From: an27868@anon.penet.fi (Ganymede) Reply-To: an27868@anon.penet.fi Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 13:44:08 UTC Subject: PLATONIC LOVE (man/boy). WARNING: This story will contain graphic descriptions of a variety of sexual acts between men and MINOR boys. Generally, relationships are mutual and are based on informed consent. In later chapters, the relationship becomes incestuous. It should be noted that the Prologue is used to provide an historical perspective for what follows. If the subject of man/boy sex offends you, or you are under 18, do not read further! You have been warned! Read at your own risk! COPYRIGHT: Copyright is held by the author at an27868@anon.penet.fi. February, 1994. Fair use consists of copying and distributing via electronic means in the public domain only. In printed media, copyright protection remains for more than individual copies. ALT.SEX.STORIES.NOVEL OR COPIES OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS: It is expected that this story will exceed several hundred pages and will take some time before it is finished. Obviously, I am a frustrated author, but it is difficult to get a publisher for this stuff! I apologize for the abuse of bandwidth. Requests for earlier chapters etc. will not be met, primarily because of respect for the laws of other countries and the desire not to excessively burden the anonymous server in Finland. If you are missing some part(s), too bad! BTW, don't bother asking for other stories I have written! FACT OR FICTION: The story is almost fiction. Any resemblance to individuals, alive or dead, is either the result of unfortunate oversight or fond memories! "Platonic Love" is an interesting alternative to Judaic-Christian morality. It needs your support. REPLIES,SUGGESTIONS,ETC: E-mail comments and criticisms to an27868@anon.penet.fi, or post to alt.sex.stories.d. I will generally respond to all sincere email. Your support and suggestions are both welcomed and appreciated. Please do not post here! Please feel free to comment or point me towards ftp sites for similar stories. The continuation of this story will depend on the level of interest of readers. This story takes a lot of work and a lot of time. Your support, comments and encouragement are invited. FINAL WARNING: If you're under 18, or man-boy relationships aren't your thing then exit now PLATONIC LOVE. PROLOGUE. Eastern Europe. January, 1942; The boy huddled into the distant corner of the basement. He waited and listened, pleading silently that they would not find him. Above, the jack-boots of soldiers echoed through the house. Shouts came quickly. They were loud and shocking and were mixed with frenzied screams of pain and terror. The sounds penetrated through the thick walls of the house, from the attic all the way down to the furthermost recesses of the basement. A frantic cry, louder than the rest was followed by the sharp crack of a single gunshot. The boy cringed, breathing quickly in short gasps. He shivered as he heard the clumping of boots on the stairs. His heart pounded noisily inside him and a terrible shudder passed through his slender body. Men shouted in a language he could not understand, even though it was much like his own. Bottles smashed as crashing sounds indicated that shelves had been tipped over. Laughter came echoing through the dark stone corridors, noisy laughter of drunken, triumphant soldiers. The sounds came closer. He closed his eyes as if to block out the light so that he would not be seen. The sounds stopped. A jack-hammer bellowed its mind- shattering roar. Bullets ricochetted through the air. The noise reverberated in the boy's head, stinging in his ears. Then silence again. Horror descended. He heard the sound of footsteps as heavy feet paced across the room. The boy could hear them getting closer. The movement stopped. Slowly he opened his eyes. The polished black boot was inches away. It reached almost to the man's knee. The boy trembled, uncontrollably urinating into his trousers. The foot moved back then swung violently forward. It slammed into his buttocks. The boy shrieked. He was dragged out of the house, his arms torn nearly from their sockets, his feet dragging on the ground. The front of his trousers was dark. There were wet stains down his legs almost to his feet. He cried. For some reason unknown to the boy, he looked up as he was pulled like garbage across the footpath. "Fucking Jew boy pissed himself," some one laughed. It was a soldier leaning against the brick wall, next to the arch that opened into the rose garden. On the other side of the road, a man was standing up in a Daimler. It's long snout was emblazoned with a blood-red and black swastika. The man looked at him. For some reason, the boy looked back. It was a silent plea for mercy, a look that begged the man to save him, a look of hope. The boy's head turned as he looked back. The man's eyes followed him as he was dragged to the back of the truck, lifted up and thrown into the chaos within. He hit the wooden floor hard and blackness settled over him. He regained consciousness as the family waited with a thousand other Jews for the train to come to the siding on the outskirts of Budapest. Two hours passed before an ancient steam locomotive pulled up. There were thirty-two long cattle cars, with iron slats covering tiny windows. The floor was of thick wooden slabs covered by foul-smelling straw. Chaos ensued as people rushed to board, fighting to claim positions near the windows, away from the crawling mass of humanity. His father carried him aboard. His sisters cried endlessly, carrying the few possessions they had been allowed to carry from the house. His mother was gone and no one would tell him where she was even though he pleaded. The boy knew that something terrible had happened to her. He knew she was dead. For two days and nights the train edged towards the north, travelling first towards the northeast and then to the northwest. It stopped for long hours as it waited for troop or goods trains from to pass from either direction. There seemed to be no order to it, except for the fact that the train rolled ever northwards, crossing in Slovakia and finally into Poland. There was always the sordid stench of urine and feces that filled the cattle car. Most of the time people stood as they tried to avoid the waste that ran back and forth until it finally drained through the floor slabs. Sometimes the boy could sit, or even lie down when he took his turn to sleep in the few feet they had been able to carve from the melee of fellow travellers. Each breath became increasingly difficult in the stale, tepid air. The boy wished frequently that it was over, sometimes wishing death as his bowel exploded with a shameful, foul diarrhea. Again and again he dirtied himself, releasing his stool until he was empty, until his body was purged and he had become deathly pale. Occasionally, when he took his turn at the tiny window, he could see sparkling streams cascading down the Carpathian Mountains whose summits were beyond his view. At times, there was snow beside the tracks, vast forests that went for mile after mile, stone castles from an era long ago seemed to appear out of the mist and then fade away as the train wheezed slowly onward. It was early morning when the train finally stopped on a deserted siding carved into the woods. The door slid open and the light poured into the dark recesses of the car. It was followed by the fresh scent of pine trees. People surged forward. The boy struggled over discarded, inert bodies as he clambered out and stood, dazed and disbelieving at the world around him, astonished by the fact that he had survived. The boy collapsed, too weak to stand up until his father lifted him up and braced him until he could regain his balance. He tottered clumsily and the earth moved under him. People coughed in the bitterly cold air. Clouds of steam formed, billowing from their mouths with each breath of air. The ground was white with needles of sharp, frost-covered grass. It crackled loudly as people moved around, trying to become warm, their bodies shaking as they adjusted to the cold. It was a frigid, almost invigorating contrast to the wet, stinking heat inside the cattle cars. Slowly, inevitably, lines formed and began to move into the woods. Cruel-faced guards with Slavic features were positioned every fifty yards. They were impatient. The butts of rifles kept order in the flow of frightened people. It was a death march to a death camp. Rumors were spread by whisper. At first, the stories were of relocation to new farms, or a modern factory, then a work-farm, finally a concentration camp. The word 'Auschwitz' came from one of the guards in response to a reward of smuggled chocolate. The word was passed back and forth, from one person to another. It came to the ten- year-old boy, but like everyone else on that long slow match, he had no idea of its meaning. Two hours later he stumbled through the outer perimeter gate. Barbed wire walls, twenty feet high, stretched in both directions, as far as the eye could see. The walls were punctuated by framed towers that resembled trusses turned on end. To the right, a column of smoke rose high into the air from a chimney next to a large, brick building. Someone whispered that the building must be the laundry, another said that it was the kitchen. There was a smell that reminded the boy of roast lamb burning in the oven of his mother's kitchen. Men and a few women dressed in striped pajamas gathered to watch, a few waited at the 'kitchen'. Then one of them called out that they were going to the 'bath-house'. It was, he shouted, necessary to wash thoroughly after de-licing. Then they would be issued new clothes. They were shepherded together and told to undress since the lice would hide in clothing and could not be killed that way. The boy stayed close beside his father. With his sisters next to him, he was very embarrassed and he undressed slowly. He folded his clothes neatly and placed them in a neat pile next to theirs, then stood shivering in the cold. His hands were clenched over his tiny genitals and his shoulders hunched protectively. The boy was more scared than he had ever been and he trembled endlessly as the family waited in line for their turn. Despite his father's gentle reassurance, the boy was convinced that it was not a work-farm. He did not say so for fear of frightening his little sister. Slowly they neared the 'bath-house', sometimes moving only a few feet before stopping to wait. Too cold to be ashamed, the boy no longer covered his genitals and instead folded his arms over his chest. He pressed his naked body against his father and sisters, very grateful of their warmth. He was very, very hungry. As he neared the 'bath-house' he was pushed to one side, away from his father and older sister. Now he was responsible for his younger sister and he tried to soothe her, reassuring her that they would meet them again after they had bathed. The two children were formed into another line. A line of other children and old people, or people that were sick. Separated from their families, many of the children were crying or searching frantically for their parents. The old people looked bleakly around them as they tried to understand. For a long while, the movement of the line stopped. Minutes passed as the boy shivered, clasping his little sister against him, as much for her warmth as to share his own. Then the line began to move again. The boy turned to one side, trying to see his father as he stumbled forward. He caught only a glimpse before he was shoved forward so hard that he was almost knocked to the ground. As he struggled up again he made one last attempt to find his father. He looked directly into the cold, blue eyes of the man he had seen standing up in Daimler outside his house two days earlier. Their eyes met and seemed to lock together. Again the boy looked hopeful as he silently pleaded for mercy. He knew that he was about to die. He was so cold that he wanted to die. Unlike the other boys in that line, the boy was fair skinned. Often, he had wished to be darker, with the same rough, Slavic features as his friends at school. But he was blond- headed and blue-eyed, his high cheekbones and finely-chiselled facial features providing clear testimony to his German mother and Aryan ancestry. The man's eyes seemed to fix upon him, watching his every movement as he stumbled forward, getting ever closer to the 'bath-house' and further away from his father and older sister. The man seemed to smile at him and turned to the thin, pale man standing beside him. And then a guard pushed forward, thrusting his way past the other children until he reached the boy. His shoulder was grabbed roughly and he was pushed to the side and out of the line. His sister followed silently. The line moved, surging forward into the 'bath-house'. A few moments later he was standing before the strange man. He clasped his younger sister tightly by the hand instinctively, knowing that he could not let her go. The man looked him up and down, inspecting his naked body critically for imperfections. It was the same trained look that the boy's uncle gave to horses as he assessed their bloodlines, their muscles and bones, their teeth and eyes, even the quality of their hooves. The boy felt very naked. He was cold but he shivered as much from fear as from the air. The man's inspection ended. He licked his lips thoughtfully as he appraised the handsome, young boy. The child had been circumcised at birth. He liked that, he could see the tiny bluish tip and it did not seem as sinister as a hooded one. For some reason that excited him greatly, the boy's penis had not contracted from its long exposure to the cold air. He smiled, observing that the boy's penis was short and fat, giving it the stubby appearance that had always interested him. It looked like a little pink thumb dangling between the boy's slender legs. It was very different to his own thin, protracted sex. He could imagine sucking on it as he ground his finger into the small, highly-sensitive anus. Underneath, he could see the small, shrivelled scrotum, like a plump walnut. The boy was still young, still hairless, still impotent. The boy was perfect. He beckoned to the pale, thin man to come over and interpret. Despite the fact that the boy was very frightened his quick answers to the questions put to him revealed innate intelligence of a high order. That pleased the man as much as learning of the boy's bloodline. Half Jew, half German, and just ten years old. This one was ideal. He ordered a blanket to be brought for the boy and then he spoke quickly to the interpreter, his crude guttural German rasping in the boy's ears. The guard stepped forward and grasped the little girl's arm at the same time as the other man moved and placed both hands on the boy's small, bare shoulders. Firmly, the two children were separated. His sister began to cry, her piercing wail tormenting the boy as she was dragged further and further away from him. He fell to his knees, prostrating himself on the cold, hard ground. His small hands grasped at the strange man's boots as he begged and pleaded for mercy, snivelling as tears burst forth. The man looked down and his lips clenched. He stared at the boy severely, a Draconian look that was uncompromising. And yet, the man was masterful, realizing the extortionate power of clemency. For the first time in many years he showed pity for another. He gave the guard a harsh, withering glance, contempt flashed in his eyes, and he a barked a single command. Instantly, the guard retreated, and took the little girl by the hand gently and led her quietly away. The boy was lifted up, standing weakly was he watched his sister join the rest of his family. He looked up, now shivering uncontrollably, his pale, slender body shaking with nervous fear. His eyes were drawn back to the man's eyes, into the ice-cold terror that lurked within. The man smiled, a sly smile that was as full of terror for the boy as the pale-blue eyes. The boy forced himself to smile back at the man, knowing that there was a price to pay for his sister's escape from death, but having no idea what it could be. There was a slow, almost interminable change between them as they stood silently looking at each other. Then, as the boy's nakedness was covered by a thick woolen blanket and he was led away, the man's look was as much of lust as it was of fondness for the boy. Montepulciano, Italy. January, 1946. Two priests, one tall, the other a full head shorter, walked side by side. The priests talked quietly. It was a warm day for January, almost as if Spring had decided to come three months early to a world that had been devastated by war. They stopped to watch several small birds splashing in the water of the baptismal font. It was a relic from a time a hundred years before the church had been built in the sixteenth century. They climbed the stairs and walked through the long corridor above the cloister that enclosed the ancient cypress of Sant' Agostino. The war was over, but not the pain and suffering. That would continue for a long while to come. "How is the boy, this morning, Benedetto?" Giovanni asked. "He's stronger, Your Excellency. He has eaten something and his fever has gone down." Benedetto smiled. "I am glad you have come from Rome. This boy is unusual. Something about him is special. Yesterday, I discovered him reading a book. He did not know I was watching him." Giovanni smiled and teased the older man who had once been his mentor. "There is nothing so special about that. I have known lots of boys who can read." Benedetto returned the smile. "That's true. But how many can read a Latin text like Plotinius and translate into English as fast as they read." Giovanni laughed quietly. "Yes, I suppose that is quite unusual in a child. How old is he, Benedetto?" The short man shrugged. "He doesn't say. It's hard to tell his age. But there is more. Although the boy has said very little, there are clear signs that he speaks Italian, German, and some Spanish. Some French, too, for that matter. He seems to be very intelligent. Other than that, we know nothing else about him." They continued walking, sharing the silence. "There is one thing more," Benedetto added quietly. Giovanni turned. "Yes?" "The boy is,... queer." The man's face showed immediate surprise. "Queer? Is that so unusual! To survive during the war, probably. There are a lot of boys like that in Napoli. The streets are full of them. They sell themselves for gum, chocolate, or cigarettes. They keep the Americans very busy." "Very likely. I'm sure they don't go hungry," Benedetto acknowledged with a smile as he clasped his hands together. "But how do you know he is queer?" "Father Luchiano discovered him,... with another boy. Better Luchiano than some others, I suppose, but still. Such things are, shall I say, inappropriate, even if they are not sinful. But it's more than that. He's been,... used,... frequently." Giovanni looked around sharply in surprise. "What? Perhaps he's been a prostitute? Such things happened during the war a lot I expect." Benedetto nodded seriously. "I thought of that, at first. But no, I think not. It has been very carefully done. There is barely a mark to be found on him,... but he is,... very loose there. Needless to say, the boy will not speak of it." He stopped momentarily and looked over the courtyard, trying to delay the inevitable. In the last few minutes the arousal he had experienced the previous day had returned. "I have examined him, Giovanni. It appears to have started some years ago. I expect even before he started to mature physically. It is very difficult to keep him here with the other boys. He tempts them,... like a girl would, yet he is too old to be placed with the younger boys at Santa Maria dei Servi." "Yes, I can see how that would be a problem," Giovanni acknowledged. They turned into the large, vaulted room at the end of the corridor and climbed the steps to the chamber that had been converted to house the dozen boys who had been taken in by the church as refugees after the war had ended. Only one child remained in the room at that hour of the morning. He lay quietly, resting in the bed at the far end of the room. The men approached and the boy looked up, no longer afraid. There was a sad resignation in his delicate-blue eyes that told of misery and pain. "Good morning," Benedetto said gently. His face showed concern as he sat down on the edge of the bed. He pressed the palm of his hand against the boy's forehead. "I think you are getting better, my son." The boy looked up quickly, his eyes flicking back and forth between the two men. With each rapid glance he seemed to be taking in the stranger, trying to resolve some inner conflict. The look he gave Benedetto was one of resentment, though he had no idea of why he felt that way. "This is Bishop Orselli. He has come all the way from Rome to see you. You may call him Your Excellency, as I do," Benedetto said. The boy looked up at him dumbly, just breathing. His eyes narrowed with distrust. The priest glanced up to the other man, then shrugged. "I know you speak Italian," he added. The boy ignored him. Giovanni stepped forward and lightly placed his hand on Benedetto's shoulder. "Perhaps you should leave us. I would like to talk to him. Alone." Obediently, the other man rose and quietly withdrew, leaving them together in the quiet room. Giovanni walked over to the window, stood for a minute looking out into the courtyard, and then turned back to face the boy. "Would you prefer if I spoke German?" he asked gently. The boy shrugged noncommittally. Giovanni smiled. "Perhaps French, or English?" he added. The boy shrugged again. Giovanni's smile widened. "Latin?" Again the boy shrugged. "What then?" he teased playfully. He looked at the boy fondly. He was a very attractive boy, perhaps twelve-years-old, perhaps older. It was impossible to tell his age. The boy's mouth seemed to wince and then he smiled weakly. It was a shy smile and then it faded. "Hungarian?" he whispered. Giovanni laughed. "Hungarian? Hungarian? My Hungarian is so rusty, little one." He paused, trying hard to remember words, phrases, anything to help him communicate with the beautiful boy on the bed. "Hmmm,... let me think... What is,... your,... name?" he asked hesitantly in a language he had spoken many years ago. The boy smiled briefly, "Karl Gubitowski," he replied. Giovanni stepped away from the window and came back to the boy's bed. He smiled. "Uh! How,... old,... are you, Karl?" he continued in a halting, awkward voice as he searched for the right words. As the boy looked at the man, his smile returned and lingered. Already he was beginning to trust the tall, dark- haired man. "Almost fourteen,... Your Excellency." There was immediate surprise on Giovanni's face. The boy shrugged. "I will be fourteen in May. I look younger." The man was startled. He was uncertain of what to say next. He swallowed, feeling very uncomfortable. He glanced away, silently counting the beds in the chamber as he avoided the boy's eyes. "That's why I am still alive, of course," the boy whispered. "Because men still find me attractive." "I'm sorry," the man said gently. The boy's voice seemed to have penetrated to his soul. It was still unbroken. It was a soft, mellow voice. It made him feel very sad. "There's no need for you to be sorry, Your Excellency. It started a long while ago. It doesn't bother me now. I am the way I am. I can't change that. No one can." Giovanni looked back at the slender, feminine, ageless boy reclining in the bed. It was impossible to believe that the boy was nearly fourteen years old. The boy looked back at him. He was calm and he appeared to be without regret. Long ago, Karl Gubitowski had accepted what had been done to him during that stormy night in the mountain retreat outside Auschwitz. For a long time he had been both miserable and grateful. It had undoubtedly saved his life, and for a short time, the life of his younger sister. In a strange, terrible way, the boy appreciated what had been taken from by the Nazis. It had also given something back to him that had changed his life. There was some compensation for what he had lost. He smiled shyly at the man, enjoying the sympathy. He liked the man's voice. It was serene and reassuring, full of confidence and obviously interested in the boy. "We can speak Italian,... if you wish, Your Excellency," he said with a playful grin, adding, "Your Hungarian is very rusty." "How did you end up here, Karl?" Giovanni asked. He was glad the boy had suggested a language other than Hungarian. There were so many questions that he wanted answers for. But there was more. There was something that drew him to the boy. He recognized it with considerable reluctance and some shock. The strong, irresistible attraction was physical. It was sexual. Just talking to the beautiful boy had made his penis stiffen and it had become painfully erect. The boy grinned again. It was a cheeky grin that was surprisingly sensuous. It was almost as if he knew the man was aroused. The boy stretched his arms back behind his head, arching his body slightly as he stretched in the bed. The blanket slipped downwards slightly. Giovanni's eyes darted to the pale, uncovered flesh. He saw the indentations of ribs, tiny pink nipples, and the firm smooth flesh of a young boy. His penis lurched involuntarily and jerked several times in quick succession in anticipation. Giovanni shuddered guiltily. "We escaped from Berlin just a month or two before the Russians came," the boy began. "For a long while we hid in the Alps. There was supposed to a counter-attack, but it never happened. When they took Berlin,... we knew we had to leave." Giovanni nodded and the boy continued to talk. "We were trying to get to Yugoslavia, to get a boat from there to South America, but they closed the border. Then we planned to go to Venice, or even Naples, and get a boat from there. The Americans caught us near Ferrara, but they let me go. I finally ended up here, Your Excellency." Giovanni nodded again. He could not believe the effect that the boy was having on him. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He abandoned all caution and carefully sat down on the side of the bed. He needed to say something but he could not decide what it was he wanted to say. The boy's eyes were intense. Like his delicate voice, the boy's startling, blue eyes seemed to look deep inside him. It was as if Karl was searching for something within him. The boy held his complete attention. He could not have looked away, even if he had wanted to. "You're Hungarian, aren't you Karl? How come you were in Germany?" he asked. Suddenly, the boy twisted away and turned on his side. He pulled the blankets up over his shoulders and buried his face into the pillow. Giovanni reached out, gently brushing the small, trembling shoulder with his fingers. The boy was shaking. Slowly, he realized that Karl was crying. "It's okay, my son," he said gently. "Everything is okay. You're safe now." The boy was unresponsive and Giovanni struggled to understand the barrier that had suddenly risen up from nowhere. Deep inside, he sensed the boy's pain had something to do with his sexuality. He assumed that the boy had been sodomized by the Nazis. It had probably been done first as punishment or even as the result of vengeance. After a while the boy would not resist. It was the only way for him to survive. Boy prostitutes were not uncommon in Africa, even in Italy, in Napoli. The Nazis had been known to do such things in Eastern Europe and on the Russian front. He had heard rumors of groups of boys who were kept for the pleasure of soldiers fighting on the front. Even worse, stories had filtered out to the authorities about atrocities in the concentration camps. There were stories about sterilization programs that had been carried out on young Jews before they were assigned to army units. He quivered with growing anger. He caressed the boy's shoulder with a slow up and down motion, letting his hand travelled halfway down the thin arm that was concealed under the blankets. Then, after a few minutes, Giovanni moved his hand upward. He stroked the slender neck, marvelling at the softness of the boy's skin. There was still no sign of a beard. Casually, he let his fingers slide into the boy's hair. It was the color of corn-silk, and just as fine and soft. His fingers traced the small head as they rubbed, moving in small circles just behind the boy's ear. Very gradually, Karl began to choke back his sobs, sniffing loudly and wiping his tear-stained cheeks with the back of his hand. It was the first time that Giovanni had seen a fourteen-year-old boy cry and it shocked him considerably. "What's wrong little one?" he asked tenderly. The boy shook his head resolutely as he tried to block out the man's persistent attempts to help him. "Karl, please? Perhaps I can help you." "Nothing can help me now. Nothing," the boy said feebly. "They will kill him. I know they will. I,... I l-l-love him," he stammered. "I wish I was dead." Giovanni sighed as he searched for the words he needed to say. It was so much easier in the confessional. There, they wanted to tell you everything. Small sins, big sins, it made no difference. It all poured out. Stories about rape, incest, sodomy, just everything imaginable had been told to him at one time or another as he listened against the wall that separated sin from absolution. "Karl,..." he began. "You said you love him?" he prompted gently. "Yes! Yes, I loved him! I didn't want to. I tried to hate him. I tried so hard. Every night,... every night I was with him... He did it in my bottom with his penis. At first, when he started, he hurt me but then it stopped. He taught me how to make love. And then,... then I wanted him inside me. I wanted his penis in me more than anything else. I didn't care about anything else. I just wanted to feel good and make him happy. I didn't care who he was." The boy fell silent. He huddled up under the blankets. His knees were drawn up tightly against his chest. His eyes were closed as he tried to block out the thoughts that raced through his mind. "Karl,... I know that such things happen, between men and boys. I understand how you feel. Where did you meet him? How did it begin?" Giovanni asked gently. "Auschwitz. I met him there. When the Nazis came into Hungary, they took us there, my family," the boy began shamefully. "You're Jewish?" Giovanni asked in surprise. The boy nodded. "I know I don't look Jewish. My father is,... was, but my mother was German. They killed her because she lived with a Jew. They murdered her." The boy shuddered as he remembered the clamor of gun shots echoing through the house. "They took us,... my father and my two sisters, to Auschwitz." He paused and breathed heavily, trying not to remember the details he wanted only to forget. "There was a man there. A German. I saw him outside our house in Budapest when they arrested us. Even then he was very important. He,...he likes boys. Y-y-young boys. Boys like me." Karl sighed. His tensed body slowly relaxed and straightened out on the bed. "He liked to have sex,... with boys. For some reason, I really don't know why, perhaps because I was blond, but he liked me. He picked me out from all of the other boys. He could have had any of them, but he chose me. It saved my life, my sister's life too, for that matter. I was only ten so I didn't know what he wanted." "No. No I suppose not," Giovanni agreed. "It must have been terrible for you." Karl nodded. "It was,... at first. I had been awfully sick on the train. I could barely stand up by myself. By then we hadn't eaten for two days so I was very hungry. He took me to an old castle. It was somewhere in Czechoslovakia, I think. it took a few hours to drive there from Auschwitz. But it was so beautiful. It was on the top of a mountain and there were servants and everything. He fed me with his own hands because I was too weak and then he bathed me." The boy's face paled and he shuddered uncomfortably as memories returned. "At first he just played with me, down there, between my legs. He was very gentle with me and I liked it. It felt good. The more he touched me there, on my penis, the better it felt. I liked him doing that. Sometimes he would touch it for hours at time, sometimes he would rub his penis against mine until he made his stuff shoot out over me. Sometimes, he just put it his mouth. That felt nice too and I did it back to him as well. Then, after a few weeks he fucked me." Giovanni blanched and he swallowed, closing his eyes like the boy had done earlier to block out the pain and horror. Karl looked up at the ceiling. "It hurt a lot at first. It took a long while for him to get it inside me because I was so tight. I'll never forget the first time, I remember I screamed a lot. After he got it inside me I was so weak I couldn't move. He fucked me again and again," Karl whispered. "He raped you?" "NO! HE DIDN'T RAPE ME!", the boy screamed in fury. "Can't you understand? I wanted him. I wanted to die, but I wanted him there. For a long while I tried to tell myself it was because I could save myself by doing it with him,... letting him fuck me. I tried to pretend that by doing whatever he wanted he wouldn't send me back to Auschwitz.... But it wasn't that. I liked him a lot by then. I,... I wanted him to do it." Giovanni stared at Karl. The boy looked so young and innocent lying on the bed. It was almost impossible to believe. Something precious had been taken from the boy's body. It was more than his testicles. It was more than his innocence for whatever had been lost had been replaced by mysterious aura. It excited him even as he looked into the boy's blue, guileless eyes. It was then that Giovanni realized that the boy had imprisoned him. He clasped his hands together, his fingers locked together as if in prayer. Silently, Giovanni pleaded for absolution of his thoughts, begging for forgiveness, for release. Unable to stop himself, he reached outward. He lifted the blanket away from the boy's body. He was naked. The boy smiled sensuously, knowingly, hungrily. The man's eyes travelled down the slender, pale body until they stopped at the boy's nearly hairless groin. The few hairs that were scattered around the base of his penis were fine and soft, almost transparent filaments. Small, thin fingers enclosed his fat, little penis. It was hard and swollen, a crimson-purple color, without a foreskin. For a moment he was surprised and then he remembered that the boy had been raised as a Jew. He wondered why the small penis was erect even as he realized that the boy had been playing with it under the blankets most of the time that Giovanni had been there. The scrotum was a small, flabby mound of wrinkled flesh. A fold began where the boy's penis ended, merged into the rounded flesh, and then reappeared as it disappeared between his legs, following the line between his buttocks. Giovanni asked curiously. "How old were you, Karl? When you started?" The boy smiled shyly. "I had just turned ten. I guess I had been with him for about two weeks by then. After the first week or so, I really started to like him. I liked what he did to me a lot as well. It was impossible not to like it. He used to tease me about it. I don't know why it felt so good. I just started to like it one night.He knew what I liked and he only did what I wanted him to do. From then on I slept in his bed every night. The servants knew, of course. Sometimes, when they would bring breakfast into our bedroom, he would keep playing with me in front of them." The boy paused and looked at the man sitting next to him. He knew the effect that his story would have. He knew this man was like the other man, the man he once loved, still loved. "He didn't care if they saw us. Who could they tell? Everybody was scared of him, except for me. He was always kind to me. He took me with him when he travelled." The boy smirked. "Not to Berlin, you understand. The Fuhrer would not like that at all. Sometimes we stayed with Goering. He was very funny and he teased us all the time. I was safe there, he didn't like boys, at least not my age." He grinned cheekily. Giovanni smiled. He wondered who the boy's lover had been. It would be someone important for him to stay at Karinhall with Goering. He wondered how the boy had been sodomized. "How did it happen,... the first time, Karl?" he asked slowly. The boy looked back at the man and returned the question with a shy smile. "One afternoon, we were out riding and we came to a farm. It was in the mountains behind the castle where we lived. The owners were gone and we stopped there for our horses to rest. It was a freezing-cold day and it had been snowing. After we unsaddled our horses and put them in the barn he took me into the farmhouse. It was cold inside and we made a fire and we started to,..." The boy smiled shyly as he remembered. "He took my clothes off and sucked on it. It was different to being in his bedroom. Why it affected him the way it did, I really don't know. He started acting strange. He didn't talk to me much at all that afternoon. Usually we talked while we did things,... while he played with me. He made me practice different languages that way. He got very quiet and it started to scare me. Then he got up and found some lard. He put it over his cock and,... and inside me,... in my hole. Then he put his finger in there." The boy breathed out, then in again. It was a long, drawn- out sigh from deep within him. "He fucked me again and again. He did it to me until I was very sore and there was blood coming from inside me. He was very angry, at least I thought he was. Later on I found out that all he wanted was to be inside me. He hadn't realized he was hurting me." The boy's slender legs moved further apart as his hand began to move up and down along the short length of his rigid penis. The turgid glans swelled further with each up-stroke, becoming darker and more bloated. "We did it all the time after that. After a few days it didn't bother me anymore. Then I started to like it. Maybe it was because his penis didn't hurt anymore when it was inside my bottom. Actually, it never hurt all that much, except for the first night of course, because he was always gentle with me." Karl half-closed his eyes. "One day, after about a month he took me back to Auschwitz. I couldn't understand why. I had done everything he wanted of me. Everything. Even some bad things. When we drove up to the gate I started to cry. I thought he was going to leave me there. He started to laugh and then he told me that he would never do that to me. He wanted me to stay with him forever. He wanted me to be his lover forever, he said. I didn't understand what he meant by that. When I looked around we were already though the gates. There was another line outside the bath-house, just like when I was there the first time. There were boys waiting there. They were just like me, only they were going to die and I wasn't,... if I was his lover." The boy sighed, shaking his head slightly. "Somehow, I knew that he wasn't going to leave me there. I wanted him to go on loving me. Until then I hadn't realized that he loved me. It was the first time he had ever said he loved me and wanted me to live with him. He took me to the Commandant's office. My father was there,... so were my sisters." Giovanni nodded. He saw the pain in the boy's eyes. He knew what had happened. "He wanted it to be your decision, Karl?" he said softly. The boy nodded slowly. "He told me,... it had to be my decision,... not his. He said it was 'up to me'. 'I had to choose'. He said,... he said I had to want it. I had to tell them I was,... I was his lover. I thought he might kill them if I said no. I remember that I just nodded and mumbled something to my father about loving him. I could see my father was ready to cry. I was too scared to say anything else. I could see my father was hurt. There were tears in his eyes. I just kept nodding my head. I was very scared... I just kept on nodding at him and then I started to cry." The boy's hand tightened on the short, hard shaft of his penis as if to squeeze out something. The glans darkened to a crimson-purple as it swelled outward. He continued to rub, a steady, slow rhythm. "After a while we came back out and got in the car. I was very tired and I was asleep for most of the trip back to the castle." Giovanni nodded again. He had heard of the horrors at Auschwitz. Few Jews had lived to tell of the atrocities that had happened there, of the depraved acts performed on them. But the Germans had left meticulous records behind and already the trials had begun. As the Soviet Army had rushed through Poland, the camp had been abandoned in great haste. Most of the guards had escaped. Karl Gubitowski was one of the few witnesses, perhaps the only remaining member of his family. "What happened then Karl?" he asked tenderly. The boy shrugged. "For a long while I tried to hate him but I really couldn't. After about a year I didn't mind any more because he loved me more than ever." Giovanni rubbed his forehead. The war had been cruel. Everyone had suffered, many had suffered much more than the boy. At least he was still alive, unlike the rest of his family. The boy grinned cheekily. "I like having sex," he said unashamedly. "And I like being fucked,... I like having his penis in my ass more than I can stand." Giovanni was startled. He swallowed and his eyes opened wide in surprise. He shook his head in disbelief. The boy smirked at him knowingly, then looked downward towards the man's groin meaningfully. Giovanni was erect and his penis was throbbing. He had been that way since he had first seen the boy's beautiful naked body. Karl's look was intensely disturbing. It was a look of compassion, of understanding, of arousal. Giovanni closed his eyes to block out the temptation that lay naked on the bed beside him. He shook his head as he tried to clear his confusion. When he opened his eyes the boy was smiling at him. Karl reached out and took the man's hand in his. For an instant, no more than a momentary hesitation, Giovanni tried to pull away. The boy held his hand firmly and drew it slowly forwards and downwards. He placed Giovanni's hand against his hot, hard penis. Again Giovanni tried to pull away but his instinct was stronger. His hand closed around the squat shaft. His fingers slid downwards, the tips rubbing into the small, loose scrotum as he felt Karl's penis flexing. It was as if it had a life of its own. But then, so did Giovanni's hand. He started to masturbate the boy, doing what he did to himself at night. Karl gave him a look of devoted happiness, a smile that conveyed boundless joy, and there was a quick, playful jerk of his penis. Giovanni's hand began to move faster and faster. He knew he would take the boy back to Gubbio with him. If he was discreet, no one would know. He smiled at the boy lovingly. "Who was the man?" he asked curiously. "Do I know him?" The boy nodded. "I expect so. His name is Adolf Eichman," he said simply. PLATONIC LOVE. "Lions do not love lions because they do not think speculatively; male bears do not seek out their own sex because they do not know the sweets of friendship. But human reason, guided by knowledge and long experience, has chosen what is most beautiful and gives its sanction to the love of boys." Lucian, Dialogues of Love. DAY ONE. Frascati, July 23, 1993. Jason ambled through the trees, aimlessly scuffing his feet in the gravel. He watched the dust rise up and envelop his sneakers. He was bored. He wanted to be home. He still had four weeks of summer vacation left and he did not want to spend it in the dry, parchment-colored hills south of Rome. He thought of his best friend and wondered what they would be doing if he was home. He smiled weakly. Nothing probably. He would be at home by himself and Travis would be out riding somewhere, maybe down by the creek. Jason did not like horses, not after he had been thrown the first time. Now, he kept well away from them whenever he could. That was a problem because he lived on a horse farm. He glanced around, looking towards the terrace, towards his mother and her boyfriend, Carlo Gubbio. Carlo Gubbio, the millionaire, the horse breeder, the playboy. He drove a red Ferrari Testarossa. Though Jason Anderson was not worldly enough to realize that a sixty-one year old man did not have the essential qualification of a playboy, Carlo Gubbio had more than the necessary charisma. Besides, he looked younger, ten years younger. Though his mother was only forty, Carlo looked young enough to be Jason's father. He was slender and trim and very- distinguished looking in appearance. Once, many years ago, his hair had been blond like Jason's. Now it was silver. Jason liked him as much as could be expected when there was the threat that his mother would marry him. It was hard for Jason to think of Carlo as his father, for that matter, even as his stepfather. He sighed as he wondered whether they would have to live in Italy if his mother did marry him. There were probably worse places to live, but all things considered, he would much rather be back home in Lexington, Kentucky. Even if he had to live at Runymede. It would be a nice place to live, if it wasn't for the horses. Besides, his mother had to work somewhere and Runymede was as good as anywhere else. Jason kicked at a branch that had fallen onto the path, sending it flying into the box hedge. His mother had met Carlo during the Spring sales. Carlo had purchased a yearling, 'Funny Boy' for four-hundred-thousand dollars and then took them to dinner. After that there were other nights though Jason was usually left at home by himself, or with a 'baby-sitter'. Even when he had returned to Italy, Carlo continued to telephone his mother every Friday night and occasionally during the week. Then they had come to Italy a week ago, to Carlo's villa outside Rome. His mother waved at him and he breathed out slowly as he returned the gesture. Slowly he realized that she was beckoning to him. He began to walk towards the terrace, shuffling disinterestedly. "Hello darling," his mother said with a smile as he came up beside her. He smiled weakly. "Hi mom," he replied. He wanted to ask how much longer they were going to stay at the villa but he already knew the answer. Jason Anderson was hopelessly trapped until school started in early September. "Yeah mom? W-w-w-what's up?" he asked impatiently. "Why don't you go for a swim, honey?" she suggested. Jason shrugged again. "B-b-by m-myself? S-s-sure mom!" He hesitated for a moment, "Mom, c-c-could you p-p-please stop c-c- c-calling me darling, and h-h-honey, and s-s-s-stuff like that. It makes me s-s-sound like a baby or s-s-something." The woman smiled, "Sure sweetie, if you want me to. Oh, I just did it again, didn't I? I'm sorry, really I am." "Mom?..." he began uncertainly. "Yes?" "Are y-y-you and C-C-Carlo g-going out again tonight?" he asked. His mother nodded. The boy compressed his lips slightly, feeling a pang of jealousy, overwhelmed by impotent frustration. Being ten-years-old in a foreign country was anything but fun. Casually, he swiped his hand across his forehead, pushing his long, silver-blond hair back. "I wish you'd get your hair cut, honey," his mother observed. "Oh, there I go again. You really do look a mess." The boy winced uncomfortably and glanced sideways at Carlo. "Mom, p-p-p-please, "he mumbled nervously. The man smiled at him gently. When Carlo looked at him, he felt strangely reassured. Even now, Jason acknowledged the happy feelings inside him. He had a pleasant sense of contentment whenever he was near Carlo. The man's eyes met his and he winked conspiratorially. Jason smiled back. It was impossible not to like Carlo. Of all his mother's boyfriends, he liked Carlo the best. "Your mother and I will be going out soon. We have time for a drive, if you want, Jason?" Carlo said. The man's voice was scratchy, as if someone had turned the treble all the way up and the bass, all the way down. But to Jason's ears it was a nice voice. It was a friendly voice that calmed him and took away his nervousness. His stammering ceased for the moment. "Yeah? Now?" he asked. The man nodded. "Sure thing," he replied immediately. Carlo stood up and picked up his keys from the table. "Come on then. We'll be back in twenty or thirty minutes, Kate" he said to Jason's mother. "Besides, it doesn't matter if we're a few minutes late to dinner. It's more important that Jason and I get to be friends, isn't it Jason?" The boy grinned and nodded happily. There wasn't a single boy in his school that could say he'd been for a drive in a Testarossa. Happily he followed Carlo along the edge of the terrace and down the steps to the front drive. The Ferrari waited for them. It was low and wide, bright red, and potently sexual. Jason slid into the cream-colored leather seat and fastened his seat-belt as the V-12 roared into life and settled down to a throbbing gurgle. He felt butterflies begin fluttering in his stomach. He swallowed and looked quickly at Carlo. The man was looking at him as well. They shared a long silence. "I like your hair long," the man said softly. "It suits you." Jason grinned. "You better not say that near my mom." Carlo grinned back at him, "You're a very handsome young man, Jason." He turned away and engaged first gear. Jason heard the engine whine, the scream of four camshafts and 48 valves only a few inches behind him. The car surged forward as the growling exhaust turned to a wail. The seat pushed into his back, holding him firmly as they descended the long alley that led from the town up to the villa. They took the road into the mountains. It was the perfect road for a Ferrari and a ten-year-old boy. As the engine howled, Carlo laughed, twisting the steering wheel with just the lightest touch of his hands and winding the car through endless hair-pin curves as he flicked back and forth through the gears. "It's called the Via dei Laghi," he said loudly over the banshee shriek of the engine. "In a while we'll come to the lakes. First we'll see Lago Albano, then Lago di Nemi. That's the most beautiful one. It's called the Mirror of Diana. Ah, see, Jason, there is the lake. And,..." He paused as he shifted down, then continued, "Here is the road to Monte Cavo." He accelerated, winding the car through the tightly meshed gears. Jason gripped the seat and grinned from ear to ear. The boys at school would never believe him. At the summit, Carlo pulled into an overlook and turned off the engine. The roar died away but the boy's heart continued to pound rapidly. Before them, the panorama opened to the horizon, all the way to the sea. They sat in silence for nearly a minute. "There used to be a temple here,... to Jupiter," Carlo said quietly. Jason nodded. "He was the chief god, wasn't he?" he asked. Carlo smiled. "It was right over there," he added, pointing to the right. "It was a monastery for many centuries. Now it's a hotel for rich American tourists," he teased. Jason grinned at the playful taunt at his nationality. Playfully, Carlo slapped lightly at the smooth, soft flesh of boy's bare thigh, a few inches above his knee. "I guess we had better start on our way back, Jason," the man said quietly. The boy nodded regretfully. The man's hand remained on his leg. The fingertips barely moved in tiny strokes, his thumb gently circling the delicate underside. "Your skin is so soft, Jason," he added. Strangely, the boy shivered. He could not remember being touched by a man before. The few memories of his father were almost gone, a hazy residue of his first two years of life. The touch of the man's hand made him feel funny inside. It felt nice. Inside his stomach the butterflies had returned, only this time there was no sound in the car. There was no whine of the engine, no squeal of tires, just the muted sound of their breathing. It made him feel happy but inhibition and instinct took over and his leg moved away slightly of its own volition. Carlo's hand squeezed, his fingers pressing firmly into the soft underside of the boy's slender thigh. It was reassuring and Jason sighed contentedly as he slowly relaxed. Carlo's hand continued to move, caressing the boy's left thigh, all the way from his knee to just under the leg of his shorts. Jason looked out of the windscreen dreamily, his attention distracted, somewhere between the world that lay beyond the closed cabin of the car and what the man was saying to him. It would be several days before he fully understood the meaning of the words. Carlo's voice was soft and sincere. "You know Jason, once, Jupiter became enamored of a beautiful young boy called Ganymede. Jupiter turned himself into an eagle and he flew down to Earth and stole Ganymede from his family. He carried him to Mount Olympus." Jason nodded absently, unaware that he did not stutter. "Enamored? What does that mean?... What happened to him?" Carlo smiled. "It means he liked him,... very much. Ganymede became Jupiter's lover." Jason shrugged. "Did he bring Ganymede here? To this mountain?" The man looked at the boy as he answered. "Perhaps. It's an ideal place to bring a beautiful young boy." The boy swallowed. He hesitated for a moment. "Like me?" Carlo nodded. "Perhaps." Jason brushed his long, blond hair backwards, then glanced down, watching Carlo's hand caressing his leg. "So what happened?" he persisted. "I already told you," Carlo said as he took his hand away. "I guess we better start back." "But,... well Ganymede was a boy,... and Jupiter,... well he was a god, but he was a man too,... and,... so how can they be lovers and all that?" the boy asked hesitantly. Carlo smiled as he started the engine. He didn't answer the boy's question and after a few minutes Jason gave up trying to figure it out for himself. Besides it was more fun watching the trees rush by and the road sweep under the car only a few feet in front of him. They were only a few miles from the villa when Carlo's hand dropped down gently on his left thigh again. "This is Grottaferrata, Jason," Carlo observed as they entered the narrow street that led up to a church. "Up there is the abbey. It's run by the Greek Orthodox Church now, but it was built in the tenth century. The doorway is particularly interesting, Byzantine I believe. Perhaps I'll marry your mother there." Jason started suddenly, his head jerking to look at the man beside him. He wondered what he should say. He breathed out. "Mom's Catholic," he observed quietly. He looked down at the man's hand as it gently stroked the silky smoothness of the underside of his leg. This time, instead of pulling his leg away, he moved it fractionally closer to the man and settled back into the luxurious leather seat. He liked the way Carlo touched him. It made him feel pleasantly warm. It was a good feeling that he did not want to end. The slow, almost loving caress ceased only when the car stopped outside the entrance to the villa. His mother and Carlo left shortly before seven o'clock that evening. Unable to derive much enjoyment from watching television when he could not understand a word that was being said, he gave up and went upstairs to his room. For a long while he played his guitar, thinking random, unrelated thoughts that were as discordant as the chords he played. Occasionally he played familiar tunes and crooned to himself, engaged in a self- indulgent fantasy of fame and fortune. After an hour he undressed, pulled on his pajamas, got into bed, and read. He was asleep by nine o'clock. When he awoke again it was very late. It was hot and the air was still. The thin cotton sheet seemed to stick to his body. Even his pajamas felt constricting. Still half asleep, he thought dreamily of the air conditioner in their apartment. Even the constant buzz and clicking as it switched on and off was preferable to this heat. For a minute he lay quietly, trying to get back to sleep. But sleep evaded him and he turned restlessly from one side to the other so that he faced the windows. The room was very dark. Heavy, brocaded curtains blocked out the moonlight that might have penetrated into the room. The curtains also blocked air movement into the room. It took a long while to Jason's thoughts to gather and sort themselves into an ordered pattern, then suddenly he realized that something was wrong. He was absolutely certain that he had pulled the curtains wide apart before he had gotten into bed. Then he remembered more. He had been naked at the time and the cool, outside air had felt nice on his bare body. It was right before he had pulled his pajamas on and gotten into bed. Suddenly, he began to sense that someone was in the room with him. He stared into the darkness, trying hard to penetrate the blackness that seemed to enclose him. There was no sound. There was no movement. He shivered involuntarily. "W-w-who's there?" he whispered. "Jason! It's me, Carlo. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." It was a voice from the darkness, somewhere near the window. The voice trembled slightly but Jason recognized it instantly from the scratchy inflections. "W-w-what are you d-d-doing? H-h-here, in my room?" the boy asked as he started to sit up, still searching for where the voice came from but seeing nothing except darkness. "I'm sorry Jason. I thought I heard a noise in here. I thought perhaps you were having a nightmare, a bad dream or something like that," Carlo replied quietly. There was a long pause. "I came in to see if you were okay." The boy nodded, then realizing that he could not be seen in the darkness, he stopped. "B-b-ut why did you close the c-c- curtains for? It's v-v-very h-h-hot in h-h-here." Had he thought about it he would have realized that the curtains had been closed for a long while for the air to become so hot. He did not know Carlo had been there for several hours. He heard the man's feet moving on the floor as he approached the bed. The bed was old, a hundred years or more in age, and like beds of that era, was very high. The frame and headboard were carved from dark oak with intricately turned posts at the corners. The mattress was firm, much firmer than Jason was used to. Seconds passed and as his eyes adjusted to the dark, he could barely make out the shape of the man standing next to him. Carlo looked down at the boy thoughtfully. The silence seemed interminable. "Sometimes, the night air gets chilly, Jason.... I thought you might get cold with just a sheet over you," he said hesitantly. The boy nodded uncertainly, wriggling back into the soft, down-filled pillows behind his head. "Yeah, b-b-but I've got p-p- pajamas on. Now it's too hot," he complained sleepily. Carlo chuckled. "Maybe you should just take your pajamas off," he suggested quietly. "Huh?" "Perhaps you should start sleeping without them, Jason. I do," Carlo said softly. Slowly, as if he did not want to disturb the boy, he sat down on the bed. Instinctively Jason edged away. The room seemed to become even hotter with Carlo sitting beside him. "In the r-r-raw?" he whispered. The man nodded. "I c-c-couldn't do that. T-that's b- bad," he stammered nervously. Carlo laughed in the dark. "Hardly, Jason. There's no one to see you. Who would ever know you slept in the nude?" The boy thought for a moment. His self-confidence seemed to build as he considered his reply. "You would," he said shyly. He looked up at Carlo and smirked cheekily. "So? What would I see in the dark? Besides, we're both the same aren't we?" "Huh? The same? Oh! Yeah, I s'pose so." Jason smiled. His hand went instinctively to his hair and he brushed it back. "Yeah, I guess. But you'd still know," he added uncertainly. The change that came over Jason during that minute or so was remarkable. There was a funny feeling in his belly again. It was the same fluttering feeling that he had in the car. With the strange feelings inside him came something else. For the first time Jason realized that he had not stuttered, in fact he had not stuttered once during the entire fifty minutes he had spent with Carlo during the afternoon. Then Carlo's hand settled gently on his leg, midway along his thigh. The hand squeezed into the soft, un-muscled flesh, then began to caress him with a light tickle. A tremor ran through the slender body under the sheets and he jerked away. "Don't!" he said abruptly. "Why, Jason? Don't you like it?" Carlo whispered. Jason tried to shake his head but he stopped and looked at the man accusingly with a silent glare. Part of him wanted Carlo to remove his hand, the rest of him did not. He did not understand what was happening. He wondered why Carlo was in his bedroom. The man's hand stayed exactly where it was, lightly stroking the underside of his leg. "Your skin is so hot, Jason." "Please don't," Jason pleaded. "I,... I want to go back to sleep." He trembled again. Then he swallowed nervously as he began to realize that this was very different to the playful fondling in the car. It made him feel funny all over his body but especially in his private parts. With infinite slowness the man's hand moved upwards along his leg. It moved higher, going only a fraction of an inch further every minute. But its progress was unstoppable and the boy's pajama shorts were pushed upward until Carlo's fingers could sense the soft moist heat of his groin. Without warning, the fingers moved sideways and brushed against the small rounded hemisphere of the boy's genitals. Jason shuddered and tried to push the hand away from him. "You're not s'posed to touch me there," he said angrily. "That's my private parts. It's wrong." Carlo, pressed his fingers firmly into the boy's scrotum, feeling the tiny firm eggs under the warm cloth of his pajama shorts. Jason shivered again but it wasn't from discomfort. He shook his head aggressively, denying the existence on the unfamiliar pleasure. Carlo smiled reassuringly. He spoke softly, caressing the boy's genitals with a feathery touch. "No, it's not wrong or bad, Jason. It's wrong only if you don't enjoy it. And you do like it, don't you? You liked me doing it to you in the car this afternoon, didn't you?" "That's different," Jason retorted. "You weren't doing this. You weren't touching me,... there." "I'll stop if you really want me too," Carlo whispered. "But I know you like it. That's why you feel so good inside." "Huh? How do you know how I feel?" "I can tell. You're shaking. Every time I touch you, you shake. That's how I know. If you didn't like it, you'd scream for your mother. Go on, Jason, if you don't like it, why don't you call for her to come in here?" the man teased. Jason shook his head and clenched his lips. He could not understand what was happening to him. He knew that he should call out and part of him wanted to. He opened his mouth to shout but the sound stopped in his lungs. His eyes narrowed and he looked at the man curiously. "Why?" he demanded. There was an urgency in his voice that had not been there a moment earlier. It matched the urgency in Carlo's fingers as they squeezed gently between his legs, compressing his tiny testicles and rubbing them together. Jason began to feel very hot and he wriggled uncomfortably as the pressure seemed to increase inside him. His hand brushed at his long hair again, pushing it aside. He felt feverish and very strange. "Why what, Jason?" Carlo whispered "Why,... are you doing this,... to me?" he pleaded. "Because. Because I want you to like me." His fingers slipped away from the boy's scrotum and touched the very small, very hard penis. He pressed it against the other leg, stroking the swollen, thin shaft lovingly."Because I want you to feel good. That's why your pee-pee is so hard, Jason." "Huh? What do you mean?" Jason asked. Suddenly he was aware of the tightness between his legs. It seemed to be much hotter than any other part of him. It had never felt so hot before and it felt strangely hard too. "What do you mean about my penis being hard?" he persisted. Carlo smiled gently. "It's nice and hard, jason. It's supposed to be like this. It shows me how much you like it when I rub you here." The boy shivered again as Carlo's fingers squeezed the sensitive tip of his penis under the soft cloth of his pajamas. It was also protected by his foreskin, but he still jumped. The tiny penis flexed and jerked immediately, hungry for more. It did not go unnoticed by Carlo. "It feels good doesn't it Jason?" he whispered. "I can tell you like this." "I want you,... to stop," he whined. "No you don't, Jason. You like it. It feels good doesn't it?" Jason tried valiantly to shake his head in denial but all he could manage was to look downward. His squat, thin penis was barely protruding out of the slit in his shorts. He watched in disbelief as Carlo's finger and thumb gently enclosed it and began to move up and down. Uncircumcised and still too young for the foreskin to retract over the glans, the fingers moved with the boy's skin. Unable to stop himself, Jason sighed softly as he breathed out. It did feel good. His penis flexed again but this time it was at his instigation as he tightened his groin muscles in search of still further delight. "Let's take your pajamas off," Carlo whispered. "It'll feel even better then and you won't be so hot." For a few moments Jason thought silently to himself. He knew he should ask Carlo to stop what he was doing. It was a sin. Playing with it was BAD. Every boy knew that. You weren't supposed to touch it, except to go to the bathroom. But it felt so good, so incredibly good that it was all he could do to stop himself from shaking continuously. The wonderful feelings seemed to begin in his penis but they moved outwards in waves. Wonderful waves. The good feelings surged from his groin all the way down to his toes so that they curled over and his feet began to scrape against the sheets. With each successive wave, his hands clenched and he winced almost as if he was in pain. His heart began to beat faster and faster, growing stronger until it seemed to be pounding loudly in his ears. He swallowed and pressed his lips together so that he would not make a sound. A cry seemed to build in his throat but when it finally broke free it was a long gasp for air. It was a moan of ecstasy. Carlo's smile went unnoticed in the darkness as the boy's hips lifted upward eagerly, pushing his rigid, tiny erection harder into the rapidly jerking fingers. His legs began to tremble, then moving of their own will, began to jerk and writhe under the sheets. The pressure built inside Jason's small body until he thought he would burst. Unknown to the boy, the sheet was lifted back and pushed to the other side of the bed. His breathing was frenzied, quick short gasps that barely reached his lungs before he sucked in more air to feed his pumping heart. Then he could stand it no longer. It started as a quiet, puppy-like whine and as the seconds passed it became more stressed, louder, and animal-like. His penis began to throb, aching as the delicate flesh was abraded. But Jason Anderson wanted only for the pleasure to go on forever. When Carlo's fingers slipped away from his penis, Jason murmured something but by then his eyes were closed as he absorbed the delightful sensations. He giggled as Carlo unfastened the button on his shorts and he lifted his hips upward willingly as his shorts were pulled down, all the way down his legs and past his feet. "Let's get your shirt off as well," Carlo urged. "Then you'll more comfortable and not nearly as hot." Jason shook his head. "No,... no I don't want,...." he began hesitantly. But resistance was impossible for him and he obediently he lifted up his thin, pale arms as Carlo tugged the shirt upward. As it came past his head Carlo noticed that the boy was gasping, breathing through his mouth as he panted rapidly. Carlo smiled appreciatively as he examined the small naked body. Even in the nearly pitch-darkness he could see everything he wanted. The boy's body was very pale, almost white. He was slender with narrow hips and a taut little belly. His chest was thin and with his arms still above his head, the lines of his ribs stood out like those of a starving child. "You're beautiful, Jason," he breathed out. Slowly Jason's arms came down and he folded them across his chest protectively. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about, now is there, Jason?" he added gently. "I bet that feels a lot cooler now?" Jason nodded absently, becoming more aware of his nakedness as his attention focused on his stiff little penis. He looked downward and wished that it was bigger. As big as the boys at school, as big as Travis. Travis' penis was nearly three inches long. It was a lot bigger than his penis was and he was envious. But his penis was bigger now than it had ever been in his short life. Even fully erect it was still smaller than his thumb. It was thinner too and more than a quarter of an inch of it was accounted for by the pointed end of his foreskin as it covered his glans and formed a tiny puckered hole at the tip. "Move down in the bed," Carlo commanded. Obediently, Jason wriggled downward. "Move your legs apart," he added. Jason complied. His chest rose and fell rhythmically as his breathing slowed. Carlo smiled, unseen in the dark, as his hands felt the small hips. His thumbs began to circle on the velvet-smooth skin of the boy's stomach, coming within a inch of the rigid penis. "Legs wide apart," he instructed urgently as his own excitement began to increase exponentially. His thumbs moved inwards until they brushed against the sensitive flesh where penis attached to pubis and scrotum began. With infinite care, his thumbs began to stroke up and down, following the rounded curve of the plump little scrotum, then along the underside - now the topside - of the swollen, short shaft. Jason's eyes closed again. Unable to resist the delight that soared outward from his genitals and too ashamed to admit that he liked it, he did the only thing he could, he began to moan quietly. Carlo's urgency began to fade. He recognized that the boy was now consenting to his caress. He had triumphed again. Soon it would be mutual pleasuring. Soon he would savor the other pleasures of this delightful boy. He was pleased with himself. There was no need to threaten or cajole this time. He began to consider the prospect of marriage. This boy was the only benefit of a union with his mother. Slowly he reduced the attention he paid to the boy's genitals. He extended his caresses along the slender limbs, tickling him and fondling the warm, soft skin. His fingertips were the sole source of Jason's delight and they travelled everywhere, discovering sensitive places that Jason had never realized existed in his body. For the first time his nipples hardened, then as Carlo pinched them gently with his thumb and finger of his left hand, they began to swell. As he rolled the firm bulbs, the boy began to experience the approach of orgasm for the first time. The signs were unmistakable to Carlo. The boy's muscles began to tense, tightening as the pulling muscles lifted his hips upward. His back arched, quivering as his long thigh muscles strained. Without looking, Carlo knew that the boy's buttocks were clenching, squeezing hard as his penis stiffened even further. Unable to resist the temptation, Carlo's left hand moved downward again, tracing the line of the boy's body, momentarily circling his little intruded navel, then down his lower belly. He continued to squeeze the now-very-hard penis playfully. The boy's scrotum had wrinkled as it became taut, forcing his baby-boy testicles into the cavities through which they had descended eight years earlier. Carlo's left hand began to massage the taut pouch, pressing hard into the boy's testicles. Jason giggled and his legs stretched even further apart. It served to make his genitals very exposed. They were no longer his private parts. Jason's penis and testicles were openly displayed. They were now Carlo's property. "Promise you won't tell," Carlo whispered, "And I'll show you something very special, Jason." Jason nodded frantically. His face contorted in a painful grimace of boundless pleasure. "What? Yeah? I promise, okay!" Carlo grinned in the darkness. His fingers enclosed the boy's penis tightly and he began to rub, concentrating mostly on the end where he knew the sensitive glans was. He knew it would drive the boy wild in only a few minutes. The first shuddering spasm came in exactly forty-five seconds. Jason started to squeal and his legs jerked upward without warning. But Carlo had been waiting and he pushed the boy's face against the pillow. The cry was muffled and unheard beyond the private confines of the boy's room. As Carlo had expected, the orgasm was dry. He hoped it would be dry for years to come. That would make his marriage to the boy's mother worthwhile. He paused, gently stroking the flattened scrotum as the boy's breathing slowed again and his tension eased. Finally, the boy's eyes met his. Carlo saw both condemnation and curiosity. "What,... did you do?... What happened to me?" he begged between pants. Carlo squeezed the little penis playfully. It was still very hard, ready for more, wanting to go on and on. "Did you like it?" he asked gently. "Most boys do." Jason thought for a moment, shaking his head to clear the whirling confusion he felt inside. "It,... It felt weird," he responded slowly, "Like something got hurt in me. Kind of in my,... you know." "Does it still hurt?" Carlo asked. Jason shook his head. Taking his hand away from the boy's groin, Carlo carefully eased the slender legs back onto the bed. Immediately, his hand moved back to caress Jason's penis. "What now?" Jason asked shyly. "Is it over now?" Ignoring Jason's question, Carlo began to rub the now-sore, little penis again, pulling downward on the loose flesh as he tried to retract the foreskin over the tiny glans. The boy winced uncomfortably. "That hurts," he complained. "It just takes practice. Like most things," Carlo said gently. "It'll pull back sooner if we practice." "Huh? Pull what back," Jason asked curiously as he glanced down at his penis. He could just make out the man's arm and hand. Carlo laughed and playfully squeezed the bulging glans. "This. When your skin pulls back your pee-pee is even more fun." "Why?" Jason persisted. "But I don't understand what pulls back." Carlo laughed again, "You will in time. It just feels better, that's all." He gave the boy's penis a final squeeze for the night. "Lift your legs up boy and let's have a look at the rest of you." The boy was obviously confused. He lay still as he looked silently up at the man who leaned over him. Firmly taking the boy's ankles Carlo lifted them upward, pushing the boy's knees to his shoulders. In the darkness he could barely see the pale small buttocks. Keeping one arm locked behind Jason's knees to restrain his legs, Carlo caressed the soft, rounded flesh of the small cheeks. Gradually his fingertips moved into the crack. It was hot within the crevice, hot and slightly moist. He traced the center-line, moving backward from the tiny scrotum until he found the puckered opening. He probed with the tip of one finger. There was no doubt that the boy was a virgin. But boys of Jason's age always were. He grinned to himself as his finger pushed inward slightly. There was no complaint from Jason. He wondered whether the boy was too tired, but he knew better. He considered going deeper, pushing in far enough to see the boy's reaction. He decided that it was still too tight without a lubricant but he also knew the advantage of regular exercise. A week, two at the most, and he could penetrate the boy without too much pain, and not with his finger. He leaned forward and gently kissed the boy's forehead. "If I marry your mother, Jason, we could do this every night. Would you like that?" he whispered in the boy's ear. "I,... I guess," the boy whispered back. "But mom would kill me if she found out." "She doesn't need to know, Jason. This is our secret, just between the two of us, okay?" Jason nodded in assent. "Did you have fun, little prince?" "Yeah," Jason said sleepily. "That's enough for one night, I think. You need to sleep. Turn onto your side and I'll stay here with you and rub your back until you go to sleep." Jason nodded sleepily and twisted over in the bed. He curled up, burying his head into the soft pillows as he breathed deeply. In a few minutes he was sound asleep again, as if nothing had disturbed him during the night. PLATONIC LOVE. DAY SEVEN. Frascati, Italy. 11AM, July 30th, 1993. "There is no request, however impossible, that he boy he loves can make which the man wounded by love does not regard it as an absolute necessity to fulfill." Libanius Jason stretched out on the chaise longue, dreaming as he looked through the plastic slats at the tiny black ants scurrying below. Back home, in Lexington, in Kentucky, it was the middle of summer. It was summer here too, but it was different. In Lexington, it was uncomfortably hot at this time of year, a humid stickiness that was unpleasant in the still, brooding heat. Here, the sun warmed his back pleasantly and he stirred languidly, shifting his position sleepily with his eyes half-closed to block out the mid-morning light. His thoughts were unfocused and temporary, flitting from one barely realized image to another. Yet one thought was recurrent, coming back persistently and abruptly. Each time he tried to push it away and send it back deep inside him. Jason was not frightened as much as disturbed by it, by its very presence in his mind. He had discovered a strange, joyful excitement attended that particular thought. It was not unwelcome, but it was not yet fully accepted. In some ways he was still innocent but each night he spent with Carlo he became increasingly uncomfortable with his realization of an wonderful, though guilty pleasure. However, his thoughts now, and the pleasure he had come to know in the middle of the night, were accompanied by intense excitement. It was an excitement that made him shiver again and again as he contemplated what he did with Carlo. It overwhelmed his guilt and shame temporarily. Every time he remembered, when he thought of what he did when he was naked in Carlo's bed, before he managed to push it away again and deny its existence, he felt an incredible excitement begin to build inside him. It would go away, and then, without warning, he would think of Carlo again and the excitement would come back with frightening speed. It was always a little stronger and clearer than the previous time and it lasted longer before he conquered it. And now it was worse. Now he thought about Tony as well. Try as he could, he could not understand what was happening to him. He felt sick inside. He felt sinful, as if it was his fault. Endless guilt raged inside him when he was alone. He knew that he was condemned to hell every time he sneaked across the hall and into Carlo's room, he blamed himself. He was curious too, but there was no one that he could ask. All around, he could hear the lapping of the water at the edge of the pool. He could hear the faint rustle of the dying breeze in the dark-green, almost-black, cypress pines. It was a trembling sound which, like the sounds of birds and insects, seemed to rise and fall, undulating in an endless rhythm. He breathed slowly, bordering on sleep, still tired from the interruption to his night-time sleep. He felt a wonderful, happy glow in his body as he absorbed the sun's energy soaking into his slender back and legs. He felt the same way when Carlo touched him. When Carlo touched his penis, when he touched Carlo's penis, he felt alive and very, very happy. The quietness of ever-present nature on the private hillside outside Frascati was shattered by a sudden loud crack. It seemed to reverberate through the gentle slopes of the Alban Hills, disturbing the quietness of the Roman Campagna, echoing across terraces and along the aisles of the vineyards, among the twisted plane trees and gnarled ancient oaks. For a moment he was startled by the sound, like a gun shot. Then the crack was followed by another, staccato-like without rhythm, but repetitive. It stopped. His body tensed instinctively as he heard the laughter carry down through the trees from the tennis court. He heard Carlo's louder voice, rasping as he called out to his mother, the words evading him but the tone of command was clear. The staccato began one more time. He closed his eyes, waiting and listening as he strained to hear the sound he wanted most of all. It was eleven o'clock. Tony would come any minute now. He would come down the ancient, stone stairs, carrying a bucket and humming. He would call out, "Bon giorno, Jason" as he set up the long scoop and begin to remove the debris from the bottom of the pool. It was a job that Tony had to complete before Carlo and Jason's mother finished their tennis game and came down from the terrace for a swim. The sun, like his thoughts, was relentless, though not confusing. Already it was getting hot, but it was a dry heat very unlike the summer back home. It was late July and the sun scorched into the boy's smooth, pale body, like a white-hot flame on a crucible. His mind became a melting pot of barely realized thoughts, emerging desires whose full significance still evaded him, and guilt. Always endless guilt from what he had done during the night before, and for six nights before that. Just that morning, after he had dried off after his shower, he had examined himself in the full-length mirror in his bathroom. It was difficult for him to understand what made Carlo so excited. He was skinny and pale, almost white, and his genitals were insignificant in size. That morning he had discovered little red splotches on his tiny prepubescent penis and all around his genitals. They were marks from Carlo's mouth. The reddened patches were graphic and undeniable evidence of what he had done. He knew that he needed to keep the marks well covered, no one could know what he did with Carlo at night. They were the evidence of it, those and the dark shadows above his eyes, shadows that came from a lack of sleep. Jason rolled onto his back and breathed out heavily. Reddened stripes from the slats of the chaise traversed his body, from his chest to just above his knees. His narrow chest rose and fell with each breath and his eyes closed again, tightly to block out the sun. Drowsily he lifted his right arm upward, draping it over his forehead to block out the orange-red glow from his eyelids and sink his world into darkness. For the first time, he willingly recalled the thoughts back into his mind but other than that, this morning was no different to any other morning of the last week. He tried to think back, to remember when he had first realized. Not that long ago, just fifteen days since he had arrived in Italy with his mother, seven, or was it eight days ago since Carlo had come into his bedroom in the middle of the night, four days he had first gone into Carlo's bedroom by himself. But it was only in the last few days that he had first noticed Tony in a way he had never noticed anyone before. From the top of the stairs, the young man looked downwards to the pool. His interest was clearly apparent if anyone was watching him. He stared directly at the young boy sunbathing beside the pool. He smiled, half-closing his eyes in the morning glare. "There's the 'Little Prince'. I bet he's gay," Tony decided silently. Again a smile flashed across his face. "Poor little faggot," he added, "doesn't even know what he's missing." Had he said it aloud it would have been with distaste or even disgust, because for Tony Carelli, the one thing he wasn't now, was gay! That possibility had come to an abrupt and painful end shortly before his thirteenth birthday. That was when Carlo had informed him that he was not to come to his room again. He was growing up, becoming a man, and that was unacceptable. Now, he was nineteen, nearly twenty and he'd been getting "pussy" regularly since he was sixteen. He was popular and the girls liked him. He was handsome in a dark, Mediterranean way. His Sicilian heritage was clearly evident in his tight, black curls of hair, ochre complexion, and ebony eyes. He was tanned, tall, and muscular. Though his shoulders were not particularly broad, his body still tapered down to a taut waist, then bulged prominently. He was everything that ten-year-old Jason Anderson was not. Tony Carelli was a man. And yet, as he surveyed the slumbering boy, something excited him. It was not the same way that a girl aroused him although it was almost the same. The boy exuded the same weakness, a fragile softness that bespoke of something other than his visible sex. But it was more than the young boy's weakness that shifted the scales. A memory repressed from long ago, when he was a boy, came back. Tony remembered what was required of a boy to become Carlo's favorite. Only, it was more so for this boy. Jason was the recipient of one of nature's cruelest tricks. He was beautiful. Jason was gentle and sensitive, with features that denied his masculinity, even contradicted his male sex. His hair was blond, in fact silver-blond. It was long and wavy, it reached to his shoulders and framed his face. His eyes were big and blue, very-blue like the pellucid Italian sky, with eyebrows that were so thin and light-colored that they were barely visible. His mouth was small, with full, perfectly shaped lips - like a girl's mouth. Jason Anderson was the image of his mother, except for the interest he showed in Tony. The boy was slender, with narrow shoulders and hips that seemed to barely support his sunflower-yellow swimming-shorts. The elastic waist-band seemed to cling to him midway between his groin and navel. It was as if the shorts had finally caught on his hips at the last moment, just before they slid the rest of the way down and exposed his nakedness to an admiring world. But for the fact that he was attired in shorts and his torso was bare, Jason could be mistaken very easily for a girl. But then, Carlo's favorites were often like that. It was also a comparison that Tony had first made earlier in the week when he had first noticed the boy watching him. But it wasn't the boy that Tony Carelli was interested in, and certainly not what lurked beneath the boy's bright-yellow shorts. It was the girl that seemed to lurk within the slender, young body, just beneath the boy's skin. It was the way that Jason looked at him. It was the same way that most women and girls looked at him. It was the way that Carlo had once looked at him. It was a look of appreciation tinged with lust, longing looks disguised by sideways glances that quickly turned away when observed. "Little faggot," Tony murmured to himself. "You may be his favorite now, but you're still a goddam, fucking faggot," he swore in Italian. He would not admit that the pang he felt inside was jealously, though once it would have acknowledged as that. Absently, he rubbed his bulging crotch, shifting his genitals in the sweat-moistened pouch of his briefs. He smiled, thinking of the evening ahead. It was Friday evening and he would meet Maria at six-thirty in the village near the piazza at the front of the Villa Mondragone. They would go to a trattoria for pizza and by eight o'clock, by eight pm. at the absolute latest, he would have his cock stuffed inside her. He had a load saved for her. It was a big load from four days of abstinence and he fully intended to deposit it in her before he slept that night. Tony smiled yet again as he completed the thought and remembered how they fucked. He wondered whether she would take it in her mouth again. Maria wasn't even fifteen years old and she fucked like a wild thing but she wasn't interested in sucking him. They had fucked for more than six months now and Maria was still hungry for his male power though only between her legs. She was always eager for his dominance as he slammed upward, going as hard and deep inside her as he could. A lot of patrician girls were like that. They were well bred and skittish like the thoroughbreds they rode. They talked with a precise diction that came from private schooling, but they were always in heat and ravenous for a man. But they wanted a real man, not some piss-head boy of their own class, a man like Tony Carelli. Except for her age, Maria was no different to the other girls he had known. Deciding that he needed to go to the toilet before he started cleaning the pool, he began to turn away. For a reason unknown to him, he glanced back at the young boy thoughtfully. "You're just like Maria, kid. Only you're a boy, aren't you? All you really want is a man, a real man. You don't want a withered old bastard like him. Your old lady's crazy. She could do a lot better than being fucked by Carlo. I wonder if she knows about you. I bet she'd die if she knew the old bastard was playing with your dick." Again he turned away still thinking to himself, "When he gets your cherry, kid, he's going to hit the jackpot." Tony looked up and over towards the Late-Baroque villa. Its faded-pink stucco and crimson-tiled roof was barely visible through the avenue of majestic oaks along the terrace. "Yeah, it'll probably kill the old bastard when he starts fucking you. Your ass will be so tight he'll die," he mused. He started to walk along the dusty gravel path as he added with conviction, "Yeah, the fucking jackpot is right up your cute little ass, kid." Again he glanced back at Jason, seeing only the briefest glimpse of the boy's small, glistening, blond head as he moved out of sight, still musing to himself, "I should take your cherry and fuck the shit right out of you. Poetic fucking justice for the old bastard." Jason sat up quickly and furtively glanced around him. He twisted back to look at the stairs that led down to the pool. Something had startled him, an unheard sound, an unseen presence, an undeniable sense that someone else was there besides him. He started to call out, "Who's there?" but even as his boy-soprano voice started to echo back at him from the stone walls, he quieted as the surprise faded. He could still hear the repetitive crack of ball against racket, the undecipherable sounds of voices carrying from the court. