Elm Street Queers

Elm Street Queers 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

By Carson Carruthers

The next morning I went down stairs and had my cereal and milk. No sugar on the cereal. After all they were frosted flakes and did not need extra sugar. I could hear my mother reciting the television commercial. She was not exactly a stingy woman, but she did not let go of things easily. There was little or no waste at our house. Everything in its place and for a reason. She knew from one week to the next what she would buy at the grocery. You only needed seven fingers, or toes, because you knew from one day to the next what the menu would be. There were no surprises unless there was company. There were times when I longed for some old broken down ex manager of some textile mill to happen by and be invited to dinner. Usually, it meant baked chicken, or better yet boiled chicken with dumplings. That would mean that there would be real leftovers for the next day at lunch instead of the soup and sandwich. I liked soup and sandwiches, but left over chicken and dumplings were better.

I did not have to bother telling my mother that I was leaving. She had left a note saying that she was going back to Greenville to sit with the sick friend. People depended on my parents in times of need, and times of sorrow, and in times of sickness. It was strange how they depended on them. I thought it rather strange. I got to the library just as Robert was putting his bike into the bike rack. We did not use locks. Who would steal and old bike? This after all was Poinsettia and the only news of burglary was on the radio from somewhere else.

He smiled. I smiled. I drifted off into that special place when you see your lover for the first time in almost twelve hours. "Ready?" Robert asked.

"Sure... ." Before I could say anything else he had kissed me right there in front of the Poinsettia Library. I was shocked.

"What's wrong? I told you that we kissed first thing every morning and the last thing every night."

"I don't know, Robert, I did not think the first time would be out in front of the library on Oak Street in broad daylight."

He started giggling that turned into a full laugh. "In for a pound; in for a penny," he said, hugging me to him.

I was not sure but there was something I never figured out about that phrase. I could never image where he got it from, but it never sounded just right. Of course I could never figure out where he got half the words he used at times. I doubt I will ever fully figure him out. But that Monday morning, two weeks before the Fourth of July was the first week we were together. It was the year of the bicentennial. 1976. We started the day and the week with a kiss in front of the Poinsettia Library on Oak Street and anyone that happened to be passing by on Oak Street at that moment. I was hoping no one fell into that last category.

I had been to the library a lot. I knew Miss Brown. Miss Brown was old, probably in her late forties. Never married. Her hair was gray and twisted tight in a knot at the back of her neck. She looked exactly like you would expect and old maid librarian to looking and including the horn rimmed glasses. She was a stickler. No talking. No food. No books left on the table. You could stick then in any hole you could find but do not leave them on the table for her to have to put up. She had never said too much to me in the past, but that Monday morning when we stepped into the main room of the library she took an instant dislike to me and to Robert. It was as if she could tell. To her we were some evil incarnate. She took it upon herself to explain all the rules. Going over each one twice. We had done nothing. We had just walked in. I knew she was a Baptist. My friend who had the preacher that ranted and raved and preached until two in the afternoon had told me that she went to his church. How could she tell? When she had finished her speech about the rules. She said, "I am a servant of the people of Poinsettia. I have to attend to the needs of everyone equally, but it does not mean that I or the Lord approve of such.."

I know that both mine and Robert's eyes must have bugged out. My mind was going on overdrive. She had seen us from the window. It suddenly dawned on me. She had seen the morning kiss. Someone in Poinsettia knew besides the people we wanted to know. What would happen now? I wanted to cry. Then I decided to hell with them all. I could give a rat's ass, a phrase I had heard Carl use, what they thought. I loved Robert Stanley. "Come on," I pulled him by the arm. I think for the first time ever I was in charge. " I said come on. We have books to look for." I pulled him still wide mouthed back into the stacks of book shelves.

"See saw us kiss." He looked at me like asking how that was possible.

"I looked everywhere there was no one any place."

"Well, there are things called windows," I said with a smirk.

"I am so sorry, Rick. I really did not think that anyone would see us. I don't care who knows how I feel about you. My parents are okay with it I am sure. No one else really matters."

"You know what? I feel the same way. If I get kicked out for being gay do you think that Mom Stanley would let me live with you?"

"Sure she would. You are already like the daughter that she never had. What do you two talk about anyway? "

"You."

"We will just have to wait and see what happens. I am sure that she is already on the phone with her friends telling them about the abomination that she has in the library." As we came around the corner of that row of book shelves, there she was sitting at her desk with the phone glued to her mouth and ear.

Robert and I spent the morning researching and reading. There was little on brain washing. There were some vague references to Washington, the CIA and espionage. The psychology section consisted of one freshman text book, which was way out of date. One or two books on child psychology which were equally out of date and mostly written about the younger child. Nothing on adolescence. One book on psychology said that in modern thought homosexuality was a disease similar to alcoholism. Robert said, "Yeah, I'm drunk on sex."

There was one paragraph in one book that said that psychology had been far out side the prospects of scientific method in saying that homosexuality was a disease or condition that was reversible and treatable. The truth lay somewhere in a mixture of causes but basically was genetic and irreversible. This sounded pretty reasonable to me. Nothing could have made me queer. I had been that way all my life. I could look at Robert Stanley and tell you for sure that it was not his cousin Carl that started him sucking cock. It was not Spencer Moore that started Carl. Carl told me that he went after Spencer as soon as he was old enough to know what could make his dick feel good. He had no idea that Spencer would ever return his advances. If these people were right, then we were doing something awful. That would mean that Asa was right to try and be something we all new that he was not. He was trying to be un-queer. According to these books there should be people helping and encouraging him. The Baptist would probably try to chase the evil queer demons out of him.

Rick asked me, "Why are you grinning?"

"I dunno. I'll tell you. Let's go to the bathroom." Luckily the bathroom was on the outside of the building. We went there. I looked there was no one around so we both went in.

