Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:41:45 -0800 (PST) From: T. Chase McPhee Subject: Adventures in Nature 13 The story below is a work of fiction, set in the format of reality. Any resemblances to real people, alive or in the hereafter, is entirely coincidental in nature. It is not meant to accurately reflect upon persons, in towns, cities, countries, nor governmental areas, which the story is staged. If a sexual scene involving male-to-male relationships offends you, then you should not read this story. Additionally, if you are under 18 years of age, in most state and countries, you are not allowed to read this story, by law. Check with your local laws regarding such. % Sexual safety matters. Remember guys, this is fiction. In real life, use protection. % "Adventures In Nature" 13 wriTten by T. Chase McPhee % Greeting their dad at the door, Philip exclaims, "Dad, you're home!" "Yes, finally," Barry replies, cradling Philip in one arm. He was taken aback by Aidan's cordial greeting, offering to take his attache case off his hands, saying, "Here, let me take that for you dad-Barry." "It's really raining hard, isn't it?" Philip asks, looking up at his dad's drenched face. "You bet," Barry tells Aidan. "It took me ten minutes from Bridges Lane to drive here." Measuring the distance in his mind, Philip comments, "Geesh! Me and Aidan can walk it in less than five!" "Hi dad," Mark introduces himself and Jose, coming out of the livingroom. "I'm going to take Jose home now." "Not in this weather you're not. It's raining like cats and dogs out there, with no sign of let up," Barry voices his opinion. "Maybe you should give Jack a call?" Mark suggests to Jose. Before Jose can answer, Barry asks, "Jack?" Between the two, Mark and Jose make a long story short, telling of Jose's parttime residence, with Jack's family. "Maybe it would be just as well if you stayed here tonight," Barry said, not as a request. "If it's okay with Jose," Mark puts it. "Sure. Let me give Jack a call." "What about you father?" Barry questions Jose. "Oh, he's probably on his second job by now. He won't be back home until early in the morning. Besides, when I'm not there and he comes home, he knows I'm at Jack's house." "But you won't be at Jack's house," Barry stresses. "We don't have an answering service and my dad can't afford a cell phone. If he misses me, he'll call Jack and Jack can tell him where I am." >From the way he said it, Barry detected there wasn't too much going for the father and son duo. "If you're sure," Barry questions the teen, then directs at Mark, "You can make up the sofa for Jose." Of course Barry knew there was an empty bed in Mark's room, with Denis being away, but he made the hasty decision, to make known where he stood on the sleeping issue, in case either of them got any ideas! "Sure, dad," Mark replied. Standing there taking in the volley between their dad, Mark and Jose, the squirts reenter the conversation, Philip asking, "Where's dad-Steve?" "He's going to be staying at the hospital tonight, to be with Denis." "Did Denis try to do something to himself again?" Aidan asks. Barry could have given a bogus reason, setting the two youngsters off course, but instead opted out and gave them a subdued explanation. "Denis is still not feeling himself, so he will still be at the hospital." Inside, he felt a streak of relief, when the two boys accepted his logic. "I hope Denis is going to be okay," Philip says. "When is he coming home? I miss him," Aidan adds, solemnly. "Nobody can predict that," Barry answers. To get them off the depressing matter, he asks, "So, what is it you two were so happy to tell me?" His ploy worked, as Philip excitedly says, "Oh yeah. Mrs. Duffy talked to Mr. Barberio about the plants." "And guess what?" Aidan kicks in. "What?" Barry asks the two, hanging up his wet jacket in the closet. Philip answers, "Mr. Barberio is going to donate all the plants for our project!" It made both boys shine, their white teeth highlighting grins. "Seeing your blueprint, that will be quite an expense on his part," their dad says, pulling his damp shirt away from his chest. "And guess what else?" Aidan asks this time. "What?" "Mrs. Duffy says Mr. Barberio used to be a hiker." Barry wasn't putting two and two together, since only one part of the equation had been presented. "Which means?" "Oh," Philip said, realizing they hadn't completed their thought, "so Mrs. Duffy says Mr. Barberio is going to take our class on a hike!" "Really? I never knew Mr. Barberio was such an adventurer." "Us neither," Aidan says. "Did you know Mr. Barberio once climbed Mount Hood?" "Over yonder," Barry points over his shoulder with his thumb, not really knowing if he pointed in the direction of Portland. "Yup," the boys replied, not realizing it either. "An accomplishment," Barry replied, but really wanting to get into a hot shower to take the chill off his bones. After the phone rings, Tom appears, saying, "Um, Aunt Bernice was wondering if we all wanted to go over for some Zebra cake?" The hot shower would have to wait, as well as dinner, as Barry gave in to the two young pesterers! % Laying his text book open and faced down on his chest Kirk reached for the alarm clock. After seeing the time at eight, he did the math, figuring the ratio of time from when Kev left, at one, and now. He sat up quickly when