Usual Disclaimer: If you are not 18 years old yet do not read. If you are offended by male to male sexual content definitely do not read. If the laws in your state or county forbid this type of material, do not read. Otherwise enjoy the story and genuine comments will be appreciated.
The author retains copyright (2007) to this story. Reproducing this story for distribution without the author's permission is a violation of that copyright.
This story is fiction.
Thank you Nifty for the opportunity to post this story.
Quiet and sensitive, Jeremy first appears halfway through Peter's Mistake, (ch 15). The following five chapters relate some events in his life prior to arriving at the house.
Jeremy.
Chapter 1.
"Amen!"
A chorus echoed round the table as Matthew finished saying grace.
"What did you do at the farm today Jeremy?"
"It was scary dad. Arthur stuck me on his old tractor and made me drive it. We went out into one of the paddocks and he showed me the gears and the brakes, then he put it into first gear and told me to let the clutch out. I had a couple more goes and then he put it into road gear and I had to drive two kilometres to the back paddock. I nearly knocked a gate down because I didn't know how hard to press the brake pedal."
"Did you tell him you'd never driven anything before?"
"I did. But you know what he's like. He laughed and said it was time I learnt. He wants me to drive it for two weeks in the holidays."
"I'll have a think about that and let you know."
There was family talk during the meal and when everyone was finished, Jeremy jumped up to go to his room.
"Jeremy's reading another one of those science fantasy books dad."
Why did Robert have to pry into his things? It was such a nuisance having to share a room with your younger brother.
"Jeremy, I've told you not to waste your time reading that rubbish. You've got all those other books about real things."
They weren't rubbish to Jeremy. He thought they were wonderful and set his imagination on fire with amazing characters and fascinating ideas. There was no point in arguing though. His dad would just get annoyed and ban him from reading them at all.
"Have you learned your verses for Bible study tomorrow? I want you to top the class again this year. It sets such a good example for the others."
"I've learnt about half of them dad, and I'll go and learn the rest now. I'll test Robert on his too if you like."
Jeremy knew it didn't really set a good example to the other kids. Most of them just thought it was a joke.
"Yes, that would be a help. And check on his last week's verses too. He was having trouble with them."
Jeremy only took a few minutes to learn his verses, and then spent twice as long helping Robert, who had to work at remembering them.
He tinkered with his electronics kit for a while and worked on the project to make an alarm go off when you interrupted a beam of light.
He'd seen this when you entered some shops and was pleased that he'd nearly figured it out.
He really wanted to read his novel, but with Robert in the room he knew he'd get dobbed in again, so he looked through the science section of one of the family encyclopaedias instead, then turned the light out for an early night.
At any rate, tomorrow would be good because he'd have the whole afternoon with Daniel.
After the midday roast was finished, Jeremy changed from his Sunday clothes to shorts, T-shirt and runners and waited for Daniel to turn up.
Daniel had been his friend for a year now and they did stacks of things together.
This afternoon they'd spend a couple of hours exploring along the river, then head for their special swimming place.
The river mostly only had a trickle of water, connecting a few quiet sections with deeper water holes and long stretches of tall cumbungi reeds, but occasionally if there had been heavy rains upriver it would rise above its banks and spread everywhere.
Daniel arrived and they set off down the river on the other side.
They liked the other side better because this side was the town side and you didn't feel like you were exploring as much.
Well! Not till you left the town area about half a kilometre away. Today's destination was an old disused quarry, and it took half an hour of steady walking to reach it. They hacked round, looking at some abandoned machinery and dropping stones and boulders down a ten metre section where a bank of earth had been dug out, then found some long sticks and turned over old sheets of corrugated iron lying on the ground. This was very exciting because a couple of times there'd been a snake, and with every piece of tin your nerves quivered and you got yourself ready to leap and run, just in case one came after you.
There were no snakes today though and the walking and hot weather made the idea of a swim the next priority.
Their swimming place was much better than the main area that had been set up for the town. Maybe it didn't have changing sheds and a lawn, but it was their own and it did have a grassy area where it was great to lie in the sun if it wasn't too hot. It had their tarzan-swing too, which hung from one of the river gums and let you drop into a deep area of water which was well over your head.
Daniel started to untie the tarzan-rope and Jeremy stripped to his jocks.
"Hang on Daniel. I'll check to see if there are any logs."
They always did this now, because once Daniel got a nasty scratch and they knew they were lucky it hadn't been worse. Jeremy waded in from the shallow part and then swam back and forth in a pattern, but there was nothing to worry about and the serious business of swinging, jumping and bombing went ahead.
Daniel was in his jocks too and Jeremy liked this aspect of their swimming place.
Daniel had dark hair and smooth tanned skin and Jeremy thought he looked great. He was a couple of months older and both of them were well-developed.
Daniel often stirred Jeremy for having a big tool, as he called it, and occasionally groped Jeremy when they were wrestling, which was often. Today Daniel was wearing jocks which went loose when they were wet, and Jeremy couldn't help glancing at the way they moulded.
