The Lifeguard

Disclaimer: The following is a work of fiction. If you are

offended by graphic descriptions of homosexual acts, go

somewhere else.

Copyright c 2001 by Orrin C. Rush. All rights reserved.

Neither this story nor any parts of it may be distributed

electronically or in any other manner without the express,

written consent of the author.

This is a work of fiction, any resemblance of the characters

to anyone living or dead is pure coincidence and not

intended. They are all products of the author's imagination.

THE LIFEGUARD

Chapter 39

It took a few days for the reality of the gold mine to sink

in. "I want to let out a war whoop whenever I think about

it," Eric told me. I felt very much the same way. We

restrained ourselves, however, with a great deal of

difficulty.

We both wanted to celebrate, but at the same time, we didn't

want to broadcast the news, so we decided to wait until the

first ore came out. That'd give us time to plan something

rather spectacular.

Loren wasn't wasting any time getting things going. He

wanted to work from home and had put his wife to work as his

secretary. Within days he had all the data collected to get

the Environmental Impact study underway and had contracted

with a firm in Texas to get it done, promising them a bonus

if they could complete it in 60 days or less.

He was also scouting equipment for the processing plant that

we hoped to build at the site. "If we order all new

equipment," he said, "It'll take a year to get, but if we

find some used stuff that's in good shape, we can have it in

a hurry. I'm as anxious as you are to get this thing going."

That was fine with us. He knew what he was doing.

A few days later, Carol buzzed me about a call I had from a

George Mattison. Didn't ring a bell until she said "Big

George from Texas." I knew who that was!

"Howdy there, Dave," he drawled. I knew damned well he could

speak without any trace of an accent, but hell, that was good

'ol folksy Big George.

"Hear one'a mah outfits is doin a little job for ya," he

continued.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Oh, some 'ol EIR over in Arizona." Now, he got serious and

the accent disappeared. "Don't worry, we don't talk. If we

did, we wouldn't stay in business long. But when a

rush-rush, hush-hush job comes along, my boys let me know

about it. You gonna tell me what you got going?"

I liked and trusted Big George, so I gave him the facts. "We

think we've found a pretty good sized gold deposit," I told

him. "We don't know for sure, but we're anxious to find out."

"I'll kick my boys' asses," he promised. "From what they

tell me, they should have it done in four or five weeks."

"We'd appreciate that," I told him.

"Claire's havin' another one'a them hoedowns in a couple'a

weeks for it gets too hot down here, and she wants you and

your young feller to come on down."

"Sounds like fun," I told him.

"She says you got a couple'a daughters, and wants you to

bring them too, no, she insisted on it."

"I'll try," I promised.

He gave me all the details, and we had a nice conversation

about things in general.

Eric came in a few minutes after I hung up. I told him about

the call, then told him "Better get out your dancin' shoes,

big fella, Claire's having another hoedown, and we're

invited. Wanna go? We're supposed to take Annie and Tina,

too."

"Under one condition," he answered, his eyes twinkling.

"What's that?"

"You've got to learn how to Square Dance."

"Oh shit," I groaned, "now you want to torture me. I didn't

think you were into S&M."

He went into a fit of giggles. "You'll have fun if you let

yourself," he promised.

When we mentioned the party to Annie and Tina, they were

eager to go, but both wanted to know if they could bring a

"friend". I knew Tina's escort would be her Architect Rick,

but Annie was still being mysterious.

"We all have to be able to Square Dance," Eric announced.

Tina's eyes lit up, but Annie had the same reaction that I'd

had.

"I'm serious," Eric told us. "I've already talked to an

instructor and we're all going to take lessons. Bring Rick

over, Tina, and we'll all learn together."

"I suppose you're already an expert," Annie snarled.

"Did I hear 'Square Dancing'?" Mary asked as she served our

dessert.

"Sure did," Eric said. "We're all going to learn."

"Maybe we can help you out," she said. "Sam's a Caller and

I've taught before. Our grandson Todd usually works with us.

