Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 13:34:56 -0700 (PDT) From: T. Chase McPhee Subject: Nature Country 02 The story below is a work of fiction, set in the format of reality. Any resemblance to real people is entirely coincidental in nature. It is not meant to accurately reflect upon persons in towns, cities, or governmental areas, in 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. This is fiction. Use protection in real life. `Got condom?' "Nature Country" 02 wriTten by T. Chase McPhee % "We missed you out there today, Zach." Lying there in bed, arms behind his pillow, pillow behind his head, twenty-one year old Zach Roberts lay, eyes lethargic. "Um, I didn't feel like making the nature walk scene today." "That's the same excuse you gave me last Saturday," his uncle, Gary Roberts reported, right on the money. Even though it had been a rather cool spring, Gary sweated from the intense `walk' around the neighborhood. Entering his nephews room, he had stripped the tee shirt, using it to wipe his pits and chest. He sat on the side of the bed. "You know you're the spitting image of your father?" "Um, how far down?" the twenty-two year old inquires, looking down the hairy stripe, to where his dark-haired treasure trail comes to a halt, below his navel, as the sheet creases over it. "I'll take the fifth on that one," Gary smiles. "Did my dad and you ever.. you know.. play around when you were young?" "Sure. Even at a younger age we had been best friends. Being only a year apart, we had been on the same baseball team, same..." "No, Uncle Gary. I didn't mean in that respect." It then dawned on Gary where Zach's mind had ventured. "Oh, I see. Meaning, did we play around in bed?" Seeing his uncle smile, he knew something had to happen. He wasn't out to embarrass his uncle or anything. His curious got the best of him. But Zach did have some decency to not put his uncle on the spot. "Forget it. It's none of my business really," Zach replied, removing one hand and rubbing it over his own pec, just for the heck of it. "No, I don't mind talking about it, Zach. Only, I don't want it getting back to your father someday." "No chance of that, if you remember how well we get along. Don't forget, Uncle Gary, it's he that kicked me out because he didn't want a queer son tarnishing the neighborhood." "I think you should cut him a break." "Sure. He doesn't mind sending me money. What a buyout, wouldn't you say, Uncle Gary?" "He needs time to come around. He wasn't all too thrilled of the prospect of his `brother' being gay, either." "You never did tell me when that was." "I figured your father didn't either." "Nope." "Listen. Mike's downstairs whipping up some brunch. He has to report in. Why don't we pick up this conversation later?" "No problem. I have to be at the store. Chad and I are doing some inventory." Zach pushed his hands against the mattress to elevate himself. Gary couldn't help but notice the dark pubes unveiled. "Checking for comparisons still, Uncle Gary?" Smiling an evil grin, he responds, "I can tell you right out, you've got inches on him!" "Hmm... so you and my dad `did' mess around?" "Tell you later, but for the record, nothing much happened." "But something did?" Zach pried, as he began to make his side of the bed. Gary took the opportunity to get some quality time in, taking the sheet, then comforter in his hands, to help make up the queen-sized bed. Changing the subject, Gary summises, "I don't think this is he subject that has been depressing you lately, is it Zach?" Holding the pillow he was fluffing, to his body, as if hugging a man, Zach stands there, head bowed. Gary circles the foot of the bed, coming up behind his nephew. "It's Patrick, isn't it?" Silence prevailed for a few seconds, until Zach told his uncle, "We were so happy. It seemed like I had everything. Like it was going to last forever and then it's gone." "Things like that happen, Zach." "I know. I just didn't think it would happen to me, Uncle Gary." "You are not much different from others, Zach. People aren't prepared for things. It's not your fault that Patrick fell back into the old crowd at school and just happened to fall for one of the guys." "I know, Uncle Gary, but..." "Look Zach, as if somebody you loved very much has passed away, you're in a period of grief. What I tell my patients is that sometime during those moments in your life, you have to think about doing something different. Get out and look at the world. See where you can fit in. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to meet some other guys." "Chad and Matty invited me over to their place." "So?" "I said `maybe'." "Hmm... are they going to have some elgible bachelors there?" "Their whole point of inviting me, I suppose." "So. This party is in your honor?" "No, it's three years ago that Miguel Cruz and Juan Delgado met. They're having an anniversay get together." "I'm surprised that Bernice's hand isn't in this." "That's a separate party. I think you and Mike are invited. This is a `guy' party." "What does that make Mike and I? Chopped liver?" "You know what I mean. Young guys." "I know what you mean. Go and have fun." "I have to buy them a present. What do you think I should get them?" "Something that nobody else would think of getting them, Zach." "Fine help you are, Uncle Gary." "How about a hundred dollar bottle of champaygne?" "Hmm... a hundred bucks is nothing these days. I wonder if they have a more expensive one? It's for sure we don't carry anything like that at Barrs & Bridges." "Maybe check out the internet?" "Overnight express will cost more than the bottle of champaygne!" "Counting our pennies, are we?" "Hey, in business that's what one has to do." "Then I'd go for whatever you can get." "Are we still talking champaygne, Uncle Gary?" "Whatever," Gary says, winking, as he departs Zach's room. % "'Cuse me. Pasture Jack, have you seen our dads?" Terrence Beethoven and Pastor Jack MacKenzie look at each other and smile. It's not the first time one of the kids has mistook him for a cow's favorite spot! "No, I haven't Philip. From experience I know your dad gets cornered by a group of parents." "I know. Being a school principal has made him more famouser than Scott Whoal." "Who?" Terrence, Pastor Jack's sidekick questions Philip. Aidan jumps in with, "You know, the guy with the fuzzy body from the Queer Folk." "Oh, you're meaning Scott Lowell?" Pastor Jack guesses. The kids acknowledge the thirty-one year old gay pastor. "And how would you know something like that?" Terry teases Jack. "Hey, even pastor's have to keep up with today's world!" His comment rode right over the youngster's heads, as they tore off in a different direction. "See ya Pasture Jack!" They clamored, running away. "Are you ever going to set them straight, `Pasture' Jack?" Terrence jokes. "Nah. Let them figure it out for themselves. Um, by that way Terrence?" "Yes, Pasture?" "With all this talk of Scott Lowell, um... I could use a...." "Oh by the way, Pasture, I've got to go pick up the wienies for the overnight, at Bridges & Barrs. You're on your own." "Thanks, friend!" Pastor Jack replies, as Terrence hurries off. It's then he sees the Scott Lowell lookalike. As figured, Barry Barr is surrounded by a group of parents. "Excuse me, but may I have a word with our principal, who should be on his day off... ahem!" The town preacher shamed the parents nicely, in a way that wouldn't have him railroaded out of town anytime soon. "I owe ya one, Pastor Jack." "No problem `Prinicipal Barry'." "Jack," Barry reduced his addressing to, dropping the formalities. "It becomes a habit." "I was wondering if you have a few minutes, Barry." "Sure. What's up?" "Come on. Let's sit in my car. I don't want to make this public." "Oh. Okay," Barry replies, walking along to the parking lot. Unlike the others, Pastor Jack MacKenzie always has his car along with him, in case of emgencies. "There you go," he says, popping the lock for Barry. "So, what's on your mind, Jack?" "Well, I know you're new to the community and I'd like to make you aware of a program that I established a few years back." "Oh?" "Yes, it's to help deter our high seniors from prom night shenanigans." "Meaning like drinking, drugs, sex, etc?" "Precisely. I was wondering what your opinion would be." "Has it helped, in the past?" "Very much so. I take on the boys and I've usually found an outstanding woman of the community to help with the boys." "Sounds like an excellent plan." "Last year it had been Martha Gibbons, the librarian." "Didn't she retire?" "Yes. That's why you're here." "Um, I don't think I would be good with a bunch of high school girls." Jack laughed his ass off. "No, Barry, I doubt that myself, no offense." "None taken. So, what's your plan?" "I know you are friends with Bernice Bridges. Do you think she might be interested?" Barry sat back and thought. "Maybe." "Good. Then you'll ask her?" "Me?" Barry left Pastor Jack's vehicle trying to think of a plan to capture Bernice's heart, on the matter. % "Hey Chad!" "How's it going Zack?" "Need a hand with that?" "Yeah. I don't believe that this is the second time this week some little kid has had to pick an orange from the bottom of the table. And look at this," Chad bends down, to scoop up a squashed orange, "I've got to get Andy, to clean up this sticky mess." "Most likely there's orange juice tracks from shopping carts, elsewhere. Maybe we need