Date: Sat, 09 Apr 2005 22:00:02 -0700 From: fritz@nehalemtel.net Subject: I love Corey, Chapter Fifty-two Why is it that as soon as one chapter is done I have to write another of these warnings? I mean after all, can't those of you who browse these pages remember? Then I stop and think about how long my memory lasts. With that in mind, here goes. Those of you who are lucky enough to have not yet attained the age of majority, leave. I know you think it funny that you can lurk in places like this but still, you might be corrupted from doing so. Since I don't want your corruption on my conscience, all I can do is ask you to leave and never admit you were here. My conscience feels lighter already. To those of you who are homophobes, why are you here? I mean if the thoughts of gay sex are so repulsive, why do you seek out sites that might have it? Me thinks there be something thou aren't telling us. Could it be that thee be secretly turned on by such vile, despicable things as this here story? Tell you what, if you truly are offended, leave, but if stories like this secretly turn you on, stick around. I'll understand if you need to trash the story to protect yourself. I'll even accept that you were doing research to see what evil lurked in cyberspace. We are down to the sad part of the warning. Sorry but I must ask those of you, who live in an area where the reading of stories like this is against the law, to leave. Believe me, I didn't make the law and if it were within my power I would have such a stupid law overturned but sadly I lack such power. You, on the other hand, can unite to get such laws, which fly in the face of free speech, overturned. You must be willing to fight for your freedoms. Failure to do so will result in the loss of those freedoms. Get off your lazy posteriors and get to work. Once again I must remind you that the story is not based on any actual happening or any real people. If you think you see any such resemblance, it was unintentional. Please do not post this story on another site without asking for and receiving permission from me. After all, it is my property and I don't go around stealing your property. Also remember that when using quotes from something, you should attribute such quotes to the original author. Other than that, you are free to read and I hope enjoy the story. Well, I would like you to share any fortune you might make from the story with me. Sharing is good, particularly when it is with me. Ernie has been busy, looking for errors. If I get all of his corrections in, the story should be almost error free. You owe him a big thank you. We're almost done so hang in there. Feel free to write and let me know if you liked the story. Let me know if you didn't like the story. You can even ask questions about the story or offer suggestions on how you think it might be improved. Send such emails to fritz@nehalemtel.net and I'll try to answer them. Be sure to put I Love Corey in the subject line of the email so I don't delete it. I hope you enjoy the following chapter. Fritz **************************************************************************** I Love Corey, Chapter Fifty-two Friday went past so fast I didn't even notice it. Saturday I noticed. I couldn't believe there were so many things that had to be done to get Rob and Chuck set up to live in their place. The fact that Chuck had to work wasn't that big a factor but the lack of money was. I finally just gave up and went to Costco. There was one in Redding so it was only a little over a half hour drive to it. They needed dishes, cooking utensils, bedding, and a whole host of other things. On the way there I remembered a second hand or antique shop so we stopped there first. Rob had the pickup and the rest of us were in the Gator. A quick look around and we lucked out. There was a fairly nice set of China and the price was only seventy-five dollars. It included some serving bowls and that was a help. Looking around turned up some more serving pieces but no acceptable flatware. On to Costco. Flatware was easy. We managed to come up with some cookware. Costco even had part of the needed bedding. We spent some more time finding the rest of the needed bedding and looking for things like lamps and other furnishings that would be needed to make things livable. By the time we headed home the pickup was full and there were even a few things in the Gator. After we had dropped them off, it was on to pick up a few items some of my friends had offered to donate. Things like a dinning table and a few chairs for the living room. They still needed lots of things but at least they could get by until they could afford them. By the time all that was done, it was almost dinner time. The weather was pretty decent so I decided to fire the barbeque up and fix burgers. About the only thing we still had to do was move Lee's things. He had managed to acquire more than I had realized. His clothes and the Christmas presents made a pretty respectable pile. I even got rid of the old television set that I'd kept when I got the new high definition one a couple of years ago. They would only have Lee's laptop for a computer and would have to share it but that was better than nothing. It was the same model Sony that the rest of the boys had and was only two weeks old. I showed him how to set up separate accounts for every user. The wireless part wouldn't work at his house but it had a modem for a phone line. They would have to set up their own I.S.P. account because I was on the cable. Everyone was bushed by the time we finally made it to bed. It seemed like I was no more in bed than Lee showed up. He wanted to talk some more. His worries were about Rob. He was concerned that he might disappoint him or anger him. Then what would he do? I tried to point out that Judy and I would make sure he always had a place to live and someone to watch out for him until he was grown. The problem was he had been beaten down so badly by his father that he couldn't see that he deserved to be loved and that he was a nice young man. All he could see was what his father had kept telling which was he was nothing, and worth nothing. I think he was just scared. He had finally found somewhere that he wasn't abused and he was afraid to leave. All I could do was to keep telling him he would always be welcome and that he didn't have to worry about any abuse. If something like that happened, all he had to do