Tales from the Ranch

Disclaimer: The following story is a work of fiction. If you are offended by descriptions of homosexual acts or man/man relations, please exit this page.

TALES FROM THE RANCH Copyrightc 2006 by Tulsa Driller. All rights reserved.

This is a story of men who have two common interests. You will see that they love the land where they live and work, but it is also the story of young men who love other men and their coming of age in a culture of prejudice and misunderstanding. It is a story, which deals with difficult and often disturbing issues but, nonetheless, issues which must be confronted in today's society.

This is a work of fiction and in no way draws on the lives of any specific person or persons. Any similarity to actual persons or events is entirely coincidental. This work is copyrightedc by the author and may not be reproduced in any form without the specific written permission of the author. It is assigned to the Nifty Archives under the terms of their submission agreement but it may not be copied or archived on any other site without the written permission of the author.

PLEASE: In a perfect world AIDS doesn't exist. My characters have unprotected sex. I hope you use proper precautions because I'd like you to be around to read the last chapter of this story.

Tales from the Ranch Book II, Chapter 5 Christmas Preparations

Life was a whirlwind in the weeks leading up to Christmas. The first party that Dale, Craig and Joey attended was the annual tree-trim party at the Williamson's home. This party was always the first Sunday afternoon of Advent. It was a "family only" party starting at 4 p.m. and the men were proud to be included. Dale knew that Parker Morton, the retiring General Manager of the Bar-W Ranch, had never been invited to any family activities, yet he and Craig, along with Joey had been included.

This was the first time Joey had been in the house except to eat lunch with Dale, Chris Williamson and Bertha Wood, the housekeeper and cook. He hadn't seen any of the house, except for the kitchen. They entered by the front door and he was amazed at the size of the rooms; and then was pleased to see that the house had a "comfortable lived-in look" rather than a staid, formal look like a museum. The 12-foot tree was in place in the living room, along with a stepladder leaning against the wall. Boxes of lights and ornaments had been placed on a large table.

Jason and Kevin were excited about Christmas and especially that Joey was a guest. They were glad to have someone who was closer to their own ages, although Joey was still three years older than Jason. They insisted on taking him upstairs to show off their rooms and the bathroom with the Jacuzzi and large walk- in shower.

"Wow, this is a neat shower," Joey told the boys. "Dale and Craig have a big shower in their bathroom and they've promised me that I can have one like it in my bathroom when we build the new house," he proudly told the boys. Then he realized he'd said "their bathroom" and wished he hadn't.

"You'll like it, especially if you can find someone who wants to take a shower with you," Jason said, winking at Joey, who wondered exactly what he was trying to say.

The two dogs had accompanied the three young men upstairs and Joey was thankful for the excuse to play with them and change the subject. They were beautiful collies, named Brandy and Ginger. Joey knelt on the floor and the dogs immediately came to him for attention.

"You've never seen my dog, Mitsy, have you?" Joey asked Jason and Kevin.

"No, but we've heard that she's really smart. Dale told us that," Kevin said.

"She is and she's well-behaved, too. I'll be glad when we can have a fenced yard for her, but she's done really good adapting to living in a 5th floor condo instead of our old house in Houston."

"Do you know where your new house is going to be?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah, at the top of a hill on a farm about 6 miles northeast of Williamsport," Joey told them. "At least that's the plan now. There isn't a road all the way to the top and Craig is trying to figure out the best route for building a driveway."

"That will be neat. Are you going to have a big bedroom?" Jason asked.

"Craig and Dale said that I'd have three rooms, plus a bathroom and closet. There will be two bedrooms, in case I have friends to spend the night along with a lounge room where I can have my desk, computer table and some chairs to sit in to watch TV," he proudly said.

"That's kinda what we have here, except that we don't have two bedrooms, just two beds," Kevin giggled.

"Hey Joey, are you gonna join the Boy Scouts here? We have a neat patrol and Scott Maxwell is our patrol leader. He's 16, and a junior. He's working on finishing his requirement to be an Eagle Scout. The other guys in our troop are a lot of fun, too. You'll like them all," Jason asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I should do that. I'm a First-Class scout and I need to join up so the work on my Star rank doesn't go to waste, but I've got a lot of activities going on with working some at the store, singing in the choir and being on the Student Council. Dale and Craig might make me give up something else if I join scouts. They think I need time for myself and my friends, too," he told them.

"You'll have a lot of friends in scouts," Jason said. "It would be so cool if you would join our patrol."

Kevin chimed in. "I'm in Cub Scouts and I can't wait to join the Boy Scout troop, but I still have about two years to go. I'm going to join Jase's patrol for sure. I know they have a good time after the lights are out and."

Jason shot Kevin a warning look and Joey had to smile at what Kevin was probably about to say.

"I know you probably do. We did in my scout troop in Houston."

About that time they heard Marty yell for them to come back downstairs so the three young men and two dogs ran down the front stairway, ending up in the living room.

"Hey men, there are plenty of snacks on the table in the dining room and there are soft drinks and juice on the table, too. Help yourselves. We're about ready to start decorating the tree," Chris told them. They were all in the dining room before she finished.

Dale and Craig were talking to Marty and Martin about their good fortune in buying the land once owned by the Darrington family. "You got a super bargain," Martin told them. "Any word on the other property to the east?"

Craig replied, "No, but Leland seems to think they might eventually accept our offer of $38,500. Two of the heirs are pushing to close the estate, as this is the last item to be disposed of. The third heir wants to hold out for more money, but his attorney told him that small farms in that area haven't been selling well for a couple of years."

"He's right," Marty confirmed. Everyone wants larger farms and that land has several other farms around it. Younger people own a lot of that land. They want to live in the country and let someone like Pete Conrad farm it for them. Since all of the farms in that area are small it might take quite a few years to acquire enough land for you to make a living by farming."

"Hopefully, I can farm some of it by myself, you know; raise some crops and hay. We're likely to have some horses eventually, so wouldn't have to buy as much to be able to feed them," Dale said. He liked the idea of farming for a hobby.

That gave Marty an idea and he filed it away into the back of his mind.

Decorating the tree was fun. Craig and Joey took turns on the ladder while putting the strings of lights on the tree. There were a lot of ornaments that had been in the Williamson family for years. Martin and Janine told the history of a few of them; some were thought to be over 100 years old. Jason took his turn on the ladder, hanging ornaments at the top while the men spelled each other by holding the ladder steady.

Finally, the tree was declared complete about 6 o'clock and the dining room had been made ready for a buffet supper of chili and all the trimmings. Everyone stood in the living room, holding hands while Martin offered a prayer for the blessings of the Advent Season leading up to Christmas. The ladies led the way to the dining room and everyone, in turn, helped themselves to the delicious chili and all that was provided to go with it.

Later as they were leaving the Bar-W, Dale stopped at the barn/office so they could pickup a gallon of milk and 2 dozen eggs.

"Maybe soon we'll have our own supply of milk and eggs?" Joey asked.

"I think only eggs," Dale told him. "All of us together barely keep the milk and cream used up. Certainly we can't use what a cow would produce and I don't think that any of us three want to be bothered milking a cow twice a day - everyday," Dale told them.

Joey agreed after thinking it over. Craig was relieved.

"But we're going to be able to have chickens, ducks and geese?" he hopefully asked.

"Oh yeah, " Dale replied. "You can even have some goats to play with if you want," he teased, thinking about how much fun they had been when Jason had a couple for his Cub Scout project two years ago. He didn't tell Joey that they liked to climb on everything from the tops of cars and trucks to low roofs and also liked to butt everyone around when they were feeling ornery, which was most of the time.

"Neat!!" was the reply. "How about pigs?

"How about 'Joey Pig'?" Craig asked. "I saw you going back several times for more chili and other things - especially pie and cake?"

