Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:35:51 -0700 (PDT) From: H. Rick Cantwell Subject: Halloween 16 Chapter 3 Halloween 16 Chapter three jockhunger@yahoo.com The usual disclaimers about illegal conduct apply. If you are not of legal age to read this, you know the law. By being posted on Nifty, this becomes copyrighted material. Please observe all of our laws. I jumped up, turned toward the voices, cock in hand, stumbled over my own feet and fell backward into the pool. "That's one way to cool down," Tiffany said. "Be sure to use extra chemicals in the pool tonight, Tiff," Miss Brenda said. I just sunk to the bottom of the deep end of the pool and stayed there ... until I HAD to come up for air. Thankfully, no one was around and my sun-dried trunks were lying next to the pool. Not wanting to get them see-through wet again I pressed myself out of the pool, quickly palmed the excess water off my hips, ass and crotch and slipped on the trunks. Rather than brave more embarrassment I left my clothes at Tiffany's and walked home as fast as I could without attracting too much attention. As I walked in the door, Caleb asked, "Where've you been?" "To the land of humiliation and back," I said. I'm glad I suppressed the rest of my thought ... `because of you.' After all, it was not HIS fault I humiliated myself and I really do love the little guy. "Nice trunks. Can I have your old ones?" "I borrowed these." "Did you know they're see-through when they get wet?" "Yeah, I found that out." "Oh," Caleb said, "THAT land of humiliation. Damn, sorry, dude." However, his suppressed giggle did nothing to convince me he was truly sorry. I went upstairs to change. Caleb followed. I pretended to putter around, hoping he would leave but he just sat on his bed waiting for me to change. I manned up and decided to get naked to put on other clothes ... then I lost my courage. "Gotta shower. Been swimming." I said. "K." I went to the bathroom and showered. It felt good to get the chlorine off me. I scrubbed my belly maybe a little too hard because it turned pink. I laughed at myself and thought, `What are you doing? Trying to wash the gay off you that Denny rubbed on you? Gay doesn't rub off from one person to the other.' As I dried off, I realized I didn't bring a change of clothes with me. I wrapped the towel around my waist and went back upstairs to our bedroom. Caleb was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling. Again I kind of puttered around until Caleb asked, "You want me to leave?" `Caught!' I thought. "No, uh ... I'm just letting everything dry before I put on my shorts." "Oh, I thought maybe you ... uh ..." "What?" I asked like there was nothing wrong. "I think you don't want us to be roommates any more ... because I ..." "No, no problem," I said. "It's just that I have to get used to the idea that ... I ... uh ... fucked my little brother. That's all." Even to me, it sounded a little harsh and I think I heard a slight sniffle coming from his bed so I whipped off the towel and began drying my junk like he wasn't even in the room. `After all,' I thought, `he's seen my cock before. A week ago yesterday, as a matter of fact.' I stood motionless for god only knows how long ... like a statue. I knew the towel was to one side and my cock dangled like it was trolling for big-mouth bass ... but I couldn't move. "What?" Caleb whispered, like he was afraid to speak for fear of spoiling the moment. Very calmly, I said, "You took pictures. Where are the pictures?" He smiled easily. "Right here. For a minute there I thought I was a dead man." He reached under his pillow and pulled out two photos he had obviously printed from the computer. "You can't leave them there!" I shouted. "Are you an idiot?" I know my voice sounded harsh so I tried to temper it by whispering, "Mom makes the bed every day. She'll find them!" "That's okay. She won't find them. I'm gonna take them to school with me." I fell back on my bed like I was in agony. Actually, I was. "You can't take pictures of your naked brother to school." "No one will know it's you. See, I pixelated your face." "Caleb, you can't take porno to school!" "It's not porno!" "I don't think the principal would see it that way." I looked at the picture just to make sure he had pixelated it. He had ... not that he had to. I was wearing a mask. But it made me feel better that he was thoughtful enough to do it. He had also printed an 8X10 photo of just my cock with the cum-filled rubber hanging off the end. It captured perfectly the frog shaped birthmark at the base of my dick. In real life, on my real cock, the birthmark is really small ... magnifying-glass small...so small I didn't even know it looked like a frog, but in this blow-up photo, it was more than obvious, looking