"What was so funny?"

"From what I am reading most of the psychologist think that homos are sick. I was thinking that if that were the case then Asa is right about not wanting to be queer and to change. I was trying to think who would help him. Then it hit me that Miss Brown and the Baptist would probably want to chase that evil demon homosexuality out of him. You know like Jesus did with the man and the pigs. I am wondering who the pigs are going to be so I could be there to get a blow job."

"Rick you are really sick.. Sicko. Pervert. You are not satisfied being a queer now you want a pig to give you a blowjob." Robert started snorting just like an old pig. I cracked up,

"Hi. I am a pig with a demon. Can I give you a blow job?"

We had been standing before the urinal pissing the entire time we were talking. It was one of those long wall urinals made of white porcelain. There were lots of cracks and discolored glazing on the rim. I looked at him. "Here?'

"You rather go up on Oak Street?"

He took my cock and led me over to where he could sit on the commode while he sucked me. That was the first and only time that we ever had sex in a public bathroom. Every car that came by. Every dog that barked within ten blocks. Every kid on a bike who was hollering to every other kid on a bike was coming in the door. I have never been so nervous and so scared, but I had to do it once. After that I told Robert we could do it in the woods or anywhere but never again in a public bathroom. Needless to say. I had a hell of an orgasm. I promptly sat down and took care of Robert. Neither of us took too long. I knew that Miss Brown was going to have something to say about it. I already had my answer ready.

"You know that only one person is allowed in the restroom at a time."

"I know, but we were not in the restroom all that time. We stopped to pray."

"What?"

"I said that we stopped to pray. Is there a rule against praying?"

"Well...I 'er... er... ."

"Yes, we prayed that God would take care of all the hypocrites and the gossip mongers. That he would send them all to hell. That he would rid people of their petty jealousies and help them to be real Christian folk rather than those self-righteous bigots and prejudicial backstabbers that they are now. That is why we were gone so long. There are so many to pray for."

With that we went on back to the table where we had left our work. After that we never heard another word from her. Miss Brown would just disappear when we came in the library. There was a note on her desk that said she was in the back if anyone needed her. We never did.

There were several books on hypnosis in the psychology section. We both read those. I took one of them home with me when we left. We were finished with what little that was there by about noon. There was a section about the use of propaganda in advertising in the text book so Robert signed that out. As we were leaving Miss Brown was no where in sight.

"Rick, I think you got to that good Christian woman," Robert said snickering to himself.

"This town library is a farce. If I ever get rich, maybe I will buy them a real library with books in it." We both laughed at my remark.

"You want to come to my place for lunch? The parents are gone all day."

"No. It sounds good, but I could only get off for the morning. I have chores to do. I have to clean out the garage. Sure. Mom is not going to throw anything away. We all know that, but once a year we have to go through the motions of cleaning it out. Someday when I am old, I may get to see what the back of that garage really looks like. I'll call you after while." We were ridding down Main Street toward where I would have to turn off onto Central. "I love you Rick Plum, you old Skeeter, you."

"I love you, too." I stood with my bike between my legs and watched him pedal until he turned on to Elm Street. We waved. Then I turned on to Central to the right, and he turned on to Elm on the left.

I spent most of the afternoon in my room reading about hypnotism. I took a shower and put on clean clothes to go down for dinner. We were mostly entertained by the talk of the impending death of their friend in the hospital in Greenville. He and his wife had been friends of my parents for many years I discovered. I could not remember what either one of these people looked like. I was not sure that I had ever even meet them. After dinner, I helped my mother clear the table. Then I sat in the living room while she played the piano and my father read his Greenville Piedmont, which was the afternoon paper. When my mother finished, I told her that I had enjoyed it and excused myself to go back to my room. We had no air conditioning but there was a huge fan in the attic that drew air into the house and kept a constant breeze circulating. You only had a crack at the bottom of your window opened so the fan could suck the air out the attic opening. That was one reason that we kept the curtains drawn. If the house were dark it was cooler. We rarely had a light on anywhere other than was necessary. I appreciated the attic fan, but when I was small I thought that it was a monster of some sort that would suck me up into its maul.

I took off all my clothes and made sure that the door was locked. I took the books that I had gotten in the library and proceeded to read them. There was an extension phone in the upstairs hall. I heard it ring. Then a polite knock on my door. "Rick, there is someone on the phone for you." It was my father.

"Tell them that I will be right there. Is it okay if I take it upstairs?"

"That's fine. I will hang up downstairs as soon as you pick up."

"Thank you. I have to put on something. It won't take a minute."

I would not more walk out of the door of my room without shirt and pants on than I would out the front door. I rushed and got to the phone. "Hello, It is okay to hang up now, father." I said.

"Is there a priest at your house?" Rick asked me.

"No. I have always called him father."

Robert thankfully change the subject to the weekend coming up. His parent were going to drive up in the mountains on Sunday and take a picnic lunch. There was a place near Table Rock that they liked to go. It was a fish hatchery at Jones Gap. There were these huge carp which were gold fish that swam around in the outdoor pond. His parent had wanted to know if I wanted to spend the weekend again and then go with them on Sunday. "You could come over on Friday and stay until Monday. Then the next weekend is the Fourth of July. We will go to the parade and everything, but you are invited to stay with us at least for that week end also."

"It sounds good to me. I will have to check, but I don't think that there will be any problem. Their friend is near death, so I am sure that they are going up there at least over the weekend. But let me see. The week after that maybe a little more iffy since they may have company and want me here. Let me ask. Is it okay if I let you know tomorrow. Sure."

"Now that is out of the way. What were you doing when I called? You know what I have been wanting to day all afternoon. I bet you were doing it too."

"I was not. I was reading that book on hypnosis."

"Were, too."

