Bruce & Friends

BRUCE & FRIENDS By Lee Mariner

August 2002

DISCLAIMER: This is a gay fantasy depicting homosexual activity between young men. All characters are fictional and in no way related to any person living or deceased. Any such perceived relationship is purely coincidental. IF YOU ARE NOT OF LEGAL AGE TO BE READING THIS STORY OR YOU DO NOT APPROVED OF SUCH MATERIAL, PLEASE LEAVE.

"PLEASE DO NOT ENGAGE IN UNPROTECTED SEX AS IT CAN LEAD TO A LIFE THREATENING CONSEQUENCE."

This work is copyrighted by the author and may not be reproduced or copied without the specific written consent of the author. It is assigned to the Nifty Archives under the provisions of their submission guidelines but it may not be copied or archived on any site without the authority of the author.

Copyright: 2002 - Author: Lee Mariner - All Rights are Reserved.

Mariner23502@hotmail.com

Tommy & Lenny

Driving trucks was a profession and way of life in my family. My dad taught me the basics, letting me steer while sitting in his lap behind the wheel of a Ford stake body with the gear shift in the floor, hauling ice in the summer and coal in the winter. My grandfather drove coal trucks in the mountains of Kentucky.

There was no such thing as driver's education in school in those days, you learned mostly by hands on practice and when you turned 16, you took a written test and a road test. If you passed they issued you a permit for $2.00.

After I turned 14, dad would take me with him in the summers to help him with his deliveries and I learned more an more about driving a truck along with developing a pretty good set of muscles toting 25 & 50 lb blocks of ice with a set of tongs. Dad paid me $10.00 a week, pretty good for a teenager in the '40s.

I got the usual chewing out when Dad caught me jerking off once in the garage when he kept his truck. Every now and then when we were out making deliveries, he would tell me about the birds and bees. That was pretty much my sex education so far as he was concerned but I had a pretty good idea about what sex was from guys in school. Tommy Jones, my best bud, showed me how to jerk off under the iron steps behind the school that led into the gym. Perfect spot since no one could see us unless they were looking for someone to be there. Others had if the stains on the concrete were any indication. We never were caught though and Tommy taught me a lot.

Thinking about it now, I should have suspected Tommy was gay from the way he would get excited watching me jerk off but he never tried anything. Hell, I didn't even know what gay was then and I doubt he did either. Tommy had a long thick cock, and only 15. His cock was bigger then mine and he liked swinging it around in circles showing it off, as he got hard. He was circumcised but his cock was smooth and the head was bullet shaped and looked like a golden brown torpedo sticking out of the dark brown hair around its thick base. He had a lot more hair then I did, even under his arms and his body was more developed than I was.

Lots of times in the showers after gym class and we were alone, I always thought he did it on purpose, he would start playing with his cock and taunting me saying things like.

"Come on Bruce get it up, lets see what you got."

I didn't know then that I was gay; I just knew my cock would get hard watching his cock grow. I had about 5"s but he must have been at least 7" or longer. He'd stand with his legs spread apart waving it back and forth still teasing me saying. . . . .

"You want one like that Bruce boy? Think your ever gonna get as big as this?

It fascinated me watching him stroke his cock and when he started to come he would groan, thrusting his hips forward. Streams of white jizz would shoot out and he would groan, his hips fucking his hand as he jerked off.

"Yeah Bruce, look at that, can you shoot that much?"

He knew I couldn't but when I did shoot, it felt like I was blowing apart and his dark eyes would glisten as my cock spurted a couple of thin streams and I would shudder gripping my cock tight.

Tommy and I jerked off a lot together, at least once a day. One day we were under a train trestle, not far from where we lived, laying beside each other our pants off. He was waving his cock around like he always did showing it off when he looked at me.

"You ever get a blow job Bruce?"

I didn't know what too say at first, I didn't know what a blowjob was. When he asked me again, I said "hell no, what's that?"

"Some guy takes your cock in his mouth and sucks you off. Greatest feeling in the world, better then jerking off."

He still had me all confused but when he told me about getting sucked off, my cock jerked and got real hard. Tommy lay there waving his big cock back and forth grinning at me.

"You had that done? You let some hobo suck your cock? When?"

