Date: Sat, 23 Apr 2005 23:59:49 -0700
From: fritz@nehalemtel.net
Subject: I Love Corey, Chapter Fifty-four

	Minors leave.  Don't argue with me, leave.  You shouldn't be here
unless you have attained the age of majority.
	Prudes leave.  If you're going to get all upset over descriptions
of Gay sex, you are a prude and I don't want you here.
	What about if you live in an area that deems the reading of this
story illegal?  Leave now before you get caught.  I would also suggest
moving to a more enlightened area.
	Now that there is no one left I might as well finish the
disclaimer.  The story has no basis in reality.  Neither the characters nor
the story exist so any resemblance to persons living or dead, that you
might think you see, is a figment of your imagination and was not intended.
	This story is my property so please do me the favor of not posting
it on another site without asking for and receiving my permission.  Also,
if you see something in the story you would like to quote, please attribute
the quote to me.  Outside of those restrictions feel free to read and enjoy
the story.  As long as you do not use it for personal gain, you can do what
you want with it.  You are free to download it, print it out, or even curse
it.  What more can you ask from something that is free?
	My faithful friend Ernie continues to search for my mistakes.  His
editing makes the story much easier to read and you should include him in
your prayers.  He is a super nice guy and deserves it.  His help and
encouragement have been invaluable.
	Once again you are invited to write and offer your feedback.  You
can complain, offer suggestions, ask questions, or just comment on whether
or not you like the story.  I have a tendency to write back when I receive
such emails.  The more things you mention in your email, the longer my
reply.  I have been known to write several pages in reply to an email.
Just use the same old address of fritz@nehalemtel.net Please remember to
put I Love Corey in the subject line so I don't delete you.  Unfortunately
the amount of spam makes it impossible for me to read every email and if I
don't recognize the sender or the subject, I just delete the email.  If you
use I Love Corey on the first email, I will mark you as an accepted sender
and after that will accept your emails.  Now, if you've made it this far,
please enjoy the following chapter if possible.  Fritz
********************************************************************************

		I Love Corey, Chapter Fifty-four

	It was nice to wake up with Corey in my arms.  He just felt so
right there.  My nose was tucked into the back of his head and I could
smell him.  That smell would have produced an erection except for the fact
that a full bladder had already accomplished that.  I just held him, trying
to decide whether to relieve my bladder or just enjoy the smell of Corey.
About that time the alarm clock went off and he started to stir.  Suddenly
we were both racing for the bathroom.
	I really enjoy showering with Corey.  I get to run my hands through
his hair.  Of course a little shampoo is used but it still is nice to feel
his hair slip between my fingers.  Then there is applying the shower gel.
I get to run my hands all over his body.  Sure there are parts of his body
that get extra attention but what the heck.  One part usually responds to
that attention.  This morning was no exception and before I knew it, a
certain part of him was in the lead.  The feel of that part in my hand made
me desire it.  I do wish the shower had a softer floor.  It makes my knees
hurt.  It didn't take long for Corey to reward me for my efforts.  After
that we finished our showers and headed for the kitchen.
	Corey fixed some toast to go with the cold cereal.  While he did
that I started putting things back in the cabinets.  By now the paint
should have cured enough to allow that.  I got most of the dishes back in
their places before I had to leave for school.  JJ and LT looked like they
were still half asleep when I left and Corey was starting in on putting the
spices and things away.  Maybe we would manage to get everything back in
the cabinets without too many problems.
	The day was going along fine when I was served with papers
informing me I was being sued for depriving Frank Daniels of his rights to
an education and giving false testimony against him.  At least I wasn't the
only one.  Also named were all the other witnesses, along with the school
district and the school board.  I couldn't believe it.  Neither could
anyone else.  Jerry called Mr. Young and he told us not to worry.  He
didn't seem to think that it would be much of a problem to win.  In fact,
he told Jerry that suits like these were designed to harass us more than
anything else.  Sometimes the insurance companies would buy the plaintiff
off for a small amount of money rather than take the chance of having a big
settlement go against them and if they thought the amount might be less
than the cost of fighting such a suit.  They were also designed to
intimidate according to Mr. Young.  I'd never seen Jerry quite so wound up
over something.  He was really bitching about the lawsuit.
	When we got home everyone was busy for a while.  We got the shrimp
cocktail marinating and the rest of the things back in the cabinets.  I had
the twice baked potatoes out and thawed and it looked like maybe we would
manage to get things ready in time for dinner.  The boys then headed out
for a game of basketball.
	The Sterretts and I had talked things over and we had a plan but no
one had any idea if it would work.  Cody wouldn't talk to them and he
wouldn't tell anyone else what his problem was.  There were only a few
things I could think of that might cause his reaction and I had discussed
them with the Sterretts.  We had all agreed to try my idea and see if it
worked.  The plan was pretty simple.  We were going to see if we could get
a couple of drinks in him and maybe get him relaxed and then try to shock
him into talking.  I was going to do the talking with him.  I'd talked part
of it over with the boys and they agreed to help.  There would be one drink
before dinner and wine with the meal.  The boys were going to limit their
intake of the wine and I was going to see if I could get Cody to that
mellow stage.  I didn't want him drunk, just kind of laid back and relaxed.
