Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 09:08:10 -0700 (PDT)
From: Matthew Templar <matemp1148@yahoo.com>
Subject: Never Take Love For Granted - Chapter 8

All rights reserved.  Other than downloading one copy for personal
enjoyment, no part of this story may be reproduced or transmitted by any
means, except for reviews, without the written permission of the author.
	Furthermore, every word of this story is fiction. Nothing within
this tale happened to anyone I know.  Any reference to anyone, anything or
any place, real, living or dead is coincidental.
	If there is someone that has written a law saying that you can't
read this story because of age or local laws or other such 'wisdom', then
you haven't really gotten this far into Nifty to read this anyway, right!
Write to me with the date of your legal birthday and I will...Not!
	I will answer all appropriate emails, but, thank you in advance for
your time to write.
	Finally, there is not enough room to express my gratitude to Dwight
Wilson for his dedication to resolving the problems I had with making
legible sense out of this work and then encouraging me to hit the 'Submit'
button. Read Brad's Idol in Adult/Youth and New Horizons in Authoritarian
to know the experience he brings to my story.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome. Matthew at matemp1148@yahoo.com

		***

Never Take Love For Granted - Chapter 8

	I guess it shouldn't have surprised me that, when you live in an
area as unpopulated as West Fork and, certainly, Euphoria, there aren't a
lot of people to help out.  Oh, there are people that want to help, but,
even if they all did, there weren't too many.  So when I thought it was a
small world that it was undoubtedly Russ DeWitt that arranged with Dr. Owen
to take the Hawes boys, it really was a small world.  You could kick dust
from one side of this world to the next.

	"Sir?" said a candy striper that I hadn't seen before.  (And how
come I've never seen a boy candy striper?)  "Mr. DeWitt is on his way to
pick up you and his grandson.  He said he's just leaving and will be here
shortly."  Shortly?

	"Thank you, young lady," I said as politely as I could.  "Grant?
You're grampa is on his way to get us.  What do you want for breakfast
here, tomorrow?"  And I looked at him to see how long it would take him to
bust up laughing.  Instead, the little poop just stood there with that 'are
you crazy?' look that I saw so much of that day.  Then it dawned on me that
he didn't even know his grandfather at all, let alone how fast he drove.

	"I'm sorry Grant.  I was making a joke because your grandfather
drives so slow; no biggy."

	"Slow?  My grampa?  Huh.  Why would he do that?"  I opened my mouth
to explain when I heard,

	"Sorry I'm late.  Can I take the boy and my grandson now?"  What?

	"Please Do!"  It sounded like the whole staff chorus had gathered
to give us away with very few regrets.  I guess we may have been a bit
rambunctious at times, especially when the little ones joined our merry
band.  (That's like Robin Hood, not Gay Men's Chorus.  Well, why not?)

	"Hey boys.  Ready to leave?"  Russ trooped into the room, followed
by the red head, pushing a wheelchair.  Grant jumped out of the window seat
and ran up to his grampa.  He stopped and realized he was about to fling
himself into the arms of someone he just met, virtually.  But Russ was
having none of this waiting stuff; that was clear.  "Please Grant.  I've
been waiting for this second for over ten years," he said as he held out
his arms.  Everyone in the room was breathless, waiting to see what Grant
would do.  Then, slowly, Grant lowered his head and started to turn away.
I know I gasped.  I'm sure there were others with the same disappointment
in their minds.

	Then, instead of walking away, Grant looked at me and winked, then
hit his foot on the floor to turn himself around as fast as he could until
he was staring straight at his grandfather with that mischievous grin on
his face, and fairly leapt the rest of the way, into his grampa's
outstretched arms.  What amazed me was Russ never put down his arms, like
he knew what was on his grandson's mind the whole time.  I think he even
had that same grin on his face.  Grant finally broke the silence.

	"I get to start lovin' you too, huh, grampa?"

	"We sure do, my Grant.  We sure do."  As he said this, Russ looked
over at me and winked.  I was loving it, but I still needed more rest.
This family had my heart racing faster than the Indy 500, most of the time.

	Russ put an arm under Grant and carried him the few steps to my
bed.  "Let's get you out of here boy!" he said as he grabbed the sheet
covering me and whisked it away in a flourish that left me as naked and
exposed as the day I was delivered, either to this hospital here or when I
was born.