like a flattened road-kill frog. "No. No, no, no. You cannot take these to school." "I can't leave them here! You said so yourself." "No. You are not going to show these around to all your little friends." "I wasn't going to," he said, sounding like he was hurt that I even thought he would. "You have to destroy these." "No. Please?" he whined. "They're of you. It would be like ... like ... I don't know ... murder!" I don't know if it was conceited of me or not but I kind of liked the idea that he wanted to keep the pictures of me. And I could kind of understand his point ... about murder. I knew some civilizations thought taking their picture was like stealing their soul, so I said, "Okay, but we'll have to find a safe place to hide them." "I want to sleep with you under my pillow. I love you." "We'll have to talk about that later. But for now, we have to find a good hiding place." I started to walk out the door and Caleb yelled, "Connor!" "What?" I asked, truly annoyed. "You wanna get dressed first?" I couldn't believe I was naked the whole time we had had that discussion. I stomped back to my bed and got dressed. Last week I was embarrassed to be seen naked by anyone other than classmates in the locker-room. In one week, my cock had been on display to my girlfriend, my brother, a man I met less than a week earlier, his two kids, his wife and his sister-in-law ... my girlfriend's best friend. "See what trouble you get me into?" I accused. Then I grabbed his head and held it to my chest. Chuckling at my own shortcomings I said, "I love you, too." We found the perfect hiding place. It was easy to get to every night for him to sleep with me under his pillow and easy enough for him to put back in the morning before school. I fell asleep that night wondering when I would be man enough to have that talk with him that I promised Ryan I would have. About 3 AM I woke up with a start, sitting upright in bed. It felt like thunder and lightning had been doing a paso doble, a style of Latin dance where they stomp the floor a lot, in my head all night. I bounced out of bed ... hard-on and all ... and woke up Caleb. "What?" he asked drowsily. "Did you print from the camera or did you download to the computer?" "Download," he said and rolled away from me to go back to sleep. "Caleb!" I shout-whispered. I didn't want to awaken Collin. "What?" he asked in an annoyed tone as he rolled toward me again. This time his open palm fell onto my hard-on. One grope and he was instantly awake. "Let go," I insisted. "Oh, sorry, I thought it was mine." "No you didn't. Not even in your dreams!" I chuckled at his audacity. "Can't blame a guy for trying." I thought of Denny. "No, I guess not," I conceded. `But I've GOTTA start wearing sleep shorts,' I thought. "I'll delete them tomorrow," he said. "Before dad gets home," I said. And I want to be there when you do it. So wait for me after school." "K." I jumped back in bed ... still uneasy about the pictures being on the computer but I knew mom didn't know the first thing about computers ... except how to type on them, and dad only got on once in a while. I figured I'd be safe for at least the next 12 hours. The next day I was as nervous as a turkey the day before Thanksgiving. I couldn't wait for school to end. I ran out of class at the first `ding' of the bell. I caught up with Caleb and we picked Collin up at his school. On the way home, I said, "Collin, can you go play with Jason or someone for a little while? Caleb and I have some work to do." "I can help," the always-helpful Collin said. "Thanks, but it's too dangerous for you to help." Caleb just about choked trying not to laugh. "Besides, it's boring," he finally added. "Okay," Collin said, easily accepting our excuses. When Caleb opened the download file four pictures of my cock appeared ... not two. And all four were different. "What the fuck!" we both said simultaneously. Since Caleb was manning the mouse I said, "Click on that one." It showed me in an otherwise dark room with a surprised look on my face. Even with the mask, I realized anyone who knew me ... anyone who knew the size of my cock, soft or hard, would know it was me. Anyone from four years of gym class. "How did Heather's picture get on OUR computer?" I asked Caleb. "That's not Heather. That's you. I'd recognize that cock anywhere." I slapped him up the back of his head playfully and said. "I'm serious. How did that get on here?" "How do I know? I didn't take it." "Are you sure?" I asked suspiciously. Then I realized he had to be telling the truth because that was the bedroom photo and I had fucked Heather's pussy ... no an ass, THAT, I was sure of. Caleb clicked on the other photo. It was the picture taken in the bathroom when I got my first blowjob. Caleb right-clicked and we