Then when I talked with him I might have a chance to drag him out of his
shell.
	When the Sterretts showed up the boys stopped their ball game and
joined us.  After all the introductions were exchanged, I offered drinks.
I offered the boys a non alcoholic drink that somewhat resembled a
chocolate shake.  The only thing was that in Cody's I had a pretty good
shot of Crème De Cacao.  I suppose you might think of it as a chocolate
fizz.  The adults had my version of a Golden Fizz.  We sat around batting
the breeze and I found Jill and Ron Sterrett to be nice people.  I'd seen
him at my bank and didn't realize who he was.  He worked in the loan
department and since that was something I didn't need, I hadn't met him.
	We got so busy enjoying our conversation that before long the
drinks were gone and I fixed another round.  Corey's sad eyes silently
convinced me that he wanted to try the real version of the chocolate fizz
so all the boys got a small one on the second round.  Besides, it made it
much easier to sneak booze in for Cody.  I only had to make one blender of
drinks.  I'd covered it the first time by running short and mixing the
second batch before serving.  That way I only had to keep the glasses
straight.
	About half way through our second round of drinks I started putting
the dinner together.  Corey poured the wine and the other boys served the
shrimp cocktails.  When Cody wolfed his shrimp cocktail down, his folks
were amazed.  According to his mother he had been eating very little, just
picking at his food.  I'd put the steaks on when we started on the shrimp
and turned them about half way through.  I took them off the barbeque and
put them aside to rest.  We finished the rest of our glass of wine and
visited some more while I braised the asparagus.
	Corey set out clean wine glasses and I started serving dinner.  By
the time he had finished pouring, we were ready to eat.  Of course my boys
tore into the meal.  Cody must have figured that was the way to go because
his meal seemed to disappear just as fast.  I unobtrusively kept the wine
glasses full for the adults and added a little to Cody's.  By now he was
grinning occasionally.  Now came the tricky part.  I needed to get the boys
out of the house without Cody going with them.  Our plan was to get Ron to
take them down to Downie's to check what hours they needed to work tomorrow
but not have Cody go with them.  Jill had told me about the only thing he
did anymore was spend time on his computer.  We agreed to wait a while
before we ate the dessert and the boys suddenly acted like they forgot
about work tomorrow.  Jeez, they hammed it up so bad that it looked like a
poor job of slapstick comedy.  I think the only thing that saved us was
that Cody was a little further along than I'd planned.  I was worried that
I had misjudged that amount of alcohol it would take.  By now he was
giggling enough to concern me.  Jill offered to pick up the kitchen and Ron
offered to take the boys to Downies.  I asked Cody if he would like to surf
the net or something.  Another giggle and he agreed.
	I got him in the computer room and booted it up.  Then I signed in
on my adult identity.  That was the one that had all the porn sites in the
favorites.  When the wallpaper flashed up, Cody froze.  It showed a couple
of young men kissing.  It sure wasn't what might be called a brotherly
kiss.  Plus all you see of them was from the waist up and they weren't
wearing shirts.  I'd spent some time setting this all up and changing the
wallpaper had been one of the things I had done.  I asked him if he liked
jokes and it took him a couple of tries to say yes.  His eyes were riveted
on the screen.  I knew of a porn site that had a bunch of good jokes on it
and had both gay and straight pictures on it so I called it up and signed
in.  As I navigated the site I made sure to open a page with some of the
gay pictures.  The pictures on the site left little to the imagination and
after clicking through several of them I stopped.
	Cody was sitting in the chair and I was reaching over his shoulders
working the mouse and keyboard.  By now his eyes were almost like they were
about to pop out of his head.  So far everything was telling me I was
right.  Cody was frozen in place, his eyes on the screen.  I clicked on
over to another set of photos.  There were some impressive organs there.  I
could hear Cody's breath hiss in and out.  Looking over his shoulder told
me he was as hard as it was possible to be.  Even his baggy pants couldn't
hide it.
	"Do you want to talk about it Cody?"  I had moved to the side and
his eyes went back and forth between the screen and me.  A look of fear
came over his face and he started to cry.
	"Go ahead and talk.  Tell me about it," I told him while putting my
arm across his shoulders.  He started to pull away and I just pulled him
against my chest and started patting his back.
	"It's all right Cody.  Just tell me about it and maybe I can help
you."
	The sobs were getting louder and Jill stuck her head in.  I just
nodded to her and continued holding Cody.  She saw what was on the screen
and we had already discussed this possibility.  She backed out and closed
the door.
	My legs wouldn't stand it.  I was crouching beside Cody, holding
him against my chest.  I finally stood up and pulled Cody up with me.  He
was still crying and had the hiccups.  I took him over to the couch and sat
him down beside me.  In a few minutes I grabbed his can of pop and managed
to get his hiccups cured but the pop did nothing for his tears.  By the
time his tears started to slow, I could hear the boys and Ron were back.
Ron had promised to stay away for at least a half hour.