	"YO!  Wait a moment!"  I was trying to grab the bed sheet, which
was flying toward the door, and trying to cover my essentials, which were
not going anywhere in their state.  Nurse O'Hara had her hands to her
mouth, probably laughing at the cold weather again, and Grant was screaming
for joy in his grandfather's arms.  If that wasn't enough, two little boys
came bouncing into the room to see what was going on, followed by at least
three other nurses and two patients, one of whom was dragging his
intravenous stand with him.

	"Boys!  Come up here!  Quick!" I shouted to Dustin and Petey.  They
were all wide-eyed and couldn't understand what was so funny, but they
scampered up onto the bed and I grabbed them up and plunked them
side-by-side between me and the plethora of guests that I seemed to be
entertaining.  My relief was almost immediate.  The boys still didn't know
why I was embarrassed without clothes.

	"Okay!  Okay, then," announced Nurse O'Hara, calming the laughter
from my audience, "The show is over.  As cute as he was, everyone back to
your stations while we get this poor soul warmed up."  She never missed a
good jab.

	Okay then, I lived through the ordeal of figuring out what to do
for clothes, since mine were in heaven with my ex-roommate, the squirrel.
Grant had the same problem really, but Russ saw fit to bring him some from
Grant's house, I guess.  I was told that, if I really needed them, I could
wear a set of scrubs as a gift from my friends at the hospital.  I decided
that I really, really did!  Problem solved.  Our procession was soon headed
for the elevator.  Russ led, Nurse O'Hara was pushing me along and Grant
was holding the arm of the wheelchair as he walked by my side.

	I saw Russ look over his shoulder and turned around to see two sad
youngsters standing in the doorway to my room.  He walked over to them and
knelt down, talking to them very quietly.  I asked O'Hara to hold up but I
couldn't quite hear what he was saying.  After a minute or two of him
talking and the boys nodding, he turned and called Grant over.  Grant knelt
down too, which I thought was very cute; the big boy helping grampa.  Soon,
the boys started getting animated and nodding and even doing a little
hopping, showing obvious excitement.  Then they shouted a 'Bye!" and ran
into their room.  Grant and Russ came back, Russ winked at me and we were
moving again.  That only confirmed that someone was having house guests, or
at least, that was my best guess.  I looked up at Grant to see his
expression.  He had been looking at me and made a huge show of turning his
head up and away from me and he had that whistling shape to his mouth.  He
wasn't giving anything away, but, in doing so he made clear what was going
on.

	I had to smile at the thought of what would be going on in the next
few days.

	As we moved past the nurse's desk I gave them all a big 'thank
you!'  They were a great group.  Hey!  Even Clayton was there, signing some
papers.  He turned around and blew a kiss at me!  Suddenly there was
something dangerously wrong with the heat system in the hallway.  I knew
there was no blood in the rest of my body and that my face was beet, beet
red!  Oh My God!

	When my eyes could focus again I saw the biggest grin coming from
him.  I looked around but, evidently, my entourage hadn't picked up on his
gesture.  I was turning back when I saw Clayton's eyes shift to notice
Russ.  Clayton froze with his mouth just a bit akilter; no drool, just
lust.  I almost laughed out loud but I was hit with a pang of jealously.  I
really looked around quickly, bit my lip to keep my thoughts to myself and
stared into my lap.

	I couldn't believe I was jealous.  Russ was a wonderful guy but,
after all, he was only my...oh, yeah; my first sexual experience with
someone that I deeply cared for, to say nothing about the first time with
my own gender.  Surely I was a strong enough man, so well balanced in his
emotional life, that I had no reason to have these feelings.  Right?  I
repeated this to myself all the while I felt tears running down my face.
What a he-man.

	"Well, son," said Russ, slapping me out of my funk.  Like, OW!
"Time to get you home.  You'll be comin' to my place.  I'll drive the runt
home..."

	"Grampa!"

	"Oh!" Russ laughed, "I mean my Grant."  And he swooped down and
picked up Grant in his strong arms and twirled him around like Grant's dad
had done.

	"A-I-E-E-E!" yelled Grant, as the elevator doors opened.  He was
taken completely by surprise.  The best thing was, so was I, and it allowed
me to forget the jealous feelings I'd been absorbed in a minute before.  We
moved into the elevator and the doors closed.

	"Grampa, don't take me home first!  Won't you need help getting
David out of the car?"

	"No.  He's a big boy.  He can walk.  We haven't amputated his legs
yet."

	"But grampa, won't you need help makin' a room for him?"

	"Hm-m.  Nope.  Already done.  Your daddy and I, hm-m-m. We did it
yesterday while we talked."  The doors opened to the lobby and we started
moving again, to the main doors.

