The following fictional story deals with sex among males. If you are offended by such material, are too young, or reside in an area where it is not allowed, depart. Though not observed in this story, care enough about yourself and humankind to practice safe sex.
The author retains all rights. No reproductions or links to other sites are allowed without the author's consent.
EBradley33@Excite.com
Chapter 17
Portents Fulfilled
I was in the kitchen waiting for the coffee to finish when Jeremy strolled in. "Hey, Evan, you got anything to cover a scrawny butt?"
I looked back over my shoulder: "It's already covered."
Jeremy winced. "That's an ample Roman ass. I'm talking about a scrawny butt."
"I beg your pardon!" I said with attitude. "I've been told it's a cute LITTLE ass. Besides, I thought we bought a bunch of clothes to cover THAT ass," studying his, which was not an unpleasant sight.
"Not mine. Mine's a hot, hunky ass. Kenny's is the scrawny ass."
At that moment Kenny came in, hair wet, with a towel wrapped around his waist, obviously just out of the shower. He walked over and hugged me, clinging for a while. "Thank you, Evan, for giving me a place to sleep."
"Jeremy and I want you to stay here until your parents return. We won't take 'no' for an answer," I smiled.
Kenny looked at me, then over at Jeremy. "I accept. I can't face having to stay at home alone. I need to keep my mind busy."
Jeremy explained, "I was just asking Evan if he had something to cover your scrawny ass."
Kenny smiled at me. "No, Evan's called it a sexy, poochy ass." I blushed. A stricken look suddenly seized Kenny's face. "Ooops. Sorry, Evan."
Jeremy snickered. "You didn't give anything away. Well, not much anyway. The night you three guys were having sex in the exercise room at school, I'd taken refuge in the gym to get away from my old man. I heard and then saw you guys getting it on. Turned ME on to the max. I jerked off while Robert fucked you guys. Is there something more you want to confess?" he leered at both of us. "Confession's good for the soul. I'm all ears."
Now Kenny blushed.
"It's okay, man," Jeremy added.
"I can find something for you to wear today," I jumped in. "How are you feeling?"
"Rocky from all the booze."
"Okay, I'll get something for your stomach and head. Jeremy can take you to your house today to pick up some clothes." I retreated to my bathroom for palliatives for Kenny, who talked louder so that I could hear him.
"Great. I want to talk to you today, Evan. Is that okay, Jeremy? Then I want to talk to you too."
"Okay. We can hang today. I do have a double tonight with Melanie Simpson, Troy and Susan. You can go with us if you want." I had returned to the kitchen, handing Kenny what was in my hand, which he quickly downed with the glass of water I handed him.
"Thanks. I'll stay here with Evan, if that's okay," he said, turning to me. "Oh, I just thought, Tim and you may have plans."
I blushed again. "No." Kenny's brows wrinkled and he glanced at Jeremy. Something passed between them. Are they already that linked, I wondered. "I'd be happy to have your company."
"Good."
We chatted through breakfast, avoiding any mention of Kenny's experiences of the previous day. While they were finishing, I went to my bedroom to locate some clothes for Kenny. I found a light grey sweatshirt, jeans, briefs, and socks for him. As I was putting them together, Kenny knocked on the doorframe. "May I come in?"
"Yeah, I have found some things that will fit, I think," as I pointed to the clothes on the bed.
Jeremy stuck his head in the door. "Kenny, I'm going to put your clothes in the washer with some of my stuff. When you're dressed, we'll go over to your place."
"Okay." Kenny picked up the clothes. "Thanks, Evan. I appreciate it. I have a feeling I'm going to be saying that a lot to you and Jeremy before my folks get back."
"Don't mention it. You're our friend, Kenny. We're just acting on our esteem and affection for you." He studied me, but I couldn't read his intent.
"Come on, Man. Let's hustle," Jeremy prodded. And they were off, chattering away down the hall and in Jeremy's bedroom.
I bathed and dressed. The house was quiet when I finished. It being a Saturday, I might not see Jeremy and Kenny until late afternoon. First it was to the laundry, sorting the washed clothes for the dryer. I started a load drying and then went to the kitchen for a cup of coffee in a lidded thermal mug so that I could take it to the sunroom. I listened to the rest of "Elijah." Every time I thought of Tim and people's strange looks, I pushed it from my mind--immediately. I wasn't going there. I couldn't. "Isn't that 'Robert thinking'?" that snotty interior voice observed.