" No. I just have a lover who is a sex addict. That does not mean that I am one."

"Does, too."

"Stop that. It sounds like a little whinny boy."

"Does, too." He laughed. " I am whinnying. I want my Wickey."

"I'll give you a wickey. How about one on your neck?"

"That's a hickey. I want a wickey."

"Okay. I will give you a hickey the next time I see you."

"Can you come out and play?"

"No. It is too late. I could never explain my going out this late. Besides you have to wait until tomorrow. You already had little Ricky once today."

"But that don't count."

"Why does that not count?"

"Because we had to hurry."

"Then think about it next time before you start something in a strange place."

We chatted a short time, and I told him that I had to go. My parents would not understand that I had a friend calling and tying up the line. They had never said anything. I just knew them. I knew that they would resent my talking too long on the phone. One of their friends might need them. He told me that he loved me and would see me soon.

I told him that I loved him, too. I put the phone on the hook and called down to my parents that I was off the phone and going to bed. Then I wished then good night. They replied in kind. It was all so civilized. We were not hollering up and down the stairs but merely talking in a louder voice than usual. My father was at the foot of the steps, and I was at the head. He said that they might have to go back to the hospital for the day and that he would leave money in the regular place. That I should mow the lawn. He said that he would leave enough money that I could go to Ray's for a hair cut tomorrow afternoon. I head something about hippies. My father was a Republican before it was fashionable to be a Republican in the South.

I went back into my room and took off my shorts and tee shirt. Maybe I would grown my hair long. That would be funny. A hippie. Me. I looked in the mirror. There was a scrawny little boy with big eyes and really blonde white hair. He looked familiar. But I knew there was an older version of that boy living in that body. Robert saw it. That is why he called me his little man. Of course I have not heard that since I became "Skeeter." I lay back on the bed with just my jockey briefs on. I thought that I would buy me some boxers with the money that my father was leaving me. It was payment for cutting the yard. I could spend it anyway I wanted. We had an account at Robert's father's store, but I never used it. My mother gave me money the first of September to buy clothes for the school year. Then again at Christmas I received clothes for presents. Mostly sweaters. Usually, a jacket. I had a suit that I had worn only two or three times. It was used winter or summer. It was what was called a year round suit. Mainly, I used it to go to church when I went which was not often.

I lay there thinking about how it had felt not to wear any underwear. Boxers would be about the same. I did not think that my mother would be upset about my wearing boxers. We had just never talked about underwear. Since I had been old enough I bought that sort of thing. I had even gone to the drug store and bought my jock strap for PE. I was embarrassed having to ask for the smallest one they had.

I was almost asleep when I hear something at the window. I thought what now. Robert is going to get us both killed. I knew it was him. We used the window at his house as many time as we used the stairs. There he was grinning like a Cheshire cat at me through the window. I had to open the curtains. Then I thought that I had better cut the lamp off or some one might notice him. So I turned it off. Then I opened the window. I had a time with the screen. The latches had been painted over the last time the house was painted. There was a cloud of old soot and dust when we opened the screen. I was afraid that Robert was going to fall since it finally just popped out suddenly. He then slipped in the window. Into the darkened room. He pulled me to him.

"You did not think that I would let you go to sleep without kissing you good night did you?" With that he gave me one hell of a sexy kiss. He hugged me to him tightly.

"I love you, Robert. I really do. But you are crazy. C R A Z Y crazhee. He pulled me to him.

"He laughed, "Do you think I could get the part of Spider Man if they make a movie?"

"Yeah, You could get the part. You are going to end up with a broken neck or something worse, or someone is going to think you are a burglar and either shoot you or call the cops."

"The cops know me, so that would not be a problem. Is your father trigger happy?"

"Not really, but he is a Republican."

"Fear and trembling. A Republican." Rick was laughing.

"Shssh. Be quiet. If they knew you were in here, Republican or not, I would never be able to explain it."

"I have to go. Did you ask them about the weekend?"

"Not yet. I will tomorrow night if they get back from Greenville. They have a friend that is in the hospital and not expected to live."

"Well find out. I want to know."

"Okay. Why don't we meet up late tomorrow evening. We still have to make more plans for Project Asa. If they don't go to Greenville, I will have to be home, but if they do I can probably get a night out to spend the night if that is okay with Mom Stanley."

"Mom Stanley said that anytime Ricky Pooh wants to spend the night and his parents don't mind that he can stay."

"Did she really say that?"

"Well, she did not say Ricky Pooh. She just said Pooh Pooh."

I hit him on the head with the magazine that was lying on my bed. He grabbed me and the magazine and pulled me to him. " Another kiss and I am away. Grab the women and children eh, Poncho."

"Okay Cisco get out of here. I will call you and let you know what is happening. Read that book on psychology. I'll try to finish this one on hypnotism." We kissed again.

"Good night. I love you," I whispered to him.

"Good night. I love you too."

He was gone. I latched the screen. Pulled down the window, so there was a small opening for air. Closed the curtains. They floated up over my head as the attic fan started pulling the air out. I fell on the bed. I was so in love. The tune - I'm in love with a wonderful guy- kept running through my head. I fell asleep naked on top of the covers.

I mowed the lawn. Went to Ray's Barber Shop and sat there and waited for my turn. The place smelled like Lucky Tiger hair tonic and talcum powder. I had just gotten old enough to have him shave my neck after the haircut and then he would rub something that stung on my neck Then the brush off with the brush filled with talc. It was a ritual. I am sure that it did nothing to aid my hair to grow or not to grow nor did it change my looks. The ritual was of itself part of being a man. I might itch from short hairs being down my shirt, but I felt good about myself when I left the barber's chair. I think that is why people came back even when I could tell they did not need a haircut. I went to the Stanley's after I had a shower and gotten the call that my parents were going to be late. It was fine if I stayed with Rick if the Stanley's did not mind. I also told them that I was invited for the weekend. That was fine since the funeral was to be on Saturday. They were glad that I had a friend.