to change our fixtures. Update." "Yeah sure. From who's profitsharing plan?" "Leave it to me." "Listen Zack..." "I know what you're going to say, Chad. Just because I'm filthy rich, I shouldn't be going and spending the money, with you and Matty a factor in the partnership. Like I said, in the beginning, there will be some costs." "Yeah I know. Donovon ran a good business, but he let everything kind of get run down." "Exactly. With improvements, more people will want to shop here." "Like where else would they shop for food?" "Okay, so we're the only food store in a fifty mile radius." "Oh, by the way Zach," Chad snapped his fingers, "the guy from the liquor distributor's called." "Mack Finley?" "Yeah. He says there's a new guy on the route and he might get lost finding the place, so cut him some slack." "No problem. But, hey wait. Maybe he knows." "Knows what, Zach?" "Well, don't let this get around, but I wanted to get Juan and Miguel something special for their anniversary party at your place. I thought maybe a rare bottle of champaygne. I figured Marty might.. But damn, Marty's not with the company anymore." "Doesn't mean this new guy doesn't know anything, Zach." "True, but Marty had an impeccable knowledge of the liquor world." "Excuse me, but would you please tell me where I might find the manager?" Standing in front of both of them, this young, blond, drop-dead-gorgeous guy waited for an answer. Both Chad and Zach pointed at each other. "He is," they traded off the answer to the guy. "Oh. Okay. I'm Christian Zoutendijk, from Finley Distributors. Mack said to tell you that he sent me..." Chad and Zach stood there. "Um, something wrong?" Christian replied in his slightly Dutch twang He looked down the front of himself, as if a streak of spaghetti sauce ran the length of his white shirt, in place of the smart, blue-patterned tie. "Not a thing," Chad replied, as if in a daydream. Chad sprung back to the future, as Zach slapped him in the stomach, with the back of his hand. "I'm Zach Roberts and this is Chad Barr. We're partners..." "You're gay?" Right away, Chad's opinion changed from the hottie, to `what a dork'! "Would that make a difference?" Zach suddenly got on the defensive. "No, not in the least. I mean," and getting real quiet, in a whisper, Christian says, "me too." "Oh," is all Zach said. Chad picks up the pieces with, "So, you're the new liquor rep, huh?" "Yes. I came to check on your stocks. Um, so you two are... partners?" Zach smirked. "We're partners in business," Chad set Christian straight. "Oh. Geez. I feel like such a fool." "That you did," Zach replied under his breath. It earned him a slap back, from Chad. "Give the guy a break," Chad said, muffling his reply. They make light chat, walking to the stockroom. "Here's the stock," Zach points out the boxes lined up against the stockroom wall. First thing out of the guy's mouth is, "So, you guys aren't gay?" Looking to Chad, Zach approaches Christian, standing right in front of him. "Y'know, Christian, maybe you aren't with it or something, but guys don't go around asking other guys if they're gay, so why don't you just shut the fuck up about it?" Chad and Christian watch, as Zach marches out of the stockroom. "Gee, I'm sorry I... I didn't mean to...." Chad to the rescue. "Forget it. Zach's a little uptight. Hey, let me buy you a coffee, okay?" "Yeah. Sure." Chad can see that the guy is a little shaken up over the ordeal of his first meeting with the management of Bridges & Barr's. Leaving the store, Chad hands the keys over to the assistant manager. "I'll be gone for awhile, Andy. Mr. Roberts is somewhere around, if you need a manager." "Oh, okay Mr. Barr. I'll page him and oh, I'll take care of the mess in the fruit section." "But I didn't," Chad went to clue Andy in to the fact he hadn't relayed the squashed oranges to him, making a sticky mess on the floor. "Um, is everything okay with you and Mr. Roberts?" "We're cool, Andy, but thanks." Leaving the front door, Christian states to Chad, "He's cute." "Yeah and he's also straight!" "Oh." "Chad?" "Yeah, Christian?" "How do you know if a guy is straight or gay?" "You mean like how did I find out if Andy is gay or straight?" "Well, I was wondering how you know a thing like that." "We don't have it on the employee's application, if that's what you mean?" Chad knew Christian wasn't that dense. He hoped so. "No. I know you can't ask questions like that, but in general, how does a guy know?" "You don't. I mean, sometimes you have to kind of talk to a guy. Sometimes it'll come up and you make some kind of connection." "Connection?" "Yeah, like...." The subject, not exactly Chad's strong point, left him hanging. "It's like