning in the newspaper. Even Gage, who truly was as thin as a rail, had a huge pile of food.
       "We didn't finish your schedule. What do you have fourth period," Tim asked.
       "Geometry with Lawley," Brian said.
       "Oh, cool. I'm in that class. Lawley's gay, by the way," Tim said.
       "How do you know that," I asked.
       "I have him for trig. He is," Jason said.
       "Cool. Is he hard," Brian asked innocently.
       The boys all looked at each other with evil grins. Nobody said anything. Poor Brian, I thought. He was truly Daniel in the lion's den, with that group.
       Brian looked at them. "'Cause if he ain't, I'll make him hard," he said completely deadpan.
       The seven of us laughed so loudly at that line that I thought they would throw us out. The place was filled with kids from the high school, and they all got quiet and looked at us, wishing they could be in on the hilarity.
       "You got them good, little brother," Rick said.
       "But, did I get them last," he asked, echoing me from the night before.
       "Yeah, you did, Bri," Kyle said. "You're all right, man. You're going to fit right in. I can see that."
       Brian beamed when Kyle said that.
       The rest of the meal was given over to talk about our weekend, about the new car, and about things that had happened that morning in school.
       Walking out of the place, Kyle said to Rick, "Can I drive it back to school? Please?"
       Rick nodded, and Kyle's face got a mile wide. They swapped keys.
       Tim and Jason wanted to ride in the new car, and they pulled Brian in with them. Chad and Gage got into Kyle's car with us.
       "I have to have a new notebook for next period, otherwise I'm in trouble," Chad said. "Would you mind going up a couple of blocks to that convenience store that's there. I know they sell them."
       "Do we have time," I asked.
       "Yes, we have plenty of time," Chad said.
       Rick turned in the direction of the store. He pulled in, and Chad got out. The rest of us stayed where we were.
       "I want to thank you for accepting me," Gage said, as soon as Chad was out of the car.
       "What the hell are you talking about," Rick asked.
       "You know," he said. "I'm so different from you. You all just make me feel so good. Like you don't care that I'm a flamer, and it makes me feel so good to be with you."
       "Shit, we don't care. You're our friend. We don't disrespect our friends," Rick said.
       "I know, and that's what's so great. I have to shut up now, or I'll start crying. Thank you."
       Chad came out of the store just then with notebook in hand. Rick hauled ass back to the school, and he did a squeal going into the parking lot. A bunch of heads popped up to see who it was. Several carloads applauded.
       "You are such a kid," Kyle said.
       "I know. That's why you love me," Rick said.
       "That ain't why I love you, you asshole, and you know it. Now get out of here before they arrest your ass for trespassing" Little Rick said.
       "Okay, Bubba. Watch this." He got into the car very calmly. Then he gunned it and pealed out of the parking lot. A few kids cheered as we left.
       Rick gave me a key and one of those electronic gadgets to his new car when we got back to the Goodson Building. I put them on my key ring and took off the old key. We started getting out of the car.
       "Take it, Babe, so you know what it feels like to drive it," he said.
       "Okay," I said, and we took the new car.
       Brian and I went shopping after that. We went to Structure, The Gap, and a few other stores to get him squared away. It was fun picking out stuff with him, and, as it turned out, he had pretty much the same taste in clothing as Tim and Kyle. He said "thank you" after every purchase, and I liked that.
       "Is Rick your boss," Brian asked as we were getting into the Bronco to go home.
       "No. Why did you ask that?"
       "You said you wanted me to meet your boss. You said he was Kyle's dad."
       "Shit, I forgot all about Gene," I said. "We still have time."
       We hauled it back to the Goodson Building, and we got there around 4:30. We took the elevator up to the sixth floor. We hustled down the hall to Gene's office. When we walked in, Amy, his secretary said, "Well, it's about damn time y'all got here. He's been dying all day to meet Brian. Hi, Brian. I'm Amy. You ever need anything, you call me." She handed him her card from the card holder on her desk. "I mean it. Anything."
       "She means it, Brian," I said.
       We walked into Gene's office.
       "Where the hell have y'all been, Kevin," he asked. "I've been waiting to meet him all day."
       "I'm sorry. We came here this morning to meet you, but Rick bought a new car today, and that kind of distracted us. Then we had lunch with the boys, and then Brian and I went shopping."
       "You know I'm just gnawing at your ass, buddy," Gene said. Then he extended his hand to Brian. "Hi, I'm Gene Goodson. I'm Kyle's daddy."
       "Hi, I'm Brian Mathews. I know Kyle. I think he's my friend," Brian said.
       "Kyle ain't your friend. He's your brother, son," Gene said. "I've talked to him on the phone three times today, and every time he wanted to know if I had met you yet. He's pretty excited about Rick's new car, too. Evidently, Rick let him drive it back to school."