	Cody finally stopped crying.  I had been holding him and talking to
him, telling him that things were going to be okay and I thought I'd give
him a minute or so to think things over and calm down a little more.  I was
just about to start talking to him again when I realized he had cried
himself to sleep.  He had been sagged against me and I never noticed.  I
slowly extracted myself and laid him down.  Grabbing a pillow for his head
and an afghan I made him as comfortable as I could and stepped out of the
room.
	Ron and Jill were quietly talking at the kitchen table.  I got a
cup of coffee and joined them.  We talked about Cody.  We talked about how
they felt about him and how it would affect their relationship.  We talked
about a lot of things.  I finally suggested that maybe we should go back
into the computer room and wait for Cody to wake up.
	Ron sat down in front of the computer.  When he set his coffee cup
down, he nudged the mouse.  Of course the pictures I had on the web popped
into view.  Ron sort of gasped and then started to giggle.
	"I'd be worried except they wouldn't like you," he said while
looking at Jill.  "I wonder if they use silicone."
	I sprayed some coffee around and Jill started giggling.  Some of
the individuals on the screen looked like they must have had some form of
augmentation.  I managed to get the coffee cleaned up and decided that
maybe I ought to shut the computer down.  It was bad enough to get caught
having porn on the computer but to have gay porn was even worse.  Ron
decided he wanted to check the site out and I was stuck.  I couldn't really
say no but I was about as embarrassed as I could be.
	I couldn't believe it.  Ron and Jill were clicking around the site,
giggling like twelve year old girls.  Some of their comments were
outrageous.  I was as embarrassed as hell.  My face would probably be a
permanent shade of red after this evening.  In the meantime I knew I could
hire out as a stoplight.
	After a few minutes they quit surfing the site.  When they finally
stopped giggling we got around to talking some more.  Somewhere along the
way I got started telling them about JJ and LT.  I was about two-thirds of
the way through that story when I realized Cody was awake.  His eyes were
still closed but I just knew he was awake and listening.  I finished the
story up and then discussed the whole thing with Ron and Jill.  When the
discussion kind of ran down I turned to Cody and said, "You might as well
open you eyes and join in.  I know you've been awake for a while Cody."
	The fact that he flinched when I mentioned his name was a dead
giveaway.  He knew he was caught and he started to blush.  He finally gave
up and opened his eyes.
	"Come on Cody.  You look like maybe you might want to wash your
hands and face and I need to get your folks some more coffee."  With that I
got out of my chair and guided him into the hall and pointed him towards
the bathroom.  "Go ahead, it's all right.  They know and aren't mad," I
told him while pushing him towards the guest bathroom.  He hesitated and
looked back at me.  "Don't worry Cody.  I promise you everything will be
better.  Your folks love you."  He paused before trudging slowly on into
the bathroom.  I quickly poured some more coffee and got Cody another can
of pop.  Soon he came out of the bathroom looking scared.  I just put my
arm around his shoulder and escorted him back into the computer room.  Once
he was settled on the couch, I handed him the fresh can of pop and sat down
myself.  It was time to talk.
	"How much of Jason's and Laurence's story did you hear?" I asked
him.
	"Most of it," he mumbled.
	"Well, I suppose I ought to explain a few things to you and your
folks.  The only reason I told the story is because both Jason and Laurence
gave me permission.  A person never tells about someone else with regards
to their sexuality unless he has permission.  That means I expect you not
to mention theirs to anyone else and we won't mention your sexuality to
anyone.  Second, the reason I asked them is because it was one of the few
things that fit all the known facts.  For what it's worth, you don't appear
in any way gay.  If it hadn't been for the sudden change in your
personality I would have had no way of knowing.  Even then it was just a
guess so you don't have to worry about that.  If I were to guess further, I
would guess that last year someone found out and that's why you have been
so upset and withdrawn.  Well, that and trying to figure all of it out on
your own.  Am I coming close?"
	I was somewhat surprised to learn I wasn't close with regards to
someone finding out. He had managed to figure out he was gay and was
terrified his parents and others would find out.  It took a little probing
to find out why he feared that so much but finally all was revealed.  The
Sterretts had been attending a fairly fundamentalist church.  There had
been a change in ministers a couple of years ago and the new one was death
on gays and some other groups he considered sinners.  The last and most
important thing we learned was that Cody had been contemplating suicide.
When he finally admitted that, amongst many tears, my heart about stopped.
I'm sure his parents felt the same way.  The look of horror on their faces
left no doubt about that.
	The boys went to bed while Cody and his parents continued talking
with me.  We talked for a long time and never did eat any of the sorbet.
Finally about two in the morning his parents were yawning and so was I.  I
suggested that he should go home and maybe they could come back tomorrow
and we could continue talking.  Cody seemed somewhat nervous about that and
so I offered to let him stay the night as long as his parents didn't mind.
Before it was over his parents were shown to the sex room and Cody got the
guest room.  As I showed him the guest room, he indicated he would like to
talk some more.  I was tired but this was important to him so back to the
computer room we went.  I got the last of the coffee and we sat on the
couch.  Somewhere along the way he leaned against me and we continued
talking.