was get in touch with either Judy or me and we would see that he no longer had to suffer it. He was also worried that Derrick and Kathy might not like him. I pointed out that they had seemed to like him when we were in Kentucky but no matter what I said, he didn't seem to hear or believe me. Yet mixed in with all that was excitement. He was scared but looking forward to living with his step-father. One minute he would be sniffling about what could go wrong and the next he would be telling me how he was looking forward to living with Rob. I wonder if that is how a bride or groom feels? Scared that things will go wrong but looking forward to it all the same. Afraid of disappointing the other people involved but eager to try to see how things would go. After an hour or so, of whispering back and forth, he finally fell asleep. I was left hoping that things would work out well for him. If they didn't, well he could always live with me. By now he had me worried, not because anything would happen to him, but because I didn't want him to have to suffer any more disappointments. His life had been so filled with pain that he needed things to work out in a manner that didn't include any more such pain. He just needed to be loved and accepted and given a chance to be himself without worrying about someone beating on him or punishing him. For some reason I didn't sleep all that well. I kept waking up and dozing back off. Finally I needed to relieve myself and it was getting somewhat close to time to get up. I managed to get out from between Corey and Lee and made it to the bathroom. A few minutes later I decided I really needed some coffee. Maybe I could even get the paper read before everyone woke up and wanted breakfast. Rob was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee when I got there. He didn't look at me but just continued to stare at his coffee as I shuffled over to the dishwasher to get my cup. I had just gotten it out and was headed for the coffee pot when he spoke. "I checked on Lee this morning. He wasn't in his bedroom." The way he said that sounded more like an accusation than a comment. It's probably a good thing I was still half asleep and that Newton's law still worked because I probably would have fallen down if not. My inertia kept me heading for the coffee pot and my mind wasn't up to speed enough to cause me to do anything else except keep going. My mind was racing while I poured the coffee, got an ice cube to cool it enough to drink, and finally turned to face him. "I know. He crawled in bed with me last night. He needed to talk." My mind was in a whirl, trying to figure out just how to handle this. "I saw that. Corey was with him." Something about the tone of his voice didn't make me feel good about this whole conversation. "So?" I asked. "What's going on? What kind of child am I getting?" With that he finally looked at me. It wasn't a friendly look. "What do you mean? You're getting a son that needs a family." "You know what I mean. What's going on?" By now my mind was starting to work. His words pissed me off. He was making accusations and had no idea what he was talking about with regards to Lee. Not only that, I had gone out of my way to try to help him. "Fine. When it's a little later we can call Mrs. Smelling and you can tell her what you're talking about. Then she can start working on a permanent placement for him," I told him while glaring at him. "I suspect it will be with me but that's her decision. You can bet it won't be with you as long as you feel that way about him." "How do you know how I feel about him?" "Because you asked a question that seems to indicate you think something is going on and the tone of your voice says you disapprove. You sound hostile about him and she won't put him in that kind of an environment. If I'm reading you wrong, maybe you ought to explain why." "Well what am I supposed to think when I see him in bed with you?" "Let me see. I guess that means that Derrick and Kathy have never crawled in bed with you when they were upset. That also means you never did the same when you were young. When Betty was sick, your kids didn't turn to you when they were scared and couldn't sleep. When you were young, you didn't turn to your parents when you were scared and couldn't sleep. When a big storm or something happened, you just stayed in your bed and cried by yourself. Your kids did the same. Sorry, I don't buy that." Rob flushed. "That isn't what I meant." "Oh, what did you mean? Did I totally misunderstand you? The way you put it sounded more like some kind of accusation, an accusation that something was going on between Lee and me." "Well you have to admit it looks fishy." When he said that he had a satisfied smirk on his face. "Fine, then any time a child crawls in bed with his parents when he is scared, it looks quote, Fishy, unquote. How many fishy experiences have you got to explain?" "I don't have to explain anything." "No Rob, you don't. Neither do I, and I certainly won't when you take that kind of an attitude." With that I walked out of the kitchen and went to the family room. I tried to drink my coffee but my stomach was churning and it didn't seem to go down very well. I was still sitting there, staring at my cold coffee, when I head some stirring. A couple of minutes later I saw Lee and Corey head for the kitchen. A minute or so later they both joined me in the family room. They wanted to know what was going on but I wasn't willing to talk about it. When JJ and LT finally woke up, I fixed breakfast. The meal was eaten in silence. After breakfast I handed Rob the phone and told him to call Judy. I even pointed out that all he had to do was push talk, flash, and four. "Can we talk about this?" His voice was a lot more conciliatory than it had been earlier this morning. "What's to talk about? You seemed to have your mind made up this morning. What's changed?" I was still pissed and wasn't willing to back up one inch. "You were willing to think the worst of both Lee and me without any evidence. Why would you change your mind? Go on, tell me what's changed. What have you learned that could possibly change your mind?" The sarcasm dripping off my words could not be missed, even by the boys. They were all looking at us in dead silence with a look of fear on their faces. "Maybe I was a little out of line..." "No, you were a lot out of line. You jumped to conclusions without a shred of