       "Yeah, he did. And Rick took off about three months worth of rubber when he pulled out," I said.
       "I used to do that, too," Gene said. "Brian, Kyle doesn't ever call me on my cell phone. I didn't know he even knew that number, but he called me three times today to see if I had met you yet. You must have made a hell of an impression on him, boy."
       "I hope so," Brian said, as he looked at his shoes. "Kyle and Tim and Justin are the nicest boys I've ever met in my life."
       "They are the best, no question about that," Gene said.
       "Gene, I know it's getting late. We won't keep you any longer," I said.
       "Yeah, I gotta get, too. I reckon Kyle's gonna want to spend the night at your house, Kevin. Since Clay, Rita and I haven't been the same, you know?"
       "Yeah, I know. Rick and I have your back with Kyle."
       "I know, and thank you so much for that."

Chapter 12

       Brian and I went back to our house after leaving Gene Goodson. Tim, Kyle, and Jason were already there waiting for us, and everybody was eager to see all the new clothes Brian had gotten. It had turned out that he, too, preferred briefs to boxers, so everybody would be the same when we were all just in our underwear.
       I made a pot of coffee. Rick and I ordinarily worked out on Monday evenings, but I suspected he'd be coming home straight from the office. I was right.
       "Hi, Babe," he said as he came in the back door. He kissed me hello. "Did you and Brian have a good afternoon?"
       "Yeah. We got a lot of shopping done in a fairly short time."
       "Where are the kids," he asked.
       "They're in Brian's room looking at his new stuff," I said.
       "Babe, I've been thinking about Brian," Rick started.
       "I know what you're going to say," I said.
       "What?"
       "You want to ask Tyrone if he can be here permanently, don't you?"
       "You're a mind reader," he said. "What do you think?"
       "You have to ask?"
       "Not really. Should I call him now, you think," he asked.
       "Why not? It's after five, though. He might not be in," I said.
       "I'll call his cell number."
       Rick got Tyrone on the phone and told him what we proposed.
       "Are your kidding me," he asked.
       "No. Why would we kid you," Rick said. "By the way, we're on speaker, and Kevin's right here with me."
       "I figured that. Are any of the kids around?"
       "They're in Brian's room looking at his new clothes," Rick said.
       "Did you guys take him shopping today," Tyrone asked.
       "I did," I said. "Rick was out buying a new car that's big enough for all of us. So now you've got to let him stay, Tyrone."
       "Kevin, you and Rick don't really seem to understand. I would kill for ten more families like you guys. You're worried I won't let him stay with you? You just made me about the happiest Children and Family Services supervisor in Florida, boy," Tyrone said.
       "Who you calling boy," Rick said, with mock gruffness.
       Tyrone started laughing so hard he was actually wheezing. "You're a pure fool, Rick, and I love a pure fool."
       We were laughing, too.
       "So can we tell Brian he's off the temporary list," Rick asked.
       "Why don't you wait a few days to do that, Rick. Maybe talk to him about the idea, you know? I'm sure he'll be happy as a pig in shit to stay there, but let's just make sure. Not that I know what the hell I'm going to do with him if he isn't happy to stay with y'all."
       "That's a good idea," I said.
       "We'll talk to him about it, Tyrone. We just wanted to make sure there were no obstacles to permanent placement from your end," Rick said.
       "Obstacles? Heavens, no. I wish I could set it up for you all to adopt both of them. You guys don't know how much easier you're making my job," Tyrone said.
       "Well, we want to thank you for the trust you're showing in us, letting us have those boys. We love 'em, you know," Rick said.
       "I know you do, and that's part of why it's so wonderful for them, Rick," he said. "But they also love you two. That's real easy to see. Justin told me the last time I talked to him that he thinks you two are the best people he's ever known in his life. Of course, that's not saying much, coming from him."
       "You asshole," Rick said, laughing.
       "It takes a fool to know a fool, Rick," he said. They both laughed.
       "Listen, Tyrone, would you and your wife ever consider coming over for dinner or something," Rick asked. I had been thinking, too, that we would have fun with them.
       "God, Rick, we'd love it, but we're not supposed to do that. We can't socialize, but we're going to be friends, now, you hear me?"
       "I hear you. Anyway, just know you have a standing invitation to dinner here any time you're free to accept it," he said.
       "Thank you. That means an awful lot to me," Tyrone said.
       "We need to let you get going and get some food in our mob," I said.
       "So, who's there right now," Tyrone asked.
       "Brian, Tim, Kyle, and Jason," I said.
       "Where's Justin?"
       "He's at school. He won't get home until around 7:30. Did you know he's going to take the GED in January and probably start college that same month," I asked.
       "No, I didn't. That's wonderful," he said.
