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 2002 by Tulsa Driller 7. 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 world.
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 the read the last chapter of this story.
Tales from the Ranch Chapter 7: The Next Morning
Dale woke up the next morning with Craig spooned up against his chest. 'Wow!! What a way to wake up, with a beautiful man in your arms,' he thought. He had a morning piece of wood. 'A steel Woody,' he thought to himself. He wondered what time it was, surely must be getting time to get up and start the day, but he didn't want to disturb Craig. 'Well, why not disturb Craig?' he wondered.
He brought his hand around to Craig's pecs and massaged his nipples, pinching them lightly. Then he put his tongue in Craig's ear and wiggled it. He felt Craig's body stiffen, and then relax, and he stretched. Craig wiggled around, his lips searching. Dale moved his lips to Craig's. A tentative kiss, then their tongues were let loose for exercise. 'Uuhmm. I'd like to wake up this way every morning,' Dale thought.
Craig thought the same thing. He finally pulled back and said, "Hi beautiful. How's my guy this morning?"
Dale liked the words "My Guy"!!! That sounded good to him. He wondered. 'Could this be true? Is this for real? Does he really like me for who I am. or is it just sex?'
Craig dropped his mouth to Dale's chin, then down to his throat, nuzzling his way south. All Dale could do was make sounds as he moaned at the exquisite feeling.
Dale put his hand under Craig's chin and pushed it back up so their mouths would meet again. No morning breath? Why? Why not? Okay by him. All he wanted to do was use his tongue like a mop on Craig's face, anyway. This was a plus; they could kiss each other without grossing out.
About the time they were starting to swab each other's tonsils, Craig said, "If I don't go pee right now, I'm not going to have to." He pulled himself loose, got out of the bed and rushed to the bathroom.
Dale took the opportunity to turn so he could see the clock. It read 6:29. 'Glad to see that my internal clock works,' he thought. Just now time to get up. He sat up and headed to the bathroom, joining Craig in peeing in the toilet bowl. Both emptied their bladders, milking the last drops out of their cocks.
"We didn't talk about the morning routine," Dale said. "I usually get up about 6:30, which it just now is and make a pot of coffee before shaving and showering. Is that okay with you?"
"Don't let me cause you any problems in getting ready to go to work. I'll go home to clean up and dress before going to my 8 o'clock meeting at the office."
"Come on to the kitchen with me and I'll pour orange juice, if you want it. The coffee won't take long to be ready. I have some fresh milk from the ranch if you'd like some. It's raw milk and tastes like the real thing. not like what you get at the grocery."
Craig wrapped his arms around Dale, nuzzling him under the jaw. "Why don't you show me where stuff is and I'll make coffee and pour juice or milk while you are getting ready? Okay?"
"Fine." Craig followed Dale to the kitchen, looking at his
hairy butt cheeks. "You're not 'walking funny' as you had
feared. How do you feel?" he giggled.
"Never better. Anyway I don't have to ride a horse today. Just kidding. But. we do have a lot of hay to bale and move today."
They were in the kitchen. Dale showed Craig where the coffee filters were, along with the coffee can. "Here are glasses for either milk or orange juice. I'll take orange juice before my coffee - black and no sugar. Need anything else?"
"No, think I'll do fine," Craig said, wrapping his arm around Dale and giving a big squeeze.
Dale headed to the bathroom and was starting to wash his face when Craig came back with the orange juice. "Thanks. You're a good cook," Dale said, wondering if he would be lucky enough that the previous night's activities and this morning's routine would be repeated. He thought about it a second. 'Yeah, maybe. Craig had spent the night and didn't act like he was ashamed of what they'd done.'
Dale soaped his face and started to apply shaving cream. He thought a second. " Craig."
"Yes?"
"Do you think I'd look good with a mustache?"
"You're pretty sexy now, I don't know if I could stand you having a mustache. But, I'm willing to find out," he leered.
Dale started shaving his face, except for his upper lip. As he finished, he rinsed his razor, turned around and rubbed the excess shaving cream on Craig's face. "I'd lick this off, but it doesn't taste as good as cum," he chuckled.
With that, he headed to the shower. "Sorry that this is a little broom closet. I'd love to share but there's just barely room for me to shower."
"That's okay. When you're at my place we can shower together. I have a huge shower that I had built when I bought the place."
Dale liked what he heard. 'Craig wanted him to spend a night a his place.'