evidence. Then you didn't even show very good manners. You owe Lee an apology for even thinking that about him. How would you like it if I thought things like that about you and your children? Would you be mad? I know I am. Go ahead and call. We can let Judy sort it out." "Look, I'm sorry. I made a mistake." "Go ahead and call. You haven't got that much time before you have to leave to pick up your children at the airport." "What's the matter? You can't accept an apology?" I took a deep breath. "It has nothing to do with whether or not I can accept an apology. What is has to do with is that you jump to conclusions. That and if you are a good parent. I'm still too mad to think about it rationally. That's why I want Judy to sort it out. All I can think about is if you would do the same thing to your children or Lee. Is that a good environment for him, or for that matter your children? You made a mistake once. Will you do it again with Lee when I'm not handy to stop it? That's what the problem is. That's why I think you should call Judy and let her sort it all out. I'm too involved in the situation to judge it fairly." He was glaring at me until that last statement. All of a sudden it was like he suddenly realized what he had done. "Oh God, I'm sorry." "Sorry doesn't cut it Rob. Not unless you can assure Judy that it won't happen again." I took another deep breath and tried to calm down. "Look, Lee's had a pretty bad life. Can you honestly say you won't react this way in the future? He needs love and understanding and you didn't seem willing to find out what was actually going on. You just assumed the worst. You don't know me that well and you don't know Lee much better. Why should I think you won't do the same thing again? So far in our brief acquaintance you have assaulted me and accused me of having some kind of illegal goings on with Lee. Neither has been justified. If you react that way twice in such a short period of time, why should I think you are going to do better with Lee in the future? I'm sure as hell not perfect by a long ways. Still, I at least try to find out what is going on before I do something. You didn't. You just assumed the only reason we showed up was to try to get some of your wife's property. Then you now assume that something is going on. All you had to do in either case was ask. I forgave you once. I'm not sure I'm willing to do so twice. Now call." Rob stared at the phone like it was a poisonous snake before sliding it back across the table towards me. I gave up and picked it up and called. Judy was working on a case and would be busy until this evening. She promised to come over sometime this evening. "Well, you have until this evening to figure out what to say. In the meantime you better get ready and go pick up your children," I told him. With that I went looking for the boys who had disappeared a few minutes ago. I found them huddled in the family room. Lee was extremely upset over the happenings this morning. I couldn't really blame him because those happenings would probably affect his future. Trying to calm him down took almost until it was time to leave for church. I was just depressed. I had thought that things were moving forward and now I had no idea what would happen. All we could do was wait and see what Judy thought of the situation. Maybe I was reading too much into it but Rob's actions had me worried about letting Lee live with him. Still, Lee desperately wanted a family. If at all possible he would be better off with someone he thought of as family. While I was pretty sure he liked me, I was in no way related to him and would never be able to fill that particular need for him. After church no one wanted to shoot. By now all of us were somewhat depressed. The boys were quiet and just moped around the house. They didn't play games or do much of anything. They just spent the rest of the day being quiet in front of the television. I tried to cheer them up but nothing I could come up with seemed to do any good. It might have helped if I could have cheered myself up. Rob showed up just after six and told me he was taking Kathy and Derrick over to get them settled. Two minutes later he was gone. I finished cooking dinner but the boys didn't eat their normal amounts. They didn't even seem to care about the ice cream I had made. When they turned down food, they had to be really upset. No matter what I said or did, they just continued to mope around the house. Judy called and told me she would be over in about fifteen minutes so I called Rob and told him. He showed up about five minutes before Judy. We spent those five minutes silently eyeing each other. When Judy showed up we went into the computer room and closed the door so the boys wouldn't be able to hear all that was said. Judy looked tired. Somehow I figured she had put in a rough day but since Lee had been scheduled to start living with Rob, this was something that had to be settled right away. When she asked what was happening, I just pointed at Rob and told him to tell her. I'll give him credit; he told it just like it had happened. He didn't make any effort to try to make himself look good. It was apparent that he had spent a lot of the day thinking about what had happened. I didn't have much to add to his recollection of the events in the morning but did tell Judy what had brought Lee to my bed. I even told them about his fears and how I had tried to answer them. After I finished she sent Rob and me out and called Lee in and talked to him. That took about forty-five minutes. Then Rob and I were called back in. When she asked me why I was concerned, I explained that I was worried that Rob might jump to conclusions over something regarding Lee and I thought that Lee needed a real effort to be understood. He had been exposed to so much brutal behavior that his self-esteem was lacking and it was going to take a lot of work to help him. While it wasn't that I thought he wouldn't need any discipline, a person was going to have to be very careful to make sure that it was justified and that he understood why he needed such corrections. Whoever ended up with him was going to have to walk a very tight line so that he knew what the rules were and why they were there. It was my contention that any arbitrary actions could spoil things. He desperately needed to find people he could trust and love. If someone didn't take the time to learn the facts and