Alternative Deterrence. By Steam Train (steam_t2000@yahoo.com)
Chapter : 26 Father and son chat.
"Dad, umm I mean Master may I speak with you" Daniel asked as he knocked on his fathers study door.
"You obviously think it's important to disturb me at this time, so yes come in" Owen Green informed his son.
"Dad there are a couple of things I need your advice on if it's ok. I know I am supposed to go through Tom if I want to talk with you but it's easier to explain this face to face" Daniel explained nervously.
"Yes go on," Mr Green replied.
There were two things Daniel wanted to talk to his father about. Gary Foster-Brown, the NEWDD from Piney Hills, and the thing that had been gnawing at his consciousness for the last few days, his requests for relief from his brother Eric.
Daniel was very nervous and embarrassed about raising his concern about relief but he had decided to raise this issue first and get it over with before asking his father for advice about Gary.
"Dad, the Juvenile Deterrence laws allow me to ask for relief from free citizens. I am feeling guilty about this so I wanted to run what I have been doing by you".
Taking a deep breath, Daniel continued, "I have been asking Eric to give he relief these last few nights. I will stop it now if you don't approve. I don't want to get into any more trouble and please it was me who asked Eric. Don't blame him, blame me!"
Daniel felt like his stomach was going to puke up as he awaited his father's reaction.
Owen Green looked across his study desk at his son and slowly a broad grin appeared across his face.
As soon as he saw this, Daniel knew he was ok.
"I appreciate the fact that you came to me about this. I already knew what you were up to, but the fact that you confided in me, confirms just how much you have grown up in the last week. I don't mind if Eric does not mind".
Daniel felt a burst of pride at his father's compliment. Now his dad had said it. Daniel realised that he himself felt more mature these last few days. Once he had gotten over the initial depression and shock of being stripped and made to parade naked around Eastbrook, he had begun to change in his outlook.
He suffered the ridicule about his immature small genitals but he soon realised, `so what'? He had built up a real phobia about his small penile size. Yes he was laughed at and ridiculed just like he expected but through this, he had found people who thought nothing of his physical appearance. They just appreciated his personality. Todd Riddell and Marco fell into this category. There were even some girls who ignored the social taboos at school and spoke to him. In fact at least two girls told him they found his shaved small genitals a real turn on! So did Marco for that matter!!!!
"Thanks dad," Daniel informed his dad with relief. "I was real worried about asking Eric to help me out I thought you might think it wrong for brothers to do such things".
"No son, I think asking your brother is the best way to gain relief. It keeps it in the family and that's to be encouraged. I think back to when I was your age and a bit older and my times with my brother Lionel. They were some of the most cherished moments I have of my teenage years and I certainly will not react like my father did when he discovered some of the truth. I have never forgiven him for that action and I have always vowed to be different for you if the situation ever arose. It now has and I am giving my approval," Mr Green replied.
Daniel was confused. His father mentioned a brother but he only had an aunty on his dad's side, Aunt Sue? His dad's mother and father had both died before he was born and the only grandparents he had known where his mother's.
"Dad you had a brother? I never knew, how ... what ... Daniel stammered out, showing his surprise, perhaps even shock at this latest revelation.
"I have never talked about it except to your mum and Tom, but perhaps now is a good time to tell you. Maybe it will add to your newfound maturity. Your Aunt Sue is four years younger than me but between us there was Lionel. He was one and a half years younger than me. When I was fifteen I began to realise that I liked guys as well as girls. Just like today, most guys didn't come out with their sexual orientation if it was gay. I kept my gay side secret from nearly everyone, even my closest male friends in case I was ridiculed. Lionel however was a good-looking guy at nearly fourteen and we got on pretty well together. Well, one thing lead to another. I made the move and he was willing. We began experimenting. Pretty tame stuff mostly, just a mutual jerk off to start with but later we would crawl into bed together when we were certain dad had gone to bed. Remember my mum died in giving birth to Sue so there was only dad to worry about. We did this in secret for nearly two years until I was almost eighteen and Lionel was sixteen and a half".
"I led Lionel into exploring his gay side and he soon came to realise he was much more gay than I was. I have always felt I was 60% hetro and 40% gay, as I really liked girls too. When Lionel and I discussed this he felt he was more like 80% gay and only 20% hetro. Lionel began to seek out other teenage guys who might be gay orientated and this was fraught with danger. While doing this, he came in contact with a much older gay orientated man. They built up a strong friendship that eventually lead into a deeper relationship. Lionel liked the maturity and compassion this man offered him and Lionel was very willing. The older guy, though he tried to hold off at first, succumbed to my brother's willingness to please.
"Love makes you do strange things and unbeknown to me, Lionel confronted my father with the revelation that he was gay. I would have warned him if he had told me he was coming out but I didn't know of his actions until it was too late. My dad reacted violently to the news his son was a `poof', as he put it. When I got home that afternoon, dad had taken Lionel and had him enslaved and put into training ready to be sold".
Daniel was sitting in his fathers study, mouth wide open, aghast at the story unfolding.