"I can hardly wait." He wanted to ask Craig when it would happen, but decided not to be too anxious.
He reached in to start the water, and then adjusted the temperature. When it was like he wanted he crawled behind the curtain to clean his body.
Craig could just barely see through the opaque curtain, but he wanted to watch this stud. his stud. take his shower. He put the lid down on the toilet and sat down, waiting for Dale to finish.
Dale's shower didn't take very long but he didn't know where Craig had gone so was pleasantly surprised when he opened the curtain that Craig was holding a towel for him. Another kiss. As Dale took the towel, Craig handed him the glass of orange juice, taking a big swig of his own. Dale drained his glass, handing it back to Craig. "Come're. he said to Craig. "Thanks, guy," giving him another kiss.
"Tasted good, kinda orange," Craig answered. "I'm going to get coffee for us." He left the little bathroom.
'What did I do to deserve this guy? Does he really like me? Is there a chance for US? What will Marty think? Will Mort find out?' These were thoughts going through Dale's head when Craig came back in with two steaming mugs of black coffee.
"Do you want to shower here?" Dale asked, hoping to prolong their togetherness.
"What time do you leave for the ranch?" Craig asked.
"Usually try to get away from here about 7:15 at the latest, however, I'm a little flexible." Then he remembered. "I have a new hire coming to work this morning. I need to be there by 8 o'clock to get the guys started and show him what I want done."
"Not a problem. I have a meeting at the office at 8 o'clock. If I leave here when you do, I'll still have time to shave and shower, dress and make the meeting."
'He's not in any rush to leave. That's a good sign,' thought Dale. He remembered he hadn't brushed his teeth, so took care of that after rubbing his hair dry and running a comb through it. He knew he was going to be sweating a lot today, so no need to do more than comb it into place. He laid the comb down and got the tube of toothpaste. Craig thought maybe he should do the same, so picked up the one he'd used the night before and squeezed some gel out, then vigorously brushed.
Dale waited until Craig spit out the extra paste and rinsed his mouth before attacking him again. They wrapped their limbs together, rubbing on each other's body, mouths searching for the other.
The clock moved almost five minutes before they broke the clutch, both hard and leaking precum. "Ahhh, the little guys are glad to see each other," Dale teased.
"I don't think 'little' even begins to describe you, unless you want to call it 'Dale, Junior,' Craig teased.
"Don't sell yourself short. It felt like a telephone pole when you started to fuck me last night. Then after I got accustomed to it, I hoped you'd never take it out."
"I'm getting hard again, just hearing you describe it," Craig smirked.
"Well, I'd like to go another round, but we both have places to go. people to see. things to do," replied Dale.
They went back to the bedroom, this time Craig was pinching Dale's butt.
"Do you want help smoothing out the bed?" Craig asked.
"That's a good idea. and the sheets do need to be washed for some reason. They were clean last night," Dale teased.
"Doesn't cost much to do laundry," laughed Craig.
The bed tidied up, Dale went to his dresser, pulling out clean Levis, jockey shorts and boot socks, then tossed them on the bed and went to his closet. He selected a long-sleeved western shirt.
Craig asked Dale if he was ready for another cup of coffee and got an affirmative nod and smile. He took the mugs back to the kitchen for refills and returned to the bedroom, then walked back out to the living room, scooping up their clothes from the night before and carried them back to the bedroom.
While Dale was putting on his socks and shorts, Craig started to dress himself in his wrinkled clothes. "Well, these clothes look like I've slept in them. Ought to give the neighbors sometime new to gossip about."
"If they only knew the truth," Dale teased.
"So, what's your schedule for today?" Craig asked.
"We're gonna make hay while the sun shines. We've got two men driving the hay balers and one to drive the flatbed hay wagon. Two of us will handle the bales and stack them on the wagon. If we're lucky, we should get the entire field baled and hauled off to the barn today."
"You are going to be tired and sore when you're through, aren't you?"
By this time Dale was dressed and was pulling his boots on. He turned to Craig and said, "Yeah, that's a lot of work and several tons of hay bales."
"Poor Baby. Why don't you come over after work? I have a hot tub with a Jacuzzi to help you relax, and then I'll order in something for dinner."
Dale was excited. 'Dale wanted to see him again! Maybe this wasn't just a one-night adventure for them. He hoped not.
"I probably can't be there much before 8 o'clock. Is that too late?" He hoped not.
"Didn't think you'd be through that early. I thought you ranch people worked from sunup to sundown?"
