The story that follows is true -- to the best of my recollection; the names and places have been altered a bit to protect the innocent. "Bob", if you're out there would love to hear from you.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY, REVISITED.by M. H. Finn
I attended a College in northeast Missouri in the late 60's and think back often to a major "missed" opportunity for not only for sex but, who knows.
"Bob" was the son of a grain farmer that farmed north of town in the fertile river bottom of the Mississippi River. I had meet Bob through his cousins who lived in town and whose father ran a Gas Station. One of the employees of the station raced stock cars and I was able to tag along as part of the pit crew.
Bob, who was 18 at the time and a senior in high school and as I remember active in all kinds of sports, very intelligent and way above average in the looks department. He was 5' 10" about 155 with a brown hair and hazel eyes, a very tight, cut, athletic body. Bob always seem to have a smile on his face or one very close to the surface, if you understand my meaning. But he had a life that few have: a large, happy, loving family, 6 kids if I recall, and I believe that Bob was the oldest; if not then the oldest boy. The parents were first rate and that trickled down through all of the children in all the important ways. The farm was large and successful on its own merit's plus Bobs father was also the local representative for a large seed and chemical company. Bob and his middle brother, who I'll guess was 16, although both still in high school, basically ran the day to day operations of the grain farm. Allowing their father to work nearly full time at his other job.
I first met Bob at the gas station on a Friday afternoon as we were all helping to load the stock car for its race over at a dirt track in Illinois. At the time I was not gay, or at least I didn't think the name applied to me. I had fooled around with friends, as all kids do, as I was growing up, but did that count; nah. Bob was great, as were his cousins and siblings and a good time was had by all. Bob later invited me to drop by the farm "anytime" and he would let me play "farmer". And to be totally honest nothing, repeat nothing, else crossed my mind re Bob other than the chance for the city boy to get a chance to ride and drive some very large tractors. I drove out the next day, after morning summer classes, following the easy directions that Bob had given me.
I saw Bob and his brother both on tractors in the middle of a large dusty field as they were disking the soil in preparation for planting. Bob drove across the field to say hello and at the same time reminding me to roll up the windows of my 68 Chevrolet Coupe; dust was every where. He had me jump up beside him to ride on the left fender of the large John Deere tractor. This predates the air-conditioned, pressurized, fancy cabs of today's farmers. I learned a lesson that day about wind and dust: last one to get up in the mornings, and that was normally his brother, eat most of the dust during the day. Bob and I became fast friends as I rode beside him and we talked our heads off about both of our lives up to that point and what our plans were for the future. I also learned how to operate a large and somewhat complex John Deere tractor. At the end of the day I headed back to town and school to clean off the black earth that had invaded nearly every pour of my body. With an open invitation to return any time to play "farmer".
I was near the end of the week until I could get time to run out to the farm and ride along with Bob. We had are normal good time talking and joking about anything and everything. About 4:30 in the afternoon they decided to call it a day as they saw a truckload of brothers and male cousins drive up. They were headed for what they referred to as a "borrow" pit to swim not far from where we were working. A "borrow" pit I found out was a hole where dirt is dredged up to form a dike (to hold back the Mississippi River from the spring floods) leaving a ditch to fill with water. As the soil also had a lot of sand the water was quite clear and clean. I remember thinking to myself that I did not have a suit to swim in but that I would follow Bobs lead. When we got to the swimming hole after crossing a few fields most of the guys had stripped down to their jockey shorts and started to hit the water. I did notice that Bob and his brother stripped completely and I thought that was fine with me so off came my shorts and in we went. I remember that there were comments that we should be wearing something to swim in but Bob and his brothers called them sissy's, etc., and it was left at that. I did note that Bob and I had both been given the same sized dick; at least what I could judge at full rest, so to speak. Not the biggest or the smallest but about 6-1/2" and average diameter and cut like mine. It became common, after our first swim together, to end the day swimming nude at the borrow pit. Most of the time there would be 4 to six of us swimming and as the heat picked up it was a great place to cool off.
One day after some rain delayed planting for a few days I invited Bob to come down to town. I am not sure who suggested it but in the heat of the day we drove down to the Mississippi to a park and walked north along the river. We had gone a couple of miles when we decided to swim; off came the clothes and in we went. Nothing happened, and maybe it is wishful thinking, but I think he was checking me out and no doubt I was doing the same. Missed opportunity #1.
A few days later, after classes finished for the morning, I drove north to again visit with Bob. When I arrived he was loading the planter, fertilizer and herbicide tanks on the JD equipment. For you city types, not unlike myself, this setup allows one pass through the field planting 12 rows of corn or soybeans, and adds the fertilizer and herbicide in one pass. Bobs tractor was also equipped with a monitoring system that warned him if any of the product was not be put down at the prescribed levels.
By this time Bob and I had become pretty good friends. I took my seat on the left fender of the oversized green tractor and we were off to plant corn. I was most impressed with Bobs skill as he made maxim use of every square foot of each field, not only for planting, but to maneuver a very large mass of equipment (a good 70' long X 35 to 40' wide). From time to time the monitoring device would indicate a jam and we would stop and fix the problem and continue on our way. Bob explained that before the new technology it was not uncommon to miss planting a number of rows with predictable results.
As it turns out a leak through one of the liquid monitors led to a bit of horseplay that gave us both an indication of where our friendship might be headed. I am not sure who instigated the play but since Bob is not here lets blame it on him--------- . The monitor, that controlled the flow of what I hope was the fertilizer and not the herbicide (a scary thought), had a small leak at one end. Bob grabbed the fitting at the leak in an attempt to stem the flow. Instead of wiping his hand on his jeans as I expected he reached over and wiped it on mine. Not to be outdone I helped myself to the liquid and returned the favor. Then he rubbed it on my arm and I on his and then the alarm went off on the monitor necessitating a stop to unplug one of the corn planters. Bob suggested upon seeing his little brother and father driving by in the pickup that we get his dad to do a few passes while we take a swim. Now this WAS looking interesting. Bob gave his dad a call on the radio and got his permission to take our swim break. As we were jumping in the truck Bobs little brother (10-11 years of age) asked to tag along-----------------We did swim but with his brother watching nothing happened------------?. Shortly after I left the farm that day I became frighten that I had nearly outed myself in a time and location that had a very low tolerance for the homosexual lifestyle.
I have thought about this event often in the last years-------and now recognize that I did miss out on some REAL FUN. In the next installment of my story I plan to let you join with me as I speculate on what might have happen had I and or Bob been a bit braver---------------OK since Bob took the first hit-----I'll take this one-----I screwed up BIG TIME-------All I had to do was ask, and I am sure that Bob would have taken the plunge with me.
Until next time----Thanks for reading.