I had a solitary lunch, finished drying clothes. Took another walk for blocks. When I returned, the boys were home. Jeremy was preparing to shower, so Kenny helped me prepare soup, a salad, and bread.
As we were finishing, Jeremy came into the kitchen to tell us good-bye before Troy and Susan arrived. Kenny let out a wolf whistle when he first saw Jeremy. Jeremy looked sharp in a plum turtleneck, light grey slacks, black shoes polished to a shine, and his navy blue blazer. Susan didn't just pick out clothes, I realized; she chose colors that pulled out highlights in hair and tones that lay deeper in the flesh. There were faint gold highlights in his hair and a subdued ruddy color in his cheeks. Jeremy was a picture!
When we heard a honk, Jeremy shot out the door. Kenny was going on and on about how different Jeremy looked, how handsome he was. I filled Kenny in on the shopping trip, telling him that the details were just for him. If Jeremy wanted others to know, he could tell them. As we were finishing the dishes, I suggested we have our talk in the sunroom.
Kenny sat in the middle of the sofa while I sat in my usual chair. He started immediately. "I never saw it coming, Evan. I thought Robert and I were tight. It scares me that something that was so good can fall apart so quickly. I don't think I did anything to cause it. As for Robert, I feel like I hate him. But I don't want to."
"You're carrying enough baggage now, so let me explain something before you load yourself down with more. You should understand why it is natural for you to be caught between two powerful emotions this way. Hating and loving are not separate activities. They exist on a fluid continuum, each anchoring a pole. Our reactions to people, events and circumstances cause us to slide to positions on the continuum between those two poles."
"In regard to Robert, you were way over next to the 'loving' pole. The closer a person is to a pole, the more energy is required to maintain that stance. Of course, if it's love, we enjoy supporting that high energy level, so we don't perceive it as a task. Your love for Robert was strong. It filled you completely, colored everything about you, lifted you to the clouds. Robert thought he was there too. Then he met Lisa. You felt betrayed, abandoned. Suddenly, you found yourself propelled to the 'hating' pole with as much force as you loved Robert. Do you understand so far?"
Quietly, "Yes."
"Now we get to the parts that can be dangerous for you, Kenny. With the same power love has to elevate, hate has equal power to bring down and distort, warp and destroy. Loving intensely requires great energy, which assists us in growing, adding depth. Hating also requires major energy. It bothers me to admit it: we can grow in hating too, but it's not positive growth. One doesn't tip to how much energy he's devoting to hating unless he's hated for a lengthy time. Some people who hate never become aware of it because they've become habituated to the emotion."
"You've hated?"
"I'm sorry to admit that I have and for the same reason as you--people hurting me by rejecting me. But I saved myself finally. . . .I can illustrate how and why. When I was growing up in a rural community, at my mother's request, I'd take the trash out to the trash barrel, dump it in, and light a match. As the fire caught, I'd watch it grow and spread. I remember being absorbed one time watching the flames consume used typing paper."
"At first, one sees heat waves billowing around and over the white sheet of paper. The heat waves even lift the paper a little. Then the paper begins to take on a faded mustard hue. The heat, you see, is consuming the smallest particles in the paper. That color deepens. But even as that happens, the paper begins curling. The edges of the page begin to flame, then blacken, moving rapidly to the center of the paper, consuming it entirely. Only lifeless ash is left. That's what hate does inside us. That's why you don't want to hate, Kenny. You're good at heart. Hating is foreign to your nature."
"Good things happened when you were with Robert. You should remember too that Robert did not stop loving you. Believe me: he still cares deeply for you. He sat in this very room in anguish over where these circumstances have left you."
Kenny looked at me intensely. "When? When did this happen?"
"Right after you drove off after your meeting with him in the parking lot at school. He was so upset he came straight over here." I couldn't tell what kind of an influence that information had over Kenny.
"If someday it feels right for you to talk with Robert, I think that will be one of the major points he'll make if he knows he won't offend you by his saying it. He still loves you, cares for you. You thought when he told you that he was in love with Lisa that he had stopped loving you. Not the case! Allow those good things about you and Robert to remain in place by not hating him, for the hate will consume them, turning them to ash."
"But he dumped me, Evan. He told me he loved me, and then he didn't. Well, not as much as I thought. Doesn't that mean everything he said about my being the center of his life was a lie?"