        Mostly we talked about being gay and how that would affect his
life.  I kept pointing out that there were lots of gay people and some of
them were even quite famous so it wasn't some kind of death sentence.  I
also told him that there were many people who wouldn't care that he was gay
even though there were a few that would.  I suppose mostly I tried to
assure him that being gay wasn't the end of the world.  The fact that he
had been so afraid to let anyone know, even to the point of contemplating
suicide, made it imperative that he understand that there were still a lot
of people that would like and even love him.  I even ran a search and
showed him some of the famous people who were gay.  I also spent time
trying to convince him Christ had said nothing about homosexuality.
Finally we were just sitting side by side on the couch.  The conversation
slowed and after that, we both fell asleep.  The last thing I remember was
that his head was on my lap and I was rubbing his shoulder.  That was
somewhere around five a.m.  It had been a long day.
	A panic filled voice calling out Cody's name woke me up.  I grunted
something and Ron stuck his head in the computer room.  When he saw Cody
with his head in my lap, it was like the weight of the world suddenly left
his shoulders.  He was joined by Jill and I mumbled something to them.  I
hadn't had enough sleep so I just closed my eyes again.
	When my bladder woke me up again, it was quiet in the house.  When
my eyes focused enough to see my watch, I was up and going.  It was way
past the time to get the boys to work.  I bolted out of the computer room
and looked around.  I found Ron and Jill drinking coffee and no boys.  Ron
had taken them to work and it was almost noon.  He and Jill had even gone
home and changed clothes.  Cody came wandering out and looked around.  He
looked a little better this morning.  More like the typical sleepy
teenager.  It was a look I'd seen often on JJ and LT.  Corey woke up much
too quickly to be called a typical teenager.
	Jill handed Cody some clothes and suggested he might feel better if
he cleaned up a little.  I pointed him towards the guest shower and I
headed for mine.  A hot shower helped remove some of the aches and pains
from sitting on the couch all night.  I felt better when I was done.
	I was beginning to wonder if I would ever fill Cody up.  I'd fixed
a brunch type meal consisting of a quiche and a few other things I found in
the refrigerator.  He just kept eating.  Ron and Jill did pretty well on
the brunch since they hadn't bothered to eat breakfast but Cody was a
bottomless pit.  When he finally gave up he looked almost pregnant.  Like
about six or seven months pregnant.  Well, maybe it wasn't quite that bad
but you get the idea.  He was scrawny as a rake and his stomach definitely
stuck out after the meal.  I stuffed the dishes in the dishwasher and we
retired to the family room to continue talking.
	As we talked, nothing would do but Dog wanted to be scratched.  I
ended up talking and holding Dog on my lap, scratching his belly.  Cody
even giggled over Dog's strange sounds.  Dog's groans and moans were a
little humorous.  Somehow that seemed to set the mood and we actually had a
good conversation.  I think that Cody finally accepted that his parents
still loved him.  There were a few tears shed by both Cody and his parents
but in the end, he appeared to accept that he was going to be whatever he
was and they would still love him.  By the time they finally left, it was
time to start picking up boys and I hadn't gotten a single bit of house
cleaning done.  I hadn't even started to think about dinner.  Oh well, we
could always eat out.
	While I was driving to pick up the first pair of boys I couldn't
help but get angry.  A right-wing religious nut had almost caused a child
to kill himself.  Can't they see the harm they do by preaching all that
hate?  I just don't understand how someone, who professes to be a
Christian, can do that.  Christ preached that we should love and accept one
another.  He didn't even mention homosexuals but He did say we needed to
let go of some of the past laws of the Jews.  He threw the money changers
out of the temple and things like that yet he never mentioned homosexuals.
Thinking about that left me with no answers to why some so-called men of
the cloth feel they need to preach such things.  Of course that led to
other thoughts.  The sad fact is that there have been more horrid crimes
committed in the name of religion than about any other reason.  Everything
from 9-11 through the Holocaust and going back to things like the Crusades.
The Romans fed Christians to lions and it certainly didn't stop there.
People were burned at the stake and tortured to death during the
Inquisition.  Such a sad legacy religion leaves us.  There are times I'm
almost convinced the Communists are right in their beliefs about religion
and then I think about the teachings of Christ.  If only men would just
follow His teachings.  As far as that goes, most religions have admonitions
about loving thy neighbor.  Most seem to tell you that if you don't love
your fellow man you are not following the proper path.  Sadly, many members
of those religions seem to forget such teachings just as Christians forget
the teaching of Christ.  A few hate filled people can pick things out of
the Koran to justify their actions just as hate filled members of the
Christian religions can do the same with our Bible.  In the end it is all
about hatred.  That left me wondering why some men feel it necessary to
hate some groups of people.  Not only that, to try to teach a child, who
happens to be gay, that he will burn in hell for it is beyond belief.  Are
they so bigoted that they cannot see the harm they do?  How can they hate
their fellow man that much?  Thinking about that left me with no answers,
only questions.  Lots of questions and a feeling of sadness.  While I was
convinced that most people were good, there was still that segment of the
population that thrived on hate and jealously.  I just wished I could
understand why.  Then maybe I could help do something to change it.  As it
was, all I could do was accept it.  That thought was a somewhat bitter pill
to swallow.
