Date: Sat, 7 Jul 2007 11:22:18 -0700 (PDT) From: T. Chase McPhee Subject: Natures Trail 09 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. % "Nature's Trail" 09 wriTten by T. Chase McPhee % "Oh Lord help us!" Arriving at WRCC, pulling up to the front of the registrar's office, Barry stopped the van and shook his head. "See ya dad!" First Denis and Mark lit out of the van, then Tom and Mark. From standing at the door of the van, before jumping out, Denis spotted their senior buds. Tom and Mark just faded into the crowd. Philip says, "Holy cow!" "How are we supposed to find Diego, Seth, James and Caleb in this mess?" Aidan asks, seeing the dilemma represented by Philip's exclamation. Steve turned, looked over his shoulder and replied, "You boys just stay put!" When he turned back, Barry had both arms on the top of the steering wheel, his head lying on his forearms, groaning. "I know it's not pleasant, but somebody's gotta be the leader here," Steve said, patting Barry's shoulder with sympathetic overtones. It's apparent the superintendent was nowhere to be found, so Barry got himself together, slipping out the door of the van. Steve stayed behind to monitor the boys. It scared the hell out of Steve, when somebody rapped on his window with a ring. He quickly dummied up, seeing Alonzo, his hand flapping, telling him to put down the window. "You nearly scared the dickens out of me... geesh!" Steve said. After a quick sorry, Alonzo said, "I've got Diego and Seth here. Callan got called in to the hospital. I have to gather up my students. Can you...." Steve called to the back of the van, "Let'em in." Turning once more to address Alonzo, he talked into thin air. He mumbled to himself, "Who's going to...." About ready to harbour a complaint on deaf ears, about what he was supposed to do to find his class, while the boys hibernated in the van, he shouted out, "Wait here. I'll be right back!" The squirts didn't even have time to say anything, as Steve's door slammed closed. Aidan scrambled to the front seat and hung out the window, watching his dad parade across the parking lot. "What's dad-Steve doing?" Diego asked. "I think he's headed toward a parked car," Aidan replied of the long distance viewing. As if a play by play at a baseball game, he kept on presenting the facts, "He's talking to the guy who got out of the car," Aidan said, squinting. "The guy's throwing a bookbag over his shoulder. They're walking together over here. Looks like a college student." Then, with excitement, Aidan shouts out, "It's Mr. Beanhacker from church!" "Seems like that's how my day has gone," Justin says to Steve. "Oh?" "Yeah. The Good Samaritan?" "How's that go?" Steve asks, but his mind on the crowd of high school students. Going on, Justin explains about Christian calling to bail him out of the `broken-car-blues'. Seeing Steve's attention on the hullabaloo, he walks up to the van, opens the front door. "Mr. Beanhacker, what are you doing here?" To Aidan, Justin replies, "I attend classes here at the college. And you?" Philip speaks up, saying, "We don't have school until sometime this week." "Yeah," Diego tells him, "we get to swim in the pool until..." "Holy cow!" Seth suddenly shouts. "What?" they all want to know. Seth systematically lays out, "If dad-Barry is the principal and dad-Steve is teaching, then who's supposed to watch us at the pool?" Apparently, with their span of attention geared towards the first day of high school, held at WRCC, the dads hadn't realized the loophole in their plans. Although A-1 with his attendance during his three years at WRCC, with a few missed classes due to illness, Justin had a feeling he would have to break his almost perfect record, which was something not fazing him. He was a good student, liked by all his professors, so he knew he wouldn't have any problem playing `pool-sitter' for the day. The more he thought about it, the more he felt relaxed, thinking he could use a day off for good behavior. Finally, some performing arts students came out to the sidewalk with a large speaker and a portable microphone system, with wireless mic's. With register in hand, Barry brought a teacher up to the front of the crowd, announced a room, having the teacher gather students and enter the college. Soon he was left standing alone, except for the helpful college students. They retreated into the fine and performing arts building, lugging the equipment. Barry looked up, spotting the van, suddenly remembering the kids. As he approached it, he