looked at `properties.' I scoured the data for some evidence of how it got there. We even looked at `securities' and `detail.' Nothing ... not a clue. The `created' date was the day after Halloween ... one week ago! That worried me. "Get rid of those. Jesus, what if dad saw them." "Can I print them first?" Caleb pleaded "Quick print and then delete," I agreed. After all, it was kind of exciting to be the centerfold of a porno shoot ... even if the only one interested in them was my younger brother. "K." Because he printed them in color it took forever. I was sure mom or dad would walk in at any moment. Then I just about croaked when I heard Caitlin come in the back door. I had forgotten all about her! "Delete!" I scream-whispered. Caleb dutifully deleted the pics. "Clear the recycle bin." With a sigh, like he was hoping I'd forget, he deleted everything that was in the wastebasket icon. "Hi, whatcha doin'?" Caitlin asked. I stood with my back to the printer output tray. "Cleaning house," Caleb said. "Wanna help?" "No, see ya later," and Caitlin went swiftly to her room. Back in our room, I asked Caleb, "How am I gonna ask Heather about HER photos on OUR computer?" "I don't know. She's YOUR girlfriend." "You're sure you didn't help her download them?" "I promise." Then looking at the photo of my cock standing up strong and proud Caleb said, "Damn you've got one beautiful cock. You know that, don't you?" It was a little embarrassing to hear that particular comment coming from my brother's mouth but I got the warm fuzzy feeling, anyway. More modestly, I said, "If you say so." Then I added, "I'm not an authority on such things." In his own defense, he said, "Neither am I but I recognize something beautiful when I see it." "Thanks," I said graciously, knowing he was trying to make me feel better in an already bad situation. I fidgeted all during dinner and the obligatory after dinner TV time with mom and dad. Collin went up to bed early, as usual, and Caleb and I followed about an hour later. All the worrying must have been exhausting because I fell asleep without once thinking about jacking off. At 3 AM I woke up suddenly ... again. I bounded over to Caleb's bed and tried to wake him ... unsuccessfully. I thought, `What the fuck. I've let Denny feel my cock I might just as well let my own brother have the privilege.' Oddly enough, I wasn't hard ... but with a cock my size, it doesn't have to be hard to be impressive. I gently laid my dick in my brother's hand. No response. I gently curled his hand around my cock and made a squeezing motion. He began to squeeze it like he was trying to find out what was in his hand. A moment later, his eyes flew open and he looked in his hand. Pulling away, he yelped, "Sorry." "It's okay," I said. "I couldn't get you to wake up so I put it there." He closed his eyes and began to snore. "Okay, but only while we talk." I said, laying my cock back in his open palm. He held it gently, like it was a prize-winning sword or something. "So what's so urgent at this ungodly hour that you have to go to such extremes to talk with me?" When he said the word `extremes' he gently squeezed my cock. "You said you didn't help Heather download the pictures ... and I believe you. But please reassure me that Caitlin doesn't know enough about computers to have been able to help Heather do it." Bolting upright Caleb looked at me fearfully. "This is not good," I said. "Connor ..." Lately, any time Caleb began a sentence with my first name the rest of the sentence turn out to be bad news. "I've been helping Caitlin learn more about the computer. She said she had a science project for school." While he was talking, he released his hold on my cock. It was a good thing, too, because I was starting to bone up from the unfamiliar hand touching my junk. "When did you start?" I asked, hoping that maybe she hadn't had time to learn too much. "Back in September." "What have you been teaching her?" "Uh," he hesitated like he was trying to not only wake up but also trying to recall everything he had been teaching her. "I showed her how to use Yahoo and Google to do web searches." "Anything about photos?" "How to right click a photo she wanted for the project and save it to the computer ... sometimes." "Yeah, I know. Sometimes it won't let you `save as'." "This is not good," Caleb said, voicing my unspoken fear. "Yeah. Caitlin might have helped Heather download the photos." "But why download them to OUR computer? Why wouldn't she want them on HER computer where she could look at them any time she wanted?" "I don't know. Maybe she doesn't want them on HER computer in case her folks found them," I said. "Oh, but on OUR computer it's okay ... like our dad won't be able to find them on OUR computer any easier that her dad could