Joey was glad his Dads couldn't see his face getting red. "Well, it tasted good and we didn't have much lunch." He was right about that as they only had a salad and sandwich for lunch.

"Don't worry about it, Joey. I seem to recall seeing Craig at the buffet table several times - and me, too," Dale teased.

"It was good food. The chili especially," Craig told them.

Monday morning brought a cold wind from the north, along with rain on and off all day. Several times it rained hard enough that they had to close the large barn door to keep the rain from gusting in. Dale was helping Michael and Pat with the two hay balers they had torn down so parts could be thoroughly cleaned and painted before putting the equipment back together.

"How old are these hay balers?" Michael questioned.

"Let me look in the equipment files," Dale told them. He was also curious about that because they were using them when he first worked at the Bar-W quite a few years ago. He went to the office, wiping the oil and grease off his hands and pulled the equipment record book out of a file drawer. There was a computer print out of the depreciation schedule. It was interesting that they had been fully depreciated for 9 years. The balers had been purchased from the John Deere dealer in 1973. 'Well, it just proves that if you take good care of equipment, it will last forever,' he thought. He put the book away and walked back over to the other barn where Michael and Pat were working.

"We bought these balers in 1973. This will be the 19th year we've used them."

"You'd think this ranch could afford new ones." Dale caught the tone of Pat's voice. Clearly he was argumentative about it.

"I'm sure there is no problem in replacing them when we need to, but you will have to admit that we had no trouble with them last summer. They've been taken care of and parts repaired or replaced as necessary. There is no reason to buy new equipment just because it looks better." Dale wanted to set him straight about that. "We could buy new equipment every time we turned around, but that money was used to provide a nice place for you to live while working here."

"Yeah, guess you are right," Pat conceded, wishing he hadn't brought the subject up.

As they worked, Dale's thoughts turned to the fact that they were going to have to hire more help toward the end of February.

"Hey guys, I'm going to be hiring two people to work with you about the end of February and maybe two more about the middle of April, if not sooner. If you know of anyone who isn't afraid of hard work and wants our benefit package, tell them to come see me. Sorry I can't hire them right away, but there is no use having more people than work to be done."

Michael was grateful for his job at the Bar-W and for the benefits he and Pat received, especially a nice place to live. They were enjoying being in the crew quarters by themselves, but realized that would have to come to an end. He just hoped that Dale was able to hire compatible people. Michael knew that Pat wasn't ambitious when it came to work. He figured that Pat would be content to work at the Bar-W Ranch forever. The work wasn't hard and they were treated well. Michael thought he could handle the "Crop Foreman" position with no problem, but Dale had indicated that for now he would continue in the job himself. He wondered if the real reason was that Dale didn't want him in the position. He didn't know, but he had vowed to himself to work harder and ask questions that would show he was interested in more than his present job.

Joey was finally enjoying his Drivers Ed course. After he was allowed behind the wheel for the first time he realized the value of the preparation course that was the introduction to actually driving. The car used for driver training was a 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Sedan, similar to the one his father had owned before his death. There were three students assigned to the instructor and each usually received about 30 minutes driving time during each class session. Joey proved to be a natural behind the wheel and was easily able to accomplish the training course and parallel parking.

The same couldn't be said for the other two students, a girl and boy who both attended Fillmore High School in Williamsport. The girl, Chantel, was way overweight and talked all the time, even with the instructor asking her to keep quiet. The young boy, Freddy, acted like he was afraid of the car and he seemed to creep along the way. Joey noticed the second day Freddy drove that it appeared he had sweat a lot as his polo shirt was wet under the armpits and down to his belt.

Joey liked the instructor, a man named Robin Fishell, who was friendly and gave good verbal help. He allowed Joey to drive in downtown Williamsport and on the highway right away. The other two were still trying to master driving on a closed course that included both angle and parallel parking, as well as being able to back up in a straight line for 100 feet. Joey was glad they weren't on the streets when Chantel and Freddy were behind the wheel.

The first time Craig allowed Joey to drive his car, he was nervous because Craig was sitting next to him and he knew that his driving habits were being scrutinized. However, Joey was careful about using turn signals, changing lanes well ahead of time in order to turn a corner and checking the mirrors continually. Craig was pleased that Joey was being taught well and thought he should send a note to Mr. Fishell, thanking him for instilling good driving habits in his students.

Because of insurance restrictions and the fact that Dale's vehicle belonged to the Bar-W Ranch, Joey was only allowed to drive Craig's car as a student with a learner's permit. However, both his Dads were generous in allowing him to drive when they went on errands and other places around Williamsport. Joey really loved Craig's Grand Prix coupe and thought it was fun to drive. He dropped the big hint that he wanted one like it when he got his unrestricted license in another year and a half.

Craig did a lot of his Christmas shopping during the mornings after going to the office to see what needed to be done there. The first gift he bought was a gold necklace for Dale, like the one he'd received for his birthday. Antoine Mercier remembered Craig and asked after Dale by name, which surprised Craig until he got to thinking about the amount of money they had spent there a couple of months before. He used one of the $100 gift certificate cards he and Dale had received when they bought their matching rings. Craig was having a hard time trying to decide about gifts for Joey. He and Dale has discussed it and had decided that maybe some new clothes would be good for a major gift from both of them, but there were other things he wanted to get for him, also.

Pawl and LouAnn Garnoski had purchased the old Beauford property so both Don and Craig were spending a lot of time at the house in preparation for gutting it and making specifications for a new central air system as well as being completely re-plumbed and new electric wiring installed. They discovered shortly after they started the project that they would be better off to lift the house off the foundation to knock the old basement walls and floor out to deepen the basement as had been done to the St. James rectory. That was going to run the cost of the project up, but the Garnoski's would gain a full and deeper basement that met the code for new concrete work.

Craig wished that Ray Evans' company would bid on the job, but Ray told him they were not taking on new work until the end of the warehouse-distribution center project was in sight and he was estimating that was still 2 and a half months off.

Ray had managed to hire another crew and foreman so along with John Sterling becoming more confident in his position, there was less pressure on some of the many jobs they were working. Ray, Andy and Keith had shifted crews around so the new employees who didn't have much experience were working alongside skilled workers. They made one of their present crew a foreman and he had stepped up to the position with no problem. Home Builders Construction Company was enlarging and growing with a minimum of problems.

Dale did most of his personal Christmas shopping while running errands for the Bar-W Ranch. He and Craig had agreed that they would buy Joey some clothes, but each could give him other gifts, too. They also decided that gifts for Craig's parents, his sisters, Chuck and Doug should be from both of them. Joey wanted to buy his own gifts for all of them, so Dale had taken him to the bank to get some cash out of his savings account. He also wanted to buy gifts for his friends that he ran around with, as well as sending Christmas cards to his friends and several of his favorite teachers in Houston.

Paul Rathborne had been working the choir hard on Advent and Christmas music since way before Thanksgiving. He and Fr. George had discussed the music he was thinking of using and together they listened to recordings of several masses before the final decision was made for Christmas Eve music. They decided that the most joyful of all they "auditioned" was the "12th Mass" of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Paul especially liked the "Gloria" and the mass would be sung in Latin. There would be two Christmas Eve masses at St. James. The first would be a 7 p.m. family service with no choir, but lots of Christmas hymns would be sung accompanied by the organ.

The traditional Christmas Eve mass would start at 11:00 p.m. after the choir and congregation sang Christmas hymns for a half hour, starting at 10:20. That would allow time for Paul and a brass quintet to play a festive prelude for the mass. They knew the church would be packed. It always was and at least a third of the congregation was either those who went to church just on Christmas and Easter or were members of other churches in the area who had to have their "Anglican Fix" from time to time. Clearly, St. James was the place to be for an impressive church experience - regardless of the celebration.