	Since I hadn't got around to planning dinner, tonight was an
eat-out night.  However, the boys couldn't decide what they wanted.  I was
about to wring their necks while they debated the merits of various
restaurants.  They couldn't seem to make up their minds even when I got
them in the Gator.  I gave up and went to a little restaurant called Flo's.
It looked like a dive but had the best chicken fried steaks I'd ever eaten.
I had never even brought Corey here so he was as much in the dark as the
rest of the boys.  Billy and Larry looked surprised that I would go to a
place that looked so run down but when they saw the huge chicken fried
steaks and the big piles of mashed potatoes covered in gravy, that look
gave way to one of eager anticipation.  In fact, Flo's was the only place
in town where you could get a decent chicken fried steak.  I was somewhat
surprised that none of the boys had ever heard of it.  It sat on a back
street and would be easy to miss unless you were looking for it but still,
lots of people in town knew about it.  Vern had told me about it a couple
of years ago.  I managed to eat about half of mine and the boys did a
little better but in the end, the chicken fried steaks won.  However, there
were some nice scraps for Dog.
	When we finished we just had time to make it to the theater so the
boys could see a movie they had heard about.  I couldn't believe it.  They
had just eaten and still they wanted popcorn.  Not only that, they managed
to eat the popcorn.  I was almost afraid to sit close to them.  I was
afraid I would be splattered when they exploded.  I was left wondering how
much internal pressure a boy stomach could stand.  Clearly we hadn't
reached that point yet because they seemed to enjoy the movie and were
still in one piece when the popcorn was gone and the movie over.  I
couldn't help but wonder if I'd been like that when I was their age.  I
didn't remember being able to eat that much.
	The weather was pretty nice when we woke up.  The boys decided that
they would like to shoot today.  Since we hadn't gotten any housework done
yesterday I told them we had to get some done before we could go shooting.
That produced a real flurry of boy activity.  I didn't know they could
accomplish that much in such a short period of time.  Maybe I need to bring
this up the next time they are stalling and getting almost nothing done.
While it wasn't great, the house got a lick and a promise before we left
for church and the washer and dryer were both running.  When we got home
from church they threw another load in the washer and reloaded the dryer
while I fixed a light lunch.  Then it was off to the gun club.
	I had no more than parked when Russ Young and his son showed up.
We ended up all shooting on the trap I rented.  A little more coaching and
Nathan continued to improve.  I was simply amazed at how quickly he was
picking it up.  Russ, on the other hand, clearly had a ways to go.  Still
we all had a good time and enjoyed ourselves.  However, I didn't exactly
win friends and influence people when I suggested that Nathan would
probably do better with a gun that fit him properly.  Nathan appeared to be
all for that.  Russ looked like he had been kicked in the billfold.  It
certainly didn't help when I grabbed Corey's shotgun and adjusted it to fit
Nathan and he shot even better.  I was feeling rather smug until Russ told
me he would just have to pad my bill until he could afford a nice gun for
Nathan.  I had already figured out that Russ could afford about anything he
wanted and knew he was just getting back at me but even so it wiped the
smug look off my face.  From the sadistic smile on his face I wouldn't put
it past him since he knew I could well afford it.  The help he'd supplied
so far had saved me more than enough money to buy Nathan several nice
shotguns.
	When we got home the answering machine was blinking.  It was an
invitation from the Sterretts to have dinner with them.  The boys said that
sounded good so I called back and accepted.  I don't know why I bothered to
ask them because anything regarding food sounded good to them.  I managed
to get part of my ironing done before it was time to leave.
	The person who dreamed up ironing needs to be sought out and
tortured for all eternity.  While I try to buy things that didn't need
ironing, still a lot of them looked better with a little application of an
iron on them.  If you are getting the impression I dislike ironing you are
wrong.  Hate is a more appropriate word.  It just seems like such a waste
of time.  No one will remember that you wore a shirt that was properly
ironed.  Yet if you don't iron that shirt, it will be remembered for the
next ten thousand years.  Stupid.  Also why do we iron a wrinkle into
trousers?  I mean I thought the object was to eliminate wrinkles and yet we
press a wrinkle right done the front of each trouser leg.  Really stupid.
Surely there are more important things in life than having a wrinkle down
the front of your trouser legs and an unwrinkled shirt front.  Yet here I
stood, just as I had done since my mother had decided I was old enough to
do so and ironed my shirts and those trousers that were washed.  A lot of
the trousers I wore while teaching went to the dry cleaners so that helped.
It still seemed like I spent way too much time ironing.  As far as I could
tell all that permanent press meant was that it required a little less work
with the iron.
	We enjoyed dinner but it was soon apparent that the main reason for
the invitation was that Cody wanted to talk some more.  Before the evening
was done we had booted his computer up and I showed him that the Bible had
no mention of Christ saying anything about homosexuals in the New
Testament.  Before the conversation was done, all the boys and the
Sterretts had joined in.  While I'd gone over this with JJ before, for some
reason he finally seemed to understand.  We even got into how I could
believe in the Theory of Evolution and still believe in God.  I pointed out
that the Bible merely said that God created the heavens and the earth.  It
didn't say how he did so and therefore in no way precluded evolution.