There was something in the way that they said it that made me wonder if these old people were not smarter than I gave them credit for being. In the South I had heard people refer to a gay couple as he and his friend. There was an older man who lived in a huge house outside of town. He was not a Labore but was related to them. He had lived most of his life in New York or Paris. He came back to America during the war and moved back into the old home place. He redid it in antiques and had all the antebellum paint restored. His great grandfather had died in the war. He was a general. He knew all sorts of things about gardening, and decorating. He knew fabrics and furniture. He knew how to arrange flowers. Often he was called on to present lectures on flower decorating, or dying wild flowers, or any number of totally useless things that he knew that the little ole ladies of Poinsettia found fascinating that a man would know. He also would have his house decorated for Christmas and invited them all for tea one afternoon. That way they got to see what it would have been like if the South had truly won "The War". I had heard my mother and father talking about one of these Christmas teas. My mother had said that he was funny but nice. I assume that ended that discussion. Then later I heard her mention Harrison Jonson and his friend. I knew who his friend was. He was one of the teachers at the community college. Everyone said that he was queer. I had heard my mother mention Harrison and his friend several time since then. Then today there was something in the way she said, "...found your friend." Maybe they knew about me and suspected Robert of being my lover. I mean after all there was my uncle and whoever his friend had been.

Wednesday morning after having sex. I told Robert that I suspected that my folks knew since she was glad that I had found my friend. Then he said that he knew that his parents knew because he over heard them talking about us and the fact that if I were a girl they would not let us sleep together, but then his father had told his mother-"That's the whole point of it. Rick and Robert are both boys. They cannot get pregnant, so why should they not have sex."

" Well."

"No well's about it. I was ready for sex when I was their age and wish I had gotten started sooner than I did. You know we love both of them, so let it go. No use bringing up something that will happen no matter what we say anyway. I had rather they have sex here than out somewhere they might get caught and you know how this town is about that sort of thing."

"I guess you're right. I don't think Rick would do anything to hurt Robert."

"Hurt Robert? Are you crazy. It Rick I worry about."

Robert told me all about their conversation. He had been listening from the head of the stairs, and they had no idea that he was even in the house. He then said, "They are okay with it, but I'm pissed."

"What?"

"They like you better than they do me."

We both laughed. It was nice to know that Robert's parents really did care, and they did love me.

"Robert there is something else that I have been thinking about?"

"What now?"

"With that kind of attitude I'm not going to tell you."

"Oh, come on Rick, you know I was kidding. I still love you even if my parents do love you more than me."

"Have you talked to Asa since last Sunday?"

"No. Why would I want to talk to Asa?"

"Well I have been thinking. Maybe Asa just did that so that his parents would not think that anything had changed."

"You mean that he really did change and that was just a front."

"We would look awfully stupid going ahead with Operation Asa if that were the case."

"You know something, Skeeter? You could be right, but I doubt it. We will just have to go over there and find out."

So far we have kissed each other every morning and somehow managed to kiss each other every night before we go to sleep.

We went to Asa's house which was just next door, but like a world away. Robert's house was the last of the big old white Southern houses on Elm Street and Asa's house was the first of the one story new houses. It even sat on the lot differently. The house was set at an angle. Therefore the backyard actually faced the Stanley's house. Robert could look out of his upstairs bedroom window into their backyard and swimming pool. The two houses were not close together, however. There were several trees between the two so although you could see, the view was obstructed. We walked up to the front door by going down the block and walking back up the driveway. Anyone else's house, we would have cut across the lawn.

The front door was rather large with a huge brass knocker on the door that somehow was intimidating. Robert picked it up and let it slap down hard on the wooden panel. No one seemed to hear it, so he did it again, only this time with force. From around the side of the house a dripping Jared emerged. He was clad in only a skimpy black bathing suit which outlined in detail his rather impressive and intimidating cock. I thought to myself that his cock was an imitation of the door knocker or vice versa. It had a huge round head . It was not hard but probably semi-hard.

"What the fuck do you queers want?" he snarled at us.

"Is Asa home and available?" Robert was so formal sometimes and used these big words that I was impressed with him.

Jared mimicked Robert, "He's at home but I doubt he's available to the likes of you two. What do you want with him? You want to suck his cock? Is that it? You're out looking for cock. Here come on and suck this one? Come on Ricky Plum, the fairy queen. You want some of this big meat don't cha?" Jared was holding the material tight around his huge cock making the outline even more pronounced and shaking it at me with a menacing glare on his face. "Come on, queer. Come and get some man cock."

I was starting to get hard. I hated Jared and Asa, but they were studs. Maybe he was right. I was the fairy queen. I wanted him. I could feel the precum starting to drip out of my semi-hardened cock. I was hating every minute of it and, yet, fascinated with Jared's cock. Robert brought me back to reality.

"Just ask Asa if we could talk to him. We have more than enough cock between the two of us that we surely do not need yours nor you obscene gestures." Again Robert was talking very formally. Later on I would realize that when Robert was really upset or angry, he would talk like that and use the big words that he studied. It was a way for him to control his rage and, by making sure that he kept everything on a formal basis, he would not explode and really lash out and hurt someone.

"Asa, oh, Asa, your little queer buddies are here to play. Get you fuckin' ass out here and get rid of them." Jared was screaming through the screened-door that led from the garage into the house.

Asa appeared. He looked at us dumbly through the screened-door, "What the fuck you want?"

"Asa, Asa, Asa, I thought that you had changed. I thought that we had shown you that we cared for you."