"I never saw my brother again. When you are enslaved, your identity is deliberately made difficult, if not impossible to trace. The only record they keep of you is a temporary slave number and when the new slave is shipped out and arrives for training, he is issued with another temporary number. When he is sold he is renumbered, shipped again, and maybe sold again until finally a master buys him permanently. They don't record which slave gets which number, or how the numbers change as you move through the system. As I said, they make it almost impossible for anyone to trace the slave. The result is the slave's complete loss of his former life and identity. This helps the slave adjust to his new situation the experts feel!
When I was older I tried to trace Lionel but I never had much spare money and even if I did all the experts say it's still almost impossible. Some times you're lucky and you might cross paths, but in truth my brother was probably sent interstate. My father never would talk about what he had arranged. It was not until he died and I found the enslavement papers that I was able to read in the fine print of the contract that my brother was to be sold interstate. It didn't say which state so he could have been taken anywhere."
"My father tried to force out of Lionel, who he was having sex with. I know from my father's derisive comments that even under punishment he never let slip that it was me who led him down that path or that he was very friendly with a much older man. Lionel protected his older lover and me and I still feel I owe him for that all these years later. When I am with Tom my thoughts always drift back to Lionel. His older lover is now dead but I know he loved Lionel in a special way until his death. He too realised that Lionel sacrificed all to protect his identity.
Many years later when I was an adult, Lionel's lover and I made contact. Lionel had confided in me who he was seeing all those years before and we kept in contact from time to time after that. He swore to me he also did not know Lionel was planning on coming out and confronting dad. Otherwise he too would have tried to prevent his actions".
"So son, do I object to you getting to bond closer to your brother? Absolutely not!"
"Now you know why I would not object. My father ruined the best part of my life and I lost a brother out of his bigoted actions. As long as it's consensual I have no objections to your brother and you getting to know each other better. However there are laws in place while you are a NEWDD and I will be expecting you to follow them precisely just like you have been doing. After you serve your time, well then you and Eric can work the issue through and I will be available if you want to talk about it".
Daniel looked across the study at his father; his own eyes were teary as were his dad's. It was obviously a painful story to recite. "I'm so sorry dad. I truly am. There are times that Eric is a real pain and I am sure the same applies to me too but I love my brother and I know now that you love us dearly. It must be terrible to grow to hate your father when it should be a loving relationship".
Owen Green looked at his son and replied, "Towards my father at first it was pure hate and contempt and in later years that was heavily tainted with pity and derision as I came to understand fully, my dad's embittered and bigoted mind. But Daniel, I never had the courage of my brother to confront my father like Lionel did at just sixteen. I wish now I had but I was not the man my brother was. I have to live with that fact. I feel in my heart I failed my brother".
"Dad!" Daniel stated with a depth of feeling his father had seldom if ever heard from him before.
"Lets leave this topic here for now. It upsets me too much to discuss it further, but I want to say to you Daniel, I am impressed with you. You raised your actions between Eric and yourself with me. That was more than I was game to do with my father. It says heaps about you and it also says to me that I have succeeded in making a better job of my relationship with my son than my dad managed with me".
"Thanks dad!" Daniel replied, blushing with modesty at his father's unexpected praise. Daniel didn't know just what to say next and the first thing that popped into his head was about the best reply he could have given his dad at that point in time. "I love you dad".
Owen Green smiled at his son then got up from his chair and moved over and hugged Daniel who had risen from the study chair. The feel of Daniels naked skin against his hands as he hugged Daniel tight, sent pleasurable feelings through Owen Green. The smell of shoe polish subtly drifting off his son's body, added a unique smell to the long embrace.
After a very long, silent embrace, Owen Green broke the silence and the spell by asking, "You said you had several things you wanted to discuss. What else is troubling you?"
"Oh yeah, sorry dad. I kind of forgot for a moment," Daniel replied.
"There was a new NEWDD, Gary Foster-Brown, at the golf course shining shoes with me today. We got talking as we walked out of the course back to Piney Hills road. Gary is a Piney Hills local. His school, `The Hills Grammar,' made a disposition to the juvenile court based on his alleged misbehaviour and thus he found himself serving as a shoeshine boy at the very course that he was previously an associate member.
Gary told me he had been framed by some of the other students who disliked him because he was so popular at school. He had tried to prove his innocence but all the evidence pointed to him. This may be just a story but he seemed genuine about it, but that is not the real problem".
"Like all NEWDD's, Gary now feels totally humiliated. His friends have shunned him. His parents are disgusted and ashamed of him and he has been made to sleep in the servant's quarters at his home. Nothing new there either I guess, similar to my treatment in some ways, but unlike Tom the servants at his residence are taking great delight in humiliating him as much as possible. They have told him to his face to experience the real world, as it was not every day that the master's son is reduced from his high and mighty position in a wealthy household to the bottom of the pile. They are making sure he does not forget it."