Joey was working on his solo, "O Holy Night" and Paul wanted him to sing it for both services on Christmas Eve. He assured him that he could come sing his solo and then leave after he sang it for the early service. The "anthem" for the Christmas Day mass would be a quartet singing Pietro Yon's "Gesu, Bambino" with each of the men taking one section as a solo part. Joey was proud to be part of that and was pleased that Matt Rhodes would be singing in the quartet, also.

Joey felt badly that although his group of friends seemed to accept Matt as a friend, he was somewhat aloof. Joey would see Matt sitting alone in the cafeteria while eating lunch and would always make it a point to tell him that he was welcome to sit with the others, but Matt seemed to ignore the invitation. What Joey didn't know was that Matt was infatuated with Daniel, but was afraid he would not like him if he found out he was gay. So, Matt sat where he could observe Daniel while eating his lunch.

Ray and John awoke the next morning, spooned together, laying on their left sides with John behind. Six-thirty came early, as they had not had much sleep during the night. It felt so good to Ray to have someone sleep with him. He'd found what was missing in his life and wished that he had acted on his instinctive needs years ago, but probably wouldn't have met John. They had made each other feel so good.

"Morning," Ray told John, brushing his right ear with his lips.

John wiggled around so they were facing each other. "Morning, yourself. Do we have to get up?"

Ray laughed. "Yeah, I have to check job sites and so do you. It might look funny if we were both absent from work today. The guys at the office know you were coming over here for dinner last night."

"Caught, aren't we?" John asked, a little nervously.

"Yeah, but they'll all be cool with it," Ray said, hoping he was right.

"Really?" John wanted to know.

"Look, they know that I'm gay. I told them that a year ago after I finally admitted it to myself.. Keith and Andy told me that it wasn't a problem for them. After all, we've known each other since high school and we own the company together. We don't have any secrets from each other. Pete didn't express any problem with it, either."

"I'm not sure I'll know how to act in front of them since they will know about us," John said. He was getting more apprehensive.

"Just act natural. You have nothing to be ashamed of and I don't either," Ray declared. "Now we'd better get our asses out of this bed, through the shower and to work," he added.

"Is it okay if I shower at home and put on clean clothes," John asked.

"Sure," was the reply. "I don't have anything here for breakfast, but can I offer you coffee to take with you?" Ray asked.

"That would be great," John answered.

Ray stood and watched as John pulled on his clothes. As he put on his athletic shoes, Ray said, "Hey guy, you need to get some steel-toed work boots. I'd sure feel better if your feet were protected. You never know when something might fall over and your feet were in the wrong place."

"Will they have them at the Farm Supply Store?" John asked.

"Yeah, and probably the best price, too. And get the Wrangler brand that are 12-inches high. I think those are the sexiest; that's what I wear," Ray grinned.

John remembered seeing Ray wearing them. He was right, they were sexy.

The coffeepot was on a timer, so coffee was ready when they entered the kitchen. Ray poured an insulated travel mug full of the brew and offered milk and sugar that was declined.

They exchanged a deep kiss as John started for the door.

"Do you want to come back after work this evening?" Ray hopefully asked.

John was relieved. This wasn't going to be a one-time encounter. "Sure," he said, smiling.

"We can talk during the day," Ray said. "Bring some clothes for tomorrow. "Even though it will be Saturday, we need to check a couple of the job sites - especially the warehouse project. Other than that, I have the day free and hope you do, too."

John made quick work of shaving and climbed into his shower. He loved the pulsating showerhead and turned it to fast and the water to as hot as he could stand it. As he shampooed his hair he felt himself becoming erect. "Down boy," he said to his dick. He was surprised that he could get hard again after the multiple orgasms he and Ray had the night before. John wasn't going to take care of his problem by himself. It would be more fun to do it with Ray this evening.

He rinsed his hair, then applied hair conditioner and started soaping up his body. His thoughts returned to last night. 'Well, I've finally gotten it on with my boss and we had a good time together. He wants me to come back to his place this evening and spend the night again,' he thought to himself. 'I hope I haven't been stupid. I have a good job and don't want to jeopardize it by screwing with the boss. But, Ray seemed to want it, too,' he continued to think.

John rinsed the soap off his body, then rinsed his hair again. The shower had done wonders for him. He'd stop at Mickey D's to get an egg and sausage biscuit before driving to the warehouse project. He made a mental note to work a trip to Farm and Ranch Supply to get some sexy boots. He felt himself getting hard again as he hung up his towel.

He quickly dressed and grabbed a heavy jacket out of his closet. He'd heard the weatherman say that the temperature was 42 degrees.

Ray liked to shave in the shower, so he worked the shampoo into his short hair and then soaped his face. He usually let the soap soften his stubble before applying shave cream. It didn't take him long to scrape his face and rinse the soap off. That done, he soaped up his body, imagining that it was John doing it for him. 'I hope we shower together in the morning, that should be fun,' he thought. He could feel himself getting erect as he thought about the wonderful sensations they'd given each other the night before.

Rinsing himself, he shut off the water and sponged the excess water off his body with a washcloth before grabbing a towel and drying himself. He went to the kitchen to get another mug of coffee before pulling on his clothes. He had the radio on and the weatherman said it was 42 degrees and wasn't going to warm up very much during the day. He pulled on a long-sleeve t- shirt then dropped one of their company sweatshirts over his head, deciding that would probably be enough to keep him warm. He then put on socks, boxer-briefs and a clean pair of Levis, buttoning them up. His work boots were in the closet and while putting them on his thoughts turned to John. He hoped he would buy a pair for himself and that he would get the rough tan finish instead of black or brown leather. Ray felt himself getting a little hard when he thought about John wearing boots like his.

Pouring the remaining coffee into his insulated travel mug, Ray left for the office. He needed to pick up a set of blueprints and there was always donuts or muffins to eat in their little kitchen. He realized that he was hungry. 'His sexual drive must have burnt calories,' he thought, smiling to himself. He hoped it would happen again. and again. John was such a hunk.

Frank and Doris did their Christmas shopping together except for gifts for each other. The Gentry Shop had a nice selection of leather jackets. They drew Brad as a salesman and quickly found three jackets for their boys, as Doris referred to the men. Brad was most helpful and as soon as he figured out whom the coats were for, he referred to his file to get coat sizes. Of course, he didn't have anything on file for Joey, but Frank thought they should buy a size 42 for him. Brad recognized Frank from the picture that had appeared in the Saber Computer ad when the store opened.

He told Frank and Doris that if they could come back in about an hour, the coats would be gift wrapped and ready for them to pick up.

That left four gifts for them to buy together and Doris had already figured some possibilities for their daughters, along with Chuck and Stan.

Their next stop was Wyler's Department Store. Doris told Frank that she wanted to buy a nice KitchenAid mixer for Susan and Chuck. They had the K5-A model she wanted to buy available in either white or green. They decided on the white one. They purchased two additional pieces of Waterford stemware for the couple, and two more in the pattern Craig and Dale had.

Obviously they couldn't buy one gift for Becky and Stan. Who knew where that relationship was headed, though both agreed that Stan was the best of Becky's parade of boy friends. Becky had not shown much interest in learning how to cook, although Doris knew she could get by in the kitchen. So, kitchenware was out - for now. They finally settled on buying Becky a new DeskJet printer for her computer. They would rely on Joey to pick the best one for her.

Stan was another problem so they finally decided on a nice sport shirt and sweater when they returned to The Gentry Shop to pick up the jackets. Brad checked with the gift warp department and the lady could wrap the gift items immediately. Doris asked that both items be wrapped together.

That left gifts for each other and Doris knew what she wanted to buy for Frank.