	"Ya, but...."  But the next words weren't there to come out.  What
escaped was a series of grunts and groans like he was using his tongue to
prime his mouth for the next words.  The last groan was one of defeat and
Grant's head sank.  Russ turned and knelt in front of his grandson, put his
hand on the thin shoulder and said,

	"Grant?  I have no intentions of keeping you from your David; our
David.  I know that he is very important to you right now.  I also know
that you are the world and the stars to him."  (I think I may have gulped a
little bit loudly there.)

	"We need you to be ready for school on Monday and you can't do that
if you haven't packed up enough clothes to bring up to my place to stay
until school is out."  Grant's head was down, nodding politely until he was
able to understand what his ears just heard.

	"Huh?"  See, I already had an impact on his speaking abilities.
"Grampa, you just said...I heard you...I get to..."  I would have been even
prouder of how well he'd picked up on my speech lessons, but I was too busy
letting Russ' words sink into my skull too.

	"He gets to stay with us?  Is that what you're saying?  Can't you
just say it in English?"  I guess I was a little loud and everyone was
staring.  I felt hot but not from embarrassment.  I was angry.  I was
lashing out and I think I knew it was from my jealousy.  I tried to take a
deep breath but I started choking on nothing but my own hurt pride.

	"Boy!  What has gotten into you?" Russ asked as O'Hara grabbed one
arm and raised it, then slapped me on my back.  It worked!  The coughing
stopped, but now I needed a Chiropractor.

	Grant came over and looked directly into my eyes, squinting to see
what was going on inside.  A shadow came over me and I turned into Russ'
face to see exactly the same look in his eyes.  Exactly!  And, if that
wasn't enough, they both said at exactly the same time,

	"You okay, David?"  Exactly!  Freaky.

	"I...I'm sorry, guys.  I have no idea where that came from."  Liar!

	"Well, let's just get us all home.  Okay," Russ started again,
"this is what we're doin'.  We'll drive you home, Grant.  Your dad will
help you get everything together and you'll be up at the house tonight.
I'll get everyone settled and we'll all meet up there for dinner.  Then
we've got tomorrow to get ready for our new guests.

	"Ha!  I knew it!"  I was so smooth.  Everyone knows that little
outbursts like this could help ones blood pressure, or some such bull shit.
I think I was blushing.

	"'Scuse me?  You shouted?"  They were all staring again but it was
Russ asking.

	"Sor-ry!  I just noticed you talking to the little nymph...little
ones and, since they said that the doctor had found them a grampa type,
well, we figured..."  I was pointing back and forth between Grant and me,
hoping to defuse the attention solely on my second outburst.

	"Well, you're right!  When the good doctor called and told me how
you and Grant took to them, I just couldn't say no.  Hell, I couldn'ta said
no if I'd never met 'em.  Now that I have I think they'll be a kick."
There was no doubt about that.  I was afraid that the 'kick' would come
when we told them to get dressed and stay off of that thing sticking out in
front of us.  Oh, it would be a kick alright.  Yes, someone would have
their hands full, us around them to control them or them around us to...
Whew!  I didn't want to think about which I preferred.

	I don't know when my head stopped its swimming but I finally looked
up when I heard the old Dodge rumble up to the front door and Russ was
driving.  I'm not sure where I'd been and everyone else was too busy to
notice so I just let it pass.  Russ set the brake on his vehicle and came
around to help while Nurse O'Hara set the brake on my vehicle.  Grant came
in front and reached out two hands to help me up.  I grinned at him and he
broke into his own, big time.  I couldn't get enough of that DeWitt smile.

	The two guys almost pushed me on board, we waved good-bye to O'Hara
and moseyed out of the parking lot.  I thought I could see ants and worms
and things passing us next to the road but I may have exaggerated.

	"Russ, with you driving, how are we going to get back to Euphoria
tonight, let alone back from your place to pick up Grant?  Doesn't he have
to go to high school in a couple of years?"  I looked over at Grant and
darned if he had this blank look staring back at me.  Well, of course.  He
barely knew his grampa until a short while ago.  How could he know what I
was talking about?

	"I don't get it grampa.  What's he goin' on about this time?"

	"Grant, it must be the accident."

	"Now wait!" I exclaimed in my defense, "You know very well, Russell
DeWitt how slow..."

	"Oh-h-h!  It's like that, huh?  Boy, for some reason, just because
he saw me drivin' slow with Aunt Charlotte and just because I took my own
sweet time drivin' up to the Renton place so's I could grope...I mean talk
some more, he seems to think I'm a slow driver."