stared at some other guy sitting where Steve was sitting. But then, it dawned on him he had just loaded Steve up with his class and sent him into the building. Now, the bomb dropped, him realizing he had five kids to look after today, but couldn't. He was never happier to see the choir director from church! "What are you doing here?" Barry asked through the passenger side window. "Steve asked me to watch the kids for the day, at the pool," Justin replied. "That's mighty generous of you, Justin, but don't you have a planned agenda for your day? Classes?" "Nothing too important. Besides, I think I might like a deviation from the norm," Justin tells Barry. "It did occur to me, after the fact, Steve and I didn't plan far enough ahead. In a pinch, I suppose I could..." "It's no problem. Really." Barry accepted Justin's kind order. He stepped close to the van, hugging it with his stomach, when another vehicle pulled up next to them. "Hey," Matty called out. "Chad said to drop Jeremy and his friends off, on the way to the office?" Out of Matty's 4x4, Jeremy, James and Caleb climbed out, as Aidan, Philip, Diego and Seth jumped out of the van, both parties meeting in the middle. "Hey, wait. I thought there was only..." Justin says, of the spilling out of the barely young teens, making a head count. Matty and Justin, rarely getting to see each other, remembers when Justin came to town, to live with his uncle. Other than church, he hasn't seen a whole lot of him, but still greeted him with a hug, then got back in his truck and headed out of the parking lot, yelling, "Thanks! I'll be back to pick them up at four," to Justin. "Too much to handle?" Barry asked the twenty year old choirmaster. "Nah. I'll have more than this in the kid's choir." "Well, if you ever need help, I'm around, if you need me," Barry said, returning the favor. Barry helped Justin walk the kids through the parking lot, to the main door of the sports area of WRCC. By now, the kids knew the hallways to twist and turn through, leading Justin to the pool. As they entered, the seven bolted for the locker room, their swim suits rolled up their towels. "Hey, wait. Where are you going?" Justin asked, trying to keep his attention focused on the youngsters and not fifteen or so swimmers, bare from the waist up, doing pushups in the bleechers, their coach hounding them. Slowly Justin made his way to the door they went through. It's then he discovered he didn't have a suit. Two late-comers ran through the lockerroom, on their way out, flying by Justin. "Hey, wait!" Justin called out. Denis Clark stopped, slipping with one foot, Mark steadying him, by grabbing his arm. "Whew! Thanks bro!" After they exchanged their hello's, Mark recalling Justin from the church environs, Justin asks, "Do either of you happen to have an extra swimsuit?" "I do," Denis says to him, then to Mark, "You go. Tell Coach Hollister I'll be right there." >From experience, the younger swimmers knew to stash their clothing in the little cubby holes near the entrance to Coach Hollister's office, but for Justin, Denis let him use his locker. "How long are you going to be?" Denis questions him. "Probably all day. Your dad gave me some money for lunch. I'll probably take them over to the student center for a bite to eat." "Why don't you take your tee shirt with you and my extra pair of sneakers?" Denis offers. "Great," Justin replies, adding, "I wasn't really prepared to do this today, but I think I'll like the change." "I dunno," Denis says, pulling a pair of sneakers from the bottom of his locker Coach Hollister assigned for him, under all the other stuff. Pointing next to the showers, he shows Justin where the towels are, then scoots out of there. "We're all ready!" The seven report back to Justin, who stands there in his street clothes. "Well don't go anywhere until I'm ready," Justin says. Talking on their own, the seven boys chat about what was on Tv last night, and other stuff, until Aidan says out loud to Justin, "Do you work out, Mr. Beanhacker?" Standing there, stripped down to his waist, Justin realizes some young eyes have been watching him undress. "No, but I do a lot of outdoor activity." "Like what?" Seth turns his attention to the conversation. "Mostly hiking," Justin replies, unbuckling his belt. "Where do you hike?" Philip asks. "Out near the environmental center, then up in the hills near there." Caleb says, "I was there a couple of times. We went on a class trip there last year." Sitting down, Justin removes his pants. A