Want us to teach you?"

"I'm not into pain!" Annie whined.

"It's easy," Mary said. "You don't even need to have good

rhythm, just follow the Caller's instructions. When do you

want to start?"

A date was set. I couldn't believe I'd been roped into

this. I gave Eric the hardest glare I could which made him

start giggling again.

"I'm gonna get you for this," I promised him.

When Eric had moved in with me, he'd brought his exercise

equipment and installed it in the rooms next to our bedroom.

Originally it had consisted of a padded bench, barbells,

dumbells and a pile of weight plates. Those were gone, now,

replaced with a rather large all-in-one machine.

He was by no means a workout freak, explaining that he was on

a "maintenance" program. He was one of those rare

individuals who had a natural body that had only required a

little work to develop perfect definition, and he had no

interest in "bulking up", something I totally agreed with.

Why try to improve on perfection was my attitude.

"If I bulk up," he'd said, "when I get older it'll sag unless

I spend half my waking hours working out, and I don't plan to

ever have time for that! There're too many other things to

do that're a helluva lot more fun."

When he'd gotten the machine, he'd explained that it would

permit him to get a full body workout in a shorter time. At

that time, I couldn't resist pointing out that there were a

few parts of his body that the machine didn't exercise, but

I'd gladly help him out with those.

I have a personal rule about privacy. At no time do I ever

invade another person's "space". Hell, I've never seen the

inside of Tina's rooms, and Annie's only once when she

dragged me in. Eric's "study" and "gym" got the same

treatment. I never entered unless invited, and ignored

"open" invitations.

At first, he was uncomfortable with this, but he grew to

learn that I was merely showing him the respect I felt he

deserved. We were able to laugh about it now, but my policy

didn't change.

Eric had never tried to "change" me, to get me to work out

with him, or get involved in his routine. "Wanna keep me

company?" was as close as he'd come.

I'd never seen the inside of a gym, the exercise I got was

from swimming and there was no regimen involved. Over the

years, it'd worked pretty well, no pot gut, and I had lots of

energy.

Frequently, I'd taken him up on his invitation to keep him

company, watching his muscles flex and strain while he went

through his routine. His routine was intense and he'd work

up a sweat in a hurry, making his body glisten. Since I'm

not particularly turned on by sweat, the visual effect was

great, but I wasn't particularly aroused or anxious to jump

his bones. All pumped up, and after a shower was a different

matter, however.

A few months ago when I'd accepted his invitation, he'd

sensed my vulnerability to suggestion and asked if I'd like

to give it a try. He promised to lower the tension, and lead

me through a short routine. Not surprisingly, he'd read me

right, and I agreed to try it out.

Even though he set the resistance at less than half of what

he used, it was still a strain for me. If I'd been with

anybody else, I'd have been embarassed. Eric was not only

helpful but understanding.

"You've got a swimmer's build, he commented, and you look

great. But," he continued, "if you do this on a fairly

regular basis, you'll notice how much more energy you'll

have."

"Do I need more?" I asked, leering.

"Definitely not in THAT department, but I think you'll feel

better in general."

One effect the short workout had on me was a noticeable

increase in libido. After a shower, we were both ready for a

major romp.

The next day, I was sore as hell, and, as usual, bitched and

complained a lot. No sympathy whatsoever. "That just means

that you made a little progress," he told me.

I wasn't sure whether I wanted to put myself through this on

a regular basis. Afterall, Eric WAS 20 years younger! Let

him do it.

Once he'd gotten me to try it, he went on a Crusade,

playfully cajoling me to join him again and again.

I weakened, rationalizing that the torture was for my own

good. After only a few more sessions, the pain diminished

and I found myself looking forward to them. In a month, I

noticed a marked difference. I did have more energy, and my

shirts fit a bit tighter and my pants were a lot looser.

Eric was happy as a little kid that he'd been able to "give"

me something I liked, and definitely spurred me on by

commenting that I was getting sexier all the time.

