Judging

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This is another short story featuring Acer, a stock show judge. I am trying to write his stories as stand alone short stories that can be read without reading others in the series. If you find that you need background found in the previous stories, I have failed to meet my goal. Let me know, please. I hope you enjoy the story.

Phil Ford

Judging

Hurricane

by Phil Ford

The salsa beat of a Marc Anthony song was playing as two men danced around the barn floor. The shorter of the two was leading. As he did a twirl, the tall cowboy's hat landed on the tile. "Stop, stop, one of three things has to happen," the shorter man said with a slight Cuban accent. "You hat must come off. You must lead. Or lastly, as impossible as it may be, I must grow another six inches taller this instant! At forty seven, I'm not going to grow any taller. If Oso comes in here and sees you leading, we will have one mad macho Cubano to deal with, and besides, I'm teaching you. Hang the hat on the rack and let's dance."

Acer didn't take easily to anything regarding his hat. Anything more than a comment like 'nice hat' or touching a man's hat and you were spoiling for a fight. He walked to the wall and hung it on a peg, putting on his best 'I don't like this one damn bit' smile and returned to the center of the floor. The music never stopped.

Filo, or Filomeno- Philemon in English, had known Acer for seven years. They'd met when Acer was starting college and beginning to judge shows and contests. He looked good even at forty seven. Oso was his partner and lover, and then there was his wife in Tampa and eight children. To her, Oso was his best friend and constant companion. She never even considered their relationship might be more than that. His eldest, a son named Jacomo, Jaco for short, was the only family member who knew the truth and he kept silent. When Filo was at home, he was devoted to his wife and children. He went to Mass and never left her side. His income supported them handsomely and to Marta's joy, he gave her many children to fill the house and occupy her time.

"I watch them," Filo stated as they began to dance again, pointing to his eye as he said it. "All the new moves come from the kids. They ain't going to catch this old fox missing a new move. I grab Oso and we practice until we have it down. I got me a real dancing bear, that Oso." Oso is Spanish for bear. Acer had never learned his real name. He'd always been Oso.

"I got them all loaded on the plane," Oso announced, coming in the barn. "I don't know where the Jefa is sending them. She just won't chance loosing quarter million dollar horses to a storm, even a week before a show."

"Don't I know," Filo replied. "The boss lady is so tight fisted she could squeeze the piss out of a rock. She pays us good though." Filo was head trainer and Oso a Trainer, with Jaco learning from both men. They traveled where she told them to go. She had homes around the country and several facilities for her horses. Some horses she showed. Some she raced on the circuit. Others were breeding stock, mostly kept in Kentucky. Stable hands cared for the horses and exercised them. Jockeys rode to train the racers. Filo, Oso, and now Jaco, straight out of high school, trained them all.

Acer was in Phoenix last. After Miami, his next gig was in Las Vegas. He had an apartment in Amarillo and an office provided by his employers, besides his own place at home. He could have spent a week traveling but boarded his horse and left the trailer in Phoenix. He called Filo and hopped a plane to spend the time with his friends. When Filo showed, he withdrew from those events. Filo had been a mentor and helped him learn his craft, but any suspicion of favoritism would cost him not just his job, but his career. The high stakes world of thoroughbred horses was unforgiving. His chance to judge more in other contests would go if he lost that.

The event coming up was just judging for conformity to the standards of the breed. It didn't include any of the qualities that made a good horse, like intellegence, grace, and agility. The horse didn't carry a rider. It wasn't a contest Acer respected when it came to horses, but it added to their value and he got paid to judge it. It was a one day event.

"Where's Jaco," Oso inquired.

"He's checking to make sure the guys got everything fastened down for the storm," Filo answered. "She leaves us here to ride it out and sends the horses to safety, how considerate"

"Palm Beach ain't Key Largo, but she's taking her own chances there," Oso responded. "If it looks like it will be a bad one and hit us straight on, she'll get us out."

"You teach him some steps so he can put his hat back on. I'm going to check on Jaco," Filo announced. Acer threw his hands up to say 'whatever' and took his hat from the peg. Oso took his hand and the dance continued.