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was a sigh of frustration, of a petulant young child thwarted, of growing confusion. Easily he came to his feet and for a moment arched his back as he stretched. He walked over to the edge of the pool and balanced gracefully on his right leg while he swirled his left foot in the cool, transparent water. A tiny shiver seemed to ripple through his body, a little tremor of stirring life. He was hot from the exposure to the sun and the water seemed too cold to him. He turned away from the pool, now wondering why Tony was late. A few steps took him to the inflated plastic dragon that reclined, bobbing at the edge of the pool where the light breeze had pushed it earlier. The air was still now, not silent, but still. It seemed threatening and oppressive as the sun seared into him. It was almost as if a storm was brewing. It was a lot like home. Absently, Jason kicked at the dragon's head. It had been a present from Carlo, one of many during the last few days. He knew why he had received it. He turned away guiltily and then was drawn back to it, remembering. It was the first time that he had voluntarily touched the man's penis. Guiltily, he consulted his new, waterproof watch. It was a gift from Carlo as well. It came with the dragon. It was eleven o'clock, still half-an-hour until his mother and Carlo finished playing tennis and came down to the pool. The over-scaled, oval-shaped head of the dragon seemed to smile knowingly back at him. The big red dots on its dark-green snout were like oversized freckles. Its eyes were playful, enticing and challenging the child that still lived inside the boy to accept both it and what it stood for. It was but one gift among many. Gently he stroked the satin-smooth skin of his right ear lobe, rubbing his finger against the small, pointed stud. It was a diamond, a real diamond. No boy at school had a real diamond. It had been Carlo's idea when they were in Rome. All the boys wore them, he said. Jason smiled as he remembered his mother's half-hearted argument about getting his ear pierced. Carlo had won, easily. "It hadn't been so bad," the boy thought fondly as he remembered how much he enjoyed what the man asked of him. In fact, after the first two or three nights it had become fun! A lot of fun. It was so much fun that on the third night he had left his pajamas on the chair and got into bed naked. Carlo had liked that. He was unable to resist the naked boy and the next day Jason received a gold chain and cross, a rich reward for his sin. The next night, almost as soon as his mother's door closed, he was in Carlo's room. Carlo undressed him, lifted him up high into the air, and tossed him onto the bed. That was the night he touched Carlo's penis for the first time. Though he always felt badly afterwards, he was still too innocent to see his fascination as depraved or unnatural. He was entranced by the peculiar feelings that came to him every time he touched the Carlo's penis under the sheets, or for that matter, looked at Tony's crotch. There was always a funny fluttering feeling deep in his chest that felt like small beating wings and a tingling sensation when Tony's eyes seemed to reach into his own eyes. Those feelings were identical to the feelings that he had discovered and quickly come to enjoy with Carlo. In his nightly encounters, what happened was something that not only did he want to do and enjoyed a great deal, it had become something that he had to do. Carlo expected it of him. During the long hours of daylight and while he was by himself, he always felt ashamed of what he did during the night. Each time the guilt seemed to get worse. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the man's gentle caresses. He did. The slow stroking always focused on his private places and it always felt very nice. But they were places he always kept covered and Carlo was always touching parts of his body that he had been taught were sinful. Jason was confused. The feelings he had discovered for the first time in his own bedroom were at the same time, both good and bad. Most recently, in Carlo's private chambers, he had explored those feelings further, each time going a little further until he finally had decided that it was mostly good. From the outset, he had consented. At first, he needed only to close his eyes and let the hands swirl around him, waiting until sleep returned to him, until early morning when Carlo would leave him and go back to his own room. It wasn't like that any longer. The boy shivered as he remembered. Now, he responded to the gentle touches with caresses of his own. It was mutual. He had done what he knew he should not do, again and again, every night since the first night. He enjoyed it too much to stop. Unable able to resist, Jason grinned. His white perfect teeth flashed as his lips parted and he squatted down onto his haunches. He held the dragon steady with one hand and tentatively slid his left leg and then his buttocks outward over the water. He settled down carefully, his sixty-three pounds plus swimming costume pushing the green monster downward into the water and away from the side of the pool. He crossed his legs behind the dragon's neck and leaned back until his head and shoulders were supported by its tail. The dragon bobbed up and down slightly, assuming a new equilibrium. It gracefully floated across the pool as the boy pushed off. Not hard enough to reach the shaded end of the pool where the water was deep and darker, it stopped midway. It floated where the leaves from the trees above merged into blue sky and the shadows danced over the boy's body. He closed his eyes again, discarding the idea of paddling further into the shade, now content with even partial relief from the burning sun. After a minute, he glanced around again, checking the stairs one more time before closing his eyes. He tried to recall the thoughts that had most recently been in his mind but now both Tony and Carlo were inseparable. This time he felt almost no guilt or shame, just a foreign curiosity about the part of Tony's body that was like his own or Carlo's, and yet - so very different. With his thoughts of Tony, there came a nervous quiver and a trembling inside his chest. Gooseflesh immediately and inexplicably formed on his arms and legs. He shivered involuntarily as though he was chilled. But with either image, Tony or Carlo, there was the same growing warmth inside him. It came not from the heat of the sun but from something that seemed to be at the very center of his body. Again and again, part of him, that private part that interested Carlo most of all, stirred and shrugged of its stupor and came alive. It grew hot and hard and it stayed like that for what seemed to be the entire time he was awake in Carlo's bedroom. It also became hot and hard whenever he watched Tony Carelli cleaning the pool. Jason could remember when he had first noticed it, every minute detail of how it had happened embedded in his consciousness. It was there on the first night and it felt unbelievably good. It felt very good when Carlo touched it. It was, as Carlo told him, the undeniable sign that he liked it. It was there now and he could feel it getting tighter and hotter under his shorts as it stretched, then shifted, then stretched outward again as it moved upwards from between his legs to lie against his lower belly. At night, in the secure privacy of Carlo's bedroom, behind locked doors, things happened. Nice things. Things that made him feel good all over his body. In the darkness, uncertain, frightened, and longing for Carlo's gentle touches, he would remember his mother's words; "What he did with his body was his business and no one else's." She had said those words in answer to his question about whether it was wrong to touch his penis. For a short time, her words made his guilt and shame vanish. But he knew better. She didn't know what he did with his body. Jason longed to tell her the truth. After the first night, he wanted to confess but he could never tell her what happened. Similarly, he knew he could never tell a priest. It was a secret that only he and Carlo could share. His need to tell had eventually become overpowering and after three nights he finally broke down. He hadn't lied. He told the truth, he just had not told her everything. Jason thoughts drifted back to the present, to Tony Carelli. He easily remembered the first time he had watched Tony and saw him in a way he had never considered. The feelings he had then were not too different to those he had at that moment. Only they were stronger now. He could remember vividly the first time he had seen the bulging muscles in Tony's arms and the sinews tensing as he pushed the vacuum back and forth with effortless precision. That morning, just three days earlier, Jason had peeked time and time again, each time taking in more. Like a drug, he absorbed the man as he watched him. The bare chest was bronzed and glowed with healthy vitality and a thin, dark line of hair led upward from his shorts to his navel. Always his eyes were drawn to the prominent bulge in the man's shorts. It was larger by far than his own small bump. It appeared to be a lot bigger that Carlo's too. Images had become embedded in his mind so that he could recall them at will. It was always the bulge that he recalled. It was the center of his interest. It was the same as Carlo's, only he knew that it was bigger, much bigger. It was huge compared to his own. There was a loud bang and Jason jumped slightly, startled out of his reverie. He glanced to the side of the pool, then quickly looked away before turning back. Through half-closed eyes he followed Tony as he descended the steps carrying the bucket. The young man stopped, dropped the bucket with an even louder bang, and stripped off his tee shirt with the same effortless motion that Jason had observed during the last few days. He tossed it onto the stone wall balustrade next to the steps. Like a male model, a center-fold pose, with golden brown skin, firm pectoral muscles, taut belly, and a bulging groin concealed behind blue-denim shorts. Ten-year-old Jason took it all in eagerly from twenty feet away. The heat in his young body increased in a rush this time. It was not the familiar gradually growing warmth and curious interest but a weird, overpowering sense of wanting something he could not have. Again, like the last time, and the time before that, Jason waited, feeling that private part of him responding instinctively. It had a life of its own as it became even hotter, then hard, taut flesh that was so stiff and unyielding that it almost hurt. It poked rudely outward into his shorts. It became so hard that he couldn't think of anything else except watching Tony. The image of Carlo, like a fuzzy, grainy, under- exposed photograph, faded. With each cautious glance, Jason kept his eyes glued to the corresponding place on the man's body. "Bon giorno, Jason," Tony called out with a smirk, "You dead or alive, little one?" The teasing note in his voice was lost on the boy and Jason smiled back and waved to show that he was still alive. He closed his eyes tightly again. As tight as he could, trying to block the intense excitement that was now growing quickly inside him. He wondered why he did not feel quite the same way when he was with Carlo during the night. He tried to understand the difference between the two men. Was it only a matter of age, or was it more than that? Only moments passed before Jason peeked again. Tony was assembling the scoop, attaching long lengths of aluminum tube together with a quick flick of his wrists. Jason's right hand dropped down into the water and he paddled once, twice, then again, making the inflated dragon twist around as it pivoted in the center of the pool. Jason lay still as the inflatable turned full circle, almost a minute before he dared to look again. This time Tony had moved away and was scooping up leaves from the bottom of the pool. Now, Tony's back was towards him and Jason grew more confident. He gazed without interruption. Unable to see the man's groin, he watched his back, his buttocks, and his legs. He watched every part other than the one part he was truly interested in. Tony turned without warning and instantly Jason's head twisted away. This was the same game they had played the day before. Cautiously, Jason glanced back but Tony was still watching him. "Gotcha kid!" the young man laughed. Jason grinned back. For a moment he thought about turning away again and prolonging the game but something inside him made him stop and just look. His eyes followed Tony's every movement, dropping down again and again to the ever-present bulge that loomed between his muscular thighs. PLATONIC LOVE. "What's the water like?" Tony asked. "Cold?" he teased. Tony did not harbor resentment. What he had done eight or nine years earlier with Carlo was gone. As a boy, he had been just one of many boys who had come into Carlo's private chambers late at night. Those times were gone forever. They had departed with his youth, gone like his innocence. The desires, the games, the passion that had he'd shared in Carlo's bed for those few all- too-short years had ceased almost as soon as his sexual urge had begun to strengthen and seek relief. It was over before his thirteenth birthday. His time with Carlo had ended as soon as he had started to mature. "Uh? Oh y-y-yeah, k-k-kind of c-c-cold," Jason answered nervously after a long pause. Then he added uncertainly, "I g-g- guess." Tony grinned, "Cold water is good for a kid." The grin changed to a sly smile, "Takes away life's little problems... Know what I mean?" he said slowly. Then the smile became a teasing grin again and he brought the scoop upwards, locking it under the side of the dragon and behind the front leg. He gave it a quick shove so that the dragon rocked precariously. "Hey! D-d-don't!" Jason shrieked. His voice was high- pitched, like a girl's voice. "It's too c-c-cold!" Tony laughed and shoved down again as Jason grabbed for the sides of the inflatable and it tipped almost to the point of no return. "Next time," he taunted, "Jason gets wet!" The boy was giggling hysterically as he clung for dear life and moved his weight quickly to counteract the bucking dragon. "No! D-d-don't you d-d-dare! Carelli! You'll d-d-die! he threatened impotently. Tony laughed with him. He enjoyed Jason's exuberance almost as much as his nervous stuttering as he rocked the boy up and down, making waves that splashed over him and lapped against the edge of the pool. "So Jason? You ready for the big one? You ready to go for a swim?" Amid a torrent of giggles, the boy shook his head as he tightened his grip on the handles of the inflatable dragon until his knuckles were white. Tony grinned and pretended as if he were going to give one last heave. Instead he pulled the dragon over to the side of the pool. Without knowing why, the question formed in his mind and he blurted it out. "You keep looking at me! Why?" he asked. Jason shrugged, thought for a moment and replied. "No I d-d- don't," he answered emphatically. There was silence between them as both realized the lie for what it was. "I d-d-don't l-l-look at you," he lied again. His voice trembled with childish acknowledgment of his guilt. "I d-d-don't," he added with finality. Tony raised his eyebrows questioningly and smiled serenely as he gazed down at the ten-year-old boy. "You like what you see, don't you." Like Jason's denial, it was said with conviction. It was not posed as a question but as a statement of fact, of the recognition of the boy's visible interest in his adult body. Jason was silent. He lay still, staring up at the young man who stood at the edge of the pool, barely a foot away from him. He shook his head, trying desperately to deny what he knew to be true. Lying came hard to him. A lie was a sin and he never lied. He blushed, first his cheeks reddening, then as he felt the heat growing in his face, his slender neck darkened as well. He stared up pitifully. Jason was ready to cry. Tony shrugged and feigned disinterest as he recognized the boy's growing shame and embarrassment. A long forgotten memory came back to him. It was a memory of himself as a boy, stark naked, on a hot July night. He was lying on the bed in Carlo's chamber. At the time he was not even ten-years-old, but he was old enough. He knew what to do, even then. Beads of perspiration spotted their bodies. He was lying face down, legs splayed outward, his hands clasping his buttocks as he pulled them wide apart. A finger, a foreign finger, Carlo's finger pressed into his anus for the first time. It slid down into his well- lubricated bowel on a thick film of grease. And then it started to move. It stroked up and down, curling and pressing into his belly so hard that it was all he could do not to piss on the bed. And finally, when the finger had been joined by a second and the partnership worked in tandem, his anus became impossibly loose. After nearly twenty minutes he had climaxed. It was unlike anything he had ever known before. Jolts of electricity hammered at his spine with each relentless pump. It went on and on into the night, until he was drained and the sheets were wet under his belly. With a strange fascination, Tony wondered whether the young boy had found that pleasure yet. If not, then it probably was not far off. Until that night, the guilt had been nothing. It had not worried him to be in the man's bed at night. It was just a game. It was a game that the man like to play with the young boys who came to visit and ended up living at the villa. It was a game of playing with each other's penises, of jerking off, and sometimes of Carlo tasting his small, hard penis. That night the rules changed and it was no longer a game, though he wanted to play more than ever before. Although he would always deny it, Tony wanted what came next. He had hated himself afterwards. Like Jason, he too had sinned and he could never confess it. This beautiful boy would be no different. It was a secret that Tony Carelli carried deep inside him. He had never told anyone about the nights he spent in Carlo's bedroom during those three years. No one would believe him, anyway. Tony toyed with the boy, wondering how much guilt the boy already had, how much he could stand before the dam burst and he cried? "You get a hard-on watching me," he taunted. Jason gaped at him stupidly. Tony smirked. "Your dick gets hard doesn't it, kid?" Jason swallowed nervously. His body tensed and quivered with anxiety. The appropriate response was unknown to him. He rubbed at his eyes, smearing the wetness of his now-forming tears away. In his confusion he shook his head, then paused momentarily. Abruptly, he nodded. "You like watching me. You like looking at my cock," Tony smirked. Again, they weren't questions but statements of fact. Jason's jaws clenched resolutely as he reddened even further. Tony grinned, "You want to see my cock?" he asked quietly. The boy's nod, when it finally came, was barely visible. Tony smiled reassuringly at Jason. With his foot he steadied the inflatable dragon while the boy disembarked. Jason stood before Tony, shivering slightly as if he was cold. They were less than a foot apart and for the first time Tony realized the true extent of the difference between them. Jason was a little boy, still ten-years old, still with the fragility of a young child, barely four-foot four-inches tall. For a moment he remembered himself at the same age. Silently he turned away and started to walk towards the steps. Jason hesitated, then seconds later followed meekly behind him. They climbed the stairs. Instead of turning towards the house, they turned left and walked towards the pool maintenance room. Tony pushed the door open and stood to one side. Jason's eyes swapped rapidly between the darkness within and the man in the doorway as he evaluated his dilemma. "You've g-g-got to p-p-promise n-n-never to t-t-tell anyone," he whispered awkwardly after a few long seconds. He shifted feet, changing his balance nervously as he thought. Instinctively, he knew that Carlo would be very angry if he found out. Tony smiled and nodded. "Yeah kid, I promise. You want to see or not?" Jason nodded back and then quickly stepped through the doorway. The door closed behind them and instantly the antiseptic smell of chlorine came to him. It was a pungent, raw smell that was unpleasant. The light was dim, filtered though a skylight that appeared as if it had never been washed. Jason's eyes moved rapidly around the room. He was nervous, yet curious as he saw the chemicals and equipment that littered the space. He heard a rustle of clothing, the unmistakable sound of a zipper being opened. It was followed by more clothing sounds. He wanted to turn around and look at Tony but he dared not. He winced as he felt a hand on his bare shoulder. It squeezed his thin arm, digging into the small shoulder blade. A thumb pressed against his collar bone. He trembled, then breathed quickly as Tony turned him around. Not gently or easily, but with a forceful pressure that frightened him. His eyes focused on Tony's bare chest, almost on line with his dark, now-pointed nipples. Jason was afraid to look up or down. Unlike Carlo, Tony's chest was smooth and hairless, though not as smooth as his own. The hand moved from the boy's bare shoulder, finger tips gliding across velvet-like skin to his neck. Then it moved upwards behind his head. The fingers stopped, embedded in the boy's long, silky hair. Slowly, with a surprising gentleness, the hand that cradled the back of the boy's head pulled forward. It forced Jason's eyes downward, away from Tony's chest and down to his belly, following the dark line of hair to an even darker, thicker mass of hair. Jason's eyes stopped there in surprise. He saw a man's genitals for the first time. He didn't breath. He didn't move. He just stared at the man's penis unflinchingly. It was very different to touching Carlo's penis under the sheets protected by the secure privacy of darkness. This was real. It was not erect, though certainly not limp. It was elongated and it sprang outward and downward with a slow arc that bent back on itself about halfway. Even partially aroused, it looked to be about six or seven inches long. It was already considerably longer than Carlo's penis when it was fully erect. It was thicker too. But it was also similar. Like Jason, Tony had not been circumcised but his penis was very different to a little boy's penis. Jason observed with interest, the peculiar fold of skin that he had only known before by examination of his own penis. The man's foreskin only half-covered the partially swollen glans. His own foreskin was much longer, fully half-an-inch of puckered tip pulled over the end of his penis when it was limp. And the long shaft of Tony's penis was wrinkled, not smooth like his own, not as wrinkled as Carlo's. Veins were beginning to stand out as thick, engorged, bluish lines. The man's scrotum was barely visible beneath the broad, thick shaft and the unruly, wire-like pubic hair that sprouted around it. Jason swallowed in fear as he discovered that a man's penis was very different in the light. It was not the disheartening comparison with his own small, but very-stiff penis that bothered him, or the size that frightened him. In reality it was no bigger than he had anticipated or imagined. It was the frenzied pounding of his heart that terrorized him. For some reason that was unknown to the boy, he did not feel like this with Carlo. Tony's hand held his head firmly. The grip was unyielding, though now unnecessary. Jason could not look away. Then the pressure on his head increased and forced the boy downward. Supplicant-like, as if taking the nourishment of Christ, he sank to his knees with his face now only inches away from the half- erect penis. For the first time, Jason saw a man's testicles. They were not small, delicate, marble-sized eggs like his own. The scrotum was hair-covered with wrinkled, ugly flesh pulled low by the weight of two ponderous golf-ball-sized testicles. Hair, thick, dark hair seemed to cover the man's thighs and lower belly. It was a tangled matt around his genitals, a stark contrast to the hairless, soft body of the boy that knelt in silent wonder before the naked man. But try as he could, Jason could not look away. The man's penis still pointed downward. It was aimed directly at his chest. Unable either to move or to speak, barely breathing in the silent, crowded room, Jason stared at it. He absorbed the latent power and the life and heat that seemed to grow from it. There was a mysterious aura that emanated outward from it. It was everything that he was not. It was everything that he wanted. Jason shook his head suddenly, then breathed quickly, frantically attempting to deny the irresistible need that he sensed within him. The hardness of his own small penis seemed irrelevant. What he did in the darkness with Carlo was irrelevant and no longer of interest to him. He wanted only to touch it, to become one with it. Tony interrupted the boy's unspoken thought even as it formed and strengthened in his mind. The child's head was no longer full of the pure, unsullied thoughts of innocence. Though he was still inhibited, what remained was the result of ignorance, inexperience, or a lack of opportunity. Jason Anderson had yet to take Carlo's penis into his body. However, he was fully aware of the possibilities since his penis had been subject to oral gratification every night since Carlo had found him naked and waiting in his bed. He had yet to return the pleasure. Now, his haunting, hungry desire for Tony's penis pushed its way to the center of his mind and became the focus of everything, his body, his entire ten-year-old life. To Jason, it was as if a mystery was unfolding. It was a story whose beginning had been started by Carlo, but one whose end he could not even begin to grasp. What confronted him now was far beyond his initial discovery of the strange desires which were awakened inside him. His hand trembled as it reached up of its own volition, unguided by the boy as it responded to a far deeper instinct, transcending eight years of strict Catholic upbringing and his frantic denial of the craving he felt. It had come from nowhere, as foreign to him as the thick, lengthening penis before him. But in the instant of his realization of its existence, it became as much a part of his being as anything he had known all his life. The desire to take Tony's penis in his hand and into his mouth had taken control of his confused mind. Jason also wanted to touch his own aching penis, to stroke the tiny swollen tip or rub it between his thumb and fingers. He yearned to do what Carlo had taught him to do in the solitude of the darkness with gentle caresses under the sheets. He would have been happy even to rub it against the soft skin of his belly, even against his shorts. But he could not, not kneeling before Tony, not confronted by the awesome maleness that now daunted him. "Go on, touch it," Tony urged as he breathed out. His voice was strangely distant and husky with excitement as he regarded the small silver-blond head before him. He watched the soft thin fingers of the child's hand reach out tentatively. Like the vast majority of young boys, Jason was too inexperienced to make contact with the object of his interest. If what Jason had felt on his first night alone with Carlo was childish curiosity tinged with lust, it was no longer. It was raw excitement, heart pounding, adrenaline surging, hand trembling excitement. Jason looked up, his large, blue eyes sparkling with youthful intensity. "I can,... touch it?" he whispered uncertainly, afraid to break the silent mystery that seemed to engulf the room. Tony smirked at the boy's hesitation. At ten, he hadn't hesitated very long with Carlo and he knew the boy had already started to visit the private chambers late at night. Everybody in the villa knew that, except for the boy's mother of course. "Still", he thought to himself, "the kid seemed younger than he had been at the time. He was certainly smaller and as an only child, it was likely that Jason's life had been more protected. With older brothers, even ten-year-old boys have some knowledge of sex games." He smiled to himself, unless he was much mistaken, unless Carlo had changed over seven years, this was probably the first grown man's penis that the young boy had actually seen. Other boys his own age, perhaps but nothing more. He suspected that Jason was still a virgin, like he had been for the first few weeks with Carlo. The idea of the beautiful, blond- headed boy being a virgin amused him and again a smile flashed across his face as he thought about it. "If you want," Tony answered patiently though his voice was strained, reflecting barely controlled lust. The similarity between the slender boy who knelt before him now and Maria was remarkable, the comparison between boy and girl being unavoidable. The similarity was not a physical one for Maria had long auburn hair and hazel eyes but when confronted by his penis for the first time, she had been frightened, awed, uncertain, and yet irresistibly drawn to it. But unlike Maria, Tony had no interest in the small, child-sized appendage that lay between the boy's slender legs and now pointed upwards into his shorts. The boy suddenly looked up again. Now, the strain of his unfamiliar excitement showed as nervous blinking. Confusion, guilt, and anxiety came in waves that swamped him and threatened his sanity. "I,... I d-d-don't," he stammered awkwardly. Again, Tony smiled down at him, now no longer seeing the boy before him. It was with shock that Tony Carelli realized that the soft effeminate features were not those of a young boy. The long, blond hair framed Jason's smooth, oval-shaped face. Looking upward, with his head tilted back, Tony saw the young boy's narrow, lightly tanned shoulders; the thin, graceful neck; the large eyes; the delicately sculpted features. There were no breasts and his nipples that were all but invisible. He was not a girl, but then he was not a boy either. Jason pulled back, startled as he saw the expression on Tony's face change, from disinterest, to bewilderment, to unconcealed, rampart lust. Tony's hand moved forward quickly and grasped Jason's right wrist. Momentarily, he marvelled at the smallness of the soft hand, the slimness of the forearm, the fragile thinness of his wrist. The boy's eyes opened wide as he realized that his hand was being pulled slowly forward. He felt the velvet heat from the man's flesh. It was both hotter and softer than Carlo's penis and it seared his finger tips. Jason panicked, wanting only to pull away as soon as he understood what the burning hot flesh was. His arm was immobile. Just his hand moved, under Tony's bigger, stronger hand, closing over the boy's small fingers and squeezing them into the now-rapidly-hardening flesh. The two hands moved very slowly, going up and down together and sliding over the loose skin that covered the shaft of Tony's penis. There was a long, breathless silence until Tony sighed. "Yeah, that's good." His arousal increased, making his penis flex and tremble as it continued to harden. He glanced downward and the boy's eyes followed his eyes, down to the half-erect penis held securely in two hands, one small and soft and very nervous, the other, large and strong and very rough from years of gardening at the villa. The silence returned. It seemed infinite, unbroken as they shared a long minute joined together. The man's penis grew thicker and harder, ever lengthening as it stiffened until veins bulged outwards and it lifted upwards and became vertical. Jason's hand lifted upwards too until the engorged penis danced before his eyes. It was fully twice the length of Carlo's penis, bigger than his own forearm and longer by at least two inches. His hand could only half-enclose it. Slowly Tony's hand began to move further and further, not going any faster but in long up and down sweeps that pulled the foreskin back past the glans before pushing it forward again. Jason stared at it in mute fascination, watching the fold of skin slide back so that it partially covered the swollen, dark glans of the big uncircumcised penis. The top of it glistened as slippery, clear fluid oozed out of the gaping slit. Entranced by the heat that poured into his hand, Jason moved his hand with Tony's hand gladly. The only sound in the cluttered dirty room was the loud slapping as the man's full scrotum jerked back and forth, bouncing the heavy testicles against Tony's firmly muscled legs. Then, as the huge penis attained full erection and strained, flexing and throbbing hungrily for more, Tony stopped. "You want to jerk me off, don't you?" he asked confidently. The boy shrugged uncertainly, noncommittally, though not incompletely disinterested. "Huh?" he murmured. "Do what?" Tony smirked, realizing that such words were anathema to Carlo and that a ten-year-old boy probably had no idea of the meaning of the word even though he knew what to do. That meant that he, Carlo, would have to provide an explanation and he intended to raise the question that most interested him. "You play with your dick don't you?" he asked quietly. "I see you doing it down there at the pool, when you watch me. It feels good when you play with it, doesn't it? What Carlo does,.... what he does to you at night feels even better, doesn't it?" There was a long, silent pause. Tony could imagine the boy's sense of shame and the betrayal that comes with discovery, of knowing that another person now knew his deepest secret. Jason nodded slightly. Like Maria, he too was unable to resist the man. "You want me to,..." his voice trailed off as he realized that Tony knew about what he did with Carlo at night. He swallowed back the words he wanted so desperately to speak. "Do that to you?" he finished with a faint whisper. Seconds passed, long interminable seconds as he tried to gather his thoughts. It came almost as an afterthought. "You know,... what I do with him?" he added uncertainly. Tony nodded and shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah I know. Hell kid, everyone knows, except maybe your mother. I don't expect she knows, yet!" He laughed. "You sleep with Carlo, don't you? You do stuff in his bed at night, don't you? You do it to his cock and he does it to yours. Everyone here knows about it. He does it to lots of boys.... You want to do it to mine as well, don't you?,... Now?" Slowly Tony's hand backed away, leaving Jason's hand alone on the thick shaft of his penis. The boy's hand could not enclose it fully, a gap of three inches or more remained between the tips of his thumb and fingers. Tony's penis was much larger than Carlo's and it was considerably stiffer. He started to tremble as he nodded in silent acquiescence. Jason seemed to stare at his hand for a long while as he tried to believe what he saw. The heat from Tony's penis felt like it was burning the palm of his hand. He breathed deeply. Upon closer inspection he decided that it was unlike Carlo's penis in many ways. The first thing he realized shocked him greatly. He wanted to kiss the end of it. He had, for some reason unknown to himself, decided that Carlo's penis was 'dirty'. He didn't want it in his mouth. But this was different. He wanted to place his lips on the fat, shiny, plum-colored end and suck. The boy swallowed comfortably, wondering whether it would fit inside his mouth, whether his lips could stretch wide enough to take it. It seemed doubtful but the idea was very tempting. Carefully, he began to move his hand back and forth, holding the huge shaft tightly the same way that Carlo had taught him. The skin appeared to be much looser and it slid easily under his hand, not at all like Carlo's penis which he had to pump on as hard and fast as he could to elicit the same sensations that came easy to his own slender body. "Not so tight," Tony instructed. "Hold it loose, kid." Reprimanded and his self-esteem diminished, he gave up trying to do what Carlo had spent long hours teaching him. His instinct took over. He relaxed his grip, holding Tony's penis the same way he held his own, though using all four of his fingers and not just his thumb and first finger that he employed on himself. The result was immediate and rewarding. Tony groaned as the soft, small hand began to flutter up and down the upper half of his now-rigid penis. Under his hand, Jason felt the monstrous shaft lurch and quiver each time he jerked the foreskin back over the glans. His teachers had always proclaimed that Jason was an unusually intelligent boy, he was also a fast learner. Jason went to work. Within moments, he figured out that if one hand felt good, two would feel better. Maybe even two times better. He brought his left hand forward, placing it directly below his right hand but on the other side of the man's now throbbing penis. The rhythm came naturally to him. The smell over-powered him. It was a rich, musky odor tinged with the scent of sweat and urine. Strangely, he had never noticed a smell coming from Carlo's penis. He decided he liked the smell. It was a distinctly male smell, a man's smell that was stronger than the aroma of chlorine and disinfectant that hung in the air around him. The smell excited him. He took deep breaths, lingering over each one as air passed into his nostrils, exhaling quickly through his mouth with sudden gasps. There was a buzzing sound in his ears, a constant drone that momentarily confused him before he realized that it was Tony. His body had become tense and he emitted low, subdued moans of pleasure. Jason's eyes focused on the bulbous swollen glans as he leaned forward and licked the slippery, wet end. As his tongue pulled back inside his mouth and tasted saltiness, he heard Tony groan loudly. The hands supporting his head drew him back, guiding his mouth inexorably onto the pulsing, demanding penis. "Suck it," Tony commanded. "Suck my cock, kid." His voice was strained and as tense as his body. The mere suggestion of taking it into his mouth suddenly frightened the boy. The taste was strong. It was much stronger than Carlo's had tasted when he had scraped some of the thin milky juice off his belly and wiped it from his little depressed navel. He had done that just the night before. He had tentatively tasted it and decided that he liked it. He also decided that he would suck Carlo's penis when the next opportunity presented itself. Still uncertain about taking the huge glans into his mouth, he settled for another lick. More slippery, salty juice coated his tongue as Tony groaned again. As soon as the taste faded from his tongue, he went back for more. This time, instead of licking it, he pressed his lips to the very tip of it, and kissed. Again his natural inclinations took over and his lips parted, letting the blunt, fat end of the man's penis penetrate into him until it reached his teeth. "Open your mouth," Tony gasped. "I won't hurt you, I promise." His hands moved from the back of Jason's head to cradle his cheeks. Strong, rough fingers pressed into the smooth skin and forced his jaws apart. Jason knew better than to resist. He opened his mouth as wide as he could, stretching his lips into thin, pale lines. He felt the man's penis filling him, grating on his teeth as it pushed inward, going further and deeper. Tony's hands moved to the back of Jason's small blond head and held him tightly as he pulled the boy forward. His penis pushed in further as it rammed the boy's tongue down and out of the way. He knew better than to force too much inside and he backed away as soon as the boy started to gag. "You're okay, kid," he whispered urgently. "You suck good. Now try to keep it there and jerk me off." The boy nodded weakly. With his mouth stuffed full of rigid, man-sized penis, his head barely moved as he signaled that his duty was both understood and willingly accepted. He was surprised to find he liked it. He loved it. It was hot and alive and it was inside him, not very far, but far enough. It tasted endlessly salty as the slimy juice oozed out onto his palate. He started to use both hands again, making a loose sleeve from his fingers and thumbs that held the man's penis captive in a soft, tickling web. Jason was unprepared for what happened next. He knew about orgasms, he had know about them from the first night when he gone into Carlo's bedroom. He knew it took time for a man to produce his semen and it took work, a lot of work for Carlo. After less than a minute, Tony ejaculated. White, thick, very- hot spurts erupted onto Jason's tonsils without warning. Startled, Jason jerked away frantically, gulping as it fountained into his mouth. Released from the wet, soft confines of the boy's mouth, the man's penis sprung upward, spewing as it went. Strands of semen burst outward, flying into the boy's face, into his eyes, onto his forehead and nose, over his long, blond hair. Jason's hands kept moving relentlessly as the huge testicles surrendered four days of pent-up fluid. It seemed to shower down onto his head, stray lumps spitting onto his shoulders, some hitting his arms. The last of it dribbled out and ran down the shaft. There was still enough to make the boy's hands slippery. The aftermath left Tony shuddering and so drained that he almost collapsed. He leaned backward to support himself against the workbench as Jason's small hands finally stopped moving on his penis. The boy looked up expectantly. Happiness blossomed in his eyes, conscious pride in his achievement. He smiled confidently as semen dribbled down his cheek then dripped onto his chest. Like a two-year-old boy and a vanilla icecream, he was covered in it. Jason was also unprepared for what happened after that. "You're a disgusting, filthy little animal," Carlo cursed. Both Tony and Jason turned at the same instant, both seeing the man framed in the doorway, both recognized the fury in a face that was normally kind and gentle. Tony pushed the boy away angrily so that he fell back onto the floor heavily, his arms and legs splaying out. His still-hard penis made a sharp, short point in his shorts. "It was his idea," Tony blurted out. "He wanted to do it. The little fucker made me," he swore angrily. "I-I-I-I,... N-n-n-no,.... I-I-I,..." Jason wailed impotently. He shook his head wildly, then realizing that his face was covered in semen tried to wipe it away. His hand, covered in dust and grime from the floor, succeeded only in turning the wetness into a dirty mess. His eyes began to hurt, stinging painfully as he rubbed at them. "Get out of here, Tony," Carlo ordered. "And you,..." he shook his head sadly as he looked at the boy on the floor. "I'm ashamed of you. I thought you were smarter. I thought you were better than this. Go clean that stinking mess off your face before your mother sees you." Jason slowly got to his feet. What he shared with Carlo at night suddenly seemed a very long way away. His knees felt weak and he tottered as he stood. He wanted to say he was sorry. He wanted to say that he would never do it again. He wanted Carlo to forgive him. Tears started to roll down his cheeks, mixing with the grey-brown slime and making his eyes sting even worse. He staggered blindly from the room and almost tripped as he descended the stairs that he had climbed only a few minutes earlier. It seemed like an eternity had passed since he had climbed off the dragon and followed Tony. At the side of the pool he squatted down and tried to scoop up some water to wash his face clean. He felt the man's semen matted in the long strands of his hair, still thick and slippery. He took a deep breath and dived into the water, cleansing his body, wanting to stay under until he drowned. PLATONIC LOVE. DAY SEVEN. Paros (an island in the Cyclades, Greece). 2 PM, July 30th, 1993. "A woman, from puberty to middle age and until the wrinkles cover up her charms, is a worthy object of man's embraces and tender feelings; even when her beauty has passed, her experience tells in her favor. The pursuit of a young man of twenty is, in my opinion, an ignoble and perverse indulgence. His limbs are the limbs of a man, strong and sinewy; his once delicate chin is roughened by beard and his rounded thighs are covered with hair..." Lucian, Dialogues of Love. I called Jason on his birthday. I always did that, no matter where I was. It was the only time during the year that I talked to him. The previous year, when he turned nine, I was somewhere in the Pacific, about a thousand miles off the coast of southern California and headed for the Panama Canal. I could barely hear him, but then I had been patched through from my SSB radio by a radio ham-operator in Louisville, Kentucky, and into the local telephone system. I called him this year by force-of- habit. Not that we ever had all that much to talk about. Once we got past how he was doing at school and where I was, all there was left was to say good bye, until next year. Occasionally, we got beyond how he was doing at school. Last year I had been surprised. He had started singing in the school choir, begun to take singing lessons, and had recently started to play the guitar. This year started out in a way that was no different to previous years, except that I called him from 'Harry's Bar (and Grill)' on Paros, an island in the Cyclades group to the southeast of mainland Greece. I had a hell of a job to track him down. My first call, to the number I had called in the States the previous year, was wasted. According to the computerized voice, the number was not in service at this time. Then, after much searching, I found the number for his grandmother in Baltimore. I had not spoken to Christina for eight years, since just before the divorce. Much though I loathed the very idea of talking to her, I did. Within a few minutes I discovered that Jason and his mother had left the States a few weeks earlier for an extended vacation in Italy. According to Christina, it was something to do with Leane's work. It sounded more like a new boyfriend to me. I called her on it. She tried to avoid answering for a minute then gave me the story. No sordid details, of course, but enough to make me jealous - she thought. But I did find out what I needed to know. Some time early in September, they would be on their way back home to the States so that Jason could start school on time. That was, of course, unless Leane decided to stay longer (whatever that meant). My ex-wife had apparently become friends with an 'Italian Stallion', a rich doctor or something like that. I finally tracked them down in Rome. Well not quite in Rome, but it was close. They were staying at a villa in some place called Frascati. The name was familiar and I had to think for a few minutes before I associated Frascati with a good - well, second-rate - white table wine I used to guzzle. That was before I had the money to go up to first-class and drink the French stuff from the Rhone that I really liked. Jason sounded just like he had the year before. Distant. His voice was acutely high-pitched, like a girl's voice. It was very soft, almost melodious, and carefully modulated. It seemed as if the boy was suspended in time and not growing any older. He sounded a lot like the little boy I had last seen when he was three years old. If the truth be told, I had no idea of what he looked like now and I pictured him as he was then. He was a cute looking kid at three, a lot like his mother. He talked a little bit about his trip to Italy, but beyond expressing pride in singing solo in his school's Christmas play, he was typically reticent. He still had not received the birthday present I sent him, but then, it was on its way to the States and he would probably never get it. We said good-bye and then his mother came on. I almost had forgotten how Leane sounded. My most recent memories of her were not particularly pleasant ones. I thought about putting the phone down and finishing my beer but I listened instead. I knew what the problem was. I had missed two months of child support. There was little that I could do about it. I was waiting for a check and I fully intended to send her money as soon as I received it. It would more than cover what I owed her and child-support for Jason until he reached eighteen. However, despite my anticipation, my ex-wife was anything but angry, though she was cruelly cynical. Nothing changes. This time, Leane came straight to the point. It was unusual for her. Typically, she avoided frank discussion - unless she wanted something, badly. "I know it's a lot to ask, but do you think you can take your son for a few weeks during his summer holidays? I hate to ask, but something's come up. My friend, Carlo, I don't think you know about him, wants to spend some time in Paris. I need a break, too, once in a while. It's a chance for me to get away. He is your son, after all. I hoped you could keep him on the boat with you until school starts," she asked. I did not say a word. Maybe, if I waited long enough she would get the point and forget the idea. She waited me out. I was paying for the call and I gave in first. "Uh! Look," I replied as I searched for an excuse, "I really have a full schedule the next few weeks. Maybe next summer. I'll be in the Caribbean then, and he could fly down for a week or two." The first part was a lie. Though she would never know it, the only thing I had planned for the next month was to do some work on the boat, drink at Harry's place, lie in the sun until my check arrived, and then take a slow cruise through the Greek Islands for a few weeks before I started the final revisions to my book. "Yeah, I'm sure you do. I know you must be very busy. Too busy for your son, I expect. I need a holiday, now!" she added. The tone of her voice was turning ugly. "Yeah, well I can't right now," I replied. "I'm too busy to be baby-sitting. How about some warning next time. How soon do you want me to take him?" "In a day or two," she replied quietly. "A day or two? Get real! You just can't dump him on me like that." There was a long pause. "Well, okay! I'm sorry about not giving you more warning. This just came up and Carlo wants an answer now. I need to spend time with him. Alone!" There was another long pause. "You owe four months of child support. I'll call it quits if you take him. Hell, it's not even a month. It's just a few weeks. It won't kill you." Her voice was beginning to show distinct signs of stress. It was a clear sign that she wanted Jason out of the way. I guessed she had plans for a holiday with her current 'friend' that did not include Jason tagging along. Carlo sounded like a piece of work. I pictured him in my mind and I imagined why her plans did not include a ten-year-old boy. What had 'come up' was probably six or seven inches long. More, if she was lucky. I rose to the challenge of the moment. "It's not four months! It's two months and anyway, I'll put the check in the mail sometime next week." I was having fun. I could hear her breathing getting faster and heavier and I knew instinctively that her temper was building. It was almost funny. No, it was funny. I suppressed my laughter and settled for a smile. "Well, you certainly haven't changed, have you? Mr. Selfish, you're just the same. You haven't seen the kid for years. If you don't take him, I'll have to send him home to my mom's. But you'll be hearing from my lawyer." "Is that a threat?" I said as I stifled another laugh. I also felt badly as I thought of poor Jason spending a month of his summer holidays stuck with Christina - the snot - in Baltimore. "Jesus! Lighten up a bit, Leane! I really do have a lot to do in the next few weeks. I'm leaving here in a few days." "What in the hell is so important that you can't spend a few lousy weeks with your own son?" she asked. "Actually, I'm writing a book. I've got a final draft due to the publisher in a month," I answered. That was a lie but Leane would never know. I had two months to look over the editor's changes and sign the final contract. "How thrilling for you. More of the cheap-thrill detective tripe you write?" "No! It's about a president, an ex-governor from Iowa. It starts out when he's a draft-dodging, pot-smoking hippie who goes to England on a scholarship. He ends up being recruited by the Soviets, goes to Moscow for training and then goes back to the States as a sleeper. He's also a profligate womanizer, a fact that becomes increasingly evident when he's governor. After he's elected, the future of the capitalist world ends up depending on a fourteen-year-old hooker," I said, thinking as I said it that the plot wasn't a bad one at all. "It sounds like a lovely story," she said rudely. "You going to take him, or not?" "I'm trying to tell you, Leane. I'll be leaving here in a few days. I don't have the time to hang around Paros for the next three or four weeks." I paused as an idea formed. "The best I could do is take him with me and drop him off when the time's up. Uh,... maybe at Rhodes, it's near Turkey - if you didn't know. He can get a flight from there I think, but it's pretty expensive this time of year. We might even get all the way over to Samos. If so, there's a problem because I don't think there is an airport. He'll have to get a boat back to Athens. He can get on a regular flight back to Rome from there. It would probably be cheaper." "How much will it cost to get him to where you're at now?" she asked. "Hell, I don't know. I'm at Paros. It's a few hundred miles south of Athens. I don't think there's an airport here, at least I haven't seen one. He'd probably have to fly into Athens and get a sea-plane down here. I'm not in the airline business, but I think it's going to cost at least a few hundred bucks this time of year. And then there's the cost of his flight from Rome as well. This is going to be one expensive little jaunt. Of course, he could take a boat from Athens, but it takes a few days," I replied. "Okay!" I heard her sigh loudly. "I'll pay to fly him down to you and home from wherever you leave him. If that's what it's going to take, I'll do it." I shook my head in resignation. "Will he need a passport?" she added. "Huh? Oh, yes! Probably better send a letter as well that says something like it's okay for him to be with me. Otherwise someone might think I kidnapped him." "Very funny. Ha! Ha!" she said with a derisory tone, clearly not amused at my feeble attempt at levity. "What else will he need to bring?" "You better send a coupla hundred bucks for his air fare back to Athens, I guess. Just in case he can't get a boat back in time." "You can be a real shit. What about clothes?" "Whatever! It's a pretty constant temperature this time of year, 80 to 90, and we're well out of the rainy season. It can get cold at night though. I can give him some money if he needs to buy anything else," I volunteered generously, wishing that she would hang up and leave me in peace. "What number can I call you back on when I have his flight booked?" she asked. I sighed and gave her the phone number for Harry's Bar, relenting even further at the last moment. "You better book it into Athens. I'll have the boat up there for some work on the engine in a day or two so I can meet him there. I'm leaving here tomorrow morning. Early! Call tonight with his flight number," I said before I put the telephone down. We didn't say good-bye. I dropped the phone down and turned back to the bar. Harry gave me a reassuring grin and passed me a cold beer. "Looks like you really need this," he said. "It sounds like your kid is coming down for a holiday." I nodded. "Yeah! Sure sounds like it, doesn't it? I haven't seen the kid in years. Not since the divorce. Jesus, that must be at least seven years." Harry leaned on the bar. "He's ten, right? That's a fun age for a kid. Not old enough to be a pain in the butt but old enough to enjoy life. Like Jeff." Jeff was Harry's kid, by his second marriage. At least that was what I had been led to believe at the time. Jeff was one of the few kids I liked. He was twelve years old. Rugged, funny, and good looking, he was everything that a father would want in a son. He was constantly hanging around my boat when I was in town and between books. Once I had gotten to like the kid, I began to enjoy having him around. Jeff provided company to me and we went fishing together quite frequently. On more than one occasion I had caught myself thinking that I hoped my own son had turned out a lot like Jeff. I couldn't tell very much about my own offspring when we spoke on the telephone, but he certainly lacked Jeff's confidence and geniality. Sometimes Jason stuttered so badly that he was incoherent. Unless she had changed dramatically, my ex-wife could do that to a kid without too much difficulty. "I like Jeff," I laughed, "but then he hasn't been hanging around my 'ex'." We both laughed. I took another swig of my beer. "I hope not," Harry added as he shook his head. "She sounds like a piece of work." "I guess she's okay! We just didn't get on, that's all. So what in the hell do I do to keep the kid happy?" Harry grinned. "I'm sure you'll think of something. Go fishing with him. Treat him just the same as you do Jeff. There isn't a boy alive who doesn't get off on fishing. Besides, I bet the kid will wet himself when he sees the islands. He's from the States isn't he? He probably hasn't seen anything like this before." I wasn't about to disappoint Harry. He was more enthusiastic than I had seen him before. "Maybe!" I observed uncertainly. "Shit, Harry! I was looking forward to running down the islands. I was planning on a whole month alone to finish the book, maybe get all the way over to the coast of Turkey. Damn, I wanted to take my time finishing it off. Now I've got to drag the kid along. I should've just paid the alimony." I added. Again we both laughed and I stood up, guzzled the last of my beer, and headed back to the boat. My ex-wife called in the evening, gave me the boy's arrival time into Athens and a description so that I would have half a chance to identify him. Early the following day I left Paros and headed north. I followed the compass due north-west, hitting ten knots most of the way and anchored for the night in the harbor below Cape Sounion. I had a nice north-easterly reach for most of the next morning and motored into Piraeus harbor just after lunchtime. The rest of the day passed quickly. Luckily, the hoist at the marina was working and it wasn't being used. I both supervised and helped once the boat was on dry land. For a while I considered re-launching Apollo with new anti-fouling but decided to wait until the check cleared and I had the money to pay cash. For once, everything went smoothly. It was an atypical experience in Greece. The parts had arrived, the workers turned up, nothing was too badly damaged. Day Ten. Athens. August 2nd, 1993 I was dead tired at the end of the day. I fell asleep by eight PM. The hours passed quickly, so quickly that I almost forgot to meet my son at the airport. We re-launched Apollo, complete with new propeller shaft and cutlass bearing early in the morning. While the finishing-off work was being done I set to work to tidy up. Down below things were a mess. I started tidying my cabin up and collecting papers to throw out when I found my hand written notes that I had taken two days earlier during my ex- wife's last phone call. It's not unusual for me to lose track of time on the boat, sometimes for days at a time. Often alone, I tend to get into a rhythm, a pattern of activity that varies very little for day after day. It took nearly five minutes for me to find a a map of Athens and environs. I finally found one in a drawer under the chart table. Jason's plane was due in at Athens International in less than an hour. I called a taxi from the dock-side telephone and took a quick shower. I expected that it would take about thirty minutes to get to the airport since the traffic probably was headed in the opposite direction at this time in the morning. I pulled on a tee-shirt and a pair of shorts and met the taxi in the street outside the marina. The taxi pulled up outside the terminal with just five minutes to spare, assuming that the plane was on time. I hurried into the terminal, passing quickly through the metal detector and all but running to Gate 13 (a bad sign), where his plane was due to arrive any moment. People were already disembarking. From the look of them, mostly men in business suits, and a few over- dressed women, I decided that so far only the first class section was coming out. I moved over to the wall, leaned against it, and pulled out the notes I had taken during my ex-wife's last phone call. Even I have trouble reading my own handwriting and this was worse than most of my scrawl. It looked a lot like 'blue or white shirt, blue jeans'. That attire could describe half of the children in Greece and most of them now seemed to be disembarking from the plane. I would have to watch for him with care. I wondered if he was still blond, the way he had been when he was a toddler. That would make my task a lot easier because most of the Greek kids were both dark-skinned and dark-haired. I started studying the faces of the boys who looked to be about Jason's age. There were quite a few. I should have felt ashamed that I needed a description to identify my own son but I did not. This excursion certainly wasn't my idea and already it seemed to be off to a bad start. As it turned out, the boy spotted me first. He waved casually, neither exuberantly or particularly pleased to see me. "Hi Jason," I said as I started over to meet him. He was good looking in a girlish, though very startling way. His looks were not mine. Clearly, he still took after his mother. He stopped in the middle of the walkway, momentarily. It was the wrong thing to do and the mass of people behind him pushed past him, eager to get out of the airport and on their way home. He received more than a few shoves from behind. By the time he finally got himself out of the stream of people he had been carried fifteen feet past me. His ego had been bruised and he was angry. "Hi," he said abruptly as I came up to him. I smiled at him, a clear demonstration of my desire to be friends with him. Jason did not smile back. "I gotta get my bag," he said. "Sure thing. It's on the way out," I said. "So, how was the flight?" "Okay. Long and bumpy," he replied. He looked at me pensively, then with distrust, then with boredom. I smiled again, attempting to rebuild the bridge that seemed to have just collapsed into a bottomless chasm of unfriendliness. Me on one side, this strange, very-attractive boy on the other. "What's in the bag?" I asked as I glanced down at the guitar case he was carrying. "Guitar! What's it look like?" he retorted rudely. We were off to a great start. I had three or four more weeks of this to look forward to. "I didn't know you played. Well, let's go get your bag." I said, eager to get the hell out of the airport. "I already told you, on the telephone," he said abruptly. "Don't you listen?" I hate crowds, and airports on weekday mornings airports are close to Hell. The noise bothered me, the people bothered me, the sullen boy bothered me. I led the way down the long corridor that I had come running up only a few minutes earlier. The baggage claim area was on the lower level and we took the escalator down. The first of the bags, those belonging to first class travellers, were just beginning to come up the conveyor and slide down onto the carousel. "How many bags do you have?" I asked. Jason looked at me as though I had lost my mind. "I can get them," he said abruptly. I backed away, lifting my hands as I pretended that I wasn't going to defend myself, or attack him. He turned away and moved closer to the conveyor. I scratched my head thoughtfully. He was ten-years-old and he was acting like a snotty teenager. I watched as he picked up a large, nylon-covered suitcase. It was obviously heavy and he struggled to lift it. Finally he dragged it over the side of the carousel. It thumped onto the floor. He continued to pull it along, dragging it by the handle, until he came up to me. "You want me to carry that?" I asked. "It looks pretty heavy." Jason gave me a killer-stare. "I can manage," he grunted. "Please yourself," I said quietly. I led the way outside and over to the taxi area. I walked as slowly as I could, knowing that the boy was laboring beside me as he dragged the case with considerable difficulty. He stopped a few feet away from me as if he didn't want to be seen in my presence. "Where's your car?" he demanded. I grinned. "All my cars are chauffeured," I replied. "But sometimes they're a little beat up." "You don't have a car?" he said in disbelief. I shrugged. "There's no point. I'm never anywhere long enough to need one. Didn't your mom tell you, I live on my boat? Hell, I know I told you myself a few years ago." Jason glanced away. It was almost as if he was so disappointed in me not having a car that he couldn't stand to look at me. "Yeah, sure. I know that," he said softly. As we stood together waiting for a taxi I had a chance to look the boy over. He didn't say anything and appeared to be deep in thought as he stared off into the distant parking lot. Clearly, he was not happy. Again I found myself admiring him. Even though he had a slender body and appeared to have none of the muscular development that I adored in Jeff, I found him both appealing and repelling. For the second time in ten minutes I thought that he could have easily passed as a girl. His hair was too long for a boy. And it was shaggy, perhaps dishevelled from the flight, perhaps unkempt. He was a pretty boy. But his hair was not what bothered me the most. I voiced my concern diplomatically. "I like your earring," I chided. Jason's head swivelled around and his hand automatically reached up to touch the lobe of his ear. "It's not an earring!" he retorted hotly. "It's a stud! Don't you know anything?" I shrugged and, being a responsible parent, sensibly decided to pursue the issue further. "I stand corrected but it makes you look like a faggot," I observed perceptively. "A what?" "A faggot. A queer!" I explained tactfully. I watched as his face reddened in embarrassment. "Well it does! You want to look like you're gay?" I added bluntly Jason's face darkened even further. Fortunately for both of us, a few seconds later, a taxi cab pulled up. A Greek stereotype came round to open the passenger door. He was slick, sweaty, and swarthy. He refused to negotiate a price and flashed a smile, showing bad, cigarette-stained teeth, as he put Jason's bag and guitar in the trunk. The boy slid onto the seat and moved into the far corner, as far away from me as possible. This was going to be a wonderful time, real father and son stuff. I could just tell. The taxi ride from the airport was a high point. My son sat back in his seat and stared sulkily out the window. He said exactly one thing during the seven mile ride to the marina on the eastern side of Piraeus harbor. "So, what am I s'posed to call you? Dad?" he asked insincerely. How are you supposed to answer a question like that. 