"What when you spanked my bare ass. You really are a pervert, Bob." Asa knew how much Robert hated to be called Bob and did it on purpose to piss him off. I guess that he figured that since Jared was here and bigger and older Robert would not beat his ass.

"Asa, that night you actually admitted what you are. Is all this other a cover-up so that you can survive living with that asshole of a brother of yours?'

"What? You must be dreaming. I ain't queer like you guys. The only reason that I said that was so that I did not get beat up any more. What would you have done? Gotten some more people to rape me? I thought about telling that to the police. Males can be raped you know?"

Robert just shook his head. "Asa you cannot rape the willing. If you had not wanted to be fucked, you could have fought it. No. Don't try to say you did not love every moment of it. Rick here wanted to think the best of you. You know that he still does care about you after all the shit that you have done to him over the years. He though maybe, just maybe, you really had changed from being such an asshole. I can see that he was totally wrong."

Asa made as though he were going to come out the door, "Get the fuck out of my yard and off my drive you pervert. Take your boyfriend with you. You are both sick fucks. You know that don't you? Queer. Get. Get off the property."

About this time I saw that Jared had headed from the pool to the house. Asa was doing this as a show for his brother. I was not sure. I started backing down the driveway watching the interplay between the two brothers and my boyfriend. I just wanted to get out of there. I felt dirty.

Robert very quietly said, "Asa, you know what you are. There is nothing that you can do to change it. No matter how insensitive you are to your own needs and the needs of others, you are queer, and you always will be. I just hate to see you fuck up other people. You know that I think it is too late for your two brothers, but I really think that you can be saved from a life of double standards and bigotry. I really think that you are worth it Asa. Asa remember I will never do anything that is not in your best interest in the long run."

"Who the hell died and made you God, Robert. You sound like some text book or preacher or something. You are so full of shit." Jared said.

"Yeah, full of shit as a Christmas turkey. Turkey. Get the fuck away from here." Asa chimed in.

"Yeah, Stanley go home like a mama's boy should and take your queer buddy with you. You give the street and the neighborhood a bad name."

Robert walked away from them shaking his head. When he came abreast of me, he took my hand and said, " Come on." We walked like that back to his house, upstairs to his room and there we took off all our clothes and threw them with the other dirty clothes on the floor of the closet.

"I have never felt so dirty in my life."

"Me either." I replied.

We walked naked down the hallway to the bathroom. Robert adjusted the water, and we both got into the tub-shower. I took the soap and rag and washed him. In less than a week we had sex several times. I was no longer counting. We had learned most of the topography of each other's body. I was no longer embarrassed to walk naked down the hall at his house. I did not even think about it. We just did it now. I surely was not blushing like I had done less than a week before when we were naked together. I cleaned his toes and between his fingers. I scrubbed his asshole really well and concentrated on his puckered little muscle. I knelt behind him and worked on his ass with my tongue. I was jacking him with my lather covered hand as the water splashed on his back and the back of my head. Then I turned him around and rinsed the soap from his powerful tool. It stood hot and ridged in front of me. It was engorged and pulsating. I licked the precum dripping from the piss slit with my tongue. I thought that his precum tasted close to Carl's sweet cum, Then I took as much of his cock into my mouth and throat as I could. I tried to relax and let it enter my throat, but I still ended up gagging when it slid into my gullet. It did not keep me from trying time after time to take him all. If there was a secret to doing it I would learn. It was not long before Robert shot his lode into my eager mouth and I swallowed lode after lode of his silky ropey cum.

I had been jacking my own modest cock while sucking my boyfriend to climax. I was experiencing his enjoyment vicariously. I knew how good I was making him feel. I was feeling good knowing that I could give him that much pleasure. I was sure that it would only take me another moment to cum. Robert grabbed my cock away from me and went down on his knees. He sucked my cock into his mouth. He pushed me under the shower spray. The water was cascading down from my head onto my chest and stomach, running in rivulets onto my light blond pubic hair which was wet and matted down so that it appeared that I did not have much pubic hair at all. I looked like I had a good tan around my cock. He was bobbing up and down quickly. Feeling my tense excitement I am sure that he knew how ready I really was to release my sperm. I was ready to shot. I wanted nothing more than to blast away at his beautiful wide lipped mouth and down his throat. Then it started -- one lode, two lodes, three lodes and then the forth. My God. I had never had more that three strong lodes. I was screaming. It was as though I were outside my body, and I could hear myself screaming. I could see myself standing on tip toe as I shot lode after hot lode into the hot mouth of the hottest boy-man in the world -- my Robert. He was swallowing it all. I had never cum so much. Again I was still cumming. It seemed like it would never stop.

After the shower we went back to Robert's room to dress. It seemed we had been on the go non-stop ever since I had met him. I was not used to so much sex. I was not used to so much activity, or food, or people, or exercise or Robert. I was more accustomed to living a very solitary life in my room and sex was masturbation in the shower if that. My parents were not amusing folks, but we did have a required amount of intellectual conversation each evening. It was not exciting being around them. It was exciting being around Robert. He drained me like pulling all the energy from a battery. It was like someone had left my lights on too long and the battery was running down. I lay down on Robert's bed. That was it. I was out. I feel asleep and only woke when Mr. Stanley's car pulled in the drive. He must have run over something in the drive because I heard a crash. "Oh, Shit!" Robert said, "There went our bikes."

He rushed out of the room. I just could not rush. It had not exactly gotten through to my brain that we had left our bikes in the drive and his father had run over them. I needed a new bike anyway. That was all I could think of, and I went right back to sleep. The next thing was Robert shaking me telling me that if I were going to spend the night I needed to call my parents. I asked him if he though Mom Stanley could call them for me. He wanted to know if I were sick. I assure him that I was not. I was just really tired. Mom Stanley called my mother and told her that I had fallen asleep. They must have talked for a while because Robert came back and said that it was okay to spend the night. The next time I remember anything, the sun was coming up and I felt like a million dollars as they used to say. I felt relaxed and refreshed. I woke up naked. I guess Robert had undressed me. I do not even remember it. He was lying right beside me as bare-assed as I was. I love my boyfriend, but he wears me out.