	"Hey!  You're kiddin', right?" Grant laughed, looking at Russ.
Then he pointed at me and, "Hah!  You're kiddin'?"  Then he winked at his
grandfather across the front of me, since I was in the middle, and leaned
over to whisper in my ear as Russ turned onto the highway in front of the
West Fork Medical Center, "You better hold on and be sure not to shit!"

	"Hah, yourself!  That's no kind of language to...OH SHI-I-I-T!"

	About three minutes later the old dodger was purring in front of
Sam DeWitt's place, forty miles from West Fork, and there was a foul smell
coming from between the two DeWitts on either side of me.  Grant was
laughing as hard as I've seen him, into his arm and Russ just had this
satisfied, smug look on his face.  He finally looked over at me and broke
up himself.  They'd barely gotten control of themselves and were looking
for my embarrassed, miniscule body on the floor when Sam walked up to the
Dodge.

	"What took you guys so long?"

	The drive to Russ' was a little more sedate.  We weren't in any
hurry, Russ informed me.  He was still driving faster than my first ride
with him.  I'd had a chance to get out and stretch at Grant's house and I
finally got to see their place in the daylight.  It wasn't half bad, just a
little, okay, a lot overgrown.  It looked like it just needed a loving pair
of hands.  Okay.  It looked like hell and that it would take a week for
thirty guys to get rid of all the crap and cut back the dead rain forest,
but other than that, it looked fine.  I noticed, when Sam and Grant went
in, as we were getting back into the old dodger to leave, that there was
that lady's voice slurring her yell again.

	"Russ.  I thought..." I started to ask Russ.  Then Sam's voice
piped up loud and shouted,

	"I'm tellin' you woman to shut up and keep packin'!"  Then the door
slammed and we couldn't hear anything more.

	So, as we drove onto my favorite bridge, over my favorite river, I
had to ask, "But I thought Grant said his mother died, Russ?  If she died,
who's that?"

	"Yeah.  Unfortunately that little girl left us all when Grant
wasn't knee-high to a grasshopper.  She was the sweetest thing a man could
imagine."  He looked over at me and pinched my chin and said, "Present
company excluded, mind you."  I blushed and laughed.  He was so...he really
needed a good man in his life.  I got to look over at him and admire him
for a minute before he continued.  He looked my way and I could see the
makings of one tear resting on his eye.  "You know, she'd come over and
tell me all about Sam and her; how the baby was comin' along.  Sam never
knew until I had him bawlin' yesterday, goin' over some of the times we'd
missed.  Hm-m-m."

	It's a well used cliché, but next to me was the man whose picture
was used to illustrate love in Webster's; of that I was sure.  He wasn't
crying; not out loud.  He'd sniff and laugh at the memories going through
his mind, and the tears just poured.  I settled back and let him enjoy his
time with his daughter-in-law again, not at all ashamed to have brought up
those memories to remind him.  I don't think he even knew I was in the
truck anymore until he eased into the next right hand curve and he had to
look my way.

	"Oh, sorry," he said quietly.  He huffed and wiped his wet eyes on
his flannel shirt sleeve and sat up straighter.  "Except for my wife,
David, I haven't met a nicer lady."

	Quietly, I had to ask again, "But who's the bitch?"

	The truck jolted to a stop!  In the middle of the road, no less!
He looked at me like I was...hell, I don't even know where that look came
from.  He must have been trying to figure which bitch I was referring to
because he said,

	"Oh!  That bitch!  Boy, I'll say!"  He shook his head back and
forth in disbelief and pressed on the gas.  He was fired now!  "That
battleaxe came in a year after Evelyn passed to help clean.  Sam was in
such a funk he let her take over.  Instead of helping, she turned him into
a drunk and fired up his pent up anger at everyone and everything.  Why,
he'd had the sheriff there more than I want to remember for everything from
shootin' at vagrants to beatin' Grant."

	Russ may have been fired but I was livid!

	"Beating Grant!  I'll kill the bast..."  A hand grabbed my arm to
quiet me.

	"David.  Do you really think that I would let anyone hurt that boy
and live?  Even my own son?  But you saw how he changed again.  He's as
much of a, what was that name I used up at the cabin?  He's a wuss like
us!"

	"But the sheriff?"