explain things to him, I was afraid that he would never learn to trust anyone. Then she talked with Lee some more. I finally sent the rest of the boys to bed as it was getting late. After another talk with Rob and me, she finally decided to take a few days to think about things. However, she did take time to chew on Rob. By the time she was done I think he needed a new backside. She never used any foul words but got her point across very well. When she finished chewing on him, she sent him home. After that, she suggested that Lee go to bed. When he left she started in on me. She wanted to know if I was still willing to raise him. When I told her I was, she said she needed to think about things for a while. She also pointed out that she wished I had handled things better but after we talked about it for a while, we were both forced to admit that neither of us had any idea of how that could have been done, given the circumstances. If he had just asked, I could have probably answered and made him understand why Lee had been in my bed. His accusation had been made in a manner that indicated he probably wouldn't have believed me no matter what I had said. Not only that, I was still a little vexed that he had felt it was permissible to open my bedroom door without knocking. Monday sucked. There is no other way to describe it. Lee was still depressed and I wasn't much better. With the two of us not saying much, the other boys were pretty quiet also. That made for a gloomy atmosphere. I dropped the boys off at Downie's after school and hurried home for Gail and Mrs. Darling. Gail's parents had assured me that Mrs. Darling didn't believe the things Rev. Langston had said about me but you couldn't prove that by her actions. She watched me like a hawk. Understand, I sort of expected she might listen carefully while I was trying to explain things to Gail but the facial expressions she used when I was close to Gail were enough to make me nervous. A couple of times I reached over Gail's shoulder and pointed to a mistake she was making and when I'd glance up, you could almost sense hate in Mrs. Darlings expression. I was already nervous and upset about Lee and I really didn't need anything to add to that. When the lesson was finally over and they left, I felt like I had gone ten rounds with a heavyweight champion and lost. The tension had about sapped any energy that I might have had out of me. When you added in that I still had Tuesday and Thursday to look forward to, it just didn't do much to improve my outlook. Also, the fact that I was pretty sure that this week wouldn't be enough to catch Gail back up added to that feeling. I started a big batch of Potatoes Au Gratin and left to get the boys. We would also have some Bockwurst, green beans, a carrot and apple salad, and biscuits for dinner. I wondered if Dog liked Bockwurst. He ought to. After all, it is just a German sausage and is not even that highly spiced. I liked a little hot mustard on them after they had been grilled. I had been happy to find them in the meat case again. When I thought about it, they had been missing for quite a while. I just hadn't noticed it. Dog definitely liked Bockwurst. He wasn't fond of the hot mustard on them but the Bockwurst itself was a real hit with him. The boys ate their share of them also. Lee was still pretty glum but I didn't know any way to help him. Judy had not called so I had no idea of what was going on. All we could do was wait and see. For some reason none of the boys had much homework. They ended up playing some video games until bedtime. They went into the computer room because the nineteen inch monitor was a little better for that than the ones on their laptops. I could hear them talking and giggling while I finished my grading and lesson plans. I finished up and looked in just in time to see Lee crash his race car. The other boys were giggling and telling him they were glad they didn't have to ride with him. When they looked up and saw me, nothing would do but that I had to try the game. Boy, it didn't take long to convince me that I was no race car driver. I crashed and burned before I ever got up to speed. Any one of the boys could whip me with only one eye open and I wasn't sure that they would need to have any eyes open. I decided to show them. I dug through my stuff and came up with a game that had been popular when I was in school. I cleaned their clocks. The graphics weren't much but I had played it with my friends when I was in high school. We thought it was cool back then. I suppose it's silly but playing those video games seemed to lighten the mood. We even spent a few minutes kicking the subject of Rob around. Not having heard from Judy meant that there was nothing new to discuss but Lee did mention that he had not helped Rob while he was at work this afternoon. In fact, he had asked Mrs. Downie if he could do something else. I got the impression that he was a little uncomfortable around him now. That didn't bode well for his living with Rob. Unless they could work that out, things didn't look good on that front. I was left with only one thing to tell him and that was to wait and see what Judy came up with. I still wasn't willing to totally write Rob off but I was close to it. Still, it had taken me quite a while to get over the death of my parents. Maybe I was expecting too much from him at this time. When I got to bed, the lightening of the mood really showed up. For the first time Corey was willing to bring up the subject of his mother. Not only that, he wasn't crying. We talked about the fact that she had again left town with no warning. All I could offer him was that maybe she was ashamed to see him right after what had happened. We knew she had left right after the hearing but had no idea of where she had gone. I suppose the police had an address at which she could be reached but I hadn't asked them for it. The subject was depressing but Corey seemed to be coming to terms with it. I had spent a lot of time trying to convince him that her absence was probably not the result of her lack of love for him but more likely that she was ashamed to admit she had a drug problem. I wasn't sure that was the right thing to do but I didn't have any better ideas and there were too many things that told me she had once loved him. If I started from that fact, I didn't see much other explanation. Corey finally sighed, gave me a kiss and curled up