find them on their computer," Caleb said sarcastically. "That's the pot calling the kettle black," I said. "Whaddya mean?" Caleb asked. "You're the one who left YOUR copy of MY cock on OUR computer for dad to find." "Oh, yeah," he said timidly. "Oh, my god! What if Heather came over here, had Caitlin show her how to do it ... and then went home and downloaded them onto HER computer?" "You're a dead man if her father finds them." "Caleb, we have to talk to Caitlin. Find out what she told Heather. Find out what Heather planned to do with the photos." "Why don't you talk to Heather about it?" "Guys don't challenge their girlfriends with questions like that. Hell, she's just started putting out. I sure as hell don't want her to withhold sex now! Besides, she's out of town for a week." "Oh." "We've GOT to talk to Caitlin." "But how? We can't talk to her about it in front of mom and dad." "And it would look suspicious if we had her come up here. She NEVER comes up here." "Yeah," Caleb agreed. "And we sure as hell can't show her the pictures ... in case she doesn't know anything about them." "If they're on our computer, she would have to know SOMETHING about them." "Yeah." "Let me think," Caleb said, taking my flaccid cock in his hand. "What are you doing?" "Thinking," Caleb said, with an impish grin. Then he said, "What? You said I could hold it." "Shhh, don't wake up Collin," I said, realizing he was right. I had agreed. "Do you know any of her friends? Maybe we could talk to her at her friend's house." "Tiffany!" I said. "Does Caitlin know Tiffany?" I figured, after seeing me jack off in her back yard, Tiffany wouldn't mind if I interrogated my sister there, too. `Besides,' I thought, `she owes me a big favor for spying on me.' "I don't know but I'll ask. If so, we can take her there tomorrow after school." "If not, we'll take her there, anyway. I know it's a safe place to talk." I felt my cock beginning to bone up again, as I recalled all the activity that went on in Tiffany's back yard that day. Caleb felt it, too. He didn't say anything but I saw that look in his eyes as he stared at it. "Time for bed," I said, gently withdrawing my cock from his hand ... like a sword from its scabbard. "In a minute," he said as he made a jack-off motion in the air with his hand. "Don't wake Collin." "You either," Caleb said, knowing I was going to jack-off, too. The next day was another long day at school. Both Caleb and I ambushed Caitlin on the way home and told her she was coming with us. "Where?" "A friend's house," I said. In her usual way, she said, "Not likely. Neither of you have friends." "Oh yes we do," I threatened. Then thinking about the movie title I said, "And we know what you did." For a moment there was no visible reaction to the comment. Then after having a moment to process it, she got a suspicious tone in her voice. "Did about what? When?" "After Halloween." She got a satisfied smile on her face and said, "Oh. Well that's got to be the most boring story in the world." Being a little less tactful but thankfully just as cryptic as I would have been, Caleb said, "Maybe with the photos on the computer we could write a different chapter." I was really proud of my little brother. He broached the subject without revealing what photos we were talking about. And it must have hit close to home because Caitlin's demeanor changed. "I don't know what you're talking about." "Yes you do." Caleb said. "And I don't appreciate being a pawn in your little blackmail scheme." `Blackmail,' I thought. `Who said anything about blackmail?' But then I thought about it and realized I could very easily be blackmailed with those photos. "Blackmail?" Caitlin asked, truly not understanding, I think. "What else would you use those four photos for?" Caleb accused. "Certainly not blackmail!" she said as we arrived at Tiffany's. On the way to the backyard, she said in a quizzical tone. "Four? There were only three." "Sit down," I ordered, pointing to the chaise lounge Ryan had lain in. I didn't dare point to the one I had jacked-off in. But before I could stop him, Caleb plopped down in my jack-off lounge chair. I felt my cock twinge a little. I don't know why but it did. "Why did you help Heather download the pictures in the first place?" Caleb accused. "Heather?" Caitlin said. Then, changing it from a question to a statement, she said, "Heather wanted me to ..." She took too long to answer. She was trying to `make up' an answer. Again, Caleb came to my rescue. "What do you mean there were only three pictures?" "There were only three pictures," Caitlin swore. "No," Caleb said, "there was the ..." "Wait!" I shouted, successfully stopping him from revealing anything more. "What three pictures?" "There were just the three. The one in the furnace