he realized the difference of seven hours. Looking over to Kev's hastily thrown together bed, he began to worry as raindrops pelted the dorm window. He knew if he opened the window and stuck his head out far enough he could see if Kev's truck was parked in the student lot. Rolling the computer desk out of the way, he proceeded to do his check. With a sigh of relief he thought to himself, `well at least Kev is on campus.' Closing the window, he found a `used' tee shirt, utilizing it as a towel to dab the drops off his chest and shoulders, fluffing his hair up with it, palming down his wild looking mane. Suddenly he heard a cell phone ringing, coming from the closet. It wasn't his own, spying his on the night table. Going for it, Kirk searched through pockets of jeans, hanging on a hook. "Hello!" he yelled out, concerned he would answer before the tones of some rock song cover wore out. He answered with a "Hi", but slowly began to feel his stomach in knots as Kev's brother, Tom, asked of Kev's where abouts, that he hadn't shown up for work. "Not show up at work? But Kev never misses..." It's then Kirk went through the events, which unfolded earlier, Kev's frustrations, the fury of his anger, kicking the drawing of John, running out the room. However, he also told Tom about Kev's truck being parked in the student lot, reassuring Tom Kev had to be somewhere on campus. % "Dammit!" "Trouble?" Ethan asked, wiping the sweat from his pits with his own tee shirt. "I'll say. Wait til I catch up with Kevin," Tom said, loosening his tie. "Why? Where is he? On his way?" Ethan questioned, watching Tom remove his tie. Without further explanation, Tom says, "Thanks for staying over. You can go now. I'll take care of the rest of these pallets." Ethan cast a smile over his face, seeing Tom go for the first pallet, a load of canned goods packed solid, watching him trying to jack it up. Tom stopped, his head snapping to his right as Ethan put his big hands over his own, propped up on the top of the pallet-jack. "What have I got to go home to but a Tv dinner and reruns of The Six Million Dollar Man?" Looking over the sweaty hunk next to him, Tom tried to discover the differences between Ethan and Steve Austin. "Yeah, okay," Tom said, relinquishing the pallet-jack to Ethan's control. Giving a one arm pump Ethan raised the pallet as if it contained feathers. "Show off!" Tom says, glancing at his wrist, checking up on the immediate time. "Worried?" Ethan calls out, as he effortlessly swings the pallet away from the loading bay doors, parking it expertly next to another. "Huh?" "About Kev?" Ethan asks. "Yeah," Tom replies, obvious trembling in his voice. "No show and no call kind of makes me anxious even though his roommate said his truck was parked on campus." Slowly closing in on Tom, Ethan places a hand on Tom's shoulder, comforting him, "Could be he's sketching somebody, lost track of the time?" "That could be the case, but still...." Not the first time, Ethan comes up with the perfect plan, "Store doesn't close for another hour and a half, if you were thinking of tracking him down?" "Right, but who is there but me to run the works?" "Um, me?" Ethan says, a big grin on his face. Looking Ethan up and down, the `stockboy' can pretty much figure what's running through Tom's mind. "It wouldn't take much to splash some water on myself. I've got a clean shirt hanging on the back of the john door," Ethan says, in all willingness. "That's not the point and don't get me wrong here, but as a store manager, I need somebody with leadership skills and..." Cutting him off, Ethan asks, "Ever hear of Wellsprings?" It stopped Tom midsentence, standing there, thinking how the company name fit in. "The bottled water giant?" With a touch of proudness, Ethan reveals, "When Wellsprings was a little hole-in-the-wall company, I was their CEO, making it what it is today." His hand going to his chest, as if to measure his beating heart, Tom stood there, awestruck. "CEO?" "Yeah. And look at me now. Downgraded to a stockboy, hauling freight around a stockroom. Ain't that a kicker!" It didn't make Tom laugh, even though Ethan stood in good form, a toothy grin on his face. "But what.... why? What happened?" Tom asks, flustered. "Nothing bad," Ethan explains, casually. "One day I got tired of hopping planes to all corners of the globe, airport and city traffic and a longing to be back in the countryside. So, as fate will have it, in the middle of a board meeting, I didn't like the way things were going, so just walked out!" "Like that? No notice?" "Oh, don't worry. I covered myself. Right before my hand was on the knob, I tossed an envelope on the board table." "I can't believe you gave up a six figure position for a lousy four hundred dollars a week, Ethan!" "Hey, sometimes money can't buy a person happiness," Ethan said, still in a cheerful nature. As if already in Tom's shoes, he reaches for the keys, hanging from one of the boss' belt loops, unhooks them and says, "Times-a-wastin'. You better get on your way." "But who's going to take care of this?" Tom asks, his extended arms, out from his sides, pointing out the pallets of goods, patterned in disarray. "You leave that to me." Before `excusing' Tom, Ethan slipped the tie from Tom's collar, saying, "Only part of the uniform I'm lacking!" % With the Zebra cake disappearing, the older