I kissed Robert on the cheek and slid out of the bed. I walked naked to the bathroom. I remembered that Mom Stanley had called my mother. I did not figure that I was in trouble. I had just been really tired. Exhausted. I felt good as I pissed and my morning hard-on left. I went back and looked at the early morning world. It was only about five thirty in the morning, but it was already getting light outside. You could see to drive without your lights. I did see a car come slowly down the street. It had it lights on. I wondered who it was. Then I saw an arm out the window throwing newspapers. It was the guy from The Greenville News. I got away from the window since I did not want him to see me standing there naked. The breeze felt so good on my body. I love the way a breeze feels on your balls. It moved the little hair that I had on them and tickled.

Robert had left the lamp on his desk on. It looked as if he had been reading and might have fallen asleep at the desk. Books and papers were pushed back. I was looking at what he had been doing. There was a spiral ringed note book with Nifty imprinted on it. Inside were vocabulary words. There were definitions that Robert had written by each word and then when he had used the word. Most of them had been used at least twice. Some four of five times. Next to it was a pamphlet on Building Your Vocabulary Skills. It was part of a series obviously called Skills for Improving Your Life. I glanced at the vocabulary booklet. It said that as soon as you had used a word five times that word was yours for life. It went on talking about how to express yourself in the best possible manner. There was another booklet in the series called Increasing Your Mating Skills. I looked through it. Some interesting concepts. Aha , I thought to myself as I read about kissing your mate every morning and every night to prevent having fights or going to bed angry. There was one booklet on controlling one's temper. This was where my boyfriend was getting all these wise sayings. There were a couple of the books that he had not even opened yet. One of those was on Developing Dating Skills. I wondered what we would be into doing once he opened that one. I sort of snickered but was a little concerned. Robert does something in a big way. He had obviously decided to take this Skills course from somewhere because they were addressed to him. He was obviously taking it seriously. I was beginning to understand a lot about my new boyfriend. He took things seriously. I tried to remember if there had been anything I was that serious about when I was his age. I know he was only two years younger, but I was in high school this fall, and he was still in junior high. I really did not think that I was as serious as Robert was even now. Lots of people remarked on how mature I was. I think they did that because I was so small. I mean I had grown up around old people I was suppose to act mature. That was it. Most of it was an act. Robert on the other hand was obviously taking this seriously.

I looked over the titles of the books that he had on his desk shelf. There were several I noticed from the Harvard Classics. He was reading stuff that I would not read until I was in college. This boy really had me puzzled. I thought that he was just putting on all this being smart and using big words. I never thought that he might really be a brain. He was just so damned good looking and had all that masculine thing about him. I thought no one was more masculine than Robert other than maybe Carl or Phil or Will. I mean he was right in there with the JV football players in my estimation.

There he was lying there naked on the bed next to me. This beautiful boy who I loved. Who surprisingly enough loved me. I never thought that I was much. I was surely not a jock. I was way too small. I did not go through puberty until everyone else had finished. I was way too small. I know I said it before but I have to emphasize that I often wondered if I might not be a midget. I was just a little too tall for that. I had looked that one up. I had also looked up things on height. I might be this small the rest of my life. It really worried me. I cared. Now that I had Robert it bothered me even more. I wanted to be normal for him. He told me time after time that he thought that I was pretty and that I was handsome. He called me his little man, but I wanted to be a normal height and a normal weight so that he could be proud of me when we went out in public. Of course I never cared if we ever went out in public. I was fondling his cock. Ole Stanley was coming to life in my hand. A drop of precum had formed at the slip on the tip. Robert's cock had a slit that ran right on the top of the head. My dick had a slit that was almost down to the point where the knife scar was left from my circumcision. When I squeezed the head of Robert's cock, the whole looked like a little mouth opening and closing. His cock was a light colored flesh. Some people have cocks that are hard looking and the veins show up really large. Stanley was a plump kid. What am I doing calling a cock a kid? Stanley was like a character of his own. He demanded and got a lot of attention. He surely had mine. I gently masturbated him in hopes that Robert would start having an erotic dream. It would be so great if he could have a wet dream while I was jacking him. Then I realized he was lying there with both eyes opened watching me.

He pulled me to him. We kissed. I told him that he had already gotten his morning kiss while he was asleep. He told me that he was proud of my doing that first thing. I thought that it was a good ideal even if it was not original, and he had gotten from some self-help booklet. I moved back down on his chest and started sucking on his nipples. He started pushing my head away and toward his towering erection. I was getting better at taking more and more of his huge cock into my mouth and letting it slide down into my gullet. I had no more than gotten comfortable with sucking his cock when it exploded into my mouth. It was not exactly what I had in mind for breakfast. I jumped up and ran to the bathroom. We needed to talk about this early morning sex. I had a really weak stomach in the mornings. From noon on nothing bothered me. After I washed my face, I went back to explain what happened to Robert. He laughed and said that he was sorry that he had not given me any warning. I told him that I doubted warning would have helped. It was just one of those things that he had to learn about me. He pulled me to him and started playing with my little cock. I thought it was little, and in comparison to his it was but to other people's I do not guess I was that small.

"Skeeter, your cock is perfect. It is just enough for me," Robert said as he fondled my balls and took my cock into his waiting mouth. It was so good. His tongue was big and muscled like he was. He could take my entire cock into his mouth and give it a tongue lashing. He lapped up and down on the underside. He swirled his tongue around the head. It only took me minute and I was moaning into his hair that I was ready to cum. He swallowed my cum without a problem. He licked every drop of my semen from my cock and made sure that there was nothing left in the tubes to drip. He was thorough.