Craig was making great strides on drawing house plans for their new house. He and Dale had figured out how to complete the driveway to the top of the hill. No matter how it was designed, they would have to take out one tree and several shrubs, but that was a minor matter.

The first level would be a partial basement with garage space for four vehicles, along with shop space and a large storage area. The ground level was designed to provide a large kitchen similar to the one in the condo. The large dining room was capable of accommodating a table seating 12 people. Craig had designed lighted storage for china and crystal with glass doors. The living room would be quite a bit larger than their present room. In addition, there would be a room suitable for an office that could double as an extra guest room, along with a bathroom and closet in the entryway.

Craig had decided to make the house angle at the front entrance, making the left and right sections set forty-five degrees to each other. The result was that the house didn't look as long as if it were in a rectangular plane, and brought the two ends closer together.

The third level would have two master suites of two rooms each, plus a large bathroom and dressing closet. Between the two suites would be two smaller bedrooms that would share a bathroom. One of those bedrooms would have a passage door to Joey's rooms so he could have friends over to spend the night.

The two master suites would each have a small balcony, both facing to the west. A graceful stairway would connect that floor with the main floor.

He had designed a nice brick patio accessible from both the living room and kitchen French doors. Each room in the house would have spacious windows. Craig had come up with a good plan for using native stone and used brick along with mostly concrete construction.

Frank told Craig that he was giving his electric trains back to him, so Craig had provided a large room on the basement level, between the workshop and storage room. Joey hadn't seen the layout yet, but he was excited about the HO-scale trains after Frank showed him pictures of them in operation.

There had been much discussion about a fireplace and Dale had insisted on one in the lounge room of their master suite. Of course, this meant a fireplace in Joey's room, as well as a larger fireplace in the living room.

After the plans were well underway, Craig built a scale model of the proposed house. Each floor could be lifted off the one below so the inside could be seen. It seemed huge but he knew that the three of them would be entertaining a lot of guests.

Ray parked in his usual parking space in the lot and entered the building. Andy and Keith were at their desks in the big office the three shared and Pete Rowland was working on customer billings at his front desk.

"Hey Ray, how goes it?" Pete questioned. He had a big smile on his face.

"Great. It's a wonderful morning," Ray responded. He couldn't help but smile, too.

"How was your dinner date last night?" Pete wanted to know.

At that, Ray's face turned red. "Uhn. err.I." Ray couldn't get the words out and was grinning, big time.

"Hey fellows," Pete yelled. "Me thinks that Ray Baby got laid last night."

Immediately Andy and Keith were in the room. "Really?" Keith wanted to know.

Ray's face felt hot, but he couldn't help but smile.

"I think he did," Andy proclaimed. "You guys owe me $20 each, so pay up."

Ray couldn't believe what he was hearing. Keith said "Damn." as he pulled out his wallet. Pete did the same, still grinning.

"It's worth losing $20 to get the boss laid," Pete laughed handing his money to Andy.

Ray finally found his speech. "What's going on?"

"We had a bet as to how long it would take you to get into John's pants. Pete said it would take you two weeks and Keith thought it would be after Christmas. I guessed three weeks and won!" Andy exclaimed.

Ray could feel his face turning red again. "You guys!!!" he said. "Don't you have anything to do except bet on my sex life?" He really thought it was funny.

"Well, as far as we know, your sex life has been on vacation until last night. Congratulations," Pete said, slapping him on the back.

Andy and Keith did the same, giving him high-fives.

After they quit laughing and things got quiet, Andy asked, "So. how was it?" More laughter.

"None. of. your. damn. business," Ray said. "You don't play on my team, anyway, so what difference does it make?' he laughed again.

"Just trying to make conversation. Besides, I might learn something new," Andy said, suddenly getting quiet. He thought about what it would be like to get it on with another guy, but couldn't imagine that scene.

"Well, thanks for the concern," Ray said, going to his desk for the blueprints he needed.

"Not a prob, just don't let this get in the way of our business," Andy responded.

"I know, that bothers me a little bit, but I think John and I are both mature enough to keep our private lives away from the office. But, all of you guys, please don't hesitate to say something to me if you see any signs of that happening. I don't want to cause any problems."

"We have a good business here and I think John is going to fit in well. He's learning his job quickly and all of the men like and respect him. Just don't let them know about this. That's what I'm really concerned about; we don't need them harassing John. They know better than to say anything negative to you, 'cause you're one of their bosses - but John isn't. I don't' want to see him hunt," Keith sincerely said.

"I agree with Keith. We don't need any problems with the troops. It's hard enough to find good help without the possibility of them being bigots, too," Andy added.

Pete agreed. "I hope this works for you and John. He's a nice fellow and you deserve someone like him. Just take it slowly."

Ray was surprised at the support he'd received from his partners. Well, Pete wasn't a partner, but might as well be with the responsibility he had in their business. He hoped that in time, they would think of John in the same way.

"Gotta hit the sites today. Thanks guys, for the support - and Andy, don't spend your ill-gotten money all in one place." He shut the door, hearing their laughter as he went to his pickup.

John had to go to the office mid-afternoon so he detoured to the Farm and Ranch Supply store to buy the boots Ray had recommended. He parked and went in, following the signs to the shoe department. He quickly found what he was looking for, ignoring the black and brown leather, and pulled a box off the shelf labeled 10-Wide in the rough tan finish. He sat down in one of the chairs and pulled off his right athletic shoe, straightening his sock before putting his foot in the boot. This pair hadn't been tried on before so he had to thread the laces through the eyelets. It took him a minute to do so and then snug the laces, tying them after pulling them around the top cuff of the boot. It felt good and seemed to be the right size. He did the same with the left boot, holding up the leg of his Levis so he could admire the entire boot in the mirror. Ray was right, they were extremely sexy looking and he couldn't wait to show his purchase to him later that afternoon.

He decided to wear them and put his Nikes in the box, carrying it to the cash register.

The next stop was the office and he had to wait for a switch engine to clear the crossing before he could drive in and park. John needed a set of blueprints that Pete found for him.

"Could you check the purchase order for sheetrock on this?" he asked Pete.

"Sure," Pete replied. "Is there a problem?"

"Yes. I'm sure I ordered 10-foot sheetrock and they delivered 8-foot."

"You are right. Have you opened any of the bundles yet?" Pete asked.

"No, but the crew is ready to hang rock starting in the morning. If they don't have 10-foot rock, then they've probably not shipped enough to the job site. The crew is working both tomorrow and Sunday and we'll not have enough to finish the job."

Pete immediately picked up the phone to call the supplier. Sure enough, John was right. Pete explained the mistake and told the man that they had to have the right quantity of sheetrock. While he was waiting for the person to check their records, Pete was looking at John. He wondered what attracted the two men to each other, not that they weren't both good-looking. He didn't have any problem with whatever they might be doing to bring pleasure to the other, but just hoped that that the "boss- employee" relationship didn't cause problems for the company.

Pretty soon the shipping manager was back on the line. They had enough 10-foot rock on hand and Pete prevailed on them to deliver what was needed and pick up that which was delivered in error.

John could tell that the man wasn't happy and was glad that Pete was handling the problem for him. He still was having a hard time pushing the suppliers the company used when it came to getting deliveries on time.

"They will get it taken care of this afternoon," Pete told John as he hung up the phone.

"Thanks, Pete," John responded.

"Not a problem, but let me tell you this. We spend about a half million a year with Mid-Texas Gypsum and it's up to them to deliver what we order. There is no need to make extra work for our crews, having to do unnecessary cutting along with the extra taping involved. They either deliver what we order or we buy it from someone else," Pete said.

John understood. He just didn't like to argue.