in his favorite position and went to sleep. Lying there, with the smell of his hair to comfort me, I could only hope that he would soon regain his cheerful attitude. Having him unhappy made me unhappy. He was hurting and I couldn't seem to stop it. I fell asleep wondering if I was a failure. No matter how hard I tried, we just kept getting into situations where he was sad and depressed. While the situations seemed out of my control, maybe if he was somewhere else they wouldn't have occurred. Tuesday's tutoring was even worse. Mrs. Darling made several comments that I probably should have taken issue with but I ignored them in an effort to not rock the boat. Rev. Langston was out on bail and still preaching his hate, although no longer at his old church. They had decided they didn't want to be associated with him and he had now started a new church called Redemption. It met in someone's house and only had about twenty worshipers but those worshipers were the hard core bigots. I just wished the trial would get over and the whole thing could be put behind me. Sometimes the courts move so slowly that one is forced to wonder if they ever get anything done. The last I had heard was that the trial was scheduled for April. Apparently Mrs. Darling was still attending his services and she must have talked to him last night. Poor Gail was caught in the middle. I could see her cringe every time Mrs. Darling made one of her stupid, narrow-minded remarks. Two-thirds of the way through the lesson Gail was no longer able to concentrate on the lesson. She was close to tears. I could see I was going to have to come up with another idea. If things continued the way they were going, the whole thing would be a waste of time for both Gail and me. After they left I got dinner started and picked up the boys. At least the boys were doing better this evening. Even Lee was starting to cheer up a little. After dinner I was about to call Judy when she called me. After finding out we would be home she asked if she could come over for a few minutes. She and Lee disappeared into the computer room and I continued my lesson plans at the kitchen table. I was just about done when Gail's father called. Since I still hadn't figured out what to do, the conversation presented some problems. Gail had apparently told him what her Grandmother was doing and he wasn't happy about it. I told him I could stand it if Gail could but he didn't think that was a good idea. We were discussing what would work when Judy came out and asked me if I could join them for a few minutes. I told Mr. Rogers that I would call him back in a few minutes. Judy filled me in on what had been happening. She had talked with Rob both yesterday and today. She had also spent some time talking with Kathy and Derrick. Her recommendation was that if Lee still thought he might like living with Rob, he should give it a try. She assured him that he could call her and she would help with any problems that came up. Judy had Rob studying some parenting manuals that dealt with how to handle children and on anger management and she thought that with a little help he would be a good father for Lee. Judy's asking me if I would help Rob surprised me. I thought about it for a few seconds and agreed. Lee's face lit up when I did that. Judy chased Lee out to repack his clothes and went on to explain what she wanted me to do. Basically I was to explain to Rob what I knew about Lee and how I thought Lee needed help. After that, if Rob had questions, he could call either Judy or me. It really didn't sound like it amounted to much and I wasn't sure I would be that much help but hopefully it would work out well for Lee. Lee showed up with his clothes and was ready to leave. I told him to just show up like normal after school and I would drop him off at Downie's to work. Suddenly he looked hesitant. Finally he just gave me a big hug and piled into Judy's car. The fact that he'd whispered thank you, I love you made my good-by sound a little strange. The lump in my throat made it hard to speak. He hadn't lived with me very long but I had become attached to him. The boys were curious when I went back in the house but I put them off until I called Mr. Rogers. We didn't come up with a solution but I told him we would cancel the lesson for Thursday and I'd get in touch with him as soon as I figured something out that would work for scheduling. He sounded furious with his mother-in-law. After checking the homework, we spent the rest of the evening talking about Rob and Lee. Well, we talked about a lot of things that stemmed from it but you know how it is. You start on one subject and others seem to get drawn in. The one thing I really stressed was that if they thought I was doing something because I didn't understand the situation, let me know. I promised them I would try to make sure I knew what was going on before I disciplined them and that they should never be afraid to ask me for an explanation. So far we had always managed to agree on acceptable behavior but I was sure that there would be times we did not. The few disagreements we had encountered so far had been cleared up with some discussion on the subject. While they hadn't always liked my decisions, at least they understood the reasons for them. If we continued that way, things should work out all right. Even though we didn't have to worry about Lee, Corey was still not in the mood to make love. He just wanted to curl up against me and talk. As I tried to comfort him for the umpteenth time over his mother's not even saying good-by, I couldn't help but wonder if she had any idea of how much pain she was causing him. Although he seemed to be coming out of it, every time something like this happened it seemed to set him back. His daily grades had dropped for the last few days and he didn't seem to care. I'd noticed a few errors in his homework that normally wouldn't have occurred. One thing Judy had told us was that Walt was being extradited to Nevada to face the murder charge. Depending on what happened, he might be brought back and charged with attempted murder here. Well, there were a bunch more charges like extortion and possession of drugs but the attempted murder was the main charge. I suppose I should include attempted armed robbery. In fact there were so many charges I couldn't believe they could all stem from one incident. Reading the charges one would think there had been a year long crime spree going on. Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up. Corey was thrusting against me, making some soft incoherent sounds. By the time I was awake enough to figure out what was going on, he stiffened and I could feel a wet spot on my hip. He went limp after that but his breathing was a little fast. I reached out and pulled him closer to me and went back to sleep. When I dropped the boys off to work, I needed some groceries. Now that they had managed to hire enough help, Mrs. Downie delayed my shopping. It was almost like old times. She wanted to know what was going on at the school. Since nothing much had happened the last few days, it didn't take long to get that out of the way. Of course things moved on to Lee. I told her that Lee was now living with Rob and hopefully things would go well for them. I don't know why I bothered to say anything because she knew more than I did. As she filled me in on some things I didn't know about the situation, I wondered if there was anything she didn't keep track of. I learned more about Rob's and Judy's meetings than I had from either of them. We finally got most of the happenings around the community caught up and I was about to go reclaim my shopping cart when she brought up another subject. That subject was the employment of the boys. Ellen seemed a little nervous talking about it but she wanted to know if I would be upset if they changed the boys' hours. Actually what the Downies wanted to do was have the boys work on Saturdays only. That didn't upset me because I had never really been thrilled with them working in the first place. It wasn't that I didn't want them to learn about work and the responsibility that went with it; it was just that I thought that they needed to spend more time studying and growing up. I had been getting some grumbling from them about not having enough time for some of the fun things they liked to do. I think I surprised Mrs. Downie with my eager acceptance of that idea. However, she smiled about it. If the truth were known, I would have just as soon had them wait a couple of years before getting a job. What they had thought was fun for the first couple of weeks was now turning into a drag for them. She wondered if having them work for eight hours on Saturdays would be acceptable to me. I agreed and told her she needed to talk to them and explain about how it would work. The last thing she brought up was my problems with Mrs. Darling. I was beginning to wonder if there was anything in my life Mrs. Downie wasn't aware of when she offered the use of her office to tutor Gail. A few seconds thought convinced me it was as close to ideal as I could think of. The office sat just off the meat department and had windows that looked in on the meat department and out on the store. We would be in plain sight of anyone in the meat cutting area and anyone in the store. About the only place that would have been more public was setting up a class in the middle of the street. It would also give me a chance to see how Lee and Rob got along. About then it dawned on me that until the tutoring was done, the boys would be home alone. Still, with three of them together, they should be able to keep from getting into too much trouble. Then again, maybe they would get in more trouble because there were three of them. Perhaps with the three of them together it would turn into one of those what trouble they could get into that one couldn't think of, the others could situations. Still, they needed to have a chance to prove that they were trustworthy and this seemed like a good way to do that. Hopefully it would only be for four or five afternoons but it should give them a feeling that I trusted them and maybe I could get some idea of if I actually could trust them. About that time Ellen got a fiendish gleam in her eye and told me that Derrick and Kathy stopped off most afternoons that Rob was working and maybe I could sort of watch over them on the days I was tutoring. I wonder why I was beginning to think this was a put up deal. Ellen had far too many reasons why this would be such a good solution to my current problem. I was beginning to think that there were several people involved in that planning. We continued to visit and Ellen made a mistake. Judy's name came up at the wrong time and that told me she was involved in part of it. Ellen even flushed when that happened. I finally grinned and shook my finger at her. Some thoughts ran through my mind about having decided I wanted to teach in a small community so I could know that community. That was turning out to be a two-edged sword. In the three plus years that I had been here I had met many of the people that lived in the area. I had gotten to know them and liked most of them. By the same token, the same applied to me. They now knew far more about me than would have been normal in the area I grew up in. There was much more of a feeling of community here than I had ever experienced before. One only had to think of all the people that had gotten excited about the football team. We had as many people attend the games when we got to the play-offs as had attended the play-offs for from my high school. The difference was there had been fifteen hundred students in that high school and here there were only about that number in the whole district, kindergarten through high school. When you added in that there were two high schools in my home town, that meant that there were twice as many students in high school as we had in the whole school district. For that matter, the Catholic school there had been bigger than our district was. Mrs. Downie finally let me go get some groceries. She seemed to be treating me like my folks used to. You know how it is; your parents want to know about everything going on in your life even if you don't think they need to know quite everything. After all there are some things that should be left alone but Mrs. Downie was beginning to act like anything was fair game. She seemed to be worried about me and all the boys. In a lot of ways that made me feel good but sometimes I will admit that there was some resentment on my part. I knew other people that shopped there and she didn't get that involved in their lives. Why did she do so in mine? Still I had to admit that it was nice to have someone that was concerned about me. Oh well, in the long run I liked both of them and I guess I'll just