"No, the only time we do that is if we have a critical crop and there is a threat of bad weather. Sometimes we cut wheat 12 hours or more straight through. When it's dry, we have to move."
Dale kissed Craig, putting his arm around his waist. "I'll look forward to coming over this evening. It will sure seem like a long day until we can be together again."
They moved back to the living room and Dale excused himself to the kitchen to make a couple of sandwiches for himself. He added a piece of pie and some cookies to his lunch pail. He looked at his watch. It was 7:10. Right on time.
"I never thought about you fixing lunch to take with you. What do you like? I'll be glad to have what you need on hand for tomorrow morning."
Dale couldn't believe his ears. Craig wanted him to spend the night. There was a God after all. He was elated.
"I usually buy some minced ham or old-fashioned loaf, a couple slices of cheese, lettuce if you have it and an apple or banana, maybe some cookies. I can pick some stuff up or bring things from here."
"Wouldn't hear of it. Be sure to bring your toiletries and clothes for tomorrow so you don't have to come back here to get ready for work. No use rushing around."
Craig made it sound like he was moving in. Could he really hope for that?
He happened to think that he had some Levis in the dryer. He'd better check them to see if they were dry. He went back to the kitchen to check. They were dry, so he had clean pants for tomorrow.
He moved back to the living room. Craig looked him over, saying, "You look like a cowboy who is a real sexy hunk and I like what I see. Woof. woof!! Then he happened to think. "You don't know where I live, do you?"
Dale laughed, "No, I didn't even think of that."
The address is 3718 Larcher Drive. It's at the northeast corner of 37th Street at Larcher. Two blocks north of Commercial Street. The building is called ' The Carriage House' and I'm on the 5th floor, to the left after you get off the elevator. You can park behind the building. Should be plenty of space. Oh, and my phone number is on my card." He dug in his pocket and gave Dale another one. "Both home and business numbers are on it."
As Dale put the card in his billfold, Craig wrapped his arms around Dale and locked his lips with Dale's. It was a very passionate kiss. As he pulled away, he said, "I hope that will hold you for the day.
Dale said, "I don't know, all of a sudden my Levi's are tight." He laughed, then said, I'll call you as soon as I get back here to clean up and change clothes so you'll know when I'll be there."
"Okay, but it's going to be a long day. At least 12 hours from now."
"I know, but it's my job."
"Hey, I'm not complaining. I just don't want to share you with Marty and the other men that work for you."
Another quick kiss and Dale opened the front door so they could leave. Craig headed to his car with a wave, hollering, "See you later!!"
Dale got in his car, dropping his lunch pail in the passenger seat and waited for Craig to drive away before backing out in the street. He dropped his car in gear and headed to the highway to take him to work.
Fifteen minutes later he pulled into the driveway of the Bar- W just as the school bus came around the curve behind him. He stopped to greet Jason and Kevin. They exchanged greetings, and then headed to the waiting bus. Dale drove on to the office.
Within 15 minutes Pat and Michael drove in, this time in Michael's car. They had barely gotten parked when John's Honda rolled in. As they were getting out of their cars, Albert Connell drove in. Al was a retired night watchman they frequently hired to work when extra help was needed. Before making their way to the barn/office, Dale made sure everyone had been introduced.
Everyone stowed their lunches in the cooler then filled their thermos bottles with ice and water. Pat showed John where the extra thermos bottles were kept and helped him and Al put nametags on the ones they were using.
Dale had them sign their time sheets and they were ready to go to work. Although the flatbed hay wagon was pulled by a little tractor, it had a trailer hitch so it could be towed behind the pickup and taken to the field. Dale would have to return to get two more hay wagons for the days work. They set out with Pat and Michael driving the bailers and Dale driving the farm pickup behind with his flashers turned on. Al and John rode with him. They were ready for a day of hot, dirty, tiring work.
That day Kevin, along with Terry and Jack, opted to eat their lunches with Jason. Their friends from the bus, John and Tim, were sitting with Jason. They hadn't seen the Riley twins that morning. It wasn't until later in the day that they learned the twins had caused an outburst in their homeroom and had been sent to the office. Not being able to find their parents, the vice-principal put them in supervised suspension for the day. It was somewhat like a study hall, where they were supervised and required to complete their homework. Teachers rotated supervisory duties in that room and the boys actually completed their schoolwork and got it right.