	"Oh, I'm not sayin' Sam was an angel, but he never did more than
spank Grant's bare bottom like I'd done to Sam when he was Grant's age.
I'd do it to any child now if I thought it'd help."  I guess I kind of
fidgeted around a little too noticeably.  "Hah!  My love, I'd be glad to
take your sad bare ass over my knee anytime and pound the daylights out of
it."  I must have looked shocked.  "Then, after you were pleadin' for more,
I might even spank you."  My head swung around at him faster than
lightning.  He did his slow moving head trick to look squarely into my eyes
for a full two seconds before he almost drove off the road, laughing so
hard.  If I thought I was fidgeting before?  Whew!  That's when I realized
I was harder than a rock.

	"Here!" he called out, scaring the shit out of me.  We were facing
a white gate blocking a paved road that we must have turned onto while I
was in shock.  Russ reached up to the Dodge's visor and hit the button on
the remote that was there.  Soon, actually a full minute of driving through
dense forest, brought us to an opening that presented a wonderful log cabin
ahead of us.  The clearing itself had to be several acres.  It wasn't a
sculptured landscape like you'd expect in front of a mansion.  Instead the
road meandered back and forth through a natural setting of native shrubs
and bushes, huge stone outcroppings and even small trees that were
unseasonably lush and green.  After a couple of turns we came out onto a
huge area that was paved with gravel that, I found out later, was made from
the granite that was native to the valley beyond.  No, there wasn't a
gigantic fountain with a little boy pissing into it; just the unassuming
gravel.

	Even the house seemed simple; in fact, it looked a little out of
place because of its size.  It was only one story except for the entry
which peaked to two stories.  You couldn't really see the whole length of
the place though.

	"Very nice," I told Russ, as I got out of the dodger and met him at
the front of the old truck.  He was leading me toward the house.  Actually,
for some reason, he was leading me toward the side of the house, right into
a row of trees and bushes that started at each the side of house and went
straight out to each side for almost fifty feet.  There was another cabin
almost to the end on the other side that I found out later was a garage of
sorts.

	"Oh, it's just home to me.  I kinda started in on it after my
Lillian, Sam's mom, eased me out of our home where Sam lives now.  I just
kept addin' on when I'd get an itch.  It's hard to tell but there's six
bedrooms and..."

	"What?  How can there be six bedrooms?  It isn't big enough to..."
I was being pushed through the bushes to another clearing on the other
side.  Just as I was about to jump through, a hand squeezed my shoulder to
stop me.

	"Your safe enough here, tadpole, but don't go too far astray.  I
almost lost you once, you know."  I looked back at him because I had no
idea what he was talking about.  He kind of shook his head like there was
little hope for me and broke into a nice smile.  Then he held up his finger
and twirled it so I would turn around.  All I saw was a four foot fence
about five feet from the row of greens.  No.  That is all I saw!

	Until I walked up to the fence and realized that the house was
built on the side of a cliff that must have been a hundred and fifty or two
hundred feet down.  When I looked to my left, toward the little log cabin,
I saw a house that was four stories tall and large enough to put several
bedrooms on each floor, each with its own deck.

	"Close your mouth, boy!"

	"I, I, I..." I stammered.

	"Get it out boy.  Quit'cher 'I'n and say your piece."  To help
emphasize his order he slapped the daylights out of my back.

	"I've never known anyone this rich before.  I, I..."

	"Hell, boy.  I ain't rich.  I told ya.  This is what a man does
when he's alone and bored and has enough trees and hill.  Why, it doesn't
take riches to do this.  Takes gumption and sweat, that's all.  Gumption
and sweat.  Hm-m-m."

	He was looking over the valley below and I was looking at him.  His
face was almost sad.  It seemed to be missing the DeWitt sparkle.  He was
just a little slumped over, as though the thoughts of the work he'd put
into this place was making him tired.  I figured it was more that he was
thinking about the time he spent without family.  So much so that this
magnificent edifice evolved.  I could swear I saw that tear gathering in
one eye.  He didn't even know what he had.

	"Oh yes you're rich, Russell DeWitt," I said quietly as I moved up
close to him.  When I felt my arm touch his, I pressed a little more.  "You
seem to forget how rich you are.  You're richer than any man I have ever
known, except two others."  Now it was his turn for the quick comeback.

	"Huh?  What the hell are you talkin' about, whippersnapper?
Sometimes, I just can't make hide nor hair."

	"The day before yesterday you were poor.  Yesterday, you cashed in
a ton of suffering to become the rich man I see right now.  This land, this
house, just made me realize how rich it won't make you; how joyful you or I
will never be with things.  But now you're a family again, you and your two
boys.  You made them millionaires right along with you yesterday."