"Once when you were gone down on your grandfather's farm. I was down here jerking off and some hobo caught me. He pulled his cock out like he was taking a piss and I could see him getting hard so I just kept on pumping my cock. He asked me if I wanted it sucked and I told him sure, suck on it. God, what a feeling that was when his hot mouth started sucking on my cock, I have never felt anything like it. He jerked off while he was sucking me and I rammed all I could get in his mouth shooting wads of jizz down his throat. He swallowed all of it."

The pre-cum was dripping from the head of my cock and I was sweating, feeling hot all over my body visualizing what he was telling me and I could see Tommy was too.

"Have you had it done since then Tommy? Man, I'd like to try that."

"Nah, I haven't seen him since then. He was a hobo remember?"

I didn't say anything else but we both shot loads bigger then we ever had before. I bet the both of us were thinking about the same thing, getting a blowjob and I couldn't take my eyes off of Tommy's cock swelling thicker as he started shooting his load. God but I wanted to jerk his cock for him and feel how hard and smooth it was but I was happy just being with him.

Tommy and I were really close and did just about everything together in school and out. I didn't know then that I was in love with him or the reason I was I just enjoyed the two of us being together. We both were growing into pretty good-looking young men and well built.

Every once in awhile, Dad would let him work on the ice truck with us when he added extra stops and needed the extra help. He would tong a block of ice his muscles rippling under his skin when he swung it up on the burlap sack over his shoulder and my cock would start getting hard looking at him. He would glance at me faking a shiver as the water ran down the deep ridge between his back muscles soaking the waistband of his pants, his eyes laughing at me, an impish grin on his face. He was like that; there was fun in everything he did.

Tommy's Dad was in the Army and the day his mother was notified that he had been killed in action in Europe was the worst day of my life and his and the only time I ever held him in my arms as he cried. My Mom and Dad along with lots of the neighbors visited his house, helping out as much as they could. The church had a memorial service for his father since he was buried in a cemetery overseas. They didn't return the bodies during that war.

The second worst day was when he told me that his mother was moving back to Indiana on his grandfather's farm and he had to go. He was 17, I was 16 and we sat under the train trestle hugging each other, crying. The train trestle sort of became our "place". I think we both were hoping a hobo would come along when we were there jerking off but that day we just cried. I wanted to kiss him and tell him how much I loved him but I didn't, we just held each other. The fear of two boys caught kissing was too inbred then.

Mom and Dad thought I was sick from the way I moped around after he left and it took a long time for me to get over him moving away. Going to the train trestle only made it worse. Tommy was gone and I still had two years of high school ahead of me without him around. Jerking off became a solitary thing after that but I would think of him and his big cock beside me in my bed. Oh how I wished we had been in bed together.

I was hoping I'd hear from Tommy after he and his mother left but never did. I didn't understand then about how you could love someone and then when they weren't around anymore time sort of eased the pain of missing them. I still jerked off but not under the trestle. Girls didn't excite me to want sex even though I had plenty of chances. Went out with several, did some petting but it didn't change the pleasure of being around boys and looking at them in the showers, their cocks getting half hard under the water washing themselves. Some of them, my age, were pretty good looking but not a Tommy.

I started working out in school and by the time I was 18 and graduation rolled around, I built a pretty nice body, light brown hair, cobalt blue eyes, 6' and 175lbs of hard muscle. My biceps were 18", chest 44" and a 29" waist. Soft silky light brown almost golden hair surrounded the thick base of my almost Tommy's 7" cock except I wasn't circumcised. Sometimes I would pose naked in front of the mirror in my bedroom and think of him standing next to me, wishing he was. God but I missed him even though he hadn't written. We still didn't have a telephone.

Going to college was not an option at that time we couldn't afford it. Dad did pretty well with his ice and coal business but as the war was ending, people had more money and were starting to buy refrigerators not needing ice anymore. Coal was still needed but new houses were being built with electric heat and some people were changing over from furnaces, it was cheaper and cleaner then coal.

Everyone had more or less figured I would work for my Dad but he sold the business a few months before I graduated and went to work in a paper mill that he had worked in before he bought the ice and coal business.

He said he could get me a job in the factory but I didn't want that. I wanted to get out of the city and away on my own, I joined the Army and was sent to Fort Campbell for training. Not that far away but still it was away.

In basic training was where I got my first blowjob. Lots of they guys in my platoon were good looking, well built and some hung bigger then either Tommy or me. I had a hard time concealing the urges that would build up in me especially in the showers with all those naked bodies and swinging cocks around. At night was the worst at first, some guys would be crying quietly and you could hear some of the bunks squeaking when guys would be jerking off. I did it with a handkerchief over the head of my cock to catch the cum.