Thanking Pete, John took the blueprints and walked back to his company pickup. The switch engine was moving the other direction, pulling two boxcars behind it. He was just getting ready to turn the key in the ignition when his mobile phone rang. It had to be one of just a few people, either the partners or any of a half-dozen foremen.

"John Sterling, can I help you?" John answered.

"Hi Guy, it's Ray," the familiar voice said.

"Hi back to you, too," John said, smiling. This was the first contact he'd had with Ray since leaving his place this morning.

"What's going on?" Ray wanted to know.

"I'm in the parking lot at the office and just got back in the pickup. I'm on my way to the Highfill building. Mid-Texas Gypsum delivered the wrong size sheetrock and I needed Pete to check the purchase order to make sure I'd ordered the right length."

"Good, stay on top of it," Ray told him.

"Pete called them and they are going to deliver the right rock and pick up the wrong delivery this afternoon," John told him.

"That's the reason we hired you and put you in this position. We have to have someone circulating the job sites and keeping track of what's going on. Your discovering the problem with the wrong length rock saves the crews having to cut and patch along with all the extra taping and mud they have to use. You are doing great," Ray praised him.

"Thanks," John responded. He was pleased that he had caught the error and gotten the order straightened out. He needed to go to the site to make sure the bundles of the wrong rock weren't opened.

"Now the real reason I called," Ray continued, "is to find out if you are coming over after work for dinner and then spend the night?"

"Oh yeah!!" John was excited about that.

"Fantastic!! Do you have any idea what time you are going to be through this afternoon?" Ray asked.

"I'd planned to go to the Highfill Building job, then swing by the Greene and McConnell jobs. The last two are the only sites I haven't visited yet today," John answered.

"I've been to the Greene job and Keith was going to the McConnell site right after noon, then he was going to knock off early. Andy left at noon to go to San Antonio for the weekend. What do you need to do at the Highfill Building?" Ray asked.

"Make sure they don't open any of the sheetrock that has been delivered and then let Curtis Miller know that the correct order is to be delivered later this afternoon," John told him.

"So you will probably be through in about what - 45 minutes?" Ray wanted to know.

"Pretty close to that. I need to swing past my apartment and pick up some clean clothes for tomorrow, so maybe an hour," John responded.

"Bring some sweats or something comfortable to lounge around in," Ray suggested. "We can have a fire in the fireplace."

"Sounds good to me. Anything I can bring?"

"Nope, I'm going to go to the deli and get something for us to eat tonight along with some fruit and rolls for tomorrow morning. Do you like fried chicken?" Ray wanted to know.

"One of my favorites," John told him. "Sounds great to me."

"Okay, then I'll plan to see you at my place in an hour or so," Ray told him and added, "Goodbye."

"I'm looking forward to it. Bye," John said.

Ray drove to the United Food Market, got a shopping cart and headed to the deli. He loved this place as they had really good food that was well prepared. It didn't take him more than a few minutes to get fried chicken, pasta salad, a couple of small baking potatoes and a few other items, including two blocks of really good cheese. He could make gravy with a package of cream gravy mix and a cup of milk. By the time he was through at the grocery, he had spent $25 and carried it out in two paper sacks. 'Maybe if John and I spend more time together, I can actually cook a meal instead of visit the deli,' Ray thought.

The Liquor Mart was just down the street. He ducked in there to buy a case of Coors Premium Beer and pick up two bottles of table wine, along with a bottle of Canadian Club. He was ready to drive home and wait for John to show up.

The bundles of sheetrock hadn't been opened and just as John started to look for the foreman, Curtis Miller, the truck from Mid-Texas Gypsum arrived. The driver was confused when he saw sheetrock already on the floor. It turned out that his truck had the delivery they were supposed to receive. The driver who delivered the other sheetrock had picked up the wrong delivery slip and hadn't paid any attention to the order. Needless to say, the driver of this truck wasn't a happy camper as he had to reload the wrong order, take it back to the warehouse, and then unload it. He had hoped to start his weekend early today.

Dale and Craig needed to do some shopping together and Friday night, December 14th, was open for them, so they asked Joey if he minded not being included. It would be the first time they had been out for an evening alone since before Joey had come to live with them.

"You can invite Daniel and Forrest or any of the other guys over and order pizza if you want," Craig suggested.

"That's fine. I think I'll just ask Daniel as there are a couple of new computer programs that we want to try out and maybe include in our demo's at the store," Joey replied. He was thinking that maybe this might be a chance to look at some of the movie collection with Daniel. Every time they tried to get together, something happened that one or the other had to cancel.

Forrest's grandmother wasn't doing very well so he was spending part of each evening at the rest home until she went to sleep, which seemed to be a little earlier each night. He was spending the rest of his evenings studying for semester finals and since he was ahead of Joey and Daniel in school, they didn't share any classes.

So, finally it looked like there would be an evening where Daniel could spend the evening at Joey's house. He had checked with Daniel at school on Thursday when they were in Computer Lab and it was okay with him. Since it was a Friday night, Joey asked if he wanted to spend the night. He did and it was okay with Daniel's parents and with both Dale and Craig, who thanked Joey for clearing it with them.

The boys walked to Daniel's home after school to retrieve the knapsack with his clothes for the next day. When they arrived at Joey's house Dale and Craig were just getting ready to leave. They were going to shop early, have dinner together and then try to finish up before the stores closed for the evening.

"Hey, Danny. The 'rents are gone and won't be back for at least four hours." They exchanged high-fives on their way to raid the refrigerator.

Daniel thought it was funny as Joey referred to Dale and Craig as his parents, but it really was true. Gay or not, Daniel wasn't bothered and thought it was cool that Joey could ask them anything and get a straight answer rather than beating around the bush like so many parents, his own included. Daniel's brother, Scott Pearson, thought he knew a lot about sex, but the little he shared with Daniel couldn't be all true.

As they helped themselves to some snacks and sodas, Joey asked, "So, what do ya wanna do?

"I've never had a chance to look at your movie collection. Something's always happened that we couldn't look at any of them.

Joey had put the VCR tapes on a shelf in his closet and arranged them the best he knew how. He had separated the "straight and gay movies" not really knowing what he was doing. He had looked at a number of the videos and both types of movies seemed to turn him on. He was confused because women's sex organs were a complete mystery. He had heard stories that their pussy's either tasted like honey or smelled like fish. Men, on the other hand, were less confusing. There was a cock with balls and a butt hole and they all looked cleaner than a woman's pussy and the other parts of her genitals.

"What do you want to look at?" Joey questioned Daniel. "There are movies of men and women having sex, two women having sex or men movies in various combinations from solo jack offs' to an orgy."

"Can we look at a little of each?" Daniel was already starting to get hard, just thinking about what he might be going to get to see.

"Sure," Joey replied. They walked to his bedroom and he opened the closet door. He pulled three tapes off the shelf. The first was the classic "Deep Throat", followed by "The Bigger the Better" and then a copy of "The Other Side of Aspen".

"These are considered to be 'classics' from what I can figure out. The copy of 'Deep Throat' isn't a good one. I think it was filmed under bad lighting conditions and then later transferred to videotape. The same may be true of the 'Aspen' movie, but the other one is a good, clear film."

"Can we look at all three?" Daniel wanted to know.

"Sure. Let's start with 'Deep Throat'." He put the tape in the VCR and the screen came to life shortly after he punched the play button. They watched in silence for a few minutes until the scene where the man was eating the woman out. When she asked if she could smoke while the guy ate, Daniel said, "Oh gross. I've seen all I want to see of that. I'm hard, but that is yucky."

Joey agreed. He stopped the tape and rewound it.

The next tape Joey loaded was "The Bigger the Better" with Rick Donovan and Mike Ramsey, plus others.