"We better get dressed and eat. We have to stand the heat this morning since you missed it last night."

"What are you talking about?"

"I am talking about neither of us having a bike this morning since we forgot and left them in the drive way."

"Oh, my God. I sort of remember hearing the crash. Was your father really pissed?"

"He was not happy. I think that both you and I have some explaining to do. He did not want to talk about it last night. He said that we would all talk about it this morning. So... get a move on."

I jumped up and started dressing in the clothes that I had left there in the closet the weekend before. I was glad now that I had. I threw the dirty clothes in the floor with Robert's just as though I lived here. I though this is really nice, but I may not be welcomed here much longer.

We went down for breakfast. Mr. Stanley had not come in yet. I went and got his paper. Robert was helping his mother with the table since we were eating in the kitchen it was rather informal. He did make sure that there was a napkin and silverware at each place. Mr. Stanley came in. We both said good morning but were very subdued. He sat down and Robert brought him his juice and I handed him his plate with sausage and eggs. Mom Stanley took the pan of hot biscuits out of the oven and put them on a plate which she brought to the table. We ate in silence.

When he had finished, Mr. Stanley cleared his throat as if to get our attention, and he did get it. "Alright boys, I want the short version. Why were the bikes left in the drive way?"

"Sir, I am sorry, but we had planned on going back out as soon as we had a shower and got something to eat, I got as far as the shower and fell asleep. I should have never left it in your drive. I am really sorry."

"Robert?'

"I was," and for some reason I was sure that he was going to start with the big words and some sort of oration but instead he continued, "just worried about Rick sleeping like that and was afraid to leave him until Mom got home. When I explained to her, she said that he was probably just exhausted. I had tried to wake him several time and could never get him to wake up. In the meantime, I had forgotten all about the bikes. I'm sorry, but we are willing to do anything to help if the car is damaged. I have no excuse except I was negligent." Only one big word. I was impressed.

"The car is not hurt. Your bikes are totaled. I suggest that you both look for jobs so that you can replace them rather than parents having to pay for them. While you are saving your money for the bikes I suppose that you will just have to walk." With that he got up and went back to the bed room to get ready to go to work.

Robert and I looked at each other and thought that we had both gotten off really easy for being "negligent." I caught a ride downtown with Mr. Stanley. I asked him if he knew anywhere I might find work. He said that he did not but that I should ask around the various stores. Sometimes someone need stock boys or people to come in part-time to help with cleaning or inventory. I went on to my house, and my parents never mentioned the bike. I suppose that they figured that Mr. Stanley had taken care of it and no sense in their having to expend energy dealing with me or it. I did my cores. Cleaned up my room. It did not take too much. I decided that since Robert did his clothes I should learn to do my own. My mother told me not to bother that was why she had help. I did get the vacuum out and did my carpet. I also dusted everything. I went out in the yard and did the weeding. It had not rained so the grass did not need cutting again. I was finished by about two in the afternoon. I decided that I would walk downtown and ask around about a job. I had taken a quick bath. I really had grown to love a shower. I was already dressed when I heard the phone ring. My mother called up the stairs that it was for me . That Stanley boy was what she called him.

"Rick, have you got twenty dollars?"

"Robert, have you lost your mind? No, I don't have twenty dollars. I have about, hold on let me see Eight dollars and some change. I get ten a week for mowing the lawn and weeding but I have to pay for my haircuts and everything out of that. I have never been able to save any. By the time I buy a couple of cokes and stuff, it is gone. What do you need twenty dollars for. I was going downtown to look for a job like your father said."

"If you had twenty, I think I know where to get us two new or slightly used bikes?"

"I could ask my mother, but I do not think that would work. Not right now anyway."

"Yeah. I know. Don't worry about it. Call me when you get home."

I found nothing. The guy at the grocery store said that he might need a bag boy if the one he had moved. He said that it was a possibility that his family was moving to Anderson. I even went to the undertaker and asked him. Everyone was getting ready for the big Fourth of July celebration. I came home and went to my room. I was listening to the radio and they were talking about the tall ships that were coming into the harbor in New York. I thought that was interesting and would like to see it. I would make a point of watching the news with my father. He always watched the news on WFBC from Greenville. We could get all three major networks with an antennae since all of them had towers on Paris Mountain. I kept flipping the stations looking for something to listen to. There was a lot of static. I went downstairs and called Robert. Mom Stanley said that he was out in the yard working and that he had said for her to tell me that he would see me in the morning. I thought that was strange since he had said for me to call him.

Well, my father and I watched the news and I got to see some of the ships that had come early for the celebration. They were really impressive. I never imagined that the ships had mast that were that tall. I had always pictured them like the ships that you saw on pirate movies. I will have to tell Robert about the ships and maybe we can watch some of their parade next week. After the news there was a moment of history when they talked about Harriet Tubmann who I had never heard of. When the news and the history moment were over he turned the television off. He took his magazines and his book and sat reading under the floor-lamp which sat next to his chair. My mother went back into the kitchen for something, and I went upstairs with nothing to do. I thought that I would someday have my own TV and watch just what the hell I wanted to watch. There were times when I did not feel like reading. I would have just like to sit and watch Happy Days and the Fonze or LaVern and Shirley. I know they were not serious shows, but they were not supposed to be serious shows. I would just like to be able to watch something trivial for once.