My bunk was on the top and at the end of a long row in the corner of the barracks. One night I heard the guy below me jerking off, I didn't know his name but I got horny listening to him pounding his cock and I started stroking mine. I was really getting into it and didn't hear him get out of his bunk. My legs were pulled up a little making a tent and I had my handkerchief in my hand to catch the cum when he put his hand over my mouth whispering ----"shhhhhhhh, want that thing sucked?"

I damned near lost my hard feeling his hand on my mouth, he scared me so bad and I stammered softly, "What, in here?"

He put his lips close to my ear, "Yeah, ain't nobody watching in the dark. I've seen you in the showers, that big cock of yours getting hard. Want me to suck you off?"

I didn't want to admit that I had never had a blowjob and the time Tommy asked me if I had flashed through my head. Moving a little closer to the side of my bunk, I pushed the blanket down exposing my throbbing rod. He took it in his hand and skinned it back stroking me a couple of times. I gasped at the feeling and I could hear him breathing hard. Turning my hips towards him, he lowered his head and my cock slid in his hot mouth and my muscle tightened at the feel of his tongue twisting around it, his lips skinning my foreskin back. Stars shot through my head and it felt like bolts of electricity were shooting all through me. I stuffed the handkerchief in my mouth so no one would hear me moaning at the intensity of the feelings his sucking mouth was causing on my steel hard cock.

He worked his mouth and lips up and down on almost the full length of my cock until I could feel the hot cum surging upwards ready for a titanic explosion into his mouth. Grabbing the back of his neck, I held his mouth down on me as every muscle in my body tightened, my white hot sperm gushed, filling his mouth with stream after thick stream. He stroked my chest pinching my tits a few times and swallowed every drop of my juice, his lips draining me. Slowly relaxing, he held my wilting cock tight with his lips, his tongue cleaning the last drops from the head. A deep groan swelled in my chest but the handkerchief stopped anyone from hearing the pleasure I was feeling. When we both were finished, he whispered "thanks" and went back to bed. I felt drained of everything inside of me but warm all over.

Reveille sounded at 5:30AM and when I swung down out of my bunk the guy below me was gone and for a minute I though it had been a dream but my cock told me it wasn't, a little cum had dried up on the tip. Grabbing the towel handing on the end of my bunk and my shaving kit from my locker, I followed other guys heading for the latrine my baggy boxer shorts covering the half a piss hard I had. Most guys probably had one as well since everyone was jostling for one of the urinals. Finished pissing, I found and empty washbasin. Looking in the mirror, I spotted him on the other side of the room, he was smiling back at me but I avoided his eyes, I felt a little guilty.

He was not a bad looking boy, maybe 17 or 18. He had a lean muscled body but he wasn't skinny. He had blond hair and blue eyes but not as deeply blue as mine and he was about 5'10" tall. I still wasn't shaving yet, I only had a little fuzz, but after scrubbing my face and washing my teeth I didn't see him in the mirror as I brushed my hair. The Army had just about scalped all of us but I sort of liked it.

When I got back at my bunk and locker, the kid was sitting on his bunk pulling his socks on. He glanced up at me but he didn't say anything and looked under his bunk for his boots. I got a pair of socks from my locker and was going to sit on top of it so I could put my socks on when I heard him say softly, "You can sit here if you want too."

"Sure." I said, "Thanks, makes it a little easier."

Sitting down beside him I could feel his warmth and the smell of Ivory soap. My cock started to get hard as his closeness and body odor. I should have moved away from him but I liked the smell of him. My hands trembled a little as I tried pulling on my socks and hide my hard cock at the same time.

He turned his head looking at me, a softness in his eyes." My name is Leonard, Leonard Altman but you can call me Lenny. What's yours?"

"Bruce, Bruce Thompson. Where you from?"

"Indiana, not far from Indianapolis."

"Hey, Leonard, were neighbors. I'm from Ohio. Where did you join up? I enlisted in Dayton."

"Indianapolis not that far from our farm. My parents brought me down instead of letting me take the train."

"You lived on a farm? I helped my grandfather on his farm sometimes in the summer but mostly I worked with my Dad on his truck. Why did you join the Army?"

"Mostly so I could get off the farm and out of Indiana."

"Me too. My Dad was gonna get me a job in a factory but I wanted to get away from that. Army seemed to be the best way."