gaydar." "Gaydar?" "Yeah, like radar, only a guy gets this feeling that another guy is gay." "Did you think I was gay, Chad?" "You didn't give us time to find out, Christian." "Oh right. I came out and said it. Something I don't normally do, but... well..." "I know. You didn't wait for Zach to finish his sentence. You jumped to conclusions." "A mistake." "Rule number one." "What's that, Chad?" "Don't give yourself away so easily." "So, there's rules to follow to meet gay guys?" "Not exactly. I mean, they aren't written down anyplace." Boarding Matty's SUV, Chad alerts, "Seatbelt?" "Oh yeah," Christian states. "I hope I'm not turning you off, talking to you about all this gay stuff, Chad. I mean, I've never had anybody to talk to.. you know?" "Well sure, Christian, I...." "I've been virtually on my own since high school." "Is that so?" Chad sat there, keeping his eyes on the road, peering over occasionally, as one does when listening to a guy talk his ear off. "Yeah. I came here as a foreign exchange student, from Holland." "Interesting." "Sure was, Chad. Back home, I was scared to talk about myself being gay." "I was under the impression that folks in that area of the world speak very liberally about homosexuality." "Maybe so, but it's not every family that is totally accepting of the lifestyle. This American high school student, a real buddy and also gay, talked me into breaking the silence on my sexuality. It proved to be a titantic mistake." Chad tried figuring out much of the story Christian seemed to be leaving out. "Ian, that's my gay buddy's name, talked me into coming out to my family, so I wrote my father." "I take it your family didn't approve?" "It was a horror story. My father called the family I was staying with. My sponsors, a loyal, church-going family, frowned upon my being gay, hearing it the first time from my father. I over heard the conversation on the phone. They told my father I was a very sick boy. After they hung up, my whole world turned upside down. Where once they had been friendly, now they seemed the opposite. Almost like a suspicious enemy." "Makes you wonder who are the sick ones," Chad sternly voiced his opinion. Parking the car, they got out and went into Birdy's Cafe. "Two," Chad replied to the seater's question. "Thanks, Michael. This is Christian," Chad mucked up thinking how to pronounce the last name, so left it out, "our new liquor sales rep, from Finley's." he smiled to the fellow that seated them. "He's taking Marty's place, huh Chad?" "Yes." After Michael Byrd left their presence, another familiar conversational piece cropped up. "Is he?" Christian asked. "It doesn't mean that every guy I acknowledge with a smile and friendly greeting is gay, Christian." "Sorry, Chad." However, Chad surprised Christian with, "Yeah, he is." "Gay?" "Yeah." Then, opening up Michael Byrd to fair play, asked, "A hottie, isn't he?" "Well sure, but he's got to be older than you and I, no?" "Depends." "How's that go Chad?" "I'm eighteen. How old are you?" "Twenty-three." "Byrd's still got a few years on you." "How many?" Chad smiled, thinking Christian might go for the older male. "He's twenty-eight or twenty-nine. Matty knows for sure." "Matty?" "My partner." "Partner? You live with another guy?" "Yes. Matty is a year older than me." "That is very nice, Chad." "I think so." "This is so nice. It's going to be such a pleasure coming to service Barr & Bridges." Chad had devious thoughts about that statement, although he did picture Christian as more the top position. As Christian shut up for once, perusing the menu, Chad pictured Christian both ways. At first, he had the twenty-three year old stripped down to the waist, on his knees, licking Matty's cock. Matty's because things had turned out where ninety-nine per cent of the time, Matty bottomed, even though it started out where Matty and Chad had a versatile-working relationship. Then, switching Christian's role, he had him totally in the buff, with Matty on his knees, tongue out and licking Christian's shaft. For all intensive purposes, Chad pictured Christian with a long, thick piece of meat, Matty hardly able to fit it in his mouth. "Um, Chad?" "Huh?" "I'm ready to order. You?" "Uh... sure," Chad lied. After all, Chad's been into Birdy's Cafe gazillions of times. He knew the menu off the tip of his tongue. But right now, it wasn't the menu that boggled his mind. His concern was how long it would be before the bulge in his pants dissapated, plus if there had been any leakage, if his Jockey low-rise briefs would absorb the matter or show on his khaki pants! % 2 Continued.... Copyright 2006 T. Chase McPhee This story may not be sold or made part of any collection without prior written permission.