	There was silence, except for a 'snuff' once or twice.

	"Boy, I mean, David, you have made me the happiest, proudest, yes,
richest man by bringing my family back together.  No, wait.  That isn't
right.  Something's missing here."

	"What are you getting at?  All I did was..."

	"That's it!  It's you!  You're not missing anymore.  You're a part
of this clan now too, like it or not.  Whew!  I didn't think I'd figure it
out.  Close your mouth boy!"  As the inevitably open trap shut, I looked to
him to see the glow.  God, was he good looking.  It wasn't that 'model'
thing.  It was what made him and his boys who they were.  There was no
holding back the DeWitt charm.  It was an infection for which there was no
cure, thank God!

	He didn't quite carry me into the house, but I sure was shaky all
of a sudden.  I was soon laid down on a huge leather couch that faced the
windows.  I was exhausted.  I guess I wasn't quite as strong as I thought I
should be.

	"You rest boy and I'll make us some soup or something.  The boys'll
be up here in awhile and then I'll get everyone settled in."

	Boys?  Must have been talking about Grant and Sam?  No.  Sam wasn't
staying up here, was he?  I couldn't think.  I tried hard to relax and it
worked.


	"It's soup!  Wake up David.  You'll waste away if you don't eat
something."  I felt his arm squeeze under me and lift me to a sitting
position.  It felt so good on my back that I reached out and hugged.
"Whoa, boy!  Let me set down this bowl.  You'll get it all over you and
then we'd have 'ta strip ya nake...Hm-m-m."  He chuckled and so did I.  It
sounded good to me.

	But I released my hold on him and he set the soup on a tray that
he'd brought out from somewhere.  He sat next to me and we slurped some
good old tomato soup, made with milk.  I thought it must be one of the most
soothing meals known to man, especially if you add a toasted cheese
sandwich.

	"I usually have a toasted cheese sandwich with it..." he said and I
spit up soup laughing.  He did his slow turn again (I'm just going to have
to learn that for when I become old and respected.) and said. "Boy, you are
without a doubt one of the strangest people on earth.  What the hell are
you gaffawin' about now all over the carpet?"

	"Oh, I'm sorry Russ.  I was thinking it and you were saying it.  It
just hit me.  I guess I'm kind of happy right now."

	"Happy?  You have no idea.  I just got back one of the most
precious possessions that I never owned, and then I got another that I
never really knew.  Hm-m-m."

	"You are very fortunate, Russ."

	"Oh it doesn't end there, my David, hm-m.  I have you, too.  Will
you stay with me here?"

	"I was hoping I would be allowed to stay for awhile.  I wouldn't
want to overstay my welcome."

	"This doesn't have any thing to do with welcome, tadpole.  This has
to do with commitment.  I need to know what it is you need to live here or
anywhere you want in Euphoria, but, hopefully right here with us.  You got
anything else going as good as us, tadpole?"

	That was easy to figure.  I turned to look at him again.  God, that
smile.  I never wanted to leave him or Grant or the hill or anything that
had to do with my DeWitts.  I even wanted to dig a little deeper into Sam
to know him and be his friend.  But the whole thing had me overwhelmed.  I
must have been tearing up as my thoughts were trying to create a list of
the things, the people, the places that I would be giving up if I stayed
here.  I think the soup spoon was stuck about halfway up to my mouth as I
realized the length of the list.


	"See?  There we go again with the tear thing, David.  We're both
grown men, right?"  I set the spoon down and looked straight ahead.
"What's going on in that head of yours?"

	"It's empty.  It's blank."

	"Riddles, boy.  I don't do riddles.  Of course your head is empty.
Now say it.  Straight out."

	"I was thinking about a list of what I would be giving up.  The
only person I have that isn't here is my father and I never had him.  That
means that I'm twenty-one years old and eleven months and I have no list.
It's blank; empty.  What a waste I've become.  I could never get it
together at school; I can't keep a girlfriend; my friends think I'm a
flake, mostly because I am.  I have nothing to show for my life up to this
point in time; nothing."  Russ started to gently pat my arm.  Then he moved
to get up and moved both trays around to the side wall, away from the
couch.  He came back and sat down next to me again.  He gently resumed his
pats, turning more to a petting motion really.  Then they were harder and
then, "Ow!"

	"You poor pathetic bastard.  You are so caught up in yourself.  I
have never seen such a pathetic soul..."

	"Since we were standing at the fence?"