"Think hard now: do you believe everything he told you was a lie?"
We were going on two minutes when he quietly said, "No." I was glad he was thinking hard about the issue. It meant that there was hope he would emerge with minimal damage.
"In fact, did he tell you a lot of lies?"
Maybe 30 seconds: "No."
"Was he even lying when he said he loved you?"
A minute. "No. But if he loves me, why does he need Lisa?"
"To be honest, Kenny, I doubt that Robert could answer that question at this moment. Emily Dickinson explains in one of her poems the place where Robert is now, why he can't give a reason for loving Lisa. Dickinson begins one of her poems with a line that goes 'Feeling comes first.' Sometimes in life feeling precedes thought; sometimes it follows. When it works the opposite of what we expect, it throws us for a loop. Robert's just caught up in feeling now, not thinking. Robert loved Lisa with his heart first. He hasn't worked out the mind part yet."
"I know how hard it is to loosen the grip of hate," I continued. "I've hated ferociously. It took me three years, but I finally wearied of pumping that much energy into a state that left me warped. I remember the morning well. I was sitting up in bed when the monster Hate started its workings. I realized that to generate all that energy, I had to keep the hurt alive. The breakthrough came when it occurred to me that I was the only person in the universe to whom that hurt and hate were important. I ended my hating that moment, for it would be absurd to continue. If you reject Robert because you hate him, then you renounce all the good he did for you. Didn't good things occur when you were with Robert?"
His eyes filled with tears. He choked back a sob. He looked down at his hands, as he rubbed the palms over each other, expressing the emotional turmoil within him.
"While I had persisted in hating," I continued, "the rest of the world had moved on, didn't care. I freed myself from my hate by deciding that I wasn't going to indulge in it. Just that simple. Oh, there were mornings when the beast reared its ugly head, wanting to consume me. I just said, 'No, not today.' When I reached that decision, reality began returning; the distortions began diminishing."
"Your belief that Robert's love for you was phony owes to distortion. I can tell you, Kenny, that Robert is beside himself with worry about you. He hates a part of himself for what happened. HE hurts because he hurt you and because he thinks you hate him. He's suddenly discovered that he doesn't know how to react, to cope, to understand, to deal with what has happened between you and him. If you think he's completely happy because he now has Lisa, you're wrong. What's happened between you two has diminished his happiness with Lisa. After you two fought, he said in a moment of honesty even he didn't initially realize that he felt so bad he didn't want to be with Lisa. You think he doesn't love you anymore. In fact, his loving you made him better able to love Lisa. He loves you every bit as much as he ever did. He must if his love for Lisa is to remain."
"Thinking Robert doesn't love me anymore is a distortion?"
"Yes."
He looked at me, thinking hard. "But I'm all alone. He's not."
"Robert feels your absence in his life. He made room for you in his heart, his mind, even perhaps his soul. Then circumstances moved you from the center of his life. Don't think he isn't hurting over what has happened to you and over his role in that. He is. Don't think he isn't worried about your being left alone. He is. Don't think he doesn't feel emptiness. He does."
He was silent for a while.
"Kenny, your being alone can cause another danger for you. If you allow it to become distorted, it can make you jump into the arms of the first guy who shows any interest in you, whether he's good for you or not. So be a little careful. If people are greatly afraid of being alone, they take up with every new person who comes along, trying to find a good fit, but most of all trying frantically to fill the void in their lives. Their disappointment, frustration, and unhappiness grow. It can get worse: the predators out there--like those guys in the bar yesterday--sense such a person's vulnerability and then exploit it. Some people who hate so lack trust that they can't maintain a relationship. I think you are strong enough to escape these dangers."
"But what do I do about being alone?"
"Fill your life and time with your friends, your talent, your studies, good things. You are popular, Kenny. Well liked. You won't lack for ways to avoid loneliness--if you allow your friends to help you, that is. Continue to grow and develop, recover and love so that when your fella comes along, you'll be ready for him. You will offer him even more of a treasure than you are now. Like it or not, your loving Robert will help you love your fella. Who knows--there could be a Lisa out there for you?" He looked at me as though I were daft.
"Tuck this paradox away to muse on in quiet moments: the novelist Elie Wiesel authored a wonderful aphorism, that goes something like this-- 'Nothing is as whole as a broken heart.'" His glance fell from my face, but I saw a smile lurk around the corners of his mouth--he understood the truth of the paradox, understood Wiesel's wisdom.
