This story contains explicit sexual activity between men. Please read no further if you are offended by such or if you are a minor. Any resemblance to actual persons or activities depicted is purely coincidental, but actual places and events are mentioned to add a sense of reality to the story.
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SAM CALDWELL'S FURTHER ADVENTURES
by Macout Mann
Chapter 5
Win
Ten days later Sam sends four illustrations to Curt with copies to Janet Harrison. The fourth depicts what Guy sees when he notices the improperly set rivets. The other three are no more sensual than other illustrations Sam has done, but given Josh's reaction to his image of the teenaged football player, Sam figures everything has got to be in the eye of the beholder.
Actually Janet's reaction is fairly positive. She says that she still doesn't see the need for Sam to rock the boat, but the stuff that he's sent is tasteful enough. She does suggest that since the novel will require a much larger number of illustrations than any of his previous books, except for the nature studies, he ought to require a much higher advance as well as a higher royalty.
Sam agrees, and tells her that if Curt and his publisher want to proceed, she should negotiate for whatever she can squeeze out of them.
Meanwhile, the Fourth of July holiday is coming up, and Sam has always tried to spend it in Sparta. Either the Harts or Christian will barbeque baby backs. There's always plenty of potato salad, beans, slaw, vine ripened tomatoes, green tomato relish, whatever a Southern boy like Sam would want on the Glorious Fourth. Whenever he can come, Sam brings the beverages.
This year it's the Harts' turn to do the ribs, and Myra always adds her French fried onion rings to the menu. They're the best Sam has ever eaten.
Myra's secret is to remove the membrane that separates each ring from the one next to it. Not to do so is what causes most rings you order in most restaurants to pull away from the breading. What Myra does is to soak the rings in iced sugar water for several hours. Then the membranes easily can be removed with a paring knife. She then uses the water the onions were soaked in as the liquid for the batter. The sugar makes the fried rings slightly sweet, and the water has absorbed some of the onion flavor, making the rings even more pungent.
The Harts still live where they always have. A three bedroom bungalow in a working-class section of town. Not convenient to have houseguests. So Sam stays with either Vernon or Christian, although wherever Sam stays the other professor can be counted on to show up and join the fun. This trip it's Vernon's turn to be host.
Before heading to Vernon's pad, however, Sam pays a visit to the Harts. He's recently heard that Win has decided to go to Georgia Tech, and he wants to tell Win how pleased he is that his favorite "nephew" will be coming to Atlanta. He also asks Myra if she's heard from his mother lately.
"Yes, I got a nice letter from her last week," Myra says. "She says she's fine, but your dad has had a bad cold."
"I wish he would let me relate to them," Sam responds. Then he turns to Win. "And Win, I want you to know, when you get to Tech, you'll always be welcome at my place. I'm only a couple of miles up Peachtree from the campus and only a couple of blocks or so from the car line."
"Thanks a lot. I will," Win says. "But while we're talking about that, I need to ask you about a couple of things." He motions Sam out to the back yard, leaving his parents and two brothers in the living room.
"I hope you don't get pissed off at me, but I need to talk to you," he says.
"You know you can talk to me about anything," Sam tells him.
"I know you and my dad get it on," Win begins.
That does sort of bring Sam up short. "What makes you think that?" he sputters.
"Dad told me."
"Well then, I'd be pretty fucking stupid to deny it, wouldn't I?"
"He said you and him have been getting together about as long as we've known you."
"That's true too...but why is he admitting all this shit all of a sudden?"
"Well, you know Dad and us boys have always been close," Win answers. "So I got up the guts to tell Dad that I'm gay. And he told me that he fucked around with guys too. And I told him I had the hots for you. And then he told me about him and you.
"The way I feel about you goes back to when you painted me pretending to jump into that imaginary swimming hole," Win continues. "I guess I was five or six. I didn't realize what I was feeling back then. But after a while I knew I couldn't look at you without getting a hard-on. Dad too."
Sam looks at Win in a new light. He has always been a handsome youth, but he has matured into a stunning looking man. Right now he is wearing a work shirt completely unbuttoned, revealing a fuzz-covered chest and washboard abs with the beginning of a treasure trail leading into cowboy-cut jeans that are nicely filled out at the crotch. His shoulders are broad and his biceps nicely formed by work and years of hard play. His mother had discouraged the boys from playing football, so Win has taken after Vernon and gone into gymnastics. Chuck is a competitive swimmer. Bryan, the youngest, is into wrestling.
"I never dreamed that you might be gay," Sam muses. "Are Chuck and Bryan...."
"No, they're straight," Win answers, "although Dad says we all could turn out to be bi. He thinks that's the way everybody oughta be.
"After I came out to Dad, he got the three of us together and said I needed to tell them something. It was hard, but I admitted to my brothers I was gay. Then Dad told them that it was nothing to be ashamed of. He said he was sure we all knew that you were gay, or at least thought so. And we were proud to know you. It was just how some people are.
"Chuck and Bryan have both been super about it. Of course, Mom doesn't know, or at least nobody's told her."
"Your dad is a remarkable man," Sam says. "When I first came to Sparta, I was a pitiful specimen in every way. A real limp wristed faggot. And it was your dad that convinced the others, Vernon and Christian, to help me become what I am today. He understood then. He understands now."
Sam pauses. "Have you and he....? You said you...."
"No. He's said that wouldn't be right. But he said if you...."
So much was being unspoken. Sam looks into Win's eyes for the longest time, then asks, "You been with anybody yet?"
"Me and a couple of buds have sucked each other. No fucking. I'd like you to be the first."
"Well, not here. Not now," Sam grins. "Call me when you get to Atlanta next month. We'll see how you feel then.
"Right now, we better get back inside, before your dad decides I must've already tapped you."
When Sam gets to Vernon's place, Vernon is surprised at how frisky he is. Sam doesn't feel he can say why. But he sure as hell shows him how.
The holiday goes as planned. Sam and Jim do get together before Sam drives back to Atlanta.
"I guess Winn told you, did he?" Jim asks.
"Yeah. I was really surprised," Sam responds. "You might have given me a `heads up.'"
"It was his place to let you know how he felt. Not mine," Jim says.
"You're right as usual," Sam says. "You're one wise son-of-a-bitch. Always have been."
"I hope you make him happy."
"I sure as hell want to. I'll try to give him the satisfaction you gave me when I was his age."
"Well right now," Jim says, "I'm the one that needs to be satisfied."