What's to say he didn't start the whole thing going and guide evolution?
That brought out the argument of how long are God's days.  Since no one
could answer that, nothing stopped a person from believing in evolution.
All one had to do was accept that God started it.  We also got into some of
what might be termed the inconsistencies of the Bible such as Adam and Eve
were the first man and woman and Eve gave birth to Cain and Able.  Cain and
Able went forth and sought wives.  Where did the wives come from and if
they were unmentioned children of Adam and Eve, was that incest?  Sometimes
the discussion got a little heated but in the end, I seemed to get through
to Cody and his folks.  I think I even made some progress with JJ.  He now
seemed to be looking at his religious teachings in a whole new light.
	Ron and Jill said they needed some time to think about what I'd
said and wondered if I would be willing to talk with them again.  I told
them that I'd be happy to anytime we could work our schedules free.  With
that we finally headed home.  It was way past bedtime but I'd let the boys
stay up because I thought they were learning something and maybe even
learning to think for themselves.  In the places in the Old Testament used
against homosexuals, I had made them read some of the verses both before
and after the cited passage.  Sometimes that changes the whole meaning of
the passage and I pointed out it was no different than lifting words out of
context.  Everyone was doing a lot more thinking about what religion meant
to him.  I really hoped that such thinking would help JJ.  For the first
time he was really starting to think about his parents and their treatment
of him.  It didn't look like he was happy with what he was seeing.  Maybe
he would now believe me when I told him he was just as good as anyone else.
His parent's condemnation of him, based on their religious beliefs, had
been a heavy burden for him.
	While the boys were a little sleepy in the morning, the day breezed
along quite nicely.  My students were up to their usual and the classes
were in an uproar.  Still, I managed to get the necessary lessons worked
in.  I really liked it when I could challenge them and get them to think.
While they would never admit it, I think they liked it too.  When trying to
teach anything beyond simple math, the problem is to show the students why
they should know it and how it can be used.  Most of the uproar in my
classroom was from discussions showing how and why they needed to know what
I was teaching and how they could use it.  While occasionally it would get
out of hand, most of the time everyone learned something, including me.
I'm continually amazed at what young minds can think of when talking about
something.  All you have to do is get them to think.  It helps when they
think they are getting away with something like not having to study what
the class is supposed to be about.  They never seem to notice that they
have to do the work to try to prove me wrong.  They're all so busy, looking
for my mistakes, that they soak it up without realizing it.
	When school was over we headed home.  I stopped at the dealer to
make an appointment to have the Gator serviced.  I had lots of time because
Gail had an appointment with the orthodontist today.  While we were there
we ended up looking at pickups again.  I know I had lots of money but the
price of the pickup was unreal.  Herb Watters, the salesman, kept pointing
out all the nice things about it.  He wasn't wrong either.  It was a nice
pickup.  The seats were comfortable and the interior was almost as nice as
the Gator's but I would drive it so little.  It just seemed like a waste to
spend that much money for something that would be used so little.  Since I
had boys to haul around I normally used the Gator but I could use a crew
cab pickup.  Still, it was so big.  It would take a block to park it and
then it might stick out into the intersection.  I finally told Herb that I
wasn't willing to spend that much for the little I would use it.  He wanted
to know what I was planning to use it for and when I finished he suggested
a used pickup.  In fact, he just happened to have a used pickup that was
just what I was looking for, according to him.  I wondered if I was making
a mistake but told him to show me what he had in mind.  I was really
nervous because of the look on his face and the dollar signs I could see
spinning in his mind.
	We strolled out to the used car section and walked further back.
When we stepped around the back of the building I could finally see what he
had in mind.  I'd mentioned that I was thinking of getting a travel trailer
and he had the whole package.  There sat a 1999 F350 with a thirty-one foot
Airstream travel trailer.  I swear the whole package was so long it would
take me half a day to walk from the back of the trailer to the front of the
pickup.  Herb went into his sales pitch.  He pointed out the pickup had a
Power Stroke diesel along with almost all the options.  It only lacked a
moon roof.  Plus it only had 21000 miles on it.  It was a four wheel drive
crew cab.  The trailer had awnings everywhere you looked.  The inside was
even better.  As Herb almost waxed poetic over all the features on the
trailer, the boys about went wild.  They were looking everywhere,
discovering this and that.  It had a satellite television system, a stereo,
and I lost track of all the rest.  The boys were now his audience and all I
could do was follow along and listen in while he showed and pointed out all
the features.  There was even an eight kilowatt generator that ran on
diesel included.  The pickup had a canopy on it.  Really, the pickup was
about what I had been looking at but the trailer was bigger than the one I
knew about.  It was five feet longer and ten years newer.  Plus, I knew
Airstreams were expensive trailers.  Herb spent at least a half hour
showing the boys all about the trailer.  By the time he was finished, I had
to agree it was a nice trailer.  I couldn't think of much else a person
would ever need on it.  As near as I could tell neither unit had a mark on
it.  It was almost like they were brand new.  While I would have liked a
different color on the pickup, I could live with it.  It was just a darker
blue than I liked.