have to put up with it. I had the meatloaf in the oven by the time I had to go pick up the boys. At least there should be enough of it left to where I could have a sandwich or two. Not having Rob, Chuck, or Lee eating it would help. I could hear boys giggling as I finished cooking dinner. They seemed in a better mood. I wasn't sure what they were up to but didn't worry about it. When I went to call them for dinner I found them playing my old video game. One look at their level of skill made me doubt that I could still whip them. Even Billy and Larry looked like they might be better than I was. Somehow I think they were ganging up on me. They seemed to be helping each other get better and from what I could hear, the object of that practice was to teach me my place. They were concentrating so hard on the game that they didn't realize I was spying on them. They about jumped out of their skins when I told them dinner was ready. After dinner they wanted to take me on. I told them no video games until homework was done. It was surprising how quickly they finished their homework. Not only that, I didn't hear any music or talking. There were a couple of careless type mistakes which I sent them back to correct. Then they dragged me to the computer room. It was about dead even. I still remembered a few tricks that they hadn't learned but their faster reflexes almost overcame that. By the time Billy and Larry left for home, they were winning slightly more than I was. It was kind of odd. I hadn't played any video games since my folks were killed. I'd never been very good but after that happened, the games had never seemed important. Thinking about it I wondered why I had never thrown the games away. Now I was glad I hadn't. The boys had gotten a real kick out of beating me part of the time. They were bubbling over with glee at proving they were better than an old man like me. I only had a few years before I would hit thirty. In their minds I had one foot in the coffin. By the time I sent them off to bed, the boys were in a good mood. Having them cheerful made me feel better. Even Dog was frisky. There was a bunch of giggling and wise cracks as we headed for our respective bedrooms. It carried on into the bathroom. Our shower was the best we'd had in several weeks. Corey couldn't seem to keep his mind on his business. I probably shouldn't talk about his mind because I have no idea where that was. His hands, on the other hand, were in places that I could hardly miss. As he squirmed around, groping me, I was reminded how nice it was when he was in a good mood. Neither of us wanted to wait but we agreed we could have more fun in bed than in the shower. Still, his hands almost slowed things up until I could recharge. I was so close. I suppose we could have taken a little more time and dried ourselves off better but somehow that didn't seem very important. Therefore, we were both somewhat damp when we made it to bed. Busy hands soon brought about a quick sixty-nine. We were both so excited that we had to do something quick. When it was over and our breathing started to return to normal, Corey pivoted around and crawled on top of me. His nose was less than an inch from mine and all I could seem to do was fall into those vivid blue eyes. Suddenly nothing mattered but Corey. The world could have ended but as long as he was in my arms I wouldn't care. The feel of his warm body against mine brought a feeling of love that left me content with the world. His eyes seemed to be getting closer and shifting position a little and suddenly I could feel his lips as he started kissing me. As his tongue tried to find its way into my mouth, I could feel my arms pulling him against me. His skin was warm and still slightly damp. That had to be from perspiration because the water from the shower would have evaporated by now. Plus, his odor was a little stronger. I could feel his tongue, searching my mouth and my hands started rubbing his back. As the kissing deepened, my rubbing drifted downward. Soon my hands were doing one of their favorite things and that was kneading those globes that filled the back of his jeans. His bubble butt consisted of those two globes that just filled my hands perfectly. They felt warm and soft as I continued working them. I swear I could spend eternity doing what we were no doing. It just felt so perfect. My mind was no longer worried about anything and I was contented. Even after our quick sixty-nine, I still needed more. So did Corey. He raised up and reached down and I could feel his hand guiding my cock to where he wanted it. That place was between his legs against his perineum. Then he settled back on top of me. His legs were between mine and my cock was trapped in a warm place. I could feel his testicles against my pubic hair. I could smell his slightly musky sent. I was in heaven. As he continued sucking on my tongue, I changed tactics. I started running my fingers lightly up and down his spine. I could feel shivers run through him. His skin was so smooth. It almost felt like velvet. Yet under the velvet like skin were muscles, muscles I could feel flexing as he gently humped against me. By now the body to body contact had both of us sweating. That made the area where my cock was nestled somewhat slick. I could feel it start to slide as he continued humping. Also, the area on my abdomen where his cock was laying was also slick from both sweat and precum. There wasn't nearly as much precum this time but there was plenty of sweat to make up for it. I could feel his cock start to slip against me. It felt good. Really, it felt better than good. The last couple of weeks had been such a mess that we hadn't made love to each other and we were both just plain horny. As his motion shifted there was a time when his pucker was exposed. Part of the time my cock was over it but when he raised up, I could tease it with my finger tips. Every time I did that, his body would tense and he would thrust against me and when that happened, my cock was in the way of my fingers. Then he'd rise until my fingers once again were able to touch him in that very private place. When my fingers made contact, the whole cycle started again. Corey stopped kissing and raised his head. Suddenly he was squirming around on the bed. It didn't take long to see what he had in mind. It was another sixty-nine except this wasn't like the first one this evening. That one had been