little shy, he realizes he's never undressed before, in front of little kids, except when he was a little kid! He makes the rest of the process go by quickly, laying out the swimsuit before his briefs come off. The kids don't converse about it, but their looks show they think Justin's schlong is pretty big! He finds Denis' extra swim suit to be a bit tight, but able to pack `it' all in. "Ready?" He asks the young guys. Snapping his fingers, he runs over to the towel cart, then dashes right behind the guys, as they make their way out of the locker room. "Hey, where are we gonna swim?" Philip asks. Justin and the seven stand at pool's edge, watching every lane taken up by the swim team. "Why don't we sit and watch them for awhile," Justin suggests. Unrolling their towels, the kids lay them out, as if on a sandy beach and park their butts down. Justin follows them, sitting right near them. "They sure have a lot of muscles," twelve year old James says. "I'm sure they work hard at swimming or they wouldn't be good for competition," Justin comments. "Are Denis and Mark going to be in it?" Aidan asks. "They're part of the team. I expect so." Jeremy says, "I wonder if I'll have muscles like that when I grow up?" "It's a possibility," Justin informs him, "but it takes hard work to develop bodies like these guys have. It takes long hours of training. Anything you want to be good at, takes lots of effort." "How come Coach keeps yelling at them?" Caleb asks. "He's not doing it because he's mad at them. He wants them to do the best they can." "Holy cow!" Philip suddenly says, "Will ya look at Coach yelling at that guy!" Their attentions shoot across the surface of the pool, watching Coach Hollister turn red, screaming in the face of one of the swimmers, for not staying in lane. "I wonder if he's gonna quit?" Jeremy talks about the swimmer. "Nah," Justin replies. "Sometimes being yelled at doesn't mean the person is mad at you. Sure, a person shouldn't get upset over something, but like I said, he wants each of the team members to do good." "I'd quit if he yelled at me like that!" Diego exclaims. Justin puts it to him, "Would you `quit' if your dad yelled at you for doing something wrong?" Seeming like a trick question, all the boys had to think that one over. He adds, "It's been over half a year, even longer for some of the other team members, since they've known Coach Hollister. I don't think they will walk off the team." By his example with `dad' as the subject, Justin can see the kids seem to catch his drift. Sure enough, the swimmer, hands on his hips, acknowledges his fault and tries again. "Look!" Philip points to the swimmer. "He's going back into the water." After a couple of minutes, Coach Hollister comes over to greet Justin and the kids. "I don't think I've had the pleasure?" Extending his hand, revealing, "Dwayne Hollister." Standing, Justin offers his five digits, exchanging, "Justin Beanhacker." "Aren't you the lucky one today?" Coach says, smiling as he pans the small crowd of young swimmers. "I don't mind. I'll be working with them during the week, once we get the kid's choir started." "Well, I'd like to hear about it, but I have to get back the team. They're performing kind of messy today." Philip pipes up, "Yeah, we saw you yelling at that guy!" Coach turns a mild pink, smiling at Justin, saying, "Well, I gotta get back." Trying not to make it look obvious, coach checks out Justin's tight swimwear, some curly hair sticking out the top. Immediately, after coach leaves, Justin excuses himself to the jon, saying to the squirts, "Be right back. None of you go anywhere, hear me?" They all acknowledge, saying they'll stay sitting on their towels. Back in the lockerroom, Justin walks through the shower area, to the jon. Standing back, he tries to figure out if there's an obvious reason why coach stared. Only thing he can figure out is the swimsuit seems to drop a little more than he's used to, below the navel. He tries pulling it up, but it only serves to pull it down in the back, as he turns his shoulder, looking at the back, spotting the top of his crevice. Giving up, he figures it's less of an embarrassment to have a little pubic hair showing than his crack! % "How's the work going on the dining area?" Christian asks Michael. "Great! They are ahead of schedule so, I think we can plan on a grand opening sooner. What do you think?" "It's your call," Christian shoots back with. Then Michael enlightens him, "Y'know, the cafe... restaurant now, since I've