	"Yeah, well there's that.  The point is, you are everything to at
least two people right now.  Neither Grant nor I could give you up for love
nor money right now.  Hell boy, you are love and I've already got money and
I'd give that up in a second if I thought it would keep you here for
another day, or maybe a lifetime."  He leaned in and hugged me to him,
almost pulling me to his lap.  I snuggled into him, wallowing in the warmth
he was showing me.  "Boy, I have no idea what makes you think you could
leave Grant right now.  He thinks the sun rises...well you know.  He thinks
your the sugar in his co...Hell, he doesn't drink coffee.  Damn IT!  He
loves you and he thinks he's your lover!"

	"What!?" I squeaked, "Russ, I, I would never...Grant's the most...I
couldn't..."

	"Oh shut up boy!" he said giving me a squeeze that convinced me
that I should stop while I could still breathe.  No, I wasn't petrified!
Right!  "You think you'd be alive if Sam and I thought that what went on
between the two of you wasn't the most wonderful showing of affection?
Hell, we were slobbering when he described how he felt about you.  What
kind of family would we be if we thought we were leaving him in the hands
of some sex fiend?"

	"But we..."

	"I know that!  Well, I didn't until now."  My eyes rolled back in
my head where no eyes have been before; certainly there were no brain cells
to get in the way.  "What you kids have is special.  If I had that for only
a day, hm-m-m," he slowed to a mumble.  I strained to understand him; he
was mumbling something like, "Hm-m-m.  That day.  Anyway, if I had that I'd
die happy, right on this couch."

	"So, you know about...?" I asked.  He winked and nodded at me. "And
it's, I mean, I'm okay?"  He winked again.

	"David," he said in full parent mode now, but one I was not used
to.  This one cared about the person in his arms.  "I don't even have to
ask you to be gentle.  I don't have to ask that you care for him and go
slow.  I know you.  I have known you for years.  I have loved you for
decades.  I have no doubts about your love for Grant.  I may be just a tad
jealous, though."

	I wasn't following him very well but I think I was hearing his
approval of his grandson's and my relationship.  "And Sam?" I asked.  Russ
tipped his head to one side and looked up.

	"Sam.  Well, Sam is another story.  It's been a very full coupla'
days David and when we were with Grant I could tell Sam was getting
uncomfortable."

	"Grant told you?  What did he say?  We really hadn't..."

	"Not the point tadpole.  He loves you more than anyone," He raised
his hand to stop my interruption, "I know.  Except his father.  But, David,
he knew you, all of you, the day before he met his real father.  You were
love.  You were everything he'd had to survive ten years without.  Oh, it
magnified and multiplied when you, yes you, brought us all together.  So,
now you're his hero too.  His father can see that.  I know he'll want to
talk about it, but I honestly think he will be more interested in learning
how to make Grant happy then to pull you two love-muffins apart."

	Well, if that didn't call for another dose of all time blush of the
month, I don't know what would.  I was having a hard time breathing.  This
was a lot of information; information that could have gotten me in a lot of
trouble.  Russ could tell and leaned over and reached both hands into my
waist band and pulled so I could breathe deeply.  Then he started on the
drawstring of my scrubs to untie it.

	"Let's get you comfy, David.  We both know you hate wearin' clothes
and there's no one gonna be up here that hasn't seen you in the altogether.
Whaddya say, bud?" as he pulled the shirt over my head.

	"Thanks Russ.  I love you so much."  I scooted up to let him pull
down my scrub pants and toss them somewhere with those little slipper sock
things.  I was free and I loved it.  I hugged him and thought about all the
great things he had done for me.  The last thing that came to mind was the
fantastic way he woke me up that morning in the cabin, when?  So long ago.
Now the tears flowed again.

	"David?"

	"I'm sorry.  I just love you; that's all there is to it.  I would
have shriveled up and died if it hadn't been for your love for me.  I have
a life worth living.  Oh, god, that sounds sappy, but you were the one that
showed me how to release my love, and how to accept it without labels.  I
never would have known."  I'd pushed him back to look him in his big blues
and noticed something again.

	Holding him at arms length I said quietly, "Look what I've done to
your shirt; again."  I started unbuttoning it.  "Let's get that wet thing
off of you," I said as I slid the fabric off of his broad shoulders.

	"Hm-m-m.  I..."  I put my finger on his lips to stop him from
stating some reason that I shouldn't go on.  I pulled open the shirt to
find his chest was a forest of hair except around each nipple, so that's
where I headed.  My lips fit over one perfectly shaped nipple and lapped
and sucked at it while my other hand found the neglected breast and played
gently there until I could work my way over to it.  His moans encouraged
me.  As I became totally engrossed in what I was doing, Russ was lightly
rubbing my back and sides.  I pulled his shirt out of his belt and tossed
it somewhere.  Then I pushed him with my head on his chest until he fell
back onto the couch.