room and the two I ... uh ... downloaded that, uh, Heather took in the bedroom." Caleb looked at me. I looked at Caleb. We both looked at Caitlin in disbelief. Caitlin looked at us suspiciously. "What fourth one?" "Wait!" I shouted, horror stricken. "What!" both Caitlin and Caleb shouted, looking around like there might be a monster in the back yard. "You're saying you saw the pictures of ... some guy ... in the bedroom?" "Yeah," Caitlin said mockingly, "some guy." I could tell by her tone it was no use trying to fool her into thinking it was anyone else but me. "And the laundry room," Caitlin said. Then, in an upper-handed tone of voice, she said, "The second one was very artistically posed, I think. It could be an award winner on certain Internet sites." "Don't go getting any ideas. You're not off the hook yet!" "What hook? Or better yet, what fourth picture?" "You really don't know anything about the fourth photo?" "No." Again Caleb and I searched each others' faces for answers. "Show her," I said. "Are you sure?" "She's seen the other three." "Are you sure?" "Well, she said ..." I began. Caleb clarified my assumption. "She said what anyone who doesn't understand an artist's work would say about his painting. She didn't describe anything but the place." "Good catch, little brother," I said, holding my hand down for a low ... high five. "Oh my god, boys," Caitlin said with frustration. "Okay, the bedroom picture showed a very surprised big brother being photographed, uh ... with his junk on display ... by the girlfriend he just fucked." I was a little startled to hear the word `fuck' roll of my 14-year-old sister's tongue so easily. The laundry room photos were taken a couple of minutes apart. In the first one, you were still pumped up from whatever you were doing ... with your cock standing tight against your belly. In the second one, your dick had kinda drooped to a horizontal angle and you ... or someone ... had pulled the condom part way off." "She's seen them," I said, still reeling from hearing my sister say the words cock and dick so matter-of-factly." Caleb reached in his back pants pocket, unfolded the photos and sorted through them. He pulled out the bathroom photo. "Who's this?" Caitlan asked, pointing to a blurred reflection in the mirror. My heart skipped a beat thinking there might have been someone else in the bathroom that night. Then I said, relief in my voice, "That's Heather's reflection." "No it's not!" Caitlin said. "Yes it is." "No it's not," she said insistently. "This girl's the size of Teeny Tina." "What!" both Caleb and I yelped. I knelt down and Caleb jumped out of the lounge chair to get a better look at the picture our sister was holding." "Are you sure?" "As sure as Caleb's a virgin." "Well you're ..." "Shhh," I warned Caleb. He blushed. Caitlin looked at both of us wondering what secret we were keeping. "Look," Caitlin said, pointing at the counter top. It doesn't even come up to her chest." "Oh, she was on her knees," I said, relieved at having a reasonable explanation. "You were getting a blowjob?" Caleb asked. "Damn, dude! I wish ..." "Shhh." I worried which direction that comment might go ... and at that moment, I didn't want to hear my little brother ... the one I had fucked in the ass Halloween night ... say he wanted to blow me, too. "That proves my point. Heather's about my height. If Heather was on her knees, her breasts would have been about even with the counter top with her head above it. This girl's head is even with the counter top. This girl is about the same size as Teeny Tina ... about the same height as Collin." "You mean it really isn't Heather?" "I don't see how it could be." "Connor." There it was again. Caleb using my name to begin a sentence. "It's not her, dude. This is not Heather. Look at the size of the hands. I know they're blurry but look. They're tiny." "Hi, what's going on?" Tiffany asked as she came out of the house. "I just got home and saw you huddled in my backyard." All three of us jumped at the suddenness of her voice. "Sorry," I apologized. "No time to ask your permission. This was really uh ..." "Hi, I'm Caitlin, sister to these two nerds," Caitlin said, quickly transforming back to her natural way of talking about us ... like we had not just been discussing sex. As she extended her right hand to Tiffany, she adroitly refolded the picture, behind her back, with her left hand. "I'm Tiffany." "Yeah, I know. Thanks for being my brother's friend," she said sorrowfully. "He needs all the friends he can get. Are you dating anyone?" "Caitlin," I scolded ... although I wanted to hear the answer. "I'm Caleb. We just needed a safe place to talk and Connor said, you'd understand." "Yeah, I guess I do," Tiffany said a little doubtfully. "Do I need to call