The other interesting thing that happened was that they sagged down from mucking around in the water and he continually had to pull them up. Jeremy knew he wasn't meant to look but they swam here so often he'd got used to it, and now he found himself wanting to see just a bit more.
They finished with the rope and floated in the deep part for a while, then headed for the hot bath area. This was a shallow place which caught the sun most of the day and the still water warmed a lot more than the main hole.
You could lie there with the water just covering your body and feel the warmth seeping in.
After a while the crocodile turned up. This was Daniel's idea and he moved himself along with his hands only and his body trailing behind.
Exploring his territory, the crocodile would inevitably discover prey and attack with the famous death roll. The prey would fight back of course and this was the signal for a wrestling match and the prey would fight for its life or whatever.
Jeremy loved this wrestling and the close feeling he got from it, but he'd been having trouble with getting stiff lately and it made things awkward.
He wondered if Daniel ever had the same thing happen and kept a watch out. Sometimes he accidentally on purpose bumped into Daniel for an extra check, but he never found any real sign.
The problem came up today when the crocodile had his knee resting against the prey's groin, telling him to give in. The prey was enjoying an exciting feeling and used the excuse of not giving in to let it continue. He waited too long though and then started worrying that he would be obvious in his jocks. He wriggled over to a kneeling position as the crocodile attacked again and tried to tip him over with a special grip. This involved moving in close from one side, putting an arm between Jeremy's legs from behind and lifting with his hand. It usually worked well because you could get good leverage and the other person got such a surprise that they forgot to wrestle for a moment. They both got a surprise today though because while Jeremy struggled to escape he felt himself pop out of his jocks and Daniel's hand touched his bare skin. Jeremy struggled free and lunged for the deep water where he swam around and calmed down. They got out and settled in their favourite spots to dry the jocks and lie in the sun.
They talked about all sorts of things but hardly ever about sex, so this was new ground for both of them.
"You had a stiffie when we were wrestling Jeremy."
"I can't help it. It happens sometimes."
"It felt pretty hard. Do you get them much?"
"Sometimes. Do you?"
"Sometimes. ...Do you pull yourself?"
This was the local term for masturbation and Jeremy wasn't going to answer straight off.
"You tell me first."
"Sometimes."
"Yes, I do too. I can't help it."
"You really are big Jeremy. Let me have a look."
This was scary, but exciting too.
"What? Take my jocks down? Only if you do too."
They both lifted their hips and pulled the jocks down past their knees. They faced each other and had a check out. Daniel had more hair and Jeremy saw that his dick looked more pointy then his own.
On a sudden impulse, which surprised Jeremy as much as Daniel, he reached out and touched Daniel's dick.
Daniel jumped.
"What are you doing?"
"I wanted to see what it felt like."
They pulled their jocks up and talked about other things till they were dry enough, then dressed and headed for home.
Two weeks later it was a long weekend and after their Sunday afternoon exploring and swimming, Jeremy went to Daniel's place.
They were allowed to camp out for the night in Daniel's two-man tent which he'd had almost a year and hardly ever used, and were really looking forward to it. They set the tent up near a dam in one of the family's paddocks and had sleeping bags, a sheet, and foam pads to lie on.
They thought of swimming in the dam but Daniel said it was full of yabbies, which then made them decide to catch some for tea.
This meant a trip back to the house to get string, some meat for bait, and a wire net.
Six lines with meat tied on the end, spaced around the dam meant they didn't have any waiting, and could move steadily round from one line to the next.
Jeremy loved catching yabbies and they were both expert at the technique of slowly pulling the line in and scooping the flat wire net behind to flip anything to shore.
"Hey, look at this one Daniel."
"It's a female and those little black things under her tail are all eggs. Throw her back in so they get a chance to grow."
When the yabbies were flipped to the bank you had to pick them up quickly before they escaped, and this was fun too, because you had to hold them just right or the nippers would get you and some of the bigger yabbies were very aggressive. They caught about thirty good-sized ones and stacks of little ones which were thrown back, and now they had another trip to the house to cook them, since they couldn't light a fire outside at this time of year. The tails and a couple of lemons was all they took back to the tent and they sat together happily peeling the shell off and rubbing the soft white meat in the lemons before popping it into their mouths. After this they checked the lines which they'd left in and kept a couple of bigger yabbies each. Jeremy made marks on the bank of the dam and they had yabby races. Daniel won almost every time with a dark green yabby which he called the Roadrunner. It was starting to get dark so they had some of the sandwiches that were originally made for their tea, then organised themselves to get in the tent. They lay on their sleeping bags talking then had a wrestle and Jeremy let Daniel win a couple of times.
"I'm feeling lazy at the moment and I don't think you're really going to kill me."
They decided it was time to go to sleep and stripped to their jocks.
"I'm just going to use the sheet Daniel. It is way too hot for the sleeping bag."