The last period of the school day was Jason's Phys. Ed class. He was a little bit nervous about the "test" Mr. Thompson had set up for the boys. Not quite sure what the locker room routine was, he walked into the room. Mr. Thompson was standing in the middle of the room directing the activity.
"Get your clothes baskets and get changed. Ten minutes to the gym floor. Wear sweat socks, gym shoes, jock straps, shorts and your t-shirts. Put your street clothes in your baskets and lock them up! Hurry it up!! Ten minutes. Move it!!!"
Jason remembered his lock combination and quickly carried the wire basket containing his gym clothes to a bench along the side of the room. About that time John and Tim appeared on either side of Jason. They laid their gym clothes out, and then started stripping their street clothes. All pulled their polo shirts off first, then Jason sat down to pull off his cowboy boots and socks. John was also wearing boots and Tim was wearing white Nikes. Jason stood up to unbutton his 501's and as he dropped them, John and Tim dropped their pants, too. They were all three standing there wearing just their shorts. Almost together, they dropped their jockey shorts. This was the first time Jason had seen another boy naked except for his brother.
Without realizing it, he checked them both out. John, who was in the 6th grade, had a cock that was quite a bit larger than Jason. It was un-cut and he had a fair amount of pubic hair. He looked at Tim, who appeared to be about the same size as himself. He was circumcised. It was the first time Jason had ever seen a cock like that. It didn't look that much different except there was no foreskin to cover the head.
He reached for his jockstrap and pulled it on, along with his gym shorts.
"Are we supposed to wear these?" Tim asked, holding up his athletic cup.
"I think you're only supposed to wear them when playing baseball or soccer, so you don't get hit in the nuts," replied John.
"Okay," the other guys said.
About that time Mr. Thompson blew his whistle. "Let's move it. You've got three minutes to get dressed and out on the floor.
The three boys sat down to put on their sweat socks and gym shoes. Jason finished tying his, stood up to pull on his t- shirt, then packed his clothes in the wire basket. He waited for John and Tim to do the same, then led the way to the rack where they slid the baskets in place, locking them.
As they headed for the gym door, Mr. Thompson blew his whistle one more time to hurry along the boys that weren't changed.
The three who had changed clothes together were among the first out on the gym floor. Within two minutes almost everyone else was on the floor, too, including the Riley twins. Jason guessed that they had been allowed out of detention since this was the last class period of the day, although he didn't remember them being in this class yesterday.
Coach Thompson blew his whistle, telling them to get into two lines. Jason noticed that Coach Dennison was there to help, too. Mr. Thompson introduced the other coach and explained that he was helping him, as there wasn't time to check every boy's beginning endurance and ability by himself.
"I want you in two lines, one in front of each mat here on the floor. The first thing I'm going to check is your ability to do sit-ups. They are to be done like this." He then dropped to the mat; lay flat on his back, brought his legs up to about a 45- degree angle with his feet flat on the floor. "I want you to put your hands behind your head, like this," he said, locking his fingers together. "Then the next guy behind you is to hold your feet on the floor. Raise your upper body as far as you can stretch toward your knees," like this. Coach Dennison dropped to the floor to hold Mr. Thompson's feet on the floor. He quickly did 10 set-ups, stopped and jumped to his feet. "Okay, each of you is to do as many of these as you can and I'll record the numbers."
Jason was first in line, so he dropped to the floor. John Clark was right behind him and held his feet after he got in position. The first person in the second line took their positions, also and the trial started. Jason managed to do 12 sit-ups, but was unable to pull himself all the way up for the last one. "That's fine, Williamson, don't strain yourself," the coach said. Jason got up, John got on the floor and Tim moved to hold John's feet. The coach told Jason to sit on the floor and watch, and then they would do push-ups.
John managed 11 sit-ups and Tim managed nine.
About that time Jason became aware of some scuffling in the middle of his line. Sure enough, it was the Riley twins. Coach Dennison was on them in a minute, pulling Larry away and putting him in the second line. He heard coach say, "Don't you ever try that again!" but didn't know what the boys had done.
In a few minutes, Jerry Riley was the one next to help with the sit-ups, holding Jimmy O'Brien's feet. As Jimmy sat up the first time, Jerry said, "One for pussy boy." Jimmy laid back, sat up again and everyone heard, "Two for pussy boy." The coach was on him immediately.
"Riley, language like that will not be tolerated in this class. You've been in detention all day because of a disturbance this morning. I guess you didn't learn your lesson, did you? Now count them off right!" Coach Thompson was mad. Jimmy did 9 sit-ups and coach wrote the number next to his name.