'Oh, Dad will be fine, son!' Before I knew it I said, "Whatever! Call me whatever you want." He didn't seem like my son, not after that long and I guessed the feeling was mutual. The taxi pulled up at the marina almost two hours to the second after I had left to pick up Jason. Something seemed to be bothering the boy, consuming him until all he had left was resentment towards me. I wondered what the problem was. My guess was that he was either angry at me because I had avoided him all the years he was growing up and he knew that I didn't want him with me even now, or because I had taken him away from his mother for the rest of his holiday. I could not have been further from the truth, but my impression was based upon the boy's behavior towards me. He had an 'attitude problem' and short of giving him a couple of cold beers, I didn't know what I could do about it. Somehow I had expected that the boy would be excited and happy to see me. I was naive! He got out of the taxi on his side of the car and looked around. The wind was blowing over from the dock where the big trawlers come in from fishing expeditions. The air was heavy with the rank odor of fish. Jason looked around, then wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Man, it stinks! How can you stand it? Is it always like this?" he asked rudely. I shrugged. "You get used to it pretty quickly when you live on a boat. It doesn't bother me." "Well it stinks!" he retorted. He walked over to the railing and looked down into the green, oily water as he leaned up against the rusted metal rail. He scuffed his shoes against the wood planks of the wharf. After I had paid off the ransom demanded by the driver, heaved Jason's bag out of the trunk and placed it on the curb next to his guitar, I ambled over to him and stood a few feet away, leaning against the rail. I looked at him, wondering again what his problem was. I knew it was important to be patient with him, to give him the time he needed to adjust to me, to accept me as the father that he had last seen shortly after he stopped filling his diapers. "What's up with you?" I asked. "None of your business!" He breathed out angrily. "Look I don't want to be here with you anymore than you want me here. Why don't we just forget it, okay?" I tried to be more patient and understanding. "Listen, Jason. You're right. I did have other plans for the next four weeks besides entertaining you." "Then why don't I just get out of your way. Mom gave me some money. I can stay here in Athens until it's time to go home. You can just go do whatever it is that you want to do," he shouted. I could hear a nervous tremor in his voice. Somewhere amid the tension and anger was an ten-year-old boy who was very unhappy and probably scared. I reacted in a mature and responsible fashion. "The hell you will!" I replied. Jason looked at me again, angrily. "Fuck off," he said softly. But while it was barely more than a whisper, it was said with such vehemence that it sounded hateful. The two words from the angelic mouth of a very attractive ten-year-old boy were particularly obscene. I breathed out slowly, trying to count to ten to control my temper. I got to five. I lost control. "Fuck you!" I returned quietly. I looked at the boy silently. He turned away and looked out towards the ancient oil tankers anchored out in the harbor. He ignored me as I continued to watch him. One of us would have to apologize. The kid was a lot like me. He was proud, too proud to give in and accept defeat. In the bright morning sun, I half- closed my eyes. Side on, he had a nice profile, though he looked skinny and underdeveloped for a ten-year-old boy. When it was apparent that neither of us were going to lose, I shrugged and shook my head. "I'm going on board." I said. "When you feel like it, it's down there on the first dock. Third boat on the left, it's called 'Apollo' by the way. Don't forget your bags, Jason," I added. I started to walk away. As I reached the ramp I thought I heard a choking sound that was well on its way to becoming a sob. I glanced behind me. At that instant, Jason twisted away. I wondered if he was crying. He even looked like he would be a cry- baby. I was not surprised. Aboard, I returned to tidying up. I tend to live in a perpetual mess until I go to sea. I've learned to change my habits when I need to. More than a few times I've placed my life at risk when I have been offshore and not been able to find something that was critical. Once, it was as simple as a screwdriver. I needed to get into the back of the compass, one of those new flux-gate things, and replace a fuse. Now, I carry two compasses, the high-tech flux-gate and the old-fashioned, reliable, magnetic kind. I also check my tool box every time I leave port. I started cleaning up in the darkroom, making sure that everything was where it belonged, secured tightly, and 'ship- shape'. I moved into the galley. My breakfast things were still lying in the sink. The residual grease and yellow scrapings of my scrambled egg, coffee cup, frying pan, and cutlery were an unwelcome sight. My dinner things were there too and looking even more unpleasant. I had been too busy the night before to clean up. I set to work washing up, making a mental note to check the water tanks one last time before we left the dock. Fresh water on the Greek islands was a precious commodity and buying it was both a pain in neck and expensive. I was about halfway through washing the dishes when I heard a sound behind me. I turned around. Jason had come down the stairs and was standing at the bottom of the companionway. We glared at each other silently. "You wanna be friends, Jason?" I asked. My son nodded shyly. Okay, then help me clean this mess up so we can get out of here tonight," I teased. The boy gave me a winning grin and eased his guitar down so that it rested against the port settee. "What do I do?" "You want to dry this stuff here?" I suggested as I gestured to the freshly washed utensils next to the sink. He nodded. "Yeah, I can do that. Don't you have a dishwasher?" "Yeah, me! It takes too much electricity to run one of those on a boat," I said. "It would be nice though, wouldn't it? Where's your bag, by the way?" "Up there," he replied pointing diffidently upward as he trying to recover his sense of direction. "I left it on the what- do-you-call-it, the dock? I tried to lift it up onto the boat but its too heavy." "I'll go get it." I grinned at him. "Welcome aboard, Jason," I added. I found his bag at the boarding ladder and swung it up and onto the deck. It could not have weighed more than forty pounds. PLATONIC LOVE. DAY TEN. Cape Sounion. Late Afternoon, August 2nd, 1993 "A lion does not love another lion, nor do male bears and boars seek out their own sex, but the love of the female reigns alone in their hearts." Lucian, Dialogues of Love. He was born and raised as a typical, late-twentieth-century child in America's heartland. The more I got to know him during that first afternoon we spent together, the more I came to realize that my son was a spoiled, petulant, selfish, precocious brat. As we motored out of Piraeus I quickly discovered that the boy had never been on a yacht before. In fact the biggest boat he had been on was a friend's speedboat on a lake some sixty miles south of where he lived in Kentucky. I knew, without being informed by anything other than my own eyes, that he had few friends and he was probably lucky to have the one who took him on the speedboat. Who could stand him long enough? His awkwardness on board my boat was to be expected but I was not prepared for his unwillingness to even try to help. From the outset, I sensed that he was lonely and I could easily understand why. Although I was no psychologist, one did not need a college degree to see that he lacked both self-esteem and self- confidence. He was an exceptionally nervous child. His stuttering appeared to be even worse than it sounded on the telephone. It was saddening to watch as my son stammered and stuttered, desperately trying to communicate, then giving up on partially finished sentences as the effort and embarrassment became too much for him to bear. We had a short, though very pleasant sail that afternoon, a broad reach under full sail for about two hours on the sparkling deep-blue Aegean Sea. However, I did not want to leave the mainland so close to evening so I decided to run back to the coast. We would spend the first night at Cape Sounion. I dropped the sails by myself as Jason sulked by himself in the cockpit. We had enjoyed another fight when he had hesitated in untangling the main-sheet for me. I tried to impress upon him the fact that his tardiness might one day be the cause of an accident. It was like talking to a rock. I gave up on him and motored in to a little cove and dropped the anchor by myself. It was nice to relax for a while, swinging lazily at anchor below cliffs that sprang from the sea and rose vertically until they towered two thousand feet above us. A normal kid, like Jeff, would have been jumping up and down at the chance to be swimming in the azure-blue bay where we anchored. But not Jason. He sat in the cockpit and read a book. When I suggested that we hike up to the top of the cliff and look at the Temple of Poseidon in the sunset he gave me a 'drop- dead' stare, shook his head, and went back to reading his book. Where was his appreciation of history, his sense of romance, his youthful energy? He was in the cradle of western civilization and he was bored. At first, I thought that he might be fatigued from his journey but he did not look tired. Palled, yes, even a little sea-sick, but he did seem to be engrossed in his book! It was with some surprise that I recognized it as one of mine. I decided to indulge him for one more day. As I tidied up on deck, I began to think that he regretted his decision. I observed him sneaking quick glances at the cliffs that towered around the bay, at the majestic, pure-white marble temple glowing in the late-afternoon sun. It was postcard material. Even for a disagreeable, whiny, little boy, it was an awesome sight. As the sun moved steadily closer to the horizon I began to think of dinner. I remembered Harry's advice; 'take the boy fishing' even as I heard fish breaking the surface. I picked up the binoculars and searched the water between the boat and the shore. A school of whiting were in the shallows near the beach. It was as good a chance as any that I would have to breach the chasm between us. Jason was still absorbed in his book when I reached forward and pulled it from his hands. "Come on, it's time to put the book down, Jason. We're going fishing." I took the book with me as I went down the companionway to get some bait from the freezer as my son complained loudly behind me. "W-w-what if I d-d-don't w-w-want to?" he griped as I disappeared down the hatch. "I think I'd r-r-rather stay h-h- here and read. That is, if you d-d-don't mind!" A few seconds later I reappeared. He was still upset. "I w-w-want to stay here, thanks. You go f-f-fishing, if you w-w-want to. I'd r-r- rather not." I stopped in front of him. "Sorry, it's not something that you have a choice about, kid. What I said was 'we are going fishing'. We, Jason! That's the plural form, you know." The boy shrugged disinterestedly. "There's n-n-no need to get p-p-pissed at me." I sighed and stepped out of the cockpit and began to unfasten the straps that secured the rubber dinghy. I glanced at Jason from the corner of my eye. he stood still, considering his options. He was visibly pouting. "You want to give me a hand with this?" I asked. He shook his head and I continued by myself. I had a system and it wasn't all that difficult to attach a pulley to the dinghy and lift if up by the mizzen boom, pivot it out over the water and ease it down. I guided it around to the stern swim- platform and held it steady while Jason slowly and very reluctantly boarded. I started the outboard on the second pull and chugged over towards the beach. Jason sat silently on the center thwart, his baby-ego thwarted. I was frustrated too. He showed no interest as I pointed out the shapes of the fish running just below the surface and even less interest in putting bait on a hook. For his first time, I did it for him, after that he was on his own. If it wasn't for the little shit in the dinghy with me, it would have been one of the best times I have ever had. The dying sun left red trails across the almost-still water. Seagulls wheeled and dived, screeching plaintively. The fish were biting aggressively. I caught two within ten minutes and then settled back and listened to the water lapping against the hull. It was an easy life, a good life, except for Jason. Curiously, he had risen to my challenge. I had two fish, he had none. My ten-year- old son was not to be outdone. He tried as hard as he could. With fish practically jumping out of the water in their eagerness to be caught, his inability to catch anything at all was very telling. The peculiar thing was that I liked watching him. I enjoyed his quirky movements, the shyness, the timid care with which he baited a hook, only to feel a sharp tug and miss yet again. As I contemplated the little boy, I conceded that while my son was effeminate, he was also extremely attractive. He was so good looking that I found it impossible to be angry with him. Somehow, deep inside me, I knew that he needed a friend. Finally, I decided to accord him some companionship. I also needed to apologize to him. "Jason,..." I began slowly. He looked up from peering over the edge of the dinghy. "I,...I want to say something." "Yeah?" "I'm sorry,... about what I said at the airport, about your earring thing. I didn't mean it." He smiled shyly and blinked. He swallowed and pressed his lips together. For a moment I thought he was going to start blubbering, but he began to smile. Jason's smile widened even further. "I-I-I think your tee s-s-shirt s-s-sucks. You l-l-look like a queer, too," he replied cheekily. I was wearing my favorite tee-shirt, the one with a big, bright-yellow, stylized sun on it and 'APOLLO' printed underneath and 'SUN GOD', on the back. I liked it a lot. I began to laugh. "Okay! We're even now. But I am sorry, Jason. It was a mean thing for me to say." He nodded as he continued to smile, then brushed his golden locks back by running his fingers through his hair. "Okay!" He started to laugh with me. His boyish giggle was infectious. I started to tell Jason the story of how the Aegean Sea got its name. He listened intently, his interest clearly visible. "Theseus was the son of the king. He was sent to Crete as part of the sacrifice to the Minotaur. The Minotaur was part-man and part-bull, according to the legend. He had told his father that if he was successful in killing the Minotaur he would sail home using white sails, instead of black ones. Anyway, Theseus killed the Minotaur," "Yeah, I know the story," Jason interrupted. "He used a ball of string to find his way out again." "That's right. Well, he was so happy that he forgot about the sails. His father was waiting up there on the cliffs and when he saw the black sails he believed that his son was dead so he jumped over the edge." I grinned as Jason made a "wheeeeeeeee" sound from the back of his throat. "Oh! I forgot to tell you, his father's name was Aegeus, hence we get the Aegean Sea." Jason grinned back at me. He had a happy look about him. All too soon it was time to go back to the boat and get dinner. Them as I started to pack the fishing gear away I saw a look of disappointment on his face. I wanted to hug him tightly and tell him I still loved him. I wanted to tell him that I had never stopped loving him. The words stuck in my throat, my thoughts unspoken. "I guess we better head on back," I said quietly. Jason smiled. "At l-l-least I t-t-tried to catch s-s- something." "You will next time." I started the outboard and began the trip back. "How do you like, uh, what's his name, Carlo?" I asked. Jason shrugged. "He's o-o-okay. I l-l-like him, I guess. I was s-s-supposed to go with them to P-P-Paris, you know. B-b-ut we had a f-f-fight." "What about?" I asked curiously. "N-n-nothing. You w-w-wouldn't be interested. C-C-Carlo changed his m-m-mind, Mom too. I g-g-guess they both w-w-wanted me out of the w-w-way for a w-w-while. I s'pose, they..." he murmured. It was obvious that Jason had no desire to talk about it and no intention of telling me. I let the subject die. During dinner, he became quieter and the ray of hope I had for something approaching a normal relationship was slowly extinguished as the evening progressed into night. He missed his television, or his mother. I wasn't certain which but I assumed that was the problem. He was agreeable enough, for a while, because I had a vcr on board and he was able to watch a pirated tape of The Never-Ending Story, Part 2. I had purchased it as a Christmas present for him and forgot to send it. But it went downhill from there. There was nothing else of interest to him on the television and even though we still had some reception from Athens, all the programs were in Greek and the picture was fuzzy. As I sat watching him, I decided that, all things considered, I didn't like Jason very much. And he was my son. If the truth be told, I didn't like him at all. I tolerated him, barely. He was a spoiled, unpleasant, joyless, little shit! He whined endlessly. He communicated by grunts. He rolled his eyes. He was rude. He was exactly like my ex-wife. If he had one redeeming feature it was that he was good-looking. But even then it was in a cute, girlish way. The first time I saw him, as he walked off the boarding ramp at the airport, I noticed his hair. The boy is fair-haired and curly, just like his mother, but his hair on top looked like it had been moussed. No wonder I made my comment about his likely sexual orientation. Jason is my only offspring, he's barely ten, and he looks like a faggot. I thought that it would drive his mother crazy. It was poor compensation, but the possibility gave me some amusement and a little revenge. From the moment he stepped off the airplane in Athens and I saw him for the first time in seven, or was it eight years, he sulked continuously. He didn't want to be with me. Fine, I didn't want him around. It certainly wasn't my idea to have him stay with me. He didn't want to talk to me. Fine, I didn't want to talk to him. He probably thought that I had walked out on his mother. If only he knew the truth of it. Other than the inescapable fact that half of him had come shooting out of my dick a little less than eleven years ago, we had absolutely nothing in common. I scrutinized him closely as he watched the television. From the look of him I didn't think he had ever been outdoors. Kind of skinny, practically no muscles, a wimp of the first order. At least he wasn't fat, another redeeming feature. The first time I showed him how to winch in the genoa he gave up after two-and-a-half turns and left it flapping wildly. That was the first time I noticed how skinny he was. He had a waist that couldn't have been any more than twenty-two inches and hips and chest that were only a few inches bigger. Like any true wimp his shoulders sloped downward from a scrawny thin neck. In an ill-conceived attempt to get through to him, I told him that he could even call his mother every day, if he wanted to. Collect, of course, or by SSB if we were away from a phone box as we were now. I thought that the suggestion of a radio call to his mother might have provoked some excitement. My suggestion raised little more than a shrug of his shoulders as he told me he didn't think she was still in Italy and he wasn't certain how or where to contact her. I felt sorry for him then. He had abandoned by the one person who he knew with certainty loved him. Even as a baby he had been fanatically possessive and naturally, he missed his mother. I also suspected that it would be hard for him to accept her relationship with a man. I anticipated that Jason had a very rude shock awaiting him when he next saw his mother and her new boyfriend. I gave up trying to be friends with him and started to revise my manuscript. Shortly before ten o'clock he angrily turned off the television, gave me another 'killer stare', and grumpily went off to his cabin. I sat outside for a long while, gazing up at a pitch-black sky and a myriad stars. Below, I could hear the faint sounds of his guitar and his sweet high- pitched voice as he played and sang. Strangely, I felt a romantic urge, a bizarre need to share the spectacular sight with my son. I knew he had never seen a night-sky as awe- inspiring. Instead, I left him alone. PLATONIC LOVE. DAY TWELVE. Aegean Sea, in the Cyclades. Mid-day, August 4th, 1993 "There are two opposing kinds of love, and each ignites a different flame in our souls. One is like a child, interested only in childish things; it cannot be guided by reason; foolish men are swayed by its violence; it produces the desires that drive them into the arms of women... The other is sincere and serious-minded and everything about it proclaims its healthy origins; it engenders virtuous feelings and its influence greatly penetrates our souls; when it favors us, we enjoy sensual pleasure combined with virtue..." Lucian, Dialogues of Love. Apollo heeled over to port and dipped the lee rail in the water. White foam and crystal, azure water swirled past the stanchions. The water scooped the foot of the genoa, turning the bottom five feet of the sail darker. It splashed over the straining sheets and the boat groaned slightly. Forty-four thousand pounds of wood and aluminum, fifty-three feet of yacht accelerated. The mast and shrouds reverberated with increasing stress, humming in a perfect equilibrium of tension and compression. Then as the gust strengthened, over eleven hundred square feet sail filled to capacity. The boat heeled even further and plunged into the waves. There was a crash against the hull and spray burst outward thirty feet. The same wave sent a cascade of water rushing past the coaming. Five or ten gallons surged over the side and into the cockpit, sloshing back and forth until it found the drains. The wind had swung further to the east and within seconds had strengthened by at least ten knots. Well balanced, Apollo swung closer into the wind, tracking the change in direction as the pressure increased on the wind vane. A moment later, the luff of the genoa began to shiver, breaking into a tremble, then backwinding with a frenzied, whip-like cracking. I waited for a few more seconds, hoping that the wind would shift back to the south or that the gust would pass. It didn't. I tossed my book into the open locker and went to work. With a sideways glance I saw Jason scrambling away from the port seat. I held back a laugh. It would have been easy to laugh at his discomfiture, the look of shock and anger, the embarrassment like a crimson shame that flushed across his face. Jason was suddenly one wet, little boy. For just one or two of those few seconds that passed as I scrambled back to the helm I saw him looking at me angrily, as if it was MY fault he was wet. I was far too busy releasing the wheel and disconnecting the self-steering to worry about a wet, ten-year-old boy who was still pouting from an argument we had two hours earlier when I had finally given him his breakfast at ten o'clock in the morning. Still, I was sorry for him. I suppose I should have warned him. Too late now. He had been soaked. Seconds earlier he had been dozing, half asleep on the seat, curled up slightly and braced securely in the curve between the seat and the coaming, enjoying the warmth of the mid- morning sun on his bare legs. Now he was wide awake and soaked to the skin. Thoroughly drenched. His white-cotton tee-shirt, one of the few pieces of sensible clothing he had brought from with him, was clinging to his chest and belly. His shorts were similarly wet. Jason was saturated, from head to toe. Water drained in rivulets down his arms and legs and his long hair was bedraggled as he shook himself like a wet puppy. "G-g-goddam! Shit!" he swore loudly. Two days out of Athens and he still didn't have his sea legs. He staggered everywhere, grasping in a frenzy every time Apollo rocked. Most of the time the boy looked as if he was scared, scared absolutely 'shitless'. He looked awfully pale as well, though fortunately not too green, yet. I suspected it wasn't far away, but at least he hadn't been sick, so far. Thank God for that small mercy. If he ran true-to-form he would save it for down in the cabin. Kid-vomit, I knew it would stink for days down there, if he did. The thought grossed me out. How in the hell did I ever get tricked into this mess? Two days down, twenty-five more to go. Twenty-five more days of this complaining ten-year-old baby before I could ship him home, collect. Having Jason on board had become a pain. I had been planning to run down through the Cyclades, spend for a few weeks bumming around on a few of the islands like Lindos and Santorini, then head on down to Crete. I needed to be there sometime during September to work on a photo assignment for a few weeks. I was looking forward to diving on the ruins of a Roman galley off the coast. The marine life was supposed to be something else. With luck, I might get enough material for an article in a diving or sailing magazine as well as complete my contract with The Geographer. The problem with having Jason on board was that I really didn't like kids very much, especially my own kid. With the single exception of Harry's son, Jeff, I tolerated them, ideally at a distance. Jason, and his mother, screwed both my schedule and my life up. She wasn't very happy about my idea of taking her precious little boy to the Greek Islands. When she had come up with the idea that I keep Jason for the holidays I think she expected that I would stay around Athens, certainly no further than the adjacent coast of the Peloponnesus. I didn't see what the problem was. Precious, little Jason could easily fly or take a ship from Rhodes, or where ever it was where we were at the time when I packed him back off to his mother. On the bright side, I was headed on my way back to Paros and Harry's Bar. At least there, Jason could hang around with Jeff (poor Jeff) and leave me alone. It was a pity Jason was ten- years-old and equipped with a dick and balls, and not fourteen or fifteen and furnished with tiny tits and a hot little pussy. Now, that might have been fun. I started getting an erection even as I remembered Tina. For a few months about three years earlier, I had operated the boat for private charters in the Caribbean while I was waiting for my publisher to accept my first book. The second charter I had taken was one that I picked up at the last minute from another boat when it was damaged in a collision at the dock. Two days later, Tina and her mother and stepfather stepped on board. Tina was cute and I ogled her from the moment I saw her. It was impossible not to. Tina was a real 'Barbie-doll'. Within ten minutes I found out that she was fourteen years old. She was into puberty by maybe a year. Her tits were tiny and pointed and they stuck out like little, ripening hemispheres under her flowered sun-dress. The straps of her training bra showed through the thin material. What followed was absolutely Freudian. It was pure, unadulterated depravity. Tina flirted with me in front of her parents and with what appeared their complicity. From the time she reappeared on deck, to the time she stepped off the boat a week later, she wore a micro-bikini. The bottom halves were mere patches of neon-orange nylon attached by black cord. The sides of her nicely shaped, little butt bulged out of the back end but the front was even more revealing. When it was wet, the thin nylon clung to her body and her pussy was defined and clearly revealed. Not only that, her crotch was barely covered and the still-hairless sides of her pubic mound were always openly displayed because she insisted on sitting with her legs splayed out. A red-blooded male could never get tired of gaping at the wonderful view. By the third day, things were getting out of control. Tina's voice teased me the entire time and her parents did not 'bat an eyelid' when their daughter nestled up to me and did everything except curl up in my lap. That was the day they took off for a few hours in St. Martins. I took Tina and the dinghy over to the other side of the lagoon. How was I to know it was a nude beach? Tina lost no time getting her bikini off and I wasn't far behind. We swam for a while before we went up into the sand hills. The kid fucked me into exhaustion. Tina was anything but a virgin and I filled her up three times that afternoon. I thought that it was an acceptable performance for a forty-year-old man. That night, Tina and I slept in her bed and we fucked again. In fact, we fucked every day and night for the rest of the week. Her parents knew that tiny-tits-Tina was getting screwed and they gave me the biggest tip of the three months I was in the charter business. Two hundred dollars. I figured that each orgasm I had with Tina was worth about ten bucks apiece. I didn't hear from Tina again and for a while I wondered if she got pregnant. I switched my mind back to the present and gazed at my soaking-wet son. It was hard to believe that Jason was my son. The fact that he was so pale that I insisted he keep out of the sun did not help matters. Perhaps I did him an injustice. He needed fresh air, sunshine, and exercise. The only problem was getting his head out of his book. The wave that came over the side and soaked him solved that problem. His book was as drenched as he was. Jason stared at me indignantly. He was enraged and obviously affronted. His self-esteem reached its lowest level. He shivered with cold as the wind blew through his wet clothes. He looked very unhappy and truly miserable. I watched guiltily as his jaws clenched tightly together, either resisting the temptation to cry or preventing his teeth from chattering. I heard him snivel as I refastened the steering lock and reset the wind vane of the self-steering mechanism. He sniffed again as I turned back and sat down again. Water was still dribbling from his clothes. "I-I-I,... w-w-want,... t-t-t-to g-g-g-go g-g-g-get ch-ch- changed," he spluttered falteringly. I wanted to hug him. He looked so devoid of warmth and vitality that I loved him. He was mine. I had to love him. "You can't go down there like that," I warned him. "You'll get water everywhere. I don't want things soaked." "I-I-I'm c-c-cold," he whined. "I'm sure you are," I observed. "You're wet! Get your clothes off." Jason looked at me uncertainly as if taking off his clothes was prohibited. At the time I thought of the boy as being undersexed, almost to the point of being asexual. I shrugged. "You can stand there shivering if you want, Jason. Or you can take your clothes off and get dry. Take your pick. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm your father, remember. You might not like the idea, but I am. It wasn't all that long ago that I used to change your diapers and wipe the crap off you." The boy blushed shamefully. It was, at least, a sign of some life. It was followed quickly by another. "You're a real shit, you know that!" he said under his breath. "Why Jason, because I don't put up with your whining, stupid nonsense? You're a boy, you ought to grow up and stop trying to be a damned girl." He wailed. A sob started deep inside him and burst out of him. He rushed forwards, his small fists clenched tightly and he began to hammer impotently on my chest. He tripped on the sheets that were coiled in the cockpit and started to plunge towards the lee side as the boat heeled over in a sudden gust. After years at sea, responses become automatic. I lunged after him. If I had not caught him by the legs, the lifelines might have stopped him, but I doubt it. The boat was moving in excess of ten or twelve knots and the wind was gusting over twenty knots. If he had gone overboard it would take several minutes to get the boat turned around and back in the same spot. With the waves increasing in height, I would have been lucky to find him, assuming of course, that he had not drowned by then. I locked my arm around him as tightly as I could and hung on to the binnacle. For about a minute he struggled violently against me until the gust passed and the boat righted itself. He seemed to want to go over the side. He was hysterical. Tears poured out of him, in a howling wail. He sobbed incoherently but between gasps I managed to catch a few words. He repeated the same thing over and over. Simply, he wanted to know why I hated him so much. I didn't know the answer to his question. Maybe it was the fact that he looked so much like his mother to my eyes. Maybe it was because he appeared to be so little like myself. Maybe it was because he was not what I expected him to be like. He was small and sensitive, he was beautiful, and he was not at all like Jeff. But, if he had been cold before, now he was freezing. I held his small, shaking body against me and pulled his tee-shirt upwards. It peeled away, clinging wetly to his skin. As I reached his arms, he obediently lifted them upwards so that I could pull it up and over his head. I reached down and placed my hands on his narrow hips as I gently eased him away from me. He was still blubbering, endlessly, as I unfastened the button at the front of his denim shorts and tugged his zipper open. I stripped his wet, dark-blue shorts off him with a quick, downward motion and dropped them in a sodden pile with his tee shirt. Except for his little, white jockey-underpants my son was naked. It had the most disturbing effect on me. I looked at him long and hard and it started to make me hard. Other than the occasional erection when I wrestled with Jeff, I had never been aroused by another male. My eyes travelled down Jason's pale body. He was lightly tanned and he appeared to be devoid of hair. There was not even a trace of the soft 'peach fuzz' that most children have. It was the total absence of hair and the fact that he was perfectly formed with the elegant, classical proportions of a master sculptor that made his smooth body more like marble than living flesh. His underpants clung to his body. To me, that last vestige of my son's modesty was more exciting than if he had been naked. I shuddered as I realized that my own son was infinitely more arousing to me than Tina had been, in her bikini, or out of it. In the wet, thin cotton the outline of his small genitals was clearly visible. The shape of his tiny penis and testicles held my eyes riveted. He was wearing high-rise briefs that started above his navel. Then, unbelievably, the urge built within me, the urge to take his underpants off and see all of him. He looked up at me, still shivering as his skin started to become pock-marked with goose-flesh. His lips were compressed tightly, tears still trickled down his soft, small cheeks, he looked at me desperately, anxious for my sympathy, still wondering why I despised him so much. Without thinking, I pulled off my own tee shirt and began to dry him. I wanted only to take my mind of the fearful thoughts that were forming in my mind. Even as I dried him down I realized that my goal had not been solely to make him warm. I had wanted to touch his perfect, little body. More than anything, I wanted to pull his underpants down. I moved back guiltily, wanting to feel revulsion for thoughts that should have been repugnant to any normal male. My tee shirt was damp but my son was dry. Well, most of him was dry because I had not dared to touch the part of him that was still covered by his little, wet underpants. "You feel better," I asked softly. "Yeah. Th-a-a-nks," he shivered. "You better go put some warm clothes on, Jay-boy," I suggested. Jason's head jerked as he looked at me uncertainly. I had startled him. "Y-y-you used t-t-to c-c-call me that w-w-when I w- w-was a b-b-baby," he stammered painfully. "Huh? Oh! Yes, I guess I did. You used to be my Jay-boy, remember?" My son nodded slowly. "Do you still feel cold?" I asked gently. Instinctively, my hand reached forward and despite the frenzied warnings from my left brain not to, I touched him. My hand brushed the small, slender body, feeling the smooth skin of his belly immediately below his ribs. Suddenly, my feeling that the boy was inert and made of marble vanished. I felt live, warm flesh. The impulse to tear my hand away came back but by then it was too late. My fingers caressed him, pressing into the silky skin as they stroked back and forth. I glanced up at him, finally taking my eyes away from the tiny bulge between his legs. "Do you still feel cold?" I repeated. He was startled out of his own reverie. "Huh?" he said absently, then after thinking for a moment, shook his head. "Do you want to go put some dry clothes on?" I asked gently. The idea that lurked at the back of my mind sprang forward. "Or, if you want, you can stay up here and warm up in the sun. You've only got to lie here on the seat and stay out of the breeze and you'll be fine." "M-m-may I? D-d-don't you m-m-mind?" I grinned at him. Why would he think that I would mind if he lay around the cockpit naked all day? Suddenly, I felt very, very hot. I swallowed nervously. I wondered if Jason sensed my desire. It was over-powering me and it seemed to be so obvious that it would be impossible to miss. I tried to think of Tina. I tried as hard as I could but each time my thoughts were pulled back to the present. My penis lurched as it tightened still further in the confines of my shorts. Already I could feel it bulging as it became harder. What was happening too me? Was I, what I had accused him of? Was I the queer, the faggot? I wiped away the sweat that formed on my brow. I nodded. I would do anything to keep him here on deck with me. Slowly my courage returned. "Of course not, Jason. Why would I mind?" He smiled shyly and shrugged as he settled back on the leeward seat. There was still a risk that another wave might come over the side, but he was safely out of the wind and in the sun and no matter how far the boat heeled he would not slide more than a few inches at most. He gazed back at me as I started to pick his wet clothes up from the cockpit floor where I had dropped them. I squeezed out as much water as I could and placed them over the wheel so they would dry off. I met his eyes with mine and I smiled at him reassuringly. He gave me a slow, shy smile in return as he curled up in warmth of the sun. I found his book in the corner of the cockpit, next to the drain hole. It too, was soaked from cover to cover. I picked it up and a stream of water trickled out it. Playfully I squeezed it out the same way that I had squeezed his clothes out. Jason started to giggle as the water dribbled down my forearms. In all likelihood the book was ruined but I placed it over the wind- direction indicator. "It'll be a while before you can read that," I laughed, then added, "Unless you don't mind peeling the pages instead of turning them." My son gave me a big grin. It made me feel happier than I had been for a long, long while. It also made me feel braver. Before I could stop myself I had said what I had wanted to say for the last few minutes. "If you take off your underpants I'll hang them here to dry out as well," I said in barely disguised innocence. Jason still grinned at me. His big, blue eyes were magnetic. They reflected the innocence of childhood and I felt a rush of adrenaline as I realized that he was considering my suggestion. "M-m-my underp-p-pants," he asked. "Then I w-w-won't have anything on." "So? I have seen you naked before, you know." I smiled at him teasingly as I added, "Lots of times. You used to like running around in the raw when you were younger. For a while I used to think you were born to be a nudist." Jason regarded me uncertainly. This close, I wasn't prepared to stop. I continued to smile at him. "I have seen it all before. I even know you aren't circumcised. But do you know why you aren't?" His eyes flashed downward momentarily as if trying to remind himself whether his foreskin was, or was not intact. He shook his head slightly. "Because I said no. Your mom wanted you cut and I wanted you natural. That was one fight I actually won." His grin widened as his perfectly white teeth appeared. Unless I was mistaken he still had some baby teeth and there was a gap on the right side where he was waiting for a replacement model. "Yeah?" he said curiously. Emboldened, I persisted in my recollections of my two years and seven months with Jason. "Really! I used to give you baths a lot too. Back then, you were my favorite person in the whole world Jay-boy." I began to laugh as I remembered more details. "W-w-what's s-s-so funny?" Jason demanded. I shook my head as I tried to restrain myself. "I was just remembering something. Just about every time I bathed you, you used to get an erection. It was the tiniest little thing but it would stick up so hard and proud. You used to lie in the bath- tub and play with it." Jason reddened slightly. I enjoyed the boy's discomfiture as I wondered whether he could remember the games he played. I decided to help him along. "Your favorite game was to tie your toy boat up to it. Now let me think, what was the name you called it. It wasn't pee-pee or anything like that. Uh! Hmmmm! It was a name you made up for it and it was really funny at the time. Well I'm sure it will come to me sooner or later." "W-w-why d-didn't you w-w-want me c-c-c,... c-circumc-c- ised,... l-l-like you, Dad?" he asked with a curious expression on his face. He twisted onto his back and put his hands behind his head. I thought for almost a minute before I answered. "I guess because that's the way we you came. I couldn't see the point in cutting off part of you. Anyway, you were mostly foreskin, back then." I grinned, "You wouldn't have had much left afterwards. Besides I think boys look better with it on. It looks a lot sexier." Then his words hit me. How dumb could I be? My beautiful young son had just called me 'Dad' and I hadn't noticed. I stared at him in disbelief. The smile on his face was almost mystical. Without a word he arched his back and lifted his buttocks up off the seat. He pushed his wet underpants downward to his knees before he settled back on the seat. I turned away deliberately as soon as I realized he was undressing completely. I saw only the briefest glimpse of bare, alabaster-white flesh. I gazed out over the ocean, examining the horizon for signs of other boats, for floating debris, for anything to take my mind of the fact that my son was probably naked on the seat only a few feet away from me. "Heh, Dad!" he called out suddenly. I reacted by turning back, just in time to catch his underpants was they came flying through the air in a wet, sodden ball of cotton. I grinned at him as I tried hard to keep my eyes from searching out and focusing on the one part of him that I wanted to see more than I could stand. Again, I endeavored to keep my mind on other things, to avert my eyes from what was now definitely very naked and grinning as he lay on the seat next to me. I carefully unfolded the balled-up cloth. They were turned inside out and as I flipped them out it was impossible not to marvel at the small size. To my eyes, my son's underpants seemed no larger than they had been when he had first stopped wearing diapers and started wearing 'big-boy' pants. In a rush, my memory came back to and I started to laugh. "I remember now," I finally chortled. "I started calling your dick a puppy. After all, if a girl has a pussy, then a boy has a puppy, right? Actually, I think it was kind of appropriate as well. He was always getting into mischief in the bath-tub." My son smirked cheekily. "S-s-so w-w-what did I call it?" "Let me think. It was a doggy name, from one of your books. Uh! Yeah! I know! Pokey! Boy, was that ever on the money," I laughed, "He was always poking his head up." Jason blushed slightly. "He was, Jas'. It was pretty funny at the time, but it's only natural for it to happen. It's nothing for you to be embarrassed about, now, or then. It used to happen all the time." I grinned. "At least when you were with me. I don't think your mother liked it when Pokey stuck his head up. And she certainly didn't like either of us calling him Pokey." I turned his underpants around. There was a little brown 'skid' mark in the seat. It was an enchanting reminder of the way he had once been. Just before he was out of diapers his bowel movements had become quite substantial. He used to regularly be covered from his spine to his fat, tiny scrotum. On some occasions, it went all the way up his belly and over his back. There had been what I could only describe as an intense closeness to him, almost an enjoyment in cleaning him up, wiping the smelly mess that fouled him, ensuring that his scrotum and penis were absolutely clean of it. I even wenet to the extent of folding a point in the toilet-wipe and inserting it into the tiny opening of his foreskin as deeply as possible. That used to bring forth a fit of wild giggles, and frequently, a nice, little erection. Even at two-years-old, Jason was a sensuous and erotic child. Then, unable to resist the temptation a moment longer I took my first long look. I had not seen my son naked for more than seven years. I had adored him as a baby. Even the 'terrible twos' were wonderful. He was wonderful. How could I have ever left him alone for all that time? The beauty of his face was reciprocated in his perfect young body. He was lightly tanned except for his middle section. There the skin was all but pure white, a deliciously soft, creamy-pink color. It was the color that Fraggonard used for flesh. It was a delicate tone that bespoke of the fact that this part of him had never witnessed the rays of the sun. No, that was a lie. As a baby I had often let him play outside in the yard. I would watch him splashing in his paddle- pool or covering himself with sand in the sand-box. On most days he would be naked. The summer he turned two, he had the most gorgeous tan from head to toe. What had happened to the confident little boy? He had never stuttered then. I could remember those afternoons we shared vividly. He had been so happy and playful as we frolicked in the grass, wrestling, him cool and wet and naked, me hot and sweaty and clothed. I wonder whether my astonishment was revealed on my face. I felt it with a sudden jarring shock. In one way at least the passage of time appeared to have stopped. My son's little penis, his testicles too, for that matter, seemed to be no larger than they had been more than seven years earlier. Now, his genitals looked disproportionately smaller as the rest of him had grown. My eyes were riveted to his groin as I stared, lovingly. His genitals were, like the rest of him, perfect. His foreskin still appeared to be inordinately long relative to the short length of his penis. His scrotum with its tiny precious cargo was tight. It formed a little wrinkled lump between his thighs. The skin was somewhat darker and it emphasized that wonderful part of him. Even though I had no basis for comparison, I knew that his scrotum was small for a boy of his age. It had been small when he was young and now with the retarded growth of his genitals, it appeared even smaller. In that respect, my son was similar to me. For most men, the scrotal pouch hangs at least as far as the penis. In my case, the scrotum is compact and when fully relaxed, barely comes past the halfway point of my penis. In Jason's case, his scrotal development was further restricted so that his testicles were so close to his body that they were barely visible. I realized instinctively and sympathetically that he would be the brunt of more than a few 'locker-room' jokes as he grew up. But in its smallness, his little scrotum was jewel-like. Like the sparkling, diamond stud in his ear, it held my full attention. I breathed slowly as I gazed upon the naked boy, marvelling at his beauty. I could never hate him. I looked too long, too hard. Jason began to blush. Suddenly filled with embarrassment, his hand moved downwards and covered his exposed sex organs. His eyes met mine as we glared at each other silently. I needed to say something, anything to divert both his attention and mine from what confronted us. "Like I said, Jay-boy, you were mostly foreskin," I said softly. I smiled weakly and breathed outward and then forced myself to turn away. If I had not been standing behind the binnacle, Jason would have seen my erection. I busied myself, tidying the sheets, taking in a little more of the genoa, giving more tension to the back stay, adjusting the helm. The rum-line from Cape Sounion was 75 miles, almost a direct line southeast between the islands of Kea and Kithnos. The wind had definitely changed direction by nearly twenty points to the east. If I wanted to reach Paros by nightfall I would have to beat into the wind. The waves were starting to build and I knew that it would be a rough ride. Personally I enjoy a rough sea. There is something very satisfying about the power of a yacht as it surges from one wave to the next and white spray cascades outwards. I also knew it would probably make Jason seasick very quickly. I considered the options. The best idea was to ease off the sheets and take the less demanding course towards Mykonos. It was too far to go to tack down to Paros today. If the wind kept swinging to the east, there was a strong probability that it heralded the meltemi. That was an unpleasant thought. The winds could reach fifty knots as hot air swept down into the Mediterranean from the Russian steppes. Sometimes it lasted for days at a time. The forecast had not mentioned a meltemi but my experience with Greek forecasts was not reassuring. We needed to be 'holed up' somewhere in the lee of an island before dark. I eased the sheets and reset the self-steering for a course that would take us eastward towards Mykonos. For a moment I gave some thought to staying at Siros. It lay off the port beam, about three or four miles to the north. I took a quick peek at Jason. He seemed to be doing fine, almost enjoying the rise and fall of the boat as it lifted up into each wave and rushed down its face into the next one. For a while at least, seasickness would not be a problem. I stepped into the cockpit and examined the chart. On our current course, nearly due east, was Mykonos. I guessed the distance to be about twenty five miles, certainly no more than thirty miles. I checked the log. We were making over ten knots. Three hours at most, we could be there by three o'clock at the latest. The chart showed that there were some protected anchorages but one in particular caught my eye. We could stay at a cove near Super-Paradise Beach for the night. I glanced at Jason, wondering what he would think if he knew what was in my mind. If the wind abated tomorrow we could head for the village of Mykonos, or if it swung back towards the west again, we could go south to Paros. If it strengthened, we could stay over on Mykonos for a few days. Slowly my aching-hard erection subsided. I felt relief. I also felt disbelief. Looking at the slender, naked body of my own son had made me hard. I had been much harder than I had ever been before and considerably more that I had been with Tina. It was an intensely disturbing thought. It was a thought that made my heart beat faster even as I tasted bile in my throat and guilt settled over me like a furtive cloud. For the next ten minutes I kept my eyes averted, stealing only an occasional glance and always avoiding the one place that I wanted to feast my eyes on. Jason had stretched out on the seat. One arm was crooked under his head providing a pillow of sorts. His other arm was above his head, his fingers hooked around the drum of a winch. The effect was startling. It stretched the skin of his chest and belly taut. Thin, sharp lines marked the position of every rib. Slender, gently swelling muscles of his belly formed a flat groove from his chest to his groin. Again I forced my eyes away. I reached into the side locker and extracted a plastic bottle of suntan lotion. It was the amber, oily type with an SPF close to zero but it was all that I had aboard. I made a mental note to buy more. I should have done that in Athens, the price doubled in the islands and from the look of his skin he would go through a few gallons by the time he left for home. I leaned forward and passed the bottle across to Jason. Fortunately, his right knee was drawn up so that I saw nothing beyond his slender, beautifully shaped thigh and leg. I grinned at him as he reached forward to take it from me. Already his body looked warm and dry. "You better put some of this on, Jay-boy," I said with a wink. "And make sure you put a lot of it on all over you. If you get Pokey sunburnt you'll know it." My son giggled as he flipped the cap off. He squeezed the bottle over his chest and the amber oil squirted out into a big puddle on his pale flesh between his nipples. He began to massage it into his skin. It was about the sexiest thing I have ever seen. My penis lurched again as my heart rate surged and my normally low blood-pressure doubled. I forced myself to look upward. I gazed at the sails. The main mast towered more than seventy feet above me. The sails seemed vast from the perspective that I had and the glare was intense. I closed my eyes and willed my thoughts away from Jason, trying hard to think of anything else but him and the motion of his small deft fingers rubbing into his belly. I tried to think of Tina, of the soft brown triangle of hair between her legs and the narrow, very wet, slit that had sucked my cock in and held it tightly. But the desire to look at my naked son became stronger and stronger. A minute passed. I opened my eyes and turned to him. He was sitting up, rubbing both hands against his legs. He glistened with a lustrous, oily sheen. He worked intently, absorbed in his self-indulgent self-pleasuring. Because that was exactly what it was. His eyes were half-closed and his mouth was half-open as he soaked up the life-giving energy from the sun and radiated his own vibrant energy. Jason was every bit as hard as I was. Casually his right hand slid from his legs to his groin and I watched, mesmerized as his fingers stroked against the tiny rigid shaft that lay flat against his lower belly. After only a few moments of gently fondling himself, two of his fingers encircled his scrotum and he began to rub at his testicles. His thumb and one finger, his first finger remained looped around his little, hard penis. Without warning, his eyes flashed open, met mine, and his hand jerked away. Instinctively both knees came up to his chest, blocking my view of his tiny boy-penis. He blushed self- consciously, visibly embarrassed. That he had been so engrossed in achieving his own pleasure as to be unaware of my presence both excited and fascinated me. "It looks as though Pokey's up to his old tricks again," I teased gently. Jason reddened slightly but I smiled reassuringly as I added, "I bet it felt nice. It's nothing to be ashamed about, Jay-boy. Every boy does that, you know. That's one of the reasons why its there." He swallowed nervously and he considered my smile for a moment or two. "Yeah?" I nodded. "It's certainly a whole lot more fun than just peeing through it, isn't it?" He smirked and nodded back at me. Slowly he settled back down on the seat and stretched out, though he was careful to keep his right leg crooked and the knee lifted up to ensure his privacy. For the next two hours I stole quick, surreptitious glances, peeking at him when he was absorbed in reading his book or dozing, catatonic in the warmth of the sun. He was very careful not to touch his penis again while I was near him. By two o'clock, Mykonos was fast approaching. I went below and retrieved a navigation guide and a pair of bright-yellow swimming shorts that I found in Jason's cabin. His cabin was a mess. The motion of the boat had tossed his suitcase to the floor and it had opened. Clothes, books, and toilet articles littered the floor. I shrugged. A day earlier, even a few hours earlier, I would have shouted at him to clean it up. It wasn't his fault, if anything, it was mine for not having told him to make sure that everything was secured down. He would clean it up in his own good time. I started back up, climbing the stairs carefully since I had only one hand free for the boat and it was still heeling considerably with each strong gust. I barely suppressed a heart attack. Jason's head was towards me and I looked along his slender, young body to his groin. He was playing with himself. His penis was hard again and his fingers grasped it tightly. He was trying to pull the foreskin back, endeavoring to retract it past his glans. It was nearly past the head but the last eighth of an inch was still too tight to pull past. He breathed heavily as he pushed and pulled at it. I could have stood there on the second step and watched all day. And during the night too for that matter. He was obviously enjoying himself. His penis was oil-slicked and glistening and it was evidently slippery as his fingers kept losing their grip. It was only the overriding importance of making a safe approach into Mykonos and avoiding the rocks around Delos, that demanded my attention and took my interest away from him. I ascended the stairs, making as much noise as I could to give him warning and then tossed his shorts at him. They landed over his genitals. He jumped as if I had given him an electric shock. He had been in another world, living in a fantasy of his own making. His hand instantly dropped down and covered his aroused genitals as I came through the companionway and stepped into the cockpit. "You better put these on," I grinned, "Before the locals get a look at Pokey. They might arrest us," I teased. He smirked at me with a mysterious beguiling shyness and for a moment I wondered whether Jason had known that I had been watching him from the companionway. He slipped his feet through the legs of his shorts, pulled them along his legs and thighs, then came to his feet to finish the job. I caught a last glimpse as 'Pokey' disappeared behind opaque, bright-yellow nylon. It probably saved me from a stroke. He dropped back onto the seat and resumed his shy, knowing smile. His blond hair was radiant in the bright afternoon sunshine. Again, I gazed silently, captivated. I was enchanted by his beauty. He was still the wonderful little boy that I had loved so dearly, seven years ago. "We have a choice, Jay-boy," I stated. "No, this time you have a choice. We can go round to the other side of the island to the town or we can find a nice, quiet cove on this side and stay there. You pick." "W-w-hat would we do if w-w-we went to the town?" "Well, I guess we'd tie up at the harbor and walk around. Maybe get dinner at a restaurant. Most villages on the islands are very pretty and Mykonos is one of the best. It is real touristy, though," I answered. Jason grinned. "Hmmmm! I d-d-don't know. The c-c-cove, I guess." I nodded. "Good choice. We can go swimming if you want." I changed course to take us in closer to the coast. "Jason?" "Yeah, Dad?" My heart leaped again. "Jas',... when did you start stuttering?" I asked gently. I saw Jason's lips press together. He breathed out slowly. "I-I-I d-d-don't remember, b-b-but it w-w-wasn't long after y-y- y-y-you left." I shook my head sadly. "God, I'm sorry Jas'. I loved you so much. I wanted to take you with me. I really did. I've missed you so much." PLATONIC LOVE. DAY TWELVE. Super-Paradise Beach, Mykonos. Afternoon, August 4th, 1993 "Not only was he fair of face but if he could be prevailed upon to disrobe, you would have no more eyes for his face, so perfect is his beauty in every part." Plato. It took nearly an hour to find a place to anchor. I wanted to be close enough to Super-Paradise Beach that we could use the dinghy to motor to the beach while still being far enough away from other boats so that we were ostensibly by ourselves. But even as we approached the coast, even as I lowered the anchor into the crystal-clear, aquamarine water, I could not admit to myself why I had come here with Jason and why I had searched to find a secluded spot. Super-Paradise Beach is a nudist beach. It is also a gay beach. What I had in my mind, I dared not admit. Not to myself, and certainly not to Jason, for such an acknowledgment of my prurient desire would be tantamount to a confession. I began to wonder what I would tell him when the time came. The 'moment of reckoning' was fast approaching and I had a dilemma. As we neared the coast of Mykonos I placed Jason in charge of the helm and went forward to drop the sails. His face lit up with a beaming smile that was wide and wonderful. I squeezed his shoulder and said, "Just keep the compass needle right on 85 degrees, son." I felt a thrill as I acknowledged Jason as my offspring for the first time since I had deserted him all those years ago. He didn't say anything but his smile changed to become even wider - if that was possible. I left him standing by the wheel, his slender arms stretched wide apart as he gripped it hard, concentrating all his attention on steering exactly 85 degrees. Occasionally, I glanced back at him. He appeared to be doing very well. Like most people at the helm for the first time, he went too far, then over-corrected. It's a natural mistake because it takes time for a fifty-three foot yacht to respond to a change in direction, no matter how small. With each minute that passed he became more confident. I began to realize that my son was also a very fast learner as he began to gauge the helm movements that were necessary in the long swell that rocked the boat back and forth. I lowered the main-sail first and then went back to the cockpit to see how he was doing. He looked at me expectantly, still partially afraid that I would shout at him. Instead I squeezed his small, bare shoulder again. His skin was deliciously warm to touch and its softness defied description. "You're doing a great job, Jay-boy," I observed as I peered at the compass. "The next stage is a bit harder. I want you to line up with that point, the one with the olive trees. Yeah! That's it, a bit more, not too far. Good! Now just keep that dead ahead, straight in front of you, so it's in a direct line with the pulpit." "The what?" he asked nervously as he trembled slightly with growing tension. I smiled. "The railing at the bow - that's the pulpit. You're doing great, Jas'. Don't be so afraid." He nodded and I went aft to lower the mizzen sail. When that was secured safely, I went back to the cockpit. The speed of the boat had decreased and it no longer heeled dramatically with each strong gust. I stood behind him and started the engine. The starter whirred and eighty horsepower of diesel came to life. As I pushed the gears into forward, Jason's warm, almost-bare body pressed against mine. I felt an involuntary quiver as his back touched my chest. His soft, long hair brushed my nose and as I took my hand away from the engine controls, I lifted it up and placed it around his chest so that my fingers pressed into his ribs, and hugged him. "You're doing a great job," I said lovingly. My penis lurched immediately. It was getting to be a habit, though it was no longer a response that frightened me. In fact, with practice, it could become a very enjoyable habit. For a few seconds I held him tight, feeling the young warmth of his bare skin against mine. He seemed fresh and innocent and his silky-smooth body felt absolutely delicious against mine. As that thought came to my mind I jerked away guiltily, for it had been accompanied by another that was far more shocking. He felt better than any female I had ever touched. Tina paled in comparison. He was radiant and brilliant, she was dulled and tarnished. With the boat finally anchored by both bow anchors a hundred yards off shore, I felt confident that it would be safe even if the meltemi did blow in during the night. It was increasingly unlikely that the wind would strengthen during the coming hours because already it seemed to have eased off by five knots. Howevr, anchored where we were in the cove, it was difficult to be sure simply because we were protected from the east by high cliffs. It would be a different matter if the wind swung around to the west, though such a change was very unlikely. I went below, changed into my swimming costume, checked the Radio MYKONOS weather-report on the VHF radio, grabbed two towels, and started on my way back up. I was halfway up the stairs when I thought of taking my camera on the 'excursion' I had been planning for what seemed most of the afternoon. Even if things did not turn out quite the way I hoped, it would still be nice to have some pictures of Jason. In fact, it would have been wonderful to get some while he was lying naked on the cockpit seat earlier in the day. I had thought about it continuously during the several hours that he laid there sunning himself but I could not find the courage to get my camera and suggest that I photograph him, naked. I intended to remedy that situation as soon as possible. I suppressed a smile as I picked up my old Nikon and a spare roll of film. Jason was waiting for me beside the dinghy. "Ready to go, Jas'?" I asked. He nodded happily. I noticed that he was carrying the bottle of suntan oil with him. Jason learned quickly. But I was taking advantage of him. I knew I was embarking on what I would later reflect back on and conclude was the most despicable thing that I had ever done. It would have no equal. Not even when I took Tina to a nude beach on St. Martin and took advantage of the peculiar laws of France and the Netherlands as they pertain to sexual intercourse with minors, had I reached such a low. With Tina, I had zig-zagged from one island to another, always staying overnight on a Dutch Protectorate; Saba, and St. Eustatius, so that I had not committed an illegal act. With Jason, I planned to take him to a gay, nude beach. Ashamed, I stopped unfastening the dinghy and stood up. I let out a slow breath, a sigh of anger at myself, hating the feelings that seemed to rise up, like bile in my throat. "Jas', I,... I think we should go to Mykonos, to the town for tonight," I said dejectedly. "Why Dad? Don't you think it's safe here?" Jason asked. He was closer to the truth than he could possibly imagine. Too close for comfort. I shook my head, resisting the impulse that lurched inside my shorts. I wiped the sweat off my brow. I gazed around the cove. It was very private. Unlike the coves and bays closer to the beaches, this was deserted. But a few hundred yards away I could see a collection of masts of small yachts. A group of charter boats that gathered like a flock of birds around a water hole, indicated the approximate location of the 'action'. I decided silently, unable to resist the temptation that was foreign to me but now seemed as if it had always been part of my psyche. "Do you think the wind will get stronger, Dad?" he persisted. I regarded him quietly. He was too young to understand the feelings that I had discovered in myself only a few hours earlier. He was too young to bear the guilt that I felt, too young for the emotional demands I would place upon him. And he was my son, my own flesh and blood. Unable to look at the small, perfectly beautiful face any longer, I closed my eyes. I tried to drive out the thoughts that dominated my consciousness. I longed to escape the pain of unfulfilled lust that had been with me ever since I had removed his wet tee shirt and shorts. There was only one course of action that was open to me. I took it. "Jason,..." I began slowly, "We have to talk." My son grinned cheekily. "Sure Pop! You want to tell me about the birds and the bees, huh?" I felt my heart jump, skip a beat, and begin to pound frantically. I tried to reason with myself, unsuccessfully attempting to convince myself that it was impossible for a ten- year-old boy to have any comprehension of the loaded meaning of his words. But it was exactly as if he had read my mind. I stared at him mutely. In mind-befuddled disbelief, I watched his grin change to a teasing smirk. I shook my head to clear the ranging confusion in my head. "Kind of," I said awkwardly. "I already know all about it, Dad. They tell us that stuff in the fourth grade, this year at school. It was just before we went on summer vacation. I guess so we don't get into trouble or anything like that," he giggled. I looked at the boy uncertainly. Slowly the realization dawned that for the last few minutes he had not stuttered once. Not once. I wondered whether he realized it. Then I put two and two together and came up with an explanation that 'floored' me. Just steering the boat for a ten minute period, helping me set the anchors and tidy up, had boosted his confidence to an unprecedented level. "So what do you want to tell me?" he persisted. Now it was my turn to be nervous. "Jas' I really think we should leave here," I repeated. The boy shrugged. "Okay, if you want to. I do like it here but we can always come back again, can't we, Dad?" I swallowed and nodded weakly. "It doesn't look quite so windy," he added hopefully. "I noticed," I said. I paused and decided to tell him what I felt. I did a poor job of it. "Jas', I want to tell you something." He looked at me expectantly. I gestured towards the north. "Over there, about where those masts are, there's a nude beach." My son giggled. "A nude beach. You,... you mean people don't wear anything? Like no swimming costumes,... or anything?" he asked. "Man, that's wild." I nodded nervously. "I,... I came here,... because,... well I thought,... well maybe you'd like to go." "You mean go swimming without any clothes on?" he asked uncertainly. I nodded in confirmation. "There'd be other people there?" he continued. I nodded again. "Gee, well, I guess. I've never done anything like that. Swim in the raw, but if you want, I guess it would be all right with me." There was a long silence between us. "We'd,... would both of us be naked?" Jason asked hesitantly. I nodded slowly. He smiled shyly. "Both of us?" he repeated, then slowly added, "Yeah? I guess so. It would be kind of fun, wouldn't it, Dad?" I was caught. Trapped by my own perverted lust, I was confronted by a desire that was so depraved that most people would be more than willing kill me to rid the world of another child abuser. I was a pederast, the carrion of human sexuality. Even worse, I lusted after my own son, far worse than a 'love that could not speak its name.' I shuddered guiltily and tried to turn away, no longer able to look at the object of my concupiscence. "It's a gay beach," I muttered, hoping that the boy would not hear me. "Gay? What do you mean, Dad?" he asked uncertainly. "It's,... it's just for men, Jason. Only guys go there. Gay men,... homosexuals," I mumbled as I stared down self- consciously, guiltily examining the deck caulking. Suddenly, I began to wonder what on earth I was doing there. What did I expect him to do? To acquiesce? Did I really think I would hear his sweet, high-pitched voice say, "Yeah, Dad, that'd be loads of fun. And then you can screw me afterwards." I felt disgusted. I was a pervert, a depraved and sick person who needed to be locked up, or worse. But Jason heard me and I heard a a sudden intake of breath, then silence. Long awful seconds of silence then Jason screamed at me. "God, I hate you! I hate you! Why d-d-d-did you h-h-h- have t-t-to ruin everything? Why c-c-c-can't you l-l-leave m-m- me alone? I-I-I h-h-h-hate you?" As I turned around, the boy began to sob loudly, jerking back and away from me as he trembled uncontrollably. His face distorted in terror. His head shook in frantic denial. He twisted away as I reached for him and he ran. Within seconds he reached the bow and he squeezed behind the roller-furler and into the pulpit. He was as far away from me as he could get. I have never hated any person as much as I hated myself at that moment. I stared at him silently. My fist clenched and in self-loathing I pounded on my forehead. I slumped down onto the teak deck as my knees weakened. At that moment in my life, I wanted only to die. The seagulls wheeling overhead brought me to my senses. Their strident cries as they dived into the water for fish finally penetrated my consciousness and I staggered upward. I could not remember how much time had passed. Perhaps minutes, perhaps much longer. At the far end off the boat I could see Jason. He was huddled up, his head between his knees, he was distraught and from the faint sounds I could hear, he was still crying in his endless torment. I could remember part of a line from the movie I had watched with Jason. It was something about darkness and light. I tried to think back, picturing the closing scenes as the beautiful castle was disintegrating and the Princess was talking to Atreyu, the handsome warrior. The exact words avoided me but the essence of their meaning did not. In the darkness, it took only a speck of light to rebuild the wonders of Fantasia. That speck of light came as a sudden intuition as I wondered about the boy's horrified response. It far exceeded what I expected and with almost mystical insight, the reason was transparently clear to me. The only explanation I could think of was that Jason believed himself to be gay. My senseless, stupid teasing of my son had been only barbs, mere pricks of his delicate flesh compared to the sword I had just thrust into him. If ever there was a time I needed to find the right words, this was undoubtedly it. If ever there was a time that a son needed his father, this was it. Slowly, I walked towards him. Each step seemed impossible as my feet dragged with a ponderous weight that threatened to drag me down. From the stern to the bow, fifty-three feet, each foot further into the pain that awaited me, ever closer to my distressed son. With each step, I started to comprehend the damage I had done to the most wonderful boy in the world and a curious sensitivity came to me. I did not speak until I was only a few feet away from him. He was still crying. "Jason,..." I said quietly. "I h-h-hate you. Leave m-m-me the f-f-fuck alone, okay," the boy gasped out. I grimaced. One day I would have to do something about the boy's bad language. That was the problem with sending a boy like Jason to a city school but I could remedy his situation with the check I received from my publisher. I owed him that, if nothing else. But even as the idea formed in my mind, I knew that I owed him far more than mere money. I owed him seven, long, lonely years. They were years that I should have been with him, ready to support him when he needed it, ready to hug and kiss him when he felt down, ready to tickle and wrestle when he was rambunctious, ready to teach him all that I knew. "God, I-I-I h-h-hate you. I'll g-g-g-get off your f-fucking b-b-boat." "Jason,... Jason, I love you," I pleaded. "I didn't mean to hurt you." And then I couldn't think. I could not find the words that I desperately needed to say to him. I hammered my forehead again with my clenched fist, angrily. I ground my fist against my forehead. "Jason, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I hurt you. Please forgive me. Please," I begged. I pushed the back of my thumb against my eyes, realizing that there was wetness, that like my ten-year-old son, I too had been crying, though I could not remember when. "Y-y-you h-h-hate me,... a-a-and I h-h-hate you," the boy breathed out. I regarded him quietly. Again I saw the light, the minute speck of light that faltered but still burned, if somewhat unsteadily. All said and done, he was still my son. He was growing up, albeit slowly. In a few years the little boy would be gone and my son would be a young man. I wanted to hug him. "I,... Jason,... I'm sorry. I really am. I don't hate you. I love you." "Y-y-yes you do. Y-y-you hate g-g-gays," he blurted out. I shook my head. It was unseen by the boy because his head was lodged between his knees. "I love you, Jason. I don't hate you," I said gently. "I could never hate you. You're my son and I love you." "Y-y-you h-h-hate m-m-me," he stammered as his slender body shivered. "I-I-I'm g-g-gay and y-y-you h-h-hate me." "No! Jason, don't ever think that. Please?" I begged. "Maybe you are gay,... It doesn't matter if you are. All I want is for you to be happy." I paused wondering whether I was even close to penetrating the boy's armor. I sensed he was resisting, fighting against me with every ounce of strength inside him. I wanted to take away his pain. I wanted to make everything better for him. I wanted to love him and have him love me in return. I stopped just short of saying that 'maybe I was gay as well'. "You really think I want to take you to a gay beach just to make fun of you?" I asked abruptly. "Is that what you think, Jason?" He nodded with a twitch of his pale, slender neck. I lied, partially. "Jas' I thought you,... I thought you might be embarrassed if there were girls around. That's all." I studied him quietly for a moment, hoping that he was listening. "Most boys at your age don't like girls very much. It doesn't mean they're gay though, Jason. Almost every boy gets embarrassed if a girl sees him naked. I know I would have when I was your age. Even now, I'm not sure I'd like to parade around in front of women who I've never seen before," I acknowledged. "I think it's different if we're all guys. I mean if everyone there has got the same, well, I guess there's nothing to lose, is there." Jason's eyes flicked upwards momentarily. There was no trust in his eyes, not like there had been earlier during the day. Now there was only suspicion and pain that I had put there. "Yeah?" he whispered. Then he comprehended what he said only moments earlier and he began to cry again. Little more than four hours earlier I would have condemned him as a cry-baby, as a spoiled, whining faggot. Now I wanted him to love me. Nothing less would suffice. "I don't hate gays, Jason. I was wrong to make fun of them. I love you. I would never hurt you." I pleaded. I stepped forward, reached down, and gently stroked his head. His hair was like silk; long, fine, golden strands of hair. "So w-w-why,... d-d-do you m-m-make f-f-fun of them?" he breathed. "Jason, I promise I won't ever do it again. Ever!" I said gently. I tousled his head lovingly. "I promise," I added. Jason looked upward. His eyes were red and his soft cheeks were wet, glistening with the trails of where his tears had travelled. Like a two-year-old boy, his bottom lip came forward over his upper lip. He observed me critically. He was trying to decide if I was sincere, whether he could trust me, whether he could ever like me again. I smiled at him reassuringly. I watched as his lips compressed into a thin, hard line. There was no sound between us, but I could hear the thoughts whirring through his head. He was frightened as he wondered why I had not said something about his affirmation of being gay. I decided to ignore it, at least for the present time. In his own time, when he was ready to discuss it, I knew that he would come to me. "I'm sorry, Jason," I said. "Can you ever forgive me? My son's mouth faltered, his determination gradually weakening as a smile began to form at the corners of his mouth. "Yeah, you're f-f-forgiven," he teased as he wiped the wetness from his cheeks and sniffed loudly. His smile increased as he began to relax. In those few seconds, I realized the extent of the similarities between us. In one respect at elast, he was very unlike his mother. When we had fought, which was quite often, she harbored a grudge that lasted for days at time. Sometimes a week or more would pass before she would speak civilly to me. Jason, like me, was strong-willed and proud, and prone to verbal disagreements, but he was over them in only a few minutes. If the other party made a bona fide offer of friendship, the fight ended even sooner. Now our fight was over, it would be forgiven and quickly forgotten. "You want to go for a swim?" I asked. Jason regarded me uncertainly, still unsure of his position though wanting the fight between us to be ended. "At the n-n- nude b-b-beach?" he inquired nervously. I glanced over to the collection of masts beyond the rocky foreshore. "If you want. Or we can stay right here. It's up to you." The boy followed my gaze into the distance, then sighed as he thought. "I w-will, if you will, Dad?" he replied with a cheeky grin. "I guess I d-d-don't w-w-ant girls seeing me in the raw, either. We c-c-can go there if you w-w-want. It might be fun." "Of course you can still wear your swimming costume, if you want to," I said reassuringly. "You don't have to be as naked as a jaybird,.... Jay-boy," I teased playfully. Jason giggled. "Maybe Pokey likes b-b-b-being out in the sun?" he said. "Maybe h-h-he w-w-wants to have a sun t-tan." I grinned back at the boy happily, glad that our fight had ended. "Well we better get a move on then, 'cause there's only a few hours of sunshine left." Jason walked before me as we went to the stern. My eyes never left his body. He was deliciously slender. From his neck, all the way to the start of his swimming costume, his spine was evidenced in a trail of small, knobby bumps. His shoulders sloped downward, still the shoulders of a young boy without the muscle and bone development that accompanied adolescence. His shoulders and hips were narrow and his waist was tapered, accentuating his slim body. He was a boy, pure unadulterated, 100 percent boy. He was prepubescent and to my perverse desire, perfect in every way. This time Jason helped me get the dinghy unstrapped from the deck and into the water. The change that had occurred in just the space of a few minutes was both a little frightening and miraculous. It was not that he was strong enough to really contribute any leverage, but that he tried to help with all his might. Jason needed six months in a gym to build his muscles. I smiled to myself as the thought came to me. "What's so funny?" he asked. My heart leaped. He had not stuttered. It was difficult to believe how he changed so quickly. "You are," I laughed. "You were awfully cute when you were mad at me but I think I really prefer you like this. A couple of weeks like this and the next time you beat-up on me I'll probably lose." My son giggled. "So what makes you think you'd win now," he said with mock bravado as he clambered down into the bobbing dinghy and assumed his position on the center seat. I passed him the camera and beach towels and followed him before casting off the line. I pushed the dinghy away from the side of the boat, selected neutral, pulled the starter twice, and revved the throttle. "Okay, Jas'! It's all yours," I said. "Huh?" "Well get back here. You can't steer from back there," I laughed. "Steer?" he repeated as he swallowed nervously. "Steer this?" I nodded. It was a calculated risk on my part. It was unlikely that he could do any real damage, unless he managed to flip it over. It would also provide an enormous boost to his ego and confidence. Besides, Harry was wrong. If there was one thing a boy liked more than fishing, it was running an inflatable dinghy with a twenty horsepower outboard - flat-out. We exchanged places cautiously. I settled down on the plywood floor, keeping my weight low and towards the stern so that the dinghy would quickly come up on a plane. Jason was trembling with excitement as he pushed the gear lever down and the propeller chewed into the water. The dinghy jumped and began to accelerate. The engine was barely beyond idle but to a ten- year-old boy it was fast. I allowed him to motor slowly until he got used to the 'feel' of it. "Okay, now you can open it up," I instructed. "Twist the handle a little bit." The engine roared and the dinghy took off. Within seconds it was planing, zipping across the small wavelets with loud smacks as it leaped from one wave to the next. "What's its name?" Jason shouted in boyish glee. "Argos," I shouted back. He thought quickly and I watched as he beamed in unparalleled delight. The wind rushed into his face, blowing his glistening, golden hair back freely. "That's the name of Jason's boat," he shouted over the roar of the engine. He was still at less than half-throttle and the dinghy was rocketing over the water. "It is now," I laughed. "As long as you're here with me, Jay-boy, it's all yours." "How fast can it go, Dad?" Jason bellowed. "This is fast enough for now," I laughed. "I guess you're doing about fifteen or twenty. I'll show you how fast on the way home, maybe." I directed him over towards the shore, staying well back from the waves as they rolled onto the beaches and rock outcrops, but close enough that the waves were bigger and the dinghy jumped from one to another with loud splashes. Jason was having the time of his life. For the ten minutes that it took us to motor from the boat to Super-Paradise Beach, he was the happiest boy alive. As we approached, I suggested that he ease off on the throttle and we ran down the beach looking for a good place to land. Several couples were close to, or in the water while others sunbathed on the sand. With few exceptions, all were men in their twenties and thirties, though sometimes older. But independent of their ages, all of them were naked and to my eyes, obviously gay. Strangely, the sight of them did not excite me. If anything, the sight of thick, long cocks and low-hanging balls turned me off. I wondered what effect it had on Jason. I did not turn around and see. This time, Jason needed his privacy. If what I thought was correct, he needed time to accept and understand who and what he was. If I could, I would help him understand. If he allowed me, if he wanted, I would help him accept what it meant to be attracted to his own sex. I leaned back and helped Jason beach the dinghy by running it up on the sand and pulling the engine out of the water at the last moment as I 'cut' the gas. We had picked the quietest end of the beach, well away from other people. I had observed the stares as we motored down the beach and I wondered if Jason had noticed the stares as well, since they had been focused on him. Though I did not know it at the time, it wasn't often that a young boy came to Super-Paradise, and very seldom one who was as beautiful as the golden-haired boy beside me. I felt proud. I also felt very threatened. Any of these men, the vast majority younger than myself, could take my son away from me. We stepped out the dinghy together. Jason was flushed, not with only with the excitement of the ride, but a sudden, shameless, enjoyment of being the center of attention of over twenty naked men. Lust had been in their eyes and the boy had not missed it. Then, as his eyes met mine, he looked away, down at his feet. He reddened further, now embarrassed. "They thought you were hot stuff, Jason," I teased, "but they were really looking at me, you know." The boy looked up and he smiled shyly, "Yeah, I guess. You are good-looking, Dad," he teased playfully. "So now what?" "So now you do what you want to do, but I'm taking my shorts off," I laughed. I began to unfasten the nylon cord at the top of my shorts. I sensed that Jason was watching me even though he stood beyond my view. I pulled my shorts off and tossed them into the bottom of the dinghy, right into a puddle of water that had probably splashed over the side when we came into the beach. "Oh shit!" I laughed. "So much for dry clothes on the way home." I heard my son giggle as I knelt down and lifted my sodden clothes up, squeezed out the water and spread them out on the seat to dry. I was naked and the sun and breeze felt wonderful. The sense of freedom and of being alive, was greatly magnified by nudity. It was a pleasant feeling. I stood up and turned around. Jason was standing quietly, staring at me fixedly. I noted the instinctive flicker of his eyes as they dropped down to my groin, then self-consciously, dragged away, only to return, drawn back irresistibly by a force beyond the boy's control. "He's so big! He's huge compared to mine," Jason breathed out in awe. I shrugged. I wasn't all that big, five inches now, seven- and-a-half inches hard, eight inches on a good day, but I was enormous compared to Jason's small appendage. I was big enough for Tina, way too much for the slender, young boy before me, but compared to some of the well-hung studs further up the beach, I barely had the equipment of a young teenager. "He's grown up," I grinned. "You have to give Pokey some time to grow up, too." "Will I be as big as you?" my son asked shamelessly. "Maybe," I replied. "But you're going to have to wait a few years to find out. But you know Jas', the size doesn't matter one bit. It's what you do with it that counts." The boy smirked, still staring at me in obvious fascination. I began to wonder whether Jason would undress in front of me. He was obviously stalling, the usually deft fingers of both of his hands were at his waist but he fumbled with the cord of his swimming costume. He was not untying it, his attention was elsewhere, his eyes scrutinizing my groin. Within seconds, my blood-pressure increased and I could feel the delightful growing sensation in my penis that heralded the start of an erection. I smiled at my son, captivated by the mix of inhibition and curiosity that constituted a ten-year-old boy. It seemed as though his curiosity was winning. "You don't have to strip off, Jas'. Not if you don't want to," I said gently. I turned, and leaving him alone, began to walk down towards the water. By the time I was ankle-deep, a pale, very-naked boy came running from behind me, whooping loudly and leaping high into the air as he shot past. I glimpsed a small, almost-white bottom and long, slender legs before he dived into the shallow water, splashing head first into the foamy chaos of a breaking wave. The exuberance of the adorable young male was awe-inspiring and I chased him into the water. Any inhibition that plagued my son seemed to have disappeared in the few seconds that my back was turned to him. He went wild. We swam side by side, raced until we were breathless, dived under each other, and ran through the shallows like two savages. I felt like a ten-year-old boy myself, relieved of the seriousness of life and knowing only the halcyon and untroubled pleasures of youth. Throughout the year, the Mediterranean is relatively cold but on that afternoon, with the hot sun still blazing down on us and sheltered from the wind by the cliffs, it was almost tepid. It was thoroughly refreshing, cold enough to shrivel my dick and postpone any visible arousal that might have bothered Jason, or scared me. Jason became almost sexless as his penis all but disappeared as it retracted into his body. His tiny scrotum contracted into a taut, inflexible swelling underneath it, until little more than his foreskin and a wrinkled patch of darker skin was visible. Like me, he was divorced from the reality of everyday life. He radiated intense happiness and a fresh, youthful vitality that I absorbed. My son was a squealing, giggling cherub. We romped and wrestled together for nearly an hour, until I worshiped him. "What's the time, Jay-boy?" I asked, still laughing after we had fallen together into the water after one delightful, protracted struggle. He consulted his watch. It was a fancy waterproof one, an expensive Swiss watch worth several hundred dollars. "Nearly five," he giggled as he squirmed away. He assumed an offensive posture and prepared to attack me. "Nice watch," I observed. "Birthday or Christmas present?" He answered honestly, without thinking. "Carlo gave it to me." "Oh!... That's nice! It looks very expensive," I said glumly. "... He must really like you, Jason." "Huh! Yeah, I guess," my son said. A change came over him and his sweet face clouded. He pulled away from me, almost as if he was frightened by the loving embrace we had just shared. But we had hugged again and again during the afternoon as we wrestled and played together. It was innocent and unsullied, devoid of lust or passion, the touch of our bodies was nothing more than the filial and familial contact of a father's flesh against his son's flesh. "Yeah,... I,... g-g-guess," he stammered hesitantly. It was the first time he had stuttered in more than an hour and it sounded strangely foreign. Within seconds his teeth started to chatter, until he clenched his jaws and then he shivered as if he was cold. His face blanched. Jason sat back on his heels, his knobby, little knees were pressed together hiding his genitals from my view. He was suddenly a very pitiful, little boy, ashamed and inhibited about displaying his naked body to me. "Are you cold?" I asked concernedly. "Maybe it's time we got dried off?" My son nodded and slowly got to his feet. "Dad?..." he asked quietly as he looked down at me. His attention focused on my genitals for the first time since we had run into the water. It was very apparent that something was bothering him. "Yeah?" His lips compressed thoughtfully as he gazed down at his feet self-consciously. "N-n-nothing," he mumbled. "Yeah, I guess I'm cold." I nodded understandingly as I stood up. Lovingly I placed my arm around his small shoulders and gave him a quick, fatherly hug. "You really are cold aren't you. Let's go get warmed up." With my arm around him, I escorted him from the water. His cold body brushed against mine as I gave him one very playful hug as we reached the sandy beach. I felt very close to him, so close in fact, that I began to think I could never let him go back to his mother. I wanted him to stay with me, forever. We paused at the dinghy and I picked up the towels, tossing one to Jason and putting the other around my shoulders. Out of the water and with the sun steadily sinking into the western horizon, the breeze became colder. Jason's arms and chest were pitted with goose-flesh and he wrapped himself up in his towel, winding it around his body so that he was encircled from his shoulders down to his knees. I picked up my camera and film from inside the dinghy and he followed me up the beach and away from the water. Beyond the narrow, sandy strip of beach lay huge boulders that had crashed down from the cliffs above. They were scattered around like giant's marbles, their surfaces etched into delicate sculpture by years of wind and salt spray. I edged my way between them, picking a cautious path upward. At the time I was not thinking of my son in a sexual way; I intended only to find a place that was enough out of the wind so that he would be warm and dry. Yet, instinctively and without willful deliberation, I searched for a private place, a place where Jason and I would be alone. My son followed, never more than a few feet behind me as we climbed steadily higher. After little more than a hundred feet we were hidden, concealed behind rocks and low, scrubby trees. After another twenty or thirty feet, we emerged into a wider space. It was almost enclosed by a cleaved fragment of a boulder and the face of the rocky cliff, but there was an overhang that looked down onto the beach and the grounded dinghy below. It was warm and sunny. Screened on all sides, it was a very private place that had shielded lovers in the past. A cream- colored condom, it's latex tip still filled with watery semen lay in the sand, abandoned. Unseen by Jason and unwilling to explain it's function to a curious, ten-year-old boy, I surreptitiously scooped sand over it with my foot until it was buried. Jason grinned at me cheekily as he looked around. "This is neat, Dad. No one would ever know we were up here. Do you think anyone else has ever come here. I bet we're the first. We can pretend that nobody's been here before us. It's our secret hideaway." I smiled enigmatically and raised my eyebrows. He was no longer clutching his towel to his chest and it had parted to reveal his front. I gazed upon his almost-nude body. He was an inspiringly beautiful child. Sunlight grazed his body, leaving strong, dark shadows that accentuated his contour and gave form to him. It was a magic moment. The image of my slender, young son standing shameless and unabashed, revelling in his natural state, would stay with me forever. Despite that I still wanted to capture him on film. "Jason,... would you mind if I took a photograph of you?" I asked quietly. "In the raw?" he asked uncertainly. I smiled, "Of course. It's been a wonderful day, Jas' and I want to remember you just like this." He smiled shyly back at me, quickly becoming bashful as his youthful modesty intruded between us. However, if he was not just ten-years-old, I would have been convinced that his look was coy. Slowly his smile changed to a mischievous grin. "You promise never to show any one?" he said with feigned reluctance. "I don't want anyone else to see the pictures, okay?" "Never! I promise." Jason nodded and I unfastened the cover of my camera, lifted