       "Yeah, we think it's pretty great, too. We're going to have to do something nice to celebrate that," I said.
       "We can take 'em on another trip," Rick said.
       "Yeah, that's a good idea. I think Jus wants to go back to North Carolina," I said.
       "Or we could take 'em to New Orleans. That would be a great trip," Rick said.
       "Er, guys, I'm going to hang up now," Tyrone said. "Y'all continue planning your family celebration."
       "Oh, sorry, Tyrone," I said. "We will, man. Thanks for everything." Both ends hung up.
       "Guys, come on out. Daddy's home," Rick called back to them.
       They burst out of Brian's room screaming, "Daddy! Daddy!" Tim and Kyle grabbed Rick around the waist, and the three of them ended up on the floor, laughing and playing, just like little kids would do, only Tim and Kyle were man size.
       "Whoa! Guys! Daddy's old and tired," Rick said.
       All three of them lay on the floor panting. Rick sat up in a minute. "How was the afternoon, Brian," he asked.
       "It was wonderful. Kevin bought me a ton of cool new clothes."
       "Rick and I together bought those, Bri," I said. "And the state will give us some money for them, too."
       "The whole amount? They didn't do that at the last foster home," he said.
       "No, they'll give us about half the money, but you needed that stuff, right? And it all looks great on you," I said.
       "He's got some cool shit," Kyle said.
       "Yeah, he does," Jason added.
       "Good," Rick said. "Is anybody hungry?"
       "Yeah. What's on the menu," Kyle asked.
       "Weenie-water soup," Rick said.
       Tim, Kyle, and Brian laughed their asses off, but Jason and I sat there in silence.
       "Is this some Boy Scout bullshit," I asked.
       "Yeah," Tim and Kyle said in unison.
       "So how do you make it, or dare I ask," I said.
       "It's real easy," Rick said. "You fill up a big pot with water. You dump in a package of hot dogs, the cheaper the better. You chop up a cabbage and about ten potatoes. You boil till done. That's weenie-water soup."
       "God, that would make a maggot gag," I said.
       "Have y'all ever had it," Rick asked.
       "No, dumbass. That's a Tenderfoot thing," Kyle said. "Have you had it?"
       "No," Rick said. "It sounds pretty good, though, if you like weenies."
       "That ain't the kind of weenies they mean, Bubba," Kyle said. Everybody laughed, even Brian, who seemed to be delighted at what was going on.
       "What's a Tenderfoot thing," I asked.
       "That's when you send the Tenderfoots out to borrow stuff from other troops at big jamborees," Brian said. "It's like an initiation."
       "You're a scout," Kyle shouted, his excitement brimming over. "What rank?"
       "I was a scout. I was First Class, with just the project to go for Eagle," Brian said.
       "Were you kicked out because you're gay," I asked.
       "No, I quit after I got kicked out at home. I stayed in the Tampa area in temporary placement for about a month before they sent me to Tallahassee," he said.
       "Kyle and I are both Eagles," Tim said. "We'll help you with your project, if you re-join."
       Brian's smile almost cracked his skull. "Really?"
       "Hell, yeah, Bri," Kyle said. "Man, that would be so awesome. Four gay Eagles out of nine in our troop."
       "It would be out of ten, Babe," Tim said. "Are you forgetting me?"
       "No, I'm not forgetting you. Scottie quit, remember? I told you that," Kyle said.
       "Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. Why'd he quit?"
       "He turned eighteen last month, and he's in college. He's been to like three meetings since he graduated. He's got other fish to fry, and he's frying them fish every weekend, as I understand it," Kyle said.
       "Frying fish," I asked.
       "Fucking pussy," Kyle said in his matter-of-fact manner.
       Rick and I both laughed.
       "Why is that funny," Jason asked.
       "'Fish' is a term a lot of gay guys use for pussy," Rick said. "I think it smells like fish or something. Ask Kevin for verification."
       "No, don't ask me, but that's what I've heard, too, Jay," I said. "Besides weenie-water soup, what did y'all tell the Tenderfeet to get?"
       "Tenderfoots, not feet," Kyle said. "Only one-legged guys in that brigade."
       Rick and Tim and Brian laughed at what Kyle said.
       "We sent them after things like skyhooks," Kyle said.
       "And tent stretchers," Brian added.
       "Moonbeam catchers," Tim said. "That was a good one."
       "Yeah, and tree shrinkers," Rick said. "And, of course, a bowl of weenie-water soup. There were a bunch of 'em."
       "Yeah," the boys all said together.
       "Thinking about weenie-water soup got me pretty hungry," Kyle said. "Can we make some? Or at least order some pizzas?"
       "I vote for the pizzas," I said. "I'll order. How many, and what kind?"
       "Get five large with plenty of meat," Tim said. "Two thin, three thick."
