The Boys of Lady Lex Chapter 2 "Boys in Trouble" Written By Douglas DD and Benjamin TC
Doctor Lawrence Daniels stood next to the grave, staring at the still fresh mound of dirt and shiny gray tombstone. The bright blue cloudless sky was a contrast to the dark mood he felt deep inside his being. Standing beside him were two handsome boys, one a dark haired boy of 15 and the other a boy of 11 with light brown hair naturally streaked with blond.
"Mary Daniels. Dedicated wife and mother." The simple message on the tombstone was all that was needed.
Even in these enlightened times disease can kill, suddenly and painfully, Dr. Daniels thought to himself. He remembered the message he received on the SFA Defiant, where he was serving as the ship's doctor.
Your wife is gravely ill with a virulent new form of cancer. She has six months to a year left to live. Request you return to Earth at first convenience.
The message was terse and to the point, and too late. By the time a replacement physician could be found and sent out to the Defiant and he could return to Earth almost six months had passed. Six months turned out to be an optimistic estimate, Mary Daniels died a painful death just four months after being diagnosed with Conrad's Disease, a rare form of cancer that had recently shown itself just when doctors had thought cancer had been all but eradicated. It was fast and deadly.
Dr. Daniels and his two sons put fresh flowers on the grave and walked slowly away. Dr. Daniels put an arm around the shoulder of each boy, thinking how big they had become, and how little of that growth he had seen as he raced around space tending to the sick, injured, and wounded on the great starships of the Sol Force Alliance. Space isn't for a married man with children, he thought to himself, but like so many, even after marriage and having children he couldn't shake his love of space and space travel. Mary had been the child raiser, and despite only having a father at home three to four months a year, she had done a fine job of raising the boys.
Douglas, the older boy, was athletic, playing basketball and baseball. While a little short and immature physically for his age, he worked hard at his sport and had an incredible desire to excel and to win. He was also an honor roll student. He was strongest in English and the social sciences, as well has excelling in foreign language study. His math and science skills, while strong, were his weak point. As smart as he was he wasn't good enough for the Junior Sol Force Academy, which was fine with Dr. Daniels. He really didn't want his sons to have a life in space. It was time for somebody in the family to settle down and live a proper life on Earth. Douglas also displayed leadership talent. He was Sophomore Class President at St. Michael's Prep, the prestigious private high school in the South Sound area.
Nathan, the younger boy, was also bright and athletic. Better at math and science than his brother, his indifference to English grammar and spelling skills kept him from moving up into the truly elite student class. Nathan loved playing soccer, basketball, and baseball. Like Douglas he was immature and small for his age. (It's in the genes, I guess, Dr. Daniels thought. I was the same way as an adolescent.) He lacked the self-discipline and intense will to win of his older brother, but nobody outworked him in whatever sport he was playing. Nathan was also a talented violinist, playing in the city's youth orchestra, where he was the youngest member of the first chair violin section. Music was the one place Nathan showed some of the same single-minded self-discipline of Douglas. He had been playing the violin since he was five, and he took his music seriously.
Douglas, the serious one, eschewed nicknames. He preferred to be called Douglas. Nathan, the impish one, didn't want to be called Nathan or any form of his name. He was called Nipper by friends, teachers, and his dad.
The father and his two sons were reaching the edge of the park-like cemetery. Dr. Daniels contemplated his future, and that of his sons. In his jacket pocket was his letter of resignation from the Sol Force Alliance. Also in his pocket was a contract with the Puget Family Medical Clinic, signed and ready to be delivered. The position would triple his SFA earnings. More importantly, he would be home. He had not been there to hold his dear wife's hand as she died an agonizing death. He had not been there for 2/3 of his son's lives. It was time for that to change. His life in space was now over. While his sons could be raised by his wife's parents, who cared for them until he was able to make it home from his assignment in space, it wasn't the right choice. He knew they would do a fine job, but his sons needed a real parent. They needed their father. They always had, but now more than ever, that was how it would be.
As they walked along the walkway to the parking lot, Dr. Daniels became aware of somebody approaching. He turned in time to see a man waking toward them on a perpendicular path. The man was wearing an overcoat to keep out the brisk wind. It was sunny, but the wind kept the February day cold. He looked vaguely familiar to the doctor.
"Larry?"
"Yes."
"It's Stephen. Stephen Hatcher."
Scooter stared at the walls surrounding his bed at the Augustine School for Juvenile Boys. He tried to shake off the deep depression that enveloped him, but as usual, he had little success.