it up to my eye, quickly focused and pushed the button before the magic faded. Through the lens, I saw a lewd, audacious boy, an urchin whose sexuality was disguised by the tiny, limp penis than protruded downward from his groin. But as I wound the film on to the next frame and pressed the button I did not think of myself as depraved or as being engaged in the debauched corruption of a child. In a court of law, the photograph would be found immoral and pornographic, but in the enchantment of the warm, quiet hollow, it was both bewitching and magnetic. Without a word, Jason shrugged his shoulders and his towel dropped away and fell to the ground exposing all of his young body. Divested of his mantle, he became a vulnerable, little boy. My finger pressed again, securing his shy, demurring pose forever. He smiled at me sheepishly. "You want me to pose, Dad?" he asked timidly. I nodded. He began to change his posture with rapid, imaginative moves that startled me. For the first few pictures he was awkward but with each minute he became more daring and at ease in front of the camera. Halfway through the first roll, he was relaxed, pretending to be a Greek hero as he reclined against a rock or stretched and arched his back as though he was waking up. The time, like the film in the camera, passed quickly. Before I knew it I had loaded the second roll of film. With each picture he was liberated further until he became a peacock, strutting elegantly with affected, rampart sexuality. Another stance was mannered and faked as he pretended to be scanning the horizon while he casually stroked his penis with his other hand. The camera was like an aphrodisiac but I was nearly at the end of the roll. The boy was earthy and natural, then carnal and sensuous, then grinning lasciviously into the lens as he caressed his now-erect penis with abandon. My own penis was rigid and I moved about him like a randy satyr, focusing pruriently on his genitals as I clicked again and again. If my aroused state bothered my son, he did not mention it. Before I knew it, I had come to the end of the roll. Jason was breathing heavily, his chest pulsing with each quick, excited gasp as he trembled with juvenile lust. "Do your dick now, Jay-boy," I instructed. I was intoxicated and my young son was similarly stimulated. His body galvanized and his interest piqued as his hand returned to his diminutive erection. He grasped it firmly between his thumb and a solitary finger and began to rub, quickly. The expression on his face changed, from elation to bliss, to the euphoria that precedes ecstasy. His little hand moved with a mad frenzy and his thighs pushed forward with unrestrained glee. Within seconds my ten-year-old son was orgasmic, transported beyond both time and place into the delirium of passion that existed within his mind. I took the last photograph. Then, as I lowered the camera, the sight of my beautiful son masturbating shocked me. He was enraptured. His hand jerked with deranged zeal as his muscles strained. My son was possessed by a demon, my presence irrelevant and extraneous. I was unimportant, spurned by the boy I loved. I was offended and I turned away, repulsed, but the disgust that I felt was not focused on the beautiful, little boy; it was on me and what I had become. Only a few moments later, the affront to my ego had vanished and my desire had overpowered my reluctance to watch the rhapsody of his young body. I turned back. Jason was no longer there. I followed the sound of his movement, the motion of small, bare feet running in the sand and a little, naked body pushing through the salt-encrusted bushes. He led me on quite a chase. Sometimes I glimpsed a pale, slim body leaping from one rock to another, then long minutes would pass before I heard the slightest noise that told of his location. He was agile and healthy despite his slender body and he moved quickly, darting swiftly from one hiding place to another. It was a game of hide and seek with no rules except that I should catch him. The shadows lengthened as the red sun moved ever closer to the sea. A minute passed without a sign of him, then another, and another. I began to worry. It was a father's worry for a missing child and my search became frantic. I scoured the beach, then backtracked, following my footprints until I found his. He had branched off, squeezing his slim body between two huge boulders. I followed, barely managing to get through the narrow gap. As I rounded the corner I saw Jason. He was kneeling in the sand, peeking over a low rock and watching something with obvious fascination. I crept up beside him and knelt down next to him in the sand. He was surprised, his face registering first shock, discomfit, and then ardent enthusiasm. He held his finger to his lips and pointed towards the right. I followed his example and peeped over the rock. I was stunned and I watched in silent amazement beside my stupefied son. A dark-haired youth, somewhere in his late teens, was lying on his back. His ankles were pushed behind his head and his buttocks were lifted high in the air. An older man knelt behind him, grasping the youth's hips tightly as he stuffed his thick, long cock deep into the buttocks presented to him. The sound was wet and sucking as the thick cock pulled back and almost out, then a gasping moan as it stabbed forward again. The man pumped rapidly, his body moving erratically as his orgasm approached. He grunted, making animal-like and wild noises as he grasped the bronzed body before him and pounded even harder and deeper. The youth babbled incoherently, his own release imminent. Then, dumbfounded, I watched as his legs wrapped around the older man's hips, pulling him down and squeezing so that the full length of the cock was rammed down inside him. He moaned and spasmed even as the older man forced the legs away from him and began to slam down as hard as he could. "Julien, Ohhhh! Julien," he gasped as he collapsed, exhausted. Jason was shaking, one hand was clenched tightly into a small, impotent fist, the other hand was cupped over his genitals. It was impossible to determine whether he was aroused, but it was impossible that he was not excited by what he had witnessed. He was visibly agitated as his fingers squeezed into his groin. I placed my hand on my son's thin arm and tugged him after me, leading him away from the chance encounter that had bestirred him and whetted his young appetite. PLATONIC LOVE. DAY TWELVE. Mykonos, Midnight, August 4th, 1993 "The need to perpetuate the human race has driven man to marriage, but pederastic love alone exercises its noble sway over the philosopher's heart." Lucian, Dialogues of Love That what we had seen together behind the boulders affected us, could not be disputed. Jason was confused and I was confused, perhaps even more than he was. I was also worried. The effect on Jason had been frightening. He had been both captivated and obviously excited by what he had observed. We did not speak as we walked back to the dinghy, and during the trip back to the boat, we spoke only once and that was when I asked Jason whether he wanted to steer. It was already beginning to get dark and even as I asked, I knew that it was not advisable. But Jason had no interest, his mind was on other matters and he shook his head. Within his inner turmoil, conflicting emotions and emerging desires struggled against his innocence. The victor would have as his spoils, the body and mind of my son. His battle to understand who and what he was had begun. It was a battle whose outcome had been pre-destined at the time of his conception. I cleated the line from the dinghy and followed Jason up as he scrambled lightly up the ladder and onto the deck. During the trip back he had pulled his swimming costume back on and wrapped his towel around his shoulders to protect himself from the now- cold wind. He was chilled and he shivered. Momentarily, he glanced at my still naked body, again his pure, pale-blue eyes dropped downward, glimpsed my genitals and darted away. "You cold, Jas'?" I asked. It was a dumb question that did not require an answer. He nodded and swallowed self-consciously as his eyes flickered downward, then back up again to meet mine. "I am. I better get some clothes on before I freeze," I added. I led the way down into the main cabin and left Jason alone while I went to my own cabin to get dressed. Jason was sitting on the settee when I returned. He concentrated on rolling the black-plastic cylinder that contained the film from my camera. He looked up absently. "Put this on Jas'," I said as I tossed him one of my old well- stretched sweat shirts. He caught it and pulled it on. It was a dozen sizes too large but it looked far better on him than it did on me. It accentuated the shape of his slender body as the soft cotton hung from his small shoulders in loose folds. The arms were far too long and the sleeves came several inches past his fingertips. The waist was halfway down his legs, covering his shorts so that one could easily think that he was naked underneath it. My son looked very, very sexy and I expected that with the soft, fuzzy material against his skin, it probably felt sexy as well. "That feels better, doesn't it Jay-boy?" I laughed as I turned to the galley and shifted my attention away from the beautiful boy to preparing dinner. He was silent. I glanced at him several times as I worked. He appeared to be deep in thought, his brow furrowed pensively as he studied the small black canisters that held the film. "You look very thoughtful," I said gently. He looked up quickly, smiled weakly and licked his lower lip. He swallowed, blinked, and licked his upper lip. "Dad?...." he began cautiously. His voice trembled nervously and as he spoke, it was barely more than a whisper. I suppressed a smirk, knowing what question he was about to ask. It came with a candid innocence that caught me unawares. "They were fucking, weren't they?" he asked suddenly. "Huh? Oh!..." I nearly cut my finger off. "Huh? What did you say?" I asked, stalling for time as I tried to frame my answer. "You heard me, Dad. I know you did. I asked if they were doing it. You know, having sex." "You asked if they were fucking, Jason?" I laughed. "And the answer is yes. Of course that's what they were doing, you dope. What did you think they were doing? Playing ping-pong?" Jason grinned and commenced tossing one of the film- canisters up into the air with one hand and catching it with the other. Except for the sound of bacon sizzling in the frying pan, the cabin was silent. After more than a minute, my son smirked cheekily. "I was pretty sure they weren't playing ping-pong," he said in his boy-soprano voice. "The old guy had his penis-thing inside his bottom, didn't he?" It was my turn to swallow. "Uh huh!... I believe that's where it goes," I answered. Jason grimaced. "Don't you think it's gross? Doing that? I mean it's dirty back there and,... well,... you'd get poop on it, wouldn't you?" "I guess. Yeah, I s'pose so." "Dad?...." I glanced up from slicing tomatoes. "Yes, Jason?" "Dad,... do you think it feels good? You know, doin' that? Wouldn't it hurt a lot?" Jason asked quietly. I shrugged and tried to quell my rising excitement. My excitement wasn't the only thing rising at that moment. "I don't know. I guess. I expect that they wouldn't do it if it didn't feel good." "Yeah, that's what I thought." He began tossing one canister into the air and catching it with same hand. He started using the other hand, playing a game with himself, testing his reflexes and the speed of his hand. Finally he added the remaining canister to the action. With a little more dexterity, and a few hours of practice he would be juggling. "But it is gross though, don't you think?" he said to himself as much as to me. I didn't answer his question or acknowledge his opinion. It was something he needed to work out for himself. I carried four bacon-cheeseburgers over to the table. "Roll the sleeves up, kid and start eating," I laughed. "You must be famished." "Huh? What's famished mean?" he asked as he began to push the sleeves up his thin, pale arms. Surprise was evident on my face as I picked up Jason's orange juice and my beer from the counter and walked back to the table. It wasn't a particularly difficult word, it was one that an intelligent boy like Jason should understand. It was another reason to get him into a good private school and away from the city school he currently attended. "It means hungry. Very hungry. About as hungry as I am right now," I laughed as I slipped into the seat next to him and gave him a firm, though loving shove to move his butt over about a foot and make room for me to sit down. "You like school, Jas'?" I asked between munches. "No! Not much!" he replied. "You're not doing very well at school, are you Jason?" I asked gently. My son shook his long mane of golden silk, "I'm doin' okay," he replied with his mouth full of half-masticated burger. "I s'pose it's because I don't like it much. Some of the kids are mean to me." I nodded understandingly. For a quiet, sensitive boy like Jason, school could be an unpleasant experience at the best of times. "You get into fights a lot, don't you?" I questioned. It was hard to imagine him winning any of them. He nodded and took a bite out of his burger. I watched his small jaws chewing. He had delicate and perfectly shaped lips like his mother. But unlike his mother, I could already sense the boy's potential for passion as I studied his pretty mouth. After Jason was conceived in a night of clumsy love-making and sometime before he was born, my wife and I ceased conjugal relations. Kissing became an unpleasant chore for her, at best a quick peck on the lips and a hug. At first I thought it was because she was pregnant with my child and that the hormonal changes she was going through had unbalanced her, but I slowly came to realize that the romance had gone. For a while, her swelling breasts became the center of my interest until she rejected even my loving caresses with a plaintive objection that I hurt her nipples. At night, I would lie beside her, resting my hand flat against her belly and feeling the sudden kicks of the child inside her; pressing knees, elbows, hands, and feet against the constricting sides of her womb. Then, even that was rejected. Our marriage was failing as Jason's life began. It was just a matter of time after he was born before she asked for a separation, and shortly after, demanded a divorce. But beautiful Jason was so different to the woman I had come to despise. Unlike her, his entire being seemed to me to have been created for one purpose, love. It was impossible for me to watch him and not be taken back by his beauty, by his perfect body, by the smouldering sensuality that he exuded from every part of him. Even as he chewed, swallowed and bit again into his burger, as his small, razor-sharp teeth sliced into his food, I admired him. As the mustard smeared over his lips and left bright-yellow streaks, as his little, pink tongue pushed forward between his lips and licked, and he slurped noisily at his juice as only a ten-year-old boy with bad table manners can, I loved him. I loved him dearly As I watched, enthralled, I imagined my tongue probing inwards. I sought the soft, wet heat inside him, it would a loving kiss as I tasted his sweet breath. I wondered whether he would return my kiss eagerly, or be repulsed. I tried to imagine his tongue meeting with mine in a slippery union, then sucking him back until I could nibble on his squirming, alive flesh. I constructed a mental image of our lips together, of our saliva mixing freely, of the quirky smile and the teasing, boyish giggle, as he became heated and our embrace grew more and more passionate. My penis hardened. I took a deep breath and bit into my own burger. My mind raced ahead, constructing more fantasies, each one more daring that the preceding ones. And then, for some reason unknown to me I thought of him fighting at school, scuffling in the dust of a playground. The other boy was the same age, though larger, and he easily dominated my son, forcing him back supine and impotent, then hitting him. A fist punched into Jason's small nose and blood poured out and he cried miserably. My erection faded. I remembered how Jason had straddled me as we wrestled playfully in the shallow water at the water's edge. He was physically weak and his efforts to side astride my chest had been feeble. When I wrestled with Jeff, I was often all that I could do to toss him off and then it was with loud squeals as I tickled him furiously. But it was more than the two years that separated the two boys for Jason was a very different kind of boy. He was less male in some way, less aggressively masculine and I loved him the way he was. Life had been very unfair to my son and I was responsible. I had been unaccountable for more than seven years, it had been my decision to bringing him into the world. My failure was a failure that I fully intended to correct though I was unsure of what I would do to achieve it. At the least, I would send him home to his mother as a stronger, happier, healthier boy. "Eat up, Jas'," I teased, "I think it's time we put some meat on those skinny ribs of yours." But already, with only one burger little more than half- finished, Jason was picking at the remains. He peeled away the bread, lifted off the bacon and pulled up the lettuce and tomato. With gobs of melted cheese covering his fingers, he nibbled at lettuce and tomato and I started to laugh. "So? What's funny?" he demanded. "You are Jay-boy. You look like a rabbit. An awfully cute rabbit, but still a rabbit. How on earth do you plan to get big and strong eating like that. You should be starving." He shrugged. "I never eat that much. I guess I don't want to get fat or anything. I'm just not that hungry anymore." "Do you want something else to eat?" I asked concernedly. Jason shook his head. "I'm full, really I am, Dad. Mom says I'm a picky eater. I've never been a big eater. But the burger tasted great," he said happily. I didn't want to pick at him. I was pretty sure that he was nagged at home enough. He didn't need me on his case as well. I changed the subject. After dinner we cleaned up and I led him back to the navigation area. There was only one seat and it was mine. I grinned at my favorite boy in the whole world and patted my leg. Jason grinned back and straddled me. His firm little bottom pressed into my thigh as he sat down. His bare legs were against mine. He felt soft and warm, and very cuddly. Unable to resist, I gave him a playful hug. He responded immediately by settling back against me and wriggling to become comfortable. I locked my arms around his chest and squeezed tightly. Jason felt good. I needed to hug him. I wanted to tell him I loved him, but not in the way he expected. Lovingly, my fingers stroked his smooth hairless leg, just inches above his knee. There was a little sigh, a small, audible sign of contentment. I began to massage his leg, lifting my hand ever-upwards as I went, until I reached the bottom of his shorts. Jason's eyes were nearly closed and he breathed heavily, taking deep, slow breaths and sighing loudly as he exhaled. I went too far, too quickly. Deciding that the time was now or never, I leaned forward and lovingly brushed my lips against his forehead. Jason smiled shyly. His eyes opened and sparkled with an intensity that excited me and my hand moved upward into forbidden territory. My son jumped and jerked back, pulling his legs tightly together as if he'd been subjected to an electric shock. He looked at me angrily, then shook his head abruptly in a silent warning to me. "I'm sorry, Jason," I said softly. "I didn't mean to frighten you." He regarded me suspiciously and then he relaxed again. "s' okay, Dad. It surprised me, that's all." I breathed out, feeling as though my world had come to an abrupt end. My shame grew until all I could feel was disgust at what I had tried to do. But within seconds, Jason had forgotten and he settled back against me and pushed his silky hair under my nose. I watched his eyes light up as I switched on the SSB (Single Side Band) radio and tuned in the frequency of 22.4 M Hz. The speaker hissed and crackled, then amid the fuzz and static, I announced my call sign and asked for Charley-Four- Alpha to reply. More static, then a crackling, distant voice connected. Jason beamed as I exchanged pleasantries with an Italian sailor over 850 miles away in Portofino, on the western coast of Italy. Within ten minutes the telephone rang in Carlo Gubbio's villa in Frascati. My son was shaking with barely contained excitement as he listened to the ring. It was answered on the third ring. A minute later his hopes were dashed. He sighed, visibly depressed as I disconnected. His mother had already left for Paris. She had departed only hours after he had boarded the airplane in Rome There wasn't much that I could say or do. For a moment I considered getting the phone number in Paris but I decided not to. My son had enough disappointment for one night. He started to get up out of my lap as I continued to turn the frequency dial. I did not expect to hear anything. Even though sunspot activity was high, there was seldom much radio traffic this far up the band. Still, the range was the greatest above 22 M Hz, reaching out for eight thousand miles or more into the night. Then the speaker crackled again and a foreign sounding voice broke through the static. Jason grinned at me as he recognized the strongly accented voices of two boys of about his own age. "Where are they?" He asked excitedly. "Australia, I think. It sure sounds like it, mate!" I laughed as I increased the power output to 100 watts. "Why don't you ask them? It's kind of rude to eavesdrop." "You mean I can speak to them?" Jason asked excitedly. "No you ding-dong. I thought I'd send you down there on an airplane. You ready to go Down-Under, mate?" I teased. I pressed the transmit key and gave my call sign. Jason nearly peed his pants as the one of the boys replied with a broad, "G'day mate. Where'ya callin' from?" I was very glad he didn't, because he was still sitting on my lap. I handed the microphone to Jason and leaned back. He looked at it nervously for a moment then lifted it to his mouth the same way as he had watched me do. "Hi," he said boldly before releasing the transmit button. "Hi y'self, mate. What's y'name? Mine's Bruce, but my nick is Boxy. Y' s'posed to say over y' know, 'fore you transmit. Over." Jason looked at me wide-eyed confusion. I pulled the mike to me and said, "Hi Boxy. You're speaking to my son, Jason. It's his first time on the waves so go slow for him till he gets the hang of it, okay? Over." "Sure thing man. Hi-ya Jason! Where-ya callin' from? Over." Jason's hand closed around the microphone as I passed it back to him. I held up my hand, "Five minutes," I said, "Then you get off. You need a license to use this thing." He nodded and stood up so that I could escape from under him. "Uh, Mykonos. Uh, over," Jason said uncertainly. "Hey, Dad. This is really cool." "Hi-ya Jason. I'm Josh. I'm at Wilcannia, at Coonawarra Station. Over." Boxy crackled over the speakers. "Hey Josh, get off and let me speak to Jason, will-ya? I'm at Tibooburra. Well kinda. I'm at Callabonna Station. Tibooburra's 'bout fifty miles away, I guess. But it's the nearest town. Over." "He lives in the desert, man. Over," Josh laughed. Jason glanced over his shoulder at me. I smiled back at him. I did not think he would have as much fun talking to his mother. "What do I say, Dad?" I shrugged. "Uh, hi Josh. Hey nobody lives in a desert, 'cept in Africa, of course. Uh, over," Jason added. "Get real. He lives in the Sturt. That's a desert, if you didn't know. Over," Josh continued to laugh between the crackling static. I waited for a minute as the three boys took turns to exchange information. Ten minutes later I finally interrupted the conversation of three ten-year-old boys. They were thousands of miles apart and they had become instant friends. Jason followed me back into the main cabin. "You won't believe it, Dad. It's the end of winter down there. They're supposed to be in school, right now because it's just nine o'clock in the morning there. They do it by radio, their school stuff, and they only see their teacher once or twice a year. It's wild, Dad," he bubbled enthusiastically. I passed Jason a can of Coke from the refrigerator and pulled out a beer for myself. "Dad, do you mind if I have a diet," he asked as he saw the red and gold label. "Diet? You? With your skinny body?" I teased. He smiled. "You don't want me getting fat now, do you?" he said. He bulged his cheeks outward like a little, chubby boy with a mouthful of food. He was irresistible. I wanted to kiss and hug him. I passed him a diet Coke and replaced the other can. But he was right, I did not want him fat. I wanted him, though not quite in the way he had in mind, and slender as well. Like a puppy dog he followed me on deck, still enthusing about his new friends in Australia. I sat back on the cockpit seat and gazed into the night sky. It was identical to the previous night. It was both romantic and awe-inspiring. Jason dropped down onto the seat beside me and snuggled up, resting his small head against my shoulder and pressing his bare legs against mine, ostensibly for my warmth, but sending a thrill through me nonetheless. We gazed intently up at the sky. I knew very little about the formations though I pointed out the few that I did recognize. The wind had died away as it often does at night on the ocean. The only sounds were the lapping of waves on the hull, the occasional sounds of wildlife ashore, and our rhythmic breathing. The boy's sweet breath was warm and moist as I felt it against my chest. Lovingly, I caressed his hair, brushing it first away from his forehead and then running my hand back though it. He needed a shampoo after the afternoon in the ocean but he still smelled fresh and clean. Jason stretched out, lying back on the seat with his head cradled in my lap. He looked peaceful and content, secure in his father's arms. The sweet smile on my son's was all the reward I needed. He was mine, to love and cherish. I stroked the soft cheek, silently marvelling at how smooth it was. My fingers caressed his small ear, brushing against the hard point of the stud in his lobe. Try as I could, I could not imagine that his mother would ever buy him jewelry. I contemplated the possibilities until one stood out. "Did Carlo give you this?" I asked jealously. "Huh?" Jason was suddenly quiet. "Well? Did he?" I persisted. "Yeah," Jason admitted after a long hesitation. It sounded wrong though I could not put my finger on what bothered me. "What did your mom say?" I asked curiously. Jason looked uncomfortable but he answered honestly. "I guess she was pissed. She didn't like me getting my ear pierced." I chuckled. "No, I bet she didn't. Did it hurt?" "Yeah, kinda. Later in the day it was sore till I got used to it. It's a real diamond," he offered. I wondered how much it was worth. At least as much as his new watch, I suspected. I could imagine just how pissed Leane was. I bet she didn't like her new boyfriend buying her son's affection. "Well, it sounds as though Carlo likes you," I said grudgingly. "He must be very rich to be able to buy you such nice things." Jason nodded. I watched his adam's apple bob in his neck as he swallowed nervously. "Yeah, he's pretty rich, Mom says. He,... bought me a lot of stuff. Toys and things mostly. When Mom got angry about the stud and all, he was sad." "Well, you deserve nice things, Jason," I admitted invidiously. I tried to hide the covetous sound in my voice. "So what else did Carlo buy you, Jason?" Jason hesitated. "He bought me a Cross. That didn't bother Mom," he answered. "No, I don't suppose it did. Why aren't you wearing it?" I asked. "'Cause Mom told me you weren't Catholic and I thought you wouldn't like it. I took it off in the airplane," he answered quietly. "Oh! Well, I really wouldn't mind," I said generously, and then added begrudgingly, "If you want to wear it, you should." "I didn't want it in the first place," Jason admitted quietly. I continued to brush my fingers through his hair, stroking him until his hair was sleek and untangled. His small head rested on my groin and a delicious warmth spread between us. I gazed down at his perfectly beautiful face and smiled. He smiled back, his eyes flickering sleepily. I could feel my penis flexing, struggling out of its limp stupor as the minutes passed. Then, no longer able to control the demanding urge within me, my right hand gently slipped under his over-sized sweat shirt. My fingertips caressed his bare, hot skin, grazing over sensitive, velvet flesh as I neared his tiny navel. I touched against the tiny fold of skin that covered the top half, circled round it and playfully pressed the tip of a finger into the little indentation. I remembered the night he had been born. I had been there in the delivery room as he came bloody-red and bawling into the bright lights of the world. I could remember the thick umbilical cord, still pulsing with his life-blood, the only connection he continue to share with his mother. I remembered the pride I had felt as I scrutinized him, fascinated by the swollen, bluish scrotum between his little legs, in every way he was perfect. Then, as the cord was clamped off and I took the cold stainless instrument in my latex-gloved hand and severed it, he became mine. All that remained of that magical time when he became my son was the perfect, little button of his navel. My hand began to move in ever-widening circles, tickling with a feather touch, from his chest to the waist of his shorts. I fondled soft, sensitive boy-flesh, stroking the indentations of ribs, lightly massaging the firm muscles of his belly. Jason sighed and closed his eyes, abandoned to his sybaritic pleasure. Finally he giggled as he squeezed his head down against my rigid penis. "You've got a stiffie, haven't you Dad?" he observed playfully. My heart did a double somersault and I took a deep breath. "Huh," I winced self-consciously. I glanced down and saw the little pointed tent between the boy's slender legs. The thin nylon was lifted up and folded over it. I was not the only one responding to the enormity of what lay around us. "by the looks of you, I'm not the only one either," I mumbled. Jason tittered teasingly. "So? Your hand feels nice on my tummy." Suddenly guilty and ashamed that I had aroused my son, I started to pull my hand away. "No, Dad. Please don't stop. I like it there. It feels yummy." I looked up at the night sky. Its vastness was overwhelming. There was no limit to it. Against a myriad stars and the timelessness of the universe we were insignificant. I continued to caress my son's chest, aware that I was exciting him sexually as my fingers travelled up to the minute, firm points of his nipples, then down to the edge of his shorts. Jason's breathing quickened. "Dad?..." he whispered. "Yeah, Jas'," His eyes opened and he looked deeply into mine. I could see the boy's uncertainty, his growing understanding, his longing to express his confused desires. "Dad,... when you were a kid,... did you do stuff?" "Stuff?" "You know,...Dad,... sex stuff?" he asked awkwardly. I grinned as I nodded affirmatively. "Yeah. I think just about every boy does that as he grows up, Jason. It's nothing to be ashamed about. It's part of growing up." My hand moved down his abdomen, tracing his slender form as I followed the perfect contour. My fingertips touched the wrinkled, elastic waistband of his shorts and stopped. I wanted to go further. I felt my penis growing harder and harder and I knew that he could not possibly miss the increasing stiffness and growing mass under his head. The heat between us increased as my erection flexed and jumped, seeking to escape from the confines of my shorts and to press against him. His head moved slightly, pushing pack against it as his eyes closed sleepily. He sighed quietly, a little whimper of growing delight. Silently, his knees lifted up, drawing his legs higher. His knees parted, stretching wide apart. "Dad,... if you want,... you can play with Pokey," he murmured. My hand trembled nervously and I brushed lightly across the thin nylon. Underneath, I felt the rigid projection of his penis. It was finger-sized, a little shorter than my little finger, and certainly no thicker. Jason quivered and stirred. He sighed again, this time a little louder than before. "That feels nice," I said softly. My son nodded slightly and his mouth opened partially as he breathed deeply. His enjoyment was obvious and satisfying. "Dad,..." he began uncertainly. "Dad, when you started doing sex stuff, how old were you?" "A bit older that you, maybe eleven. I don't think I had turned twelve," I said. I stared at my hand as I tried to control my demanding urge. The desire to touch his genitals raged in my mind. Lying there, relaxed and happy, the boy was irresistible. I forced my hand away from him, clenching it tightly to stop the endless trembling, before I returned to caress his flat, soft belly. His disappointment was both audibly and visibly expressed as he opened his eyes. "You can,... if you want?" he breathed out sleepily. I smiled and shook my head. It was too soon. My head was spinning in shock. The social barriers, the taboos against incest arose within me and denied the urge, quelling my hungry desire for the boy as my erection faded and became soft, limp flesh. Slowly his eyes closed and he dropped off to sleep. A few minutes later, confident that he was sound asleep, I leaned forward and gently pressed my lips to his. Our first kiss was stolen from the sleeping boy. An hour or more passed before he finally struggled away, rubbing at his eyes as he yawned and stretched his cramped, sore muscles. I helped him to his feet and guided him back down into his cabin in the bow. Then as he continued to yawn, I lifted his sweat shirt up and over his tired arms. He smiled, barely conscious and slumped down onto the bunk. I lifted him back so that his head was on the pillow and straightened his legs, then with a sleepy, though not-unwilling consent, I untied his swimming costume cord and gently pulled the thin nylon shorts downward. For a few seconds I feasted on the beautiful curves of the young body, the small, firm bottom, the taut belly, the tiny organs of his sex. I lifted the sheet up to cover his nakedness. I worked late into the night, writing and rewriting the sections of my new novel that I was least happy with. A curious eroticism began to appear as I worked. My sentences became longer, more graphic, using more adverbs and adjectives that I had ever used before. It seemed as if I was closer to the emotions of my characters, as if I could feel what they were feeling, or supposed to feel. Time and time again, my thoughts drifted away, back into the cabin in the bow, back to the beach and the fun we had during the afternoon, to the pictures still undeveloped in the little black-plastic canisters, to the sexual act that we had witnessed together. I went to my own cabin shortly after midnight. I could not sleep. For a long while I lay, half-awake, half- asleep, restless in a silent fantasy. I dreamed of the little boy asleep at the other end of the boat as I listened to the hollow slap of the waves against the hull. By blocking out all of my other thoughts I willed him to come to my bed. I sent a message of love and lust, of longing, of desire, of needing the soft warmth of his young body against mine. It was a fruitless message. Minutes passed, and hour, into the early hours of the morning. My mind drifted, recreating images of Jason, naked. Refocusing, editing, reinterpreting every action that had occurred in a vain effort to convince myself that his small body hungered for mine as I ached for his. My dream shifted and changed direction, boy became girl, Jason became Tina. My arousal faded. I twisted, turned, rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. Through the hatch above the bed, I watched clouds rolling across the sky, blocking out the firefly stars. Jason returned inside my head, a boy again, this time as the naked youth lying on his back on the sand. A strange man was kneeling behind him, a long cock, like a tube, was sliding back and forth. the boy's mouth opened in a shrieking cry of joy as he orgasmed and writhed in ecstasy. He moved relentlessly, grinding his buttocks into the man's belly as huge, hair-covered balls swung and slapped against his small cheeks. White-hot sperm oozed out from their union. I turned onto my face, feeling revulsion, trying to block recurring, tormenting images of the boy's laughing face. I forced my mind to encounter more pleasant thoughts. Memories of Jason as we romped and played together in the water, of my beautiful young son proudly displaying his body as I photographed him, of the sleepy boy with his head in my lap as we gazed at the universe. I could still feel his hair beneath my hand, the silky softness of his skin, the moist heat of his breath, the warmth of his young body pressed against me, the hardness between his slender legs. My hand reached down and enclosed my growing erection. My fingers began to move, stroking gently as my thumb encircled the glans, squeezed out a slippery bead and smeared it over the sensitive skin, then becoming harder and longer as my hand moved faster and gripped tighter. My eyes closed, blocking out the world and concentrating only on the image that danced in my mind. Jason, naked and beautiful. Jason, aroused and wanting to be loved. The pressure eased in my hand as my erection became tight and hot, lightly sliding my fingers up and down rapidly. I closed my eyes tightly as the pressure began to climb. I felt my scrotum tighten, pulling my testicles upward. I started squeezing my bowel to tense the muscles deep inside me and make my penis twitch and jerk as it began to swell with the approach of ejaculation. I did not hear Jason's approach as he padded into the bedroom in his bare feet. "Are you jerking off, Dad?" he giggled. I pulled my hand away, guiltily. I stared into the night, barely seeing Jason standing a few feet away in the dim light. I felt ashamed. My young son had caught me in the reprehensible act of self-pleasuring. Then realizing that he could not see under the sheets, that he had not seen my aroused penis, that he not observed the intimate act of which I was culpable, I grinned in the dark. There was no reproach in his voice, only a nervousness that was born of childish curiosity and the discovery of an illicit recklessness on my part. "Uh, huh! What did you think I was doing, you dummy?" I asked lightheartedly. I heard another small, boyish giggle. "I kind of guessed that's what you were doing, but I wasn't sure. I didn't think, well, that you'd do that stuff." "Well, I do," I laughed. "It's not a sin, Jason," I teased. "I know that," he replied seriously. "I just didn't think you'd do it at your age." "I'm not that old," I said. "You make me sound like an old man, Jason." I turned onto my back and looked towards my son. My heart leaped and pounded in a raw frenzy. The moon was half-full and it penetrated the clouds, pouring down through the open hatch with an ethereal glow. As my eyes adjusted to the gloom, I realized that Jason was naked. I also observed his right hand. It was cupped over his genitals as his fingers squeezed his little testicles relentlessly. He grinned at me knowingly and stepped closer to the bunk. He was so close that I could touch him if I reached out to him. His hand moved, his fingers scooping under his scrotum and his thumb looping around his short, very-hard penis as he pulled it down, stopping only when it was perpendicular to his belly. "Dad?..." he whispered. I feasted my ravenous eyes on his naked body. In the dark, I knew he could not see the rapacious look in my eyes and it calmed me. "Yes, Jason?" I said softly. I heard my voice tremble with excitement, knowing the question that loomed in my son's mind. All afternoon, all through the evening it had been brewing. Like an impending storm gathering on the horizon, until finally a plume of clouds rose high into the sky. It's approach was heralded, it was just a matter of time. Jason's question was inevitable. Since midday, my own conclusion had been inescapable. "Dad,..." he repeated, "Can I get into bed with you?" I lifted back the solitary sheet. Jason stepped forward. Not reluctantly, not hesitantly, just shyly. He was breathing deeply as he tried to control the rush of emotions. As he reached the side of the bunk I reached out to him. Lovingly, my hand closed on his. It was small and soft and hot to touch. Like my son, it was alive and his fingers tightened possessively on my thumb. I drew him forward and he came willingly, of his own volition. He knelt on the bunk beside me, trembling with uninhibited desire as he gazed down at me. It was as if we had been emancipated, freed of the restrictions of an orthodox society that condemned our love. I surveyed the young boy, wondering if we were overstepping the bounds so far that he would be distraught and devastated. I could not stand to hurt him. Prudently, cautiously, reassuringly, I smiled. I would do no more than the boy wanted, he was free to chose how far he went. But I knew that he was compliant, like any western child of the late-twentieth-century he had been raised to obey and not to question the rules established by society. "What do you want to do, Jas'?" I whispered. He hesitated as he deliberated. "Can I lie down on top of you?" he asked sheepishly. Another long pause. "Can we put our things together?" he added shyly. I smiled and lifted him forward. His knees straddled my thighs and he settled down, wriggling for a moment to become comfortable. I felt the trembling shiver run though him as our hot genitals came together. For those few wonderful seconds as our bodies united for the first time and we shared our warmth, I was filled for a new appreciation of my son. He was very, very sexy. Society, with all its exalted rules deprived the boy of what he was, and what he wanted to be. By those grand rules, I was corrupt, leading the boy in depraved and degenerate acts of lust. It angered me. Jason moved against me easily. Unhampered by clothing, he sighed effusively as his hard penis merged into mine, his testicles squished against mine. Slowly his head lowered until his cheek was on my chest. He was relaxed and very, very happy. "You feel good, Jas'," I sighed. "Yeah, so do you," he breathed out in relief as the tension faded in his limbs. "Your thing is sticking in my tummy," he murmured. "Is it uncomfortable?" "No. It feels good. It's so big and hot." He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Dad, can I move,... you know, up and down on you." "You can do whatever you want, Jay-boy," I answered softly. "It's up to you to decide what you want." He began to move his body gently against mine. His genitals were pushed to one side so that they lay along side mine and my rigid penis was squashed into the velvety skin of his belly. He began to move his hips, gyrating and oscillating them in a swaying motion as if he was dancing. Long, wonderful minutes passed as his movement became more agitated. I felt him stirring, wavering as his tempo increased. His rhythmic breathing became strained, turning to quick gasps as his small body approached a crescendo. On his upward movement, my erection rubbed against his, downward, it reached to his chest, to the start of his rib cage. My excitement knew no bounds. Already close to orgasm, I pleaded for it to wait, grasping his body tightly to stop his movement every time I felt the pressure building in my testicles, the familiar painful pressure that signalled orgasm. He moaned and shuddered, his breathing becoming frenzied as he twitched and writhed. His climax was dry and painful and I felt him wince uncomfortably as his body recoiled. His mouth came down onto my breast, sucking, kissing, licking as he strangled the cry in his throat. For a minute I allowed him to lie still, hugging his hot, bare body tightly against me, tousling his mussed-up hair and saying his name over and over again as he settled down. Then my hands glided down from his shoulders, following the graceful, fluid curve of his slender back until I reached his buttocks. Each hand cupped a small, firm cheek. I began to move him by guiding his hips as he squirmed and wiggled in order to reposition his genitals comfortably next to mine. He squeezed against me in a loving embrace and nuzzled my shoulder with his lips. My penis gouged into his belly, the swollen, sensitive glans bearing the brunt of our passion. Within seconds I felt the pressure building inside me. My testicles ached as my scrotum became impossibly tight. "Jason, we better stop,... before I make a mess on you," I gasped. My son giggled, shook his head defiantly, and began to rub his body harder against mine. He sensed my orgasm and his movement became faster, furiously pushing against me until I moaned deliriously. Then, as my semen spurted out between us and he felt the hot wetness of it flooding out, he went wild. I spasmed and he pumped, frenetically. "Do it! Do it!" he gasped enthusiastically. "Oh! Yeah! Do it! Do it all over me!" His frantic energy disturbed me. For those few brief seconds he was insane, wanting only to be drenched in my fluid. He humped his narrow thighs, slamming his groin into mine, grunting wildly as the dying spurts emptied onto our bellies. And then he collapsed. I hugged him tightly, squeezing the madness from him as our violent passion faded. His body was feverish, still provoked and excited as only a prepubescent boy can be after an orgasm. I kissed him fiercely on the top of his head, burrowing my nose into his long hair and grasping his small cheeks tightly, preventing his movement by inserting my fingers into the deep. hot crevice between them. My semen covered him, from his neck, all the down to his thighs. I had never produced so much in my entire life. He kept on wriggling, squirming on the slippery film as his slender body writhed against mine, still intensely excited and ready for more. Unable to do more, too sleepy to continue, I moved one hand upward and held his head and restricted any more movement until he finally submitted. His breathing slowed, becoming long, shallow breaths. He was asleep. For a long while I lay awake, covered by a hot, alive boy-blanket. Then, as the need to sleep came to me, I carefully eased him away. His flesh had stuck to mine, glued with the sticky mess of semen that coated both of us. I broke the seal and eased my lover off me, positioning him on his side so that he faced towards me. Not waking, he cuddled closer into my warmth, snuggling his head onto my shoulder and draping his slender right leg possessively over my legs. I caressed his silky hair, wishing that I could reach to kiss him, wanting him to be awake, desiring more of him. I closed my eyes and slept. PLATONIC LOVE. DAY THIRTEEN. Mykonos. Early morning, August 5th, 1993. "Beware of condemning as a bad invention something that was not always known, and do not despise our type of love just because heterosexual love has a longer history. You mustn't forget that, while the earliest inventions were born of necessity, what man's genius has since discovered at leisure is of more value in our eyes." Lucian, Dialogues of Love For several long seconds, I thought Jason was dead. It was only when I touched his small, bare shoulder did I realize that he was very much alive. It was the warmth of his body that convinced me and set my fears at rest. He was sound asleep, so deeply asleep that his breathing was erratic. Each small breath came at such irregular intervals that it raised a profound fear in me that he would not take another breath. But he was breathing, quietly and inaudibly, taking small lung-fulls before exhaling. It was very disturbing. Asleep, my beautiful son was an angel. In the first dim light of the new day, his blond hair was so dark that it looked brown. It was unkempt, tousled and bedraggled like a little waif His hair fell forward and partially covered the side of his face and most of his forehead. My consciousness returned slowly as I drifted in and out of sleep. It seemed to take several minutes for me to fully grasp that Jason was lying naked beside me. At first there was confusion in my muddled mind as to why he was in my bed, then amid the disarray of thoughts I wondered why he was naked. And then I remembered what had happened during the night and I tried to decide whether the perfect boy was an angel, or a demon, or both. What I had longed for during most of the previous day had happened during the night, or in the early pre-dawn hours. I could not remember when he had come into my room, only that he had come sometime during the night and what ensued was more wonderful than anything I had ever imagined was possible. I smiled at him fondly. At some point during the last two days I had realized that I loved him more than I had loved anyone before in my entire life. But when that blessed moment had occurred I could not be certain. Only it had happened, and all the love I had stored within me had burst out and enveloped him. I smiled again, more than love had burst out of me. I thought back, revisiting every action of the day before. Each act seemed predestined, all leading inexorably to the present and to the fulfillment of a love that had started ten years earlier. I lingered, concentrating on the events of the night and on the intimacy we had shared, the brief skirmish on the bed amid rumpled sheets, the brush of his small body against mine, the onslaught of passion as our bodies came in combat, the discharge of my semen as our encounter ended. I recalled the boy's sweet softness, treasuring each childish gasp and whimper of pleasure I had elicited, or rather that Jason had attained, until I came to the present. The next thought I had was unpleasant. Any way I looked at it, the conclusion could not be avoided. My son was not innocent. He had not come to my bed as an inexperienced ten-year-old child, but as a boy with a rampart lust and desire that contradicted his tender age. He had come with the knowledge of what he needed to do, he had positioned his body to give me pleasure, he had understood the sensations I felt, and he had accepted my orgasm as an everyday occurrence. But even as I gazed at him, sound asleep and emanating the purity and innocence of childhood, all the while reminiscing on the slippery wetness that had covered his body, it was impossible to feel anything less than the deepest love for him. I stroked his soft, dry flesh and marvelled at the silky warmth that flowed from him. I did not care that Jason was no longer innocent. I loved him too much. But I was jealous. I wondered who had initiated him, who had taken liberties with his young body, who had taken his innocence. The more I thought about what had happened during the night the more confused I became. Jason, sweet Jason, beautiful Jason had become my lover. I breathed out heavily. He was a little boy but he knew what exactly what he was doing. He was as willing as I was. Despite all the laws of society I did not think that we had done together was immoral or evil. He was a sensual boy, with a carnal lust that matched my own. But he was also my son and we had committed incest. I stroked the boy's cheek. It was impossible not to love him. How could anyone not look upon him and feel deep love? Tenderly, I brushed the soft hair back from his forehead. He was blameless. Perhaps it was because he was asleep, perhaps it was because of what had transpired between us, but he seemed more beautiful that ever. He stirred and whined, not even close to waking up as a dream descended on him. His eyelids, so thin that they were nearly transparent, fluttered peacefully. Not wanting to wake him up, though the temptation was very strong, I carefully eased his arm off my chest where it was casually draped, and settled his leg back on the bunk as I moved away. I regarded him closely, examining him the way I used to when he was a baby. Sometimes I would sit for hours and watch him sleep, forgetting the things I needed to do, wanting only to observe him and be close in case he woke up. His dream intensified and his mouth opened slightly as he began to breath deeper. He sighed again, squirming slightly as he pulled the pillow into him and wrapped his arms around it like a big teddy bear. I recalled the lewd grin on his face when he felt my semen spurting against him. Then, he had been my teddy bear. I stood up, still reflecting on the events of the night as I remembered the boy's frenzied movements; the wet, hot fluid of our passion making a slippery lubrication between our bodies and his playful bites on my shoulder as he became more aggressive and greatly excited. Suddenly, feeling very naked and exposed before the sleeping child and awed by the absolute beauty of his naked body that both confirmed and controverted the picture of innocence, I picked up my shorts from the floor and hurriedly pulled them on. Quietly I withdrew from my cabin and went on deck. It was cool but the sky was clear. The sun was breaking the horizon, and though I could not see it, the creamy-pink color of the water and the pale-grey-blue sky told of a beautiful day to come. Another yacht had moored in the cove, perhaps a hundred yards off the starboard bow. It was a thirty-footer, or thereabouts. Judging by the size of it and the name 'Lindos Dream' that was plastered in ugly black letters over the stern, I was confident that it was one of the charter boats that ply the islands. There was no sign of life aboard. Still, it was early, too early for the tourists to be awake. That was the only problem with sailing in the Cyclades during summer. There was no privacy because there were simply too many tourists. I wished they had picked somewhere else to 'park' their confounded boat, instead of interrupting the idyllic serenity that Jason and I had discovered. I breathed deeply, feeling life surge into me with the tangy smell of the sea. The freshness of the cool, salty air was invigorating. Dawn was the best time of the day, I decided. I felt more alive that I had been in many years. I felt a warm glow of happiness that originated from a lingering memory of my son's naked body and his hot, bare skin pressed tightly against mine as he moved in my arms. I ambled forward, going to the bow, to the pulpit where Jason had run to the previous day when all had seemed lost. For a while, I had been devastated and I vowed never to let it happen again. Some how, some way, I would find a way to keep Jason with me when his holiday ended. I sat down on the stainless steel railing of the pulpit and stared over the side into the dark water below. Thoughts, ideas, plans, came and went, each discarded, each leaving me empty and frightened. There was no way that I could convince his mother to let him stay with me. She would say no if only to aggravate me and impede any happiness I might derive from him. It was impossible not to think about Jason. He was down in my cabin, not very far away, but in just twenty-four days, little more than three weeks, he wouldn't be there. He would be gone for good. Maybe I could get him to visit during his summer vacation the next year, perhaps over his Christmas holidays, anything would do. I wanted him by me. I wanted to hold him and hug him and do what we did during the night, again and again. I was so engrossed in my longing, that I did not hear him. I looked up suddenly as I sensed his presence. He was only about three feet away and he observed me silently. Like me, my young son was also deep in thought. He was dressed in my 'Apollo- Sun God' tee shirt. Like the sweat shirt he had worn during the evening, it was far too large for him, though he looked wonderful in it. It came halfway down his thighs and hung in loose folds over his slender body. The neck opening was stretched wide and revealed his bare, narrow shoulders. He had pulled the tee shirt on in my cabin before he came upstairs and his modesty suddenly seemed out-of-character after the fun we had shared together. I thought for a second and realized that underneath my tee shirt, my son was naked. There were no underpants or shorts there that would fit him and it was very unlikely that he would go forward to his cabin to get some. The thought that Jason was bare-assed gave me a sudden, and powerful thrill. He also looked very sexy in my tee shirt. However, as I looked at his small face and tried as hard as I could, I was unable to stop the feeling of revulsion that came from knowing what I had done with him. My own role was repugnant, though I was uncertain as to the extent of my responsibility. Had I led him on, had my playful caresses in the cockpit been 'fuel on the fire', had I allowed it to happen, had I accepted the boy's advances with complicity, had I been the seducer of a lonely, little boy. I felt sick inside. "I'm sorry Jason," I said softly. "I shouldn't have done that last night. It was wrong of me." "Wrong? Why was it wrong?" he asked angrily. "Because I did what I wanted to?" I shook my head slowly. "Because that's what gays do, is that it?" I shook my head again. "No, Jason. Honey, its not that. You're a kid and I'm so much older than you, and well, it just isn't fair to you. With a boy your own age, it's different. Then you're friends as well. Besides, Jason, I'm your father." "We can be friends too, Dad. Can't we?" Jason retorted. "I can't help that your my dad, you know." Then, as I continued to observe him, his lips compressed pensively and he sniffed loudly, wiping the back of his hand over his nose. He shuddered slightly, visibly upset. "You've been crying?" I asked. "What's wrong, Jas'?" I asked as I saw the wet marks on his cheeks. "I,... woke up,... and you weren't there,... I was afraid you'd gone somewhere.... It scared me," he said hesitantly. I smiled at him lovingly. "I always get up at dawn, Jay- boy. It's the nicest time of the day. Everything is so fresh and clean. It's fun to see the sun rise." My son smiled weakly back at me and said, "Sure. But it's more fun to stay in bed." I raised an eyebrow curiously, doubtful that the boy was old enough for such innuendo. "What's that supposed to mean?" I teased hopefully. "You know!" he retorted as he pretended anger. "You know it's more fun in bed!" "Huh? It sounds to me like you're getting lazy in your old age. I think it's time you started getting up earlier, Jason. I was thinking of scrubbing the decks down today before breakfast," I added with a straight face. He giggled and his hand moved downwards suggestively. It crept towards his groin as my eyes followed it longingly. "Scrub the decks, huh? Boy, that sounds like a lot of fun, Dad. Just what I had in mind, before breakfast." "It sounds like you got out of the wrong side of the bed," I teased. "Maybe you didn't get enough sleep last night." "I slept okay," Jason smiled wickedly. "So what do you do for fun on the old tub? Besides scrub the decks, that is." "What else have you got in mind?" I asked suggestively. "We could polish the hull, I suppose." He glanced around pretending to ignore my ribald suggestion. He shrugged. "Well, Jason?" I persisted. "You put stuff all over me," he said petulantly. He smirked cheekily, finally unable to continue his game. "You slimed me good, Dad." "Slimed?" I questioned. "That's a new word for it." He giggled. "Slimed. You know, Dad, like in Ghostbusters. You sure made a bunch, though. You got it everywhere. Pokey almost drowned in it." I laughed. "I think you had something to do with it too," I said. "I seem to remember a naked boy who was bouncing around on top of me. Now I wonder who that could have been?" Jason blushed an shook his head in mock defiance. "I wouldn't do a thing like that." I started to laugh. "No, of course you wouldn't. Not a nice boy like you. Where on earth did you learn to do that?" Jason looked downward in shame. I had gone too far again. "Is that what they teach in your sex education class now?" I asked quickly and then added teasingly, "Maybe I should go back to school?" Jason's head lifted up again and his eyes sparkled. "You'd be surprised to know what we learn in the fourth grade, Dad. I know why you get an erection, and everything." "Everything?" I taunted. "Well almost," Jason replied. "Dad,... can I ask you a question?" I nodded. "Dad,... when you were a kid, you did it with other kids, right?" I nodded again. "Did,... did you ever do it with a older person?" "You want to know how much older?" I challenged as I grasped where my son was leading the conversation. "Yeah! Like the two guys we saw yesterday, remember?" I nodded, "It'd be kind of hard to forget." "Well, the older guy was a lot older wasn't he? And the one in front,... well he wasn't that much older than me." I grinned. "Well, Jason. The one in front, as you call it, looked to be about seventeen or eighteen, I'd guess. That's about eight years older than you." "Yeah, I s'pose so, but the older guy was a lot older than you are," Jason reasoned with a shy smile. "And well, the older guy could have been his father, couldn't he?" "Maybe? I don't think that's something that fathers generally do with their sons." "I guess so. But I don't think that most fathers would take their kids to a gay beach and take a bunch of photos of them in the raw." Jason taunted. I smiled enigmatically. "Or play with their dicks either," he continued, now smirking widely. I didn't reply. He was right and we both knew it. There was nothing I could say. I had enjoyed what happened more than anything else I had done in forty years. Both of us stared silently at the sea as it rippled into the cove, deep in our own thoughts. The sky was becoming lighter. Although the sun was still hidden by the headland, the light was changing to a rich- golden glow. It was the most beautiful time of day and the most beautiful boy stood only inches away from me, recollecting what we had shared. But after only a few moments I was unable to stand the silence. I was afraid that it heralded a break down of the strong feelings between us and the love that both of us wanted to share with the other. "There's a lot of things you and I haven't done, Jason. I owe you seven years. I can never make it up to you. But I wish I could, son." "I don't want to go back to Paris," Jason said sadly. "I,... I want to stay here,... with you, Dad." "Paris? I don't understand. What do you mean go back to Paris," I questioned. Jason giggled as he comprehended my mistake. "Not in France, silly. In Kentucky! That's where we live. In Paris." "Oh! I thought you lived in Lexington?" His giggle changed to a laugh. "Kind of. Paris is near there. I guess about twenty miles or something." "Oh!" I gazed into my son's pale-blue eyes. "Well, I don't want you to go back there either. I want you to stay here with me, Jas'." Jason grinned ebulliently. "And have sex?" I nodded, thinking of the slender, bare body under my tee- shirt. I would have to domesticate him; his language was shocking at times and his table manners were atrocious. But he was fun and I loved him. He was more than a temporary diversion and much more than a brief fling that provided entertainment to an aging man. He was my life. With concealed mirth I recalled Tina. Now that had been recreation, more like a competitive sport, as we romped in bed. I indulged her, delighting in her girl's body, relishing her pleasure as I savored her flesh. I entertained her during the day and fucked her delectable body at night, all to the amusement of her parents. It was a crazy world. While my crude lust for Tina might evoke some distaste from most people, my love for Jason was evil. I nodded again, still thinking of the slender body under my tee-shirt. My penis started on its way to erection as the first rays of the sun came over the rocky headland. The seagulls were startled and they rose up in a white, flapping cloud, filling the air with the strident sounds of their screeching. We watched them racing across the water, diving and swooping in random, chaotic patterns. It was then that Jason noticed the other boat as it swung lazily at anchor. "There's another boat, Dad," he observed. "They weren't there yesterday." "Yeah, I know. I think they came in while we were at the beach. We wouldn't have seen them when we came back because it was getting dark by then." He sighed. "I wish it was just us here and nobody else. Why did they have to park so close for?" I shrugged. "You don't park a boat, Jason, you,..." "Yeah Dad, I know, you moor it, or anchor it, or something like that," he interrupted querulously. Jason stepped closer and slid between my knees and the forestay. He leaned back so that the roller-furling foil pressed into the center-line of his body. He stretched his legs apart to brace himself. His legs pressed into my knees. He smiled shyly. "It is beautiful in the morning, Dad. Even with them 'parked', okay, moored so close," he acknowledged quietly. I nodded. "It's especially beautiful with you here to share it with me. I get lonely by myself, Jason." "But you wouldn't get lonely with me here, would you Dad?" he asked confidently, knowing the answer to his own question. I answered with a smile. "I could take care of you. I could help out a lot," he suggested. I smiled. "Can you cook?" Jason giggled and shook his head, then pushed his hand through his long, golden strands to brush them back from his face. He needed a haircut, but I liked his hair long. It suited him in a way that previously had never appealed to me. "Okay, well we can't make you the cook. Uh, can you fix diesel engines and stuff like that?" He grinned and shook his head again. Again his fingers moved back through his blond, girlish locks. "Okay, well you can't be the engineer. So, what's left? How about navigating? Can you plot a course or get a fix? No, forget it, we don't need a navigator because we have GPS." "What's GSP?" he asked curiously. I laughed. "That's GPS, Jas'. It stands for Global- Positioning-System. We can find our location just about anywhere in the world to within a hundred feet of accuracy by getting radio fixes from satellites." "Oh," he said. He pondered the issue for a moment, clearly interested in the technology. "So, I would know whether I was on your boat or, uh, that boat over there," he observed. "Right on. So you can't be a navigator. Hmmm,..." I said thoughtfully. "I can use a computer," he volunteered helpfully. "You have one on board because I saw it, and you could teach me things. Like how to use the radio and stuff like that. And you could teach me more about steering. You did say I was doing it okay, yesterday. I could be useful to have around," he suggested hopefully. Playfully I shook my head. "I don't eat very much," he added as his puppy-dog eyes looked up into mine. Again I shook my head, and then I raised my eyebrows meaningfully. "Yeah?" he asked. "Well, I could make you a cabin boy. But you're too smelly," I teased. "I could take a bath?" he responded immediately. "Gee, Jason, I don't know. It takes a lot of skill to be a good cabin boy and you're really smelly." I said, tormenting the boy. He gave me a grieved look but I knew that our game wasn't finished. He continued to harass me. "So tell me what a cabin boy does?" he asked suggestively I took a deep breath as Jason grinned at me cheekily. "Well, all sorts of things, Jas'. He cleans up the cabin and serves coffee or cold beer to the captain. He helps scrub the deck, washes up the dirty dishes, helps sail the boat, and he runs errands. Oh, and he goes to the top of the mast sometimes when there's a problem that needs to be fixed." His head swivelled around and he looked up, following the forestay behind his head, upward to the top of the mast. From the deck, it was a dizzying height. "Up there?" he asked nervously. "Yep. About once or twice a week," I said to the now- beleaguered boy. "It's a long way to climb. You would die if you fell, wouldn't you" he said in mock seriousness. "Like King Aegeus,....Ahhhhhhhhhh, splat!" "Something like that. Actually, I do have to go up there sometimes. I use a harness thing called a bosun's chair. It's pretty safe. There's a great view from up there. You ought to see it." Jason smirked as he continued to bedevil me. "Yeah, I can just imagine. So what else does a cabin boy do, Dad?" he asked slyly. "Hmmm! Let me think! I mentioned everything I think." "After we have sex,...I could make the bed," he suggested with a lewd smirk. I looked at him with pretended shock. Jason started to giggle. His mirth was infectious and I started to laugh. His giggle changed to a belly-laugh and within seconds, we were hysterical. "You're hired," I finally gasped. "When do you want to start work?" Jason finally managed to take a deep breath. "Now!" "Right now?" I challenged, not expecting him to do anything except say yes. "Yes!" he said quickly. The immediacy of his response, together with a sudden tremor, revealed his enthusiasm for the position as offered. As our game had progressed, I fathomed that Jason was about as excited as I was. We both appreciated the significance of what had transpired between us during the night. Everything had changed between us. I was his father and Jason was my son and yet, in the space of just a few hours he had become infinitely more than that to me. I also knew that I had become profoundly more than simply being his father to him. What we had shared during the night was much more than the depraved and sinful coupling of a man and a boy, infinitely more than the unholy union of father and son. Simply, it had been the exploration of our love. "Here?" I harried as I glanced bashfully around me. Jason gave me a dirty leer, "Yeah!" he whispered salaciously. "You're the captain and I'm the cabin boy." He paused momentarily as another thought came to him. "But aren't I supposed to be in the cabin?" he quipped. I reached forward slowly until my hands contacted the soft cotton of his/my tee shirt. The closeness between us was frightening. I had not touched his actual body but the mere proximity to him sent my penis into raging stiffness. It did not go unnoticed. "You've got a stiffie again," my son observed cheekily. "I wonder why?" "And you've got a filthy mind, Jason. Besides, I'm not the only one." Although I had no way of telling, it was a good guess. My son's eyes flashed downward to evaluate his 'condition' and to see what I could see. He giggled as he looked up again. "So why is your's stiff?" he taunted playfully. "Why do you think?" Jason shrugged. He pretended to be vexed by the difficult problem. "Because of me?" he asked shyly, still pretending to be innocent. I nodded. "You're not wrong about that. So why is Pokey all hot and bothered as well?" I asked. Jason giggled, placing his small hand over mine and slowly guiding it downwards. "Because of you. Because he wants to do stuff with your's." My hand slid over his taut belly, stroking the warm, firm flesh underneath until my fingers contacted the glowing firmness that stabbed outward as his groin jerked into my hand. I cupped his genitals firmly, palpating his testicles roughly until he sighed, then squirmed and pushed forward even harder. "Feel good?" I teased. My young son nodded. The nearness of our bodies had vanished, replaced by a oneness, a wonderful feeling of being joined and inseparable. "It feels real good," Jason sighed. "It feels great from my end too," I said. And as I remembered, seven long lonely years vanished. I smiled as the image danced in my mind. Only at that time, when Jason was a toddler, it had been harmless play and now, it wasn't a game any longer. I squeezed firmly but gently, rubbing his tiny, marble-sized testicles between my fingers and the underside of his urethra. He sighed again. With the tip of my thumb I began to stroke the short, very-hard length of his penis. Except for the very-aroused and unyielding indication of his male sex, the only thing that separated Jason from Tina were the two minuscule eggs that rolled back and forth under the pressure of my fingers. They seemed awfully small to do the important job required of them in coming years. He was male, and yet he was not male. The long hair, the baby-soft skin, the long, thin eyelashes, his effeminate, delicate features, all contradicted the boy in him. "Yeah," Jason murmured. "That feels so good when you do it like that." "I guess some things never change, Jas'," I stated emphatically. "What do you mean, Dad?" he asked as he breathed out slowly. His small hips were already beginning to respond to a natural rhythm with a motion that was primal and instinctive. Like his movement as he lay above me during the night, he began to hump against the hand that both restrained his genitals and controlled his pleasure. At first the rhythm was barely noticeable with tiny forward jerks, then becoming stronger thrusts as he tightened the muscle of his bowel to make his little penis dart and bob. All his movements were synchronized with his breathing. Each quick, increasingly shallow breath was matched by a forward pulse and a tremble as he drew back. "You always liked this, Jay-boy," I whispered. "Even when you were little, you liked this. I used to do this to you a lot back then. When you woke up crying, I used to do it to calm you down. And every time I gave you a bath you wanted me to play with Pokey. Every time I changed your diaper as well, Jason. I don't think a single time passed when you didn't want your balls rubbed." Jason grinned. I wondered how much he could remember. Not much, if anything. There was a look of disbelief on his face, and then a smile appeared very slowly. "I still like it when you rub my balls," he said quietly. He swallowed, still not comfortable with the strange desire that grew ever-stronger inside him. He observed me nervously, glancing downward with quick peeks at my hand, watching with utter fascination as my hand stroked and caressed him lovingly. "Dad,... you want me to take off my shirt?" he asked huskily. Within the last few seconds, the motion of his hips had become more pronounced, pushing harder into the cup of my hand, his breathing straining, his heart-rate accelerating. His hips began to rock and swivel and his thighs tensed, bringing his body forward and away from the forestay. The movement in his body began to quicken, his belly jerking as it too contributed to the erratic undulation of his pre-teen body that signified the increase in his enjoyment. I lifted up his tee shirt, tugging a handful of cloth upward with my left hand all the way to his shoulder. I grasped his exposed, excited genitals with my other hand. Jason moaned lightly and his rigid penis tensed and flexed, jumping happily under my fingers as our flesh made actual contact. "Take it off, Dad," he demanded urgently between child- sized gasps for air. I showed remarkable self-restraint that morning as the first rays of the sun struck our bodies and began to warm us. My son was highly aroused and he wanted to be naked. I wanted him naked. I wanted to see him revelling in his natural state, aroused and uninhibited as his immature body became more excited and sought its nourishment. If it hadn't been for the other yacht moored a hundred yards away, I would have stripped him with pleasure. In fact, I would have undressed my ten-year-old son with great pleasure and it is likely, indeed highly probable, that I would have done much more than simply massage his genitals. As things turned out, I was very glad that I did nothing more than fondle him. But I certainly did that and he was more than willing for me to do more. Jason's penis was very different to mine. His penis was very short, certainly no longer than two-and-a-half hard, little inches and it was as thin as a finger. His penis was exceedingly smooth; the skin was stretched tightly and still no veins showed on the surface. The thin tube of his urethra was barely discernible on the underside. The foreskin covered the glans completely and gave him a stream-lined appearance that excited me considerably. The smooth, little-boy's penis contrasted sharply to my wrinkled, gnarled, old dick. I found the difference fascinating since my son carried half of my genes and yet there appeared to be very little of me in him. After a minute I lifted my hand away from his now-throbbing penis. It had swelled slightly, still no longer than before, but a little thicker as it engorged with blood. The silky skin had became so taut that it was almost translucent. In the strengthening light, I could see a fine web of blue veins just below the surface. My fingers brushed along his flat, bare belly, stroking upwards from his genitals until I reached his tiny, soft nipples. The heat in his body had faded, exposed to the cool morning air it had become warm and dry. His skin was, I decided, as soft as it had been when he was a baby and I cradled him in my arms. I transferred my attention back to his rigid, little penis, unable to leave it alone any longer. He sighed again as my fingers resumed the gentle stroking of his testicles, then moved upward and lovingly enclosed the small shaft, no less stiff than it had been before I had abandoned it. The length of his foreskin was more than enough to completely cover the head of his penis and have almost a half-inch to spare, as much as when he was limp. It formed a point, like a little cylinder of puckered skin, with an opening that was perhaps as wide as a pencil lead. "Can you get the foreskin back yet, Jas'?" I asked curiously. I placed my left arm around his waist and gently turned him side on, drawing him back so that he leaned against my left leg, cradled between my thighs. His tee shirt slipped downward and covered his stomach but stopped at his hips and left his genitals exposed to my expert ministrations. He shook his head. "I didn't know it was even s'posed to pull back until I asked the teacher from our hygiene class." I must have looked confused because he smirked cheekily, "Sex-ed and that stuff. I was kind of worried up till then because mine was different to every other boy I'd ever seen. I thought something was wrong with it. I was pretty embarrassed about asking him, but he was really nice." "Oh!" I mumbled. The idea of another man, a stranger to me, telling my son about sex and about the function of his body was depressing. That role was mine by right. It did not belong to a grade-school teacher who had his own hang-ups and a scientifically correct textbook to avoid explaining the wonders and delights of sex, in all its forms. "I started trying to get it back, you know, retract it, but it doesn't want to," he admitted. "I almost got it down yesterday, but it stops right at the end and it hurts," he added shyly. "I know, I saw you. I guess it just takes practice, Jason. I wouldn't know, though," I said cautiously. "Because you don't have one, right?" Jason teased. "See if you can pull it back," he suggested. I pushed downward on his penis gently. The silky skin moved under my fingers and I watched as some of it was pulled back over the glans. But as the little opening reached the tip it stretched and then, being unable to go further, stopped. I pushed a little harder, grasping his tiny penis tightly between my thumb and two fingers as I tried to wiggle the skin downward. I could see the rounded head of his glans peeking out at the outside world. So close, I squeezed his penis tighter and pushed down, hard. Jason winced and gave a little yelp of pain. The acorn-shaped glans of his penis pushed outward into the morning light and greeted the sun for the first time. There is something magical when a boy's foreskin is first retracted. A part of his anatomy, a very important part of his body is discovered for the first time. Jason stared intently at the one part of his body that he had never seen before even though he had always been aware of its existence under the thin, soft skin. My son's glans was very small and slightly pointed, though the ridge flared outward mostly because of the foreskin that was now bunched up behind it. Like a girl's body, my son's 'hooded' penis had an aura of mystery, it's secret shrouded by delicate skin that now revealed, like a precious gem, the bluish-pink glans. The slit in the tip was barely discernible. That the never-before-touched glans was highly sensitive could not be disputed. The skin was delicate and slightly moist as it glistened in the morning sun. I licked my fingers and cautiously touched it with a tender squeeze. Jason shivered and began to giggle as my fingers lovingly manipulated the swollen bell-shaped head with considerable care. "That tickles," he said as he tried to express the sudden, very-nice feelings that I had elicited just by squeezing on the tiny bulb. "I think Pokey likes that a lot, Dad," he said provocatively. "I hope so!" I laughed. His right arm wrapped around my neck as he snuggled closer, pressing his hip firmly against the bulge in my shorts and absorbing the heat that flowed out of my groin and into his own bare flesh. I continued to caress him, alternating my attention between his sensitive glans, the moist, inflexible shaft of his penis, and his shrivelled scrotum and the precious cargo that was squeezed inside. Each time when my hand returned to massage his testicles he whimpered. He wanted me to squeeze harder, shamelessly jutting his genitals forward as he arched his back. Then, as the pressure built and the delight hovered between ecstasy and pain, I moved my fingers to my mouth, wet them thoroughly, and went back to squeeze on his swollen glans. It was impossible to tell what he like the most, though it was patently obvious that mere masturbation of his penis ranked a distant third to the other pleasures that I gave him. I was fairly confident that my son had achieved an orgasm during the night, though it had certainly been dry if he did. The way his movements had become frenzied, his body had become tense and hot and, as he writhed and jerked, his breathing so strained that it was disconcerting, were clear signs that he had reached a pinnacle. From that evidence, the brief, wild spasm that had shaken him at the end could only mean one thing. And now, as I began to focus on the bulbed tip of his penis, the signs returned. Jason began to gasp and whimper continuously, arching his back and shaking as if he was trying to expel some mystical force from his loins, then grunting as it failed to come. He tried again, and then again, until his mouth was opened wide to suck in air. "Do it, Dad," he moaned quietly. "Do it right on the tip. Yeah, there! Do it,... do it real fast." And I did. I did it so quickly that my rubbing fingers were a blur and he began to tremble uncontrollably. The saliva that lubricated my fingers began to dry from the friction and I needed to rest my hand, but I did not. I wanted to see what happened. I wanted to watch my son achieve the ultimate pleasure. Somehow, I managed to rub and squeeze even harder and faster. His orgasm was preceded by a little yelp of pain which changed immediately to a squeal of unparalleled delight. And then his hand grabbed at mine, pushing it from his aching penis as he pulled away. His blue eyes flashed at me, condemning, challenging, then thanking me as his frantic movements faded. He was breathing hard and fast through his mouth. It was a sight I would never forget as the dying spasms exhausted his slender body and he slumped happily against me. He said only one thing. "WOW!" Then he half-closed his eyes and sighed. I had a lot to learn about prepubescent boys. The first thing I learned from Jason was the most surprising thing of all. Prepubescent boys don't stop being excited until they are physically exhausted. Jason's erection faded slightly, just enough to ease the tension in the stretched skin of his penis, but he stayed erect. Two minutes later he was humping into my hand again, ready for a repeat performance, my tired hand notwithstanding. What was I to do? I was hungry, the day was getting older, and Jason gave every sign of being able to go on forever. He was smirking as I lifted him into the air, convinced that I was going to carry him down to the cabin and do disgustingly wonderful things to his body. So much for a child's trust. I lifted him up and tossed him. Sixty-one pounds of squealing, naked boy, arms and legs flailing, splashed into the water. It was better than a cold shower. I leaned over the side and watched as he rose spluttering, and angry to the surface. He glared at me. "Ass-hole," he shouted crudely. But it was impossible not to laugh. I laughed and he laughed and he tried desperately to splash me from five feet below in the