It became routine, I would join him two or three times a

week, and felt better than I had in years.

It also had a positive effect on our sex life, not that it

had been anything to complain about before. No increase in

frequency, but in intensity. Since day one, we'd made love

on almost a daily basis, skipping, by mutual unspoken

agreement when we just felt like holding each other.

My stamina had increased, and Eric matched me. We weren't

necessarily more athletic in our couplings, but instead of

rolling over and going to sleep after one giant orgasm, we

went for seconds, and occasionally, thirds. There was one

thing that didn't change, the love and tenderness that was

the focus of our lovemaking.

My point was proven again, it GETS BETTER as time goes on.

After dinner that evening, even with the goddamed dance

lessons looming, we spent our hour or so in the gym. After a

shower, we weren't ready to go to bed so we threw on shorts

and went out on the deck to enjoy the cool evening.

I stretched out on a chaise, and instead of taking the one

next to me, Eric straddled my legs and sat facing me. "I

know you're pissed about the dancing thing," he said,

reaching up to play with my nipples.

"Goddamit," I said, trying to be serious, "how the hell do

you expect me to stay pissed when you're doing that?"

He ignored me, and continued tweaking. "Is it that you just

don't like dancing, or is it some sort of hangup?"

"If you really want to know, you're going to have to stop

that," I told him, moving his hands off my chest. He let

them rest on the lounge along my sides.

Now I could concentrate. "Why do you always find my weak

spots and work on them so unmercifully?" I asked.

He leaned forward and gave me a peck on the lips. "Because I

love you," he said, "and I've gotten to know you rather

well," he giggled. "There's no way I'm going to let you sit

on the sidelines and watch me have fun. I want you to have

fun too."

"But you're good at it, I'm not."

"How do you know? Ever tried?"

"A long time ago and it was a disaster. I'm no good at it,

and I'm not in the habit of making a fool of myself."

"A little ego thing?"

"In a way, I guess," I told him, "I try to avoid things that

I don't do well, and this is definitely one of them. I have

an image to uphold!"

"Not with me, you don't," he laughed. "I got ya for better

or worse."

"If it were just you and me, that'd be different, but other

people are involved."

"Since when did you start caring about what other people

thought? That's bullshit and you know it."

He was right, but I wasn't about to admit it, yet. He knew

me too well, which, in a way was kind of frightening. When

I'd put up a barrier, he'd somehow knock it down, something

I'd never permitted another human to do in my entire life.

Bit by bit, he was stripping me bare, clear to the core.

Most of the issues themselves were inconsequential, but the

fact that he found them and brought them to light made me

uncomfortable. It was scary to me to let anyone get so

deeply into me. But, I loved him all the more because he

made the effort. I fought, sure, but he was relentless, and

admittedly, in the end, I felt better for it.

"OK," I admitted, "I can stand just about anything but being

laughed at."

"I can't imagine that happening!" he said.

"You weren't in my Dance Class when I was about 12 years old."

"Traumatic, huh? Tell me about it."

"My Mother thought it appropriate that I join all the other

kids about my age in learning how to dance. She said it

would be 'confidence building'. Boy was she ever wrong. I

went, basically because I had to, but liked the idea of being

hot on the dance floor.

"It was the early 60's and Rock was in, Bill Haley, Fats

Domino, and Little Richard were the rage. Our teacher wasn't

too hip, coming from the 'jitterbug' era, so taught us a

bastardized version of that. I tried, but I couldn't ever

get in sync with the beat. At one session, all the other

kids stopped dancing to watch me in action, laughing their

heads off. That was my last attempt at dancing. I can

follow a line dance enough to keep up, but you wouldn't

believe how difficult it is for me."

"Kids are mean little fuckers," he said. "I can see why you

never tried again."

"That wasn't all," I told him, chuckling. "There was slow

dancing, too. The partner that was picked out for me was a

girl a couple of years older and a foot taller. She also had

the worst case of B.O. I've ever experienced, and here I was

with my nose stuck in her armpit."