I fell asleep early. I woke up early. I got out of bed and went to the bathroom. I was in a foul mood. Robert had not even had time to talk with me. My father always cut the television off after the news but for some reason it really bothered me last night. I was still angry about something and could not quite figure out what I was mad about. I put on my clothes. They were hot. I liked going naked. I could not go naked here. I normally did not mind living with these old people since I had always lived with them but for the past week I was getting to see how other families lived. It was not like we lived. Even as strange as Carl's family was, I am sure he got to watch Happy Days when he wanted. I went to the kitchen and got my cereal. I ate it and then as usual washed the bowl and returned it to the cabinet after I dried it. I decided that I needed something different. I took a Pepsi from the refrigerator and stuck it in my pants and pulled my shirt over it. I had an opener in my room. I felt so wild and evil as I opened the bottle in my room and sipped the sweet cold drink. I thought to myself I needed that.

I almost spilled the Pepsi when I heard the scratching at my window. Once I calmed down, I knew who it was. I opened the curtains and there he was. How he could climb walls or get into and out of my room without being caught was amazing. I opened the window. "I'm too busy to talk. Tell him to wait until tomorrow." I said in my most annoying voice.

"You will understand. Meet me down stairs."

I started to close the curtain. "Wait. Open the screen."

I struggled with the painted latches but got it opened. He stuck his head in and gave me a kiss. "If we had done that last night, you would not be so pissy this morning."

"You're probably right, but there were just lots of things pissing me off last night."

"I'm sorry my baby was pissed off. You know the saying... .You'll be happy when you get downstairs. I have a present for you." With that he was gone. I closed the window and went down to the backdoor.

I walked out onto the back porch. It was already hot. When I got to the steps there was Robert holding what looked like his and my bicycles. "What happened? How did you fix them? I thought that they were totaled."

"After you did not have twenty dollars and I could not scrounge it up from anywhere, I decided to hell with it. If you can fix a wrecked car why not a bicycle? I went down and talked to a couple of the mechanics at Ace's garage. They more or less told me what to do. I went and did it. When you called last night one of them was there with me. He was helping me set the spokes. It was really not that bad. I did have to buy new tubes for the tires since our tires both had holes in then. I plugged the holes but they would not keep the air in without using an inner-tube. "

"Robert this is amazing. I saw these bikes yesterday morning. I do not see how you could have possibly repaired them so quickly. Do they work?" I asked .

"Yeah, they work. I had Dad bring me over with them because I could not ride both of them over here, but they work."

I went down to inspect the bikes. The seat on my bike had been busted up before Mr. Stanley ran over it. Robert had some way managed to cover both seats with some sort of plastic like they use on car seats. He had realigned all the spokes and straightened each one and replaced it in the rims after the had redone the rims. There had to be a lot of work in each of these, and he had done two in one day and night. Instead of painting the whole bike he had just touched up where he had need to so that they were already dry and ready to ride.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go." I jumped on my bike and started pedaling toward Main Street.

"Wait. You're not going to tell your mother that you're leaving."

"Oh my God," and I flew back toward the house. "Come on. There's something I forgot." I went flying into the house and up the stairs. There it was sitting on the floor by the window. Thank goodness. I grabbed the purloined Pepsi.

Robert by this time was laughing. He knew that I had gone against the unwritten rules and taken something to drink to my room. There was something about Robert that brought out the devil in me. In the week I had known him I had eaten in my room and now I had a Pepsi in my room. I took a long swig from the bottle and handed it to Robert. He turned it up and finished it. He pretended that he was going to just toss it in my trash can. He knew that I never had food or drinks in my room. He laughed and handed me the bottle.

"Are you going to take your clothes now? Or do you want to come back later?"

"Let's take them now. Did you put the basket back on my bike? I forgot to look."

Robert hit himself up against the forehead, "Yeah, I put the basket back on. It was probably the least damaged thing on the bike. Your bike was the first one to get run over, so yours was in worse shape than mine. Where are your clothes? Did you ask your mother about staying all week next week since so many people are on vacation. Dad is even talking about closing Monday after the Fourth and then taking Wednesday afternoon off like he always does."

"I asked her last night. She said that the weekend was fine. They are going to be in Greenville with friends for the bicentennial. She said that I should come home on Monday, and we would talk about the rest of the week. Do you think that you father is going to want to go somewhere on Monday?"

"Maybe. Why don't you try for from now until Tuesday. We are supposed to have the campout on Saturday night and Sunday night anyway. You will want to stay at least until Tuesday.:"

We talked to my mother before leaving. She said that she was afraid that I was being a pest at his house. Robert said not so and that his mother liked Ricky better than she did him. My mother seemed to find that hard to believe. She did let me stay until Tuesday and then we could talk about the rest of the week. Robert had her laughing before we left. Laughing was something that my mother rarely did.

When we got downtown, lots of people were out decorating their store fronts with red, white and blue bunting. The Fourth was a week away, but people were already busy with their plans. The textile mill would be closed for the week after the Fourth and town would look like a ghost town with almost half the population gone. There were flags up and down the street. Over the service station at the end of the stores there was a huge Confederate flag flying. It seemed sort of strange and out of place for the Fourth of July. We stopped at Mr. Stanley's store and showed him the bikes. He was really pleased that Robert had done such good work. He said that we still should look for jobs, because that way we could have our own spending money. I think that my father had been talking to him, because I had heard that same reason for getting a part-time job. We helped Mr. Stanley decorate the front of his store for the sale that he was running the next week. He had bermuda shorts and these really gaudy shirts on sale for men gonig on vacations. While we were decorating, we saw Robert's Uncle Spencer go by in his Cadillac. He waved to us. I thought that he was so good looking. It was getting more and more like I was a part of the family. I was beginning to feel like I was more and more a part of the family. I watched as my Robert climbed the ladder to attach the flag over the front of the store. I was holding the ladder and at one point I looked up and could see Stanley and his balls. The leg hole of his shorts were loose. I could feel "little Ricky" starting to get hard. I told him to hurry up that we had things to do. I knew that I had things that I wanted to do. I could not take my eyes away form his crotch the entire time he was putting up the flag.

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