water. Unable to resist, I dropped my shorts amid a loud cat-call from Jason and dived into the water. When I emerged, we were face to face. We trod water, still laughing. I leaned forward and gave him a long, wet kiss hard on the lips. Jason gave me a shocked look, visibly astonished that his own father would kiss him on the lips. His mouth was agape. The boy was dumbfounded and he stared at me as he pondered what to do. Then, his little tongue poked forward and he licked his bottom lip tentatively, tasting where my lips had touched his. "You kissed me," he said reprovingly. "On the mouth!" I kept on laughing. The boy was aghast that I could be so intimate with him as to kiss him. But only moments earlier I had been masturbating him and he had been perfectly content to let me do it. This was confusing. "You want another one, cabin boy?" I teased. Jason shook his head and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth as if to remove all traces of our contact. "You're not s'posed to kiss guys," he chastened. "I mean, well guys don't kiss other guys, okay!" "Oh! Well I'm sorry," I said meekly, accepting his chastisement. "So, Jason, what do guys do?" I asked innocently. He thought about it for a few seconds and then started paddling back until he could grab hold of the anchor chain. "Well they don't kiss for one thing!" I swam up beside him. He was very sexy when he was angry. I puckered up, pretending to be getting ready to kiss him again. He was hard to fathom. He was more than simply compliant, he was very agreeable to sexual contact, but he did not want to be kissed. A thought came to me. "Your mom doesn't kiss or hug you very much, does she Jason?" I asked. My son shrugged. His lips compressed. He regarded me suspiciously. He did not answer the question. He let go of the anchor chain and started to swim beside the hull, following it back to the stern boarding ladder. I watched his small, wet, dark-blond head bobbing up and down as he swam slowly. I felt very sad, something was very wrong in Jason's life and it was my fault. I followed Jason back to the stern, ready to start the day, ready for breakfast, ready to give him all the love he needed. PLATONIC LOVE. DAY THIRTEEN. Mykonos. Mid-morning, August 5th, 1993 "After diligent study of the sciences, he develops his body by noble exercises. He tames the chargers of Thessaly and, practising the arts of war in time of peace, he throws the javelin and perfects his skill in archery. Then you can see him at the gymnasium, his body exposed to the heat of the sun, covering himself with sand and hardening himself for his labors. Weariness makes the sweat trickle down his limbs; he plunges briefly into a bath, sits down to a frugal meal, and shortly afterwards returns to his exertions.... Lucian, Dialogues of Love. Long before the time I had prepared breakfast, Jason had returned to his normal, cheerful self. In fact, he was downright cheeky as he compensated (or over-compensated) for the unspoken problem that continued to plague him. I did not pursue the matter. In his own good time, I knew he would come to me and we would talk about it at length. Call it a father's intuition, but I was convinced that his 'problem' involved his mother. She had never been very affectionate to me during the years we were married, and the more I thought about it, the more likely it seemed that Jason had born the brunt of her wrath towards me. If that was true, it was exceedingly likely that Jason's home life had not been particularly pleasant. I felt very sorry for him. Breakfast was about half-over when our visitor arrived. Well mine was; like dinner, Jason picked at his food, nibbling on the things he liked. Like his mother, he liked fruit and I gave him enough to feed half-a-dozen boys. He informed me that his 'normal' breakfast at home consisted of half-a-grapefruit, skim milk, and a slice of toast. We had no grapefruit but a lot of grapes - the big, green ones that the Greeks use to make their wine, Retsina with its unpleasant urine-taste. His scrambled egg was swapped for my banana, which he devoured obscenely. It was hardly an appropriate breakfast for a growing boy and I began to understand what Jason's life had become with me around. He ate what his mother wanted him to eat and he did only what she wanted him to do. Even when she wasn't around she continued to dominate him. It was a wonder that he wasn't more 'messed up' that he already was. But I knew he'd survive; ten- year-old boys have a habit of doing that despite their parents. Our visitor announced himself with the roar of an outboard engine as a dinghy approached our boat. I guessed, correctly, that he had come from the nearby charter boat. His arrival interrupted my second cup of coffee. He arrived just before ten o'clock. By that time, the events of the morning were a pleasant memory that lingered on for both of us. Following our unplanned morning swim we had gone into the cabin and dried off. By seven o'clock I have generally finished breakfast and started on the day's activities. But my son had another idea that was a lot more fun than cleaning up or working on the draft of my book. It was Jason's idea to develop the negatives before breakfast. He announced that as far as he was concerned, breakfast could wait. He wanted to see the 'dirty' pictures of himself that I had taken the previous afternoon. His suggestion was easier said than done. The pictures that I had taken were color slides on high-resolution film and needed to be processed in a laboratory to get the best results. However, these pictures could never go to a lab. The actual processing involved ten steps, only thirty minutes per roll, but mixing the chemicals and getting the temperatures correct seemed to take forever. After fifteen minutes, I took the stool and sat down, making Jason stand up. After all he was the kid and age does have its benefits. But Jason was excited, and watching his beaming face, and answering his endless questions made the work worthwhile. That, plus the fact that I was securing a memory of him that could never grow dim with time, kept me working quickly. The fact that I had a stark-naked ten-year-old boy standing only inches away from me in the dark was never far from my mind. That I could not see him probably saved me from making a ruinous mistake and spoiling all of the pictures. Finally, I opened the metal developing-tank and carefully extracted the first roll. Thirty six wonderful pictures of a very naked and beautiful young boy greeted us. Jason closely scrutinized the pictures, making appreciative comments about the model (himself) and the skill of the photographer (me). "I wonder who the cute kid is?" he teased. "Yeah, I wonder," I said as I looked at Jason in awe. In the dim light afforded by the 12-volt battery power, my son was every bit as beautiful as he was in the tiny frames. Even without the spectacular back-drop of the Aegean Sea or the towering cliffs which gave a dramatic power and intensity to the erotic poses of the small boy, he was beautiful. The pictures, when viewed sequentially from the first tiny frame to the last, provided a chronicle of his emerging sexuality in the fading sun of a hot summer afternoon. In the first few pictures he was an innocent waif, the child cast ashore on a rocky coast, frightened, uncertain of his nudity, and overpowered by the world around him. By the last few pictures, he was confidently exposing his body, exhibiting pride and satisfaction in the fact that his small body could arouse mine. "He's got a pretty tiny dick, whoever he is?" I teased playfully. "You can barely see it in this one," I added as I pointed to one of my favorites. Jason snorted, "Well it's hidden by his leg, isn't it." He started to giggle. "I do look pretty nice don't I, Dad?" He smirked. "So, do you think I'm really sexy? I did turn you on, didn't I? I grinned. "You look wonderful, Jas'," I observed as I looked him up and down. "I'm starting to get really hungry. And you, my son,... you look good enough to eat. Besides, I've never had boy for breakfast." "Not me, silly. In the photos," he corrected as he noticed me examining his body hungrily. "You'll have to wait for breakfast, 'cause I want to do the other roll next and you've got to show me what to do. They're the really dirty ones. Anyway, there's no room to play around in here." He gave me a big, teasing grin and then added, "Besides, you kissed me!". "I did? No, you must be mistaken Jas'. I wouldn't do a thing like that," I laughed. "Yeah, sure. I believe you, but no one else would!" he replied emphatically. "Please, Dad? Can't we do the other roll too? Please?" he implored. When Jason says 'please' and pretends to grovel, he is impossible to resist. I don't know where he learned to do it but Jason had it down to a fine art. It was particularly vexing to me because the word 'please' was not in his mother's vocabulary. I gave up without a fight, figuring that I could wait another thirty minutes or so before I starved to death. "You really think my dick is tiny, Dad?" he asked uncertainly. I was faced by a dilemma, the truth and hurt his feelings, or a lie and save his ego. I chose the absolute truth. "Yes! But I wouldn't want Pokey any other way, Jas'. He's beautiful, just like the rest of you. Besides, some boys have big ones and some don't. It really isn't important. Only stupid boys worry about the size of it, or make fun off other boys. The smart ones enjoy what they've got." Jason smiled, happily reassured that all was in order. "So let's do the other roll, Dad. It'll be fun," he suggested. I took the boy's suggestion at face value. That was how the fun usually started with Jason, innocently. I switched off the lights again and closed the door, making sure that the rubber seal blocked out any stray light from the main cabin. I pulled Jason around and repositioned him so that he stood before me. He faced the bench with his back to me. He was awfully clumsy in the dark, fumbling forever as he tried to insert the strip of curling plastic into the metal tank. Finally, afraid that he might damage the film, I took over and reached around him to finish the job. After I had handed the loaded tank back to him I turned on the lights. I kept my right arm locked around his narrow waist, a possessive hug that claimed ownership of his body, while still giving him the freedom to move. It was very obvious that Jason liked it. He snuggled closer and wriggled his back against me. With my right hand I casually stroked the velvet, warm skin of his flank, running my fingers from his thigh to the barely discernible swelling of his breast and into his armpit. Occasionally he brushed my arms with his hands to encourage me to remain 'attached' to him. In that intimate contact we were establishing bonds, forging a link that physically and emotionally connected us. As each minute passed I felt closer and closer to my son, until it seemed as if we were one being. There was, remarkably enough during that time, nothing of a sexual nature beyond the contact of our bare flesh. Pouring in the chemicals and timing the process was a lot easier for him to do because he was no longer working in the pitch dark. Well, it should have been easier except that I started to distract him. No, to be absolutely honest, Jason started it. Having my naked son pressed against my stomach and chest was intensely satisfying though nothing more than that, but as time passed, the glowing warmth of his body and his gentle squirming against my genitals became incredibly stimulating. Without warning and within a few seconds, my erection was pressing into Jason's buttocks. It could not go unnoticed and Jason began to squeeze back against me, moving his hips so that my rapidly growing penis was rubbed against the baby-soft skin of his firm cheeks. It had the effect he desired and my penis quickly became rigid. "Hey Dad," he said in a teasing sing-song voice. "I think you've got a stiffie again." "I wonder why?" I teased back. "You'll ruin the pictures if you're not careful." "We can always take more. Lot's more. I had fun yesterday doing that, didn't you?" He wriggled again, now tantalizing my penis directly and shamelessly, without any attempt to camouflage his movement as something innocent. As my erection reached its apogee, it pressed back into the crevice between his cheeks, into forbidden and virgin territory. Jason giggled. "Hey, your dick's sticking into my butt, Dad." "I don't know what you're talking about, Jay-boy," I pretended. Then, unable to control myself, added, "I don't think anything is actually inside your butt." "It feels really funny," Jason said awkwardly. Fortunately, the timer beeped and he had to concentrate on pouring out one chemical and replacing it with another. By the time he finished, the demanding excitement that had suddenly and frighteningly surged between us had faded. "Dad?..." he asked quietly "Yeah?" "Dad, you remember the man we saw yesterday? Well he had his dick inside the young guy, didn't he?" "I think we both saw the same thing," I teased. "What did it look like to you? Keep agitating that tank, Jas'," I instructed. "That's what gays do, isn't it? The guys at school tell jokes about 'butt-fucking' all the time. And, well I was sure that's what they were doing." My right moved down and gently brushed against Jason's genitals. As I had anticipated, he was erect, as stiff and aroused as his father. I squeezed the short hot shaft of his penis gently and he breathed out with a sigh. "I expect so, Jason. I really don't know though," I answered honestly. "Dad?... Do you think it feels good? You know,... doing that?" he asked nervously. I was not at all sure of how to answer my son's question. The idea of inserting my penis into another male's anus was disgusting. If there was any pleasure, if would have to be a perverse, sick enjoyment. After all, the male anatomy was not designed for such a role. Jason's little anus and rectum could hardly be expected to compare favorably with Tina's vagina and clitoris, even if it could be made to accommodate my penis. I answered honestly, suspecting that his next question would raise an issue that was particularly unpleasant. "I really don't know, Jas'. Maybe. Like I said last night, it must feel okay or they wouldn't do it, right?" Jason pondered that for a moment or two. "Yeah, I guess so. I thought the young guy looked as if he liked it and I couldn't see the old guy." There was another long silence as he agitated the tank again. "Dad?.... Are you,... are we gonna do that?" he asked quietly. His high-pitched voice trembled nervously and I felt a shiver run through him. Intuitively, I knew that the shiver was not one of excitement. Jason was scared. "All we'll ever do is what you want to do," I said gently. "Are we gonna do that?" he asked persistently. I shook my head, knowing that he could not see my response with his back turned to me. I wondered how could anyone do that to a beautiful boy like Jason. The thought was repelling and quite sickening. "Do you want to do that?" I asked at last. "I,... I don't think so. Wouldn't it hurt? And you'd get my poop all over him. I kinda think it's gross." I smiled, strangely grateful that his response was still as negative as it had been during the prior evening. The possibly that Jason was interested in that awful and perverted act had frightened me. Then, just as I started to relax, Jason 'floored' me. "It kind of feels nice with your penis rubbing in there like that," he whispered. "It feels great when you play with Pokey at the same time." Saved by the bell, the timer beeped again and Jason had to concentrate on exchanging the chemicals again. That was the only problem with using reversal film, processing had to happen twice, effectively doubling the number of steps required over simpler color negatives. Still, the quality of the results more than made up for it. A minute later we opened the film tank and carefully extricated the roll of film. I held it by the edges and examined it carefully. The pictures, like Jason, were perfect. "They're good!" he stated objectively. "The boy is really sexy, don't you think?" he added playfully. "The photographer had a great model," I replied self- deprecatingly. "And yes, you are a very sexy, young man." "The photographer is really sexy too. And he takes a great photograph," Jason complemented. He was right. Even at 35 mm. size, it was easy to see that the photographs were of publication quality. I imagined a book, full of 'Jason' pictures, titled appropriately: 'Jason at Ten'. Jason did not think much of that idea, though he was certainly proud enough of his body as he cavorted shamelessly across the celluloid. I hung the film strips up to dry just after eight thirty. I was famished. As I opened the door into the main cabin the light increased dramatically. The sun was coming in through the portholes and hatches and bathing the teak finish in the cabin with a golden glow. I regarded Jason silently as he stood in the light. He was so close to me that all I could see was his torso, from his neck to his groin. His naked body was startling for an instant I was confused as I tried hard to remember. The image came first, followed by the title of a classic photograph, 'Neil Nude' by Edward Weston. The similarity between the two splendid young bodies was unmistakable. With a little grooming, my ten- year-old son could easy be a model, with or without his clothes on. There was only one difference. Jason's foreskin was still retracted and the tiny bulbed head of his penis was inflamed. The swelling of his tiny, reddened glans was exaccerbated by the encircling foreskin which was now pinching it from behind. I regarded it guiltily, knowing that my rough fingers had damaged his delicate body. "Is it sore?" I asked concernedly. Jason nodded. "It hurts a little bit but I don't mind." "Well I think it's time for Pokey to pull his head in for w while," I said softly. Gently I clasped his little member and wrested the tight skin back over the glans so that it was enclosed and safely protected again. It had only been exposed for two hours and already I was getting used to seeing that wonderful and highly- sensitive part of him. I was very glad that I had opposed his mother when she had wanted him circumcised at birth. I followed him out to get breakfast, ready to 'kill' for a cup of coffee. "You better get some clothes on, Jason," I said as I heard the gurgling roar of the approaching outboard. " It sounds like we have some visitors." "I'm not the only one who's naked," he laughed as he pointed at me. He was right. We were both without any clothes. It was amusing to think that we had both been naked and we had become so used to it that we didn't think about it. My shorts were still in the bow where I had left them and Jason's tee shirt was hanging over the boom waiting to dry as the day became hotter. Neither of us had bothered to put on any clothes after our swim. There didn't seem to be any point in it, there was no one to see us and it was natural. Besides, it was fun being naked together. I felt like a little boy again. He started towards his cabin and I went into mine. I had barely pulled on a pair of shorts when there was a loud rap on the hull. "Ahoy there, Apollo. Is anyone aboard?" a male voice shouted loudly. I went up on deck and received my second shock of the day (waking up with naked Jason was number one). "Hi! I guess you're from the boat over there," I asked. "Yes. My uncle sent me over here to find out if you know anything about diesels. Our engine won't start," the youth replied. He was a handsome sixteen or seventeen-year-old, with the kind of lithe, well-proportioned body that late adolescents tend to have. He appeared to be fit and trim, having a well-developed figure with broad pectoral muscles and muscular thighs. He was well tanned, all the way to the beginning of his bikini-style swimsuit. Until a few days ago I had always considered the low- cut Euro-style to be vulgar and something I associated with primarily with faggots, but as I studied the prominent bulge in the gaily striped nylon, I began to think that they would like rather nice on Jason. It was enchanting to think of him 'strutting his stuff', even though his 'stuff' was far less impressive in magnitude. "I know a bit less than I need to," I smiled sweetly. "What's your name?" I added, knowing the answer to my question: Julien. "Julien." "Hi Julien," I said warmly. I turned to Jason as he ambled up self-consciously and stood beside me. He was not at all pleased that our privacy had been interrupted by an intruding boat and a visitor was clearly distressing to him. "This is my son, Jason and I'm John," I added as I placed my arm possessively around my boy's shoulders. I felt Jason startle as he recognized our visitor, though he concealed it very well. "Hi! Do you have any ideas about what we should look at? What the problem might be and all that?" he asked. "No idea, Julien. You generally start at one end of the engine and work your way to the other. That way you get it worked out and still have a few days left for a holiday. You got gas and compression?" I asked. Julien looked at me uncertainly. "I don't know. I s'pose. We filled up the tank yesterday in Mykonos." I felt Jason tug at my arm and I leaned over to listen as he whispered. "Dad, that's the same guy we saw yesterday. You know, the one who was getting his butt fucked." I choked back a chortle. My son needed his cute, little mouth washed out with soap. But he was 'right on the money.' I wondered who the older man was. His uncle seemed to be an unlikely proposition to me, but Jason was my son and we were well on the to a relationship that would be condemned by all but a few people. "I'm not sure I can do a whole lot to help," I said. I glanced sideways at Jason and observed him staring fixedly at the older boy. I felt an immediate pang of resentment that threatened to become an agony of envy and jealousy as I wondered whether Jason was interested. He seemed to be staring directly at Julien's bulging groin, though perhaps it was merely my rampart imagination tinged with an ever-present fear that someone would take Jason away from me. Julien grinned. "Anything you could do mister, er John, would be great. My uncle is kind of a klutz with this kind of thing." Jason giggled and pushed me playfully with his hand. "Aw, go on Dad, please help," he teased. His growing confidence was quickly turning him into a precocious kid; very cheeky and more than a bit crude when we were alone. I raised my hand as if I was going to give him a swat. "Child abuse," shrieked Jason as he ducked and pretended to cower. Julien laughed. "We'd really appreciate any help you could give us. We got the boat from Athens and we'd have to wait here for help for days if we can't get the engine going." I laughed with him. "There are worse places to spend a few days. But okay, I'll see what I can do. You got any tools on the boat?" "Yeah, but my uncle doesn't know what to do with them," he answered. Jason smirked as we climbed down into our dinghy. "That's him, Dad. I know it is. He's the guy we saw behind the rocks," he whispered. "You like his swimming costume, or what was in it?" I asked jealously. Jason looked surprised and then he smiled slowly. "He's big, isn't he? But mostly I liked what he was wearing. Mom would die if I wore one of those 'round the pool." I decided I would buy my son one at the earliest opportunity. I started the engine for him and then settled back as he took command. He grinned happily as he opened the throttle as far as he dared and started to race the other dinghy. After a wide, fast lap around the other yacht, it was rocking wildly from the wake of two outboards. The older man came up on deck and waved. Since Jason still needed some practice at docking, I moved back and took over from him. We motored up to the swim platform at the stern and I cut the engine and drifted up to the yacht. "Hi," I said as I tied secured the bow line to a cleat. "I hear you have a few problems with your diesel." The man nodded. "Yes, you could say that. I'm Paul," he said, reaching forward and shaking hands with me as I climbed onto the swim platform. Jason followed right behind me. "I'm John and this is my soon, Jason," I said hearing the intense note of pride in my own voice. "Pretty boy," Paul said admiringly, "He's a real cutie. Howdy Jason." I glanced quickly at Jason to see how he was handling the 'pass' that had just been made at him. He was in the process of turning a bright shade of crimson, reddening from his neck out to his ears until his blush suggested that he had too much sun the day before. I gave him a reassuring smile and turned back to Paul. "He is a cutie," I acknowledged honestly, though not concealing the note of distaste in my voice. "So, what's the problem?" I asked. Paul smiled. "Sorry! I didn't mean to embarrass him, but he is awfully good looking." His smile became suspicious as he contemplated the two of us, standing on the swim platform together. We were moored several hundred yards away from one of the few gay nude beaches in the world. Both of us knew that it was more than mere coincidence. "He's your son?" he added, with undue and obvious emphasis on the word 'son'. Then realizing that he might have gone too far, retreated to safer ground. "He doesn't look much like you, but then Julien here is my nephew and he looks more like me than his own father. I guess that's genetics for you." I raised an eyebrow quizzically, not intending to pursue the conversation any further. "He looks a lot like his mother," I stated flatly. That appeared to satisfy Paul's curiosity and I followed him into the small stern cockpit. It was very crowded, without the space that Apollo provided with its center-cockpit design and much larger hull. He cranked the engine over for me to listen to. "You better lay off that. The batteries are already getting flat," I observed. "You sure there's plenty of fuel?" "The gauge shows it's full. We filled up yesterday, before we motored around the island. We came in fairly late yesterday afternoon. I guess you guys must have been away somewhere. I hope you don't mind us mooring so close?" Paul replied. I caught Jason's wicked smirk and I shrugged. "Plenty of room here for both of us," I said expansively. "We were thinking of moving a bit closer to the beach," Julien said. "But the stupid engine wouldn't start." I nodded, as I made sure that neutral was engaged, the throttle opened slightly, and the fuel-cut-off switch closed. I cranked the engine over, unsuccessfully. So much for the easy approach. "I think you're probably better off here anyway. You'd only have to anchor with all those boats in the next cove and its nowhere as nice as here." I checked the fuel-cut-off switch again by pulling it out and then pushing it back in. "If you want privacy, well Jason and I won't bother you." "I was thinking of mooring off the beach, down at the eastern end, near the headland," Paul replied. "There aren't any boats there at all." "Oh! That's probably not a good idea. From the chart it looks as if the current swings in pretty close there and you're likely to drag if you're not careful," I answered as I gave the engine another quick turn. Still nothing. "Well, it looks as though you have a problem, Paul," I added. "You want me to take a look at the engine?" "Uh? Well,... it's a bit messy in the cabin, but if you don't mind that. Yeah, I'd really appreciate it," he replied with a quick sideways glance at Julien. I followed him down the stairs and into the cabin. Jason stayed outside and I could hear him talking to Julien about something or other. Paul wasn't wrong about the mess, but then it is much harder to keep a small boat tidy than one the size of Apollo. The double bunk in the main cabin was formed by converting the table. It was still converted and sheets and pillows were strewn over it and onto the cabin sole. Its appearance was a little disconcerting; hardly 'ship-shape' and poor testimony to their nautical skills. There was, however, ample evidence of another skill. That Jason had elected to stay on deck was somewhat perturbing at first. He was talking to a teenage 'hunk' who had obvious 'boy-appeal'. To my inexperienced eye, he had the potential to be very upsetting to me, but despite that I was suddenly very glad that Jason had decided not to follow me down into the cabin. The first thing I noticed was a jar of Vaseline lying on the ledge beside the bunk. Its lid was not in sight and its purpose was patently obvious. Paul caught my stare and moved to interpose himself in front of the object of my attention. But even without the Vaseline, there was clear and convincing evidence of what had transpired in the cabin earlier in the morning. There was a fecal smell in the air, but it was not the foul stench that comes from an abused head or when the holding tank requires treatment. It was the residual smell of a night of lust and debauchery, a slightly sweet smell, not unlike a yeasty bread dough. I tried to block the smell out but, while it wasn't strong, it was pervasive and it seemed to become stronger as I knelt down to look at the engine. But what affected me most of all was the fact that the smell was not repulsive. It was, my misgivings and repugnance of the act that produced it to the contrary, not unpleasant. In fact, I found myself wondering whether Jason would smell the same before I forced myself to concentrate on the problem at hand. "Make sure the boys don't crank the engine," I laughed as I started to wriggle into the confined space. Fortunately it was a Volvo engine and I had some familiarity with it. Like any charter boat, it had led a hard life and was desperate for maintenance. But in poor condition as it was, it was not bad enough to explain why it would not start. The first thing I checked was the compression, then started working my way through the fuel system. The filter needed cleaning sooner or later but it did not appear to be the cause of the problem. I checked the air filter. It too could do with a thorough cleaning. I was just about out of ideas when I discovered the problem. The retaining screw in the fuel-cut-off lever had been stripped in its thread and the control cable from the cockpit was having no effect at all. It was a relatively easy problem to 'fix'. All I did was to force a slightly larger screw into the hole, tear up the threads some more, and grind it down hard onto the control cable. After a bit less than half-an-hour, I wriggled back out of the confines of the engine compartment. At least the odor had disappeared, though whether its absence could be attributed to the linger smell of the bilge and diesel fuel, or ventilation, I could not be certain. I took a deep breath and straightened up. "Crank it over and we'll see if it starts," I suggested. The engine cranked and fired immediately, gurgled as it cleared out the cylinders and settled down to a slow idle as it began to warm up. I yelled out to Paul to cut the fuel flow. The engine coughed and stopped a moment later. I glanced around the cabin. While my head and half of my body had been stuck in the engine compartment there had been considerable effort expended in cleaning it up. On deck, Jason was sitting on the seat adjacent to Julien. He smiled as he saw me. "See, I told you he could fix it, Julien. My dad can fix anything," he announced proudly. To me, the smirk that Jason and Julien shared was sheer, unadulterated lust. As I squinted at Julien in the bright summer light, his countenance reflected a lascivious libido whose only goal was to get Jason hot-blooded and itching for sex. It was impossible for me not to notice the bulge in Julien's groin. It had swelled noticeably larger since I had seen it earlier. Not erect, but certainly a promise of things to come - so to speak. It was also obvious to me that the older boy's arousal was of considerable interest to Jason since every few seconds my son peeked downward as if to ascertain the extent of his companion's interest. That my ten-year-old son was flirting with a youth at least six or seven years older than he was would have been amusing if I did not have the strong feelings for him that I had. Was it simply a matter of curiosity about the body of another male? I hoped so, but Jason was fascinated. Paul beamed at me. "I don't know how to thank you. There was no way I could that myself. Can I pay you for your time?" I stared at him as if he was out of his mind. "Well dinner then? Julien and I invite you two to dinner. There's a very nice restaurant I believe, just up the road from Super-Paradise. We can walk there from here." Jason looked at me excitedly. "Please Dad? Please? Please?" For the second time that morning he was impossible to resist. The last thing I wanted to do was to expose Jason to more of Julien's rapacious lusting. I intended to say that we had other plans but I 'caved' in without a fight as soon as I saw the excited expression on Jason's face. I would have to risk losing my son's affection sooner or later. We agreed on seven pm. and Jason and I headed back to our own boat, leaving uncle and nephew to their own devices - probably another trip back to the beach, if I wasn't mistaken. "Hey Dad?" Jason asked shyly as soon as we were clear and motoring slowly back to our boat. "Yeah?" I replied doubtingly. My mind was still focused on the 'teenage hunk' that Jason had spent nearly half-an-hour with, alone. I was covetous towards my son and my suspicions were aroused. After only two days, trust and deep affection, perhaps even love, had developed between us, but my grudging resentment of the older boy and his closeness to Jason's age threatened to cast it asunder. I regarded my son, guiltily aware of the envious and invidious feelings I harbored towards his new friend. "Dad, do you like Julien?" he asked. "He's okay. I haven't really talked to him like you have," I replied. "He's a neat guy. I like him." Jason paused. "Did you like his swimming costume?" he added shyly. "Dad,... do you think I'd look good in one?" "Huh? It's pretty tiny. It doesn't cover very much but I'm sure you'd look great," I answered. "Dad,... do you think I could have one of those bikini things like Julien's got?... For my birthday?" "Huh? Oh! Yeah I guess so," I murmured absently. He was right, I had not given him a present yet, at least not one that he had actually received. "Julien said you can buy them in town. He got his yesterday at a shop on, uh,... Adrious Street, or something like that. There's a bus stop just over the sandhill, Julien said. It goes all the way into town." Jason pointed vaguely towards the headland, towards Super-Paradise Beach. "Can we Dad? Please?" "Now?" I asked. "Yeah! Please, Dad?" he implored. I nodded. "ALL RIGHT!" Jason shouted in glee. PLATONIC LOVE. About thirty or forty minutes later we were riding in a bus as it clattered its way along a macadam road that was in very poor condition. Rocks thrown up by the tires ricocheted under the roaring, groaning bus combined with a blaring radio and the loud shouts of Greek peasants to make a cacophony of noise that prevented any conversation. Jason and I sat side by side, watching the scenery pass, small farms with buildings hundreds of years old, on farms that had existed a thousand years before Christ. Everywhere grape vines, olive trees and sheep abounded. Pastures were separated from orchards and vineyards by rough rubble-stone walls that had been constructed by the ancient Greeks. Everywhere there was a sense of history, of a world that time forgot, of a culture and civilization long past but whose traces remained upon the landscape and in the minds and hearts of the farmers. As we approached Mykonos, the town, the road began to improve, the potholes filled, the houses becoming newer and closer together, until finally we saw the first signs of tourists; the ubiquitous, white hotels that lined the beaches to the south and east and looked towards the sacred island of Delos (Dhilos). Now, instead of the clatter of stones, the air was filled with the clamor of horns and the noise of a town as it prepared for the noon siesta. Motorcycles, cars and trucks seemed to pour out of the narrow streets and tear headlong along the minor road on which we were arriving. Ten minutes later we pulled up in front of the town square and disembarked, sore and somewhat weary from our hectic ride. I got some garbled instructions on how to find Adrianos Street (as it turned out to be) and we headed off, hoping to catch the proprietor before he left. We came into the store just as he was closing up. There was a small rack of merchandise, micro-costumes that were little more, and sometimes even less than two tiny patches of nylon held together by brightly colored string. I let Jason pick through them as I watched him, wondering what he would choose, trying to imagine what color would look best on his beautiful, little body. After a minute, the proprietor came over and asked us in halting combination of English and French what we wanted. He explained that the smallest size he had available was a 28-inch, 70-centimeter size that was obviously way too big for Jason's slender hips. I watched as Jason's excitement and boyish merriment faded. Then, as the man observed my son's melancholy, he weakened. Like me, he was the victim of love for a beautiful boy, only more so since his was unrequited. He guided Jason and me into a back room and closed the door. It was cool and dark and a faint smell of cooking lingered in the air, floating down from the residence above. "It can be made quickly," the man said to me. "After lunch, I will have my wife sew it." He smiled at Jason as he considered the price. "Very petit," he said with a wave of his hand, "Ten dollars, US." He smiled at me, identifying me correctly as the deep pocket. He was also a good business man. "Two for eighteen dollars." I nodded. The price was high for a few tiny pieces of nylon and some string, but this time of the year in Mykonos, the word of the day was 'rip off the tourists." "Please remove shorts, mon garcon," he asked as he picked up a tape measure. Jason glanced sideways at me. He looked shocked. I tilted my head encouragingly, "If you want one, I guess it will have to be made to order, Jay-boy" I said patiently. He swallowed nervously. Hesitantly he fumbled at his navel as he unfastened the thin, white cord that secured the waist- band of his swimming costume. He glanced at me again, still very uncertain as he cautiously eased them downward, peeking down suddenly as his little penis, fortunately limp, came into view. The man looked at him approvingly, assessing the slender hips and firm bottom, capturing his genitals in one brief, and to me, overly-loving look. "His size is 22 inch, ah, 55 centimeters, n'est pas. Never before have I made one so petit, but he is magnifique. Like a little faun," he said admiringly. "Mon petit, I need measurements from you. Please, don't be embarrassed. Lift up the shirt, please." He wrapped the tape around Jason's waist and eased it down until it lodged on the boy's hips. Jason shivered slightly as he felt strange hands caress his sides and then, he glanced at me shyly as he slowly lifted his tee-shirt upward until it was well up his chest. I regarded my almost-nude son silently, watching with the shameless, perverse excitement of a voyeur as the stranger stroked my son's thighs and gradually pressed the tape downwards until the upper part of Jason's buttocks prevented further movement. The front of the tape was barely more than an inch above the junction of his very small penis and pubis. "Yes, see 55 centimeters exactly. You want it low-cut, like this," he asked, tracing his finger at the line of the tape. He grinned. "With a young boy, it's much better to be low down. He needs just enough to cover just his manhood and no more. There is no hair for him to worry about and he is still so petit." Jason blushed immediately. The thrill that exploded through me was so intense that it left me quivering and feeling strangely, not sick but with a pleasure that was so overwhelming that it was quite disturbing. Holding the tape firmly between one finger and thumb at a point slightly to one side of Jason's belly (rectus) muscle, he took the other end and draped it downwards between Jason's legs. He picked it up behind the boy and tightened it as he lifted it up into the crease between thigh and torso until it was snugly against Jason's skin and tucked in closely to his scrotum. He carefully turned Jason around and moving the tape back and forth over his bare buttocks until he decided on the appropriate position. From its location, little more than the outward swelling from the crevice between his firm, small cheeks would be covered. The man peered at the boy's rounded behind and noted the measurement. His fingers expertly checked to make sure that the tape was lying in the right place. As he did so, his fingers brushed lightly against Jason's tiny scrotum. I watched as Jason quivered. He turned to me quickly and then looked away, blushing as he felt his little penis begin to harden. The man smiled up at the boy, almost as if he relished my son's discomfiture. "The little man is waking up," he observed quietly. Jason swallowed, not moving as the fingers continued to stroke the wrinkled side of his small pouch with a feathery motion. "Don't be embarrassed, mon garcon. This way we see how big the front piece must be to cover it. Such things will happen to a pretty boy at the beach and you do not want to embarrassed." My son blushed even more, pressing his lips tightly together as he fought back somewhere deep inside himself, a vain unsuccessful attempt to restrain his body's arousal. Within only a few seconds, Jason's penis was rigid and protruding outwards and upwards, nearly parallel to his lower belly. "Very petit," the man observed to no one in particular. "Now you may dress, mon garcon." I needed to sit down and catch my breath. I watched reluctantly as Jason pulled his shorts up and re-tied the bow at his waist. It had taken little more than a few minutes but I could feel the wetness in my briefs as pre-seminal fluid oozed out of my throbbing penis. I had been aroused the entire time. I breathed deeply, trying to control my confused thoughts, still in stunned disbelief of the overwhelming surge I had known for the short time that my own son was partially naked in front of a complete stranger. Now properly attired, Jason followed the proprietor over to a rack of colorful bolts of nylon. The array of colors were dazzling, everything from the hottest neon pink, to the wildest yellow imaginable. Jason went straight to the yellow. Therein lay a problem. He liked yellow, it was his favorite color and he did look great in it because it accented his silver-blond hair, but frankly I was ready for something with pizzazz. Two for eighteen dollars suddenly sounded like a great deal. For 'mine', I chose the vivid neon-pink and blue, then I had to decide whether I wanted pink in front, or blue. I went for the blue, Jason was a boy after all, though the significance of the hot- pink on his beautiful, little bottom seemed very appropriate too. We walked out of the store a few minutes later after leaving a deposit. Mykonos was 'locked up tight' for the next two hours and we headed off towards the harbor hoping to find something to eat in the areas where the tourists 'hung out'. Jason settled for an ice-cream, or what passed for an ice-cream in Greece. It seemed almost unlike him when he asked for a double scoop of the honey and nut variety. I watched, captivated as his little, pink tongue protruded beyond his perfectly shaped lips, swirled around the creamy mound and disappeared back into his mouth. He could turn even the simple act of eating an ice- cream into a sensuous experience; at times it bordered on being obscene as he slurped, then licked, then swirled his tongue around and around again. I didn't say anything but I was beginning to get worried. I loved the slenderness of his body, the narrow hips and shoulders and the deliciously shaped belly and chest, but his reluctance to eat heartily, frightened me. It didn't seem natural that a ten-year-old boy could exist on a few handfuls of grapes, a thin slice of toast, and an ice-cream for lunch. However, at the time, I didn't know very much about boys, just Jeff and at the time he was in a growth spurt of early puberty. We ambled along the harbor wall looking at the yachts that had come from over the world. Like me, Jason showed little interest in a boat if it's primary means of propulsion was not the result of sail and wind. It was the start of a wonderful time that we would spend together, though neither of us grasped its full import at the time, there was an intensity that surged between us and brought us together. My fear of Julien somehow seducing Jason drifted away and I felt closer to him than I had ever dreamed or realized was possible with another person. I teased Jason as his ice-cream melted and dribbled down his hand, leaving little, creamy trails on his bare arm. He was not a 'messy eater', but it was good to tease him. Then his little tongue would poke out and lick away the spill, until the next one happened, which usually didn't take very long. Finally, as we laughed together, I grabbed his arm, pulled it towards me and licked the sticky stain away. He tasted good. In fact, to me he tasted better than the sweet, honey taste of the ice-cream. There was a delicious and unforgettable saltiness, not strong like sweat, though we had both been sweating profusely by then, but a sweet, tangy taste of a young body whose sweat glands were unfouled by maturity. My 'lick' set us both off and we laughed. It was a magic moment, one that would be forever memorable for both of us. Then without warning, the boy's beautiful face darkened and he jerked his arm back angrily. "What's wrong, Jason?" I asked gently. The boy avoided my eyes. "Nothing!.... This is,... wrong! That's all!" he blurted out suddenly. "I can't help the way I feel, Jason," I said quietly. I sensed the boy's anxiety and pain and it overwhelmed me. I reached forward and pulled him against me, pressing his small tousled head against my chest. I felt him shudder, the unmistakable tremor of a crying boy. "I know that! I know that, Dad," he sobbed. "I love you Jason," I whispered comfortingly. "I love you more than I've ever loved anyone else." But the words sounded hollow, awfully hollow. I wondered how I could possibly communicate the depth of feeling that had come into my heart during the last few days. I wondered what my son meant when he said it was wrong. Did he mean what I had thought him to mean? Was it guilt and shame and self-loathing that made him turn away from me? Was this the pain of coming to know he was homosexual? Was he learning to hate me? "How is it wrong, Jason?" I asked gently. The boy sniffed loudly. I could feel the wetness of his tears through the thin cotton of my shirt. "It is!" he retorted. "I can't stay here with you. I have to go back. I want,... to stay with you," he pleaded between desperate sobs. I thought as I breathed, taking slow deep breaths as I tried to search for the words, wanting to make promises I could never keep. I wanted to keep him with me more than he could ever know. "It's not wrong because you're gay? Or because I am, too?" I asked nervously. I waited for the answer, ready to reject everything except the words I needed and now longed to hear. He shook his head furiously. "I'm glad, Jason. Because that is one of the reasons why I love you," I admitted. "I,... know that, Dad," he whispered. His voice trembled and cracked with growing tension. "I want,... to too.... I just don't want to leave you. I don't want to have to go back there,... to him." "Jason, what do you mean? To him? Jason what's wrong? Please tell me?" I begged. Again, his head shook furiously against my chest. I stroked his long, glistening hair gently, feeling the small skull beneath his scalp. Such a small head, I mused, for such a remarkable mind. "Jason," I implored," please tell me? You can trust me. I won't be angry." The boy was silent. Slowly, resolutely, his small, blond head shook. He backed away, pulling from my embrace as he disengaged. Absently he smeared his right hand over his eyes, rubbing away the wetness of his tears, replacing it with a smear of melted ice-cream. He looked so pitiful standing there, his face stained and still so painfully disconcerted that I had to smile. He was beautiful and I loved him so much that it hurt to see him sad and upset. "What's so funny, Dad?" he demanded. "You are, Jay-boy," I grinned. "Did I ever tell you how incredibly sexy you are?" He smiled slowly as his cream-stained hand brushed at his long hair. Then, with hesitating progress, his shy smile became a cheeky grin. "Not as sexy as Julien, though?" he teased. "Much more!" I replied honestly. And that was it all it took for Jason's pain to vanish. He smirked as he observed his hand and arm, covered with the cream drips of his icecream. "You gonna lick it off again this time, Dad?" he teased. I started to nod and say 'of course' as Jason ran down the dock, jumping with almost cat-like skill over the mooring lines that stretched from the boats to the huge ship-sized cleats and bollards. I watched in fear, hoping that his graceful sprint was not doomed to end in failure by tripping. He turned around, a hundred feet away, still chortling loudly as he backed up against a concession stand that had closed for lunch. I loped up to him and he smirked cheekily. "I spilled some more, Dad," he announced as he moved away a few more feet from me. I examined him carefully. His arms seemed clean, so did his legs. This was a game and I was expected to play along. I did. I took two or three steps closer. "I don't see any, Jay-boy," I said patiently. "You must be mistaken." "No I'm not, you just have to guess where it spilled, that's all," he replied with a mischievous grin. "So guess, Dad?" I returned the grin. Suddenly, everything was wonderful between us. I could sense the boy's affection for me, as deep and strong as mine was for him. Julien could try all he wanted, but I was supremely confident he wasn't going to 'score' with my boy. And, if I wasn't mistaken, Jason was 'testing' my love for him. For Jason, though still immature, was playing a game, using Julien as a pawn in the juvenile parry and thrust of emerging puppy love with no hesitation is sacrificing his 'piece'. "Hmmmm? So where could Jay-boy have spilled ice cream?" I wondered aloud as I pretended to be mystified. I looked him up and down several times. "Well there's none on your arms or legs, is there? Most of it is on your tee shirt, now. And there's none on your face, except around your mouth,... and I know you don't like kissing,... so that's not it. Hmmm? I wonder where?" Jason giggled sheepishly and glanced downward. I suspected what he had in mind but I wasn't falling for it, not yet anyway. "Maybe it spilled on your tummy while you were running?" I suggested. Jason shook his head quickly. This was going to be fun, I decided. "What if I don't believe you, Jas'?" I said slyly. "Maybe you better prove it," I suggested. "How?" he taunted with giggles that threatened to burst out and engulf him. "Show me, of course. So, take off your tee shirt, Jay-boy," I demanded. I had increased the stakes beyond what Jason had expected. Now it was my game. "Here?" he asked uncertainly. I shrugged absently and he grinned slowly as he lifted his arms up over his head. He pretended to become stuck, knowing full well that I would come to his 'rescue'. I did. I took the remnants of his ice-cream in my left hand and with the other hand gave one quick tug of his tee shirt upwards and over his head and Jason was half-naked, though not inappropriately so since he was still attired in his swimming costume. I scanned his bare flesh with interest. In the bright, mid- afternoon light, he was utterly magnificent. His nipples were soft and very small and I reached forward and lovingly brushed them with my fingers, teasing them gently between my fingers until they were hard, tiny points. Jason regarded me guiltily, aware that he was exposed to the world, and yet, he too was excited by the elicit and lewd display of our affection. It had been brooding since earlier in the morning, and like the heat of the day, was approaching the point of no control. Slowly, as my fingers continued to manipulate his little hard bulbs he began to breath slower and deeper, holding each lung-full for long seconds before he exhaled. "I don't see any ice-cream spills on your tummy, Jas'," I whispered. My voice trembled. He shook his head and then looked around him furtively. "There isn't Dad," he whispered back suggestively. "I wonder where then? Hmmmm?" Jason moved slightly, repositioning his slender body with his groin pushed forward as his back arched sensuously. Suddenly I was aware that Jason was erect, the distinctive little tent poking outward between his slender legs. "Look who's got a stiffie, now," I teased quietly. I brushed it with my fingers, feeling the inflexible, little shaft resist me. The boy's instinctive quiver revealed his arousal as much as the warmth that flowed out of his private place and into my fingertips. I turned around, looking for anyone in the vicinity that could see us. On that hot mid-afternoon in Mykonos we were the only two people alive it seemed. I pushed him gently, guiding him forward so that we moved behind the concession stand. Long stands of dry grass, burned by the intense sun and reflection from the metal panels of the stand, enclosed us. It was hotter there, away from the gentle breeze, in the full and unmitigated heat of the sun, but it was private. I knelt down before Jason and placed my hands on his narrow hips. I looked up, uncertainly. He was smiling and he nodded earnestly. His small chest rose and fell with each quick, excited breath. My right hand moved from his hip to his thigh. His leg seemed very hot under my fingers as I stroked it tenderly. I heard a small, barely audible whimper from Jason as my fingers pushed upwards and into his crotch. He quivered as my finger tips caressed the tiny pouch of his scrotum. Unable to resist, I withdrew my hand, then lifted the leg of his swimming costume higher, upward and over his aroused genitals so that the material was bunched on the other side and he was exposed to all the world. His knees seemed to tremble slightly as he stood before me, looking down as I regarded his wonderful body. "I don't see any ice-cream here, either, Jason," I breathed out in awe. "Yeah, you do," he corrected plaintively. His hands dropped down and, holding his little rigid penis with his left, so that it pointed downward, he brought the ice-cream, cold, creamy and sticky, to meet it with the other. He had eaten it down to the crown of the cone so that all that remained was the soggy cone and a sloppy mess inside. The uncircumcised end of his penis pushed into the creamy fluid. He giggled as the residual cold ignited a little shiver and his buttocks tightened instinctively. He pushed further into the cool mess until most of his penis was covered and then he lifted the cone away. "See, Dad," he said teasingly. "I see, Jason," I said in mind-numbing excitement. Had I won the game, or Jason. I stared at my son's little erection, coated with a thick layer of light-brown cream. Never before had I seen such a tasty morsel! "So? You gonna lick this off, or what, Dad?" he challenged. I glanced upward at the smirking boy. "I don't think you could reach to lick it off by yourself," I teased. "I don't plan on trying," Jason giggled. His buttocks pushed forward crudely as he offered me his extended penis. I took a quick breath, swallowed, and licked him. I licked from the junction of his penis and scrotum all the way to the taut, pointed, little tip. I tasted honey; sweet, wonderful nectar of the gods and a deliciously hot boy-penis. For a moment I toyed with the tip, holding it between my lips and tickling the pucker of his foreskin with my tongue. I heard Jason murmur 'yeah', as I took him in. The honey taste filled my mouth for a few seconds and then, as I bathed him with saliva, I could sense it fading. Only the taste of the boy was left, though in reality there was no taste at all, just the presence of his very hard penis inside my mouth. I tried to look upwards to see how he was responding but the angle was wrong, all I could see was his panting belly. I held his rigid penis tightly between my lips, nipping lightly on the sensitive skin, rubbing the silken shaft with my tongue, pushing it to the roof of my mouth, and sucking. Mostly sucking. I tried to suck his beautiful penis off. I suctioned as hard as I could, trying to draw him ever deeper, aware that each sucking pressure seemed to make him tremble and push ever harder into my mouth. And each time, his penis seemed to get harder, blood flowing into the vacuumed spaces and causing him to swell and stiffen until the short shaft was throbbing and painfully stiff. In those few wonderful minutes, I thought that there was no possible way than we could be joined so intimately. I was distracted from my task as I felt Jason's small hands meet and cradle behind my head as he pulled me closer to him, forcing my nose into the baby-soft skin of his belly. I realized that he was making a low crooning sound, an almost animal-like whimper of pleasure that was so intense that it approached pain. Slowly, with barely perceptible movements of his thighs and legs, he began to thrust. At first only his penis moved inside my mouth with fractional jerks, brief spasms of delight before he calmed himself, then gradually, a natural rhythm took command. I ceased his motion by grasping his hips and steadying him. Despite my firm grasp he persisted in trying to lunge forward in a vain attempt to continue his enjoyment. I heard a distant moan as I pulled my mouth away, reached up and fumbling, untied the cord of his swimming costume. I pulled them downwards to his knees, then pushed them all the way to the ground. Jason was now naked and exposed and exactly the way I wanted him. I took his penis back into my mouth, marvelling momentarily at how much larger it now appeared, swollen and engorged with his blood. It was slightly purplish in color instead of his usual reddish-pink, with tiny, bulging veins. I took him all the way in, then still hungry for more of his fabulous flesh, pushed my fingers into the firm little pouch between his legs and guided one tiny testicle, and then other into my mouth. His heat excited me as I engulfed him, saliva coating his rampart genitals and forming a slippery, throbbing union with the soft tissue of my mouth. Within seconds, Jason began to thrust again, resuming his rhythm as if unbroken. This time his breathing was strained, coming in quick panting gasps as he pumped his tiny penis into me. His entire body seemed to exist for only one purpose, every action dedicated to one result, to derive the maximum enjoyment from the mouth that enclosed and held him safe from the world around us. Again, I clasped his hips, but this time not to stop him, My hands moved around behind him, feeling the smooth, small hemispheres of his buttocks as I pulled him into me with as much suction as I could manage and forced his rigid shaft against the my palate with my tongue. Jason moaned and quivered as my fingertips pushed between the firm, rubbery flesh of his cheeks, touched the inner sanctum of his crack, penetrated a single finger into the lush, moist heat of his anus, and held him tightly. I took over, pulling and pushing my naked son back and forth as his penis pumped inside my mouth. I felt the heat building in his body, a curious trembling and gasping that left me thinking that perhaps he would orgasm, wetly instead of what I knew would be the case. His slender legs moved even further apart, giving me unfettered access to his genitals. I devoured him, relishing every precious moment before the inevitable happened. His frenzied thrusting at the end was inspirational, though especially so for a sexually immature, ten-year-old boy. Jason's energy seemed inexhaustible as he approached his peak, and then as he gasped out in painful ecstasy, his legs weakened and he collapsed onto his knees, shuddering violently as he spasmed. After a moment he looked up at me and smiled weakly. "I think your ice cream melted, Jas'" I said playfully. "Yeah, I guess so," he acknowledged as he looked at the discarded cone lying in the dirt a few inches from his right knee. I hugged him to me lovingly, still caressing his small buttocks as I kissed the top of his head. I didn't think he would mind that too much. "It didn't taste all that good anyway," he sighed as his excitement began to abate. "It sure tasted good to me," I laughed, "though maybe it was something else I could taste." Jason smiled. I felt very close to him and I helped him stand up on legs that were still wobbly and uncertain. I pulled his shorts upwards, dusting off the dirt and grass that had collected on them before I reached his knees. Finally, when the boy's nakedness was covered, I got to my feet and pulled him tightly against me. With his face pressed into me, his muffled voice was barely audible. "That was nice, Dad," he whispered. Nice was an understatement of the wonderful feelings that had blossomed inside me. For in attaching my body to his, I had come to understand something. Certainly, most people would be horrified, disgusted at the intimacy we had shared, but it seemed to me that it was impossible for two people to be closer than we were as we slowly walked away from the concession stand. We walked side-by-side, my arm draped possessively over his small, bare shoulders, pulling his hot body to me with playful hugs as I steered him one way and then the other. We went down to the beach, past the tourists, past the parents and their innocent children playing in the sand, past flirting teenagers, to the far end of the beach. There, sheltered from the broiling sun by an overhanging rock, we sat side by side. At first, we communicated not by talking but by an inimicable closeness that was born of deep feelings. There was little that we could say to each other following what had transpired between us. There was too much too think about. There was too much conflict for us to simply resume a familial relationship. But slowly as the afternoon wore on, the dread that oppressed us departed and we became light-hearted and increasingly jovial. The threat to our mental well-being faded. For that was what it was, in those few minutes both of us had been brought to the 'point of no return' and we were confronted by our true selves. There is no father who would ever voluntarily position himself as the seducer or abuser of his child, but no one can say with absolute certainty that he would not have done a similar thing under the same conditions. Was I wrong to love Jason in a fashion that was deemed unacceptable by all but a few elements of society, those elements being pederasts themselves in all likelihood? I had not set out to seduce Jason, but each event, every action, had brought us closer and closer until such an outcome was unavoidable. If anything my guilt was vastly greater than my son's and at first I attributed that to the difference in our ages and my greater responsibility as his father, but as the time passed I came to think more and more of the boy's response. Then I thought back, remembering the ease with which he undressed before me, a relative stranger in a way; the shameless exhibition of his body as I photographed him; the experienced motion of his slender body as he moved on top of me during the night; the almost accustomed ease with which he offered my his sex organs. The conclusion, as before, was unavoidable. If anyone was the innocent virgin, it was me and not Jason. Jason's words, 'I don't want to have to go back there,... to him.... to him.... to him.... to him' rang endlessly in my ears and I knew that a man had taken advantage of my son, old- fashioned and inappropriate as the word 'advantage' may be. Perhaps unreasonably, I immediately suspected a man who had easy access to him, a friend of his mother's, an employee from the farm where he lived, a teacher, even someone from his church. All told, there were too many opportunities. As I sat under the sheltering rock, listening to Jason talking about his life and asking endless questions about mine, there was one question that came back into my mind again and again. It was a question that I could never ask him. As the heat of the sun reached its maximum, even the shade afforded by the rock seemed insufficient compensation. I took my shirt off and followed Jason down to the water's edge. It was not as cool as I would have liked but it helped. I followed Jason out into deeper water. Unlike the previous day, the wind had faded to a slight breeze and the waves were small. My son became a boy-dolphin, like the wonders of Crete not far to the south. He gambolled and romped beside me, extolling the virtues of youth and the ravages of age. He teased me endlessly, taunting me until I lifted him up and tossed sixty-one pounds of squealing, yelping boy into the water. For a boy who ate next to nothing, I could throw him a considerable distance. Jason's energy was inexhaustible. He could have easily played that game all day, or until I dropped. But fortunately, the cold water of the Aegean took its toll on both of us. When I picked Jason up in a scooping bear-hug and found goose flesh over his arms and legs, I knew he had been in the cold water long enough. We made our way closer to the beach, and upon discovering that it was comfortable at slightly more than ankle- depth, we lay down side by side and let the water wash over us. But even then Jason was not content and within five minutes we were engaged in a playful fight, tickling each other furiously, with hands often straying to places that fathers generally don't tickle their young sons. We were far from prying eyes, and half under the water as we were, I doubted that much could be seen, so I resolved to enjoy myself. I did. If one has never tickles a giggling, excitable, ten-year-old boy into a frenzy, it is an experience that I can highly recommend. It was made even more enjoyable by the ever-present and very comfortable pressure of his small hard penis against mine. By three o'clock, on Jason's handsome, waterproof watch, it was time to leave. We spent additional time ambling back to the store on Adrianos Street, wandering through the gradually awakening streets and gardens, arriving at the store shortly before four pm. The briefs (for that is what they were - very brief) were finished and waiting for us. Jason took one, the yellow one needless to say, into the back room to try it on while I paid the proprietor and purchased one for myself. Only seconds before Jason emerged from the 'fitting' room, a woman came into the store followed by her son and daughter. They were easily identified as Americans and I guessed their accents to be from somewhere in the south. The boy was at least a year or two older than Jason and still carried his puppy fat. The girl was in her early teens, already blossoming into woman hood with the appearance of budding breasts in a bright red halter top. It appeared that the reason for their visit to the store was to purchase a swimming costume for the boy, who had lost his, as boys of that age tend to do. Interestingly, my attention was drawn to the boy and not the girl and I gave her no more than a passing glance. I assessed him, making a quick comparison with Jason. There was no comparison! They searched through a rack of costumes, the long-legged kind that shows nothing except the top of the knee and the first inch or two below the navel. Even the vibrant colors of 'Adrianos Street Swimming' could not prevent the waste of beautiful flesh that was covered up. As the woman held up an orange and black patterned costume to her son's waist, out paraded Jason. He redefined the word erotic! He also provided a new definition for the word 'shameless' as he swivelled around in front of me, oblivious to the onlookers. I almost choked as I watched the woman shudder and try to avert her eyes from my son's ostentatious display of his sexuality - what there was of it. The costume fitted him like a glove, revealing his small sex organs as much as hiding them, to the extent that even the pointed taper of his foreskin was discernible under the thin nylon. What it left to the imagination - at least to my imagination - was not worth having. But I was one of the privileged, not so the son and daughter. The boy's mouth dropped open as he gaped. I heard him murmur something like 'How 'bout one like his, mom?' before she replied haughtily, "Little whore. Of course not." But most amusing off all was the daughter's countenance. She was captivated by the parade of the nearly-naked boy, her eyes followed his every languid movement as I nodded my approval and Jason disappeared back into the changing room. "I don't see how you could buy something like that for a boy his age?" the woman rasped in my ear. "It's its,..." "Indecent?" I finished. "Frankly, I don't think it really is any of you business what my son wears. But I'd appreciate it if you didn't call him a little whore." "Well!" she said indignantly. "I mean, its just not appropriate for him to dress like that. There are supposed to be a lot of faggots on Mykonos and,... well at his age,..." I turned to her and smiled sweetly as Jason came skipping merrily out of the 'fitting' room, obviously still wearing his new attire under his old costume. "Well, you'd do better to keep an eye on your own little faggot, then!" I said quietly as I led the way out of the store, much to the amusement of the proprietor. PLATONIC LOVE. DAY THIRTEEN. Mykonos. Late afternoon, August 5th, 1993 "Who would not love a boy like that? Who would be so blind in body and soul? How could anyone help loving him? In the gymnasium he is Hermes, he is Apollo touching the lyre, he is Castor taming the chargers. Inhabiting a mortal body, he follows in the footsteps of the Gods." Lucian, Dialogues of Love. We were lucky to catch the four pm. bus back to Super- Paradise Beach. In fact, if we had not run flat-out for the last few hundred yards and if it had left according to schedule, we would have missed it by several minutes and had to wait until it returned about an hour later. But, like everything else in southern Europe, the buses always seemed to run a few minutes (or more) late. Unlike the trip into town on the crowded bus, the trip back was considerably more enjoyable. Aside from the driver and a two elderly Greek women in the front row of seats, the bus was empty. I followed Jason to the back of the bus. I guess the habits of young boys on buses, whether yellow school buses, or cantankerous buses in the Cyclades, never change. He selected a seat second from the back and slid in first, taking the window seat for himself. The bus lurched forward at the instant that Jason sat down. I was caught unprepared and I was barely able to grab the rail to prevent myself from falling hard onto the sticky, food- stained floor. As it was, my miserable performance was saved from complete ignominy only because I toppled into the seat next to Jason. Looking back, one could easily see why Jason burst out into laughter, though at the time it was hardly funny to me. A ten-year-old boy who has ridden school buses for the last few years should be considerably more skillful on his feet than a forty-year-old man, particularly one whose only recent experiences with sudden movement consisted of riding a lurching deck during a wild storm, and then with the advantage of a life- safety-harness and life-lines. I gave Jason the 'killer stare' to save my hurt feelings. It made him laugh even harder. A giggling boy is infectious, a hundred times worse than any virus known to science and Jason, with his beautiful face and high-pitched laugh was irresistible. I started to think what he would do if I leaned over and kissed his too-pretty-for-a-boy lips and stuck my tongue between his perfect white teeth and I started to laugh. We were both breathing heavily as we settled in for the trip, the bus gathered speed and began the bouncing thirty minute 'bronco- ride' back to where we had started from. "So, Dad?..." Jason demanded between gasps for air, "So what,... did you say to the lady,... in the store?" "Huh? Oh, her! She didn't like you new costume." "So what's it to her?" he asked. "I guess she thought that a boy your age shouldn't be showing so much flesh," I replied. I glanced at Jason, both of us still trying to control our inflated pulses and rapid breathing. "There wasn't much you couldn't see, you know." "But you couldn't see anything. I checked in the mirror to make sure before I went out to show you," Jason retorted guiltily. "I don't care if you came out naked, Jay-boy. It wasn't any of her business what you were wearing," I said to placate him. He was right, you couldn't see anything exposed, but I could certainly see what nature had endowed him with. It wasn't that big but it was 100-percent boy. "So what did you say to her?" Jason persisted. "Hmmm? Maybe I'll tell you in a few years," I teased. Jason giggled. "Did you tell her to 'fuck-off'?" he whispered conspiratorially. I stifled another laughing fit. "No I did not! But you're close, Jas'." "So what did you think? Pretty sexy huh?" he grinned. I played dumb. "Huh? What?" "You know, Dad! My new costume. Did you like it?" he persisted. "Yeah, I guess so," I teased. "I really didn't see much of it." "There isn't that much to see, Dad. It's really tiny. It feels like I'm not wearing anything down there," Jason smirked. He glanced up at the front of the bus surreptitiously. "You want to see now?" he whispered. My heart did leap and my blood pressure went into 'lift- off'. "Here?... I don't think so, Jas'. What about the driver? I'm sure he can see." "He can't see 'squat' back here. He's only got the one mirror and it's outside, Dad," Jason stated expertly as he started to untie the cord of his swimming costume for what seemed to be the millionth time that day. There was little I could do, or even wanted to do to stop him. This was fun, sheer, unadulterated fun. I felt like a ten- year-old boy myself, engaged in 'show-me' or something even more elicit. I pretended to stare out the window at the passing buildings, at the cars, at the huge, ostentatious motels, anything to keep my mind and eyes off what Jason was doing. But it was impossible not to sense his movements next to me, the reduced weight on the seat as sixty-one pounds of boy lifted up and a pair of bright-yellow shorts came down. Not to his knees, he went all the way to his ankles before he straightened up again. The cheeky smirk on his face was unforgettable. "Well Dad? You like it?" he whispered. I glanced downward. I was prepared for a pleasant surprise and I got it. Close up, and in the sunlight that streamed through the window onto Jason's lap, the costume was obscenely small but it was made even more so by the little, bulging erection that was already well underway to achieving greater prominence "The old ladies up front would die," I replied. With a tan, Jason could cause serious accidents. "It's very sexy," I agreed, "Just like the rest of you, Jas'". Jason was right. With the road noise and the lack of an inside mirror, it was impossible for the other passengers to know that Jason and I were doing anything other that looking at the scenery - which in a way was true. I dropped my hand down onto Jason's thigh, midway between knee and hip. Jason exhaled and his knees parted further, pressing one very-bare leg against mine. I tickled the smooth, soft skin lightly, running my fingers around and around as I drew ever closer to his now- obvious bulge. The thin nylon above his rigid penis became stretched tightly, and then as he flexed his inner muscles, it jerked, straightened and poked it's tiny head out from under the neon-yellow covering. My fingers glided upwards, towards their ultimate objective, still circling in a last ditch effort to convey an objective other than their intended target. Jason smiled sensuously. My fingers brushed lightly against the small taut lump still imprisoned under the nylon. Jason quivered. My fingers moved a little higher and I stroked the rubber-like, pointed tip of his foreskin. Jason sighed and gave me a lascivious grin as he settled closer against me and gazed out the window. I squeezed my finger and thumb together over his tiny, hose- like end and rotated them, rolling the sensitive skin of the prepuce. Jason whimpered slightly and his hips pushed upwards eagerly. I traced the contour of his penis downwards, sliding my thumb and finger under the nylon of his costume. I felt my son's rounded glans as a small, but distinct swelling in the elongated shaft, it's delicate form protected by its thin covering of skin. My finger and thumb gripped tighter and then pushed down firmly, gently retracting the skin back and exposing the tiny bluish-purple knob yet again. I glanced at Jason. His eyes were half-closed in a contented bliss, relishing my loving caresses. His little hard penis flexed hungrily under my fingers, demanding more attention and not at all satisfied with my mere stroking. For a moment I considered the embarrassment and the potential problems that would ensue if we were discovered. Again Jason's penis jerked, like a hard little prong pulsing with life and energy of its own. It was as if it was unattached to its young master who seemed to be barely awake and basking in the warmth of the sun. I hesitated to go on, the fear of discovery was precipitous. It was as if Jason read my mind. "Go on, Dad," he hissed urgently, "Do it!" I choked back a laugh, fascinated by the extent of his arousal, disbelieving that a ten-year-old boy could be so depraved as to want me to 'jerk him off' in the back of the bus. He looked as me with an expression of pure, carnal lust. There was no innocence in his pale blue eyes. "You want me to take it off?" he whispered suggestively. "I will if you want me to." I thought for a second and shook my head. "No!" I replied quickly. There was a chance that the bus might stop to pick up passengers as it had on the trip into town. It was not difficult to pull the nylon of his costume down far enough to expose his genitals. I looped the thin cloth under the little, rounded pouch of his scrotum, kept it there by pressing my little finger into the wrinkled, firm mound amidst his testicles, and went to work. Masturbating Jason had become my favorite pastime and one which apparently he also enjoyed and did not tire of easily, if at all. It was, of course, impossible to use my saliva to lubricate him since it might be seen, or though remote, heard. I concentrated my efforts on the short, thin, very-hard shaft, knowing the pleasure it would give him. Much to Jason's delight, I did not want, or intend for him to orgasm quickly. I prolonged the pleasure and alternated the motion, ranging from playful tickles and gentle tugs, to rapid jerking, with generally much more of the former and less of the latter. The trip into town had taken nearly thirty minutes in the morning and I was surprised when the bus finally stopped and the driver twisted around in his seat and called out 'Super- Paradise'. Hurriedly, I reached down to the floor and grabbed Jason's shorts. There was a momentary panic as I realized that one of Jason's feet was no longer in his shorts. That quickly straightened out, both of us tugged them upwards frantically. Only seconds had passed in a frenzied scramble to cover his exposed body but it seemed much longer. We stood up together, both blushing, both cheated by the interruption to our play. Jason had been mere seconds away from orgasm when the bus had stopped. The expression on his face had been one of sheer joy as the pressure increased inside him exponentially. But Jason had not been the only person close to orgasm. Under my shorts, my own briefs felt as though they were soaked from the constant flow of pre-seminal fluid that had leaked from my straining penis. As Jason had neared climax, so my own arousal became so strong that orgasm was imminent. I had never felt so close to achieving a climax without direct stimulation of my penis. We staggered down the aisle, our legs unsteady and trembling from still-continuing excitement and the constant vibration of the bus. Outside the bus, we walked about fifty of sixty feet before we gave in and started laughing. Whether our joy was fueled by a sense of relief, or merely an outburst of strong bonds that were forming between us, I don't know, but it lasted the entire ten minutes that it took to walk down to the beach where we had left the dinghy many hours earlier. On that sunny afternoon, Jason and I provided an entertaining sight; father and son with arms wrapped around each other, mine around Jason's shoulders, occasionally giving him playful 'head-locks'; his around my waist or hips, giving me 'mock-tackles' as we surged drunkenly from one side to the other of the narrow lane, still laughing hysterically. That I tickled Jason furiously the entire time, served to perpetuate the fun. By the time we arrived back on Apollo it was nearly five o'clock. Although the sun was moving steadily lower in the western sky, its rays were still intense. The horizon was clear and the continuing warm temperature suggested that the wind would be back by the next morning. We slumped onto the cockpit seats, tired from our excursion, each vividly remembering the fun we had experienced together and not wanting it to end, ever. Only three days had passed since I had met Jason at the airport and I was surprised by how much I liked him. It did not seem possible to me that I had not liked him right from the outset. What was wrong with me? My son was the most wonderful person on the face of the earth and I didn't like him? Had I really made comments about him being gay? Had I really thought his beauty to be objectionable? The only things about Jason that still bothered me were the diamond stud, the fancy watch, and the mysterious man. Because there had to be a man, there was no other way that a ten-year- old boy would do the things that Jason did. Even sex games with boys his own age could not account for his uninhibited and wanton desire. And so we sat there on the cockpit seats, regarding each other affectionately, closer than a father and his son should naturally be, feeling the pangs of love that society had decreed in its wisdom to be tantamount to unholy acts. We had plenty of time to get ready for our dinner engagement, which by now even I was looking forward to, so I suggested that we get some sun. There wasn't time to back to Super-Paradise Beach, appealing though the idea was to both of us, so we stripped off and lay down in the cockpit. But there was a fundamental difference between this time and the first time that Jason sunbathed in the nude in Apollo's cockpit; this time I applied the suntan lotion to him! Putting suntan lotion on a child can be an unpleasant experience for both parties or it can be heavenly. With Jason, it was undeniably the latter. He didn't wriggle or try to pull away; he lay quietly over my lap as I rubbed the amber oil into his back and shoulders, his legs and thighs, and finally into his buttocks. I oiled him until he glistened like a polished marble statue. Jason became a little Greek god, his slowly tanning skin burnished and lustrous with the oil. Even as I massaged him gently, tiny beads of perspiration formed like jewels all over him as the still-sweltering sun beat down. I could not take my eyes away from him as he stood up and moved across to the other side of the cockpit and lay down on his towel. With his thin, still-pale torso and 'break-marks' of already brown arms and legs, Jason appeared to be two boys; one a pale, soft-skinned, innocent child; the other, a rugged, sun- drenched urchin. I was beginning to be more excited by the urchin but I loved them both dearly. I oiled myself up and lay back on the seat. It was very pleasant. Half-awake, half-asleep, baked with a deep, penetrating glow from the sun as it touched places seldom seen before, but what made it truly enchanting was that Jason, stark- naked and salubrious, was only a few feet away. Any time that I desired, I needed to turn my head slightly to one side and be met by the most wonderful sight in the world; a naked, very beautiful, ten-year-old boy. But the sun was in my eyes and instead of long, loving looks, all I could relish were brief glances. It was barely enough to keep me satisfied. Any number of times that I peeked at him, Jason was looking at