"Chico, que nalgas tienes, you got some nice hot buns there Acer. My big chorizo would fit just right, but then I've got my Filo," Oso exclaimed. "Maybe you should break in the boy. He's got a pajaro gigante like his papa. I sees him with one of the stable hands out by the pool one day too. He can suck a mean dick from the look of it."

"If he lets me know he wants to play, I won't say no, but I won't go looking for it," Acer answered. "Do you think men get their size from their dads, Oso? I mean, could part of it come from the mother's side, like what her brothers have?"

"It's the macho, Acer, all the macho. I think a man with a small dick has a father with a small dick, and he'll have sons with small dicks," Oso insisted. "Big or average is the same way. Ask some doctor or scientist if you want an explanation. I know what I see with the horses. It's true for horses every time." Oso stops dancing for a minute and goes to talking while using his hands to demonstrate size differences. He says he knows horse dicks better than horses do, even mares. He jacks them off to collect sperm for insemination, which makes a lot of money for their operation. Then they dance more.

It was a half hour or more before Filo returned, Jaco following behind him. He had a small pot and the tiny cups used for Cuban Coffee, like espresso, and a bottle of Amaretto. He brought four hand rolled cigars along, too. "We're ready for the storm," Filo announced. "Jaco checked all around and the place is fastened down tight. We're thirty five feet above sea level and if the surge doesn't get higher than that, we'll be OK."

They all tossed back the first coffee followed by the small glass, about half a shot, of Amaretto. Filo was in a huff at Acer and Jaco's refusal of the fine cigars, but got over it when the kid led Acer out to show him how his age group danced salsa. He turned up the heat to a full boil. Grinding his crotch into Acer's had them both visibly straining at the seams in no time. Acer followed along without complaint through four songs. He couldn't take any more stimulation. He was going to rip Jaco's clothes off and fuck him then and there if he continued. His objective was to learn salsa to impress people with his abilities, not get thrown out of the dance hall.

He pushed away and changed the music to country, returning and taking the lead. Dancing the two step still left them rubbing crotches, but not like they were fucking with their clothes on. Jaco melted into Acer. He rested his head on Acer's shoulder and stared up into his eyes as they glided around the barn. His grip around Acer's chest tightened. Acer's grip of his waist pulled them as close as they could get. Where their hands met, sweat dripped from their palms. Eight songs played in succession.

Filo and Oso were still puffing slowly on their cigars. "You Look So Good Tonight' was playing. "We better get the barn door secured and move to the house," Filo insisted. "The house has roll down storm coverings on everything. We can close it up if it hits." Most of the windows on the property had roll down covers, too. The big sliding barn doors had roll down doors over the wood ones. Just the small entrance door was still uncovered. He grabbed the CD from the sound system built into the wall and slipped it in the case with the others. Oso carried the coffee tray. Exiting, Jaco took a plywood panel already waiting and set it in place. Acer helped by screwing it down.

The sky was solidly overcast and the swirling pattern could be seen in the clouds. It was oppressively humid, the norm for an early September day in the keys. The wind was light and the sock next to the helipad fluttered. It didn't stand out. Filo's house was a small one on the estate. It was by no means a small house, though. If Marta and all eight kids visited, there was a room for Oso and two bedrooms to spare. The windows of the main living area and three bedrooms were open to the light and the rest already prepared for the storm. It might hit there or take another track. Hurricanes were unpredictable. This one was quite a distance away. It was gaining strength as signaled by the cloud cover reaching them now. "I'm going to get a shower now. We can have something to eat in a little bit. The shelves and freezers are stocked," Filo told Acer. Acer used the time to call his office. They needed to line up someone to replace him if he was stranded. It was Monday. The show was scheduled for Saturday. He had his satellite phone and his laptop had a satellite connection. He'd be in touch.

Jaco appeared back in the living area. He sat on the arm of the sofa dressed in basketball shorts and tennis shoes this time. He looked around impatiently, waiting for Acer to finish his call. Acer set the phone down. "I'm supposed to show you your room and help carry your bags back," Jaco told him. Acer carried a garment bag and one suitcase while Jaco carried another and led the way.