"I don't belong here," the 14 year old thought. "It's not right. I'm not a criminal. How was I supposed to know he was the sheriff's son."
He thought to the encounter on the beach that had landed him at the school. He and his boyfriend Jim had been sunning themselves on the remote Atlantic beach. Both of them were nude. Since the beach allowed nudity, that in itself wasn't a problem. He was awakened by a shadow and looked up to see a cute young boy standing over them. The boy had jet black hair, dark skin, and was wearing a bright yellow swim suit that contrasted with his dark skin.
Scooter learned the boy's name was Thomas and he was almost 11. The boy was curious about finding two nude boys sunning on the beach. One thing led to another and Scooter soon was behind a sand dune with Thomas showing him the glories of receiving a blow job. Just after the young boy had his first ever dry orgasm, and before he could get himself together and get dressed, a man came around the dune. The man was Thomas's father, and the County Sheriff.
At the trial Scooter's lawyer had argued that the age difference for consensual sex among children was four years, and that by saying he was almost 11, Thomas had led Scooter to believe his birthday was immanent. The prosecutor argued that the age difference between the two boys was in fact four years and ten days, which made Scooter's foray with Thomas behind the dune statutory rape. Thomas said he hadn't been forced to go behind the dune, he had actually suggested it, and he didn't know a few days would make any difference, and Scooter was very cool.
Had the boy been any other boy, the judge would have let Scooter off with a warning that he be more aware of the law. Those four years meant no more than four years, not even by a day. But the boy was the son of the Sheriff. The Sheriff was upset, more with his son than with Scooter. To teach his son a lesson, and to keep him from going naked behind sand dunes with strange boys again, he wanted the book thrown at Scooter. It was. The judge sentenced Scooter to two years at Augustine Juvenile School.
The Juvenile School system was set up to house exceptionally bright juvenile offenders. Some of the students in the school were first time offenders, some were hard core offenders, some came from good, loving families, some were street kids. Some students were in for short sentences (the minimum for students assigned to the school was one year) and some were in until they turned 18. All were extremely intelligent. The age range in the school was 10-17, though most students were in their mid-teens. Some students used the programs offered by the school to turn their lives around and become successful, such as Captain Hatcher. Others merely counted the days until they could leave the school and return to the streets. One thing about the Juvenile School system that impressed Captain Hatcher was that fewer than half the students who left the school re-offended and returned. This in itself was a good reason to keep the schools open. They offered hope to the brightest of the bright, no matter how hard core an offender he was.
Scooter knew he didn't belong in the school. He belonged on the beach, lying naked in the sun on a lazy summer Sunday. If Thomas's dad hadn't come around that dune, he would be there now, naked and in the arms of his sweet Jim. The miserable part of his getting caught was that the sheriff wasn't even looking for his son. He had come around the dune to take a piss.
Jeff, Scooter's roommate wandered into the room. Jeff was 16, worked out with weights, and was well built for a kid his age. Jeff had been a street kid, wandering the streets of Miami, selling drugs to high school kids, as well as arranging sex between younger boys and older men. He was arrested after trying to sell cocaine to an undercover cop posing as a high school senior when he was 15, and sentenced to the Augustine Juvenile School until he turned 18. Jeff was an indifferent student in the school. The streets were all he had known since he was 12, and he knew there was no place for a loser like him in the "real world", because the "real world" didn't want to have to deal with kids like himself. He couldn't wait to return to the rough and tumble world of the Miami streets.
Jeff was very protective of his diminutive roommate. Scooter knew he was lucky to have Jeff as a roommate. There were some hard core bullies in the school. Scooter had been on the receiving end of a couple of minor beatings when he arrived, until Jeff stepped in and became Scooter's protector. Even though Scooter had fought back as hard as he could, gaining the respect of some of the bullies, the bullying didn't stop until Jeff took Scooter under his wing.
At first Scooter was afraid Jeff would ask him for sexual favors in return for his protection, but that ended up not being the case. In fact, other than lying on their own beds masturbating together when they both were horny, which was frequent considering they were both healthy teen-aged boys, nothing sexual had happened between them in the three months they'd been rooming together. Scooter liked Jeff. Jeff was a good friend and a good person. He was tough, street wise, brilliant, but he had a huge heart and a big soft spot for his roommate.
"Well, roomie, it's official," Jeff said.
"What is?"
"You know, what the big rumor has been about. The SFA has purchased this property to build a research center. The funding for these schools has run out. Too much money for too few kids. Not enough bang for the buck. Who cares how smart we are, we're really nothing but losers. Bunch of drug dealers, thieves, and junior perverts." He gave Scooter a quick smile after his last comment.