boys, Tom and Eric politely excused themselves from the gathering, thanking Bernice and Alberto for their hospitality. Mark and Jose hung around, Mark playing tour guide. Right away Barry thinks about Max's influence on Philip and Aidan, thinking maybe the `disease' was catching, as the two helped clean up dishes. "'Can't say I'd've done any better," Bernice cheerfully states, as Aidan, Philip and Alberto put on some speed, headed for the study where the wall of Monopoly games are stored. "Thanks. My true feelings are Max is getting through to more than Philip and Aidan," Barry remarks, sipping from a cup of coffee. Seeing more than his concentration on manners, Bernice asks, "And Denis?" Exhaling, a sigh from his mouth, Barry senses her knowledge of what is really ailing him. Reading more into it, she asks, "How is Steve handling things?" Releasing his pent up feelings, Barry looks straight into Bernice's eyes, saying, "I know you and Steve go back quite a few years..." "That we do," Bernice replies, not breaking her gaze. After another deep sigh, he explains, "In my own opinion, Steve is not handling any of this very well. Like myself, we're putting Denis' affairs ahead of everthing else." Stopping, taking an inventory of life, Barry plows onward, adding, "I know if this was Steve talking, he wouldn't hesitate to ask you this, Bernice..." "If there's anything at all I can help you with darlin'," she senses the `need', reaching across the table, enveloping Barry's hand. "The truth of the matter is our finances are going to be stretched thin coming up with enough to help Denis get through all of this turmoil in his life. I wouldn't ask you myself, but for Steve..." Barry broke off, as Bernice removed her caring hand, pushing up from the table and walking over to the diningroom etagerie. Placing a crystal vase on the table she lifted the panel which supported the multi-faceted item. Returning to the table, she tosses the red leather-covered checkbook right in front of Barry, as she parks her bottom in the chair. "I save this one for emergencies such as this!" Not budging, she opened the checkbook up, presenting Barry with a blank. Snapping a ball point pen open, she instructed, "Here... write in how much you need." It took a couple of dry gulps, then a swig of his coffee before Barry could realize what this meant, at the same time wondering how far it would be down to the bottomless pit offered him. "Well, the facility itself is going to be fifteen hundred a month and then there's....." While Barry counted off costs, on his fingers, Bernice steals the checkbook back, holding the pen, already to fill in the blanks. At the conclusion of Barry's little speech, she begins writing, same time saying, "And don't you go and insult me, like you did the last time!" Stretching his eyes, Barry watched as Bernice filled in a 50, before a comma and three zeros, her warning about saying something like, `We'll pay you back for every cent'. Last time it caught him quite a tongue lashing, when offering to make good on the repayment of a loan. As Bernice gave the check a three hundred and sixty degree turn, she ogled, "Let's just call this an early graduation present for Denis." With two eighteen year olds graduating from high school, Barry wondered if Mark would be receiving a gift of $50,000 as well! % After tidbits of conversation between one of the art professors, telling Tom how gifted an artist his brother is, the rather confortably dressed professor informs him, "We've been closed since five o'clock. There's a new exhibit beginning next week. Being a promising artist, I hope we are fortunate to have some of Kevin's works displayed someday." Not only did the student center turn up zilch, but after casing the fine arts building, Tom didn't know where else to go, in search of his brother with every step, a feeling of worry pounding his brain as his feet stomped the pavement. It wasn't too tough getting clearance to enter the dorm where Kev roomed with Kirk, the security guard recognizing Tom as a fine, outstanding citizen and also responsible manager of the biggest food market in the region. Offering Tom elevator service also came the caution of a slow ride up. Instead, Tom chose the stairway. As soon as the door to Kev's room opened, Tom asked, "Has Kevin come back yet?" his eyes casing Kirk barechested, holding a tee shirt up to his pelvis, blocking out the x-rated part of his pubes. Whenever something important transpired, Tom always referred to Kev by his unabbreviated name. It's one way Ethan formed his opinion of Tom's worry, back at the store, notating the little quirk. "Um, no. We haven't seen him," Kirk replies. With the ability to view most of the room, Tom could hardly miss the sight of a young college guy, bare, sheet pulled up to his dark-haired pubes, lying in the supplemental bed. Kev's bed, still untouched from being made up, provoked him further into a pool of worry. If there wasn't a precedent for his inquiry Tom might have lingered for the view of the eye candy. Thanking Kirk, he stood there in the doorway with the door closed, thinking of his next move, an ultimatum he wished would never become an option; going to the police and reporting his brother as missing. % Copyright 2008 T. Chase McPhee This story may not be sold, nor made part of any collection, without prior consent from the author.