"Wow!! Look at the size of his cock," Daniel said when Rick dropped his briefs and started a solo jackoff session while watching himself in a mirror. Daniel thought that was awesome and he was now fully hard. So was Joey. They were sitting on Joey's bed, leaning against the headboard.

"He is one huge dude," Daniel said. He was hard and needed to do something about it. He could feel that he had expelled some precum. Joey was equally hard. The scene changed to a classroom and they both had a hard time believing that Matt Ramsey was taking all of Rick Donovan's cock up his ass. Joey massaged his cock through his 501's, not knowing if Daniel wanted to beat off in front of him or not. "He sure produces a lot of cum," Daniel said, meaning Matt Ramsey.

Finally the movie went to the next part with Matt Ramsey working out, showing Brian Michaels how to lift and then the two of them having sex.

"Do you want to see more of this or shall I put another movie on?" Joey asked.

"I want to see this scene," Daniel replied. His pants were too tight and he was trying to be discrete in re-arranging his cock, which was pointed off to the right side down his leg. It was very uncomfortable.

Daniel looked at Joey's crotch. It was full and Joey had his hand over it. He couldn't tell what was going on in Joey's Levis except that there was a big lump behind the buttons. Daniel had always liked to look at men who wore button-front Levis because most appeared to be covering up major meat. That made him all the harder and he was going to have to do something about it.

The next scene involved two teen boys having sex with each other while staying in a condo belonging to the brother of one of them. One pretended to be asleep and the other started playing with him. The story resolved itself to a suck and fuck fest.

"Un. Joey. do you care if I unzip my jeans? I'm getting a little uncomfortable. You can do the same. it won't bother me. He was hoping to see what Joey had in his pants. Bryce had told him that Joey was big. He already knew that Joey was hairy, as he'd seen him wearing only boxers the day he went to their condo after Thad Wilson had accosted Joey at school.

"I'm gonna take my pants off. Why don't you do the same?" Joey asked as he untied his athletic shoes in preparation to kicking them off.

To Daniel, this was a dream come true. He couldn't shed his shoes and pants fast enough, also pulling off his t-shirt and over shirt. Soon, all he was wearing were his briefs and socks.

Joey shed his shoes, Levis and a polo shirt. They were wearing the same amount of clothes and Joey was wearing boxer shorts.

The movie was still running, but was about to change to the next part.

Daniel was looking at Joey, not caring that he was staring. Joey was hot - and so was the movie.

Joey was looking at Daniel. His dick was pointed to the right side of his briefs and his balls were visible as Daniel rubbed himself.

"Take it out," Daniel almost whispered to Joey.

"If you will, too." It was almost like the old "I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours" statement.

Daniel didn't bother trying to fish his hard cock through the fly of his briefs. He lifted his hips and slid them off in one quick movement.

Joe laughed. "Are you horny?" He did the same, displaying his body for Daniel to admire.

"Ya got it. I don't know which is the sexiest, the guys in the movie or you. How big is that thing, anyway?" Daniel asked, suddenly feeling bold.

Joey proudly said, "Almost 7-inches."

It looked a lot larger than that to Daniel, maybe because it was so thick. Then he asked, "When did you start growing hair on your chest?"

"Last summer. It just grew, seemed like overnight."

"All the hair I have is a little in my pits and above my cock. You're almost a bear," Daniel said in admiration.

"My dad was hairy and so is Dale. Guess it runs in the family," Joey admitted. He was proud of the way his body looked.

"So, do you wanna jack?" Daniel asked, already stroking his 6-inch cock.

"Sure, I haven't had a good j.o. for several days." Joey started moving his hand up and down his tool, the foreskin making his glans appear and disappear. Daniel thought that was the sexiest thing he'd seen and said so. He'd never seen an un-cut cock that was hard before.

"How does that work?" he questioned Joey, meaning the foreskin.

"Just like yours except the extra skin has been removed from your cock and you can't slide the skin up and down very far. I've heard that people like me are more sensitive at the base of the head than you are, but don't know for sure."

They were both slowly masturbating themselves. Daniel was getting hotter just from watching Joey.

"Have you ever done this with another guy before?" Joey asked quietly.

"No. My brother, Scott, called me a queer when I wanted to do this with him. I was scared that he would tell my parents, but he just held it over my head for a long time."

"Bummer," Joey told him.

"How 'bout you?" Daniel wanted to know.

"Our patrol in Boy Scouts used to jack together after lights were out when we were on a campout. That's really where I learned. I could cum at an early age and had plenty of practice making it happen. Do you know there are some kids in my class that probably still can't shoot wads?" Joey said.

"Well, I've only been able to do it for about a year. It was just before my 14th birthday," Daniel told him. He was starting to feel some tingles behind his balls.

"I started about my 12th birthday," Joey said. "I had pubic hair even before then."

"Cool," Daniel said, stepping up his efforts. Joey was also feeling the beginnings of an orgasm.

The movie had long since ended and the TV screen was blank. Neither realized it.

For Joey, what he and Daniel were doing reminded him of his scout camping trips where the boys would have contests to see who could cum first, shoot the furthest and who could hold out the longest, or maybe they were just slow.

Daniel had hoped to have an experience like this and thoughts of Forrest kept crossing his mind. Forrest lived alone. Maybe he could borrow a couple of tapes from Joey and they could watch them at Forrest's house. He could feel his balls starting to inch up toward his groin.

"I'm gonna shoot pretty quickly," Daniel announced. He had crossed the point of no return.

"I'm with ya, pal," Joey exclaimed. "Let's do it."

Daniel fired the first shot, if it was to be considered a contest. As he released the first salvo onto his chest, Joey had an involuntary sensation, followed by his own copious shot of semen. Both boys were eyeing each other's dicks, one firing, and then the other. By the time they were finished, each had cum all over their chests and abs. Joey even had some on his chin. He wiped it off and licked his finger.

Daniel's first reaction was that it was gross, but bravely tried it himself. It wasn't too bad, a little tart and salty.

Joey was more brave. He slid his finger across Daniel's chest and gathered up more cum, putting it in his mouth. It tasted a lot different than his own.

'Neat!' was Daniel's reaction.

He did the same, wiping some of Joey's cum from his abs. It didn't taste like his own semen, but nuttier. This had certainly been a new experience for Daniel. He hoped that they could do this again.

"Man, that was fun. Thanks!" Joey exclaimed. Being the proper host, he got off the bed and went into his bathroom to wet two washcloths. He wiped himself down, and then took the other cloth to Daniel. Usually, Joey would use his socks, but tonight he was still wearing them.

As for Daniel, this was the neatest sexual experience of his young life.

Joey cleaned up the bathroom and then they ordered pizza to be delivered from Tony D's.

Later when Dale and Craig came home, they found Joey and Daniel in the living room. There was a movie on TV, but both boys were asleep, Mitsy between them, on the loveseat.

Dale woke the boys up. "Time to go to bed," he told them as they stirred.

Joey let Mitsy out, then decided that he'd better follow her downstairs and wait until she was through with her needs.

After he came back inside, they told Joey's Dads 'good night' and went toward Joey's room.

The older men were tired and ready to go to bed, also. There wasn't any pizza left and the carton was in the trash. The heating system had picked up the odors from Joey's bedroom and distributed them throughout the house.

After they were in their bedroom and the door was shut, Craig said, "I don't know about you, but I swear that I could smell teen-age cum in the other room. Do you think they 'did the nasty'?" Craig laughed.

"Who knows - or wants to know?" Dale asked. "I really don't care. Those boys are old enough to be responsible for their actions. If they had a good time, that's fine with me."

"Ok by me, too," Craig replied. "I just hope they used protection if they were fucking and I guess we need to talk to Joey about that again, to make sure."

Dale and Craig took turns undressing each other, kissing skin as it was revealed in the strip game. They loved this routine.