       "Okay," I said. We had the number of a local pizza delivery place programmed into our phone, so I pressed the button and placed our order.
       Justin got home right as the pizzas were being delivered. He kissed Jason hello, and Brian's eyes bugged out.
       "Ain't you ever seen two people kiss before, little brother," Jus asked Brian. He was in a playful mood, I could tell.
       "Yeah, but not two guys," Brian said.
       "You're going to see that around here, Bubba," Rick said. "We don't allow making out in public, but what Jus and Jay just did is perfectly all right. You'll get used to it."
       "You guys have all been so nice to me, I'm sorry if I embarrassed you, Jus."
       "You didn't embarrass me. Did we embarrass you?"
       "Maybe a little bit, but I'll get used to it. Who knows, I might even want to have a boyfriend someday. I'd let him kiss me, I guess," Bri said.
       "Hell, boy, you'll be begging for it. Get you a big ole stud like Jason here, and you'll be all over his ass," Justin said. "He'll stick his tongue in your mouth and get you all hot and hard..."
       "Justin," I said firmly. "Lighten up, Bubba. Cut him some slack, okay?"
       "Yeah, but he loved it. Look at his dick," Jus said.
       I glanced over, and Brian had an erection. His face was bright scarlet, and he looked down.
       "Jus, come give me and Kevin a hand in the kitchen for a minute, would you please," Rick said.
       Once we were in the kitchen, Rick said, "Jesus Christ, Jus. What's up, man? You embarrassed the shit out of him with that remark about his dick."
       "Sorry. Don't yell at me, man," Jus said.
       "I'm not yelling at you. I'm talking in a normal tone of voice, and I'm not angry," Rick said.
       "Have you been smoking, Jus," I asked.
       "You know I smoke," he said.
       "I don't mean cigarettes. I mean weed. Have you been smoking weed?"
       "Naw," he said.
       "Are you sure," I asked. I tried to see if I could smell it on him, but I couldn't. He was wearing cologne, and that's all I could smell.
       "Yeah, I'm sure. Why are y'all down on me?"
       "We're not down on you," Rick said. "Twenty minutes ago we were on the phone with Tyrone Williams telling him how proud we are of you. Kevin and I even started talking about how we're going to celebrate when you pass the GED. We love you, Jus, but you can't embarrass Brian like that, okay?"
       "I say shit like that to Tim and Kyle all the time," Jus said.
       "I know you do, and so do we, but..."
       "But he's only been in the house twenty-four hours, buddy," I continued for Rick. "He doesn't really know us yet. In a week or a month you'll be saying that kind of stuff to him, and he'll be saying it back to you, too. But let him settle in, okay?"
       "Okay. You're right. That was pretty harsh. I'm sorry."
       "Now there's the guy we were bragging about," Rick said, pointing to Justin.
       Justin grinned.
       "Am I forgiven," he asked.
       "Yeah, dumbass," I said. "Gimme a hug."
       "Gimme me one, too," Rick said.
       We went back into the den to find Kyle holding forth about kissing.
       "The tongue really is the best part," Kyle said as we sat down. "Ain't that right, guys?"
       "Are you giving a kissing seminar, Kyle," Rick asked.
       "Yeah, and from what I hear, you could use it," Kyle shot back.
       "Do you agree with that, Babe," Rick asked me.
       "Not at all. He must have been talking to your girlfriend," I said.
       "Uggggggghhhhhh," Kyle said.
       "Do you have a girlfriend, too, Rick," Brian asked.
       "No, baby, I don't have a girlfriend. Just fag-face there. I'm gay," Rick said.
       "Well, in that case, I'd have to say that Kevin got you last," Brian said in a matter-of-fact manner.
       Everybody but Rick laughed. I knew the only reason he didn't was he was desperately trying to find a come-back, but he was at a loss. After a few moments of searching, Rick's sportsmanship won out.
       "You're right, Brian. He got me last. And Kyle's right. The tongue is the best part of kissing," Rick said.
       "Unless he bites it, like some sex-crazed beast," Justin said in his usual deadpan manner.
       "Hey, you weren't supposed to tell that," Jason said.
       "Did you bite his tongue," I asked, laughing.
       "Once or twice, maybe a little nip," Jay said. He obviously wasn't embarrassed or reluctant to talk about it.
       "Little nip, my ass. He made the fucker bleed," Jus said.
       "Well, if you didn't turn me on so damn much, maybe that wouldn't have happened," Jay said. It was his turn to tease.
       "That's why he ain't getting my you-know-what," Jus said.
       "Yeah, right! Have y'all ever kissed somebody in braces," Jay asked. "I kissed a boy for the first time when I was fourteen, and he and I both had braces. You talk about some bleeding tongues!"
       We all laughed.
       "I can just see 'em getting their braces caught on one another and having to go to the orthodontist li