"I'm no pervert," Scooter protested. "It was only a 10 day difference."
"Hey, take it easy roomie. You know I've been to bed with some boys a lot more than 10 days off the 4 year limit, not to mention a couple of girls. I was just ragging on you."
"If the school closes, what happens to us? Do we get sent to another Juvenile Offender school?"
"Scooter, my roomie, they're gonna close the entire system. The money is gone. Done for. Like I said, too few of us junior criminal geniuses to make all this worthwhile. And the SFA is taking advantage of the availability of cheap property in prime locations. What a group of assholes. And they run all those fancy ass space ship academies for the kids of the rich and famous so they can explore space with a bunch of pansy asses."
"Then where will we go?" Scooter asked.
"To the holes. The juvenile detention centers. Jail. With all the REAL perverts. The ones who don't have a brain to share between them. You better not drop your soap in the shower being around that kind."
Tears started to form in Scooter's eyes. Shit, he thought, here I go crying again. That's all I've been doing since I've come here is cry. I don't know why Jeff puts up with a pansy ass like me.
Jeff noticed the tears dripping down Scooter's face. "Hey dude, I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to upset you. It's just, that's the way it's gonna be, and the chances of you having me around to protect you is slim. And I hate to say it, but that sweet ass of yours is going to be mighty tempting to the big gorillas who really run those places. Trust me, I was in the Miami jail until I was lucky enough to pass that test they gave me and ended up here. This place might be boring as hell with all their school and shit, but it sure beats the fuck out of juvie jail."
At the mention of big gorillas, Scooter rolled over and faces the wall, unsuccessfully fighting the huge sobs that were building up inside him.
"I'm sorry," Jeff said once again.
"Leave me alone," Scooter said between sobs. "Just leave me ALONE!!!"
Jeff got up off his bed, took the three steps that got him to Scooter's bed, and lay down next to him. He spooned up to his little roommate, who was 6 inches shorter and 60 pounds lighter. Scooter didn't make any effort to move him away. Jeff stroked Scooter's fine blond hair, put his arm around him, and hugged him tightly.
"It's okay, roomie. Jeff won't let anybody hurt his roommate." He licked a tear from Scooter's cheek, then nestled his head into Scooter's neck, kissing him lightly under his ear. "Nobody will hurt you, because you see, I love you." He pulled Scooter tighter to him and kissed his wet cheek. Scooter said nothing. He faced the wall, letting the tears flow, confused by what Jeff was saying and doing, but loving the feel of his big arm draped around him, and the feel of his lips on his neck and cheek.
Dr. Daniels faced Captain Hatcher. "Steven. My God, it's been what, eight or nine years since I last saw you?" He shook the Captain's outstretched hand vigorously.
"Eight years and four months to be exact," Captain Hatcher said.
"It's wonderful to see you again," the doctor said, smiling. He turned to his sons. "Have you met my boys?" he asked.
"Briefly, at the ship's farewell party before our last voyage together. They've grown a bit since then. How old are they now?"
"Douglas is 15 and Nipper, er, Nathan, is 11."
"Nipper is still Nipper I take it. I remember that nickname. He was a toddler last time I saw him, still in diapers."
Suddenly, Dr. Daniels stopped short, a serious look on his face. "I have to assume this meeting isn't a coincidence. Starship Captain's just don't go wandering around cemeteries bumping into old friends."
"You're perceptive as always, Larry. You're still the best ship's surgeon I ever had. Your in-laws told me I'd find you here. My time is limited, and I have something urgent to discuss with you."
"If it has to do with returning to space, you're in the wrong cemetery." Dr. Daniels pulled out his letter of resignation. "In a couple of hours I will officially be out of the SFA and in private practice. So, you have wasted your time, Steven. But it was great seeing you again."
"Please, Larry, hear me out. I know your whole story. About Mary, your boys, your quick return home. Listen to what I'm asking you. That's all I ask."
"Well, Steven, only because you are the finest Captain in the fleet, I'll give you your five minutes. But, before you start, the answer is no."
Dr. Daniels tossed his car key to Douglas. "How about you boys getting the baseball and mitts out of the car and play some catch there in the grass. We'll be leaving in five minutes," he said with a pointed stare at Captain Hatcher.
Both boys had sulky looks on their faces, but they obeyed their father and sauntered slowly to the car.
"He's going back," Nipper said. "That Captain is going to talk him into it. You watch."
"He won't go back into space, Nipper. He promised us. He has his resignation letter and his new job."