hurried. This time we took our time. This time I had plenty of time to lick and nuzzle him. I could feel the heat and smell his musky scent. As I licked him I could taste the remains of our previous round. Somehow that always turned me on. That flavor seemed to make it real. I was having a sexual encounter twice with the one I loved. I settled down to work at nursing on him. As I enjoyed the taste and feel of his cock, my hand reached out and started fondling his testicles. They had grown since the first time I'd felt them. His scrotum was still almost completely hairless but if one looked carefully, you could just barely see a few hairs starting. However, I had to go by memory on that as my eyes were way to close to him to focus on that part of him. As I gently squeezed and kneaded those testicles, I could feel his hot mouth working on me. We took our time. We would get close and then pause. When his nuts started to drop again, we would try some more. We just kept doing that. Build up, pause, relax. I lost track of the number of times we paused. Finally his upper leg moved over and came to rest on my shoulder. That told me he wanted to continue to the finish and that he also wanted something more. I pulled my head back and let a little saliva dribble onto my finger. When there was enough to coat it well, I moved my hand to that private place and started working there. It wasn't long before my finger was inside. It wasn't the easiest position for me to reach that way but practice had made it easier. I could feel his finger seek entrance. I relaxed and let him in. It was now time for the main event. I moved my head forward and once again had all of him in my mouth. Well, all of you know what. As I nursed on him my finger sought a certain place. It didn't take long to find it and when I did, the effect was dramatic. He jerked and slammed into me. Then he sort of moved back and slammed forward again. It was like he couldn't make up his mind what to do but somehow I don't think his mind had anything to do with his actions. About that time his finger found what it was seeking and I no longer knew what was happening. I could no longer control myself. I was jerking and twitching and everything was happening at once. I could feel my body jerk a couple of times and then stiffen. There was a pressure that suddenly seemed to go over the top and I was thrusting as if my life depended on it. I wanted to shout out about how great it was but my mouth was full of a thrusting Corey. All I could do was swallow. When we came down from our high, Corey managed to struggle and get turned around. He wormed his way into his favorite position and laid his head on my chest. I didn't think I had sufficient strength but I managed to raise my hand and rub his shoulder. In a short while he gave a little shake and his head got heavier. I soon joined him in sleep. To be continued... Since I seem to get questions about my cooking, here is my meatloaf. The recipe is for a big one but you can scale to the size you want. 4 lbs. hamburger, ¾ lb country sausage, one minced yellow onion, 1 15 oz can tomato sauce, three eggs, 2 heaping tablespoons of Curry powder, salt and pepper to taste. If you like onion, dice a large one, if not use a small one. I sometimes dice a couple of ribs of celery to add to it. Put the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Go ahead, just stick you hands in there and mix it. Grab big handfuls and squeeze. Turn the mess over in the bowl and keep doing it until you can't see any difference in color except for little pieces of onion or celery. I place it in a large pan and pat it into a loaf form in the middle of the pan. The raw loaf is normally about three and a half inches thick and there is some room on the bottom of the pan around the loaf. That way the excess fat has a place to run out. That is one reason I don't use a filler like bread crumbs or oatmeal. I would prefer that some of the fat cook out. Besides, one needs a place to cook some potatoes and carrots and onions. A nice big pan allows you to scatter those things along side and then there is only one pan to wash. Alright, there is the bowl you mixed it in but only one cooking pan. I generally use 16% hamburger and then enough fat runs out to cook the carrots and things. Put the carrots and onions in first (after some fat has cooked out) and let them cook for a while before the potatoes. You can start adding the vegetables when a little fat has cooked out of the meatloaf. I put the carrots and onions in and cover with foil. Let it cook fifteen or twenty more minutes and add the potatoes, peeled and halved, and cook covered for another fifteen minutes. Remove foil and finish cooking. By the way, I cook it at 350. The meatloaf should be done when the potatoes are done. Total cooking time is generally an hour and fifteen to twenty minutes. If the meat loaf is a little thicker, it takes longer. My sister told me, when I was trying to learn to cook, put it in the oven and cook at 350 until done. That works for a lot of things but I will have to say I use other temperatures for bakery items and things like custards. Sorry, that meatloaf will not feed nearly as many hungry teenagers as you would think it should. It isn't that they eat all that much at dinner (they eat enough of it then) but the sandwiches before bed and in the middle of the night seem to take a real toll on it. Then if it should happen to last into the next day, the mid afternoon snack will about demolish it. One last note. For those of you who think that I can't spell Bratwurst, I can. The sausage mentioned is spelt Bockwurst. It is seasoned differently than Bratwurst. Both are good but they taste different. If you want more information on it run a google search. For that matter, there are many different sausages. There is a mild English one called Bangers which is frequently served in a dish called Bangers and Mash. Never having been to England I can't say if I would like the dish but the recipe looks good. One of these days maybe I'll have to try it. My local butcher shop occasionally makes them. If you like something somewhat spicier, you might try a Cajun one called Andouille. You can definitely feel the heat when you eat them but they are excellent. For more information on sausages check out http://www.foodsubs.com/MeatcureSausage.html Of course once you have decided what you want, finding it might be harder.