Jerry lay down on the mat, got into position with Jim Bob Johnson holding his feet. Jerry lifted his upper body and everyone could tell that it was an effort for him. He finally accomplished three, then couldn't complete the 4th one. Coach Thompson said, "Okay, that's enough Riley. Next!"
Jerry started to get up, then yelled, "This ass-hole didn't hold my feet right. He kept me from being able to do this."
Coach was losing his patience, but calmly said, "Okay, Riley, I'll hold your feet and I want to see you do this over."
Jerry lay back, and then started again, accomplishing two, but giving up on the third.
"Okay, you're finished," said the coach. Since it's you, I'll give you credit for five. Which one of the Riley's are you?"
"Jerry," he said quietly.
Meanwhile, Larry Riley was ready to take his turn on the mat. His helper, Dante Rigga, counted loudly. "One. Two." Larry didn't even try for the third. And, he knew it wouldn't do any good to complain like his brother had.
The two coaches put the boys through the push-up routine. Jason accomplished 15 with no problem, but had a hard time with the next. Finally, after the coach said, "That's fine, don't strain," he stood up.
Jason decided to watch the Riley twins. Jerry completed two and Larry completed one. He thought, 'For as tough as they think they are, they can't do anything except make noise.'
After all had completed the push-ups, the two coaches demonstrated the rope climb. He had gloves in several sizes for the boys to wear while climbing. Jason got to the top with no problem, and then rapidly descended. None of the other boys did as well, although John and Tim made it almost to the top.
"Good going, Williamson," praised the coach.
He blew his whistle. "Okay, as soon as you fellows have each had your turn, go back to the locker room and take your showers. That way we don't all pile in there together. Get clean, your mother doesn't want to smell sweat."
Jason headed off to the showers with John Clark and Doug Phillips catching up with him. Both boys slapped Jason on the back, telling him that he was the best in the class.
"Thanks, but I had some help from one of our foremen last night. He showed me and Kevin how to do the stuff in gym class. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known how."
"Can you believe the Riley twins?" John asked. I'm glad that somebody realizes that they are trouble for the rest of us."
"My friend, Dale, that helped me last night said that their older brothers are even worse than they are. He said they were insecure and tried to make everyone else look bad."
"They may be insecure, but they made themselves look bad today. Where did they come from, I don't remember them being in my lower school? asked Tim."
"They went to Sam Houston Lower School until this year. They had a fire at the house they were renting. My dad's a fireman and said his dad went to sleep, or maybe passed out from drinking too much, and his cigarette caught the divan on fire. It almost burnt the house down. They moved into the awful trailer park on the edge of town after the fire. That's why they now go to Austin with us," John filled them in.
The three retrieved their clothes baskets went to a bench and stripped off their gym clothes, which were a little damp, but not sweaty. More boys were coming in, so they headed to the shower room to stay ahead of the main crush of bodies.
All were eyeing each other as they undressed and then again in the shower. Being 5th grade students, Jason and Tim had never encountered gym class or showering with other boys before. Jason knew that he had never seen another boy without clothes except for his brother, anyway.
As he showered and washed himself, he avoided getting his hair wet because he didn't have a comb with him. He climbed out of the shower, grabbed a towel from the cabinet and started to dry himself. Certainly not a nice fluffy towel like he had at home. He went back to the bench where his clothesbasket was so he could put on his street clothes.
Tim joined them about that time and was eyeing both Jason's and John's cocks. He wasn't shy and asked, "How do you guys pee through your wieners? It looks like you have skin over the end."
John proudly said, "The same way you do, but I have to pull the skin back." He moved his foreskin and the cockhead came into view, then he covered it again.
"Wow, I've never seen that before. Why is it that way?"
Jason was starting to get a little stiff, but said, "To
protect the head of our cock so it doesn't get sore."
"Mine doesn't get sore. I think it's kinda neat that you can do that, though."
Lesson over. The three boys got dressed and put their gym clothes back on the rack, locking them up.
Jason rode the bus home by himself as Kevin had gone to Jack's house to work on his Cub Scout badge. Although the Riley boys were on the bus they didn't talk to any of the other kids. After they got off at their stop, John leaned over to tell Jason that he'd heard Wade Harris, the driver, tell them that he would not tolerate them harassing the other passengers, so if they knew what was good for them, they would sit down and keep their mouths shut. It was a pleasant ride home as all the other kids were laughing and talking and ignoring Larry and Terry completely.