Eric erupted in laughter. I joined him.

"Maybe if I hadn't been holding my breath all the time, I'd

have been able to follow the music."

"You poor guy! I promise you this won't be anything like

that."

"I'll give it a try," I promised, giving in to him as usual.

If he only knew how he had me wrapped around his little

finger!

When we stopped laughing, his hands were back on my chest

doing their magic. I didn't protest. Soon, he was lying on

top of me, his tongue everywhere. It was time for the

bedroom.

Our love life certainly wasn't routine, and neither was the

rest of our lives. About the only constant was that we went

to the office most weekdays, and even that was far from

absolute. I was a master delegater, letting someone else

handle the day-to-day headaches, and Eric was learning fast.

Nancy, my secretary, kept a calendar for both of us. It was

only as good as the information we gave her, and we were

pretty sloppy about it. I was filling her in on upcoming

commitments when I noticed that there was a conflict. April

12th, our Anniversary was the same day as Claire's hoedown.

I asked Eric what he wanted to do. "I don't know of any

parties planned," he said. "Let's go to Claire's party, but

not tell anyone it's a special occasion."

"You really got to me last year," I told him. "That was one

of the most emotional nights of my life."

"I can't wait for our 50th," he said, taking me into his arms.

Jeff had set up a meeting with Bill, Eric and me. My first

impression was that he was so excited he looked ready to

explode.

"We're through with the small meetings with my managers," he

said, "next, I'd like to get them all together sometime in

June. Will all of you be available?" We nodded.

"I don't know if you've seen the latest sales figures, but

we're taking over the market with the new computer cases.

We've got over a fifty percent market share, and we're

turning down orders because we just don't have any more

capacity. That's a problem."

"A nice problem to have!" Eric commented.

"The question now is," Jeff continued, "whether we grow to

meet demand, or if we let our competitors get their foot in

the door."

"I'll give you the answer to that," Bill said. "We grow.

Metalco has never backed off before, and we're not going to

set a precedent here. What do you need?"

"Over the next year, we could use eight new plants, producing

only that one item, particularly on the West Coast. That

would allow us to give the rest of our plants a little

slack. This seven day a week schedule is getting a little

old."

"Can we build them and get them on-line that fast?" I asked.

"If we build, no. If we buy existing buildings and move in

equiment, we can."

"I suppose you already have them picked out," I chuckled.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Jeff answered, with a big grin.

"Four on the West Coast - Seattle, the San Francisco area,

Los Angeles and Sacramento. One in St. Louis, two in the

Northeast and one in Georgia."

"You've looked at buildings too?" I asked.

"Everything we need's available, buy or lease."

"How about equipment?" I asked, knowing what the answer would

be.

"The orders are ready for signature," he predictably answered.

"How much are we talking about, if we buy the buildings?" I

asked.

"Around a billion one," he said, meaning a billion, one

hundred million.

Turning to Bill, I asked "Can we handle that?"

"Over a year, no problem," he said. "Unless you decide to

buy another railroad."

Then, Jeff threw in the clincher. "We project a three year

payback."

"Optomistic or realistic?" Eric asked.

"Realistic," Jeff answered. "I predict we'll be looking at

even more expansion before these are even up and running."

"Where do I sign?" I asked, watching the expression on Jeff's

face. I'm pretty sure he wasn't prepared for a decision that

fast.

On the way home, I told Eric "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Finding Jeff for us."

"Warren ain't too shabby either," he said.

"I think we put them in the right slots."

"I don't know if it's a slot, but I have something I NEED you

to put something into. Power!"

"That's as good an excuse as any," I told him, laughing.

By the time we got down to it, Eric was so hot he just about

shot while I was loosening him up. I had to back off and

slow down.

Even that wasn't too successful. As soon as I bottomed out

and gave him a few strokes, he stiffened and shot a quart of

cum all over himself. That was only the beginning, however.