	We finally got down to price when I said it was nice but that I was
looking for something a little cheaper.  After all, that was why we were
looking at used units.  I was surprised when he told me what was being
asked for the two units.  It wasn't that much more than the price of a
brand new pickup.  Plus, it was on consignment and he thought the owner was
willing to bargain.  We kicked that around for a while and like a damned
fool I made an offer.  Herb whipped out his cell phone and called the
owner.  Ten minutes later all I had to do was sign the papers and pay the
money.  This was not the way I had planned on spending my afternoon.  A
simple oil change for the Gator had gotten rather expensive.  I wondered if
other people had stopped in for an oil change and spent a little over fifty
thousand dollars.
	Herb let me use his computer to transfer enough money to pay for
the pickup and trailer.  In fact, we transferred it directly into the
dealers account.  That worked pretty slick.  I was still a little stunned
that what I thought was a ridiculously low offer had been accepted but Herb
reminded me that 9-11 had really hurt the economy.  If a comparable unit
had been for sale before 9-11 it would have cost me at least another ten
thousand dollars, most likely more.  The couple that owned it was moving to
a retirement home and they were liquidating.  He'd had a stroke and they
could no longer travel and the units had been for sale for five months with
no offers.  Herb said they would service it and I could pick it up
Wednesday evening.  Now all I had to do was figure out what to do with it.
After getting all the data so I could insure it, we headed home.  I was
still stunned.  Things had gotten out of control.  Still, a three year old
pickup and trailer for fifty grand wasn't bad.
	The boys were chattering all the way home, planning where we should
go and what we should do.  Even Billy and Larry were getting in on it.
They sounded just as excited as my three.  I was just about home when it
dawned on me that next Monday was a holiday and we were going to visit
Uncle Matt and Aunt Sandy.  We could leave Saturday evening and see how
everything worked.  In fact, maybe I ought to ask Mrs. Downie if the boys
could have Saturday off.  Then we could leave after school on Friday.  I
just had time to whip into Downie's.  Ellen said it would be no problem.  I
think I need to talk with her and see if she really needs all the boys.  I
would be happy if she just used Billy and Larry because they could use the
money.  However, the boys were still charged up about investing.  I'll have
to think about that.
	After talking with Mrs. Downie it was easier to just go to Italian
Surprise and eat.  We never even went home.  The boys had pizza and I had
fettuccini.  We were all stuffed when we left.  There were even lots of
leftovers for Dog.
	The boys started their homework, with a little encouragement from
me, as soon as we got home.  Well, make that a lot of encouragement.  Would
you believe direct orders?  While they were working on it I called Vern.
He was the only person I knew who had a travel trailer.  After telling him
all about it, nothing would do but he wanted to see it.  Herb had given me
the spare set of keys so as soon as the boys finished their homework it was
back to look some more at the trailer.  Nancy came along and when we got
there she helped make a list of all the things we needed.  Nancy is one of
those people that are meticulously organized.  By the time she was done
Vern and I were planning trips for the summer.  I about fell over when she
presented me with three pages of items she said I had to have.  She had a
lot of items on those pages because she writes small.  Vern grabbed the
lists and spent a couple of minutes crossing about half of them off while
ignoring Nancy.  His comment that I didn't need all that shit seemed to
stir her up.  He just grinned and handed me back a much shortened list.  By
now she was really chipping her teeth at him and he just seemed to ignore
her.  He told me to throw my camping gear in and after the first trip I
would know what I needed.  Then he grabbed Nancy and kissed her.  That shut
her up.
	Vern did tell me how to adjust the equalizing hitch.  He told me
not to worry about all the things that Herb had tried to tell me.  Just
hook it up and start driving.  When I hit a bump, if the pickup bounded,
stop and tighten a bar one link.  If it still bounded, tighten the other
bar a link.  When it quit bounding that was tight enough.  If, on the other
hand, it felt like the whole pickup was being pounded into the highway and
didn't bound, loosen one bar one link.  Keep doing that, trying to keep the
bars even, until the pickup rode good.  He told me that, with different
amounts of gear stowed and water levels in the tanks, I would have to
change the number of chain links used on each bar.  Just try to keep the
number of links the same on both bars but don't worry if one bar is one
link different from the other.  His method sounded easier than all the
directions Herb had given me.  At least I could understand Vern's
directions while Herb's were a little complicated.  I had planned on asking
Herb to go over his directions again when I picked it up.
	When we got home, the boys and I went over the shortened lists.
Once I looked them over, it was pretty simple.  We would need bedding and
pillows, some stuff to eat on and with, some pots and pans to cook in, the
usual things in the medicine chest, and personal items like clothes and
stuff.  While it would have been nice to have several weeks to get ready,
it didn't look insurmountable.  We just needed to go to Costco.  Well maybe
a couple of other places also.