"No college plans for you?" Acer asked.

"Not this year anyway," Jaco answered. "I was near the top of my class. I got a full scholarship to any state college but put it off for a year. I wanted some free time for a change and no studying. I considered joining up. They let women fight but that 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' might screw up my whole life. If I'm willing to give my life, they should cut me some slack." He didn't come out and say he was gay, but it was plainly expressed by his words. "It's the macho. The son is like the father,' Acer thought. Acer knew genetics said the mother passed on gay traits to her sons, but the father must, too. It was too complicated to figure out yet.

"You can take a shower. You won't run out of hot water, they've all got their own heaters that work when you turn on the faucet," Jaco told him. "The kid wants to see me naked,' Acer was certain. He liked the view of Jaco with less clothing himself. Jaco had a light fur on his chest, mostly in between his pecs, and a thick trail that disappeared into his shorts. His legs had a nice fuzz, too.

"I think I'll do that," Acer answered him. He took the contents of the garment bag and hung it in the bath first. Steam would relax any wrinkles. Then he stripped down as Jaco watched. He took a long leisurely shower. Jaco was there when he got out leaned back propped by his elbows on the bed. Thoughts Acer had about the boy while showering had him more than half hard. Jaco licked his lips.

"What are you hungry for?" Jaco inquired.

'You' is what Acer wanted to answer but instead he said, "I'm easy to please. I like everything."

"Mama would try to fatten you up. She thinks a six pack means you're skinny," Jaco responded. "I don't think you're skinny at all. I think you look great."

"Thanks Jaco, you look damn good yourself," Acer told him. "I eat out most of the time because I'm on the road. I worry about getting fat."

There was a TV in the breakfast area on the weather channel. The one in the living area was running through the channels as Filo sat there with the remote looking for something that caught his interest. He stops on a military channel. "I would have gone to Vietnam," Filo tells them. I was too young and missed it. Cubans got to fight communists, like Fidel you know."

"My dad went to Vietnam," Acer replies. "He never stopped having nightmares up to the day he died. He said fighting wars had to be done sometimes but there wasn't anything good about it."

Filo goes back to flipping channels. He stops again on a cooking show. "What are you hungry for?" Filo asked. "We've got food you nuke and everything you can cook. I'm good for steaks or grilling. I cook some Cuban. Oso and Jaco between them can cook nearly anything."

"Whatever," Acer replies. "Got a beer?" he asks.

Jaco sticks a longneck in his hand and they sit on the loveseat. Oso and Filo are on the couch.

"One of the stable hands is a chino, Cambodian I think. He's small. He'll make a jockey for sure. He cooks some good Chinese. The other one is a white boy like you, Acer. He'll make a trainer. He's too heavy to make a jockey now. When we have enough trainers maybe I can stay here all the time. Marta won't move. The house is paid off. She'll visit some. It'll just be me and Oso. Jaco will be off to college next year. He says he wants to be a vet." Filo talked a lot when he was nervous. The storm had him worried. "Marta says if the storm turns toward Tampa, she's taking the kids to her sister's in Atlanta. They'll be safe there."

The salsa music was cranked up, again, as Jaco cooked up some chicken breasts. He made a rice dish with veggies and mushrooms and a white wine sauce to top it all. Acer sat on a stool making a salad and watching Jaco shake his ass. Oso peeled and cut up fruit for a dessert and Filo kept flipping channels. Finally Filo got out a bottle of white zinfandel and topped off glasses of the stuff for each of them. Acer slugged down his beer so he wouldn't have to drink two fisted. Filo's glass was refilled more often than the others.

When the meal was on the table, Filo brought out a cake. "Happy birthday Jaco, I'm not your mama. All your friends left because of the storm. You'll have to celebrate number eighteen with some old men," Filo told him. When the candles were lit, they sang the song and Jaco blew them out. Cake was the first course.