      "Hm-m-m-m."  There was no mistaking that what I was doing was doing
marvelous things to his pleasure center.  I had no idea what I was doing
except that it was what I would have wanted to feel.  I made my tongue an
explorer and had it move down through his lush forest to locate its next
target.  As I reached his navel and my tongue came to know every part of
it, my hands found his buckle and began to undo it.  I moved so that I was
kneeling on the floor, between his legs.

      "David.  You don't have to do this."

      "I know Russ.  I don't think I can wait another second.  I want to
know what you have opened up for me.  I want to have all of it; all of you.
You're the first best thing that has ever happened to me."  I went back to
his navel and his buckle and soon had his dungarees around his knees.  I
couldn't wait so, I put my hands on his hips and, as I moved down to lick
my way to my goal, my hands slid his boxers out of the way.  I raised my
head up to look at him lying against the back of the couch.  His arm was
over his eyes and he was moaning quietly.  I looked down to see what I had
been looking for, and I realized then that I had been looking for it for a
good many years.  I couldn't have been happier than right at that moment.
Russ had given me so much pleasure already and now I was going to return
just a little.

      My tongue went back to his navel and started to move down to his
thick cock.  It wasn't real huge but it was longer and thicker than mine.
I think it was circumcised, though, I couldn't really tell since it was so
hard.  And, after all, it was only the second penis I'd ever touched,
counting mine, oh and Grant's little peg.  My hand came up to hold him at
the base.  I gently lifted it and raised my mouth to begin my task.

      I was surprised to feel his fingers on my head.  Not on the top like
I'd imagined, holding me down, but on my forehead, gently keeping me from
my meal.

      "David...don't."  It was almost a whisper.

      "It's okay.  I want to."

      "David...please; not this time."

      "But, I..."

      "There'll be plenty more times, son.  You have me so hot that one
lick is all it would take.  Please, for me, just use your hand."

      I was a little disappointed and yet, a little relieved.  He had
removed his arm to stop me and now had his head looking down so our eyes
could meet.  My hand moved up to the tip and I remember how he had driven
me wild that morning at the cabin, by rubbing the head of my cock.  I began
to gently but firmly mimic his technique.  It was so warm; soft, yet hard
at the same time.  My hand moved a bit faster and squeezed just a bit
harder.  His hard breathing and his moans were enough to tell me that I was
doing it right and his pulsing in my hand told me it wouldn't be long.  I
picked up speed a little as I felt him jerk and suck in air.  My head
looked up as his mouth opened and his eyes looked into mine.  I went for
broke and started to really stroke his tool when I felt him rock the whole
couch.  His legs lifted his butt off the couch and his eyes got huge.  I
leaned in a little bit more so I wouldn't get flung off by his spasms.
Just about the time I was wondering if he could cum at his age, I felt a
splash under my chin.  His eyes had a shocked look like he was surprised he
could still cum too.  Then I felt another spurt hit my lip and another on
my nose.  He gave one of those sighs of his, but it was more like all the
air coming out of a balloon.

      It took everything out of him but that stare of shock.  It was over
except for the warmth radiating from his body into mine.  Then I felt the
unmistakable feel of his cum on my chin dripping onto his wilting dick.
His eyes twinkled at the site and, together we started laughing at what he
must have seen as a pretty ridiculous scene.  I pushed up to my feet so I
could sit back next to him.  Just as I turned around and was coming down he
threw his arm out so that I would be wrapped in it when I sat next to him.
He pulled me close and kissed my forehead.

	"So that's what it feels like.  Thank you, my David.  I may never
move."

      I didn't say anything.  What was there to say?  We both had our first
man in little more than a week.  He had waited for his almost six decades
and I had mine only a few years late.  I hoped the warmth and love we both
shared would continue, no matter where our circumstances took us.

      "So do I son; so do I."

      I hate it when that happens.

      We lay there, basking.  Our thoughts were probably going in different
directions but our hearts were united.  We both sighed heavy, monstrous
sighs at the same time and closed our eyes, enjoying the peace and solitude
that would make this night special.

      'WEEZE HE-E-R-E!"

NTLFG - The End of Chapter Eight

To be continued

Comments on the story are appreciated.  Thank you. I'm Matthew Templar at
matemp1148@yahoo.com