decided to change the name to `Birdy's'... anyway, you've been here a few months and doing a decent job. I never got around to asking you how you like it, Christian?" "I like working here. I'm grateful you gave a job to me. I mean, when I blew into town, you didn't know me from Adam, yet you took a chance on me. I appreciate it. About the job, working here, I don't have any gripes." "Good," Michael says. Sure of himself, he announces, "I'm making you manager." "Manager? Oh wow! Like, what does that mean?" Christian asks, elated. "First, there's a raise in it, which I'm sure you can use." "Sure could!" "But it doesn't go without hard work and long hours. It's not a job where you punch a clock, nor a 9 to 5 job," Michael says, seriously. "I understand," Christian replies. "What else?" "Virtually, it would entail any aspect of the business, from hiring, working up schedules, making sure the customers are satisfied, ordering product, and anything else I can think of!" Michael's last remark made Christian smile, but at the same time, he was mulling it over in his mind. Right away he thought of Justin, so said, "I'd like some time to think it over. How about I let you know tomorrow?" "You can take as long as you want... oh, and there's something else." Waiting, Christian wondered what else Michael was going to pile on top of his already stated chores. "Yes?" "I need you to be here promptly, whether it's in the morning or evening. I know you've been having problems with that junk you drive around in. I've decided I'm buying a new car. You can have my old car, as is." "Your Sebring? But it isn't that old, is it, Michael?" "2002, but just the same, I'm going for something more rugged. An SUV of some sorts." "I don't know what to say," Christian replied, jaw still hanging open, from the surprise. He relayed the first emotion coming to mind, stepping forward, giving Michael a warm embrace, saying, "Thanks." "Your welcome," Michael replied, rubbing his hands up and down Christian's shoulders. "I do want to tell you something, Michael." "Oh?" he said, as they broke off the thankful gesture. "I've decided to go to college. See if I can pick up some business courses, but..." Cutting off the twenty-three year old, Michael cheerfully says, "I'm sure we can work your schedule around your college courses. Will you be going fulltime?" "Heck no. At the most I can probably afford maybe six credits," Christian reports. Thinking, Michael comes up with, "Well, your first duty as manager, is to hire an assistant manager, who can be here when you're not!" "An assistant manager?" "Yup. I have high hopes of business really picking up, with all the renovations going on. Bernice Bridges informed me yesterday, half the row of stores on this side are leased. There's going to be other restaurants, an art gallery and other shops. It'll be drawing more people in, hopefully for us, too! I've talked to a few people about hiring a couple of chefs from New York and Los Angeles, which," Michael looks at his watch, "I'll be receiving a call from any minute, so I better go sit by the phone." As Michael walks out, Christian notes his, "Thanks," again. Michael, adding to his responsibilities, says, "Oh, and it'll be your job to interview four or five waiters. I've placed a sign on the door, so expect some applicants." The door to the upstairs apartment closed with a little bang, as Michael's footsteps could be heard on the hard wood stairs. Standing there, Christian thought all about what had just transpired, thinking to himself, `Wow! A car! A raise! Hire an assistant - waiters!' But most of all he bubbled over with, `Wait til I tell Justin!' % to be continued... ©2007 T. Chase McPhee This story may not be sold, nor made part of any collection, without prior consent from the author. OTHER STORIES by T. Chase McPhee: FOR SALE BY OWNER (in progress) nifty/gay/highschool/for-sale-by-owner/ 5b & 6c nifty/gay/beginnings/5b-6c/ FOR THE LOVE OF MICHAEL nifty/gay/highschool/for-the-love-of-michael/ ROAD TRIP (in progress) nifty/gay/authoritarian/road-trip/ STRIPEs nifty/gay/adult-youth/stripes/ OLD-FASHIONED GOOD WILL nifty/gay/beginnings/old-fashioned-good-will/ TIDELIGHT ZONE nifty/gay/adult-friends/tidelight-zone/ SENIOR CUT DAY nifty/gay/highschool/senior-cut-day/ BUFFALO BOYS nifty/gay/authoritarian/buffalo-boys/ iCONS nifty/gay/beginnings/icons MUSCLE JOCKS FOR DOMINATION nifty/gay/authoritarian/muscle-jocks-for-domination/ CHRONICLES OF MARK SASSOON nifty/gay/authoritarian/chronicles-of-mark-sasson/