We had both been dressing and talking when the whistle blew and everyone had to fall in out front of the barracks for roll call. The Army formed us up according to our heights and Lenny was a couple of rows behind me since he was a little shorter. Tall guys were in front and short in the back. I guess because it looked good that way when we marched.

After breakfast, we were marched to a building where we were interviewed and they asked us why we enlisted, what we wanted too do and what we expected to be in the Army. The guy talking with me did not look much older then me but he was a sergeant. He made a lot of entries on the forms he had. When we were finished, I went back outside where the rest of the guys were mingling around waiting for where we would go next.

When I saw Lenny come out I caught his attention and joined him. His uniform was sort of big but mine was too. He had a clean, fresh Amish look even in his baggy uniform and I liked him. I later found out he was Amish and he was 17, the youngest of 5 brothers and 2 sisters. His parents allowed him to enlist and thought the Army would be a good place for him to grow up since he didn't want to live on a farm. I thought to myself, when he told me later, that it was a pretty crazy thing to do because of what had happened between he and I but Lenny wanted to get away from home and it was the best way he could do it.

Neither one of us said anything about what had happened during the night but I had a feeling he wanted to talk about it. We really didn't get a chance for much talking being marched around like we were but we both caught each other looking every now and then.

None of us had ever marched before except maybe in a band in school. It took almost all day before we started looking like we knew how. September is not all that hot but we were sweating from the effort and the dust from the drill field made me feel dirty. After lunch, we attended orientation classes and then more marching.

When we got back at our barracks, the platoon sergeant told us we had 30 minutes to shower, change into clean fatigue's and be back on the drill field in formation. It was mass confusion in the two showers in the barracks. It seemed like everyone was trying to use the same shower and lots of well muscled bodies were rubbing against each other fighting for a shower head. Thirty minutes was not very long for the 40 men of our platoon, 20 men to a squad to get cleaned up and back in formation.

Lenny and I managed to get a showerhead near the door and while we were wetting down and rinsing off, we "accidentally" brushed against each other. His eyes flashed at me for an instant before looking away but I saw his cock starting to swell a little. It was the first time I had seen him totally naked. He had a thick bush of blond pubic hair and his cock reminded me of Tommy's but not quite as long but not much shorter. Thick and smoothly circumcised with a bullet shaped head. The urges I had been feeling surged in my groin and I finished showering quickly before I got a raging hard on. I hadn't had feelings for anyone since Tommy like I was feeling for Lenny and I think we both were trying to avoid showing it.

Everyone finished cleaning up and dressing. When we straggled out into formation, the drill sergeant was holding a stopwatch timing us. He blew his whistle and marched us to the mess hall again instructing us we had another 30 minutes to eat and fall back in formation. Everything in the Army seemed to be on a time schedule of some kind or at least is seemed like it.

After supper, we marched back to our barracks and instructed to stand at ease in front of our bunks. Our drill sergeant walked up and down between the rows of young men telling us what was expected of us and what we would be doing while under his command. He told us that the first 3 days after we had arrived was the quarantine period while we were issued our uniforms, boxed up our clothes for shipping home and being re-examined physically. I remembered the 3 days we had all been together in what was called a receiving barracks and that several of the guys that had been there weren't with us anymore. That could have been for any reason but I had a hunch one of those reasons might have been because they were caught doing what Lenny and I had done. The recruiter where I signed up had mentioned about the Army not wanting fags when he told me to check the box on my contract that I was not a homosexual. I couldn't help but think who in the world would ever admit he was.

My mind had drifted away from what the sergeant was saying and I wasn't paying attention when I felt Lenny kick my boot and I looked up just as he said "attention, dismissed."

Everyone was milling around and Lenny was gathering his dirty laundry up getting a scrub brush and detergent from his locker.

"What did he say at the end Lenny? I didn't hear him."

"You looked like you were in another world when I kicked your boot. We are supposed to wash our clothes and then study 2 chapters of the Drill Manual. After that we have free time for letter writing or what ever we want until lights out at 10 o'clock. He said for the bunkmates to help each other out studying, sort of like the buddy system. We are bunkmates except you are on top and I'm on the bottom unless you want to change." He said softly looking at me.

I caught a little flicker in his eyes when he said that and I grinned.

"No." I said. "I like the top bunk Lenny."

"I thought you might but I don't mind changing if you really want too."