Once he settled down, we continued. Long, slow strokes had

him on the edge again in no time. The clenching of his

muscles around my dick just about put me away too, but I

managed to hold on. We both wanted more, and we got it. On

his third explosion I was powerless to hold back. With our

lips locked we rocketed into another world.

I couldn't understand his reaction to this "power" thing, but

I sure as hell wasn't complaining.

I wondered if Joel was ready for this kind of growth. I knew

he was expanding, but we were dependent on him for matching

monitors. I gave him a call to find out where he stood.

Instead of going over the details on the phone, he suggested

that we get together and talk.

"When?" I asked.

"The sooner the better. Why don't you guys come to Tucson

this Friday and let us return a little of your hospitality."

"Can't promise until I talk with Eric, but I think that'll be

fine."

Joel and Aaron lived in a home on the outskirts of Tucson.

It was more of a sculpture than a "house". Built of Redwood

and stone with sweeping views, it was cantalevered out over a

cliff, even the pool was in midair. It was spectacular.

Beautifully decorated, using a lot of Native American art, it

was warm and comfortable.

Seated with drinks in hand, Joel's first comment was "What in

the hell are you guys going to do with a Railroad?"

Laughing, Eric told them the whole story - except anything

about the mining venture. That'd come later.

Talk turned to computers. Joel had doubled his capacity, and

construction was underway to re-double, which, he felt would

bring him into line with our current production level. "I'm

running so far behind right now," he said, "and now you're

telling me that you're going to build more CPU's. How many

more?"

"Over the next year, we're going to double production," I

told him.

"And you expect me to keep up with you, right?"

"We're hoping you will," I told him.

"We can, but I'm not sure I want to. What happens if the

balloon bursts?"

"We're betting more than a billion that it won't," I said.

"You're diversified," Joel continued, "if the market

collapses, you can switch your plants to other products, I

can't. I'm a one-product company."

"Have you considered branching out? Printers, scanners.

They'll be the next wave," Eric suggested.

"Oh Christ," he groaned, "more headaches. Don't you guys

ever stop?"

"Nope," Eric said. "You wouldn't even believe some of the

stuff we're working on."

"I can only imagine," Joel groaned.

"I want you with us, Joel," I told him, "but I'm not going to

pressure you into doing something you don't want to do. You

understand our position, I'm sure, we're going to need your

product, and I'm sure we can find some middle ground that'll

work for both of us."

From experience, I knew that Joel thoroughly considered

anything before coming to a decision, so let the matter drop

for the time being.

Eric and Aaron got into comparing notes on College. Joel and

I sat by proudly watching.

"How old do you think Joel is?" Eric asked as we were getting

into bed.

"I'd guess mid thirties," I said, "Why?"

"He sure is conservative."

"I dont see him that way," I argued. "He just doesn't make

snap decisions. He's got a good thing going and doesn't want

to jeopardize it. Actually, I kind of admire him."

"I also know how much we need him."

"Yes, we do. If our customers can't get monitors that match,

we're not going to sell CPU's. I don't want to go to

somebody else, but we'll have to if he can't supply us. I

don't have to tell him that, he already knows it, nothing

personl, strictly business.

"Joel's also a very proud man, and won't accept any help

except on his own terms."

"That's a subject I know all too well!" Eric said smiling.

"I grew up, though."

"I think, between us, that we'll come up with a solution. If

we don't, though, and this is something I don't really want

to do, we're going to go into the monitor, printer and

scanner business. From our standpoint now, it's too bad we

didn't do that in the first place."

"Joel's not really in the manufacturing business, is he?

Isn't it more assembly of components he buys from others?"

"I think that's it. I don't think he actually 'makes' any of

the parts," I said.

"Then he doesn't have the huge investment in heavy equipment

that we do. Setting up to do that can't be that expensive."

"It wouldn't be to us, but he may see it differently."

"What's our legal position?" he asked.