"I'll get him put to bed and see you in the morning," Oso stated, speaking about Filo. "Wake me up if the hurricane takes a run toward us. It's almost standing still right now and getting bigger. If the chopper doesn't come before it gets too close, we'll have to ride it out. You two stay together. We can't waste any time if we have to leave in a hurry."

Jaco turned off the lights with the food put away. He grabbed a few DVD movies and a backgammon set. "Come on cowboy, see if you can beat the birthday boy," he taunted. Acer followed behind as they moved to Jaco's room. He carried a large bottle of the same zinfandel they'd been drinking, two glasses, and a bottle of something with more kick. Acer thought mixing wine with beer might be a bad idea, but whiskey should be fine. Jaco kept the same wiggle going with his ass the whole way to his bedroom.

Acer went into the bathroom to piss. Jaco followed and stood beside him crossing streams. "What in the hell is that on your dick, Jaco?" Acer demanded to know.

"Its dick jewelry called a PA, Acer. This one weighs two ounces and is supposed to make your dick longer by stretching it down. What it does best is get comments. Guys don't pretend they aren't looking. They ask about it, letting you know for sure they looked." Jack had his shorts held down, tucked under his balls. He pulled his foreskin back and twisted the head to give Acer a better look. Even though Jaco had just pissed, Acer couldn't resist. He was on his knees with Jaco's dick in front of his face. He took a lick.

"WE might do some of that later. Right now I've got to kick your ass at backgammon," Jaco told him. "You got any money?" When Acer nodded indicating he didn't, Jaco exclaimed, "That settles it then. It's strip backgammon and just so it's fair, I only have on shorts to your socks, jeans, shirt, and those cute little tighty-whiteies. Get your boots off, shoes don't count."

When Acer pulled his leg free of the FTLs he had on and handed them to Jaco, Jaco folded the board and scooted it under his bed. His shorts joined the pile of clothes. The lay leaned on their elbows, head to toe. "Weren't we about to start something earlier?" Jaco asked. "You are a lot of work, Acer, to get into bed. I figured I'd get some when we were dancing."

"If it hadn't been your birthday, Jaco would be jacking it and I'd be in my own room. My friends say I need a tag on my zipper that says 'picture ID required, no one under eighteen may enter' and I guess they're right. I did screw up once with a guy who had a good beard growth and lots of chest hair, but mostly I'm wrong on the legal side of guessing a guys age," Acer explained. "I knew for a fact you were seventeen. If I'd known it was your birthday, I would have brought a gift."

"You've got the gift covered," Jaco replied. He moved closer and swallowed what he wanted for a gift.

Acer tongued the jewelry and swirled around Jaco's knob. He was full and throbbing in under a minute. "You don't need any more dick, Jaco. Nine inches is perfect," He told him.

"I bow to your judgment," Jaco answered. "I think we're a matched set, except I have the extra skin."

"Do you have to take it out for sex?" Acer inquired.

"I haven't played that much. I got it two months before graduation. A couple of jocks loved it. They like anything that has to do with weights. They were big guys and I left it in. The stable boy likes it, too. He's blown me three times. The first time I left it in and he said it tickled his throat. I removed it the other times. I've blown him, too." Jaco unscrewed the securing ball and slipped the PA from the hole where it passed through his piss tube. He sat it on the table beside the bed. They didn't fuck, they made love. Jaco was aggressive as a bottom, meeting each of Acer's strokes. He wanted it harder, faster, and deeper. He had as much enthusiasm as a top when Acer insisted they switch roles.

Jaco woke when the light flashed. The power had gone out and the generator kicked in. He turned on the weather channel and listened. Acer rose and joined him. The storm wouldn't hit for six more hours and would take a full day to pass. It was slow moving and gaining strength. Winds were over eighty miles per hour now and no helicopter could come. The path was projected to be into the gulf and who knows where after that. Most of Florida was safe. They weren't.

It was four thirty in the morning. "I'd better wake dad and Oso," Jaco declared. Acer followed along and they found both men sitting on stools in the kitchen drinking coffee. Both visible televisions were tuned to the weather.