"I like that . . . It makes me realize that when I sketch people, I'll see more in them because of what's happened to me."
"You've got it! Remember that your friends love you; we need you in our lives; we care for you. But even we, with as much love as we have for you, will find it difficult to protect you from the dark side of Kenny Walters."
He wiped tears from his eyes even as he chuckled. "You make that side of me sound like Darth Vader."
"It is. . . . You won't be alone very long, Kenny. You are attractive, intelligent, talented to the max. You have a great though quiet personality."
"Would you hold me for a little bit, Evan?"
"It would be my very great pleasure, Kenny. Let me come over to the couch." I sat in the corner and he flopped over on me, his head resting on my shoulder."
"Would it surprise you to know that I held Robert in just this way this week, comforting him too."
"Why did HE need comforting?"
"He was hurting because he had hurt you; you had rejected him."
"He rejected me."
"Only if you choose to view it that way. Another way to look at it is that he just moved on, but in doing so, he never intended to leave you behind."
"Is life always like this, Evan?"
"What to you mean by 'this'?"
He thought for a little bit. "Painful."
"You can't live without experiencing pain, Kenny. It's how we come into the world. And the more our life interweaves with those of others, and the more deeply we become involved, the more pain we feel when circumstances don't work out. If we are involved in a lot of lives, we don't even have to do anything causative to experience pain. But look at what we would miss if we never opened our lives up." I felt a pang of conscience, remembering the former Evan Halsey, carefully controlling his environment to keep from ever being hurt again.
"You may be surprised to learn that the worst thing in life is not pain. Of course, pain isn't pleasant. But our minds have a way of hastening our forgetting pain. Don't take Evan Halsey's path, Kenny, running from anything that can cause pain, becoming so super protective of yourself that you have almost no life. It takes a tidal wave to knock you out of THAT dodge into more affirming behavior."
I was slowly moving the flat palm of my hand in a big circle on his back. "You'll survive, Kenny. I think you and Robert will become friends again. I know you will find someone to love who will also love you. You're a good person, talented, bright, fun-loving, special."
"Do you know that you tell all your students that they're special at one time or another?"
"So? Each is. As a teacher, it's my professional and moral responsibility to find out what is special about each student and treasure that. It's a struggle occasionally with some individuals," I said, smiling, remembering a few challenging cases over the years. "At the same time, because students are only 'becoming,' I have the great pleasure of pointing them to what they may not have recognized in themselves."
"I'm glad Robert and I ambushed you. We were really nervous about it. It was the most daring thing we'd ever done, more daring than my coming on to Robert--because you were a grown up and a teacher. Even with all this fallout from Robert's dumping me [I lightly swatted his ass on the last remark], I know that all of us gained a lot from drawing closer." [Good. He was reliving memories, but not bitterly so.]
"I'm glad too," I responded. You actually jogged me out of a rut, made me look at my life differently, encouraged me to grow." He had started running his hand along my back.
"I guess the Pride has come to an end," he sighed.
"Has it? Why?"
"Well, Robert's out of it now."
"Robert is the essential link without whom no Pride can exist?" I asked skeptically.
He rolled over on his shoulder so that he could look at me. "You mean the Pride can continue without a Lion?"
"Is there only one Lion?"
"No, but who will take Robert's place?"
"The next Lion will present himself when the time is right. He may not be among us yet. Or he may be right here in our midst." I could tell that Kenny was mulling over the possibilities.
The silence continued long enough that I knew that line of conversation was over for the present.
"We were all so surprised that you took Jeremy in," Kenny commented. "We were really happy for Jeremy, but several of the people in our class know that Jeremy caused your accident. We know he didn't really want to hurt you."
"Just as Robert didn't really want to hurt you."
Now he playfully swatted my back. "We're discussing you and Jeremy." A pause ensued. "I like Jeremy. I hope I can get to know him better."
"The feeling is mutual. When Troy and Jeremy brought you here last night, Jeremy insisted that you stay with him in his room. He wanted to care for you."
Kenny raised his head, looking me in the eye. "No kidding?"
"Why does that surprise you?"
"Jeremy has always been such a loner."
"It was protective coloration, the result of his thinking he was several classes lower than everyone else."
"Really? He thought that?"