Ryan?" she asked, looking at me for the answer. "No," I chuckled. "At least I don't think so. But if we can't get this figured out, we might need his expert ... worldly ... perspective." "That tells me I should call him." Thinking about it a second time I said, "Good idea." Tiffany started to walk back in the house but before she entered, she turned her head over her shoulder and said, "And I want to see the picture when I get back." "You're not really gonna show her, are you?" Caitlin asked ... horrified ... as soon as Tiffany was back in the house. I couldn't tell my little sister that Tiffany had already seen the real thing ... in action, so to speak. "Uh ..." "I would," Caleb said. I looked at him quizzically. I knew he very often had good reasons for saying things he said. I hoped he had a good reason this time ... because of Caitlin's remark and because I knew I was going to HAVE to show Tiffany the picture. "If Tiffany sees your big cock, maybe she'll dump her current boyfriend and start dating you?" "And that would be good ... why?" I asked, "I already have a girlfriend." "Duh! Then we could come over here and swim in the pool." "He's almost got a valid point," Caitlin said. "You COULD use a new girlfriend." "I thought you and Heather were good friends ... except when I'm around." Caitlin was silent. "Ten minutes, okay?" Tiffany asked, returning from making the phone call to Ryan. "Great," I said, "the sooner I get all this figured out, the better." "Uh, maybe I can go now. I think I've given you two enough to think about for one night," Caitlin said. "Sit," I commanded. "That's harsh," Tiffany said in Caitlin's defense. "I think she's the reason I've got this problem to start with." "Oh," Tiffany said, a little startled. Then in a comical Jim Carrey tone, Tiffany said, "Okay then, I'll just go get us some drinks." "Whiskey and Coke," Caitlin said. Tiffany laughed. "Make that two," I said. "Me, too," Caleb said. "But hold the whiskey, I'm driving." I smiled at his ability to joke so easily in the face of potential disaster ... about us walking over here. Tiffany returned with five drinks, only one of which had whiskey in it. She handed it to Ryan as he walked around the corner of the house. Thankfully, Denny wasn't with him. Not that I don't like Denny. It's just that I didn't want to have to explain to my little brother and sister how Denny knows so much about my anatomy. "Whoa! I'm being ganged up on by a bunch of renegade teens," Ryan chuckled good-naturedly as he accepted the drink. "No," I assured him, "only one of us is a renegade ... I think." Caitlin held up her hand and said sarcastically, "Guilty until proven innocent. I'm Caitlin, by the way." "Ryan, brother-in-law of Tiffany." "Husband of Mrs. Anderson, our history teacher," I added. Caitlin took a closer look at Ryan but didn't comment. looking down at my younger brother, Ryan asked, "Caleb?" "Yes sir." "I've heard a lot about you." Caleb got a worried look on his face. "When one brother loves another brother as much as you two do, the one brother tends to brag about the other brother a lot." Caleb looked relieved but looked at me for my response. "I think I've told him everything there is to know about you," I said cryptically. "I'm sure he's tired of hearing me talk about you." I raised one eyebrow in the direction of the furnace room to imply that yes, he knew about the fuck. It took about half an hour to explain to Ryan and Tiffany what we knew so far ... but without revealing to Caitlin and Tiffany that Ryan and I knew it was Caleb in the furnace room. I decided to include Tiffany in on the discussion because I didn't want Caitlin to feel like she was being ganged up on by an all male jury, so to speak. We concentrated on trying to find out who was in the bathroom photo. Tiffany asked to see the other photos, too. I told Caleb to let her see them. He quickly ... and like a proud brother ... handed them to her. "Nice frog," was all she said. I blushed, knowing she had already seen my cock so the frog was the only thing she could comment about. "So let me get this straight," Ryan said. "You had sex in the bedroom, then in the bathroom and then in the furnace room." "Right." "But I don't know who I had sex with. I thought it was Heather every time." "Anyone can see that's not Heather," Tiffany scoffed. "Well, I was getting a blowjob. I wasn't taking height and weight measurements." I said. "He's right," Ryan said. "To men, the cock rules. It's deaf and blind to everything else." "And dumb if you ask me," Caitlin grumbled. "I guess!" Tiffany said, apparently still mystified that I wasn't able to tell the difference at the time. "But the big question is how it got on our computer," Caleb said. "How did this one get there?" Ryan asked, pointing to