"He's got an exclusive as long as he can meet market

requirements, if he can't we have the option of going

elsewhere. We own all the rights to the new designs however

they're used."

"We could, then, literally pull the rug out from under him?"

"That's about it, but I don't want to do that. It'd be a

last resort."

When we came downstairs in the morning, Aaron was cooking

breakfast, looking mighty chipper.

"You assholes," he kidded, "Joel was up all night working,

and I didn't get any. It's all your fault."

"Sorry about that," Eric kidded back. "Unfortunately, you'd

better get used to it. Business does get in the way

sometimes, but think of all the fun you'll have getting

caught up."

Joel wandered into the kitchen looking like he really had

been up all night. "You cause me to lose more sleep..." he

said, looking straight at me.

"I don't need a decision today," I protested.

"But you'd like one, admit it," he laughed.

"Sure, it'd be nice," I told him.

We sat down at the table. Looking me straight in the eye, he

continued. "I'm in. Not only more Monitors, but printers and

scanners too. Deal?"

I rose to shake his hand. "Deal," I said. "You're not going

to regret it."

"Hey Aaron, drag out some Champagne. We're going to

celebrate. I'll probably go to sleep on you, but what the

hell."

Over toasts to our growing relationship, I kidded Joel

"You're too damned easy, but I'll bet Aaron already knows

that."

Joel and Aaron exchanged glances then burst into laughter.

"God, is he EVER!" Aaron giggled.

"Seriously," Joel mused, "less than a year ago when you

showed up on my doorstep, Dave, I had no idea what was going

to happen. That meeting and what's happened since," he

glanced at Aaron to make his point, "has changed my life."

After Joel napped for a couple of hours, we talked about

details. He would have preferred to keep all his operations

in Tucson, but realized that a Northeastern location would

save him a lot of freight.

"I'm not very creative, and neither is my staff. Can you

give us a little help on printer and scanner design?" he

asked.

"No problem, no charge," I assured him. "If you'll give us

the parameters, we'll design cases that'll fit with

production of them in mind. If we can make the parts more

efficiently, we can save you some money on them."

I had to smile. "I don't think any of our people even gave

any thought to this. I don't know where we're going to have

space to make them. Guess we'll have to build another plant

just to supply you."

"What's another hundred million?" Joel snickered.

The same Asian company that made his flat screens also

produced a line of printers, and he already had talked to

another company about scanner components. I'm pretty sure he

had anticipated our move.

"I can handle most everything by phone and fax," Joel said,

"but we're going to have to make a trip over there pretty

soon."

"Can we go too?" Eric asked in a little boy voice. "We won't

get in the way."

Joel laughed. "Would you guys really like to go along? I

definitely plan on taking Aaron."

Eric looked at me, I nodded. "We've got a new long-range jet

on order, and will be getting it in a couple of months," Eric

said. "Maybe we could break it in."

"Don't you already have your own airline?" Joel asked.

"Only two planes," I chuckled. "Wait'll you see this new

baby, puts the old ones to shame."

On Monday, I called Jeff in. "We forgot something," I told

him.

"What's that?" he asked, alarmed.

"The Monitors, printers and scanners to go with our CPU

cases."

"I thought Metalco made the components for those," he said.

"They are, for the moment, but that's a Milton product.

Metalco needs that machine time. Joel Robinson makes the

monitors and he's going to gear up to handle the increased

production we're planning, and he's also going to turn out a

line of printers and scanners to match."

"Milton doesn't have any spare capacity, you know that."

"Then build some. Joel's going to be building at least one

more plant. I don't know where, yet, but it might be a good

idea if we set up close to him. He's also going to need some

design help for the printers and monitors. We have the

people to handle that for him. We can design them so they're

easy to make and save both of us a few bucks."

"Should I go to Tucson?"

"Not yet, he only decided to expand over the weekend. Give

him a few weeks to get his plans together. Oh, and one other

thing, Jeff, can you find out what Metalco's margin

percentage is on the stuff we sell to Joel?"