"He's going to leave us with grandma and grandpa and go back. He always promises, and he always goes back. You watch. He's going back!" Nipper tried fighting back the tears that were forming.
"This is different." Douglas put his arm around his little brother." Mom's gone. He's gotta stay. He's going to do what he promised."
"He's not. I know he's not!" Tears flowed angrily down the little boy's face. "I want my dad! I want him here!"
Douglas pulled his little brother to him and hugged him tightly. "He's staying," he whispered. "He's going to do what he promised." He said it to comfort his little brother, but he wasn't sure that he believed it himself.
Dr. Daniels couldn't help but see the exchange in the parking lot as he listened to Captain Hatcher's story. He had a pretty good idea what the emotional scene was about. He was not going to let his sons down this time. Whatever Captain Hatcher proposed, his answer was going to be a firm no.
Captain Hatcher finished his story and made his proposal. "Steven, my answer is no. I promised my boys, and I'm sticking to my promise. They need me more than some rag tag group of juvenile criminal geniuses. Don't get me wrong, I think your idea is an honorable, and I wish you the best of luck. But I think it's a dream that can't work. The deck is stacked against you."
"My obligation is to my sons. I'm not passing up the lucrative opportunity to go gallivanting out in space on some quixotic adventure. My God, Steven, the money I'll be making will allow me to send Douglas and Nipper to any college they want. And you want me to give that up, to give up the time I have left with my sons before they are grown up, to go on some volunteer mission that is doomed from the start?"
"Larry, I can't think of anybody else I want as my ship's surgeon. Look at your sons. Even with the limited time you've had to raise them, you and Mary have done a marvelous job with them. I want that touch you have with kids on the Lady Lex. I saw that in action on our last voyage together."
Dr. Daniels recalled that mission. A rescue mission to the BoLong Federation, after a meteor strike on their home planet left hundreds of thousands homeless and injured.
"My last, final, and hopefully, very clear answer, is no. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to be with my sons."
Captain Hatcher looked over at the two boys in the parking lot. They never did make it to their baseball and mitts. The older boy was hugging the obviously distraught younger boy. Like their father, Captain Hatcher knew exactly what the issue was that had the two of them so emotional.
"Okay. Answer accepted...but.." Captain Hatcher glanced over at the two boys once again. "..but...what if I raise the ante?"
Ray Jay turned the corner, through the gate of the second house, and ran up the stairs and into the house, jumping onto the couch, and then sliding down to sit on it, gasping to catch his breath.
His brother Mikey, also known as TJ for reasons nobody was quite sure about, heard the commotion and came down the stairs.
"Hey, Gerbil, what's up?" he asked. TJ was 15, thin, wiry, a dedicated year round soccer player. To most of their friends, TJ was the Hamster because of his size and the fact that he seemed to be in perpetual motion. Ray Jay, also known as RJ, was the Gerbil. RJ was 10, but was as big and as heavy as his slightly built big brother. Both boys lived with their mother, whose main contribution to parenthood was not being home most of the time. The two boys were pretty much on their own, and were a wild pair. They attended school when it suited them, and spent most of their time finding ways of creating trouble and avoiding getting caught.
RJ pulled an expensive looking watch out of his pocket and dangled it in front of Mikey.
"Nice piece of machinery," TJ said. "Where did you get it?" TJ had a pretty good idea that his brother hadn't just found it lying on the sidewalk.
"On this dude's wrist," Ray Jay said nonchalantly.
"You mugged somebody for it?" TJ asked incredulously.
"Sure why not? He came on to me in the park. So instead of him taking, I took."
"Fuck, Gerbil. He came on to you? Like that's a big deal. Since when have you turned down money for a BJ by some old pervert?"
"Maybe since one dangled a watch like this with diamonds and gold and shit in my face when I'm ready to go down on him. I just thought, hey I can sell that thing for maybe a hundred, and all that dude was gonna give me for sucking him off was a twenty. It was a no brainer."
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Come on Gerbil, you know we don't do muggings and physical shit like that. I mean the guy is gonna describe you and the police will figure it all out and next thing you know you're off to juvie. Again. Only this time it's for good. Damn, you can be so dumb sometimes."
"You steal stuff like this," Ray Jay said.
"Yeah. From houses and stores and shit. With the gang. The smartest gang of kid thieves in the country. We don't go mugging old men so they can describe us to the police." TJ paused, and then asked, "How bad do you hurt the old fart?"