Lenny already knew I didn't want to change and he knew why but he was playing with words. Both of us just grinned knowing what we both were thinking. I guess I really knew then that I was gay and he was the first gay guy I had met even though he was only 17 and I was 18.

We stripped down to our boxers and gathering our clothes and washing materials up we went to the washroom where other guys were doing their washing. The room was long and had two hip high wash racks with water spigots over the racks. A long trough down the center of the facing racks drained the water and soap away from the wash area. Lenny and I found two spigots together. You could see that just about all of the washing areas were taken by two guys standing in their boxers scrubbing clothes, talking, asking questions and learning more about each other. Every now and then we both noticed that one or two seemed to have a noticeable bulge hanging down in their boxers from leaning against the edge of the racks as they scrubbed their clothes.

Lenny told me about his family and their farm. It was 500 acres of corn and wheat. His two oldest married brothers lived in their own homes built on the farm. There were several milk cows and pigs along with the usual assortment of chickens and turkeys on the farm and everyone shared in the work. That was the Amish way of doing things. Work 6 days a week and church on Sunday. Until he was older and able to help with the cows and work in the fields, his job was taking care of the family vegetable garden and caring for the chickens and turkeys with his sisters. He went to school in the mornings until 2PM in the afternoon and then work on the farm until 6PM. After supper he did his studies and then sleep until 5AM when everyone got up. Do his morning chores, eat his breakfast and catch the school bus.

It seemed like a pretty boring routine to me and I wanted to ask him how he learned he was gay but told him about working with my Dad on his truck and going to school. Except for cutting grass, taking the garbage out and going to the store, his growing up had been a lot tougher then mine.

He was rinsing his socks and boxers when he looked over at me after I finished talking.

"I could tell you had done hard work from your muscles. You've got a great looking body." He whispered softly.

"You don't have anything to be ashamed of Lenny, your look pretty good to me."

"Oh, nothing like yours is. None of my family are big muscled except for my one brother Adam. He is big like you. Adams 20, taller then I am and he really has big muscles. Are you about finished Bruce? After we study would you like to walk over to the PX for a soda?

We finished up and hung our clothes in a large heated room that had clothes lines strung up from wall to wall. Everyone's clothes were stenciled with their name and serial number so we could find them when they were dry. We had been talking so much that most of the other guys were finished before us.

Before dressing, we showered again. There was only one other guy there with us so we both had a showerhead to ourselves. The lights made his wet smooth body glisten and I noticed he didn't have a tan line where most guys did when they were in the sun. Washing his cock, it would swell a little just like most men's did when they fondled themselves and he seemed to give it a few extra pulls as he washed. He may not have thought he had muscles but they rippled under his chestnut tanned skin as he moved and I told him so. His eyes glistened running up and down over me but he didn't say anything, just finished rinsing off and went into the small room off of the shower room where we dried off. I hadn't had a chance to really look at him with everyone else around and it was then that I saw he had a smooth athletic grace as he moved. I waited for a few minutes while drying off so I could get control of my emotions, he was almost intoxicating and exciting.

After we dressed and did our studying, we signed out at the guard desk indicating where we were going. The guard reminded us it was almost 8PM and we had to be back before lights out at 10PM.

It took us about 15 minutes to walk to the PX, a large building with a canteen in it and a recreation room with a piano and ping pong tables. One section was walled off and had all of the stuff you might find in a civilian drug store, cigarettes, candy, toilet articles, and all kinds of stuff. Civilians worked in the PX and the girl behind the canteen counter brought us two bottle of Coke when we asked for them.

A jukebox was blaring in one corner of the room that had several tables and chairs in it. Several of them were taken and some of the guys from our platoon were there. It was noisy with talk and music. Lenny looked at me waiting for me to select a table but I leaned over not needing to whisper it was so loud and asked him if he wanted to sit out on the steps.

"Its awfully noisy in here Bruce. Lets go on outside where it's quieter."

There were several things I wanted to ask Lenny and shouting was not the way I wanted to talk. I had to know if he was feeling the same way I was and the only way was to ask. I didn't think he would get angry if I did after the last night.

We sat beside each other not too close but close enough where we could talk without being overheard if someone walked by. Taking a couple of swigs from the bottle of Coke I was about to speak when he beat me to it and it sort of shocked me.

"Bruce, are you gay?" He said very softly.

I sucked my lungs full of air, waiting for the shock to wear off. Exhaling, I took another swig from my drink before answering.

"I was going to ask you the same thing Len."

"I like that Bruce."