"That's easy enough to find out," he said.

"When you do, I want all new business with Joel to reflect a

50% reduction in our profit margin, and that goes for the new

stuff too."

Jeff whistled. "That's one hell of a sweetheart deal!"

I smiled. "Joel's a little guy, and he's going way out on a

limb for us. Let's make it easy for him for a while. Oh,

and 180 day terms on everything."

By the end of the week, I heard from Joel. "What the hell's

going on," he yelled.

"Relax and enjoy it, stud," I told him.

"Not only are my prices cut 20%, but the terms are 180. Why?"

"Don't worry, we're still making money. I just thought we'd

cut you a little slack. Look out, though, we may sock it to

you later!"

"You asshole," he murmured. "You didn't have to do this, but

it sure is going to help."

"No problem."

"Thank you, Dave."

The Square Dance lessons weren't as bad as I'd feared. It

helped a lot that our teachers were patient. The first step

was to learn what the Caller's instructions meant. Mary and

Todd demonstrated. God there were a lot of different moves

to remember! Performed separately, they didn't make much

sense, but when put together, they did.

Eric had been right. Mary and Sam's grandson Todd was a

knockout, but oh so shy.

Eric, of course, knew what he was doing, so did Tina. That

left Annie, Rick and me to learn the basics. Annie wasn't any

happier about doing it than I was, and when she got nasty

about it, I pulled her off to one side and told her that if I

had to endure this, she did too, and we'd both be better off

if we quit fighting it. She grinned and got into it.

It was like school. So much to remember and no time to take

notes. I concentrated.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Eric asked when the session was

finally over.

There was no way I was going to admit that I'd enjoyed it

even though, surprisingly, I had. The awkwardness and lack

of coordination I'd experienced at age 12 was not there any

more, thank God.

Annie was honest. "That was fun," she admitted.

"A couple more lessons and all the moves'll become

automatic," Todd said, the first time he'd spoken all

evening. Mary beamed.

"You're a natural," Eric told me when we were alone. "Why

did you feed me that bullshit about not having any rhythm?"

"It wasn't as hard as I expected," I admitted. "It was fun.

OK, I had a good time. Are you satisfied now?"

"No," he giggled.

The lessons continued, the moves and combinations got more

complicated, but I kept up, surprising myself. Todd was

right, they did become automatic.

Eric was pleased, and that made me happy. My whole effort

had been to please him. He asked very little of me, and I

made a decision not to fight him the next time he wanted me

to try something new.

"What's everybody got planned for this weekend?" Annie asked

us during dinner.

I glanced at Eric, he shrugged. "Nothing, I guess. Why?" I

asked.

"I'm having company," she answered.

"Aha! We finally get to meet the mystery man. Do we have to

be on our best behavior?"

"Not really," she said seriously. "The only time you guys

embarass me is when you do it intentionally."

"OK, give. Tell us about him so we'll know what to expect,"

I asked.

"Andy's just a nice guy. I'm sure you're going to like him."

"Does he know about 'us'," Eric asked, nodding toward me.

"Oh yeah," Annie responded, "No problem, and none with his

family either. I made damned sure of that."

"What've you got planned?" I asked.

"He's getting in Friday afternoon. I thought we could all

have dinner here, then Tina, Rick and I are going to take him

out. We'll play it by ear from there."

It didn't surprise me a bit when Eric called Sarah for

details. He was as protective of my girls as I was.

"Sarah wouldn't say much," he reported, "just that he was a

nice boy from a good family, and that she approved of him.

That's good enough for me."

"I think Sarah's adopted all of you guys - you, Annie, and

Tina too."

"She doesn't have any children herself, you know."

"No, I didn't know that."

"I think she's made us her 'project'. Personally, I love it."

"I hope all of you know how lucky you are. She's a very

remarkable lady and we can all learn a lot from her."

"It's a lot more than that. She's become kind of a second

Mother to all of us. She cares. In fact, Annie has told me

that she wishes Sarah was her real mother."