"I didn't hurt him. He's there in front of me in the park with his willie out of his pants, and he takes off the watch like he's afraid I'll slobber on it or something and dangles it when I'm ready to stick his smelly old boner in my mouth. So I stand up, mash him in the nose and push him down. Crash, he's on the ground, and I take the watch. I might be 10, but I'm bigger and stronger than most assholes like that."
"First thing he did was call the police, I bet."
Ray Jay started laughing, quietly at first, then a steady giggle, than he started laughing hysterically.
"It's not funny, you idiot. The police come here you're gone for a year or more. You know that."
"I know," Ray Jay said between giggles. "I can't help it. I mean there he was on the ground behind these bushes with his pants and boxers pulled down to his ankles, so I pulled them all the way off and took them too.
TJ looked at his little brother, tried to hold back his laugh, and then joined him in a round of uncontrolled hysterical laughter.
After the boys calmed down, RJ looked over at his older brother, whose every inch he worshiped, including the six and a half inches between his legs, something he had known intimately since he was 5, and RJ was only four hairless inches.
"Hamster?" Even though TJ called his brother Gerbil all the time, Ray Jay only called TJ, Hamster, when he wanted to talk seriously.
"Yes, my whacko Gerbil," TJ said as he sat next to his brother, stroking his bare leg under the hem of his shorts.
"When do I get to join the Donkey Gang?"
TJ eyed his little brother. "Gerbil, you're only 10 years old. The youngest we've ever had in the gang was 12, and that was all of us when we started it."
"Ya, and only one guy has joined since. So, I don't see the big deal. I can do anything you guys can," he said with a mischievous smile, dangling the stolen watch in front of his brother's face.
"You know what happened last time somebody dangled that watch," TJ said.
"Ya, but he had his pants at his ankles." Ray Jay stopped the Hamster's rubbing of his bare leg, putting his hand in the way.
"You want me to rub someplace else?" TJ asked with a leer.
"No! I want you to say I can join the Donkey Gang. Come on, TeeeeeeeeeeeeJay!" Ray Jay loved dragging out his older brother's name when he wanted to get something.
"You're only 10. You're not responsible enough."
Ray Jay showed off the watch again. "I got this didn't I?"
"By mugging some perv behind a bush in the park. So what? If he ever identifies you it won't be worth a shit, anyway. The Donkey gang is way more sophisticated than just mugging people. We're too smart to get caught."
"He's gonna have enough trouble worrying about his pants," RJ said, which got both boys rolling with laughter again.
The laughter stopped suddenly when RJ gave his brother a serious look. "I promise to do everything you tell me. I won't go out on my own. Not even blow jobs in the park. Please. Please. Please TeeeeeeeeeeeeJay."
"Okay. Tell you what. We have a planning meeting for our next job tonight. I will ask The Donkey and the rest of them. But I don't promise anything."
Ray Jay laid a big sloppy kiss on his brother's lips. "Oh, TJ, I love you. I know I'll be good. You won't be sorry. I'm gonna be the best member the Donkey Gang ever had."
Douglas and Nipper looked at the animated conversation between their father and Captain Hatcher. Their father had started to walk away, and then Captain Hatcher said something that turned him back around. Both boys started to worry more and more as the conversation got longer and longer. They both wished there was a way they could listen in.
"He's leaving us. I know it. I know it," Nipper said, as Douglas stood next to him, arm around his shoulder.
"Okay, I'll ask the boys. If they agree, we have a deal," Dr. Daniels said. He and the Captain walked to the parking lot together.
"Boys, I have a proposal to make," Dr. Daniels said.
"NOOO!!! The answer is NOOO!!. I don't want you to go. You promised and now you're going to leave us again. YOU PROMISED!! I HATE YOU!!!" Nipper screamed, as he lost control of his emotions.
Douglas squeezed him tightly. "Shhh, listen to what he has to say. Calm down little brother." He could see the hurt look on his father's face following Nipper's outburst.
"You're going back out, aren't you?" Douglas asked quietly.
"I said no," Dr. Daniels said. "Then Captain Hatcher made an offer that was hard to refuse."
"I knew it! You never stay. You always break your promises!" Nipper glared at his father with near hatred.
Dr. Daniels walked over to his younger son and put his arm around him as Douglas let go. Nipper tried unsuccessfully to pull away. "Son, I love you."
"No, you don't! You promised not to go back into space."
"No, Son, that was not my promise. I promised not to leave you again. And I am not going to break that promise."
"You mean you're NOT going back onto space?" Douglas asked, somewhat confused.
"Oh, I think I'm going back," Dr. Daniels replied. "But only if you two go out into space with me."
To be continued....