	The rest of the week was a whirlwind of activity.  I tutored Gail
on Tuesday.  On Wednesday I picked up the trailer and pickup and as soon as
I got them home, we hurried to Redding with our lists.  Thursday, while I
tutored Gail, the boys stowed most of the things we had bought on Wednesday
evening.  When I got home we went over the list to see what else we needed.
It looked like we could survive so I just gave up.  It's not like we
couldn't pick something up either in Medford or along the way.  After
dinner we picked out enough clothes to last throughout weekend and loaded
them in the trailer.  By the time we fell into bed we were all bushed.
	When we were finally ready to leave, the boys all got in the back
seat so they could watch a movie.  I have no idea why a retired couple
would have owned a pickup with a DVD player but they had and the boys
thought it was a great idea.  That left Dog to sit with me in the front.
Dog willingly hopped up and started looking around.  After turning around a
couple of times, he decided to sit so he could look out the side window.
After thinking about it for a short while I pulled the seat belt out and
strapped it over him.  It looked a little silly but I thought it might stop
him from falling on the floor if I had to step on the brakes very hard.
With that we were off.
	Jeez, I felt like I was trying to drive a train down the highway.
I mean the whole outfit was so long it was unreal.  However, Vern was
right.  After a couple of stops to adjust the equalizing hitch, the pickup
rode and handled beautifully.  By the time we hit Interstate 5 I was almost
beginning to think I would be able to control the whole thing.  As we drove
along Lake Shasta I slowly began to get a feel for how everything worked.
The pickup marched along nicely with the trailer following along right
where it belonged.  The further we went, the more relaxed I became.  I
began to realize that it wasn't much different than pulling my little
utility trailer behind my old Ranger.  In fact, even though it was a lot
longer, it seemed to handle better.
	Pulling Mr. Shasta was a piece of cake.  The diesel engine didn't
even seem like it was working and yet it marched right up the hill.  I had
to step down on the throttle but that was about all.  I was beginning to be
impressed.
	As we approached the top of the hill, I could hear the boys whining
about they were hungry.  Weed was just a couple of mile ahead and so we
agreed to eat there.  That brought up the first problem.  Where to park
something as long as the pickup and trailer was something I had never had
before.  It sure wouldn't go through a drive in window and it took a while
to find as area I could park it in.  That part sure was different than the
Gator or the old minivan.  Still, things were going pretty well so far.  We
found an area for Dog to do his duties and then we all hopped into the
trailer.  I handed the boys some money and they took off for the McDonalds
like rockets.  I would have been happy to eat in a restaurant but the boys
wanted to eat in the trailer.  While waiting for them I discovered I had
forgotten a coffee pot.  Oh well, maybe I could find one tomorrow in
Medford.  The boys were soon back with an armload of sacks and we all had
right at it.  Even Dog enjoyed his burger.  He scarfed it all down
including the lettuce and pickle.  It was time to get on the road again.
	It was dark by now and so Dog just flopped on the seat.  I couldn't
figure out how to belt him in so just gave up and started driving.  There
was no snow on the Siskiyou summit so the trip went well.  I had been going
to park in a trailer park but Uncle Matt wouldn't hear of it.  About ten
after nine we pulled up in front of their house.  The trip had gone really
well.  Still, I was tired.  I had been nervous about driving a new pickup
and pulling the trailer.
	We hadn't even unfastened our seat belts when Kristen and Kevin
came flying out the door.  They were all excited and just had to see the
trailer.  I got the door unlocked and almost got run over before I could
get out of the way.  Once inside I got the furnace turned on and the
trailer started warming up.  Uncle Matt and Aunt Sandy soon joined us.
	If I'd thought the boys were bad when looking at the trailer, I
soon found out they had been models of decorum.  The giggle boxes went
through the trailer like it was their own personal playhouse.  Dog was
thrilled with them.  He was right in the thick of things.  We adults gave
up and hid in the front on the couch.  The boys seemed happy showing the
giggle boxes all about the trailer.  The way the trailer shook, from the
giggle boxes charging around with Dog and the boys in hot pursuit, it felt
like an earthquake had struck.  I apologized for not being able to offer
coffee and explained that I had forgotten a coffee pot and that caused Aunt
Sandy to run into her house and bring one out.  Soon we were relaxing,
drinking coffee.
	Kristen and Kevin demanded that they be allowed to sleep in the
trailer.  I tried to explain that there weren't that many beds but met with
no success.  Aunt Sandy didn't help when she went and got some pajamas for
them.  She could have at least stopped snickering at me.
	Shortly the giggle boxes were running out of gas.  It was past
their bedtime.  Uncle Matt and Aunt Sandy headed for their house and I took
Dog for a walk so he could do his nightly duties.  By the time I got back
JJ and LT had their bed made on the couch which folded out and Kristen and
Kevin were in their jammies.  When Corey got into bed, they got in the
middle right next to him.  When I got in beside them, Dog jumped up and
made himself right at home at their feet, between Corey and me.  The giggle
boxes were asleep about the time their heads hit the pillows and I don't
think the rest of us were all that far behind them.

		To be continued...