"Regular coffee is in the pot," Oso offered. "We have to ride it out now, it's too late. A chopper couldn't have come until after dawn. The timing was just wrong." The long glass doors leading to the patio screamed now, even with the roll down storm covers in place. The edges leaked air. "Somebody put on some music to cover that damn sound and I'll fix some eggs."

"You can see the outside with the security cameras on the computer desk," Filo told them. In the eight hours since they came in from the barn, a lot of things changed. Cuba was going to get the frontal attack and the Keys would catch the back side. How much it wavered in between the land masses would determine who was hit worst. The huge storm was threading itself through the eye of a needle.

Acer went for his laptop and plugged it in to charge. If the generator went, he'd have use of it for a day, two at most before it went dead. He cussed at himself for not buying that solar charger he'd seen. It was cheap.

At eight, Acer went to his laptop. He clicked on the address book. Selected 'all' and 'compose'. Only two friends back home had computers. The rest called them 'puters' and swore the only buttons they'd punch were on the seven second timer that sounded the buzzer at the rodeo. Emails went to coworkers except those two. He wrote, "Get my substitute lined up. It is headed to hit us dead on. No rescue is possible now. I'll have to wait it out. I'll be in contact again after it passes. If not, it's been a fun ride. I wouldn't have missed it for anything. I hope to make it through the storm. Acer." He hit send and closed it up.

He sat at the table next to Jaco, drinking coffee. Pictures came to mind. Those on the computer escaped him. The ones in his wallet had substance. He could hold them in his hand. He took them out and started telling Jaco stories about each person held there. Two hours passed before he came to the last picture. He and Jaco were laughing and having a good time. Acer's stories were great and made the people pictured come to life. He put his wallet back in his pocket at last and in a better mood. He could face whatever came now.

All day the intensity of wind and rain outside increased. At lunch, Jaco took the fruit and wine left from the night's meal and fortified the mix a little. To the salad he added some fish en escabeche, cooked by lime juice and some boiled shrimp. He heated the broiler and cooked four thick steaks, which would have been better grilled but tasted great. Enough birthday cake was leftover for days. He found some bottles of Australian wine called Shiraz. It was red. He'd never tried it and just said, 'what the hell' and opened it. He liked it.

They spent the afternoon trying to make the time pass faster. First they watched a movie, following by some dancing with all the furniture pushed back against the walls. When Filo and Oso went back to their room, Acer followed Jaco to his. There they made love and took a nap until supper time. The sky was clear then. They were in the eye. Trees were down all around and the pool was a disaster filled with debris blown into it by the storm. They went back inside when the wind started to pick up again.

Oso spent two hours cooking his favorite Cuban dishes. The food drew stories out of Oso as they ate in the same was the photographs in Acer's wallet had done for him. An Aunt, a grandmother or his mom were tangled in each tale somewhere. Filo joined in telling stories, too. It became four men talking about times in their lives, many of which brought smiles or laughter from their fellows, during a moment when their future was uncertain. Around ten they split up and went off to bed. Jaco and Acer held each other tight throughout the night, making love and snuggling as the mood struck them.

The storm still sat on top of them the next morning. The eye had shifted a few miles east. The satellite was out and Acer's laptop was the only working way to get weather reports. One security camera was working. It showed a sheltered area outside the kitchen door. The rest were blank screens.

At noon the storm had moved twenty miles further west into the gulf. Water trickled down from the ceiling forming a puddle on the floor in three places> Oso got buckets under the drips. Filo said to pack everything in boxes because the house would need repairs before they could come back home.

The helicopter landed in Miami with all four of them the next morning. A rented SUV was there and hotel reservations were made for rooms near where the horse show was to be held. The city seemed untouched by the storm. Jaco designated himself Acer's personal guide for the rest of Thursday and Friday, taking him all around and to his favorite night spots for dancing. They had Saturday night together and stayed in the room. Jaco begged to go with Acer. Surviving had created a lifetime bond. Finally Jaco accepted that going with Acer was impossible. Sunday morning Jaco couldn't let go of him. He clung to his arm or his neck, or his shoulder. At the boarding ramp, Acer kissed Jaco on the forehead and said, "I'll see you when I see You," and walked away.