the bedroom photo. "Caitlin helped Heather download it," Caleb said. "Oh," Ryan said. "When?" Tiffany asked with a slight challenge in her tone. "The day after Halloween. The computer date stamp was November first," Caleb said. Tiffany looked at Caitlin dubiously. Caitlin looked at Tiffany pleadingly. Everyone was quiet for a long time. It seemed like an hour but I'm sure it was only a minute or two. Finally, Tiffany said to Caitlin like she was reading her mind, "They'll find out once Heather gets back, anyway." "I downloaded it. Not Heather." "Why? Dad could have found it," I accused. "I wanted to print the picture of you that ..." "That's whack!" I said. "Then looking at Ryan first, remembering the lesson I learned the last time I use that term and then looking at Caleb, who wanted a picture of me, too, I said, reassuringly, "No, it isn't whack. It's just ..." "A curse," Ryan said. "Yeah, I just don't know what the curse is. I'm so confused." "You have a brother and a sister who love you very much," Ryan said. "There's nothing wrong with that." The last time we talked about right and wrong, Ryan pointed out that having sex with Caleb was only wrong if I thought it was wrong. I shook my head trying to understand it all. I was getting tiny flickers of light going off in my head like things were coming together but I still couldn't see the whole picture. It was giving me a headache. Ryan said, "Tiffany, why don't you and Caitlin go get us another drink." "Make mine a double," I said. "Connor." `Damn! He's starting another sentence using my name first.' "Yes?" I asked, not really wanting to know. "If Heather's been out of town, how did Caitlin get her camera?" "Heather must have given it to her." "Conner, Heather met Collin and me on the way back from ... uh ... Jason's house. She was with us the rest of the night. You dropped Heather off at her house and came home alone." "Interesting," Ryan said, like a piece of the puzzle just dropped into place. "My head hurts," I said. "Connor, what color was the camera Heather used in the bedroom?" "Red. Bright red. I'm sure of it. It's just like the one mom used in Hawaii." Caitlin handed me a drink. I took a sip and discovered it was whisky and Coke. I looked at Caleb. Then I looked a Ryan. When I looked at Tiffany I knew the thought that had just flashed through my mind was correct. When I looked at Caitlin, she was crying. I held out my arms and she fell into them. Just like with Caleb, I had to let her cry herself out. "It's okay" Caleb said. "Connor understands. He really does. Trust me." I began to comfort her, too. "I'm not mad. I'm not gonna tell mom and dad." Ryan looked at me sternly. "I want you to know I don't think that what you did was wrong. Other people might tell you it was wrong, but I know you did it because you love me. And you did it with me because you trusted me. That makes me feel good. So just calm down, babe, everything will be okay." It was like I was living in some surreal museum where I was a marionette and anybody could pull my strings and I'd do what they wanted. My brother wanted to show me how much he loved me so he arranged for me to fuck him. Now I find out my sister did the same thing. The only difference is ... my brother used a condom. I thought, `Only in MY world could a geek like me lose his virginity to his own sister.' I was too exhausted to muster enough energy to show any concern so I calmly asked, "Caitlin, are you on the pill?" She silently nodded her head `yes' against my chest. "There is a god," Caleb said. I looked at Tiffany and she was crying, too. Then flipping her hands out, palm sides up at the two of us, she quietly said to Ryan, "That is so beautiful." Ryan made me feel even better by saying, "Sometimes ... reality is beautiful." I held out my left arm for Caleb to come closer. He knelt down next to me and hugged me, too. "I WOULD say this is a Kodak moment," Tiffany said, "but I think it might be inappropriate under the circumstances." Out of desperation, if nothing else, we all laughed. Her comment lightened the mood just enough that Caitlin was able to pull away and ask, "Do you really understand?" "Yeah, I really do." I said. "I love you." "We'll have to talk about that. I think you have respect and admiration confused with love and love confused with sex." "Huh?" she asked quizzically. Then back in character she said, "I don't admire and respect you! Whatever gave you that idea? I love you. And if that involves sex then ... all the better." I smiled. Ryan smiled. Caleb held up his glass of cola and said, "I'll drink to that." "So does this mean we can ... you know ... do it again," Caitlin asked hopefully. "I mean, like on a real bed and everything?" To be continued. Send comments, if you want, to jockhunger@yahoo.com