Finally they were both naked. They pulled the covers down and fell on the bed playing "bury the tongue" as a prelude for adventures in other body cavities. The men never had a plan as to who was going to do what to the other. They let their passions guide them and tonight it was Dale who ended up taking Craig to the balls. The men loved each other and were continually finding new places to stimulate the other, taking them to new highs.

Tonight started as a slow, sensuous lovemaking session. Craig easily slid into Dale and they took their time bringing pleasure to the other. Craig loved to lie on Dale's hairy body and having his dick buried to the balls was the height of pleasure for him. In this position with Dale's legs wrapped around Craig's waist, they could move as one person while kissing. No other stimulation was needed. They could feel each other spasm, Craig's dick twitching from time to time and Dale was involuntarily clamping down on Craig's dick as he slowly moved in and out. As they started kissing and licking each other's faces and pinching nipples, the passion increased. Both were starting to make noises as they moved toward orgasm. Their movements got more frantic as they sought to release their token of love for each other.

Finally Dale clamped his big hands on Craig's pecs and squeezed while twisting. That's all it took. Dale started firing shot after shot of cum between their chests and abs. You couldn't convince them that an asshole didn't have nerves. Dale always thought that he could tell exactly where Craig's cock was buried while in him. Certainly he felt Craig's 6«-inch missile lock on its target and then launch the multiple orgasms into his willing chute.

Craig stayed buried in Dale as they gently kissed each other while coming down from their high. Finally he softened to the point that Dale's muscles expelled his love tool, even though both would like to have it remain there. Craig slid off the bed, going to the bathroom to clean his chest and abs, and then taking a warm washcloth back to Dale to do the same. Amazingly there was no mess on the sheets although in their haste they had forgotten to put towels down.

And. adult cum was just as pungent as teen cum.

If their love for each other had been recorded, viewers would be able to see just what a man loving another man was about. It wouldn't be a porn movie. It was a love story.

When Joey and Daniel got ready for bed, they brushed their teeth and washed their faces in the bathroom. When they went to the bed, Joey said, "Will it bother you if I take my shorts off? I'm used to sleeping in the nude."

To Daniel that was a novel idea. He'd never slept that way before. "No, that's fine. I sleep that way all the time," he lied.

"Cool," said Joey, dropping his boxers by the side of the bed and climbing in. Daniel removed his briefs and took the other side. Mitsy jumped on the end of the bed lay between their feet.

"Joey? Daniel said quietly.

"Yeah?" was the sleepy reply.

"Thanks. That was awesome."

"It was fun, wasn't it? I haven't done that since going on a Boy Scout camping trip before I moved to Williamsport. I think it's more fun with fewer guys," he said, and then yawned. "G- night," he told Daniel.

Both men were asleep within a minute.

Ray was working in his kitchen. He really didn't have to do much except to wash the potatoes and prepare them to nuke in the microwave. He had an envelope of McCormick's Country Gravy Mix and decided to wait to find out if John wanted that or sour cream and chives on his potato.

He didn't have to wait long as the doorbell rang as if on demand. Ray rushed to the door to let John in the house. He entered carrying his backpack. Ray was pleased to see that he was wearing his new boots and they were the tan rough leather finish, like his own.

As soon as the door was closed, they were kissing as if they hadn't seen each other for ten weeks instead of 10 hours. John could get used to this. He hadn't thought abut a relationship where there was someone to welcome him home after he got off work.

Likewise, Ray was thinking the same thing. They would have to wait and see what developed in their relationship. He hoped they might have a future together, like Dale and Craig.

The next day was Saturday and Joey woke up first as he'd felt rather than heard Mitsy get off the bed. He looked over and Daniel was still asleep, lying on his back. The covers were pulled up only as far as his waist. He slid out of bed, grabbing his boxers from the floor and slipping them on before opening the bedroom door and letting Mitsy out the front door.

He went to the kitchen to start the coffee pot. That might be an idea for a Christmas present for his Dads. A coffeepot with a timer on it. He knew his grandparents had one so he'd remember to ask Doris about it - if they would recommend buying one.

Joey decided that he would fix Mitsy's food and wash her water bowl while waiting for her to come back from the yard. He finished that and then went to the front door. Mitsy was waiting to get in and went directly to the kitchen as Joey returned to his bedroom.

Daniel was still asleep so he went into his bathroom to shave and shower. When he dried off, he hung his towel up and walked naked into his bedroom to find underwear and socks in his dresser.

Daniel woke up, a little confused as to where he was, then felt Joey sit on the end of the bed to put his socks on.

"Hey." Daniel said. He could feel himself getting hard, looking at Joey's naked body. He wondered if he might be gay. He certainly liked to look at Joey.

Joey stood up and turned around, giving Daniel something to look at until he covered himself with his boxers.

"Hi. Sleep well?" Joey asked as casually as if they slept together every night.

"Real good. This is a comfortable bed."

"I like it," Joey told him. "I put out a clean bath towel and washcloth for you. Shower's all yours. I'll be in the kitchen reading the paper. We can have some cinnamon rolls that my grandma made for us.

"Man, I've had some of those before. They are good," Daniel said, starting for the bathroom. He didn't bother butting his briefs on and Joey could tell he was a little aroused.

"Come to the kitchen when you're ready. We don't usually wear anything except our boxers if it's just us here," Joey told him.

Daniel only had briefs with him. That's all he'd ever worn. "Un. I don't have any boxer shorts."

"Not a prob. We're about the same size so just help yourself to a pair of mine. They are in the middle drawer on the right side of the dresser. See you in a little."

Joey hadn't retrieved the morning Austin American-Statesmen yet, so opened the front door to pick it up, and then carried it to the kitchen.

Dale heard the front door open and close again. Craig was already awake, but hadn't moved yet. He loved to cuddle with his back against Dale's hairy chest. Dale decided to plant kisses behind Craig's left ear. That usually brought him awake immediately and he knew he loved being awakened that way. They played around in bed for a little while, but each needed to pee and brush their teeth. They were standing in front of the toilet to relieve their bladders when Dale said, "What about putting a urinal in our bathroom in the new house?"

"Fine with me. Do you want a bidet, too?" Craig said in a teasing manner.

"Naw, real cowboys don't use 'em," Dale replied in his best Texas drawl. That caught Craig off guard and he laughed until he could feel tears on his cheeks. Dale joined him..

As they washed their faces, Craig said, "I'm ready for some coffee and one of Mom's cinnamon rolls."

""Me too," Dale replied. They went back to their bedroom and pulled on their boxers to go to the kitchen.

Daniel finished his shower and dried himself. He pulled on a clean pair of white socks, then pulled the underwear drawer open as he'd been told. There were two pair of boxers that felt like silk. Daniel wanted to try those and put them on and then started for the kitchen. 'Man, those shorts feel awesome!!!' he thought. He'd have to buy some for himself. Since he was working at the store it was nice to have spending money of his own without having to ask his parents for it.

The other men were in the kitchen and had already had their orange juice. Joey was pouring coffee. "Hi Danny, do you want some orange juice?"

"Sure," he said climbing onto one of the bar stools at the high kitchen counter. Craig noticed that Daniel was wearing the silk boxers that Dale had loaned Joey. He had to smile because he remembered the experience Joey had the first time he wore them.

"Did you guys get your shopping finished last night?" Joey wanted to know. He was pouring coffee and held to pot to indicate if he should pour coffee for Daniel, who shook his head no.

"Yeah, we're all done and everything is gift wrapped," Dale proudly said.

"Couldn't find anything we thought you'd like though," Craig said, to tease Joey.

"That's okay. I've been really good, so I'm sure that Santa will remember me," Joey teased back.

"Let's hope so, anyway," Dale said, flashing a big grin.