"Yes." I chuckled. Were seeds being planted here?
We sat/lay there in companionable silence for the longest time.
Finally, my back, ribs, and leg told me I had to move. "I'm going to hit the hay," I explained to Kenny. He decided to do the same. "It would be no trouble to make up the sofa here, or the one in the family room converts into a bed."
"No, if you don't mind, I'd like to sleep in Jeremy's room--if it's okay."
"Yes, it's okay. We just want you to be comfortable. If you need anything, just ask. We want to take care of you now." He smiled. We took our leave of each other, but not before he thanked me and kissed me.
I lay in bed, thinking over our discussion, feeling my cock harden as I remembered the weight of Kenny's body pressing down on mine as he leaned on me. I loved that feeling, a guy lying on me, over me. Memories of Tim's long, shapely body bearing down on me brought a smile. I remembered the times Kenny and I had made love, feeling his body weighing down on me. I heard a light knock at the door.
"Yeah?"
The door opened, admitting a naked Kenny, sporting a fat erection that bobbed around as he walked. He came over to the bed, sitting on the edge. He placed his hand on my hard cock. "I need your help. You said I could ask if I needed it. Could we make love, Evan? I really need for someone to make love to me. If someone doesn't soon, I'm going to have to go looking for it again."
I looked at him. He was serious. "You sound like a vampire who has just asked me if he can drink some of my blood to keep from going out to find a victim."
He snickered. I gestured for him to come around the bed to the other side. He did--quickly. He lay down and rolled against me, gently kissing me, then sliding the tip of his tongue just between my lips, moving gently from one side to the other. Our kisses grew deeper, more passionate, our breathing labored.
"What do you want us to do?"
He looked at me. "It sounds selfish, but could you just jerk me off while you are making love to my body. When I cum, I'll do you."
I smiled, pushing him over on his back. He closed his eyes. Sitting up, I leaned over and licked a nipple while I used just the tip of a finger to stroke up one side of the other nipple. When I moved over to the other nipple, my hand moved down his stomach, the tips of my fingers just lightly grazing his flesh. He moaned. I moved my hand down to his balls, lightly stroking those and gently tugging on the hairs there while I moved back to the first nipple. As I slid two finders under his balls and back down his perineum, he opened his legs to give me access. I kissed his lips, so warm in repose. I repeated with my tongue what he had done with his, running it across his lips. I slid my fingers up his fat cock, gripping it gently. I loved it, feeling its heft, squeezing it while kissing him. Everything about this man would satisfy, so I moved up and whispered that in his ear. I licked his ear out, then moved to the other ear, whispering, "Robert is going to wake up someday, realizing what he gave up. He will not be a happy man." I licked in and around his other ear, nibbling on the lobe.
I grasped his cock in my right hand, slowly jacking it as I moved down and bit his nipple, evoking a louder moan than any so far. I moved to the other nipple, biting it while keeping up the slow movement on his cock. I suddenly felt some precum run onto my fingers. I leaned up to his ear. "It is such a privilege to make love to you, to hold your fat cock in my hand and feel your heart pulsing there. You are a treasure. Any man who wins your heart is lucky."
I moved down, licking the head of his cock. His precum was sweet, slightly salty. As I moved my hand lower on his cock, never stopping my hand's pumping motion, I pushed my moist lips over the cap of his dick, maximizing the contact, stopping just under the flare. I repeated the movement. I started moving my tongue around this cock head in time with the rhythm I was using to beat him off. Every fifth or sixth pump, I would suck hard. After a minute of that, I moved my hand down to his bush on one pump, taking his entire cock into my mouth and swallowing. "Oh, Evan, oh-h-h-h-h-h-h-h," he voiced as he gently pushed my head against his crotch. Back up to the cap, allowing my hand to move up more on his tube. His dick was now wet enough with my spit and his precum that my hand was making squishy noises.
His ass was wiggling, bucking up. He was moaning fairly regularly. Again I deep-throated him, moving back up and then sucking hard. After about a minute of that pattern, I moved about half way up his tube, clamping my lips hard around his cock and sucking hard while I pulled my head back, pulling on his cock. "Uh-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h!" he exclaimed. A check with one of my unused fingers told me his balls had pulled up.