Jeremy dozed off, but woke sometime in the night when he felt Daniel roll against him. He was lying on his back with his arm by his side and by chance Daniel rolled so that his tool was resting on Jeremy's hand. Jeremy's heart started beating faster and he woke up fully as he realised the situation. He was conscious of the pressure from Daniel and he moved his hand just a little. He should move away, but didn't, and the longer he stayed the more used to it he got, and the more used to it, the more he made little movements of exploration. Gradually the exploring movements changed to a very light rubbing and when a change started his nerves quivered the same as at the river. Acting sort of automatically, Jeremy lifted the top of Daniel's jocks so that his dick was in the open, then he gingerly moved to touch it with his bare hand. Again he started the light rubbing, this time on bare flesh and when Daniel went really hard, Jeremy's movement changed to one that he used on himself. Steadily he kept going, wondering if Daniel would wake up or if he was awake already, till he felt pressure against his hand and slippery liquid on his fingers. He kept his hand where it was but almost straightaway Daniel rolled over and faced the other direction, leaving Jeremy lying in the dark thinking about what he'd just done.
Jeremy sat in the carriage of the train as it rushed on its way to the big city. He looked at the scenery passing by without seeing it, heard the clatter of the train wheels without it registering and travelled in his own world of sadness and misery.
Over and over in his mind he went through the encounter and the things his father had said. Why had he trusted Daniel the next morning when they talked about what happened and told him his secret thoughts?
Why did Daniel talk to his dad?
Weren't friends meant to keep secrets between them?
How could he be an abomination?
Tears welled in his eyes and his body shook with sobs as he thought how unfair it all was. He'd always thought telling the truth was the right thing to do, but when your father said it wasn't appropriate for you to be part of the family any more because you answered his questions, he wondered why he'd believed that.
No one even said goodbye. Not really.
His mum would follow Matthew's ideas whatever they were and had watched quietly when he carried his luggage to the car.
Robert hadn't said anything either, though Jeremy thought he looked sad, and they both stood motionless on the verandah when the car reversed out of the driveway.
Then he'd been left at the railway station with a ticket to the city and instructions how to get to his aunt's house.
Three months later, Jeremy sat in the waiting room of the Social Welfare Department,
He'd worked hard to try and please Aunt Philippa but she made it very clear she didn't really want him and then she made his life awful by her comments. Jeremy had brought a classmate to the house to work on a joint school project and when she walked in and saw them sitting next to each other she asked him if he was queer like Jeremy. This got back to school and his life was awful from then on, nasty jibes, things written on his locker, and no one talking to him or sitting near him.
Somehow he hung on till he finished his exams and now he needed help.
Twelve months later Jeremy sat in the office of the Youth Services Centre.
He'd turned seventeen now and was too old to stay with the foster home program. The family he'd lived with for the last year had treated him well enough but he knew they had taken him mostly for the money they received from the government, and though they'd said otherwise it was clear they'd disapproved of his being gay. His only option now, since he didn't want to quit school, was to stay at a halfway house.
This worked well for half the year.
Jeremy's halfway house had room for five other guys his own age. They all had trouble of some kind, like a drug problem or a criminal record or couldn't stand living with their parents, but they left Jeremy alone even if they did think he was weird for wanting to stay at school.
One of the guys, David, gradually became a friend for Jeremy and they started seeing an occasional movie, going for a swim, or spending some time together on the weekend, but this all ended when Jeremy's case worker left his file out and one of the other guys read in it that he was gay.
Once again Jeremy lost a friend, and once again he had to move after several fights to protect himself from getting what they said he deserved.
Jeremy was moved to a completely different area, on the other side of the city, to another halfway house and a new school where he was able to finish his secondary education. At this stage he turned eighteen and technically was meant to be out of the halfway house, but they let him stay for two extra months while he waited to see if he got a place at University or a College.
Money was very tight because his allowance cut off the day he turned eighteen, and the study allowance he'd have to rely on wouldn't start till he enrolled somewhere, but he managed by getting a part-time job at a petrol station.
In early January, Jeremy got his results and was pleased because they were better than he expected and a couple of weeks later his tertiary placements arrived.
Wow! He'd got his first choice, which was a College his teachers said had a good reputation for the maths and science subjects he wanted to do.
Jeremy organised everything. He studied the courses available and picked the ones he wanted, went through the enrolment procedure and found a place to live which was within a reasonable distance of the College. Everything cost more than he expected and would use almost all his student allowance, but he used his last savings from the petrol station job to move in a few weeks early and look for another job in his new area. It took a great deal of searching but eventually he found a job at a supermarket for three nights a week.
Jeremy enjoyed the two weeks before College started. He had time to do some of his own things. He joined the local library, went for walks and runs and a couple of times he used public transport to go to the bay for a swim. He spent time writing his stories and his diary and he bought a couple of electronics magazines and pored over the ideas and articles in them.
The End of Chapter 1.
Author's Note.
Any comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Please note my changed email address - iarwain@aanet.com.au
Should you be interested, my other stories can be found by looking under 'Iarwain' in the authors section on Nifty.
Contact me if you'd like to read the stories in their original Word format.
Iarwain.