"Now dad, I have to admit that to my eyes, Gary has a body I would die for. To Gary however, having it revealed to all his family, the servants and the school when he had done nothing wrong was such an added humiliation that he confessed to me that he was finding it very hard to cope. I am really worried about my conversation with Gary. He left me with this lingering feeling that he was considering hurting himself, maybe mutilation or even suicide. He seemed very depressed about his treatment as a NEWDD. I feel that maybe in a secret way, he was begging me to help him. But dad, I don't know what to do or even if I should be worrying about him, but I am".
"You did the right thing son to raise this with me. You don't hear too much about the side effects of our authoritarian society, but believe me the suicide rate amongst the newly enslaved is very high compared to the community average. Official figures are not released because slaves are just items of property and don't warrant legal recognition. Amongst NEWDD's, it is not as high, but it is still significant. I know a little about this as I have long had an interest in slave emancipation and when I meet with friends who are of a similar persuasion, this is a topic that is often discussed".
"The general populace don't want to know about this. They are happy that the roads are well kept, crime is minimal and the buses run on time. When slavery does finally effect them and they find themselves enslaved and depressed, it is too late. They can do nothing about it themselves except contemplate adding to the statistic."
"I noticed the new NEWDD on the video coverage I received on my computer this afternoon. I agree he is a fine looking boy. I will contact Ben Woods and ask his advice".
"You get video of me at the shoe shine stand?" Daniel asked in disbelief.
`Yes, Mr Wood rang me before you went the first time and offered the service as he knew I would be worried about you. All I have to do is email him and he streams the image from the security camera near the shoe shine stand directly to my computer".
"Wow," was all the near speechless Daniel could manage to exclaim.
"Right now son, you better get off and help Tom finish prepare dinner. However before you go son I think you have earned a reward for your mature behaviour. You can have your room back provided you do not break the NEWDD rules. ` Daniels face instantly beamed bright with excitement at the news but equally quickly faded into a look of deep thought.
"Thanks dad. I really appreciate it but taking up that offer would be unfair. I am a NEWDD, a slave, and if I were to have my normal bedroom now after only such a short stay down in the basement, then I would not be considering Tom's feelings. He is stuck down there, with no chance of release from his enslavement. The least I can do is show some empathy and stay with him and help him while I am a NEWDD. Thanks for the offer, but no thanks dad".
"Really,... well ok. Then if that's your decision, I can only admire your choice so I will offer you a second privilege in place of your room. Tonight you have permission to ring your friends and let them know you're thinking of them before they are sentenced tomorrow" Mr Green informed his son.
"Gee thanks dad. I would really like to do that. You're the greatest" Daniel replied with obvious enthusiasm.
"Dad, can I ask you a personal question?" the emboldened Daniel asked, seizing what he perceived to be an ideal opportunity.
"Yes Daniel," said Mr Green with a chuckle, "what else do you want?"
Blushing because his dad had seen straight through him, Daniel never the less persevered. "Could I have Marco over on Friday, to do some study with me? It's sort of like my only day off and it's study not relaxation?" Daniel added hoping to get some quality time with Marco out of public view.
"First time I have ever heard of a teenager wanting to study on a Friday!" Mr Green responded then added, "I also saw how you reacted last night to Marco every time you were near him. You like him don't you?' Mr Green bluntly but with compassion asked.
"I honestly do not know dad, but he likes me and I would really like to try and work this through and being a NEWDD means I'm out of it for four months unless you allow me some time," Daniel pleaded.
"If I had come out like this to my dad, I would not be still be standing. The fact you have, makes me proud of you and again tells me I'm doing the right thing with you. After what I said about my own brother and me, I feel I have to cut you some slack son. But Friday afternoon is a privilege for good behaviour. It will be reviewed on a weekly basis based on your punishment book. Bring it to me before bed time tonight and if it has no major behaviour entries I will allow Marco and you one and a half hours free time to study this Friday" Mr Green informed Daniel.
"I will tell Tom it is ok and you can have some privacy in the basement together, but Marco is a free citizen and you are a NEWDD. I do not know his parents very well or how they might react to your friendship so be careful. I am not condoning sex here Daniel. Let me make this quite clear. Just a close friendship if that's what you two want. Anything more could be devastating to you as a NEWDD and lead to a fate much worse than just four months as a NEWDD.
Daniel gave his dad one last hug then excused himself to go help Tom.
When Daniel had left, Owen Green sat back in his study chair and contemplated his son. Daniel was a NEWDD but Owen Green was never more proud of him than he was at that moment. His refusal to move back into his room and his reasons for not doing so had really impressed him as had his openness about Marco.
After a while Mr Green realised he needed to ring Ben Woods and bring Daniels concerns about Gary to his attention. He hoped he would be able to put things in action through official channels to assist Gary. Owen was not all that confident that that would happen. It was his firm belief that the authoritarian system that they all lived under was more concerned in punishing than helping and rehabilitating, but he had to try and he had to hope. Certainly Ben Woods was a compassionate man and as the overseer of the NEWDD's at the Piney Hill golf course he was the person Owen Green felt he had to channel his son's concerns back through.
End Chapter 26.
Acknowledgements:
A Middle Class Slave Revisited by Steam Train