me. Each time he grinned playfully, disturbing his thoughtful expression with a tantalizing smile that seemed to welcome me over to his side of the cockpit. Each time, his right hand was resting on his hip, his fingers lazily stroking his little, limp penis with a casual familiarity that revealed my son no longer had any inhibition in front of me. Again and again I contemplated crossing the few feet between us and sharing his seat. Time and time again, I resolved not to, simply because I was afraid that he would think I was over-sexed, or something worse - a dirty old man. The day still was not over, and counting the times since just before sunrise, my hand had been on my son's genitals on four separate occasions. Somehow, that seemed too much, even to me. I tried to think of other things but my thoughts always drifted back to Jason. As my longing increased, I accepted the inevitability of thinking about him and began to invent scenarios that involved him, though my fantasies were mere adventures of the things we might do during the coming weeks. I planned to leave for Paros the following morning. Even though I knew Jason would love Delos with its phallic symbols, the long avenues of crude, over-scaled, erect man-cocks, I wanted to leave Mykonos. I wanted to find a deserted island, impossible of course, but one at least where we could be together without the crushing pressure of other people. I wanted Jason for myself. I did not want to share him with anyone else. My possessive thoughts suddenly turned to a mental picture of Jason as he flaunted his young body before my camera, dancing like a wild satyr against the rugged cliff. His little penis was so hard that it stuck out from his body like a lever jammed in the 'up' position. That was all that it took for my penis to shrug off its sleepy stupor and shudder awake. I closed my eyes and let the dream take me further and further away from reality. But my dream was reality. I did not hear Jason until his hot, oily body touched mine. He straddled me, grinning cheekily, every bit as stiff and excited as I was. His little penis protruded abruptly from between his legs, arrogantly and openly displayed for my enjoyment. And then he leaned forward and his slick, glistening flesh pushed down onto mine. He was tantalizingly hot and lubricious and covered with a sheen of sweat, and he felt unbelievably good. He felt alive and sexy and he moved with a gentle eagerness as his little penis nestled tightly against mine. His testicles were squeezed to either side of my penis as it squashed into him and I could feel them, like tiny marbles against my own huge eggs. His arms locked around my neck as my arms enclosed his slender back and I hugged him desperately, so hard that he could be crushed as I strained to merge his body with mine. "You feel so good," I whispered. "So do you. It feels wild, Dad. We're both so slippery." "You feel like an eel when you squirm like that," I gasped. "Keep doing that and I'm going to slime you again." Jason giggled. "That's the whole idea. You haven't done it yet! I owe you!" "I thought you didn't like getting it on you," I teased. "I never said that," Jason retorted hotly, though still continuing his erotic writhing on top of me. "It's just slimy, that's all." "Well, another two years of so and Pokey will be making his own slime," I added. "Yeah, I guess," Jason acknowledged slowly. He paused thoughtfully as he pondered an important question. "Dad,....?" "Yeah!" "Dad, when they told us about puberty and all that stuff at school,... you know about growing up and the changes in our bodies...." I nodded patiently. "Well the teacher said that it happens mostly when we're like twelve or thirteen,... and well if that's when my dick gets bigger and I start producing sperm and everything, and I get hair down there, like you have,... well,..." "Yes Jas', so what's the question, honey?" I asked gently. "Will you still love me as much as you do now,.... or more,... because I can do it to you as well?" Jason asked uncertainly. He stopped moving and lay very still as if his entire existence and everything we now shared hinged upon my answer. I was taken back for a moment. The possibility of loving Jason either more or less than I did at that very moment seemed remote. No, it was inconceivable to me. But then, I had never really thought about Jason growing up. I could imagine him only as he was now, the sensitive, slender boy-god whose deliciously smooth, young body lay draped over mine in an forgettable embrace. That Jason would become a teenager in three years was so farfetched an idea that it seemed impossible. But he was right and his teacher was right. His tiny testicles would sooner or later respond to a timely surge of some ten-syllable hormone from somewhere in his brain and his boyhood would be no more than a fleeting memory. It was just a matter of a few short years. It was not a pleasant thought. A picture formed in my mind off an awkward, pimply youth with a long, thin penis that spurted gobs; thick twisting hair growing over his groin, then his thighs and legs, on his belly, and chest, on his back, and even over his buttocks. It was a gross, ugly image of maleness. It wasn't Jason and it never would be him. Like me, he would never be a 'hairy man', but he would eventually become a man. I framed my answer cautiously as I suddenly understood the boy's fear, or at least one of them. "I'll always love you Jason." I said emphatically. "We might not always touch each other like this, but there will always be love between us." For a moment that seemed to satisfy him. He started moving against me gently, lifting his hips upward with little jerks so that our genitals were rubbed together in a wonderful symphony of slippery flesh. "You feel good, Jay-boy," I breathed out. The next thing I said slipped out before I could stop it. "Where on earth did you learn to do this?" Jason stiffened and pulled back slightly but my arms tightened around him as I recovered my senses. "Yeah, I know, your hygiene class. Boy do I have to go back to school." He lifted his head up and smiled slowly as he looked into my eyes. "No!", he corrected playfully. "I learned this in cabin- boy school, last night. Neat, huh?" he teased. "Very neat! But much more of it and I really am going to slime your belly again." Jason giggled. "So! I told you I don't mind. It's just sperm! You made me with sperm once, remember, Dad?" I squeezed him tightly again. "Yeah, I remember. But it was never like this, believe me!" Having a slippery, oil-covered boy humping on top of you has to be the most incredible experience that a human can have. Each gentle, sliding movement send tremors racing through my body and adrenaline pounding into my blood. I began to take deeper and deeper breaths as my muscles searched for more oxygen, unbending and then tensing, waiting the moment to take over, to take control away from the little boy and lift him high into the air as I drenched him in semen. It seemed only seconds away but I forced myself to stop his motion. I did so by grasping his buttocks, pressing my fingers into his crack and squeezing his small cheeks tightly. For a few seconds he struggled to continue, bent only on relieving his own impending orgasm, and then he stopped. "So what's the problem?" he demanded angrily. "You were going to do it. I could tell! Why did you go and make me stop for?" "Because I'm the captain, cabin boy!" I teased. "We're going to be late if we don't start getting ready soon. We both need a bath. You haven't washed since you left Rome." "So! Neither have you! But we went swimming, so there!" Jason retorted defiantly. "Now its bath time, like it or not," I said sternly. "I'm not taking you to dinner smelling like the Aegean Sea." Jason's anger passed. He smirked cheekily. "I probably smell more like your slime than anything else, I bet." I laughed and twisted him away, easing him carefully down onto the teak grating of the cockpit floor as I stood up. "If you're not careful, it's cold shower time and I don't think little Pokey will take to that very happily," I teased as I flipped playfully at Jason's inflexible little penis. I jerked it downward as he struggled to escape and then let it go. It snapped back upright and made a rude slapping sound against his firm, little belly. "Ouch! That hurt!" Jason bellowed in feigned pain. "Just wait until I get yours, Dad." I backed away, and kept my eyes locked on his, preparing for an attack from a naked boy intent on vengeance to his wounded pride. I could see the muscles in his legs tense, stretching the long thin tendons from his thighs, to his knees, all the way to his ankles. He took his last breath before the attack, bringing his weight forward as he poised to spring. His lunge never came. Instead, we heard the roar of an approaching outboard engine and we both turned. Paul and Julien rocketed past our stern, fifty yards away. I didn't need more than a glimpse to guess that they were on their way back from the beach. They waved at us and we waved back. Like us, they were also naked. The heat of the moment passed and Jason relaxed with a casual grin, aware that both Paul and Julien had seen him stark- naked and not much caring. We had about thirty minutes to get ready and meet them on the beach. I opened the port hatch by lifting the curved, teak-planked seat upwards. Inside I kept the accoutrements of everyday living on board, from the gas-fired barbecue, to fishing tackle, to bathing things. When the weather was nice I often bathed in the cockpit - it was a lot more enjoyable than down below if only because the air was fresher and it was a lot roomier. Fortunately, I had filled the five-gallon, plastic 'sun- shower' with water while we were at the Piraeus dock and in the confined locker, it had become quite warm. It was not as warm as it would have been if I had left it lying in the sun for an hour or two, but it was certainly comfortable. I lifted it up and fastened the straps around the boom, directly overhead. Jason caught on quickly and pulled out the bath things, a clear plastic bag with soap, shampoo and shaving equipment, and closed the hatch. He grinned at me cheekily. "We really gonna shower up here? In the raw?" he asked in disbelief. I shrugged as I finished tying the straps. "You can shower below if you want. There's one in my cabin, and one next to yours as well." He smirked. "We gonna shower together, Dad?" he asked, now becoming more interested. I glanced at the naked boy and smiled back at him. "If you want. I don't want to waste water, Jas'. It costs a fortune to buy more on the islands. I keep planning to buy a desalinizer - but I keep putting it off because the prices are so high for a good one." Jason smiled again though his look was still uncertain. I could tell that he had never bathed with anyone else before, not even with a boy his own age. When he was younger, when I bathed him, his bath seldom stopped before some innocent sex-play had occurred. Pokey was a regular participant in games of 'submariner', 'pirates', and just plain tickling. On more than a few occasions I had even bathed with him, and I guessed correctly that such things had terminated the day I left the house. "There's nothing between your legs I don't know about, Jason," I teased playfully. Jason grinned and peeked downward. His erection had faded and his little penis glistened in the sun. "So where's the soap?" he demanded. I opened the black-plastic faucet as we stood closely together. Pleasantly warm water sprinkled down lightly and as soon as we were both wet, I turned it off again. I picked up the soap and placed my free hand firmly on Jason's shoulder. "Let's get this smelly boy cleaned up," I taunted. I sat down on the seat and positioned my young son before me. I had not planned to wash Jason, but as soon as I started I had no other choice but to continue and complete the job. He certainly didn't complain. He stood still as I pushed the big bar of lime-green soap over his back. At first I found it nearly impossible to create a lather since there was so much oil on him, but gradually the soap cut through the film, breaking it down, and building a thick, white foam over his back. I moved to his flanks, carrying the soap in one hand as I massaged his lean body. I soaped his belly and chest up thoroughly and then moved down his legs. I was intent on cleaning every wonderful part of him, even between his toes - which produced a riot of giggles. As I worked my way up the back of his legs Jason started to get into the fun as well. By now, the vast majority of his body was covered with white, foamy suds. The motion of my hands made both of us as hard as we had ever been. Jason was warm and slippery and his soap-slicked skin felt incredibly smooth and soft. His body was firm and lean and wonderful to touch as my hands slid up and down and rotated all over him. As I reached his buttocks Jason giggled wildly as he realized that I did intend to 'clean' everywhere. I rubbed the rounded end of the soap into the crack between his cheeks but he clenched them protectively. His cheeks pinched inwards and the rubber-like flesh resisted the soap's entry. I was not about to be denied that part of him. He was as dirty there as anywhere else, probably even more so. He struggled valiantly and giggled, yelping and squealing playfully as I grabbed him around the waist and pulled him downward so that he lay face-down over my legs with his buttocks directly under me. I could feel my erect penis sticking into his soapy belly and his own aroused genitals squashed hard against my leg. He squirmed as he tried to get away, but his efforts only served to increase my resolve. He tightened his buttocks as I ground the soap hard into the hollow between his cheeks and made as much soapy foam as I could ever use. And then I started to wash him. I started with his scrotum. The boy's ball-sac was so small and wizened that it was impossible to tell whether it had balls in it or not. They were there of course. Pulled up hard against his body like a frightened, little animal, all but withdrawn into the inguinal canals through which they had descended only a few months before his second birthday. It made Jason appear to be almost sexless and it excited me greatly. I explored him gently, pulling the wrinkled, tight flesh outwards with my fingers and rubbing the sensitive skin. After a minute or so of gentle teasing it started to relax and stretch and I could feel the fine tubules of his spermatic cords and the minute, egg-shaped gonads to which they attached. Jason had given up all resistance. He lay very still, one soapy leg still stretched out on the seat, the other lifted up at right angles and braced against the floor grate. He was intent on enjoying my fingers on his balls. "You like this?" I asked gently, preparing for my next mission by gradually working my soap-covered fingers along the short length of his loose, little scrotum and following it back into the start of his crack. "Uh huh!" he purred. "It feels soooo nice..." he murmured. "How about this?" I whispered as my fingers pushed into the beginning of his crack. He stirred, still enjoying the residual and tantalizing pleasures that continued to come from his sensitive testicles. My fingers pressed further, sliding on a film of soap into the untouched sanctum of his bottom. He shivered slightly, no longer able to, or wanting to resist. My fingers followed his crack, rubbing gently until the tip of my forefinger pushed into his anus. I felt it as a tiny, puckered softness, almost like lips around a little mouth. With all the soap, my finger simply slipped inside him and up to the first joint. He tensed slightly as he felt the intruder but I kept my finger still, letting him become accustomed to its presence before I eased it back out. I began to circle the opening, rubbing into the little anus gently. With every lap I could feel Jason relaxing even further. "How does this feel?" I asked gently, pretending sincerity. I knew exactly how it felt because Jason was purring with each labored breath he took. "'s goooood." he drawled. I laughed as I brought my other hand down on his slippery, rounded butt with a sharp, but-not-too-painful slap. "That's good, Jas' because you're finished," I said as I playfully pushed him down onto the floor and stood up. He looked at me with obvious hurt in his eyes, annoyed that I had deprived him of something that he was very much enjoying. "You're mean!" he indicted. "Yep! And we're going to be late." I picked up the soap and started to soap myself up. As soon as I had a good lather I passed it back to my son. "Now you can get your foreskin back, I think it's time you started washing underneath it, Jay-boy." "Huh?" he asked. "Your dick is hard enough to kill someone, so pull the skin back." He complied slowly, still confused as to why he needed to wash something that he had never needed to wash before. I watched, fascinated as I saw the tiny, swollen head pop into view. "That's right. Now I want to soap him all over and make sure that you get under the skin. Yes, exactly like that." Jason grinned shyly as he soaped up 'Pokey's head'. "So why've I got to wash it like this. I didn't use to do this before. Like I've only ever washed him on the outside." I laughed. "Jason, your English is atrocious sometimes. I want you to wash Pokey from now on like this. As you get older, you need to wash there to remove sweat and secretions from your penis." "Oh!" "Now, starts washing your hair. The shampoo is over there," I ordered. "Yes Captain," he grinned, giving me a cheeky mock salute. It was impossible not to love him. I watched his soap- slicked butt as he scrambled over and got the shampoo. He was unbelievably sexy. All I wanted to do was to rinse him off and take him down to my cabin. To save water I had started using a combination shampoo-conditioner made in Europe that was able to lather in sea-water. I glanced sideways as Jason flipped the lid back and squirted some into the palm of his right hand. He looked at it suspiciously, paddled an inquisitive finger in it for a moment, and he smirked cheekily. "Hey Dad?... What's this stuff remind you of?" he asked with a sly smile. He held his hand out, palm upwards, the white, creamy shampoo smeared like copious man-semen over it. I was taken back, suddenly realizing that Jason must have seen enough semen to be able to make his crude analogy. The thought both depressed me and excited me. "Yeah! But I don't think you usually put it in you hair," I laughed, belatedly trying to stop my shock and make light of what I recognized as the result of Jason's prior experience. His smile widened. "Don't be too sure of that, Dad. It could be great for dry hair, like mousse, maybe?" he chortled. He reached up and began to rub it into his hair, working his fingers against his scalp as it started to lather. I looked away, feeling more than a bit depressed and angry, and very jealous. After I had washed, though not as thoroughly as I had washed Jason, I took the shampoo from him and quickly did my own hair. Then I turned on the faucet and let the water sprinkle down over us again. The floor of the cockpit was filled with white suds by the time we were both clean and Jason scrambled down the stairs to get dressed as I replaced the bath things and used the deck hose to rinse away the soap. I followed him down and went back to my cabin to get dressed. PLATONIC LOVE continued. About five minutes later I met him in the main cabin. He was a boy-transformed, no longer the little boat-urchin but a young 'gentleman'. He was handsomely attired in a crimson-and- blue patterned silk shirt and natural-cotton slacks. His hair was still moist but it was combed nicely. He was very beautiful and I stared at him in surprise. I had become very accustomed to Jason being either stark-naked or dressed in his yellow swimming shorts. To see my son wearing clothes that were clearly much more expensive that the clothes I was wearing was distressing, to say the least. He looked wonderful and I could not drag my eyes away. "Carlo give you those too?" I asked jealously. "Oh! Shit! I'm sorry. I'll go put on something else, Dad," he said innocently. I shook my head, wondering why I should even care that Carlo had given him such nice things. I suspected that Carlo would do anything to screw his mother and giving presents to her son was only one way of getting it. "Don't worry about it, Jas'. We're going to be late as it is." I sighed sadly. "Carlo must be awfully rich to be able to buy you such nice things." "Yeah! He's a doctor," Jason answered. "He's very rich." "Oh!" I said and then generously added, "Doctors aren't all that rich." Jason shrugged absently. "I know he owns a bunch of companies as well. He's always on the telephone, even in his Ferrari." "Ferrari huh? I guess he must be rich. You certainly look cute, though," I said disconsolately. "Cute?" Jason asked with surprise. "You really think I look cute, Dad?" I nodded. He was infinitely more than just cute but how do you tell your ten-year-old son that he's 'drop-dead gorgeous'? "Come on cutie, let's get our butts in the dinghy," I laughed as I wrapped my arm around him and gave him a hug. His silk shirt felt like silk; so thin and light that it was barely noticeable and under my fingers I felt warm, alive boy-flesh. I chased him up the stairs and into the cockpit. In the short time we had been in the cabin, the dying sun had all but evaporated the water from my hosing-off. There was little evidence of the fun that had transpired in the cockpit only minutes earlier. Paul and Julien were waiting for us on the beach. Once our dinghy was secured moored we started the walk up to the restaurant. It was quite a distance and I was glad that the sun was setting at last otherwise I, for one, would arrive damp with sweat. The heat had intensified during the day until it had become almost unbearable. But it was a good sign. If the weather followed its usual predictable pattern, a steady westerly breeze would be blowing by early morning, ideal for the run down to Paros. I wanted to be away from Mykonos and the hordes of tourists. I wanted to find a quiet, private beach and get to know Jason, very, very well. We were fortunate in arriving at the restaurant during a lull. A table on the deck was quickly prepared and we were seated within a few minutes of arriving. For most of the half- mile walk, Jason had been talking earnestly with Julien. They walked some fifty or sixty feet in front of us. Paul and I talked about boats and life in the Greek Islands. To my great surprise I discovered that he lived on Naxos, only a short boat trip across from Paros. He was a teacher at a private academy there, an exclusive school for about a dozen or so boys aged from ten to seventeen. It came as no surprise to me that it was a very small school, few Greeks had the money or the inclination to send their offspring to a private school. There were perhaps thirty people in the restaurant, none of them women except for the two waitresses. The sexual orientation of the clientele was markedly displayed. The woman in the store was absolutely correct; there were a lot of 'faggots' on Mykonos and thirty of them were sitting at tables within a few feet of me. Jason was the object of many interested looks. Within a minute of sitting down, I don't think that there was a single male there who had not gazed at him for an indecent period. For myself, the period was the full minute because I could not take my eyes off him. He was undeniably beautiful and his expensive clothes only drew more attention to him. To my possessive eye, he flaunted his young sexuality, seeming to sense that the interest of the other patrons was much more than mere curious interest or casual fancy. He glanced around and smiled at me shyly as he became aware that everybody in the restaurant, men as old as myself, older men, younger men, even teenagers were giving him the 'once over'. With me beside him he was perfectly safe and he appeared to understand that immediately, though if I disappeared, I suspected he would not last more than a minute before someone went after him. It was an illuminating experience. He squeezed his slender leg firmly against mine and started to flirt with Julien as he asked him endless questions about one thing and another. By the time our appetizers arrived he had quietened down somewhat, though he was still visibly excited and fascinated by the fact that he was the ongoing center of attention. There might have been a lot 'faggots' on Mykonos, but they certainly knew how to eat well. Our first course consisted of an array of treats; tiropites (cheese-puff triangles), slices of kolokithpitta (zucchini pie), and dolmadakia (rice-stuffed vine leaves) washed down with a retsina that was actually palatable, for once. I watched Jason with consuming interest and ever- growing affection as he daintily picked up and tried one of each. There were more than enough to gorge on and the rest of us did exactly that. This was a special night for Jason and me; almost like our first date because it was the first time that we had formally dined together, and the first time that we had openly acknowledged our sexual attraction. For in sitting together in that restaurant, our hands seldom apart and often clasped together as if to seek security or solace, and our seats placed close together, that is exactly what we were doing. Our open display of what was obviously more than father-son affection did not appear to bother Jason and it certainly didn't bother me, in fact I felt a sense of awe in doing what I had to longed to do for the last two days and had discounted as being impossible. He needed no encouragement and neither did I. In the restaurant, surrounded by like souls, it was both natural and necessary. As the last of the sun's red glow faded from the water and the restaurant flickered from the lights of candles on the tables, the feeling of attachment I had to Jason seemed overpowering. I stared into his big, sensitive eyes as my fingers played teasing games with his. His hand seemed so small within mine, his fingers thin and weak and powerless by comparison. He wanted to be held and touched and under the table, my leg stroked against his constantly. That we were in love seemed obvious to me. Slowly Jason's flirting stopped and he became very pensive. He balanced his head on his left hand, supported by his elbow, and gazed at me silently. I wondered what he was thinking. His moodiness was quickly picked up on by Paul and Julien and they shared knowing looks and smiles, unseen by the love-sick boy. A musician, playing a guitar and singing ballads began to move around the tables. We watched the stars appear, increasing points of light until the sky was ablaze. He drew ever closer to our table, until finally he stood behind Jason. Then he sung one of the most beautiful love songs I have ever heard. My knowledge of Greek is poor-to-fair, and I understood only about one word in three or four, just enough to know that the song was about a boy who died after he had fallen in love with a fisherman. The eyes of every person were upon Jason, fixed on the beautiful boy, not even in his teens, not understanding a word of the song, but absorbed by the wonder of the precious moment. The song finished and the troubadour gently ruffled the boy's hair before he moved away to another table. The main course was exceptional and may well have been the best food I have ever eaten in Greece. Jason and I shared our food, primarily because there we each had a secret longing to share everything, secondarily because he couldn't have finished a single portion by himself in a week. Anginares me avgolemono (artichokes with egg-lemon sauce), psari ladorigano (fish with tomatoes, wine and oregano) and the ubiquitous, but still excellent, salata, made an unforgettable meal. For the 'celebration', I gave Jason a glass of retsina. He wrinkled his little nose up and sipped at it like a mouse, bravely washing every mouthful down with copious gulps of water to clear the sour taste. By the end of the main course the restaurant had emptied out, most of the 'faggots' driving back to their luxury hotels in town or walking down to the campground that was on the other side of Super-Paradise Beach. Paul and I were starting our third bottle of 'horse-piss', which evoked wild squeals of glee from Jason and more mature laughter from Julien, when it came time for desert. Jason looked 'stuffed' and very happy. The older boy liked him and he glowed with heightened self-esteem and pride. It was time for desert. I ordered baklava for my son, knowing his affection for the taste of sweet honey, as well as for placing it on certain parts of his anatomy. About this time, the dinner conversation became fun; the topic under discussion was sex. Jason's little ears pricked up and he blushed. Paul was 'sozzled' enough to admit that he and Julien were lovers (no surprise to Jason and me) and had been 'attached' since Julien was fourteen. I was 'sozzled' enough to admit that we had 'inadvertently observed them behind the large boulders at the beach some 24 hours earlier. The fact that we had spied upon them was easily overlooked and Paul asked Jason what he thought. Jason turned 'beet-root' red and clammed up, concentrating on ignoring the rest of us and finishing his desert. He was about a quarter of the way through his baklava when it was time to leave. The walk down to the beach was enjoyable. Jason and Julien lead the way, a long way in front, and Paul and I tagged along behind, a long way behind. We talked about the boys. "You've uh, known Julien since he was fourteen?" I asked. "Yes. They've been truly wonderful years, the best years of my life. He's a wonderful boy. It's gone past very quickly. He's almost a young man, next year he'll be going off to college. I'm going to miss him." "I guess they all grow up sooner or later," I sighed, thinking of my own little lover. There was a distinct freshness in the air, the heat was fading, the breeze was on its way. By midnight I expected. "They do grow up too quickly. It's sad in a way, but it also makes life interesting." Though I disagreed, I nodded anyway. All I could see was the sadness at the end of the 'line'. "How did you meet Julien?" I asked in a half-hearted attempt to change the subject. "He grew up." Paul smiled. "Some men prefer younger boys, I much prefer them like Julien. Harry, that's the man he loved before me was the other type. Julien started with him when he was about ten. Now Julien's younger brother lives with Harry. He's nearly twelve and by the looks of him he's getting ready to start puberty. Jeff's been with Harry since he was about nine I guess." My mouth dropped open. Harry and Jeff! It could only be them but it seemed too farfetched to be true. Not Jeff! Somehow it was impossible to imagine him being gay, let alone him being Harry's lover. He was Harry's son! At least that's what I had always thought, though upon reflection there was no justification for it. Jeff and Harry? It was an interesting thought. Paul smiled. "But if you think Jason's a flirt, you ought to see Jeff. He drives Harry wild. He flirts all the time, apparently with some sailor-type, an author I believe. Young kids are often like that!" "Like what?" I questioned, still trying to break though my own wine-dulled brain. "They flirt a lot. Mostly because they don't understand what it means to be in love and they're still trying it out, sorting out their feelings, trying to understand what it means to be gay, I guess." I nodded, wondering what Jason was feeling. We hadn't talked very much about it. We needed to talk more. I wished Jason was next to me at that moment. "Sometimes I think it's a matter of experimenting, I guess you could say," Paul continued. "It's usually harmless. As soon as they start getting laid it usually stops. They have other things on their minds then. Sometimes, like Jeff, I expect, they keep on with it as a way of maintaining control, or trying to." I nodded dumbly. "Oh! And Jeff's a flirt still even though he's getting laid,... by Harry?" I asked. Paul laughed. "Hell yes! Jeff's been getting it regularly since he turned ten. He was off school for a week when he started." "Oh!" I replied as I tried to marshall my thoughts from the liquor cabinet. "Jason's still a virgin, isn't he?" Paul asked suddenly. "Huh? Oh! Yeah,... well I guess he is,... as far as I know," I added. Was he, I wondered? Or had the unknown man taken that from his as well? "He acts like it," Paul observed. "But he won't be for much longer, I bet" he added with conviction. "Maybe? He doesn't seem very interested in that kind of thing so far," I replied. "I'm not sure I am either," I added. Paul laughed. "Oh he's interested all right. He's even talked about it a bit with Julien. He wanted to know if it hurt a lot." "Oh!... Does it?" Paul laughed again. "You haven't loved a boy before, have you?" I shook my head. "That depends on you, mostly. If you're not too large and you take it slowly, then he'll be fine. Of course there's always some pain for the first few times at least, if only because he's a kid. His ass will hurt until it gets stretched out a bit. It always does." "Oh!" "Don't worry! He'll survive. You just need to be careful with him, that's all." I swallowed awkwardly, barely able to believe that I was staggering down a dirt road with a man I barely knew, talking about fucking my son. "I don't think I could do that to him," I announced quietly. "I could never hurt him, Paul. Not like that." "When the time comes to love him, you will. He'll want to as well. That's the way it is. It's just part of loving each other," he said quietly. "He's a beautiful boy. He'll be a wonderful lover." "But I'm his father," I said angrily. "So what's that got to do with it. You brought him into the world and you love him. There's absolutely no reason why you can't be more than that to him," Paul answered. "He needs you, you know!" I stumbled as we left the road and staggered onto the beach. Fortunately we weren't singing or I think the two boys would have left us there and taken the dinghies back to the boats without us. We said good-bye and I explained that Jason and I would probably be leaving Mykonos early the next morning. I watched as Jason solemnly shook hands and Julien and Paul. My son stood quietly and watched as Paul and Julien walked to their dinghy. Even in the faint light I could see Jason's slight body tremble, aware of his building nervousness and sadness as a friend departed for as far as Jason knew, he would never see Julien again. Little did he know that I had plans for him to meet Julien's little brother, Jeff, and unless I was sadly mistaken, Jeff and Jason would become best friends overnight. I saw Jason's lips clench tightly together as he fought back tears and I heard his little sniffle followed by a slow, pained sigh. I watched silently as he observed Julien and Paul kissing at the side of their dinghy. It wasn't a brief kiss but a long kiss. It was a deep, hard lovers' kiss, tongues and all. It went for a full minute and were well into the second before they broke apart. "They're kissing!" Jason blurted out in dismay. "Of course they're kissing," I said gently. "They're lovers, Jason. That's what people do when they're in love. They kiss!" Jason was very quiet and he scuffed his feet in the sand as he continued to watch them fixedly, his attention focused on Paul and Julien, engrossed in their open display of love. It was good for him to watch and I sat down quietly on the 'port tank' of the dinghy and waited. A few minutes later Julien and Paul parted, and still holding hands, ambled away from their dinghy and into the darkness. I knew they went to find a quiet place that was away from the prying, curious eyes of a little boy. "Where are they going, Dad?" Jason asked awkwardly. I suspected that he already knew the answer to his question. "I guess to make love, Jay-boy. That's another thing lovers do." "Oh! Yeah, I guess. But on the beach, at night?" "I think it's kind of romantic. Unless Julien gets sand in his butt," I laughed."Come on young man, I think it's time we went to bed ourselves." I kissed him on the top of his head as I lifted him over the side and dumped him on the plywood floor of the dinghy. There was no point in ruining his nice clothes with a salt-bath. I pushed the dinghy back into the water, turned it around, started the engine and toppled in as Jason headed back to the boat. My son was getting to be quite accomplished at handling the dinghy and in my half-drunken state I had no qualms about letting him take the helm, even in the night. Although he was probably a lot less safe than I was, I felt lazy and it wasn't a long swim to the boat. He bumped heavily into the side of Apollo but the rubber dinghy bounced off without leaving a mark. We clambered aboard and I collapsed into the cockpit, flat on my back. Jason stood silently, watching me with fascination. "You're drunk!" he censured, sounding a little too much like his mother for comfort. "You were even too drunk to handle the dinghy." "Am not!" I retorted. "'m just a bit s-s-sleepy, that's-s-s a-a-ll," I said, slurring my speech in a playful tease. "I can always handle the dinghy without bashing in the side of the boat." Jason pretended to lurch forward, staggering with inebriated clumsiness. "I didn't make even a scratch on it. You said yourself, it's much harder in the dark. You're as drunk as a skunk, Dad!" he laughed. "'m not!" I replied. "Just a bit high, but not drunk." I shook my head as I tried to clear the 'cobwebs' yet again. "Not really drunk. 's none of your business anyway, cabin boy. Anyway, it's not always harder in the dark - you've already proved that several times today, if I remember correctly." "You're pissed! You're pissed at me, aren't you? What did I do wrong?" he demanded. "I didn't mean to hit Apollo," he added. "I'm not pissed at you, Jason. You're a dumb, little shit, aren't you? I love you." I said angrily. "You are drunk!" he denounced, returning with what seemed to me to be increasing disdain. "Come here and say that," I challenged and then added very quietly under my breath, "You'll soon see how drunk I am." He regarded me suspiciously for a moment and then slowly stepped forward. Another step and he was beside me and close enough to grab. I hesitated, tensing slightly as I wondered whether he knew I was playing with him. "You smell like a wino," he taunted, convinced of the ability of his young reflexes to avoid trouble and effect his escape, should he need to. I grabbed his right hand without any warning and jerked him forward abruptly so that he toppled onto me, his slender arms and legs scrambling and struggling frantically to escape. But it was too late. I locked my arms around his back and held him tightly. "Do you know what winos do to little, blond boys who are rude to them?" I whispered in his ear. Jason shook his head as he continue to wrestle with me, though his efforts were now less about escape and more directed towards increasing bodily contact than anything else. I grinned. "They take his clothes off, first," I said softly, "They take all of the boy's clothes off and they do things to him." Jason guffawed as he realized that I was not nearly as drunk as he had believed. "Then what?" he demanded. "What do they do to the boy when he's naked?" "They do dirty, disgusting things to him." "Like what? Do they play with the boy's dick?" he persisted with an obscene snicker. "Hmmm! Let me think. Yeah, I guess they do that sometimes! But ah,... mostly they just rape him!" I teased playfully as I twisted my now-struggling son onto his back. I wrapped my leg around both of his and used my left arm to envelop his chest, confining his body against mine and easily subduing his energetic resistance. My other hand was free to do whatever it wanted. It danced gaily down Jason's abdomen, prancing my fingertips across his flat, taut belly. "You really aren't going to do anything to my butt, are you? Jason asked uncertainly. "You're really teasing, aren't you, Dad?" "Hmmmm? Well,.... maybe I'll just rape you a little bit," I smirked as I started to unfasten the sculpted metal clasp at the top of his slacks. "But first,... I have to take all your clothes off, don't I?" I added as I grasped the end of his zipper and gave it a sharp tug downwards. "Hmmmmm, and what do we have in here?" I asked as my hand pushed through the opening in his pants. I grabbed his small genitals through his underpants, tightly, but not hard enough to hurt. "It feels like a,... yes,... I think it is.... Yes, it is a dick. It's pretty tiny but that's what it is." Jason yelped as I gave his penis a quick, hard tug. For a moment he struggled harder but to no avail. It was my turn to extract punishment appropriate to the crime. But other than some cheeky behavior that was perfectly normal for a young, excitable boy, there was no crime. It didn't bother me, this was fun! "Y-y-y-ouch," he squealed as I jerked his little penis again. "Hey, that hurt Dad?" he cried. "It's supposed to Jas'. You were pretty cheeky weren't you?" I laughed. "Maybe I should just pull Pokey right off." "Then you'd really be pissed because you'd have nothing to play with, now would you?" Jason replied immediately. His logic was irrefutable. I let go of his penis and continued to undress him. I pushed his slacks downwards, tugging them to get past his buttocks and then shoving them all the way to his feet. Jason assisted by kicking off his sneakers and then wriggling his feet so that his slacks dropped to the floor of the cockpit. I returned to tickle his belly, still holding him tightly against me and enjoying the squirming pressure as his half-naked body writhed against me. I pushed his silk shirt upwards until it was gathered under his armpits and then started in to give him 'hell' and collect retribution. By now I knew exactly where my son was most ticklish and I gave him no relief. He laughed, he giggled, he gasped, he panted, he begged, he pleaded. I did not stop until I thought he might lose control of his bladder. Jason is exactly like any ten-year-old boy, get him laughing and excited by well-placed tickles and he will quickly become hysterical with uncontrolled mirth. I pulled his shirt downward and started to unfastened the small buttons, one at a time, from top to bottom. By the time I had finished, Jason had regained some control though he was still very close to the edge. He leaned forward to allow me to take his shirt off and he was still breathing heavily and stifling giggles. Then as he lay back down against me he lifted his hips upward by arching his back so that I could take his underpants off. If I was going to 'rape' him it would be with his full consent. I obliged with one quick tug, knowing that he wanted to be naked as much as I wanted him to be. And then he was naked and I wrapped both arms and legs around him protectively and 'wrapped' him into the cocoon of my body. He was small and soft and very delicate as I enclosed him against me. His weight was barely noticeable as he lay above me. I could feel the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest under my arms with each small, deep breath he took. His very life seemed to be mine for the taking and the naked heat from his young alive body flowed into me. I resisted the temptation to take his little penis between my fingers again, knowing instinctively that he was rigid, just as I was rigid. I could feel my penis compressed and hard under his back, somewhere in the vicinity of his buttocks. Paul's words returned. I had no doubt that Jason's virginity was mine for the asking and it was just a matter of the right time and place before we took that step together. I caressed the side of his face, musing to myself about how long it take before he would need to start shaving. His cheek was incredibly smooth; the soft, sleek flesh of a pre-pubescent boy, so smooth that the mere suggestion that it would ever be coarse and rough like my own was ludicrous. That time was years away, but it was still too close. I wanted Jason to stay the way he was forever. My finger brushed against his lips. I touched his perfect, small mouth, feeling the pucker of his lips that were soft and sweet and so unlike my own salt-and-sun-dried lips. In its own way, his mouth was too perfect to be soiled by mine and I lovingly brought my finger up to my mouth and kissed it before placing it back on Jason's mouth. He kissed it back with a little, slightly moist kiss that was more passionate that I could ever imagine he was capable of. All he had done was to kiss my finger and I felt a surge of emotion unlike I had ever known. Tina had never kissed me like that. I lifted my finger back to my mouth, and kissed it, trying to taste the boy, to find the trace of his saliva that remained from his kiss. Jason reached up behind him and took my hand and pulled it downward, bringing it back to his lips. He kissed my finger again, longer, harder, wetter, hotter, than before. My son was going to be a very wet kisser. He released my hand and I recovered his kiss, finding that my finger was now wet with Jason's saliva. There was, of course, no taste to it, but I licked my finger eagerly, wanting only to have Jason's fluid within me. The desire to kiss him became intensified and it was all I could do to prevent myself from taking him by sheer force. I wanted to kiss him, I wanted him to kiss me, I wanted him to want to kiss me. I wanted to join our bodies together in a union that matched the tug on my heart, even if it was only by our mouths. He kissed my finger again, this time sucking on it lightly as he nibbled the tip of my finger between his lips like a little, wonderful rabbit and then grazed it back and forth against his teeth. As he lay back in my loving arms, abandoned to the mounting pleasurable excitement, I felt his breathing become faster and faster. He seemed to be trembling, not with cold but unbridled, quivering energy. He was hot to touch, not unlike the way he had been when he was much younger and ill with a fever. I remembered late one night when he had a bad bout of roseola and he had cried into the earlier hours of the morning. His tiny two-year- old body had been racked with fever then and I had undressed him and held him in my arms until the fever had passed. His mother had slept, or pretended to sleep the entire eight hours.Now he was mine. He kissed my finger again with increasing urgency and I wondered which of us would break first. He kissed my finger again and again, often taking it right inside his hot, wet mouth, and each time I transferred his kiss back to my own lips. But it was a poor surrogate for the sweetness of his perfect mouth. My resolve strengthened. I wanted Jason to kiss me first. I felt his body wriggle slightly and he twisted around quickly, turning over as he settled his body back over mine. His lips came to mine with surprising speed and his first kiss was a flashing memory. It happened without warning and very quickly. He lifted his body up by placing his hands on my shoulders and he straddled me. He smiled shyly. He swallowed nervously. He looked deeply into my eyes. He smiled again, now very nervous as his lips pressed together. He was ready for another kiss. I watched in silent wonder as my son sought all his courage, bravely overcoming ten years of negative conditioning and his upbringing, fighting against the moral standards that had been ingrained into him; boys did not kiss other males, just girls. He leaned forward hesitantly and formed his lips as he drew nearer to me. I allowed his lips to brush against mine as he tentatively tried to kiss me, lingering a little longer this time but his inhibition quelled his passion swiftly. He straightened up again and regarded me pensively. This time I smiled up at Jason and he gazed down at me, now tasting his lips with the pointed end of his tongue. "You kissed me," I whispered. "Yeah, I know. It's not so bad, is it? It really isn't all that wrong," he replied. "It's not like it's dirty or anything." He gazed at me mutely as he tried to articulate the thoughts inside him. He surrendered and smiled shyly. "It's fun, isn't it." "I like you kissing me, Jay-boy. Do it some more," I instructed. He grinned cheekily. "Okay but you gotta close your eyes first. I'll close mine as well." I obliged. He leaned forward again and his hot, moist mouth settled over mine and stayed there. Our kiss lasted for a long time before we surfaced for air. I hugged him as hard as I could. "You were wonderful. That hygiene class must be something else," I whispered. Jason giggled. "You put your tongue in my mouth a little bit," he reprehended. "You didn't seem to mind all that much. That's how Paul and Julien were kissing." I smiled as Jason took a deep breath and let it out slowly by blowing hot, moist air over my cheek. "I didn't mind," he whispered. "It just felt funny, that's all. I don't mind sharing spit, do you?" he asked with the hygiene interests of a ten-year- old boy. I shook my head. My hands stroked his flanks, gliding over his smooth young body with loving strokes. His mouth came back, this time with his little tongue already protruding and ready to attack. He was a fast learner. I felt the satin smoothness of it as it licked over my lips and slipped inside. I sucked him in and our tongues embraced for the first time. My hands moved to his small, rounded buttocks and began to massage his cheeks with firm squeezes. When we parted, it was only after several minutes had passed and we were both breathless. "It's not fair if I'm the only one who's naked," he announced. "Well, you can always take my clothes off, whenever you want," I replied. Jason sat up, his buttocks directly over my enlarged penis, and he grinned like a little satyr. "I can undress you?" he asked uncertainly. "Of course! I undress you, don't I?" "Yeah, but,... well you're the captain," he smirked as he started to unfasten the buttons of my shirt. "We've both got stiffies, haven't we?" he giggled. I nodded as I glanced down at Jason-junior and marvelled at the tightness in his penis. "I can feel yours under my butt," he added. With my shirt buttons undone, Jason pushed the cloth to either side, exposing my chest. "You have a nice tan, Dad," he admired. "You'll have a tan in a few more days too, Jas," I said as I reached forward and lovingly caressed his chest. I pressed my thumbs into the soft spots of his nipples and rubbed my fingers into the concavities of his armpits. Lovingly I pulled him back down on top of me and we embraced with a 'bear-hug' that was almost strong enough to crush his ribs. Slowly I relaxed my hold and he lay over me speechlessly, intent only on absorbing the closeness we shared. His head lay on my chest as he cuddled into me. I could smell the orange scent of shampoo, the fresh, clean aroma of his long soft hair as it tickled my nose. My fingers traced gradual circles over the velvet-smooth hemispheres of his small bottom. We were both very happy. For what seemed the millionth time, my thoughts drifted to a consideration of the ways and means by which I could manage to keep Jason with me. It was infeasible as best and absurd at worst. Even if I could convince his mother that Jason was'better off' with me, an unlikely event in itself, the problems of having a ten-year-old boy living on board seemed insurmountable. What would we do about his schooling? "How's school, Jas'?" I asked. "Okay! I guess it's okay," he murmured sleepily. "You don't like school very much, do you?" I persisted. Jason shook his head and then rested it back against my shoulder. "Why not?" I asked. "'cause it's boring, I guess. The last few years they've wanted me to go ahead an extra grade. They say it's because I'm not challenged enough. Mom won't let them," Jason said sleepily. "Why?" "She says it's because I'm small for my age and I wouldn't get on well with boys who are older than I am. I'm already the youngest kid in my class. I think I'm the smallest as well." "She might be right, Jay-boy," I said thoughtfully. In a private school Jason would probably be okay but in the rugged, demanding environment of a city school he would always come off badly. What he really needed was a private tutor, me. Jason yawned sleepily. "I wish I could stay here forever." I grinned. "You'd get very hungry," I teased. He giggled. "I didn't mean here like this, lying on top of you. It's nice though, isn't it? You want me to take off the rest of your clothes?" "You want to have sex?" I asked Jason. He nodded and quietly climbed off me, now yawning continuously as I stood up. We left the clothes we had discarded in the cockpit and he followed me down the stairs and into my cabin. That Jason would spend the night in my cabin was a foregone conclusion. There was nothing to discuss. It was Jason's choice and he smiled shyly as he wandered over to the bunk, sat down, tugged off his socks and lay back. I undressed, watching Jason as he reclined drowsily, naked and sexually aroused on my bed, though heavy-eyed. His slender legs were stretched wide apart and his small penis was very erect. His fingers fondled it absently with a sluggish, listless interest as he observed me silently. But Jason was tired and he yawned sleepily several times even before I turned off the lights and joined him on the bunk. He cuddled up to me again as I pulled the sheet up to cover our naked bodies. By the time I had settled down and kissed him on his forehead, my son was sound asleep. A minute later, so was I. PLATONIC LOVE. DAY 14 Mykonos. August, 6 th, 1993 "Those whose fertility is physical will be attracted primarily to women; for them, love will be an attempt to secure personal inmmortality, lasting fame, and happiness for all eternity by begetting children... "... There are some whose souls are more fertile than their bodies in those spheres in which the soul can be creative.... search for beauty everywhere, for he will be able to create only with beauty, never with ugliness. He will feel more tender towards a beautiful body than an ugly one. And if it contains a fine, noble and high-born-soul, his tenderness will reach a peak; he will forthright be inspired to discuss worthy thoughts and right behavior, and to undertake the education of the loved one. It seems that in the latter's presence his soul brings forth all that it has long been harboring.... what he thus creates is nurtured by him and his partner, and the bond between them is infinitely closer and more genuinely affectionate than that between parent and child because the unison has born such beautiful and indestructible fruit." Plato, Symposium. When I woke up it was early morning and Jason was sucking my penis. Actually, he was licking it. I don't know whether he had produced my erection by himself or if it had occurred naturally, but it was certainly hard enough and he certainly was taking good care of it. Jason was sitting on the bunk, his legs folded under him like a little, naked Buddha. He leaned forward over my hips, his pink tongue poking crudely out his mouth as he licked at the bulbous tip of my penis. He firmly held the shaft close to the base, partially enclosing it in his right hand. The fingers of his other hand were lightly stroking my scrotum and pushing my testicles back and forth. Even with his tongue hanging out, I could see he was smiling. He was entranced and I was in heaven. The first light of the rising sun penetrated the cabin, making a golden glow as rays came though the porthole and reflected off the wood panelling. My son was god-like, a beautiful, naked boy-god. His long, blond hair cascaded onto his shoulders, his pale body was almost surreal, unearthly, and yet remarkably erotic. I loved him, I loved everything about him and everything that he was. I lay very still, afraid to interrupt him, wondering how far he would go. There didn't seem to be any reason to stop him; he was doing only what he wanted to do. Of course, I wanted him to keep on doing it as well. It seemed very natural and as if we existed only for the moment with our bodies created for the singular purpose of each other's enjoyment. I tried to quell my rapidly building excitement but the surge of adrenaline gave my heart no mercy. It was only a matter of a minute or two before I would climax. I wanted to make it last longer and have every memorable second incised into my consciousness before it was gone forever. I watched in silent amazement as his little tongue pushed, prodded, and probed, licking with quick darts, licking with long slow drags, always breathing hot, moist hair over my genitals. It was barely believable as I observed him, curiously exploring the taste of me as he slurped over my glans. The salty taste of my pre-cum did not appear to bother him as he licked and licked without restraint. My penis kept flexing involuntarily under his firm grasp, pulsing between his thin fingers and trying to squeeze into his mouth. I endeavored to resist the urgent desire I felt to push forward and watch his little body engulf mine. Each playful lick of his tongue sent shivers through my body, making my penis impossibly stiff, becoming so hard that it throbbed painfully. It felt as if pre-cum was oozing out of me in gallons. There was a constant ache in my testicles as they tightened and knotted, almost as if they were squeezing the slippery fluid out for his nourishment. Then his mouth opened as wide as it could go and he took my glans between his lips and with a gentle sucking action began to pull it into him. He stopped as his lips settled into the groove behind the flared head, using his lips as a kind of restrictive seal so that I could neither enter further, or leave. I could feel his small teeth lightly grazing my sensitive flesh with gentle nibbles. His tongue swirled back and forth, flicking into the ridge of the underside, busily inspecting, testing, playing, ever-moving around and around. His tongue felt wonderfully alive. His little fingers began to massage my right testicle, squeezing it as he rolled the skin of my scrotum over it. After a minute, he shifted his attention to the other side, palpating it gently with his thumb and fingers. His tongue pushed back into the slit in my glans, pushing as hard as it could. If felt as though it might actually go inside if he pushed just a little harder, and indeed, the pointed tip of his tongue was slightly inside. Occasionally, his right hand would slide up the length of my penis, coming all the way to his mouth before pushing down again. He would do it once or twice as if he was testing the quality of my erection, and then he ceased. And then, with my penis still inside his wonderful mouth, his eyes moved to the side and he glanced up at me. In slow motion I could see the boy's sudden embarrassment as he discovered he was being watched. He was startled and his mouth jerked away and his hand instinctively flew up to smear away the wetness of his saliva. His mouth and chin, even his cheek had become wet as he drooled over my penis. I grinned at him reassuringly as he blushed. "Looks like you were having fun, Jas'?" I said gently. He smiled and glanced back down at my saliva-soaked penis. Not only was the head thoroughly wet, but the entire shaft was, all the way down to where his fingers had been. Not that much of my penis had actually been inside him, in fact only the glans had penetrated his beautiful lips, but his lips had formed an imperfect seal. Then I realized why he had wanted to make my penis wet. My son intended to masturbate me and I did not intend to stop him. "Keep doing what you were doing, Jas'. If you want to, that is?" I whispered. "You don't mind?" he asked nervously. I smiled back at him. "Of course not. You feel wonderful. Besides I've already done that to you, haven't I?" "Yeah,... but that's different.... Well you're a grown-up and everything." I shrugged. "You don't have to. You should never do anything you don't want to do. And for the same reason, you should never let anyone to do something to you that you don't want them to do. I want you to keep on doing, but it's up to you, Jas'." He smiled shyly, now visibly embarrassed at being observed in an act that would under most circumstances be considered obscene and depraved. "Dad?..." he began. "Yeah?" "I,... don't want you to watch me," he mumbled self- consciously. I nodded. "Do you want me to put a pillow over my face?" I teased. He giggled and glanced down at my erect penis. His little tongue pushed forward and moistened his lips. He regarded my penis pensively. "I just don't want you to see me,... doing it. I want to,... do that to him, but you can't look," he demanded unreasonably. "What if I close my eyes?" I offered. He considered it and nodded hesitantly. "But you gotta promise not to peek?" he stipulated. "Okay," I smiled, still not believing that Jason was actually going to suck my penis. "He's awfully big so I won't be able to get all of him in," he stated flatly. I nodded absently. "You want me to go the whole way?" he asked suddenly. "Huh? Oh! What do you want to do?" I suggested, uncertain as to what Jason meant by 'going the whole way'. It was inconceivable that Jason intended for me to ejaculate in his mouth. I planned to stop him long before that happened. He blushed and turned his head towards my feet. I lay still, waiting for him to either explain what he intended or decide what it was that he wanted to do. "You won't get angry, promise?" he finally said quietly. "I'll never get angry again with you about anything," I promised. "Especially about what we do together. I want you to trust me, Jas'." He continued to stare at my feet. "What if I want him to do it in my mouth?" he whispered. I gulped air in shock. "You want me to slime your mouth?" I teased, my ears burning in absolute disbelief that he had suggested it. "Is that what you want me to do?" I asked gently. Jason nodded cautiously, still not brave enough to meet my eyes. I reached out and lovingly caressed his back. My fingers gently scratched his spine, rubbing against the tiny bumps and tracing the lines of his ribs where they attached. "Do you want me to warn you, Jas'?" I offered. It seemed impossible that a ten-year-old boy would want my semen in his mouth. "I don't think you want my slime in your mouth," I suggested. He glanced back at me quickly and then he smiled shyly. "I know it isn't dirty or anything like that. It's just sperm, that's all. It's what you made me with so how bad can it be." "And you're wonderful," I admitted incredulously. "I don't think you'll like the taste very much." "You don't have to warn me it's coming unless you want to. It just tastes a bit salty and I don't mind it." "Okay," I murmured with growing skepticism. I closed my eyes. "Do your thing, kid." I waited for several seconds, realizing that Jason was summoning all of his courage before he 'took the plunge'. I felt a delicious, wet warmth settle over the head of my penis and his succulent lips began to nibble and tease the highly sensitive tip. Then his tongue, wet, slippery, and alive, pushed against it, probed back into the slit and swirled around the glans. His mouth opened and my penis pushed forward, sinking into a wonderful, enclosing heat that was softer than anything I had ever known. Even the young softness of Tina's vagina paled by comparison with the velvet-texture inside my son's small mouth. This time it went in further than I expected. There seemed to be a lot room inside his mouth, considerably more than the small cheeks and jaw suggested. His lips were stretched wide and his jaw was all but unhinged as he opened his mouth to take me into him. The band of his lips crept slowly down the shaft of my penis as he lowered his head with a deliberate, cautious pressure. He stopped only when the tip of my cock reached the rear of his mouth and squeezing hard into his tonsils, blocked his throat. He stayed there for long seconds, about half of my thick, engorged penis impaled inside him, and then he bravely backed away, withdrawing until only the glans remained between his lips. His head tilted and he peeked up at me. Of course my eyes were half-open and I quickly closed them but not before Jason had seen me watching. His fingers playfully flicked at my testicles and his mouth pulled away. "You said you weren't going to watch," he said plaintively. I smiled. "You felt so wonderful, Jas'," I sighed. He grinned cheekily as he wiped some spit from his chin. "He's pretty big, Dad." "You don't have to do it if you don't want," I cautioned. Jason shrugged. "I still don't want you watching," he demanded. "What if I suck your's at the same time? I won't be able to see then," I suggested. Jason licked his bottom lip thoughtfully and then lifted it up over his top lip. It was an intensely sensuous action "We suck each other?" he asked uncertainly, "At the same time?" he ascertained cautiously. "Yeah! If you want?" He nodded and I turned onto my side as Jason twisted around and lay down beside me. His head was adjacent to my groin, his genitals only inches from my mouth. As I expected, Pokey was 'doing push-ups'. My son's little rigid penis was jerking happily as it throbbed between his smooth, slender legs. His foreskin had already been pushed back and the tiny glans was purplish and swollen with blood. I extended my tongue and lovingly licked the wonderful morsel so willingly presented to me. I felt Jason's instinctive shiver of delight as my tongue slid over his penis, a quick tremble as my lips closed over the shaft and I started to suck as hard as I could. My entire being concentrated on one goal, that of giving Jason pleasure. My own pleasure was irrelevant. I sucked and sucked, easily taking all of Jason's penis, and creating a powerful vacuum as I suctioned my mouth. Like before, I felt his penis becoming impossibly, painfully stiff as his blood surged into his erection. It felt bigger and so inflexible that it might even snap off if I moved the wrong way. Jason's hips moved relentlessly, pushing forward to get even more of his body inside me. His bony, little pubis crushed into my chin, his scrotum and its precious cargo compressed into my nose until I could not breath. Finally, in an effort to secure some air, I guided his testicles forward and sucked them in, filling my mouth with his wonderful boy-genitals. My mouth contained everything, penis, testicles, his entire scrotum. I felt very close to him. I rested, lovingly stroking the soft skin of his buttocks as my fingers caressed his small cheeks, probed into the narrow, hot crevice and fingered his tiny anus. I could feel Jason's mouth over my penis, his lips enclosing just the glans, his tongue rolling and wetting, teasing and tickling the head. His small hand pumped up and down, moving gently with a fluttering motion that threatened to drive me insane. His grasp was light and his fingers barely touched the skin as his hand slid on the rigid shaft. He made Tina look like a rank amateur. I pulled my mouth away momentarily and his saliva-coated genitals came free of their prison. His little penis appeared to be a little bigger. It was certainly fatter as it was bloated and swollen with tiny blue veins standing out of the otherwise smooth skin. I sucked him in again, this time taking just his testicles and the loose, delicate folds of his scrotum. There was no taste to him, but a feeling of unparalleled joy swept over me as I touched against skin whose softness defied description. The tiny eggs inside my son's pouch felt exactly like marbles in a silken bag. I began to chew, biting lightly into the soft flesh while keeping his testicles inside, behind my teeth, and massaging them with my tongue. I had no intention of physically hurting him and yet, deep inside, I wanted to. I wanted him to squeal and yelp with a pleasure so intense that it bordered on pain, or a pain that was so wonderful that it bordered on pleasure. I kept control, resisting the temptation to cross the threshold between pleasuring him and hurting him. Time and time the desire welled up inside me and I fought it back. His penis, still slippery with my saliva, lay against my cheek, the tiny, plump head pushing into my eye. As my own orgasm approached, so did Jason's. His movements became frantic, the chaotic pounding of his hips matched mine, thrust for thrust. His hand began to move with increasing speed and his lips seemed to close even tighter around my glans, digging his teeth into me with a firm bite so that I could not force my penis any further into his mouth. I could easily choke him. I grasped his cheeks, squeezing the rubber-like flesh tightly in my hands, warning him that my explosion was imminent as I strained forward seeking to get more of my penis inside him. I felt Jason's body shudder and then jerk as a painful spasm came quickly. And then another, even stronger only a few seconds after it. And then I erupted. I felt my testicles contract, the explosion of seminal fluid as it ejaculated, squirting like a high-pressure hose as thick gobs spurted out into Jason's mouth. I felt his body struggle, recoiling in shock as my fluid poured out and into him, his surprise at the hot saltiness, then he swallowed. And he sucked, and he swallowed some more. His little hand kept pumping, almost as if he was milking a cow, extracting the very last drops of creamy milk, before he stopped. He continued masturbating me at the same furious rate for several seconds and then gradually his rate slowed, until his hand was moving very slowly, squeezing lightly as if he was afraid to hurt my penis. A minute later he stopped and his tousled, blond head finally pulled away from my penis. He smiled shyly as he sat up, rubbing his fingers through his hair in a vain effort to straighten it and regain his composure. A little dribble of white fluid ran from the corner of his mouth to the bottom of his chin. "You okay?" I asked gently. Jason nodded, touching his semen-stained lips with his fingers as he remembered what he had taken inside his mouth. He nodded again. I reached for him and gently took his arm, pulling him upwards and guiding him to lie down on beside me. He was very nervous. I kissed his forehead and licked his brow lovingly. "You were wonderful," I whispered in his ear. He swallowed, still tasting the semen in his mouth and the fuzziness over his tongue. He examined the tips of his fingers, still moistened from my semen and he licked at them. I grinned. "Taste okay?" I asked. He smirked. "It's okay. Dad, why does sperm taste so salty?" he asked. I shrugged. I had no idea and I had never thought about it for one very good reason; I had never tasted it before. That it tasted salty surprised me. I kissed him gently on the lips and his arms locked around my neck. His mouth opened up to mine. Our teeth clicked in a clumsy kiss, then our tongues came together and it was suddenly, hot and wet and passionate. There was indeed a salty taste inside his mouth. It wasn't unpleasant but it was different to anything I had ever tasted. It was also a taste that Jason appeared to be quite familiar with. Again, I could not help but wonder who the man was, for it had to be a man and not a boy his own age that had taught him this. Within minutes, Jason was asleep again. He snuggled up against me, his head cradled on my shoulder, his right arm draped casually across my chest, his fingers just touching my moistened penis. I smiled as I breathed deeply, not wanting to move in case I woke him up. He needed his rest after what he had done and I needed to think. My thoughts were anything but random. I wanted to keep Jason with me forever and I needed to find a way to convince his mother that I was by far the best person to raise him. Unlikely though the probability was that I could convince her, I fully intended to try. For a long while I considered ways to 'kidnap' him or even to force her to give him up by some form of blackmail or bribery, but always I surrendered. I could not win a fight like that, even with Jason as the prize. It was horribly clear to me that he loved his mother as much as he loved me and it would only hurt him. There had to be a better way. There seemed to be no solution. Any way I examined the problem I came up with the same result. In less than three weeks Jason would leave me and there wasn't a thing that either of us could do about it. I gave up after twenty minutes and carefully eased Jason onto his other side. I pulled on a pair of shorts and went up on deck. It was the start of another beautiful day, made even more wonderful by the beautiful boy asleep in my cabin and the love we just shared. The little bay had become an unforgettable place. Paul and Julien's boat swung lazily at anchor and there was still no sign of life aboard. The wind was blowing with a freshness that promised stronger winds as the air warmed. I went forward and raised the anchor, allowing Apollo to drift away from the beach for a few minutes before I returned to the cockpit. With the genoa unfurled and filling, the boat slowly turned, then gradually picked up speed as it passed to the stern of the other yacht. Julien's head and shoulders appeared through the companion way, then the rest of him. As I expected, he was naked. He grinned and waved as I saluted him. I raised the mainsail and mizzen as Apollo cleared the point and headed into the Aegean. The wind was less than eight knots and the boat barely heeled. I reclined in the cockpit, dreamily thinking of naked Jason, Jason's penis, Jason's mouth, Jason's beautiful buttocks.... Nearly an hour passed before my little lover showed his tousled head on deck. He grinned cheekily and stretched sleepily, arching his slender back until every rib was standing out on his chest and his belly was taut and deliciously thin. He settled back onto his seat, stretching out like a little cat in the morning sunshine. He didn't need any suntan oil for another hour at least and I feasted my eyes upon him. Unless I was mistaken he was already a little darker than he had been the previous day. By my calculations it was exactly thirty miles on a southwesterly heading from Mykonos to Paros. For a while I contemplated stopping at Delos to show Jason the sight of his young life; the gigantic phallic symbols and the lions that dated from the Mycenaean era but I decided otherwise. I would bring him back in a week or so. I left Delos and the neighboring island of Rinia to port. By midday, the wind picked up and I sent Jason below to make some sandwiches for a combination breakfast-lunch. He grinned and disappeared into the galley. He was a good little cook, though he was heavy on the peanut butter and light on the jelly. We romped into Paros Harbor before a fifteen knot breeze, getting Jason into his yellow swimming costume as soon as we were close enough to be seen. I gave my son the helm and dropped the sails, getting back into the cockpit with barely a minute to spare as we came past the breakwater. He grinned at me triumphantly. He was very different to the scared little boy of two, or was it three days earlier. Time had lost its meaning to me now that I had Jason with me. Mooring at Paros was a 'pain in the ass' since they used the European-style, stern-first arrangement and the harbor front was always crowded. I motored around until I located a berth that was close to Harry's Bar. It was barely wide enough to accommodate Apollo's fourteen-foot beam but it would have to do. "You really aren't going to park it in there?" Jason asked in awe as I spun the wheel and ran the engine in reverse to turn the boat. "It's never going to fit!" he added expertly. "What's never going to fit?" I laughed. "It fitted fine this morning. You just had to stretch a bit, that's all." Jason giggled. It was the first time that either of us had discussed what had happened in the cabin nearly seven hours earlier. He smirked cheekily as he gazed up at me shamelessly. "Well you aren't all that big," he taunted playfully. "Bigger than you, Honey-sucker," I laughed. "Give me a hand here, Jas'." "Sure, Dad. What do I do? But this time I'm not steering," he threatened as he continued to smirk at me knowingly. I grinned and told him to go up to the bow. When I called he was to drop the anchor, keep well back, and let the chain run free. He nodded and headed off to his assigned task. For once I docked with precision, a good thing too because there was no room for error, even with the fenders out. As soon as we were secure and the sail covers over the main and mizzen sails, I took Jason off to meet Harry, and hopefully Jeff, if only for Jason's sake. He was still a young boy and he needed a friend to play with. Paros. Mid-afternoon, August, 6 th, 1993 It was mid-afternoon and close to the busiest time of the day for Harry as tourists and locals descended for serious drinking and talking, the primary activities at Harry's Bar. He still found time to talk to me. I introduced Jason with considerable enjoyment. I was intensely proud of the beautiful ten-year-old boy by my side. He grinned at Harry, shook hands and after a few more minutes later disappeared with Jeff. It was clear that Jeff had just found himself a devoted friend and admirer. "He's a real doll," Harry said quietly as we sat on the shaded terrace under the ancient wisteria. It was my favorite seat, commanding a view of the harbor where I could keep and eye on Apollo, and on the two boys as they ambled around the harbor. I looked up suddenly, surprised by Harry's candid and very admiring statement. "They make a good pair," he observed. "Jeff and Jason?" I asked. "Yeah, they do, don't they? I think they're going to be good friends." "I hope so. Well, how is everything going. It looks like you and your son have survived a few days together," Harry smiled. "He's a wonderful kid, Harry. I never dreamed I could love him as much as I do. He's,... he's so unlike her that it's a shock. He looks like her in a lot of ways, but he's smart and nice, and,... well he's just a wonderful kid." Harry smiled and raised his eyebrows as he watched me. "He's sexy too," he said gently. He studied me carefully. "Well, isn't he?" I swallowed nervously and breathed out. For a moment panic filled my mind as I wondered how Harry could read my thoughts, how he had picked up on the signs that expressed how I really thought about Jason. I stared off into the distance, focussing on the two rambling boys, one taller and more rambunctious; the other, more slender and sensitive. "It's nothing to be ashamed about," Harry said quietly. "He is sexy." And then my fear vanished as I understood. Harry knew. Somehow he knew about Jason and me and he was trying to tell me. Harry was right, there was nothing to be ashamed about. I loved my son, that was all there was to it, the rest of the world be damned. "Harry, I ran into Julien and Paul on Mykonos," I said as relief settled over me. "Julien's a nice boy," I added. "Paul is good for him. Like you're good for Jason," he added as he sipped his beer. "And you and Jeff?" I prompted. "Of course. I love Jeff...." He sighed and smiled at me as we shared a long silence. "Julien radioed me this morning. He always calls when he's away with Paul, so I know everything's okay. He told me about meeting you. There aren't that many boats around here with the name Apollo." I smiled. "No I guess not. So how much did he tell you?" I questioned. "Enough to know how you feel about Jason. Like I said, it's nothing to be ashamed about. I feel the same way about Jeff. I've loved him since he was Jason's age. It's been almost two years." I nodded. Jason and Jeff were almost out of sight but I could still see Jason's little, blond head as it glistened in the bright sun, bobbing amongst the fishing boats at the far end of the breakwater. Harry looked around him, making certain that we could not be overheard. "Loving a boy is different to loving anyone else," he confied. "The ancient Greeks knew that when they said pederasty was the highest form of love that could exist between two people. You know, before I came here I used to be a professor at Oxford. I met Julien when he was eight years old and living in a lousy, rat- infested tenement in Liverpool." He chuckled to himself as some distant memory floated back. "I fell in love with an eight-year-old boy. It's still hard for me to believe. He was a skinny, grubby, little thing; but I loved him. He was a cute kid then, and so was Jeff for that matter. Even though Jeff wasn't even four years old it was apparent to me even then that he was going to be gay. And Julien already was, if you can believe it. Their mother was a bitch, a drug addict. She was never home, and when she was she used to beat them. I paid her ten thousand pounds for the two of them. I adopted both of them, legally of course, and then left England." Harry paused for a minute and drank deeply, savoring the cold beer, "When I first came here with the boys I knew it was where we were going to stay. I bought the bar and the rest is history." I sat quietly, barely able to believe the story, though knowing it was true. "You and Jeff are lovers?" I asked uncertainly. "You mean do I fuck him in the ass?" Harry grinned. "Of course! I've been doing it since he was Jason's age. He wouldn't have it any other way. It's nothing to be ashamed about. He loves it and so do I." He stretched back in his seat. "The Greeks understood things so much better than us, you know." "How so?" "When a boy turned ten they used to take him away from his mother. He lived with the men after that. I don't expect there were many ten-year-old virgins back then. A good father used to go to a great deal of trouble to get the right person for his son's first lover," he explained confidently. It was almost as if he was lecturing me. "Well ten is awfully young to be doing that," I said awkwardly. "You haven't loved Jason yet, have you?" he asked. "Huh? Loved him? You mean have I fucked him in the ass?" I replied crudely. "No, I think he's way too young for that. In a few years maybe,... if he's interested." "Oh he's definitely interested right now, don't worry about that. It's written all over his pretty face," Harry laughed. I smiled as our eyes met and locked together. "How can you tell? I know he asked Julien about it. I guess he is interested," I acknowledged. "How would you feel if Jeff had sex with him?" Harry asked curiously. "You mean anal sex, don't you?" I challenged. "I don't know," I answered honestly. "I guess,... well if someone had to, I'd rather it was Jeff, I think." "Why?" I half-closed my eyes against the glare, no longer able to see Jason. "I think it's different if two boys play around. It's okay even if they go that far." "But why Jeff?" "Because I like him and he's a great kid. He's good looking and fun to be with. I guess also because Jeff's not big enough to really hurt him." "And Jeff likes him?" Harry prompted. "Yes, of course. And because Jas' likes him as well," I answered "What if Jeff was a few years older, say fourteen or fifteen. Big enough to hurt, but not if he was careful," Harry persisted. I thought for a moment. The idea of Jason and Jeff, even an older Jeff was not at all objectionable. It was strangely exciting to me. "I guess so. Only,..." I breathed out slowly, "Only I would want them to be very close friends." Harry nodded. "Let's say Jeff is even older now, say in his early twenties." My heart sank and yet the idea was still acceptable to me. "I,... I guess so but I would want them to be in love," I stipulated. Then suddenly I realized where Harry was heading to with his questions and I steeled myself for what came next. "Now, what if Jeff was much older, say about your age," he smiled teasingly. I swallowed hesitantly as I tried to formulate an answer that wasn't a lie. The mere idea of Jason loving a grown man, an older man, a man like myself, was repellant, or should have been. But I loved him. The answer was surprisingly simple. "Yes, but only if the love between them was something very special. It would have to be very strong. The sex part would have to be unnecessary as well." "And that, my friend, is what the Greeks called platonic love." Harry regarded me confidently. "Platonic love is the highest form of love. Its the love that exists between an older man and a boy. And you're exactly right, the sex part is unnecessary, though it's certainly a lot of fun once the boy is used to it." I laughed. "You could sell the Brooklyn Bridge, Harry," I admitted. Harry smiled and then studied me for a moment seriously. "Don't make him wait. He's young and healthy and ready. A year lost now is a year he'll never have again. Even a week is wasted." I sighed. "I'm going to really miss him when he goes back to his mother," I admitted. "I really do love him, you know." "More than tiny-tits Tina?" Harry chortled. I remembered the night several months when I was