"Speaking of Georgia," I said. "I wonder what she's up to.

Haven't heard anything about her since last Thanksgiving."

"Personally, I think that's a good thing."

Andy had already arrived when Eric and I got home from work.

Before meeting him, we got out of our work clothes, but

dressed semi-formal - long pants instead of our usual shorts.

We found them out on the deck, Andy in coat and tie.

Introductions were performed, he had a nice firm handshake,

then Gabriella brought us drinks.

To say that the atmosphere was tense is an understatement.

Poor Andy, wanting to make a good impression, was as nervous

as a whore in church. I understood, hell, I'd damned near

crapped my pants when I went to meet Eric's parents the first

time, and I'm an old fart, not a young swain.

Annie got things going by saing that this was Andy's first

trip to California.

"And you're letting the poor guy sweat with a coat and tie?"

I asked. "We're laid-back here, don't even wear 'em to

work. C'mon Andy, get comfortable."

He wasted no time losing the coat and tie. When he stood,

Eric and I had a good opportunity to size him up. Nice

shoulders, narrow hips and a cute butt. I'd already noticed

his boy-next-door good looks.

"That feels much better, Mr. Rush," he said.

"I'd appreciate if you'd call me Dave, Andy," I told him.

I'm not particularly good at making people comfortable,

particularly not when I know absolutely nothing about them.

I wished that Annie had given us a little background so I

could find some common interests. I certainly wasn't into

the "Where are you from," "What do you do," type of

interrogation.

Eric got things rolling by mentioning the party in Dallas a

few weeks down the road. That broke the ice and it was

easier from then on. The tension gradually dissolved, and

before we went in to dinner, we were all laughing and joking

like old friends.

I quickly got the impression that Andy had lived a rather

sheltered life, worldly in that he'd traveled a bit, but not

too familiar with everyday people. Annie, down to earth as

she was, would change that in a hurry if he stuck around.

He was totally fascinated with Eric's earlier career as a

Lifeguard, and got rather wide-eyed at some of the stories

Eric told him about life at the beach.

Tina and Rick had kept their distance, allowing us to get

acquainted. They showed up after dinner and the four of them

took off.

"Well, what do you think?" Eric asked.

"I like him," I said. "He sure doesn't talk about himself

much, though."

"I noticed that too," he said. "He isn't anything like I

expected. So formal and serious, nothing like Annie, but I

like him too."

Saturday morning, I was sitting on the deck, reading the

paper and having my morning coffee. Andy came out and

politely asked if he could join me.

"I believe I owe you an apology for yesterday," he said.

"Why?" I asked.

"I assumed that Annie had told you all about me. Last night

I found out differently."

"Never assume anything with that girl," I chuckled.

"I'm learning," he said, then gave me a full biography on

himself.

Eastern aristocrat. Choate, Harvard, ending up with an

M.B.A, and currently working in his family's brokerage firm

on Wall Street, a name I recognized. "I started at the bottom

three years ago and am working my way up," he said.

"I started on the shop floor at Metalco myself," I told him.

"It's a bitch and you hate it, but it'll really pay dividends

later."

"I accept that, but I don't have to like it," he grinned,

showing off his winning smile.

At about that time Eric Joined us. "Am I interrupting?" he

asked.

"Not a bit," I told him.

"Hey Andy, how about a swim? The pool's heated?" Eric

asked. How about you, Babe?"

"Go ahead, I'm not finished with the paper."

Annie soon joined them, and I just watched. Eric left them to

themselves, and that's about all we saw of Andy during the

rest of his stay. Annie kept him busy.

Sunday, Eric got a call from Greg at Micron. All four of

them would be arriving Monday, and they begged him to meet

with them. According to Eric, Greg sounded desperate, but

wouldn't tell him why.

To be continued.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I appreciate hearing your comments on the

story, my writing, and anything you would like to offer -

good or not so good. Send me a message at

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