Daniel was enjoying hearing his three friends tease each other. His family usually ate their meals in a hurry because someone always had somewhere they needed to be. The few times during the month that they actually sat at the table, their parents usually grilled the boys about school and if they needed help with any of their subjects in order to stay on the honor roll. The parents' jobs were never discussed so Daniel had no idea as to what his parents actually did at work.

"What's on for you fellows today?" Dale asked. "Are you both working at the store?"

"Yeah, since school is winding down for Christmas vacation, I didn't have any homework for the first time in ages," Joey told them. Daniel agreed, although he still had one test to take.

What hours are you working?" Craig asked. He was thinking about what meals were going to be needed.

"David is letting both of us work all day today. He thinks we will have a lot of business and Forrest, Danny and me can sell more computers than the other three guys," Joey told them.

"Yeah, Phil, Aaron and Jake don't seem very confident when they are helping customers. I've tried to work with them a little, but there are always customers to be helped so I've not made much progress," Daniel added.

"Is David aware of this?" Dale wanted to know.

"Yes," Joey said. "They seem to do pretty well during the week when they are by themselves, but it's pretty fast-paced on Saturday," he explained.

"I'll speak to David," Dale told them. "Maybe when things settle down after Christmas you can give them some help."

"I think they know as much as we do, they just don't work well under pressure," Joey said. He loved working with customers, as did Daniel and Forrest, and he knew that there were times that customers would wait for one of them instead of allowing the older young men to wait on them. Phil, Aaron and Jake were students at Western Junior College and were three to four years older than Forrest, Daniel and Joey.

Daniel was following the conversation as he was eating, but he was also enjoying looking at the three boxer-clad men at the counter.

Doris and Frank were interested in coming up with a design for their own home. They loved the house they owned (and would soon sell) in Arlington, but wanted one on a smaller scale. Based on several conversations with his parents, Craig had made some sketches, using a similar floor plan, but making it a two- bedroom house instead of the five they now had. However, it was changed to three bedrooms as Doris wanted a room where she could sew and for her various projects she was always designing and putting together.

The next step for them was to find a suitable lot where a new house could be built. They both had been scouting for a possible building site, but found nothing in Williamsport. Dale and Craig had offered a place to build on their property where the house had been that burned. Doris was emphatic about not wanting to live in the country.

There was a little town called Kawarce about 7 miles south of Williamsport. A total of 400 people lived there and they had been told some lots were available. Frank and Doris drove down on a Sunday afternoon. They were pleasantly surprised that all of the houses were neatly kept and most built out of brick. Since the area was hilly, the streets were not laid out in a grid pattern, following the contour of the terrain. Several houses were under construction and although there were several vacant lots, only one was interesting. There were a lot of trees on it and presently an old mobile home was sitting toward the back. But, there was a "for sale" sign in the yard, which Frank estimated to be about two acres.

Frank parked in front and they got out to walk around the lot. He paced off the frontage and was walking back to Doris when a man came out of the house next door. "Y'all interested in tha lot?" he questioned as he walked toward them. "Name's Marshall," he said, holding out his hand.

"Frank Bastian and this is my wife, Doris," he told him as they all exchanged handshakes.

"Whar y'all from?" he questioned.

"We're from Arlington and live in Williamsport now," Frank told him.

"Arleenton? Whar's that?" he questioned.

"Between Dallas and Ft. Worth," Frank answered. Doris was smiling.

"Oh, by them big cities up north?" Marshall questioned.

"Yes, and Arlington's not so small itself," Frank answered.

"What brings y'all to Williamsport and Kawarce?" was the next question.

"I work for Saber Computer Company," Frank replied.

"'Puters. Don't understand 'em. Cost a lot of money, too," Marshall said.

"Well, we sell a lot of them," Frank laughed. "Not sure a lot of people that buy them know how to use them, but they help our business."

"Y'all interested in buying this here lot? Make ya a good deal on it."

"We might be. How much are you asking?" Frank questioned.

"Y'all gonna build a house here?" Marshall wanted to know.

Frank replied, "Yeah, soon as we can get the plans completed."

"How 'bout a thousand and you have the trailer hauled away?"

Frank blinked his eyes. He couldn't believe it. The lot was nice, probably about 200x400 feet (two acres) and the ground rolled up so the back was probably about 5 feet higher than the street.

"Anyone living in the trailer?" Frank questioned.

"Yah, some real trailer trash, but I can't 'rid of 'em w'out goin' to court. If you'ens buy the lot, you can giv'em notice to move wit'out no problem."

"They rent the trailer from you?" Frank wanted to know.

"Yeah, been a real sore point all time they bin here. Be glad to be rid of 'em. Noisy, don't keep the yard mowed. Just a real pain in the ass." Marshall looked at Doris. "Sorry 'bout that, ma'am."

Doris spoke up for the first time. "I've heard much worse, believe me."

Frank looked at Doris, then said, "How about me giving you a check for $100 as a down payment? I want to check out the abstract and make sure everything is in order. If we decide to buy the lot, I'll pay you the rest next week.

"Naw, you don't haf t' do that. Y'all look honest. Taxes are paid and there shodn't be no problems. Y'all just haf to give 'em 30 days t' vacate.

"So the sooner we get rid of them, the happier you'll be?" Frank grinned.

"Yeah and thar ain't no other place for 'em to live in Kawarce," Marshall laughed. "Not that anybody in this town would rent to 'em."

"Let me have your phone number," Frank said, giving him his business card. "I'll call you before I drive down here next Tuesday. What time would be good for you?"

"How 'bout before noon? I'll have my attorney make up a bill of sale for y'all and ya kin pay me then."

"Sounds good to me," Frank said. "Do you want a cashier's check?"

"Naw, I kin tell yer honest. Be glad to have ya and yer missus for neighbors when ya'll git your house built."

The men shook hands and Marshall, bowed slightly toward Doris, nodding his head.

"Thanks. We'll see you next Tuesday morning then," Frank told him, as he opened the door for Doris to get in the car.

Marshall was already walking back to his house.

As they drove off down the street, Frank asked, "Do you think you can stand to have him for a neighbor?"

Doris laughed. "He's a real jewel, isn't he? Well, he seems to be honest and trusts you. I can't imagine that he would be any problem to have for a neighbor."

They couldn't wait to tell their boys about the good fortune of finding a nice lot that was close to Williamsport. Frank could be at work in less than 15 minutes time.

They drove through the little community of about 10 streets that ran various directions. There were no curbs and gutters, but the streets were blacktopped. There was a bank, one convenience store with gas pumps in front. It appeared that there was a restaurant, pool hall, barbershop, garage and an appliance dealer. An old 5 & 10 appeared to be closed. There was a Masonic Lodge on one corner and a car wash in the next block. A small brick Presbyterian Church was on the next street and a white-frame Methodist Church a block away from it. There was no school, so they assumed the children were bussed to Williamsport.

They were to find out later that Marshall's last name was Sidney and that he was related to at least half of the people in the little town. Marshall was the mayor and also chief of the little volunteer fire department. Not much went on in the town that he wasn't aware of.

• • • • • (to be continued)

Author's Note: Thank you for the overwhelming amount of emails you sent following the release of Book II, Chapter 4. It was wonderful to hear from a lot of old acquaintances as well as a few that had not written before. I enjoyed reading your comments and appreciate your continued interest in the story.

My special thanks for proofreading help to Paul Daventon ("Dukes of Windsor"), who has taken time to help me catch obvious errors. Also to Randy Smith who has been a loyal reader from the very beginning. I exchange email notes with both of them each day. Paul spent several days at my house last summer and I'm hoping that Randy and I have a chance to meet in person someday.

Any comments are appreciated and you can reach me at TulsaAuthor@hotmail.com.

Thanks, David.