drunk and stretched out on Harry's couch, blabbering away about Tina while Jeff reclined in his 'father's' embrace. "You're right, you know Harry. It is different. I never loved anyone else the same way. It's as though Jason is all I live for now. But I couldn't hurt him like that,... never like that." "It only hurts for a short time," Harry said quietly. "He'll be very different afterwards. He'll know how much you love him and he'll love you back. He'll probably get very possessive. Jeff and Julien did." I laughed. "I guess you are the resident expert on boys," I said. "After two of them I'm sure you know what to do." Harry wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. "It isn't that hard. You just have to be gentle and take your time. Nature does most of the work for you." He smiled as he looked around the terrace. There were at least a dozen extra people there since we had started talking. Our privacy was fast disappearing. "It looks like I better get back to work, business is picking up." He held out the keys to his car, offering them to me. "Take the Fiat and drive over to Andiparos Beach. Go for a swim with him. Better still, take Jason up to Mount Paros. There should be some breeze up there." I nodded uncertainly. "How about Jeff?" I asked. "Send him back here. He can help out for a while," Harry replied. I nodded and thanked him for the loan of his car and headed off to find the boys. They were down at the far end of the harbor, skipping stones over the sparkling water and laughing like two old friends. It was a pity to break them up but I wanted Jason to myself for a while. We walked back to the Bar and the boys teased me constantly with constant jibes and jokes. It was very enjoyable. PLATONIC LOVE. I decided to take Harry's advice and go to Mount Paros. It was something over two-thousand-feet high but the road ended only about half of the way up. We locked the car and started out on foot. I carried a small back-pack with a few cans of drink and a towel that I found on the back seat of Harry's car. It had been frequently used and seldom washed. Only a few days ago I would have thought that the stains in the center of it had been the result of spilled food or drink. Now, I knew better. It carried the evidence of Harry's love for Jeff, perhaps even of Jeff though he still seemed to be too young to procure a wet orgasm. The stains were from semen and I could only imagine what else. The path was well-travelled, though in poor condition and we had to be careful as we climbed. There was more breeze as we ascended and it cooled us. We removed our tee shirts and pushed them into the back-pack and continued onward. It took nearly an hour to reach the summit, after lengthy stops to admire the spectacular view of Naxos and catch our breaths. The summit was little more than a collection of huge boulders and long grass, and a view that had few equals anywhere in the world. The island of Naxos lay eighteen miles to the east, it's sole mountain some three-thousand-three-hundred feet, clearly defined on the horizon. We were in our own private world, just the two of us, secure from invasions of others, alone. I unfastened the back-pack, spread out the towel and passed Jason a diet Coke. He drank first, long thirsty gulps before he returned it to me. I sipped slowly, captivated by my son's beautiful, half-naked body. Beads of perspiration sparkled on his skin, glistening droplets of his sweet sweat. I wanted to see the rest of him. I wanted to flaunt his body at the world around us. "You can take your pants off, Jas', if you want to. It'll be a lot cooler," I suggested. Jason grinned at me. "I will, if you will," he said teasingly. He mimicked my actions, undoing the cord at his waist as I unfastened my metal clasp and zipper. We dropped our shorts at the same time. We were both naked. We studied each other's bodies silently, filled with a wonderful awe, as if we were seeing each other for the first time. At almost the same instant our genitals began to respond to the heightened stimulation that attended being naked. My penis lurched at the sight of the naked boy and began to stiffen even as Jason's small sex organ slowly responded to his budding desire. "You have a nice tan, Dad," Jason finally said. He tried to look away but his eyes were drawn back to my gradually swelling penis. "We're both getting stiffies," he observed. I nodded, aware that I was staring at his young body with an animal lust. Harry was right, he was sexy and he was interested. In fact he was considerably more than interested. We looked at each other quietly. It was the moment we were both waiting for. The time was right. I gently pressed him on the shoulders and guided the boy back towards the towel. When he felt the cloth under his feet, he carefully sat down, looking up at me. Then silently he lay back, wriggling away to one side so as to make a space for me beside him. I sat down next to him and I pressed my nose to his head as I lay down beside him. I smelled the sweet- orange fragrance of his silky, soft hair. He smelled good, so young and fresh and clean. His skin was hot to my touch. It was almost as if he had a fever. He was so smooth that my fingers trembled as I caressed his hip, slid downward to the flat velvet-soft belly and touched his belly button. Cautiously my fingers eased downward, moving slowly towards to the object of my desire between his legs. I touched his penis with two fingers so lightly that all I could feel was his soft warmth. I became braver. Tenderly I stroked the sensitive skin as I marvelled at the delicious heat that continued to come from it until my fingers were trembling. My son sighed and stirred ever so slightly and my fingers moved downwards and lightly brushed against his small, plump scrotum. It too was hot, but it emanated a moistness that the rest of his body now lacked. The skin was fully relaxed and I could feel the intricate web of tissue and the firm, small eggs that seemed to be just inside the delicate skin. It was almost impossible to believe that anything could be as soft as Jason's tiny scrotum. That perfect and very tender part of his young body seemed to defy the fact that it could tighten up into a tiny, wrinkled pouch that squeezed his balls until they were almost inside his body. "You're beautiful, Jas'," I whispered in his ear. He smiled shyly and moved his legs further apart to give me unhindered access to his genitals. "Your fingers feel good, Dad," he sighed quietly. But there was another part of this beautiful boy that was almost as soft, and my other hand moved lightly over his waist, then down to caress his penis again. His erection had faded and his penis had become soft again. I smiled happily, musing as I touched the tiny, puckered tip formed by his foreskin as it drew to a point. The warm skin was incredibly soft. We were both breathing deeply as I leaned forward and kissed him. He giggled and pulled back first. His pale-blue eyes glistened, sparkling with a mixture of anticipation and young, vibrant life. My son rolled over on his back and moved his legs so that his knees were apart. I didn't need a degree from Harvard to know what Jason wanted me to do next. "What do you want me to do?" I teased playfully. "What do you think?" he replied. "You can suck me if you want. You can do anything you want," he volunteered. "Anything I want huh?" I asked. Jason nodded. "Anything?" He nodded again. "Can I tickle you?" "Absolutely no tickling," he ordered. "Just sex stuff!" I was surprised that his penis was still limp. It seemed almost unnatural for him to be lying beside me, both of us naked, both willing and excited, me as hard as steel and Jason soft and limp. Understanding came to me slowly. He wasn't afraid, though he was nervous. He was a young boy, he was tired after the long climb up the mountain, and this was the biggest thing in his life. It was at one time, the confirmation of his sexual identity, his awakening, and his loss of innocence. He wanted to be good at it. Jason was anxious and he needed my reassurance. I smiled at him and moved closer so that my groin was pressing into his hip. I began to caress his penis as he lay back in silent submission. I teased the silky-smooth, limp organ into erection again by stroking on the short, delicate shaft with the tips of my fingers. Every few seconds I stopped. I wanted this to last. I needed my son to be every bit as hard as I was and I wanted it to be as memorable for Jason as it was going to be for me. In those breaks between teasing his penis into erection, I caressed his tiny balls and squeezed them gently. I wanted him to know that every part of his body could feel wonderful. "That feels soooo good," he sighed. "Don't you think it's weird that a dick can feel like this, Dad?" I smiled. It wasn't weird, it was wonderful, but I knew what he intended. I held the essence of his body, his entire being was concentrated between my fingers. "You have a beautiful dick, Jas'," I whispered and I gave it a loving squeeze. Slowly, very slowly, I felt his penis begin to lengthen as it started to respond to my caresses. I felt the boy become slightly hotter as his penis began to fill with blood. I felt the gradual stiffening and thickening as his penis became harder and harder. When he was nearly rigid, I carefully eased the foreskin back over the head by pushing my hand firmly down on the short, stiff shaft. The taut foreskin bunched around the tiny glans and made it swell and darken, forcing the rim of it to flare out. Within moments, he was fully erect. He gave a little sigh of appreciation and flexed his penis so that it jumped away from his belly. It was intended to show that he was more than willing for me to continue. "Now we're both stiff," he observed. "I think yours is a lot harder than mine," I said. "Oh to be young again." "You're not that old," he smiled. "I just have higher blood- pressure, Dad. Besides you've been playing with it. That always makes it stiffer," he added expertly. It had taken more than five minutes from the time we had undressed but I would never feel so close to Jason. I was filled with wonder as I gazed at his young, slender body and the beautiful, now-very-hard, little cock that was sticking out along his belly. It was about the size of my thumb, though considerably thinner. While still very smooth, a tracery of tiny blue veins indicated where later changes would occur. I wondered if I should masturbate him even though I knew that it would bring him little relief, or just enjoy the feeling of his small, hot cock throbbing and pulsing between my fingers. For the moment I settled for the latter. My fingers tentatively enclosed his little shaft and moved up and down, once. Uncircumcised, his foreskin provided a looseness in the skin that was unbelievable and until a day ago had been previously unknown to me when I masturbated myself. I did it again, feeling the silky skin under my fingers as they moved up and down. There seemed to be no friction at all on the outside though I was very aware of the blood-engorged flesh within as it rippled under the delicate skin. It was all I could do to restrain myself from masturbating him. I continued to stroke his penis, though I did it slowly and very lightly with my fingers, just enough to keep him hard. Then, after a minute or two, I changed to rub the reddened, little tip between my thumb and forefinger and give it the heightened pleasure it demanded. The swollen, rounded glans was incredibly sensitive. Immediately, Jason sighed and I went on and on, alternating from the boy's glans, and testicles, and then back to his penis. After about ten more minutes I grew more adventuresome. By now Jason's legs were wide apart and his breathing had slowed. Clearly, he liked what I was doing. Frequently, he sighed and his penis flexed and shifted under my hand as he squeezed downward. Each time, his scrotum tightened fractionally, lifting his testicles higher. His eyes were half-closed in concentration, as if he wanted to memorize every wonderful moment. There was, I realized, really no point in masturbating him because there could be no orgasm and all that I would succeed in doing was making him sore or frustrated, or both. However, from the boy's motions I knew he wanted more. I knew I did. The question was what. What else could one do with an ten- year-old boy to make him feel good, and me too for that matter? I twisted him onto his side so that he faced towards me. He gave me a beautiful smile. He was obviously quite content to let me do whatever I wanted, at least for a while. "I want to touch your bottom, Jay-boy," I whispered as I continued to gently massage the little, now-taut scrotum, rolling his testicles back and forth between my fingers. "Is that okay?" "I might be dirty back there," he answered. "You want me to go wipe it first?" "No, of course not. I'm sure you're clean, and it doesn't matter if you're not," I said gently. "You going to put your penis in me now?" Jason asked curiously. "I guess you can,... if you really want to," he offered. I smiled. "No Jas'. I'm not going to do that. At least not right now, anyway." He nodded and I moved my hand from his genitals and over his hip, around to his buttocks. Carefully, gently, lovingly, I eased the firm, small cheeks apart with my thumb and fingers and gently inserted my forefinger down into the deep, hot crevice. Even though it was not the first time I had touched him there, the feeling that I had committed the unforgivable sin of violating of his privacy was overwhelming. Jason didn't seem to mind. With infinite slowness, I lightly ran my finger from the start of his crevice, beginning at the base of his spine, downward until I reached the loose, moist folds of skin where his little scrotum began. I barely touched the boy's flesh and I nearly climaxed when my finger tip brushed against his anus. The intimacy was unimaginable. There was a hot moistness in his crack that was totally unlike any other part of his perfect body. While I still had a guilty feeling that I was intruding on his most private place, Jason was silent. Silent that is except for his ragged breathing. He was panting. The thrill I felt from touching the boy's crack made me tremble. There was a sense of discovery, of sharing something, of possessing him, that was far stronger than anything I had known previously. I lifted my finger away and brought it to my nose. My son giggled as I smelled. He looked at me hopefully. I grinned. "Clean as they come, Jas'." I said. "You sure?" he asked anxiously. "I can go wipe if you want me to. I could even wash it with some of the Coke," he suggested I shook my head. "No way, kid. You're staying right here with me." To prove the point I put the tip of my finger in my mouth. He giggled and I began to laugh. It was infectious and I began to tickle him until we were both laughing and giggling and almost out of control. It was the most wonderful moment I had shared with Jason that day. My hand moved downward. Again my finger stroked the length of his crack. This time a little harder and I felt the slight indentation of his anus. The tiny, puckered hole seemed to be the very source of the boy's heat. I rubbed it lightly, not daring to push hard enough, too afraid to go inside him, perfectly content with feeling just the minute wrinkles of the puckered lip. But even as I touched him, he seemed to relax and the crinkled, little mouth began to loosen. Again I brought my finger back to my nose only this time the boy beamed at me. He could see that my finger was clean. The aroma was there and a slight trace of fecal odor lingered. It was Jason's smell, a boy's smell, a wonderful, earthy smell. "You want to lick it this time?" I teased. "No way." He shook his head with a smirk and watched as I placed it in my mouth, wetting it to the first joint before I licked downward, moistening my finger so that it would be more slippery. Jason watched my in silent fascination. Already, in just those few moments his penis had started to subside again as other, more enticing interests took over. I turned my beautiful son onto his back again and then onto his other side so that he faced away from me. I knew what I would do next. For the first time I felt afraid. My life would never be the same after this. But the knowledge of what we had already shared together during the last few days, Jason's obvious eagerness, and the fabulous heat of his body kept me there, fingering ever so gently at the tiny button. With my finger coated in saliva, I began to press a fraction deeper, not hard enough to penetrate, but enough to burrow into the opening. Like his little penis, his anus was a source of infinite and indescribable pleasure. A million nerve-endings responded. He sighed as he shivered, then wriggled back at me. He wanted more, much more. I edged downward on the towel until my face was next to his small buttocks. I leaned forward and prised his small, soft cheeks apart and smelled the boy. Even close up, the aroma was barely noticeable and it was certainly not unpleasant. There was the residual, earthy smell of feces of course, but also a captivating sweet smell. It was not something I had smelled on my finger. It was a slightly musky odor that was reminiscent of bread dough. I lay quietly, breathing him with my face burrowed into his buttocks. My nose pressed into his tight boy-sized opening. My mouth was between his cheeks and my tongue caressed the beginning of his scrotum. My hot breath made the boy's crack even hotter and wetter. "You're blowing up my ass," he said plaintively. "So?" I murmured. "Don't you like it?" "Yeah, of course I like it. It just feels funny, that's all. Does it smell bad?" he asked nervously. "It smells nice," I admitted. Finally I could not stand it any longer. The boy's smell was intense in its effect on me and overpowered any inhibitions I had. I moved upward slightly and licked the inside of his crack. I licked from one end to the other and back again, again and again until he was wet with my saliva. The feel of his hot, slippery flesh drove me wild. There was a sweetness in the boy that I did not expect to find. His young body had a taste that was succulent and pure. The tip of my tongue stopped against his barely-puckered hole and I probed into him with a gentleness that made Jason gasp, then quiver with excitement. I wondered if my son was aware that the sanctity of his virgin anus was being slowly but surely violated. At first it seemed as it his body would not admit me, but after a minute or two, my tongue was able to slip inside him. It slid past the boy's tight, little sphincter without any difficulty. "Ohhhh...man...that's sooooo gooood," he whimpered as he shifted restlessly and began to turn around. He looked over his shoulder at me as he whispered, "Ohhhh yeah, that feels nice." I sensed him pause as he realized what I was doing to his bottom. His sudden shock was tinged with embarrassment as he shivered with delight. "Isn't that dirty?" he asked. His voice quivered with an excitement that matched the trembling surges in his young body. I shook my head, never taking my mouth away from him, keeping my tongue lapping at his anal opening. He stirred slightly and whimpered in delight and he shifted his legs again and again as his body began to respond. His rigid, hungry penis demanded more of my hand as it throbbed, hot and hard between my fingers. His little anus was eager for more of my tongue and he trembled and twitched on my tongue as it moved relentlessly inside him. I could the tension in his body fading quickly as his sphincter relaxed and loosened. My tongue surged into him again and again, wriggling and stabbing into the loose, soft hole as I tried desperately to get just a little bit further in and reach his immature, little prostate. His penis started to get harder again until its short rigid shaft was inflexible and unyielding. I stroked it, feeling a wonderful awe, wanting to make Jason feel what I was feeling. I was in an awkward position with my hand under him so I couldn't rub very fast, but his swollen little penis was throbbing between my fingers as I worked the foreskin back and forth over the sensitive, bulbed head. Then, pulling his prepuce all the way back, I returned to squeezing on the glans. He was very sensitive there. He quivered, gave a quick gasp, and began to hump into my fingers. It greatly increased the pressure and I started to roll the tiny head between my thumb and first finger, almost twisting it off. Again, it was easy to tell that Jason liked it. I paused for a moment and pulled my face away from his dripping crack. Immediately, I replaced my tongue with my forefinger, sliding it down into his rectum and pressing back into his belly about where I thought his prostate was. It caught him unawares, his anus weakened and already loose, did not resist and I was in to the second joint with just one quick, hard push. He shuddered and jerked his legs up as I hit the target on the first try. "Holy shit! Ohhhhh!...Ohhhh! That's soooo gooood..." he muttered. He gave a little yelp as I pressed harder into him and began to stab my finger at his prostate. After a few seconds he was gasping for air and whimpering. His orgasm came to a sudden peak and he let out a squeal of unexpected and all-but-unknown pleasure. My finger slowed and I let him come down from his ecstasy. I slid up behind him and pressed tightly to his shivering, hot body, still moving my finger back and forth inside his quivering anus. My other hand still stroked his rigid cock. "You like this huh?" I teased as I kissed and licked his neck and shoulders, then nibbled and sucked on his small ears. He giggled. "Heh, that tickles! Yeah, I like it! Do it with your finger some more... I like it a lot. You made feel weird all over when you were doing that," he commanded as he pressed his buttocks back against my finger inside him. "Isn't it dirty to do it with your tongue? Can't you get sick from my poop?" he asked nervously. "Maybe, but I want to do it. You like it don't you?" I asked gently. My son nodded and I pushed my finger back into his prostate and began to rub him, wriggling it against the sensitive barely- noticeable spot just behind the lining of his rectum. He trembled as soon as he felt it back in the right spot and I teased him, "Is that where you like it, tiger?" He nodded and moved his head urgently as his young body began to shudder again. The boy had been right on the edge of another orgasm and he convulsed with a sudden, painful spasm. I knew that spasm meant only one thing. It passed in seconds but I sensed that the boy was eager, even hungry for more, as his bottom squeezed back at me. I held my hand there and let my finger push further into him as I wondered how far the boy would go. He didn't stop pushing back at me until my knuckles were squashed against and into his crack. My finger could go no further. "Is that what you want, Jas'? Is it better than my tongue?" I teased playfully. He nodded again, slowly descending from his excitement. "No, no... I like your tongue in there too. It's so soft and hot, but your finger feels great, 'specially when you rub it just inside. Yeah, right there!" He gasped as I pulled my finger back about halfway and pressed it firmly into his prostate. "Ohhh! Shit! That feels goood...Right there...." I relaxed the pressure and allowed him a moment's respite. "But isn't it dirty.... when you use your tongue in there? I don't want to make you sick or anything?" he asked hesitantly. I eased the pressure inside his rectum still further by pulling my finger back and slowly running it around the now-loose, little opening. The tautness of his once-puckered hole had vanished completely within just the last minute or two. He was soft and wet and nicely loosened up. For a moment, as I remembered Harry's advice about losing even a week, I thought I should try to fuck him. Jason had exactly the same idea. "Are you going to put him in my bottom now? You can if you want," he asked. His voice showed obvious enthusiasm but it was still tinged with the fear of the unknown, of his instinctive caution and the ever-present threat of pain. "No," I whispered in his ear, as my tongue licked the soft small lobe. "Not now. Not yet. You're not ready for that. Besides we haven't finished with my finger. Or my tongue for that matter." He nodded, relieved slightly. He was scared that the pain would be terrible and he was very afraid of taking that one last step that he knew would confirm that he was gay. As I took my finger away from his anus he moaned slightly. He looked around questioningly as I sat up and twisted the naked boy onto his back. Then I knelt between his outstretched legs and lifted his knees up so that they were next to my shoulders. I dropped forward so that my face was only inches away from his still-hard penis. It really was about the size of his thumb, and it was beautiful. It was perfectly shaped, unblemished by even the faintest trace of pubic hair, smooth and slightly pinkish-brown. "What are you going to do now?" he whispered. I grinned and slid my hand underneath him. I playfully squeezed his balls as I passed them. My fingers slid up his wet, hot crack until I reached his dilated opening. This time my forefinger slid in easily and he sighed as he felt it pierce his flesh, sink into his juicy heat, and then twist and press back into his prostate. "Ohhhh yeah, that's goood," he groaned. "I can't believe how hot it is inside you," I whispered. "It's like a little oven in here. It's really tight." "Dad?..." "Yeah?" "Could you like do it up in front. No! Deeper.... Yeah! That's it! Ohhhh Shit" he moaned. "Stop! You gotta go slower for a bit, I think." He lifted his hips higher so that my finger's movement was less restrained. With his upward motion, his penis came within reach of my mouth and I licked it. I licked from his testicles all to way to the tip, before sinking down on it and taking it all the way into my mouth. Jason needed no encouragement from me. His legs hooked behind my shoulders and his hips began to thrust forward instinctively, beginning a natural rhythm that had existed inside him from the day he was born. He whimpered as he became even more aroused, making puppy dog- like sounds from somewhere in his throat. The movement of his hips served to drive my finger back and forth into his rectum as his own penis pumped into my mouth. His less-than-three-inch penis barely reached to the back of my mouth and I used my tongue to force it against the roof of my mouth. Both of us began to breathe heavily, gasping for air as our bodies became wildly excited. We worked in shameless unison; my forefinger fucking into his bowel while the fingers of my other hand squeezed, rubbed, rolled, and tortured his balls; his slender, still-pale body strained, arched and demanded more of me inside him. The smell that drifted from under his buttocks grew stronger. It filled my nostrils and excited me. It was a wonderful, rich smell, a sweet, musky odor from deep within him. It was a smell that I recognized, or seemed to. From long ago, when he'd been very sick with diarrhea, there had been a similar smell. When his body had finally emptied, all that came from his bowel was a pale, watery slime, the mucus that lubricated his lower intestine smelled exactly the same. Within less than a minute, his leg muscles were taut and his small chest was heaving with each struggling breath. He gasped frenetically and he quivered with the building orgasm. After only a minute more he was bucking wildly and lifting his body up to meet me, taking his weight on his arms and shoulders and on his feet as they dug into the grass. After already having two orgasms in only a few minutes, the ten-year-old boy went on to show me that he could have one dry climax after another. In a way I was surprised that he had to work so hard for the next one, but when it came it was the most wonderful orgasm he had ever had. Up to this time, Jason's orgasms had been generated entirely from his penis, but this one built from deep inside him. His heart was pounding in an erratic frenzy as the explosion from within his clutching, sloppy, little rectum joined with the surge from his knotted testicles, to take him to the brink of his sanity. He shrieked, not with pain but with the terror that comes with losing control. His bladder muscle failed first as his urine leaked out, then started to dribble into my mouth. There were little squirts of it as he tried to ejaculate and his penis jerked with tightening spasms, jumping again and again of its own accord. Inside his bowel I felt a sudden looseness and a ripe, slippery juiciness that hadn't been there before. Strands of rectal mucus coated my finger and lubricated it so that I could jab my finger into him even faster, harder and deeper that I had dared without the help of lubrication. I sucked on his throbbing, little cock until my mouth filled with his pee and I had to swallow, then I pulled away. His rigid penis slapped loudly on his belly and allowed the rest to trickle out onto his body. With his thighs lifted high into the air, his pee ran downward. It followed the groove in his stomach muscle, to his belly button and filled it quickly with the almost-clear fluid. Then it continued down his chest, between his flat breasts until it reached his neck where it ran either side and dribbled down his shoulders onto the towel. Seeing Jason like that, naked and on the very edge of losing consciousness with his slender, young body exposed to my mercy was more than I could stand. I tasted the sweet-sourness of his pee in my mouth and it made me want him until I was filled with a desperate longing to be inside him. My own penis was stiffer and bigger than it had ever been before, not even when I was a teenager. My scrotum was tightened right up and my testicles ached painfully, demanding to release their juice into Jason's rectum. I wanted only to fill him with my penis and empty my seed into the depths of his young, beautiful body. I wanted to possess him totally and absolutely and claim his virginity for my prize. I wanted to take him as my lover and satisfy his body with my own. Jason began to writhe with a fearful madness, building up for the next orgasm and unable to satisfy the frightening hunger that dwelled inside him. His urgent hunger made him keep on bucking his body up and down, even though he wanted only to stop and sink into the darkness that seemed all around him. Still more pee dribbled out of his penis making a dark strain that expanded and grew ever- wider on the towel. He wanted the feeling to go on forever. He wanted to die like this. He wanted to be fucked. The thought, once ignited in the distant recesses of his mind, took possession of him. It was all he had to live for and he cried his desire out to me. The desire had been submerged inside him for ten years. The desire had been present from the moment he was conceived. It came from deep inside his body as a low hiss that forced past whatever his guilt and shame remained in him. "Fuck me... Ohhh god... Fuck me...Pleassse?" he pleaded. I knew that it would probably never be easier for me to take his virginity. My penis was throbbing and pulsing with anticipation. It would be so easy to lift his slender, brown legs up to his shoulders, lift his buttocks up, and part his mucus- smeared cheeks. It would be so easy to guide my penis forward to the now-very-loose, sucking hole and gradually enter his body until we were joined as one. He was ten years old and he was as excited as any teenager. He was as ready for sex as he would ever be. It was a pity that I had not thought to bring some lubricant with me. I lifted his legs up and pushed his knees all the way to his shoulders to expose his buttocks. His mucus-coated crack was ready and waiting for me. Jason looked up at me between his legs, his pale-blue eyes were wide open, willing me to penetrate him. His mouth was open as he gasped for air. His expression was one of utter abandon. "Are you okay?" I asked gently. He nodded. "I... felt like I was coming... over and over again. I... never... never thought anything could feel like that. It was awesome," he gasped between deep breaths. I grinned, raising my eyebrows at him, "Did you like that? Was it nice?" I teased The boy grinned cheekily. Already he was over the frantic hunger that made him want my penis deep inside his young body. "My turn now, okay. Do you want me to suck him?" I grinned, "I guess. He's yours to do what ever you want." The boy thought for a second then he smiled shyly as the urge rushed back into his mind. "I really do want to do it, you know. What Paul and Julien did on the beach,... what we talked about,... I want to...fuck okay?" he pleaded. I solemnly shook my head again and pulled back, moving away from him slightly. I kneeled behind his buttocks, almost but not quite out of reach. A crystal droplet of pre-cum oozed from my glans and hung by a silvery thread as it descended onto Jason's wrinkled, little scrotum. It lay there on the boy's crinkled, flattened bulge like a glistening diamond. But it was getting late and if we didn't finish soon we'd be descending the mountain in the dark. It was time to get dressed and leave. There was always the next day, or the day after that. It was just a matter of time. Jason was not happy about leaving. Like me, he was perfectly content to stay there, for the entire night if need be. Like me, he wanted to continue what it meant to be in love. But he aquiesced without a fight, knowing that he would spend the night with me aboard Apollo in the considerably greater comfort of a bed. However, both Jason and I knew that sooner or later I would put my penis inside him. The only reason for our existence was to be joined together, with my penis deep inside that wonderful, little bottom of his. PLATONIC LOVE. DAY 14, Paros. August, 6 th, 1993 "Intercourse with women procures the reciprocal pleasure of shared enjoyment; each partner brings the other to the extremes of bliss and both end up equally satisfied. This cannot happen with boys. The paederast thinks he is savoring a perfect pleasure; but the outraged object of his lust experiences only pain and tears; and even when in time he may not feel so much, you still bring him only discomfort and not a grain of pleasure..." Lucian, Dialogues of Love. Jason and I returned to Paros just as it was getting dark. We were both sweaty and more than a bit dirty, but we were also hungry. I dropped off the car and Harry convinced us to delay a much-needed shower in lieu of dining at his restaurant, dinner as his guest. I never turn down a free meal and I escorted Jason onto the terrace and resumed my position in my favorite seat. We were almost finished with the excellent repast that Harry's chef provided when Jeff ambled up and interrupted our privacy by sitting down and talking to Jason. The boys sounded different with their English and American accents but in many ways they were similar and they got on well together. Although neither of them fully realized it at the time, they had a lot in common. They were both gay and both in love though they only talked about school and holidays and the things they did, not unlike any 'normal' pre-adolescents. The subject of sex was lurking in the background but it was never raised directly. And yet, I knew that Jeff was aware of my affection for the younger boy, my son. He glanced at me and smiled suspiciously as I hung on Jason's every word, unable to take my eyes away from his beautiful face. Jeff knew what I was feeling! As the evening trade lessened Harry joined us and Jason and Jeff went off to wherever ten-and twelve-year-old boys go to when they're bored with adult talk. I told Harry what happened on the mountain. He beamed at me and promptly suggested that I needed to finish what I had started. It was an awesome responsibility and a course of action, that while enticing, also frightened me. I told him as much. Harry agreed; 'breaking-in' a boy, as he called it, was always like that. It wasn't something to be taken lightly. As the evening wore on we became less restrained, talking openly and honestly about our young lovers. I knew that Harry was right (again), it was just a matter of time until I took that final and irrevocable step with Jason and we truly became lovers. It was Harry's cautious suggestion that Jason and I come with him to Naxos, to a special place where, as he put it, 'men and boys can love each other without shame'. When I pressed him, he refused to elaborate. It was a secret, and only if I was pledged to secrecy, could he tell me more. I agreed, made a solemn promise, and he unfolded a story of archaic origin. At the time I was not sure that I believed him though there was no reason why he would fabricate the tale. That the men of ancient Greece had taken their young boys to a secluded place for initiation into homosexual love was not so extreme that it was improbable. But the fact that the same place had been used consistently and secretly for the same purpose over two-and-a-half-thousand years was. I agreed to go with him and Jeff on Saturday, two days away. It was not hard to convince Jason, though I did not mention the intended purpose of the trip, beyond camping out and taking photographs of both him and Jeff. He was excited as we returned to the boat. That night was a night of love and lust and wonderful sex. Almost as soon as we were naked and in bed together, Jason wanted to have sex. The memory of what happened on the mountain was paramount in his mind. He wanted to go the whole way this time and it was difficult to resist his attempt to 'seduce' me. Finally I pushed him to one side and lay half-over him, making any further movement all but impossible until he quieted down. We were both breathing heavily, frightened by the hungry passion that threatened to conquer our remaining reason. "Not now, Jason. Not yet!", I gasped. "I know you want to,... so do I,... but you're still way too tight inside. My dick would tear you up inside. I know it would. It'd hurt real bad, you'd bleed too." I breathed out, still shaking my head. "So we'll practice, Jay-boy, we'll practice until you're big enough, and when you are, I'll love you as much as you want, whenever you want, and however you want." Jason nodded his head and pushed his bottom lip forward as he pouted in disappointment. There was a long silence that filled the cabin, pervading the night with a sadness that seemed interminable. Both of us breathed deeply as we pulled back from the precipice that had loomed up and suddenly confronted us. In the dim light, he appeared dark and mysterious and very, very sexy. Finally the boy, knowing that there was nothing he could do to convince me, whispered, "Okay, yeah I guess. So how do we practice?" I grinned at him, "Well,... what we have to do is make your ass bigger,... so I guess I use my fingers and tongue inside you. Don't worry,... I expect the practicing is almost as good as the real thing." "Okay!. I guess so. Can I suck him while we do it?" he asked sullenly. "I guess it would hurt pretty much because my hole back there is so small, and your dick is really huge." I laughed, "You're not wrong there, Jas'. It will hurt, but by the time we do it, your hole's going to be a whole lot bigger. It won't hurt nearly as much as it would if we tried now.... You want to keep doing it? Now?" I asked calmly. He nodded eagerly, no longer angry at me and relieved that the pressure had gone. Inside he felt afraid, he knew it would hurt when I put it in him. I grinned and turned around and positioned myself so that I straddled his head. My thighs were over his face and my face was above his groin. I placed his legs wide apart, leaving his small, very-hard penis standing exposed. It was so hard that even lying down the way he was, his penis still didn't lie against his belly. It stood up, nearly parallel with the tip about an inch away from his belly. He reached up and took my penis in his right hand and pulled it down to his mouth. I felt the velvet wetness of his tongue caress it, then his lips sucked on the swollen glans and he tried to insert the tip of his tongue inside my shaft by pushing it into the slit. His other hand went for my testicles. He grasped them tightly in his hand, massaging them as his hand squeezed and teased me, then used his teeth to nibble behind the swollen bulb of my glans. He sucked it inside his mouth and tantalized it with his probing, writhing tongue until I felt I was going to come any second. I pulled back suddenly as I felt the building pressure approach the 'point of no return'. Jason giggled. "You were going to do it in my mouth, weren't you?" he teased. "If you don't behave yourself, young man, you'll get a mouth full and that'll be all for the rest of the night," I replied with pretended seriousness. We both started to laugh and I went to work on Jason's cute, little butt. Jason behaved himself as best a young, gay boy can with a penis a few inches in front of his face. I placed my hand under his buttocks and parted the small, rounded cheeks as he lifted up his pelvis using his legs. I licked my finger thoroughly and then cautiously pushed it inside his taut hole. He sighed as he felt it sink into his rectum, and began to lick and suck my penis ever faster until I dragged it away from his mouth. He giggled again, "I'm sorry, Dad. I'll behave. Come on give it back to me!... Pleassee? Your finger feels soooo good in there. Do it really fast like before, okay?... You know where I like it the most... just inside... but do it deeper too," he pleaded. Laughing, I settled back down over his face and took his stubby, stiff penis into my mouth as my finger began to wriggle and twist and probe, moving around easily in the loose flesh inside his rectum, squelching quietly as it began to stir up the boy's mucus and mix with my saliva. This time he held back, just licking, and kissing, and sucking on my penis like it was a honey-flavored ice-cream. Every few minutes as he felt my body tense up and he sensed my orgasm approach, he transferred his beautiful mouth to my testicles, sucking one, then the other into his mouth, where he performed the most incredible acts imaginable. His own enjoyment was another matter entirely, because I took young Jason to the point of orgasm and kept him there for long minutes at a time, until I was afraid I'd physically injure him, then I'd allow him to slowly back away from the precipice, recover his senses for a brief moment before leading him back. Jason was in boy-heaven. My forefinger was right up his now- gaping anus, massaging his prostate into uncontrollable ecstasy. My mouth sucked hard on his cock and I used my tongue to torment the sensitive, tiny top until he trembled and quaked and his little body jerked and writhed relentlessly in a frantic attempt to 'fuck' my face. My other hand clenched his tiny testicles, squeezing them beyond the threshold of pain and into previously unknown delirium. I did it until his tiny eggs felt less like firm, little marbles and more like rubber. The sense of power over him was overwhelming. Jason was my beautiful, young catamite who had only one purpose. His body was at my total command, every inch of his flesh was mine to enjoy, to scintillate, to devour; and I did. After a few more mind- shattering convulsions, I lost count of how many times he shuddered and squealed, and bucked his pelvis upwards, clenching my face with his thigh muscles while he drove his hungry, little butt down hard onto my finger. The boy craved my mouth as well, but his rectum was ravenous. Unable to decide between the two he would simply cry for more, harder and faster and deeper, sobbing as he gasped for air, unable to stop himself. After an hour I stopped. It had been unbelievable. Jason was on the point of exhaustion. He'd given up on my penis earlier, his own raging body demanding his full attention. Now, his glistening, naked body was reddened with splotches from my love-bites and covered with a sheen of perspiration. There were beads of sweat on his belly and chest. His legs were loose and flopping, jelly-like on the mattress. His breathing came in short pants and his tongue hung out like a dog. His eyes were glassy. Occasionally his penis had begun to subside, but not for long because I always went right back to work on it. Now it was swollen and puffy and its sensitive, little shaft was visibly sore. The silky skin had been rubbed until it was inflamed and ruddy-pink. His testicles had no feeling left in them and his anus was fully dilated. The mucus that had oozed slowly out of his rectum covered the insides of his thighs and buttocks and there was a big, dark, wet stain that spread outward on the sheet under his back where he'd lost control of his bladder. Between his still-twitching legs, tiny stands of mucus coated my fingers and hand. I could easily insert two fingers all the way inside him and with a little difficulty I could get three fingers inside him. My son was as ready as he would ever be. That he had become so loose as to easily accommodate two of my fingers was a surprise in itself. At first, I had not expected to even get one finger comfortably inside him, but three? If I pushed forcefully, my fingers could penetrate well past the second joint until they were lodged like a huge spike inside his rectum. The added mass inside him did not appear to bother him. When I finally stopped, my wrist was aching and for a moment I wondered if he was conscious, but as soon as my fingers withdrew just a fraction of an inch and the pressure was relieved he whimpered for it to return. "So what are we gonna do now?" Jason gasped as he smirked cheekily. "Now, it's sleep-time," I laughed as I inspected his watch. "Your mom would kill me if she knew I kept you up until way past midnight." The next day I spent with Jason and Jeff at the beach. Again, I borrowed Harry's car and took the two boys around to the southern end of the island. For the first time, Jason wore his new swimming costume and, much to his delight, Jeff was quite envious. After a long swim the boys followed me up into the woods behind the beach and we sun-bathed for several hours. We returned to Paros just before sunset to prepare for the next day. DAY 16, Naxos. August, 8 th, 1993 Harry led the way. I followed. Jason and Jeff followed us. We made our way through the thick brush and low scrubby trees. Branches scratched at us as we ducked under them and thin, razor- like grass scraped against our jeans. It was too hot to wear jeans but it was better than having our legs cut to ribbons. Under the hot, thick denim, I could feel the prickle of the heat, the cloth sticking to my legs on a film of sweat. We scrambled over huge rocks as we began to descend. The cliff, more like an escarpment, seemed very high but was not inordinately steep as the path, or what passed as a path, wound back and forth and snaked from one side of the gorge to the other. The only relief from the heat was the faint breeze that lifted up from the sea, far below us. As we neared the bottom, the trees became taller. Unlike the dry heat of the highlands a thousand feet above us, we had entered a different world. It was twenty degrees cooler and noticeably more humid and the air was filled with the pungent odor and the endless sounds of life. The droning hum of a myriad insects, the raucous noise of shrieks and screams of birds surrounded us. At the top of the cliff, huge cacti abounded, but as we descended the plants seemed to be almost of prehistoric origin. Out of the rock-face grew ferns that were lush, lime- green, and abundant. The rock face glistened with a sheen of trickling water and the path became muddy. Nearly at the bottom, the path all but disappeared, then turned sharply to the right. It twisted away from the cliff, and began to rise again as it penetrated into the high, enclosing rock walls of a ravine. After several hundred very-difficult yards it appeared to terminate in a wall of solid rock. Undaunted, Harry moved closer to the cliff, seeking a passage that was invisible to the rest of us. There seemed to be no way to continue on. Without warning he stopped and unclipped the belt of his backpack. He eased it to the ground, then stretched, relieved of the heavy load. Without a word, I knew that the boys and I should do the same. We had not spoken for nearly twenty minutes. It was as if we were afraid that the sounds of our voices would destroy the growing sense of awe that we felt. He moved closely growing bushes apart and revealed a rounded boulder which he rolled to one side. It had concealed a narrow trough that darkened quickly as it disappeared under the rock. Dragging our backpacks behind us, we followed Harry down on our bellies and into the shallow crevice below a huge boulder. Eons ago, it had crashed down from the towering cliffs above us. We crawled on our hands and knees pulling and sometimes pushing our backpacks though soft, dry sand that was a pale, yellow color and finer than any that I had ever seen. Gradually the roof of our 'cave' became higher and within a few more yards we were able to stand. Beyond the boulders, we had discovered a secluded clearing. One all sides, rock walls towered above us. The fourth side was enclosed by high trees and dense, dark-green undergrowth and the rock under which we had passed. It was a captivating place, full of timeless mystery. For more than a minute we stopped at the cave-like opening beneath the vast boulder and sensed the magic. It was a sacred place. The sounds of the bush were muted. Except for the splash of water trickling into a large, dark pool of water and the sound of our own breathing, it was silent. We had gone back a two-and a half thousand years, to Hellenic times, to the chaotic world of the Greeks, of Plato and Socrates. We had left the rest of the world behind us. Here, there was just the four of us, two men and two boys. I wondered whether Greek warriors had come here with their young lovers for a long-forgotten rite of initiation and lust. I smiled as I mused whether the ancient Greeks had circumcised their boys. Many ancient cultures had inflicted terrible and painful rituals on their young boys as a rite of manhood. In the silence and mystery of the place, one could almost hear the muffled gasps as boys stifled their screams of pain. It was easy to imagine razor- sharp, bronze knives cutting into tiny, tender foreskins, incising into small, brown penises, bringing each boy into the world of men. Then I remembered the statues I had seen in museums and it was impossible not to smile at my own stupidity. Greek boys were never circumcised. They were far too civilized to inflict that barbaric custom on the boys they adored. No, I decided, the cries were from other tortures, not of pain as much as pleasure, the insurmountable, unimaginable, and unforgettable joy that comes from being loved. That realization came as I saw the phallus. It was carved from stone and as tall as my son. Dominant and aggressively erect, it was a triumphant symbol of manhood that was frightening in its simplicity. It was the only sign that others had been here before us. It was positioned before the entrance to a cave, a dark grotto whose interior contained the secrets of two-and-a-half-thousand years. That the grotto harbored mysteries within and had always been associated with the gods of ancient Greece, was not a question for mere mortals such as ourselves. "Neat place, isn't it?" Jeff observed with a knowing smirk. But despite his cheeky playfulness, his voice was filled with awe. It was the same awe that the rest of us felt, but could not find the words to express. It was a "neat" place. Jeff grinned at Harry and they exchanged knowing smiles. Harry turned towards me and raised his eyebrows quizzically. I appreciated that he knew what transpired between us, a father and his son, just as I knew the true relationship between him and his grandson. I breathed out slowly, gaining confidence and losing some of my fear. With shock, I realized that my sigh was not of exhaustion but of relief. He knew. Jeff knew. We all knew, except for Jason. "You boys know what happens now?" Harry asked softly. Jeff and Jason exchanged looks. Jeff clearly understood why he was here. It was far more than simply posing for a few photographs. Jason, naive, still largely innocent, looked baffled. Jeff nodded, catching his 'father's' eyes shamelessly, then smirking as he acknowledged the role he filled. He knew exactly what happened in the grotto. He had been here many times since he was ten-years-old. I laughed. "How about you, Jason?" I queried my son. "I guess. Like you said. You take photos of us in the raw." He shrugged. "I'm game, I guess," he added uncertainly. He shifted on his feet uncomfortably and more than a bit awkwardly. He swallowed, glancing at Jeff and Harry. His inhibitions gathered, fighting against his natural inclination. He had enjoyed being photographed during the long hours we had spent together the previous day. He had enjoyed being naked, he had relished the freedom and the shared intimacy. He had scampered and frolicked with gay abandon at Super-Paradise Beach. He had enjoyed every second of what had happened after that, from later in the evening as we sat outside to now. What had begun sometime in the early hours of the first morning had changed him forever. It had happened again and again during the five days and nights that followed. In those all-too-short days he had been transformed from a little child to a lusty boy. He had discovered what love was. But this was different. This was very different. This was in front of Jeff and Harry. They would see him naked and they would see what he had been doing with his own father. They would know he had sinned and it would no longer be a secret. The little reddish marks on his buttocks and thighs were the evidence of my love bites, of what we did together. Harry smiled at the boy reassuringly, then at me. He looked at my son objectively and then he took a deep breath. "Maybe when he's a bit older. Perhaps a few months would be better. There's no rush for a boy to grow up. He's only ten, isn't he?" he asked. I nodded and looked at Jason lovingly. So much had happened during the last few days. He had changed so much. He had started to grow up but he was still a little boy at the same time. In my memories he would always be a little boy in the ways that mattered. "I'm sure you've got nothing to be ashamed of, Jason," Harry teased gently. "Besides, I think we've all seen dicks by now. Yours is just one dick among many and no one is ever going to see us here." Jason giggled and looked down at his feet self-consciously. I knew exactly what was bothering him but I didn't know what to do about it. Jeff grinned at his friend's embarrassment. "So do we strip off now?" he asked. He answered his own question as he began to undress. With expert movements that seemed effortless, he lifted up his arms as he drew his white, cotton tee shirt upward. He grinned again, cheekily, as he tossed the balled-up cloth to his 'father'. Jeff glanced around at the three of us, still dressed, watching him undress in obvious and unhindered fascination. He was a beautiful boy with a perfect body. He was tanned, a luxurious, golden brown, his back a little darker than his front. His muscles, still boyish, were much better developed than Jason's. He looked much stronger than my son though Jason was only a four or five inches shorter. Jeff was sturdy, almost stocky, not fat but lithe like a tiger. He was wonderfully sexy. I watched his brown chest rise and fall with each increasingly excited breath. He was very aware of the effect that he had on me. It was the same effect that he had on his 'father'.My penis became harder and longer as I anticipated seeing the rest of his body. His jeans hung low, gripping his hips several inches below his navel. For a moment he fumbled with the metal button and zipper. I watched in mute disbelief as he opened the front and tugged his jeans downward to his feet. I watched as he pulled his shoes and socks off his feet. I watched trying to glimpse his genitals, wondering how big he was, but I saw nothing as he leaned forward. I watched the boy pull his jeans off as he balanced himself by leaning against his 'father'. When he straightened up again, he was naked except for his underpants. The difference between Jeff and my son was now very, very obvious. The nearly naked boy smiled at us teasingly. I knew I was erect. I would have been surprised if Harry was not. I wondered about Jason. There was a small, but very prominent bulge in the Jeff's underpants. It was a promissory note of things to come. It was a beautiful sight. Strangely, the twelve-year-old boy had not become aroused. He breathed slowly, rocking to and fro on the balls of his feet, and he smiled slowly, knowingly looking at Harry. Again, with a well-practised motion he slid his briefs down his thighs, then pushed them downwards, until they fell of their own accord to the ground. He stepped out of them. Now naked. Now free. Now irresistibly and intensely exciting. It was all that I could do to drag my eyes away from the warm, brown body only a few feet away. Jason was still dressed. He looked at me helplessly, visibly embarrassed. I knew he was thinking of the little reddened marks that I had left on his belly and thighs. Marks of love, of passion, of unbridled lust. I also knew that he was thinking of his immature sex organs. He was ten-years-old and still a -little- boy. I smiled weakly. "I think old Jason is a bit embarrassed," I said quietly. I realized that it was a stupid thing to say even as I said it. "He's still pretty small down there," I added. "Huh?" Jeff asked playfully. He smirked cheekily. "He's a bit worried you'll laugh at him," I added. "I think he's also worried you'll know he's been having sex." There it was. Out in the open at last. Almost a week, six days of shame and guilt laid bare. If I guessed right, it was anything but a shock for Jeff and Harry. Harry grinned. "I doubt whether Jeff cares and, for that matter, I certainly don't." He playfully tousled his lover's hair. "I don't think he's particularly interested in girls. At least not yet. And he won't be if I have anything to do about it." Jeff smirked back at Harry with a broad cheeky grin. It was a knowing look that conveyed an unnatural intimacy. I paused, searching for the words that I really needed to say, realizing as I did so that both Harry and his grandson had come to the 'natural' conclusion that Jason had sex with another male. I knew I was the only candidate and it made me feel strangely proud. A week earlier I would have been appalled at my reaction. "This is different. Jason is pretty sure he's gay." I paused again and caught my son's eyes. I sensed his shame. I knew he was afraid of being rejected. "So what, that's nothing to be ashamed about," Jeff giggled teasingly. "I might be too. I probably am and it doesn't bother me. It's still too soon to tell, but I hope I am." I nodded as I placed my arm around my son's small shoulders protectively. "So why is he embarrassed?" Jeff asked. I smiled. "He's only just turned ten. He knows boys at the school he goes to will make fun of him if they find out he's gay. Sometimes there are fights. Even if a boy is suspected of being gay, they beat him up." "Yuck," Jeff breathed out. "They're dumb, Jason. Don't worry about what they think. Just do what you want to do." My son nodded slightly. It was impossible not to look at Jeff. He was naked, shameless, and uninhibited. His brown, smooth skin was exposed in its entirety. His body was on the verge of puberty with just the faintest downy fluff on his groin. His testicles were flushed, ready for the coming onslaught of manhood and the demands of maturity. In the next few months the changes would be nothing short of miraculous as the boy began the process of becoming a man. Already his testicles looked heavy in the pale, pink folds of his small scrotum but his testicles would get bigger and bigger until they could fulfill their mission, sending testosterone surging through his body and his seed spurting out of his penis. Jeff's penis was becoming harder and longer and ready for action even as I looked. The boy giggled as his small fingers expertly retracted the well-stretched foreskin past the still- tiny pink tip by pushing down on his fat, swollen shaft, feeling it throbbing, quivering, and very alive under his fingers. Instinctively, his small buttocks clenched as he tensed in anticipation. His scrotum began to tighten despite the heat until it was a rounded, delicate lump beneath his now rigid penis. Like his penis, he was substantially larger that Jason in the testicle department as well. The bronzed body was uninterrupted and it was very apparent that Jeff spent a lot of time without clothes on. Jeff glanced at Jason who was now undressing slowly, removing his tee shirt with deliberate caution. He smiled at the younger boy encouragingly. "There's nothing to be ashamed about, Jason. You're going to have to show us sooner or later so you might as well get it over with. Show us your dick, come on. Don't be a baby, huh?" he teased. Bare to the waist, the difference between the two boys was even more apparent. Jason was slender with narrow hips and shoulders. His navel seemed to be lower on his belly than Jeff's and it changed his proportions dramatically and to great advantage. The gentle contour of his body was timeless. He was ethereal Ganymede, beautiful Hyacinthe, young Adonis. His soft skin was several shades lighter than Jeff's and his buttocks were pale. Both Harry and I laughed. "He's right, you know Jason," I added. Harry nodded. "We understand you know. These things happen and it's nothing to be ashamed about. You're really no different to any other boy. I bet it's just a bit smaller, that's all." Jason nodded, reassured somewhat but still very reluctant. He sat down clumsily on the ground, trying to delay the inevitable as he fumbled with his shoelaces. It seemed to take forever for him to remove his socks and shoes. Unlike Jeff, who had left his clothes lying where they happened to fall, Jason fastidiously rolled his socks up and inserted them into his shoes. He looked up at me uncertainly, his eyes pleading for me to help him. His small fingers seemed to shake nervously as he tried to unfasten the button. It took forever. He pulled the zipper about half way down and stopped. He was unwilling and unable to go further. He swallowed. His toes curled over and his knees drew together, instinctively protecting himself, yet serving only to draw attention to his groin. There was little that i could do to help short of leaving with Jason. Sooner or later the boy would have to accept what had been done to him and go on with his life. I nodded gently. "It's okay," I said quietly. "You don't have to undress if you don't want to." Suddenly, forcefully, Jason tugged his jeans down his slender legs and past his feet. I could see the boy's face becoming redder as he realized that both Jeff and Harry were staring fixedly at the small bulge between his legs. I smiled and extended my hand to my son. Gratefully, he accepted it and I lifted him up so that he stood before him. Except for his briefs he was naked but those few square inches of bright red nylon were the most important inches of all. I squatted down before him and placed my hands on the boy's small hips. I could feel the bony mounds with my finger tips. My thumbs stroked his lower belly soothingly, barely an inch or two away from the boy's groin. I felt very close to him. I smiled at him reassuringly and then slowly worked the boy's briefs downwards with small playful tugs, revealing just and inch or two until I was halfway down his thighs. I pushed the last vestige of my son's modesty all the way to his feet as he blushed bright crimson. Harry nodded appreciatively as his eyes ran over the naked boy. Up and down, expertly assessing, examining, drawn back again and again to his groin. "He's perfect,... absolutely beautiful..." he breathed out in open admiration. Jeff looked at the younger boy. Unable to quell his rising jealousy, he blurted out, " But his dick, it's pretty small, isn't it." Harry laughed. "With his looks he doesn't need anything down there." Jason reddened even further and Harry laughed again at the boy's discomfiture. "Well you are beautiful Jason. Do you think it really matters that you're gay? Because I'm glad you are." Jason pursed his lips, then compressed them tightly. "You don't think it looks too small. I've got the smallest dick of any boy I know. I don't even look like a boy, well at least not like him,... down there," he added glancing at Jeff's thighs. Harry looked towards me. "I don't think it's small at all," he answered. "I think you're very lucky." "Lucky?" Jason asked. "I hate being like this," he said resentfully. "Why does it have to be so small? Why can't it be bigger? Well, like his is?" he added, pointing at Jeff's groin. "Why does mine have to be the baby one? I wouldn't call me lucky at all." Harry nodded reassuringly. "I know how you feel, Jason. In a way that's very important to me, you are lucky. Right now I'm sure you hate being small down there but not every man likes a boy to have a big penis. Sometimes being small is special too, in fact very special. In a few years when Jeff matures, he'll have a much bigger penis than you. But not only that, his testicles will be much bigger too and he'll have orgasms that make a real mess all over the place. That in itself isn't bad, but he'll probably have hair all over him and pimples everywhere. Unless I'm much mistaken there'll be a lot of hair around his penis. Personally, I don't think that you'll be like that when you're older. Then you'll understand why I think you're lucky." He looked at me meaningfully. "I think your dad understands." I nodded, wondering how long it had been, a bit less than a week since I had first seen Jason at the airport. 'My son the wimp'. How could I have looked at the beautiful, little boy and been so wrong. The softness, the gentleness, the quiet, fragile boy, all the things that drew me to him and made me hunger for the touch of his body against mine. "He understands," I said simply, acknowledging the undeniable truth of Harry's observation. "So what? So what if I don't get lots of hair down there," Jason persisted. But now he was curious. Perhaps there was something to it. Perhaps his diminutive penis and testicles had an unrealized value. It could never be more than poor compensation, but anything was better than nothing. "So what if my penis doesn't get a lot bigger. Why is that important?" Jason asked curiously. "Because a lot men who like boys like them like that. It's because,... well they are attracted to them because they are boys and when a boy starts to grow up, they usually lose interest. A boy isn't as interesting,... sexy if you like, when he looks more like a man than a boy." Harry answered, then added, "Personally, I like my boys to look like boys, not gorillas." Jason giggled and blushed slightly as he looked sideways at me. I knew what he was thinking. I smiled at him. "He's right," I said quietly. I swallowed, remembering the very first night I had spent with Jason. The very first time, in the middle of the night, when I awoke to find Jason standing by the side of my bunk, drawing his smooth, naked body down beside me, embracing him with a hug that revealed more passion than a father should ever feel for his son. I remembered how my hands had stroked his soft back and thighs, getting ever nearer to his buttocks until my fingertips had brushed lightly against the warm, soft cheeks. The thrill returned and I knew an unbridled, uncontrolled excitement as I caressed his tiny scrotum. I was never more aware of the pounding of my heart as I carefully eased his little white underpants over his thighs. "Hey Dad! Can we go explore the cave? Please?" Jason asked as soon as he stepped free of his underpants I shrugged and glanced at Harry. It would be nice to a have a little privacy from two inquisitive boys while we undressed. Harry shook his head. Jeff interrupted before Harry could reply to my question. "You can't go in there, Jason," Jeff stated. "Not yet! You're still a virgin and it's not allowed." I saw Harry smirk. "What's the deal?" I asked. Harry nodded. "Jeff's right. There are a few rules here. One of them is that boy-virgins aren't allowed to go past the guardian. Until he loses it, Jason can't go inside. Jeff's been inside many times, of course. It's quite,... uh,... interesting." "The guardian?" I questioned. "Oh! So that's the guardian," I said as I recognized the function of the enormous phallic symbol. "So what are the other rules?" "So what's a virgin?" Jason demanded. "How come Jeff can go inside but I can't?" I smiled as Jeff began to grin. "Because he hasn't put his dick inside your ass, yet, that's why. You're a virgin until he does," Jeff teased the younger boy. "What are the other rules?" I persisted. "Jeff's right," Harry acknowledged. "Maybe tomorrow morning, you can go in Jason," he suggested as he glanced knowingly at me. "The other rules. Hmmmm! Help me out Jeff. The first rule you both already know. You can never tell anyone else about this place. The second rule you also know now. The third rule is pretty simple, no one can wear clothes beyond this point." "You come as nature made you," Jeff interrupted again with a cheeky grin. "And a boy must leave a gift of great value after he comes here for the first time,... that is if he's not a virgin any longer." "There are a few others as well," Harry added, "but that's enough for now." He started to unfasten his belt and zipper and I followed suite, undressing before two very-interested boys. A minute or so later we were all naked and our natural state was exactly that, natural. I was surprised how quickly I got used to be naked before Jeff and Harry. There was no shame or embarrassment, just a very pleasant and relaxed sense of freedom. We folded our clothes, placed them on a rock shelf and went out into the sun. The heat of the long walk down the side of the mountain had made us all hot and we followed the whooping, screaming boys into the pool. It was remarkably refreshing. Boy watching was quickly becoming by far my favorite pastime. I could easily spend the rest of my life watching Jason. Even Jeff was worthy of my attention, but having the two boys together was an added bonus since they interacted and prompted behavior that would have been unlikely from either one alone. They swam and chased each other, they played in the sand, they sun-bathed, they swam some more. As the heat of the day began to fade, they wrestled. They wrestled with a crude, raw sexuality that was increasingly uninhibited as they become more used to the contact of their naked bodies and the admiring looks of two men. Jeff was careful never to hurt Jason and always held his strength back. He never lost a fight, but he never used more strength than was necessary to subdue my son. I was proud of Jason nonetheless. He fought valiantly, returning to be defeated and thrown onto his back within a few minutes of commencing every attack. It was good for him. He needed the company of a boy who was close to his own age and the opportunity for physical contact allowed him to 'burn off' excess energy, both as calories and sexual interest. "They're good together," Harry observed. "Have you ever noticed how a boy craves to be touched when he's excited. Look at Jason, Jeff too, for that matter. The only reason they're wrestling is to be able to touch each other. It's a nice way to get rid of their hang-ups. They can feel good without the pressure of sexual feelings. It's good for them, but if we weren't here, they would be having sex, you know." "How can you be so sure, Harry? It looks to me as if they're just having some fun together," I said innocently. "I don't think Jason is interested in Jeff like that." "You're probably right. Jason's love-sick, if ever a boy was. But watch him, he still doesn't mind when Jeff touches his penis. See, there, he's smiling while Jeff's pushing it against his belly." "You know, Harry, it really doesn't bother me like I would expect. I mean, well,... I should be jealous. If it was Tina I would be furious, but Jeff and Jason, well I don't think it's not wrong." "What if they had sex?" Harry teased. "Do you think you'd mind then?" "I don't know. We've already discussed that, I think," I counteracted. "In a way we have. For some boys, for a boy like Jason it may even be better for him if his first experience occurs with someone his own age. The emotional stress isn't there and he's free to explore how he feels. I guess it's better for him because he learns at his own rate." "You're probably right. I'm still not certain that I could do that to Jason, even if he was older. He trusts me, Harry, and I love him too much to hurt him," I acknowledged. "There's a saying, it goes something like 'it's better for a boy to learn to ride the colt, before he rides the stallion.' Those aren't the exact words but you get the general idea." "Jeff and Jason, and Jeff's the colt, huh?" I mused, "You know, Harry the idea isn't a bad one... Would Jeff?" Harry shrugged. "Probably, if I asked him. I know he's played around with some of the other boys at school. It's only natural for him to be curious, though he was younger then. He's quieted down a fair bit since then. Remember what I said about what it meant to love a boy? In fact, you said it as well. Sex is really unnecessary if you love him. Just being with him is enough if the love between you is strong." "Huh? Oh! I know I said that. It's really all about the depth of one's feelings isn't it? I guess the test is whether I love him enough to give him his freedom. Whether I can stand by and know he's having sex with someone else because it's better for him. Like with Jeff." "That's the question in a way. It reduces to that because if he really loves you, then he won't want to have sex with anyone else," Harry said quietly. "But you just said that Jeff,..." "I said he did when he was younger. In the first year, he was free to do what he wanted. He roamed a bit and then he settled down. The worst he does now is flirt a bit, but most boys do that. I think it's his way of testing himself, of finding out how much he loves me." I smiled. "So I've noticed. It doesn't annoy you, Harry?" "To be honest? Of course it does. I'm scared I'll lose him. He's growing up so fast. The last year has been wonderful. Unfortunately his hormones are getting ready to kick into high gear. He'll be a young man in a couple of years. It's rather sad." "Yeah, I couldn't help noticing his balls. He's going to be quite a stud in a few years from the look of him," I laughed. "Well, if you find you can't do the deed, I guess Jeff will do it. Jason's old enough and I think he's probably big enough to go the distance, that is if you're careful with him," Harry said as he studied the two boys with visible affection. I knew that Harry was right. Of course, he had to be right because he had a lot more experience that I did. Jason was smiling, grinning actually, as Jeff straddled him and his thighs were moving as he pumped his hips back and forth. His partially erect penis was rubbing against Jason's stomach. The difference between the two boys had never been more visible. Jeff was the one on top. He was dominant and aggressive, his male sexuality openly and proudly displayed in his thickened penis. Even half erect, it was every bit of four-and-a-half inches long, and much thicker than Jason's so that it appeared several times larger. Unlike my son, Jeff was a well-endowed boy, and proud of the fact. Jason, perhaps by virtue of his age and size, but more likely because of his true nature, was the subordinate partner. What he lacked in aggressiveness and masculinity, he more than compensated for with his gentle and sensitive nature. He was an easy boy to love. I watched in mute amazement and with considerable enjoyment as Jason's small hands caressed the older boy. I was fascinated by my son's playful exploration of his friend's body as much as by the sheer enjoyment that the two boys shared. Unable to resist the temptation any longer, I picked up my camera and began to photograph them together. Through the lens, the boys' innocent touching took on a new light. It was a game to them, as only young boys can invent, but I was the interloper, spying on their gentle play. Each little penis became larger and harder and the game became more stimulating as the minutes progressed, until finally Jeff twisted onto his back and Jason straddled him. Shamelessly ignoring both Harry and me, Jason leaned forward and licked the tip of Jeff's now-rigid penis. It was harmless fun, the culmination of a long battle between the boys, a fight that Jason had lost and his punishment was Jeff's gain. It was a fair trade. Both Harry and I laughed as Jeff flipped him over to one side and sharply slapped the younger boy's buttocks several times. Jason yelped and pretended to be injured though only his pride had been wounded. He brushed himself off and wandered over to where we sat in the shade. He smiled at me shyly, a little embarrassed at having been watched as he performed Jeff's playfully imposed penalty. I shrugged and then smiled at him reassuringly. He needed to be friends with a boy like Jeff. He needed to be drawn out of his 'shell' and to accept who and what he was. He needed someone close to his own age who he could talk to, who could understand his feelings and help him deal with the problems of being gay. He was gay and Jeff was gay and between the two of them they could hold the world at bay. PLATONIC LOVE. I knew that there were times that a lover, or a father, could not substitute for a young friend. I wanted Jason to love me as much as I loved him but I also knew that I would have to share him. When we were together I wanted to possess him totally, still, I did not want him to depend on me totally. He had to have something to call his own. I sighed as I regarded Jason carefully, scrutinizing his young body. Perhaps it would be better as Harry had suggested, to let him 'ride the colt before he rode the stallion'. Afterwards, if he was still interested, then maybe we could take that step together. But then he would know the consequences of our love and I would not be taking advantage of him. "You angry?" Jason asked nervously. "Me? Angry? I thought you and Jeff looked great together. The two of you make a good pair. I'm glad you're friends with him, Jas'." "Yeah?" he asked uncertainly. "I thought you'd be angry with me for messing around with him." I shook my head in denial. "I could never be angry with you for enjoying what nature gave you to enjoy, Jay-boy. That's the reason it's there for, you know." Jason smiled as Jeff ambled up and put his arm around the younger boy's shoulders. It was a naturally affectionate gesture from one boy to another, but, unlike my loving hugs, it was devoid of real intimacy. I realized then that the possibility of Jason discovering his true self with another boy, of losing his virginity to Jeff, was very remote. No, it was impossible. Jeff liked him, he did not love him, and the feeling was mutual. The best the two boys would ever be was close friends and confidants. That was enough. "How about you two boys gathering some wood for a fire," Harry suggested. "It'll be dark shortly and we need to get dinner ready." Jeff and Jason nodded as one, any sexual arousal replaced by a close familiarity with each other's body and the desire to accommodate Harry's request. Obediently they went in search of firewood. Harry and I started to inflate the air-mattresses. It was a thankless task at the time, though one whose benefits would be realized during the night. The thought of sleeping on the rough ground, even on the sand, was not attractive to me. I huffed and I puffed for all I was worth, lowing into the metal valve until I was breathless. Oh how I wished I could have brought the air pump that I used aboard Apollo for inflating the rubber dinghy. Still, there was some enjoyment in is, watching the two naked boys dragging back large dry branches from their forages into the bushes, returning with armfuls of twigs and sticks of all sizes. The boys were in their element and I resolved to spend as much time with Jason naked as I possibly could. As darkness began to settle, the boys constructed a fire. Rather, Jeff, ever the expert, instructed Jason, ever the neophyte, in the ritualistic laying of grass and twigs. The act of lighting was performed by the older boy, needless to say. Harry began to prepare dinner and I settled back and enjoyed the pleasant warmth of the crackling fire. Both boys were dirty and needed a bath as much as any other time in their lives. There were streaks of dirt on their legs, even muddy smears on their bellies, and a thin, dusty layer of grime from head to toe. In the idyllic, arcadian setting, there was an ethereal and primitive aura about both boys. Their nudity was unpretentious, all signs of society stripped away until only the primal child remained. For the first time I was overwhelmed by Jason's innocence. He was guileless and ingenuous, his unadorned body a sublime study in form. He was a splendid creature of nature. I loved him dearly. Dinner consisted of thick, spicy sausages and fresh tomatoes, washed down by cold beers we retrieved from the pool. Even Jason drank, finishing half of my can before he burped loudly. The next two hours passed quickly as we lounged before the fire. Jason lay before me on our air-mattress, his little buttocks pressed back against my groin, his head snuggled into my shoulder as my arm provided his pillow. He was content just to lie still and feel the warmth of my body. The same could not be said for Jeff. Ever audacious, profligate, and outrageous, Jeff set about seducing Harry in front of us. His display was lewd and calculated, a blatant display of young sexuality as he cuddled, petted, dandled and burrowed against Harry. Harry indulged him, obviously proud of his lover's attentions and not afraid to return his caresses with pampering fondling of his own. Yet it was impossible not to recognize Jeff's coquetry for what it was. It was more that mere flirtation, his wanton actions were intended to excite both Jason and myself. Speaking for myself, he was very successful and my penis grew harder and bigger with every minute until it snuggled comfortably into Jason's crack. Finally, even Jason's inhibition collapsed and his hand tugged on mine, leading it down to play with his little, very-aroused genitals. It was an archaic ritual, a process of eliminating societal taboos until only the raw and unrestrained desire remained and intercourse was no longer prohibited. Jeff's sexuality became increasingly brazen and crude, though never vulgar. He straddled Harry, grinding his excited genitals against the man's belly and chest as he moved with unabashed desire. In the flickering light from the fire, it was like a rite from a ceremony of initiation, though devoid of liturgy, it was a celebration of man-boy love. Jason and I watched silently, as Jeff reached behind him and covered Harry's now-huge erection with olive oil, moving his hand expertly up and down the swollen, glistening shaft until it attained the apogee of stiffness. Then Jeff, not even twelve-years- old, still immature like Jason, knelt over Harry. He pushed backwards, wiggling his pelvis as the enormous penis forced its way into his rectum. I felt Jason's body shudder, a sympathetic response to his friend's impalement. Like a lance, it skewered him, piercing his anus swiftly and then punching upward as Jeff's gasped and labored, straining as the inflexible monster was driven into him. "Is it hurting him, Dad?" Jason whispered. "I,... I don't know, Jas'. It doesn't look like it," I replied softly. And then it was contained inside the handsome boy, the boy whose company I enjoyed so much. He looked fatigued as he sat astride his 'father', his expression solemn as he struggled to accept its presence, to adapt to the demanding pressure in his bowel. There had been no coercion, no commands, he had been compelled only by his own desire. He rested for a full minute and then he began to move, riding like a jockey on a powerful stallion. At first just his pelvis moved, rotating slowly and then vellicating as the tension faded in his anus. "He's doing it," Jason murmured. "He's doing it, isn't he, Dad?" I nodded and gently squeezed Jason's penis between my fingers. His erection was very stiff, unyielding to the pressure in my fingers. Jason's hips eased backward, compressing my penis firmly into his crack and his upper leg lifted up, giving me free access to his