Though it was awkward for me, as I kept pumping faster and sucking deeper and pulling roughly on his cock, my fingers on the other hand found a nipple, which I twisted hard. That did it. He yelled, raising his ass off the bed and jamming his cock in; pulses of cum hit the back of my mouth. I moved back to collect some cum. He tasted good. I kept the movements up until he gasped, "Please, no more."
I allowed his cock to slowly pull out of my mouth. I moved up and kissed his lips passionately. He threw his arms around my neck, crushing me in a hug. When I pulled back, he whispered, his eyes still closed, "Oh, Evan, thank you. I know now that I can still make love with someone who isn't Robert and still have a hot cum. And I know it was hot because you care for me, love me." Just then we heard a car drive into the driveway. He jumped out of bed, heading for the door. "Sorry, Evan. I'll make it up to you." Then he was gone.
I moved over from the edge to the center of the bed. I heard the daters enter the front door, shush themselves, and Jeremy step into the hallway. I could hear him pause at my closed bedroom door, then move to his. I heard his door open. I could hear him talking to Kenny. Jeremy returned to his guests, who had retreated to the sunroom. I heard a light knock on my door. "Yes?" I said quietly.
Kenny stepped in, wearing jeans, a tee, but going bare footed. "Jeremy wants me to join them. Do you think it's okay?"
"It's plenty okay. Don't you want to?"
"Part of me does; part of me doesn't."
"Let's talk about the last part. Why doesn't he want to join the others?"
"You know."
"Not unless you tell me."
"I'm this lame dweeb who got dumped. They're all on dates."
"I didn't just make love to a lame dweeb."
I saw a smile flirting with the edges of his mouth. "Oh, I was hoping that was your dweeb level of love-making so that when I got over this, I might expect something hotter."
"I'm going to have to limit your time with Jeremy. You are becoming as big a smart-ass as he is." He laughed.
"Kenny, those people out there genuinely like you. They feel for you. They even love you. They are worried about you. Give them a treat. Join them. They will be thinking nothing but the best of you. If you look into your heart, you will acknowledge that all I have said is true."
He hesitated. "Please come with me so that everybody won't be staring at just me?" I looked into those pleading eyes.
I knew the feeling that prompted his request. "Okay, let me grab my bathrobe. But I won't stay long. Just long enough to draw them away from you so that you can take cover, long enough to confuse your scent so that they won't know you have sneaked among them."
He laughed. "I'm not that bad." I chuckled as he helped me into my bathrobe.
He walked ahead of me to the sunroom. When we were spotted, everyone called out their greetings, welcoming us to the group. I greeted Melanie, welcoming her to our home. She politely returned the greeting. Jeremy took drink orders and left for the kitchen. My recovery was inquired after. Kenny inquired about the movie they had seen. I stood in the doorway, listening to a run-down of the evening's central event.
"Evan, won't you come in and sit down?" asked Troy. His question made me look at Susan, resting on his shoulder. Ah-oh. Susan wasn't really looking at me because she didn't want me to read her eyes. She was looking at my chest, hoping I would think she was looking in my face. It told me something was wrong, left me feeling so very alone.
"Thank you, I'm not staying long." Just then Jeremy arrived with a tray full of soft drinks. Final comments were reported to Kenny on the movie as well as acquaintances who had been seen in the theater.
At the lull, Melanie turned to Susan. "Well, LaKeisha floored me yesterday." Everyone smiled, knowing that that was one of LaKeisha's favorite accomplishments--dropping the latest news with the greatest effect. "She and Roland were driving around. Since they were in the neighborhood, they decided to drive by Mr. Minor's house. When LaKeisha looked at the car in the driveway, she saw Mr. Minor and that really cute blond guy in a clinch in the front seat. They were kissing!" She covered her mouth with her hand, giggling.
I could have sworn my heart skipped a couple of beats. It felt as though a cold wave had just moved through me. So this is what everyone knew but wouldn't tell me, the cause of all the looks people had been passing among themselves.
"I've heard from others that this guy and Mr. Minor go jogging together, work out at the gym together. He's a student at the college. I think he's a chem major. Story is that they have been pretty thick."
"For how long?" asked Kenny.
"Oh, for a couple of months now, I guess."
It grew very quiet in the sunroom. Everyone was working hard at not looking in my vicinity. Melanie looked at everyone with a puzzled expression on her face, sensing something of more import than expected had occurred. I turned around and returned to my bedroom, quietly shutting and locking the door.
(To be continued.)