"What?"

"You calling me Len instead of Lenny. I always hated that name, it sounds so kiddish but so many people just use it automatically instead of calling me Leonard. I like the way you said it. You were going to ask me if I was gay? Yes, I am but you don't know how scared I was last night. It took a lot of nerve for me to do that, not knowing how you might react but I could hear you and from the way the bottom of your bunk was moving I kind of figured what you were doing."

"Didn't it scare you joining the Army and all the guys there would be?"

"At first it did, but I knew that if I was really gay, I'd find out in here. You don't know what it's like growing up on a farm and feeling so strange around boys in school but only brothers at home. My father never talked about sex or girls and boys. My brother Adam told me about what girls and boys do together when I was 12 years old. Our father seemed to feel it was the older boys duty to tell their younger brothers the facts of life as he called it."

"Why did you pick me out of all the guys here Len? It did surprise me when you put your hand over my face last night. I almost jumped out of my skin thinking someone had caught me jerking off like that. I heard you jerking off below me and some others doing it too and it got me horny."

I had learned by now that Lenny always spoke softly and he sort of chuckled softly fingering his bottle.

"Bruce, you excited me when I saw you naked when they were giving us physicals and I couldn't take my eyes off of you. I thought I'd try getting your attention but you were always looking the other way or going somewhere else. I didn't have the first idea about what I could do but there was something about you that told me you were the same as me. Amish people call it joining one to the other in spirit. It was like I could feel your spirit reaching out to me. Adam and I had the same feelings but we are brothers. Adam is not gay but both of us being the youngest had a special relationship together."

"Did you and him do things together?"

"Do you mean did we have a sexual relationship? Not a sexual relationship but we jerked off together and we jerked each other off like most brothers do I guess. Adam taught me all about how boys jerked off, he called it -beating your meat. Adam is big but I think your bigger then he is Bruce and he still has foreskin like you do. I don't know why my parents had mine trimmed off, most Amish boys I know have foreskin and just about all of us know about sex from watching animals have sex."

"Oh yeah, sure I did but they don't do what we did. Where did you learn how to do what you did to me? That's the first time I ever felt like that."

Lenny was just about to answer me when some guys we didn't know came out of the door and he waited until the were out of earshot. I don't think they could have heard him anyway, he spoke so softly but he was chuckling like he had before. When they were far enough away, he glanced at me grinning; his eyes had little flecks of light in them.

"I kind of figured that was your first time, mine too. You liked it didn't you? I like doing it and feeling how strong you are. You sure had a grip on my neck when you shot off."

"Yes is was and yes I liked it and you were the first. I have never even jerked another guy off but I wanted to when my buddy Tommy and I were together. How did you know what to do Len? It really felt good."

Turning a little sideways facing me, Len looked straight into my eyes.

"You said you had worked on your grandfather's farm in the summers. Didn't you ever watch a calf or piglet suckling on their mother's teats? It's the same way you would suck on a man's cock. They suck breathing through their noses until the milk starts flowing and they drink it. That's what I did with you but just not as violently as some of them do."

I sat up straight looking around to be sure no one had heard him talking. My cock was rock hard listening to him and I could feel him sucking on me again like he had.

"Damn Len, you're making me horny as hell thinking about it. Have you had someone do it to you?"

"No, not yet. I haven't met anyone I wanted to do it with except you. I thought Adam was going to do it once when he got so excited jerking me off but he didn't and I'm not sure I would have let him, he is my brother. I'm just as horny as you Bruce but we better be getting back to the barracks. What time is it?"

My watch said just it was a little past 9pm and the walk back to the barracks would take 15 minutes at least. My cock was aching I was so horny but he was right. Jerking off in bed was better then being late getting back and reported for it. I wanted to hold his hand as we walked but I knew that was not a good idea. Lenny or I said very much as we walked just glancing at each other every now and then.

The drill fields were empty and millions of stars twinkled in a black cloudless sky. It was quiet except for an occasional car that drove by. All I could think of as we walked was that being gay and in the Army really sucked. I couldn't blame anyone but myself for it since I had signed that piece of paper after checking off I wasn't homosexual. Damn I thought to myself, there had to be a better way to find someone like Lenny without it being so screwed up when you did.

Just before we started up the steps into the barracks, Len stopped and looked at me his eyes watering just a bit. "Pretty screwed up isn't it Bruce and we have 4 years of it yet."

"Yeah Len, 4 more years."