Jason arrived home and walked the half-mile to the main house. His grandmother was working in her flowerbed, gathering fresh flowers. He ran over to see her, giving her a big hug and kiss. Jeanine Williamson was proud of her flowers, which she raised in huge quantities. After finding out about Kevin's day, she gave him a large basket of flowers to take to his mother. He told her good-bye and headed to his own house.
Sandy, the collie that belonged to the boys, came bounding down the driveway to meet Jason. He knelt down to scratch her ears and hug her to him. They walked to the house together.
When he and the dog went through the kitchen door, Mrs. Wood was just taking a couple of pies out of the oven. "Mmmnn! said Jason. Something smells good."
"Jason, I'd forgotten that Kevin wasn't coming home with you this evening, but there are plenty of cookies in the canister. Help yourself to milk or juice. One of these pies is fresh apple and the other is rhubarb."
"No choice as far as I'm concerned. I love rhubarb." Jason sat down the basket of flowers his grandmother had sent with him. She made the appropriate "oo's and aah's" and started laying them out so they could be trimmed and arranged in vases. He grabbed a glass and poured himself some cold milk, then opened the cookie jar, taking three cookies.
Mrs. Wood was fussing around the kitchen, working on the flowers and mixing up something. Jason was in a hurry to change clothes and get outside because he had both his and Kevin's chores to do.
"When you come in from the chores, I need another gallon of milk and about a quart of cream. The eggs are okay."
"Gottcha," replied Jason as he started up the backstairs. Sandy followed him.
After he got to the room, he looked in the mirror and decided that he'd better put on some old Levis, boots and a not- so-good shirt. He quickly peeled off his school clothes and hung the Levis in the closet. They would do for another day. He dug out his old boots. They were getting too snug to wear comfortably for any length of time. He pulled on the Levis, buttoned them, and then put the boots on, grabbing a shirt and heading out the door. "Come on, Sandy, let's go do Kev's chores." Sandy followed along just like she knew the routine.
Back in the kitchen, Jason got clean containers for the milk and cream. "See ya," he said to Mrs. Wood and was out the door.
He hoped he would see Dale today, but he wasn't around the barn anywhere, then he remembered they were baling hay a couple of miles down the road. He put the dairy containers in the cooler, then headed for the chicken house to feed them and gather eggs. There were 15 eggs today. Back to the barn to deposit them in the cooler, putting them on the backside of the other cartons so the oldest would be used first. Then to the other barn to check the supply of feed in the horse troughs. The barn was empty which meant all the horses were in the corral. He put several scoops of oats and horse feed in each bin before letting them in. Like cattle they knew which stall they belonged in and were ready for their evening feeding.
Jason hurried back to the other barn. Star was in her pen, so he let her into the area where she was milked. She had a lot of milk this evening. He wondered how much his grandfather had gotten from her that morning.
Taking the milk to the cooler and putting it in the can, he opened the other can and dipped cream off the top, then deeper for the milk he needed to fill the milk container for the house.
Back to the house. He was making great progress. He put the milk in the large kitchen refrigerator, and then told Mrs. Wood that he was going to saddle a horse and ride down to where they were baling hay.
He ran toward the corral, telling Sandy to "stay" as he left the kitchen.
He went to the horse barn and his horse, Blaze, was finished with her feed. He led her out of the stall, and then got a horse blanket and saddle to get her ready to ride. Blaze wasn't a large horse and Jason had been able to saddle her by himself for a couple of years. He cinched the belt under her belly and made sure it was tight. Taking the leads, he walked her to the corral gate. She walked through and stood while he refastened the gate. Putting his left boot in the stirrup, he swung up on Blaze's back. Clicking his tongue and giving her flanks a squeeze with his feet, they started down the driveway, past his grandparent's house then riding on the shoulder, alongside the highway to the hay field.
He was enjoying the ride. Blaze was in a slow trot and they were at the field in 10 minutes time. He spotted the two balers, pickup and hay wagon about a half mile further in the field and gave Blaze a light kick to let her know he wanted her to run. They were where the men were working in short order.
All five of the guys were working without shirts. He knew Dale, Michael and Pat, but had never seen the other two men before, although he wasn't sure about Al. Maybe he'd helped at the ranch before.
Pat and Michael were driving the balers while Al was driving the little tractor pulling the hay wagon. John was loading bales on the conveyor belt at the front of the wagon and Dale was pulling them off and stacking them for transport. All of them waved at Jason as he rode up.
About that time, the baler Michael was driving ran out of the wire that was used to bind the bales. The last bale came apart as it dropped from the chute to the ground. Michael stopped the baler and shut it down. Ranch rules. Never let machinery run unattended. The pickup was close by, so he ran over to retrieve a new spool of wire out of the bed. Jason rode over to the pickup to see if he could help. Michael had worked there long enough that he knew Jason and Kevin could do little jobs for them. It made them feel important and that they were helping the crew.
Michael handed the spool up so Jason could balance it on his saddle horn. "I'm going to get a drink of water since I'm stopped," he told Jason. Jason grinned and sat there admiring Michael's physique, his hairy chest and muscles everywhere. He wondered how many push-ups and sit-ups he could do. He thought Dale was better looking, but liked what he saw. He felt his young cock give a twitch in his Levis. It started to harden and got tangled up in his jockey shorts. He wondered why it was getting hard and tried to wiggle around on the saddle to adjust it, but couldn't stand up in the stirrups far enough to do it.
Michael said "Thanks" as he headed back to the baler. Jason rode behind him feeling proud because he was able to help the guys in the field. They got to the baler and Jason struggled to help Michael with the wire spool. It was heavy, probably weighing 60 pounds.
"Can I watch?" Jason questioned.
"Sure, this shouldn't take too long."
Jason swung off his horse, telling Michael, "I'll get the pliers," as he opened the toolbox on the baler.
Michael teased him. "Maybe you can show me how to do this." Giving him a squeeze on the shoulder as Jason handed him the pliers.
Jason beamed. "I don't know if I'm strong enough to do the whole job. Dad says I can help in the fields next summer when I'm twelve. I can hardly wait."
Michael flipped up the lid on the wire box and pulled the old spool out. He handed it to Jason. "Here ya go, bud. Just toss it in the back of the pickup."
"Okay," replied Jason taking in the routine of replacing the wire spool.
About that time Dale walked up behind Jason, putting his arm around his shoulder and neck, giving him a squeeze. His hairy chest was wet with sweat and actually felt cold against Jason's shirt, even though Dale's skin was plenty hot.
Jason, not knowing exactly what he was doing, wiggled against Dale. It felt good to have Dale's arm around him, even if it did make his cock uncomfortable in his shorts. He hadn't adjusted himself after he got off his horse. "Okay, Jase, I think Michael's ready to start up again."
Then to Michael, "Help me drag this bale back around to the front and we'll run it through the baler again. He handed the pliers to Jason. Bring these along so we can cut the wire that's tied. He put his hay hook under the wire and they dragged the bale around to the front of the baler. Jason handed him the pliers. Dale cut the wire and shook the hay loose so the machinery could pick it up again. Dale gave the pliers back to Jason, saying "Put them back in the tool box."
Michael started the engine on the baler and the machine came to life. He yelled, over the engine noise, "Thanks, Jason."
Dale squeezed his shoulder, telling Jason, "Thanks Jase, you got here just in time to keep us from screwing up the job." He hugged Jason to him. Jason wiggled under Dale's arm. He knew that Dale was just teasing him, they had been doing this all day without his help, but the fact that they didn't treat him like a little kid made a lot of points for these two men in Jason's mind. He realized that Michael was waiting for him to put the pliers in the toolbox on the baler, so ran back to stow them. Michael was watching and waved as he started off, picking up more loose hay.
He carried the empty spool to the pickup and dropped it in the bed, then walked back to Blaze, picked up her reins and climbed up in the saddle. Waving at the crew, he turned Blaze back to the ranch houses and rode toward the highway.
To be continued * * * * * Author's Note: This is my first attempt at gay fiction, and the only way I can learn whether or not I should continue is from my readers' feedback. I would appreciate your comments, criticism, suggestions, and anything else that you would care to say. All Email will be answered. If you wish to receive e-mail notification of subsequent posting, please let me know by sending your request to the e-mail address below. Contact me at: tulsadriller7@aol.com
Thanks for the overwhelming response to previous chapters. I received positive replies from all over the world. My special thanks to RW, whom I've known for many years and value his suggestions. Also for the proofreading help of Paul Daventon, author of "Turning the Page" found in the "Adult-Friends" section of Nifty. Please read it.