genitals. Gently, I began to masturbate him, tugging the skin back and forth over his swollen glans with each jerk. We watched together, engrossed in the wonder of what confronted us. We saw Jeff's motions become faster, each lunge back more intense than the preceding one, increasingly desperate until Harry took his intended role and began to thrust into Jeff's body with forceful, vicious jabs, lifting Jeff into the air and eliciting long cries of unparalleled ecstasy. Their orgasms came with seconds of each other, their sweat-slicked bodies straining into a frightening, frenzied orgy. Jeff collapsed, breathless and exhausted, his body shaking feverishly as his excitement subsided. Silently, Harry eased Jeff forward. There was a distinct, loud, sucking sound as his penis pulled free from the spent boy, his energy consumed, his urge depleted. Harry smiled at me as he stood up. It was a smile of triumph, of complete and utter satisfaction. He leaned forward and pulled Jeff to his feet. The boy teetered precariously, enfeebled his arm sought Harry's, and together they left the circle of light. Jason and I were alone. The fire crackled noisily, sending a myriad sparks into the darkness. There was nothing I could say to Jason. He needed to make up his own mind. "Dad?...." he whispered after long minutes of shared silence. "Yes?" I said softly. "It was beautiful, wasn't it? What they did wasn't wrong or bad was it?" he asked uncertainly. I shook my head. "Most people would say that it was, Jas'. But it really isn't any of their business what Harry and Jeff do together." "Or us too, right Dad?" Jason asked. "You want to do that to me, don't you?" I breathed out slowly. "Maybe, when you're older." "Jeff told me Dad,... he started when he was my age. He did it on his birthday." "Well, you're not Jeff, and I'm not Harry," I replied. Jason twisted away from my and rolled onto his back. The golden glow of the fire made his slender body appear mysterious and very appealing. It was an aphrodisiac that aroused the most intense passion with me. He was like a young, beautiful animal, he exuded a carnal sexuality, his intentions clearly amorous as he gazed at me with a lascivious grin. He was a sensual boy, his ardent desire revealed in his very-hard penis. He breathed slowly, his eyes locking on mine, willing me to take him, to love him, to penetrate him. "Jason...." I whispered uncertainly. I could not find the words I needed. He reached out to me fervently, the look on his face impassioned, a prurient grin as his hands closed on my wrists. He wanted what I wanted. I lifted his legs upward, pressing his knees into his shoulders. He nodded, taking one deep breath after the other as his excitement increased. Then even as I started to bring my penis closer to his uplifted ass, wondering whether I should lubricate it with the olive oil that Harry and Jeff had left next to fire, I realized shamefully that if I did it would be impossible for me not penetrate him. I also knew that I could never leave my son torn and bleeding. I glanced down at Jason's throbbing, little penis as mine pushed between his cheeks and brushed against his hot, sweat-moistened hole. I knew I couldn't do it, I could never hurt him like that, and I knew it would hurt him because he was obviously way too small to do it without a lot of pain. "Go on," he prompted. "I want,... you to." I smiled at him reassuringly. "I do too," I said gently. "I just don't want to hurt you," I added nervously. "It's okay... If it's too bad, I'll tell you,... and you can stop." I drooled spit onto my fingers and pressed them into his crack and then I rubbed my penis around the boy's hole and covered the tip of it with the slick, slippery juice of my saliva. Jason grinned, a weak, almost senseless grin, then his teeth clenched and his face contorted as he waited for the pain to begin. He wanted my penis inside his body but he was horribly scared of being hurt by it. I moved my glans around his anus and pressed forward slightly into the soft, loose button to test the elasticity of his anus. While the boy's opening was not as tight as it had been only a day earlier, there was no way my penis was going to go easily into him. Jason looked at me, his eyes questioning mine as he searched for the answer he wanted to hear. I shook my head and the boy's eyes flashed as he angrily grabbed for my penis and tried to pull it into him. I reached between us and held his small hand in mine. He calmed down as his urgent desire faded. Little tears formed in the corners of his eyes and threatened to become bigger. He tottered at the brink. "Do it, please Dad? I want you to put it up me...now...okay? I don't care if it hurts. I'll be okay. Just put him in me," the boy sobbed as he felt despair growing in his belly as his desire was thwarted. He stretched back into the pillows, his small penis was limp and lying soft and relaxed against his smooth thigh but his desire was still strong. Playfully, I lifted his slender legs upward to his chest. The two globes of his buttocks parted slightly and revealed his deep crack glistening with the wetness we had made together. I slipped my hand down between his legs and my fingers pressed back into the warm, enveloping heat of his crack, probing the dilated hole cautiously. My thumb gently rubbed his tiny, wrinkled pouch. Jason grinned his little-boy smile again, "You want to put him in back there?" he asked nervously. "Why? Are you afraid I'll hurt you... or afraid you'll like it?" I teased. He looked at me angrily. "It hurts... I know it does... when a man does that to a boy." I smiled my most reassuring smile. "Did your teacher tell you that, in sex education?" I asked playfully. He shrugged as he grinned cheekily, "He didn't have to. You don't have to be a brain surgeon to see that your cock is so big and I'm not. My hole.... you know... it isn't that big back there." He added meeting my eyes. "So I know it'll hurt...it will, won't it? Julien told me I won't even be able to poop like normal for a while.... I don't care." Even as he spoke I could see the curiosity in his eyes, the temptation growing as he considered the idea. I nodded, "I'm sure it'll hurt quite a bit at first Jason, but you know... after a few times... well it isn't supposed to hurt that much. Even for a skinny, little runt like you." My son giggled. "Paul told me that most boys, sometimes even younger than you, get to like it pretty fast. A few days is all it takes." Jason nodded, his vibrant, blue eyes meeting mine. He was still excited, even more than before as adrenaline surged through him and his reluctance was replaced by a strange desire for what he knew only in theory. The primal urge of his body had been awakened again as he contemplated the idea. He tried to calm his racing mind, wanting to resist the hunger that seemed to rise up inside and consume him. He felt his penis begin to stiffen again, shrugging off its stupor instinctively. He swallowed and looked away, but irresistibly his eyes were drawn back to mine. Nervously he chewed his bottom lip. When he spoke it was barely more than a whisper. "Yeah... I guess.... So how far in does it go?" he asked before looking away again. I smiled reassuringly again and stroked the soft smoothness of the boy's inside thigh. Instinctively his penis flexed, nearly erect again, and my hand slid gently upward so that the tips of my fingers brushed against his balls. He swallowed and looked back at me, "Well?" he demanded. "At first we'll just put the tip in." "Just the tip? He's too big to fit in me all the way, isn't he?" he asked as his eyes glanced rapidly at my erect penis, so much bigger than his own small appendage. I shook my head. "I guess your body stretches inside. Like when you poop. What comes out is pretty thick sometimes isn't it?" He smiled shyly. "Yeah, well sometimes, but then it hurts. Will it hurt a lot?" he asked as the ache in his belly and the terror of the unknown began to grow. I shook my head again, "We'll be very gentle and slow. I'll stop whenever you want. I expect it takes some time for your anus to loosen up and stretch enough for it to go inside. Harry told me that sometimes a boy bleeds a little bit. Jeff did, he told me," I added. "But he said it'll stop as soon as we take it out." Jason looked at me as I unscrewed the top from the bottle of olive oil, now breathing deeply as his excitement built to fever pitch. His small, reddened dick was rigid against his belly. "Do you really need to use that stuff?" he asked looking at the amber- colored oil. I poured a liberal amount out onto the fingers of my other hand and smearing some onto Jason's fingers. "Uh huh. It makes you slippery inside. It's a lot easier then for my penis to go inside you. Feel how slippery it is. Rub some on your dick, Jas'." The boy smirked and straightened his legs out a bit as he swiped his fingers over his rigid cock, smearing the oil along the length of it. His hand closed around his penis and he began to masturbate very slowly. He giggled as his eyes half-closed in instant gratification. "Wow! It's really slippery. It feels really nice," he sighed contentedly. "It's like when you use spit on him, only better." I moved my left hand slowly to the boy's hand and lifted it away to stop his gentle masturbation. "Don't waste it Jas'," I said gently as I lifted his knees upward to his chest. Then my right hand moved down until it was underneath his buttocks, the tip of my finger stroking rhythmically, around and around his anus, rubbing into the boy's most private place as I smeared the lubricant into and around his opening. It was remarkable what a difference the generous coating of oil made. His anus felt much looser, almost as if it could be entered by my penis, if I was careful. My finger slipped inside without any difficulty. Jason gasped as he felt his bowel penetrated again, instinctively pulling back and tightening, or at least trying to tighten his sphincter to resist my entry. "Just relax Jas', it'll feel just like before, only now it'll go in deeper," I reassured him. The boy nodded. His breathing slowly became faster as my finger began to explore deeper inside him. My finger twisted and rubbed gently into his prostate until his knees bent and his toes curled into the mattress, getting leverage to raise his buttocks upward. I watched mutely as his muscles began to strain. The long, thin tendons in his legs became tense and I saw his brow glistening in the moonlight as sweat came. He began to whimper, then making an animal-like moan that came from deep inside his chest. His mouth was open as he breathed heavily. Every few seconds his hips were jerk with sudden spasms, pumping down onto my finger with a fearful violence. It took a few minutes and two or three squeezes of olive oil before I had two fingers inside him and he was ready to go the rest of the way. The minutes passed, the biting squeezes of his sphincter muscle lessened until they became merely uncomfortable. His anus, previously so small and tight, felt exactly like a thick elastic band, resilient and stretchy. I pulled one finger back and began to use the other against the Jason's tiny prostate again. A minute later and he was humping against my finger. His eyes were closed tightly and his breathing became ragged. Jason gasped and writhed. Jason purred and trembled. Jason moaned and shuddered. The boy was abandoned to his ecstasy, unable to understand or control the intense feelings that surged through his body. He was completely at my control. I had a sense of power over him that was satisfying in the extreme. He depended upon me for his very existence. Finally I stopped and rested my finger inside him with the tip pressing firmly into his sensitive, little prostate. The boy was shaking, his knees trembling with an uncontrollable urgency. His pale-blue eyes, no longer quite as angelic as they'd been earlier, were wide open in disbelief. He nodded wildly, eager and compliant for what for he realized must follow, then looked at me questioningly as I withdrew my finger. "That was wild! Are we going to do it now, Dad?" he asked hoarsely. He was no longer afraid. He was confident in his body's ability to give him pleasure. His sphincter was about as dilated as it would get using my fingers alone and I nodded. "Just the tip?" he added. "As much as you want, Jay-boy. I'll stop whenever you say okay?" Jason smiled, "You can go further if you want to. I don't care if it hurts a bit, okay?" I grinned as I began to lubricate my cock, then changed my mind. I passed the olive oil to Jason. He grinned at me eagerly. His eyes were full of affection and admiration, tinged with desire that was fast becoming an overwhelming hunger. "How much do I use?" he giggled. "I don't know. A lot, I guess," I said, then added, "Get it real slippery and real hard. Okay?" He smirked, "'Cause he goes in easier then?" "Uh huh." I said absorbing the delicious sensation as the boy's small hand enclosed the shaft of my cock possessively. He stroked it gently as he worked the transparent oil over it. "He's bigger than before... and really hard," the boy observed after a minute. His voice trembled nervously. "Now what?" I smiled. "He's bigger because he wants to be inside you, Jas'. He wants to make love to you. Now, I guess you lie on your side and pull your knees up as far as they can go. Yeah, that's right. And I lie down behind you like this," I said, settling down behind him. "Now Jas', I want you to relax, that's right relax. Don't panic okay, you can feel my cock pushing into you a little bit, can't you?" "Uh huh. Is he in yet, Dad?" "No, not yet. Just relax, try to push back against me gently." "Is he in now?" he asked again. "Dad, it's starting to hurt a bit more," he warned nervously. "Now I'm going to push a bit harder, okay? It'll start to hurt a bit and you'll want to pull away but I want you to push down like you're trying to poop. You ready?' "Yeah,....Ohh shit! Ohhhh... that hurts. Man that hurts. Stop a second. Please, Dad." "Take a deep breath Jas'", I said, easing off the pressure a fraction. "Now push down as hard as you can." "Ohhh! Ohhh shit... Jesus that hurts". "Take a deep breath again. Okay? Now try again, that's better. Harder! Yeah... again!" "Owww... Stop!... Stop... it feels awful. Like it's tearing inside.... No... no don't take him out. I think I'm gonna be sick. Just stop a bit.... I think I'm gonna throw up.... Man that hurts. Is he in yet?" he sobbed. "Yeah, it's in. The tip's in almost the whole way. Now just relax for a while. I think you have to get used to it." "It feels like something is stuck in there. Am I bleeding yet, Dad?" I held the boy tightly. His body trembled continuously and I waiting until he calmed. Each second the pressure and tension faded. "No,... no you're okay. Is that getting better?" "Bit better. Is he really in me, Dad?" he asked anxiously. I reached for the boy's hand, pulling it down between our bodies and placing it on my cock. His fingers traced along it, feeling where it disappeared into his own body. "He's only in a little bit," he observed with obvious disappointment. "Huh huh, but that's the hardest bit. Once we get a bit more in you it'll slide in the rest of the way." "The whole way? You mean all of him?" the boy asked. "If you want Jay-boy, I'll try. I don't know how far up it's supposed to go." The boy was silent for a few seconds, "Yeah!" he whispered. "The whole way in is okay with me. But you've got to stop when I say so, promise?" he added as he stroked my cock with his finger tips. "I promise. You take a deep breath and push down again whenever you're ready." "Okay, here goes, Dad. Ohhh... Ohhhh shit... NO! STOP! No...no, don't stop." I paused as I felt the boy's naked body convulse and shudder. "You okay?" He paused a moment, "Okay... I'm okay now... that's better... Shit that hurt! Did he go in much further? Can I feel? Wow... he's about half of way in, isn't he?" I smiled, "Just about. You okay? How does it feel? Does it hurt bad?" "Huh? I'm okay I think. I feel like I'm gonna explode or something. It feels like a huge wedge is stuck up me. It hurts, kinda. But not real bad, it's like I want it out... but I want it in too... I,... I think I want him in me even further. Am I bleeding yet?" I grinned, "No! No you're fine." I said glancing downward, "You really want it in further Jas'?" "Yeah... real slow but I gotta get my breath.... Okay, just go slowly!... Ohhhh ohhhh shit!... Ohhhh!... Shit it feels like it's comin' out my belly!.. Ohhh man! He's in isn't he? Not all the way but he's in pretty far... Shit I can feel him in there. This is awesome. I gotta pee and I can't stop... Hell, it's dripping out of my dick. No! No don't take him out yet." I pulled back a few inches and then gently squeezed forward, grinding the length of my cock into his prostate so that the head forced into his bladder. Jason shuddered, trembling and shaking uncontrollably as I began to fuck him. After a few slow thrusts being very careful with each forward motion he began to sob, "Stop... please!" he begged. "Just a bit,... I can't breath. Just till I get my breath." "You okay?" "Yeah... yeah I think so... I gotta get my breath. I....it... it's unreal. I can barely breath, Dad... My dick keeps leaking pee. And it sort of hurts in my belly, like I've got to poop,... Okay... that's better," he panted. "I'm going to move as gently and slowly as I can Jas', but say if you want me to stop." I said "No... No, not now! I'm okay... I think... that's if you don't mind me peeing on the bed?" he murmured. My son smiled weakly, trying to find some humor in his predicament. He was incorrigible, his young strength already draining as his body quickly became exhausted. Jason looked at me with his eyes half-closed, with something approaching admiration as I pushed forward gently into the marshmallow-like tissue inside him. We were both breathing heavily. Slowly, surely, I felt his young body accept mine and the warmth gradually crept up the length of my cock as it sunk deeper and deeper. "It's going in now, Jas'," I whispered. "I think the worst part is over." Jason gazed up at me silently. His eyes were open wide in fear and in awe. His numbed body sensed its violation and instinctively made one brief attempt to fight back and preserve what little still remained of his virginity, but to no avail. His sphincter was in no shape for anything but a token struggle. As soon as it came I saw the pain in his eyes and I instantly stopped pushing forward. I held his hips and it was over within a second or two. "Just relax, Jas'. It's okay my beautiful boy... Ohhh Jas'... you feel so good and hot inside", I whispered as I resumed my downward pressure. As he felt my cock fill his rectum and push up into his belly, Jason smiled weakly back at me, now breathing through his mouth in slow, heavy pants that made his chest rise and fall rhythmically. "Shit! Dad,... I can feel him going inside me...it feels soooo big.... God he's big, how far... how much is in me now,... is it in all the way yet?" he murmured. I grinned down at the boy, keeping the pressure on him until my rigid penis could go no further and my pubis squeezed up tightly against his cheeks. The soft wet heat seemed to flow out of his body, along my penis and into me. I stopped and tried to fight off the orgasm that I knew was just around the corner. I lifted up his hand again and drew it downwards, between his buttocks and my thighs, guiding his fingers to where my body joined with his body. For a moment I felt the boy's fingers on my penis, touching right where my testicles began, where it disappeared into his anus. His mouth opened in surprise, "It's...all the way in there... It is! He feels so big. It doesn't hurt at all. It just feels big and nice,... really good. Can you move it? It feels really tight inside," he whispered. I nodded and gently pulled back, taking some of the pressure with me, then as soon as Jason sighed, I thrust gently forward, slowly replacing the void in his belly with nearly-eight-inches of rigid, hot penis. "Ohhhh...." he groaned as it filled his tortured cavity again. I paused, looking at the boy lying before me. His young, immature body seemed so small and weak, so fragile, that the possibility of my penis ever fitting inside him seemed very unlikely. That it did fit inside him with no with almost no pain to the boy, made it remarkable. "Do... that... again...okay! Really slow like that.... Ohhhh man, that's good," he breathed. "Yeah, do it slow.... It feels,... like he's comin' out,... my belly," he added between gasps. "You're doing great Jas'," I whispered. "It doesn't hurt too bad does it?" He shook his head and smiled weakly. "Sure is tight,... in there, isn't it?" "Uh huh! You're getting looser though. I'm going to do it a little bit deeper. You ready?" "Yeah! Oh s-s-h-h-i-i-t-t," he moaned loudly. We were both on the brink of orgasm after only half-a-dozen slow careful thrusts. On the seventh, the boy's legs began to quiver, tensing as yet another orgasm came. When it hit on my next thrust down into his bowel, Jason moaned again and his rectum spasmed on my penis, tightening just enough to increase my own pleasure to the point of no return. That was all it took for me and I felt the seed boiling up my throbbing shaft as my testicles knotted, squeezed, and emptied. Desperately I slammed into the boy, driving my straining penis into him to the hilt, then pulling back out about halfway, then again and again, back and forth. Even as I pumped, I desperately flexed my penis in a vain attempt to hold back the rising seed as I felt the impending explosion. It was an impossible task. I wanted only to empty my seed into him, to fill him with my love and claim his body as my receptacle. "I'm coming, Jas'," I groaned as I found I could not stem the bursting any longer. "Ohhh! I love you." The boy shrieked with what I thought could only be terrible agony as another orgasm came, stronger than the last, stronger than any he'd had earlier. We came together, at exactly the same instant and my semen spurted deep into the boy's loose, clutching bowel as Jason convulsed wildly beneath me. As soon as the last of it was out I dropped forward over the still-shuddering boy, taking my weight on my elbows. My penis was still contained deep within him, floating in a sloppy mess of semen, mucus and olive oil. It felt very nice indeed. It took a long while for us both to calm down and our breathing and hearts to return to something approaching normalcy. "Well", I whispered as I kissed the boy's forehead, "I know a boy who's not a virgin any more? What's your Mom going to say, Jay- boy?" I teased playfully as he slowly twisted his head around to meet mine. He opened his lips, pressed his tongue forward and we kissed and sucked, now joined in two ways. When we parted he grinned sleepily, but already his strength was beginning to return. "You wanna do that again in a bit?" he whispered. I nodded then eased myself off the boy and, holding his hips rolled him onto his side and lay down next to him and he cuddled up, pressing his back into my chest, "We'll see Jay-boy, we'll see." "You really slimed me back there," he smirked. "It feels really sloppy inside me. I think it's even running out a bit." He giggled playfully and reached his small hand to caress my limp, sticky cock as it exited from his anus. He tugged it gently with his fingers at the base and suddenly felt the hot, slippery slime that we shared as the thick shaft of my cock disappeared into him. His soft thumb massaged my balls as he gently squeezed his tortured rectum on my cock. "There's stuff all over us," he whispered." "What did you expect?" I teased. "I think that's what happens when you get your ass fucked," I laughed. "They're watching us, aren't they?" Jason whispered as he glanced towards Harry and Jeff. I nodded. Jeff was sitting up, leaning back against his 'father', his arms wrapped around his legs as he gazed into the darkness. Strangely, the fact that my love for Jason had been witnessed, no longer bothered me. I felt intensely proud of what Jason and I had shared. Our bodies had been joined together, for a while we had known an ecstasy that few people could understand, we were still united. "Do you mind?" I whispered. He smiled, his cheeky grin barely visible in the darkness. "Not any more. We saw them doing it, I guess it's only fair, isn't it. Jeff was right when he said there was nothing to be ashamed about." "I could never be ashamed of loving you, Jas'," I admitted. He tightened his rectum again with a playful squeeze. "I love having him in me," he sighed. "He feels so big and nice inside me. I never dreamed I could feel like this, Dad." "Neither did I," I said softly. "I really didn't think we could do it. You feel wonderful too, Jas'. I love being in you." We lay together, joined inseparably, as much by the union of our bodies as by the knowledge of the love we shared. Again Harry was right, Jason had become a different boy. I kissed him again and again, our tongues merging and coalescing into one, our saliva intermingling freely as we became increasingly passionate. We were both tired but sleep evaded us. I could hear Jeff and Harry whispering, the sounds of flesh moving against flesh, the sounds of lust as Jeff gasped, then moaned, and then the rhythmic, wet sounds of intercourse. "They're doing it again, aren't they Dad?" Jason whispered. "It certainly sounds like it," I answered. I peered into the darkness. I could barely make out Harry's silhouette as he knelt behind Jeff. Jeff's legs were up in the air, his knees at Harry's shoulders, his feet clasping around Harry's back. I watched silently as Harry lunged against him, listening as the wet sounds became louder and faster, and reached a crescendo as Jeff groaned in shameless ecstasy, abandoned to the agonized joy that came from being fucked. "You want to do it again, Dad," Jason offered shyly. "Do you?" I asked. "I think you've had enough for one night. At least you're not a virgin any more." "I'll make him hard again, then you'll have to do it again," he teased. I laughed and hugged him tightly to me, "You'll be so sore later on, you'll wish you hadn't, Jas'," I teased. "You'll be walking like this", I laughed, walking two outstretched fingers over his hip and down his belly towards his still-half-erect penis. "You'll be bow-legged, but if you keep doing that, I won't have much choice, will I?" "It really didn't hurt very much, you know. Just a bit when you first started putting it inside me. After it was all the way in I liked it. It was kinda nice!" Jason giggled and squeezed his rectum even tighter on my shaft. "If I get him hard again, can we do it again?" he added, "It doesn't hurt at all now, if fact if feels really great having him inside me". I kissed him behind the ear and nuzzled his silky hair with my nose. I tickled the boy's soft ear lobe with my tongue as my fingers gently stroked his tiny penis. I had to marvel at the extent of the boy's desire. His little penis was about as hard as it had been when we had first started. I knew his young body was on the verge of physical exhaustion but I wanted to fuck him again. "Okay, we can do it again, Jas'. If you can get him stiff enough." Immediately, the young boy started to pull away from my penis, but I grabbed his hips and held him before it slid out of him, "But Jason, you can't use your mouth, or your hands, okay?" I teased. The boy twisted around and glanced back at me and grinned crudely. "Is that because he's dirty from being inside my butt- hole? I don't care if he is. You already put your tongue in there before anyway." "No," I laughed. "He's not dirty from you, but you need the practice. Use your muscles inside to squeeze on him. Yeah, that's right Jas'. Just like that! Not too hard. Just squeeze down on him as if you were trying to poop, then try to pull him back inside you". I felt the boy's sphincter begin to do its work, the weakened muscle alternately tightening and loosening.His slender body visibly trembled with the effort. Still it felt good, real good and within a minute I could feel my penis growing again and filling the boy's body as it hardened. Slowly it became tighter again inside him. My son noticed it too. "He's getting bigger again, I can feel him getting stiff," the boy murmured as he rocked his pelvis gently and cautiously tested his body's resistance as my growing penis moved within him. It sucked against the tight, slippery walls of his rectum. In the few minutes since I'd stopped fucking him he seemed to have tightened up considerably and his rectum now felt like a taut tube around my penis. There was a delightful pressure running from the base all the way along to the tip. It was obvious that Jason was enjoying it too. "It doesn't hurt... anymore. He's getting bigger, I can feel him. He's getting so hard," he hissed. "He feels so good in there. Do you think he's stiff enough now?" "What do you think, Jas'?" I asked, taking over the rhythm and beginning to thrust harder and deeper into the boy. "Is this what you want?" He nodded and pressed his buttocks back to force my erection further into his body. He gasped suddenly as I kept the pressure on and began to surge harder, deeper and faster. "Yeahhhh!...Ohhhhh!... Do that!....Ohhhhh.....Ohhhhh....Fuck me... Do it faster, pleaseee", the boy pleaded. Where did my son learn such words, I wondered. He whimpered and trembled, immediately coming to the very edge of orgasm. His breathing accelerated until he was gasping frantically for air. "I'm gonna...Ohhhhh yeah! Do it to me!" he begged as he writhing shamelessly on the bed. His thighs jerked and his pelvis twisted as he worked his ass on the big penis pumping inside him. I thrust into him as hard as I could, taking the boy right to the brink of his sanity before backing off again. No longer feeling the need to orgasm, I took my time with my son. We were all but oblivious to the presence of Harry and Jeff. That they were watching and listening was a foregone conclusion. At some point I was aware of Jeff coming closer, standing only a foot or two away as he studied us, shamelessly writhing, and moving in unison as we tottered on the edge of orgasm. I grinned back at him like a satyr, full of lust and boundless passion as I pushed into Jason, going the full depth as my son's body twitched and shuddered, and then pushed back for more. I led Jason up to the precipice of orgasm time and time again. Finally, after more than 30 or 40 minutes I stopped. He was barely conscious. His arms and legs twitched and quivered endlessly and his slender, brown body glistened with a sheen of perspiration. Easily I lifted his naked, trembling body up and pivoted him around on my cock. He moaned deliriously and I held him tightly to me, placed him back on the mattress and I rolled onto him, so that he was under me. I pushed his legs wide open with my knees, then kneeling above the small, barely conscious body, lowered myself down onto him, driving the full length of my cock into him. "Oh God!," he wailed. "Do it harder!" "Take it easy, Jas'," I gasped out in disbelief. "Does it hurt?" I demanded urgently as he shook uncontrollably. His head jerked, neither affirming or denying his pain, merely an indication that he wanted me to continue and not stop. Then, he seemed to find strength and he hissed, "Do it faster!" The boy's body was slammed into the air-mattress with each powerful thrust of my thighs. I pulled back so that only the engorged tip of my cock was still embedded in his anus before sliding back in. It forced his bowel open even further. Jason wailed into the air-filled pillow again as one intense dry orgasm was followed almost immediately by another, endlessly climaxing. I felt my own orgasm building. My testicles tightened and the huge swollen tip of my penis throbbed in unbelievable ecstasy as I pounded it into him. The tension built as I felt my semen rise up my shaft and explode into my son. Both of us gasped for air and shuddered as we convulsed together. Jason's body spasmed wildly as I spurted what seemed at the time to be endless gobs of sperm into the boy's fully dilated rectum. There seemed to be no tension left inside him, just the wet, spongy heat that we shared. I collapsed on top of the unmoving boy, taking some of my weight on my elbows and knees. I kissed his neck and shoulders lovingly, murmuring, "Ohhhh Jason....Jas' you were wonderful....Boy you were soooo good. Did I hurt you? I'm sorry if I did, I couldn't stop. You okay?" I begged concernedly. The boy's blond head was dark on the pillow, but it moved slightly. His cries were muffled in the pillow or strangled in his throat before they reached me. All I could hear was a rasping sound as he gasped for air. Gently I lifted his face up, letting it rest on the side. His cheeks were flushed and wet with tears. His breath was ragged and coming in short spurts as he panted. If the boy had any strength left in his body before his last orgasm, the last few minutes had drained him completely as I had fucked him nearly senseless. After a minute or two, my own strength began to return and I carefully pulled back, withdrawing my softened cock from deep inside the boy's rectum. It sucked loudly as the head popped out of his anus and I rested back on my knees. I glanced and saw the limp shaft of my cock was streaked with dark, red blood; my son's blood. His little, pale buttocks were smeared with it and there was a darkness in his gaping crack from blood that had begun to ooze out of the boy's well-stretched hole. It formed a little trail across his wrinkled, tiny ball-sac and then trickled downwards to the mattress. The evidence of the loss of his virginity was a vivid, bloody red. I picked up the corner of the sheet and tenderly wiped away the boy's blood and my semen. In the darkness, the red stain was barely visible on the white cotton, but the wetness provided another sign of the loss of his innocence. The opening into my young son's body seemed impossibly large. His little anus was stretched to the limit and I could see straight down into his rectum, into the crimson of his bowel, then the darkness deep inside his narrow pelvis. I suppose that I should have feel ashamed of hurting the ten-year-old boy but all I felt was an overwhelming triumph. I had possessed him and taken both his 'manhood' and his virginity. I had shown the boy that would he could never be the same again. He had tasted lust and discovered the terrible hunger that now came with his body's desires. I wondered what his mother would say? After a few minutes I realized that Jason had fallen asleep and I lay quietly beside the boy and lovingly caressed his bare shoulder and back for what seemed several hours. It was much later when he finally awoke, just an hour or two before dawn. I knew right away that he wanted to do it again. PLATONIC LOVE. DAY 17. Naxos August 9th, 1993 "Of course it wasn't a tiresome job yet, so somehow, riding out the panting and sweating, he got what he wanted and I fell back asleep, exhausted with passion. Less than an hour later he began pinching me and saying, 'Why aren't we getting on with it?'" Petronius, The Satyricon. We made love again for the third time early the next morning. The sun had not risen when I gently eased my penis into Jason's body, applied a firm, though very careful pressure and after a few painful minutes, entered him again. My penis progressed forward barely a fraction of an inch at a time, embedding itself at a snail's pave into his tortured body, as Jason's bowel loosened. The tension within him faded slowly as cramping muscle spasms racked his body. Finally, after several minutes there a last ditch effort by his sphincter to preserve the sanctity of his bowel, a half-hearted attempt to resist my intruding penis, and then he was mine. I pushed carefully, feeling the oil-slicked sides of his rectum sliding down my shaft. He was still very tight inside but the pressure he exerted on my penis was not in the least uncomfortable. In fact, it was entirely enjoyable for me, though noticeably less so for my son. As my powerful sucking had served to intensify his erection, so hid the pressure inside Jason serve to harden my organ. I could not remember my penis ever being so stiff before. I penetrated him as deeply as I dared, until I hit something immovable inside his colon. It resisted as I pushed up against it, a resilient barrier that caused Jason to whimper and try to pull away as I forced into it. By then I had at least six good inches inside him. I let him rest for more than ten minutes, absorbing the fabulous sensations that flowed out of his body and into mine. Every little squeeze of his well-stretched sphincter muscle made my penis dance and throb, exciting his own movements until his body could take no more. Jason initiated intercourse. It was to become a familiar pattern in our love-making. I would wait, content just to be inside him, patiently resolved to let nature undertake the preparation of his young body for copulation. When he was ready and the pain was bearable, Jason took the lead, if only for the first minute or so. But I was still surprised as Jason began to move his pelvis, just an inch or less, back and forth, pushing my penis harder into him, then pulling back slowly. Each time, his rectum seemed as if it was attached to my penis until the adhesive pressure broke and I slid abruptly back. As soon as it pulled free, even by an inch, the void opened in his belly and he pushed back again, seeking only to fill himself with my penis. After a few minutes, nature and Jason had performed the impossible. It was a task for Hercules to stretch his little bowel to the point at which it accepted, with bearable pain, the presence of my penis. I began to move cautiously, pumping no more than an inch, sometimes two, with gentle thrusts. He was a little boy and I took him gently, ever careful as I knew intuitively that the slightest, rough movement might injure him, and that was something which I could never do. It was a cold, grey morning. The air was damp and laden with fine mist, and we were chilled as we waited for the warmth of the sun. Our nakedness was covered by a blanket I had brought from Apollo and the warmth of our bodies was shared between us as we lay like two spoons, fitting together as we were intended to be. Gradually the light strengthened, until I could easily see the silky-blond hair on Jason's head, his smooth, pale neck, and the gooseflesh on his shoulders. He whimpered, moving gently as he rocked his hips in synchronized movement with mine. Sometimes he squeezed down, tightening his distended rectum on my penis and sending the most wonderful sensation through me as he gripped my penis deep inside his body and sent ripples of delight along the shaft. He was learning to love me just as I was learning to love him, and like all things, we needed to practice our art. That morning was the first of many wonderful morning sessions. Refreshed by sleep, though still sleepy, we began slowly, barely moving, content just to be joined together with my penis largely contained within his young, tight bowel. As our sleepiness left us, our movements became more excited. My penis travelled deeper and with longer strokes, from an inch at first, to two, then three, then all the way to five inches as I withdrew until just the swollen glans remained inside my son's small body and then plunged back in with a forceful, though very restrained thrust. It was fun to practice with Jason. Unlike the night before, when Jason had astounded me with his ability to orgasm repetitively, this morning he did not, though he was perpetually close to it. I supposed that it was a combination of factors; but most likely was the fact that Jason was still sore and bruised from the night before. His tender, young body had been initiated, abused in a way that it was not yet accustomed to. He was not tired, but it seemed to me that he was physically detached from the feelings I created inside his body. I realized guiltily that he was experiencing some pain and I slowed my stabbing penis to a gentle rhythm, leaving it embedded and unmoving often for a minute or more at a time before driving forward again with cautious prodding. In the ever-increasing light it was likely that both Jeff and Harry probably were watching us, cause enough for some nervous trembling but Jason was cold. I held him tightly and ensured that his naked body was well covered, he still shivered continuously. It was, as I later discovered, a reaction that was not unusual in a boy. That morning Jason experienced an unpleasant and uncomfortable combination of shock, self-doubt, shame, and guilt; as well as the delightful feelings that came with the realization that he was homosexual. His discomfiture that were exacerbated by the knowledge that my penis was inside him, providing feelings that were both frightening in their intensity and delightfully wonderful. They were feelings that he could not no longer deny. As Harry explained later that day, the moment at which a boy discovers that he enjoys anal intercourse is the time he accepts, or begins to accept, that he is homosexual. Until then, a boy can deny it and pretend that it is a game, a harmless pursuit that is nothing more than a brief interlude in his growth to manhood. That moment for Jason, occurred at about six o'clock that morning as he was transformed, reborn even as the sun was reborn. That morning I realized that Jason's love for me was every bit as strong as mine was for him. He would never be the same innocent, little boy again. But unknown to me there was more that bothered Jason, but those concerns were things that I could not begin to understand until several more weeks had passed. Afterwards, as we lay pressed tightly together, still connected by penis and rectum and floating in a slippery, oozing film, he cried softly. I comforted him as best I could, whispering words of endearment in his ear as I kissed his neck and shoulders and nuzzled his hair. I heard Harry and Jeff moving behind us and I twisted over. Both of them were naked, hugging to keep warm as they stood before the fire, now beginning to blaze with the sticks and grass they had placed upon the remaining embers. It was a beautiful sight, an unforgettable image of two lovers, a man and boy entwined together as they share a passionate embrace in the morning light. I smiled at Harry and he playfully squeezed Jeff's penis. Jeff grinned at me knowingly and raised his eyebrows with malicious interest in Jason's virginity. I nodded and Jeff smirked, giving me a triumphant 'thumbs up' for victory. He sauntered around the blazing fire until he stood before Jason, still huddled up under the blanket, still a willing prisoner in my clasping arms, enfolded securely in my embrace, my penis still imprisoned in his rectum. "You feel okay, Jason?" Jeff asked concernedly. Jason nodded abruptly, sinking into a lonely silence. Jeff grinned. "Does it hurt bad? I know it sometimes it hurts pretty bad afterwards. It's like it's on fire in there or something. It goes away in a bit," he added reassuringly. "'s okay," Jason said. His voice quavered as he spoke so softly that he was barely heard. "It hurts a bit,... I guess." Jeff squatted down, spreading his knees wide as his heels squeezed into his buttocks. His small genitals, so much larger than Jason's were openly and shamelessly displayed. "I hurt too for a while when I first started. It stops in a few days. But it sure sounded like you enjoyed it last night," he teased the younger boy. "I bet you're pretty sore up there now." Jason nodded. "It hurts in my tummy. It hurts back there too." Harry knelt down next to Jeff, facing Jason and me. He was oblivious to the fact that his penis was still moist, glistening with a wet slime that represented the visible sign of his union with Jeff. "It'll feel better in a few hours, Jason. You need to get up and try to go to the toilet." I nodded and carefully pulled back away from Jason. As my penis sucked free of his body, there was a distinct 'pop', not unlike the sound of a cork being extracted from a bottle of wine. Jeff giggled. "Jason sounds pretty tight," he teased. I lifted back the blanket that covered our bodies. The sweet, pungent aroma of boy-funk drifted out from underneath. For the first time I saw the streaks and stains of bright-red blood on the sheets and I felt appalled that I had done that to my son. Jason saw them too but he didn't seem to mind as much as I expected him to. I felt quite sick. "I bled some, didn't I," he observed curiously. I stared at him with surprise. "Julien told me I would," Jason explained. "'cause I'm a kid still." "And you're a virgin," Jeff interrupted. "I bled a bunch too my first time. It stops pretty quickly," he added expertly. Harry chuckled. "He was a virgin, Jeff. He's not any more, I don't think." I helped Jason stand up on very-wobbly legs. He teetered, weakly holding my arm as I guided him over to the fire and eased him down to his knees. He breathed heavily, clamping his arms around his bare chest to warm himself. Harry placed some more sticks on the fire and poured me a cup of coffee as Jeff retrieved our blanket and passed it to me to place around Jason's back. He shivered, his flesh almost blue with cold. I knelt behind him, giving him whatever warmth I had. I sipped some of the life-giving coffee and then held it for Jason. He didn't like the taste much but he swallowed a mouthful or two, glad of the added warmth. Slowly his trembling stopped and he began to relax. "Dad, I think I have to poop," he whispered shamefully. "That's okay, " I said as I helped him to stand up. "I expect that normal after what we did last night and this morning," I added gently. He wobbled uncertainly, lurching as he tried to take the first step towards the bushes that we had designated as the latrine. I smiled at him reassuringly, accepting full responsibility for what I had done to him. I placed my arm around his shoulders and helped him take the sixty-five foot trip away from the warmth of the fire. I lowered him carefully, following him down as he squatted over the sand. I knelt before him, supporting his still-weakened body by holding his arms and bracing his head against my chest. I felt him wince as his rectum took the strain of squatting, then saw a grimace of pain on his face as he pushed downward. He strained for a full minute, contorting his face as the pressure increased in his bowel. One little, wet fart followed another, gurgling out of his distended anus like tiny explosions, as the air and fluid inside him was expelled. My semen dribbled out, oozing and yellow-brown in color, with tiny strands of mucus that had mixed into a thick slime. I watched between his legs, feeling surprised that I had deposited so much inside him. I had three orgasms during the night with the last only a matter of minutes earlier and while there had been a strong feeling that I was drained from each one, I had not expected to find so much inside him. As the last of my love-juice trickled out, his expression became pained as a vicious cramp tightened his bowel. He shuddered as another came, even more violent. Tears appeared in his eyes as he clung to me and trembled. I held him tightly, sensing what was about to happen only moments before his body gave way and emptied. Steaming, dark fluid squirted like muddy water out of him, splattering into the sand and over his feet. He groaned, then tensed again as another spasm caught him unprepared and he emptied his innards. Oblivious to the foul smell and the mess on the ground, I clutched him to me, hugging the crying, shocked boy fervently as I stroked his head. "It's okay, Jay-boy," I whispered. "I'm sorry. It's okay." He cramped again and gasped as another spasm came. It was followed almost immediately by another, now frightened as he anticipated yet another terrible, gushing release. But it was over and only the last residue was expelled, dribbling from his weakened body into the spreading puddle underneath him. When I was certain that he was finished, I helped him stand up. He was pale and barely able to support himself, his body exhausted from being drained so mercilessly. I pushed sand over the mess and with my arm around him, helped him back towards the fire. He was shivering again and every inch of his naked body was puckered with gooseflesh. His cheeks were streaked with tears and he sniffed loudly. "You okay?" Jeff asked with concern as we approached. Jason's mouth was clenched and resolute and his lips were compressed in shame, embarrassed by his body's natural process of cleansing itself. "I think he's okay, Jeff," I answered for my silent, very- tired son. "He has diarrhea. It took a lot out of him I expect." "It's probably the oil," Jeff said. "It's like that sometimes when it goes too far down you. I do it too," he admitted. "You don't do it with KY, but then you get constipated at lot. You get used to it after a while, Jason. It isn't that bad," he added. Jason regarded him quietly, still reluctant to talk. I moved him closer to the fire, and placed the blanket around him again, then held him close to me, supporting his weight as he leaned back against me. He breathed weakly, each breath was strained and a considerable effort for him. After a minute, Harry came over and handed me a warm, wet cloth. I knelt down, accepting my responsibility as I gently sponged him clean. I wiped into his crack, removing the brownish fluid that still remained, washing away the dried blood and semen that was smeared over his buttocks and the inside of his thighs. I worked my way down his legs slowly until he was clean. My careful ministrations seemed to ease his shame but it was apparent that he was still in pain, the residue inside him continuing to irritate the bruised lining of his rectum. "It hurts, Dad," he whimpered. "Back there, it feels really hot and itchy." Harry knelt down between Jason and the fire and placed his hands on my son's small hips. He turned him around and lifted up the end of the blanket. I watched Jason's face blanch as Harry's fingers parted his cheeks and his anus was subjected to close inspection. I kissed Jason lightly on the forehead and whispered to him that Harry knew what he was going. A moment later Harry, looked up and glanced at Jeff and said something that I didn't hear. Jeff nodded and headed off at a jogging run towards the place where our back-packs were standing. "He's okay," Harry observed. "He's a bit raw back there, but considering, he's in good shape." He gently slapped Jason's small bottom with the palm of his hand and stood up as Jeff returned. He passed a small tube of ointment to Harry, who in turn, passed it to me. "This will make Jason feel better," he said. "You can do the honors. All you need to do is get some of it inside his anus." "Uh? What is it?" I questioned uncertainly as I turned the tube around to read the label. "Oh! Preparation H! Will that really help?" "It's great," Jeff stated expertly. "It'll make his hole feel a lot better." Harry laughed. "He's right. It's still the best thing around for a boy, and you can buy it almost anywhere." "Does he really need something like this?" I asked. "It says here it's for hemorrhoids." Jeff grinned at Jason and nodded impatiently. "I still use it and I don't even notice it afterwards any more. I guess I'm used to having his cock inside me but I feel funny if I don't use some." "But why?" I persisted ignorantly. "Why does he need this in his ass?" Harry smiled as he turned Jason around so that back faced towards me. He nodded reassuringly to Jason as he stood up. "Because he's a boy. It helps to protect the lining of his rectum. It's very sensitive. One of the reasons why he's sore inside is because his mucus makes the oil less slippery. With this inside him, he'll feel a lot better and he won't be nearly as sore the next time." I nodded and unscrewed the cap, squeezed some of the yellowish gel onto my finger and placed the tip against my son's distended opening. He whined, then murmured as the cool, glistening grease soothed his raw flesh. Within a few moments the discomfort was alleviated and it helped to placate him. I probed into his anus carefully, penetrating him as he relaxed and became calmer. I inserted my finger well past the second joint, until my knuckles compressed into his crack, rotated it gently and then withdrew. I squeezed more onto my finger and continued to massage the tortured little rectum. "How much should I use?" I asked. "That's probably enough," Harry said. "You feel like some breakfast now, Jason. Or would you rather see what is inside the cave?" Until that moment the cave had provided a source of mystification to both Jason and myself. That it existed at all was something of an enigma but now it exuded an aura that could only be described as sacred. It invoked the most intense feeling of deja vu that I had ever known. It seemed as if I had been waiting my entire life to pass beyond the phallic symbol and enter the inviolate chambers beyond. We were participants in a ritual that had existed since before the time of Plato. During the night I had worshipped at Jason's body and we had loved as two neophytes, now we would enter as initiates. I wondered what secrets lay beyond the guardian. Jason nodded with a shy smile at Jeff. I lifted the blanket away and let it fall to the ground. He was naked and perfect, and at that very instant that his body was exposed, the first rays of the sun penetrated the grotto and illuminated his splendor. We approached the entrance to the cave, drawn onwards by a numinous power that extended outward from the darkness within. I held his left hand in my right hand. We paused at the guardian statue, awed into silence by the majesty of a beautifully carved marble penis, towering above Jason's head by more than a foot. It was, I realized, the height and girth of a man. Jason smiled at me, his pale-blue eyes shining with excitement and anticipation of what lay beyond. Unlike me, he remembered Jeff's earlier statement about the need for a boy to leave a gift of value. He was naked except for the sparkling diamond stud in his ear. In mystic concentration, subdued by the arcane and esoteric magic of the moment, Jason reached up with his right hand, unfastened the tiny gem and threw it into the dark waters of the pool. We went forward together. (Author's note: What occurred inside the cave cannot be told because of our pledge. Suffice it to say we did not emerge until late in the afternoon. Jason was a very tired boy when I carried him out into the light.) DAY 29, Gulf of Euboea, August 21, 1993 Jason never did get to see Delos. We left Paros four days after we arrived and headed north to Siros, and on to Andros. From there, one day later, we sailed northwest and into the gulf of Euboea after a brief re-provisioning stop at the town of Karistos. Our cruise was into unfamiliar waters. It was a region of Greece that I had never visited, though Harry had given it a strong recommendation when I asked about somewhere to take Jason. I wanted somewhere very private, romantic, and without the hordes of tourists that swamped the islands at this time of the year. Everywhere we went there were tourists; mostly Europeans, Germans and Scandinavians, a few Americans and 'Brits', and many more Japanese than were desirable. And so we sailed for Euboea and the rugged coast on the western shore. Mile after mile of inlets and bays and craggy cliffs that plunged into the sea and deserted beaches where Jason and I could spend long days naked together. And we were naked; day after day, from sunrise to sunset and from sunset to the following dawn. Jason got browner and browner, his once pale skin becoming darker and darker with every day until he was a delicious golden-bronze from head to toe, from front to back. In his natural state, Jason returned to the primal boy that had always dwelled within him. He was shameless in the exhibition of his nude body, oblivious to what appeared to me to be constant arousal, if gauged by the flexibility of his penis. I did not languish far behind him, usually matching him erection for erection, though often with a momentary delay. With every day our love became stronger, the sexual act ever more intimate, and increasingly frequent. On some days it seemed as if all we did was have sex in one form or another. Mostly our love occurred the way that nature always intended for a man and boy to join together and increasingly, I came to realize that Jason's body was as suited to intercourse with mine, as mine was with his. I discovered that my penis fitted perfectly, exactly as Harry had promised. He was tight, of course. He'd always be tighter than a girl and he'd never be entered easily like Tina, but at the same time (after the first few days) it wasn't a painful tightness. Being inside Jason was like being inside a very slippery, very smooth tube, only two sizes too small. His little rectum squeezed on me with a pressure that made my penis impossibly stiff. Every motion of my body flowing directly into his, even the pulsing of his arteries tingled, or as he became more excited, throbbed against my penis. We were well matched. When I was horny, Jason either was, or became horny just by knowing that I wanted him. It goes without saying that the reverse was also true. Even the pain he experienced upon my entry into his body disappeared after an initial unpleasant period four or five days. He was very brave and he bore his discomfort well. No boy likes to see blood coming from his anus and for the first few days it was upsetting to both of us. I coddled him and followed Harry's advice to the letter using my fingers in him as often as I could, lots of salt-water douches and a copious amount of olive oil. After each time we liberally applied Preparation-H inside him, discovering that it was very beneficial in reducing the discomfort. For the first week, his innards were bruised, stretched wide open and pulverized at intervals that often were less than a few hours. When he sat down he winced in discomfort from the change in position and for a while his movements were considerably slower. But with time and gentle loving, even that disappeared. Everything was wonderful, except the first few minutes as I forced him open and sank slowly into him. We were both relieved when, after a few days, there was no trace of bleeding, a situation I ascribe to the fact that I was always careful to be gentle with him and be patient until nature readied his young body for intercourse. The ability of his young body to quickly accept my penis never failed to amuse me. I timed it once, three minutes almost to the second, but always less than five minutes, for him to loosen up enough to want me to start thrusting slowly. In the two wonderful weeks since I had first entered him, claimed his virginity, and in a way usurped his manhood, we had become lovers in every sense of the word. I began to understand how much love Harry felt for Jeff after two years. Our love became stronger with the passage of each day. With each new day there came greater familiarity between us, giving me a greater understanding of the workings of my young son's body and mind and his need for me to love him. We talked, often for hours at a time, about what it meant to be gay, about people's misconceptions, and why they hated our type of love so much. The more-than-seven years that Jason and I had been apart, gradually faded until it seemed as if we had always been together. I knew him intimately, far closer than any father could ever know his son. I came to have a sixth sense about him, often thinking the same thoughts as my son at precisely the same instant and with each realization I began to appreciate the similarity between us, recognizing that although he looked very little like me, he was every bit mine. The genes he had inherited from me were not the physical genes but the ones of his psyche, his mind, his heart and soul. He was undeniably my son. He was also my little lover, a fact that he delighted in proving to me on every possible occasion and in ways that reflected an eagerness to please and a vivid imagination. He was the instigator more often than not and he delighted in discovering new ways, or improving old ways of doing 'it', or 'poking' as he started to refer to anal intercourse, for want of a better word. The days passed too quickly. One day after the other disappeared until we were beyond the halfway point. Every minute of the day that I was not loving Jason, I was trying to discover a way by which I might keep him with me. My search was exhaustive but fruitless. The days were too short and the nights even shorter. Jason became browner and browner as his young body became stronger and stronger. Still slender, his thin frame hinted at the development of muscles that, with only a few months of exercise would make his young body become lithe and agile. But despite his increased appetite, his body still burned calories faster than he consumed them. Jason lost weight, a pound every week as his flesh tightened and the soft, puppy fat on his body disappeared and his skin became taut and firm. Our life followed a regular pattern, from the time we awoke and made love, to eating an early dinner and making love immediately afterwards as we watched the sun set. Sometimes, unable to resist the desires we shares, we went to bed hungry, then late at night we would snack in the bed. But more often than not, we ate dinner on deck as the sun set. They were romantic meals, sharing hugs and kisses, before we went down into our cabin, or lay down on the cockpit seat and shared even more. Afterwards, when the longing to be joined together had faded enough for us to separate, Jason would use the radio to call his friends. Usually Jeff was waiting for his call and sometimes it was a four-way, two boys in the Greek islands, two boys in Australia. At those times, I worked on my book, making good progress with what I considered to be significant improvements. I hoped the publisher agreed. It ended all too quickly. I was unprepared and the last night came unexpected and with devastating pain. Both of us were unprepared, neither of us ready to be separated, even for a single minute. The evening began as any other during the last two weeks. Immediately after dinner, we went to our cabin and made love in the position that we had come to cherish the most. I would lie on my side, Jason on his back, positioned with his legs wide apart and hooked over my hip so that he was perpendicular to me. I held his shoulders with my left arm, restricting his movement. Though now unnecessary, I hugged him closely as I tried to merge his body into mine. With my right hand I was free to do whatever needed to be done. Sometimes I masturbated him as we moved together, but mostly my fingers massaged his little testicles or caressed his thighs and belly. Having my penis inside him was more than enough stimulation for Jason so that he did not care for the added excitement of being masturbated. He was content just to be 'poked'. In this position, we were equals. Jason could control the rate and depth of my penetration, positioning my penis where he wanted by shifting or rotating his narrow pelvis, tightening his bowel as his orgasm came, or pulling away when he needed to catch his breath. I could watch the absolute joy in his face, a study in juvenile ecstasy as initial discomfort became utter, joyful abandonment and finally lewd triumph as he felt my seed empty into him. And then we would kiss, joined mouth to mouth, his tongue swirling deeply into me, as my penis stayed deep inside his bowel. Our juices intermingled and completed the union that our bodies established. Unlike my first clumsy try at loving him, we were now experts at delaying the inevitable wet conclusion while giving Jason one dry, pre-pubescent orgasm after another. For that was the wonder of our love-making. Each time I found it remarkable; Jason could do 'it' time after time and other than breathing hard, showed no decrease in interest as I continued to 'poke' him. According to Harry, it wasn't unusual, in fact it was perfectly normal for a pre-teen boy. With pride he informed me that Jeff was the same way though, he added regretfully, it would not be long before the boy was having wet orgasms. That last night was a particularly nice 'poke' that lasted probably forty minutes or more, if we had timed it. There was no rush and we copulated gently, with slow movements, relishing every loving thrust. As usual, I left his penis alone. Jason preferred it, if only because it allowed him to concentrate on more profound pleasures. His little penis contracted, shrivelling up and withdrawing into him, a condition that was matched by his scrotum, tightening until his testicles were compressed into his inguinal canal. Like that, his foreskin was longer than the rest of his penis and his testicles were invisible. It was hard to conceive of Jason as a boy, the attributes of his male sex being insignificant. His genitals appeared to be no bigger that they had been when he was two- years-old. Afterwards we kissed, making up for our gentle love with deep, long, hard kisses. Breathless, we finally collapsed, locked in each other's embrace and afraid to break the silence and the wonder we shared. As usual, Jason's limited attention span proved our undoing. "Can I call Jeff?" he asked softly. "Uh huh!" I answered as I brushed his long, blond locks back from his forehead. "You don't need to ask, you know that, Jas'. You going to tell him about tonight," I teased. "You must have climaxed half-a-dozen times." Jason smirked, squeezing his rectum tightly so that it compressed on the limp penis that was still embedded within him. He shook his head. "He's probably doing the same thing with Harry, don't you think?" I smiled. "Not unless they did it in the bar,... maybe they did it on the terrace. Do you think it'd be good for business?" Jason giggled. "I'd go. So would you!" he teased, knowing that I was very fond of Jeff. He tightened his sphincter as his body tensed and strained downward. The stress inside him increased and I felt a sudden rush of blood impelled into my penis. He was a wretched, little rascal sometimes. Jason smirked at me again, squeezing even harder as he felt my penis begin to swell again. I smiled again and lifted his legs up so I could withdraw my penis before Jason provoked it into erection again. My wet, slippery penis eased out, like a worm being pulled out of its hole, it stretched, then as the head came free of Jason's anus, it sucked wetly and loudly. Jason giggled again. "Pretty messy back there, huh?" he asked. I picked up the hand towel from the shelf next to the bunk and lovingly wiped his crack clean, dabbing the corner of it into the distended, little hole. Already, it had started to regain its proper composure, closing as the foreign invader was extricated and the pressure relieved. "You're clean," I said after I wiped the last of the glistening olive oil away from his scrotum. "Thanks. You were great by the way," he smirked. "That was maybe the nicest 'poke' ever. I like it when you do it slow like that." "So were you. You feel okay?" I asked. He nodded. "I feel fine." He giggled. "I'm a bit sloppy inside from you, though." I laughed. "I can't imagine why?" He twisted away and lay down over me, giving me a full- body hug as he rubbed his little genitals hard against mine. The rate at which he recovered fascinated me. One moment he would be barely conscious, his young body drained and on the point of physical exhaustion. A minute later he would be 'back to normal', ready to go swimming, wrestle with me, talk to Jeff on the radio, eat, or, even do 'it' again. He lifted his hips up and felt between our bodies. The slimy fluid of our love covered both of us and he grinned cheekily as he felt it on his own little penis. "Sex sure is messy, isn't it?" he observed cheekily. "I guess, but it sure is fun making the mess. You going to call Jeff?" I asked. "It's nearly eight o'clock." Jason nodded and kissed me again. It was a sweet, tender kiss, almost chaste except for the presence of his tongue in my mouth. He lifted his body up, straddled me, with a grin leaned forward and licked my mouth with a wet swipe that went from chin to brow, and slid to the floor. He was tanned and beautiful and it was all I could do not to drag him down onto the bed again. He smiled at me knowingly. It was obvious that Jason had the same idea. "You wanna 'poke' again?" he asked. "I don't have to call him." I grinned, trying hard to resist the temptation. More often than not I succumbed but tonight I would wait until we were back in bed again. It was only another two hours to wait. My hesitation answered Jason's question. He smirked. "You owe me one later tonight," he said shamelessly. "I guess I better hit the can so I don't leave slime marks on the seat again." I grinned as I watched his cute little bottom disappear into the bathroom, still feeling the longing to be back inside it. I heard a wet, little fart gurgle out of him as he expelled some of my semen, 'slime' as he persisted in calling it, and then he came back into the cabin. He gave me a shy smile, a little embarrassed as always after he found my semen inside him. For the white fluid that came out of him was the unmistakable evidence of our love, proof positive that a grown man's penis had been inside his bowel. He picked up the hand towel on his way to the navigation area. I watched through the open doorway as he spread the towel over the seat and carefully eased his body down. The soreness inside his body would disappear in a short while but I still felt responsible. Other than the occasional pained expression, it did not appear to bother him and he accepted the raw stretched sensation as the price of being my lover. Besides, it didn't last very long. I watched him proudly as he switched the radio on, dialed in the frequency and gave the call sign for Apollo. He was as good with the radio as I was. In fact my ten- year-old son was good at lots of things. I had no qualms about letting Jason dock the boat, he had the makings of a great helmsman and he learned as a rate that seemed impossible. Even the most complicated activities he grasped easily. I listened to the playful chatter of the two boys, a hundred miles apart and two-years difference in their ages, but they could have been twins in the same room the way they carried on. I picked up the manuscript and started in on the second-to- last chapter. My work was interrupted by Jason's shrill voice. "Hey Dad, Harry wants to speak with you," he announced. I placed the manuscript back on the shelf and went out to the main cabin. Naked-Jason was sitting cross-legged on the settee, the microphone stretched to the limit of its cable. I smiled at him, observing his small hand as his fingers casually stroked his limp penis. His foreskin retracted easily now, as well it should for the amount of practice it had received. "Hi Harry, how's the weather in Paros. Over," I said. "Oh fine. Listen, is Jason there with you now?" he asked. I glanced down at my son and he grinned up at me cheekily as he shook his head playfully. I tousled his hair lovingly as he leaned forward and planted a wet little kiss on my now-slime- encrusted penis. "Yes," I admitted. "You might want him to leave for a few minutes. This is, well,... it's kind of personal and it involves him," Harry explained. I nodded and pointed upstairs. Jason pouted for a moment, realized that he wasn't going to win this battle no matter what he did, and headed off silently. I waited until he was in the cockpit and out of audible range. "Okay Harry, he's gone. What's the problem?" I asked seriously. "I'll get straight to it. His mother just called. She's on the telephone right now. She wants him back,... right away." "What the fuck are you talking about, Harry? I still have five days with him. He's not supposed to leave until the 27th," I responded angrily as a terrible panic came over me. I trembled as I felt my happiness die. "What do you mean, right away?" "I don't know. Listen I'm just the message bearer. I can patch you through to her now. She's waiting on the phone." "Fuck her, Harry. I've got five days still. I want to keep him forever, Harry. I love him!" I gasped. "Hell I know that. I know you love him. Let me patch you through to her. You can tell her to fuck off." I waited for a few seconds as Harry made the connection. "Leane, is that you? What do you mean, you want Jason back right away? You're crazy, I've got five more days still!" I said abruptly. We were off to a good beginning. "I know that's what I said. He has to come back now. Tomorrow morning at the latest." Leane said angrily. "You didn't want him in the first place. I expect I'm doing you a favor." "I can't send him back tomorrow! You'll have to wait until the weekend, he'll be on the flight he's supposed to take. What's the big problem anyway?" I demanded angrily. "I want him here, tomorrow. I'm marrying Carlo then and he's got to be here." I took a deep breath and sighed. "Leane, you don't need Jason there for that. I don't think he'll even want to be there. Leave him with me, how about a few more weeks, until he can get used to the idea. You can have a honeymoon. Don't you think he's going to be shocked by you remarrying?" "You don't have a choice in this. I've already re-booked his flight. Your friend in wherever, Paros or something told me you were fairly close to Athens. You could be at the airport by tomorrow morning." I studied the chart. "The hell we are, Leane. It's ninety miles away and the winds are light up here, it's at least two days back to Athens," I retorted. "You don't have a choice in this," Leane said angrily. "I want him here with me." I paused for a moment, realizing that we were getting nowhere fast. "Leane, I want Jason to live with me. I think,... no I'm sure, that's what Jason wants as well." "I don't care what Jason wants, and I care even less what you want. You said last time, that you might take Jason next summer. Good, if you want to see him again, then you'll get him to Athens Airport by eleven o'clock tomorrow morning," she demanded. "You're crazy, Leane. Even if I left right now and motored the whole way we wouldn't get there until tomorrow afternoon. Besides, it's goddam dangerous to be sailing around here at night." I said angrily. "If you want Jason next summer, you don't have any choice." I snorted angrily. "Christ! Why is it so important for you to have Jas' at your wedding?" "I want him to be with his father and me. It's an important time in his life." I blew up. "He's already got a father, you bitch. You never wanted him before." "Well, neither did you. I'm not the one who pissed off and left him for eight years, am I?" Leane said angrily. "Well I'm not the one who wanted to abort him," I said softly. "You never loved him, Leane. Jason was an inconvenience in your life." "You bastard. You had to bring that up, didn't you? Yes I wanted an abortion! I didn't want any part of you inside me." I sighed in desperation. "He's a wonderful boy," I said quietly. "Leave him with me, please. He's been very happy these last few weeks. I love him, Leane." "If you want him next summer, you'll get him to Athens by eleven, tomorrow," she replied unreasonably. I studied the map again. "I'll try, okay. I think I can get to Khalkis by tomorrow morning and I'll take by bus into Athens. It's still unlikely we'll make his flight, but I'll try. Listen Leane, I know you hate me, but please listen. I want Jason with me," I pleaded. "I want him to live here, please. Not next summer, but from now on." "This call is costing a fortune. Just get him on the plane. We can talk next week," she replied and then the phone clicked and the static came on the line from the broken connection. Jason cried. He wailed, he sobbed, he screamed at me, at his mother, at the world around him. I tried to comfort him as I started the engine and commenced the thirty mile trip to Khalkis. He could not be comforted. He was heart-broken, his young life, only minutes before so complete and happy, had been devastated in seconds. Finally he fell asleep in the cockpit and I covered him with a blanket as I cautiously navigated Apollo through the night. He slept fitfully, crying several times in his sleep, once sucking his thumb the same way he did as a baby when he was sick or upset. It was along, slow trip, travelling at half-speed, just five knots because I was afraid to open the engines up for fear of hitting floating debris. We arrived in Khalkis as the first rays of the sun appeared in the east. I was tired, my energy drained not by the long night but knowing that I was losing Jason. We didn't have sex again. There was no time and the desire to join our bodies together was not present. Both of us felt our hearts torn apart, each time I saw Jason's sullen, saddened face as he packed his bag, I wanted to cry. He did cry, little tears trickling down his cheeks constantly, though, like me he could not find the words to express what he felt inside. We had to hurry. We caught the first bus out of town, an ancient tour bus converted to local use. It was crowded and we found seats in the middle, between two overweight Greek women dressed in black and two elderly men. We didn't speak more than a dozen words during the three hour trip. From the bus stop we took a taxi to Hellenikon Airport. Jason cried as I tried to say good-bye. All he could manage was 'I love you, Dad' before the hostess escorted him away. I stayed in the airport for nearly an hour after his plane departed. I had no where else to go. I hoped that maybe his plane would turn back, I'd see him walking though the crowds, grinning cheekily, he'd appear like a wonderful apparition. Finally I left, walking mindlessly, unthinking, unseeing as I left the airport and began the long trip back to Apollo. I wanted to die. Only the thought of having Jason with me a year from now, kept me going. By the time I arrived back at Khalkis, my mind was made up. The next morning I would leave for Italy. The trip to Rome, actually to Ostia or Lido, was a long one; a rhumb-line of almost a thousand miles if I went by sea, passing south of the Peloponnesus and through the Straits of Messina. It would take at best seven days, and more than likely ten days. I would do whatever was necessary to get Jason back again. PLATONIC LOVE. DAY 30. Frascati. August 22th, 1993 "Oh, the gods, the gods cheat us! Our Youth's first glories are Youth's first forfeits." Petronius, The Satyricon. Leane placed the June issue of "Bella" on top of the magazines that were piled neatly on the delicately carved Louis XIV table. Absently, she picked up Jason's book. It was the book that he had discarded as he had gone sleepily off to bed only a few hours earlier. It was Thomas Mann's 'Death in Venice'. Not a book for a young boy, especially not a book for a boy like Jason. It was a very sophisticated book for a boy who was just ten-years-old. But then, Jason was intelligent. He was very intelligent, perhaps too smart for his own good. She sighed in desperation, then shook her head in frustration, wondering if she should have married Carlo. The trip to Pais had been disappointing and it appeared that Carlo would show little interest in the most important of his matrimonial responsibilities. During the three weeks they spent together she had gradually realized that not only was Carlo disinterested in sex, but his mind appeared to be elsewhere. At least her mother was at the villa now and she provided some company. Leane opened the cover of 'Death in Venice'. It was a first edition and she immediately assumed that Jason had taken it from the family library. Its pages still as clean and crisp as the day it was printed. On the second page she realized that it was a gift and it had been signed, "To Jason, I will always love you, Dad. August 14th, 1993." She dropped it on the coffee table as if it had burned her hand. Thoughts of Jason and his father came to her. She could still hear her ex-husband's demanding voice from the previous night. She could hear his voice breaking as he begged her to allow Jason to stay with him. She smiled smugly, enjoying her position. It served him right. He deserved nothing. He had no rights to Jason. Even though in many ways it would be considerably more convenient for her if Jason was to live with his father, she would never give the man what he wanted. She would never give him the opportunity to be happy. Leane glanced around the room, barely recognizing the intricate, green patterns of the vast, 17th-Century Flemish tapestry that adorned the wall, the Italian-marble fireplace, the soft, leather couches. Her son was the only male link left in a family that could trace it's roots back to Bavaria and more than three hundred years ago. 'Male', that was a joke, she thought cruelly. But then, why should she expect anything else? "Yes," she thought to herself, Jason Anderson had always been different to other boys. In many ways, he was a truly remarkable boy, though few people would ever come close to understanding what made him so special. There was a familiar pattern to Jason's life. People, both young and old, were immediately drawn to the overly-handsome boy, attracted to his delicate, finely-sculpted features, the graceful, young body, the quick and ever-cynical wit, the precious, boy-soprano voice. But lasting friendships never formed. Jason was doomed to loneliness, it seemed. She had always known that her son was a very sensitive boy. He was too sensitive to life around him and, afraid of being hurt, he quickly erected a barrier against all whom he came in contact with. He stood aloof, avoiding the rugged demands of young males to the point where he was unable to relate to boys his own age. Without the protection and nurturing of a father, Jason had become effeminate, developing epicene qualities that identified him as a sissy. Though Leane did not appreciate the extent of Jason's problem, she was well aware that he was not popular at school and subjected to snickers and jokes behind his back. As far as Leane knew, only Carlo Gubbio had been able to penetrate the boy's shield. Somewhere within Jason was a lonely, ten-year-old child who was at one time curious, extremely complex, and desperate for a man's affection. Leane switched off the lamp and walked into the hall, not even glancing at the Uccello and Fragonard paintings on the wall. She smiled and shook her head at the maid as she came out to wish her good-night and to ask whether 'Signore' needed anything for the night. But what 'Signore' needed, the over- cute, but not-over-bright, Sicilian maid was unable to provide. Tonight, Leane needed a hot, hard penis; unfortunately it could only be Carlo's penis. She went up the stairs slowly and stopped at the landing. Leane turned and looked behind her. Sophia was still standing at the bottom of the stairs, sensually running her hand over the intricately carved newel post of the banister as if she were caressing a woman's breast, Leane's breast. For a moment Leane considered inviting Sophia to come to her bed again. The young woman, still in her teens, had an attractive body and was exceptionally skilled in its use. Leane shook her head slightly, not tonight. Tonight she needed a man. Tonight she needed a man's penis inside her, pounding inside her until the thoughts of Jason and his father were pushed from her mind. She also needed to consummate her marriage, undesirable though the thought of it had become to her. Tonight she would sleep with Carlo. She yawned sleepily. It had been a long day but at least she was married again to a man who had an abundance of money. But the best thing about the marriage was Carlo's age. He was still good-looking in a refined, gentlemanly-like manner, but old enough not to have a sexual desire that demanded her attention. Just once a week, she expected. One time every week she would 'service' him. It would be enough to keep him happy, enough to meet her obligations under canon law. In fact Carlo had already hinted that her relationship with him need not be exclusionary. She wondered whether Carlo knew about Sophia. There seemed to be very little that he did not know about. She paused for almost a minute on the landing, wondering whether Carlo had an ulterior motive for his statement. There was a hint, no more like a strong suggestion, that their marriage was one of convenience, that their vows, barely ten hours old, were never to be given their full import. And then there was Jason. Jason was the source of her problems and the heart of her suspicions, at least as far as Carlo was concerned. He had insisted that Jason return for the wedding, contriving arguments that demanded the boy's attendance because he was an essential part of the 'new family'. Carlo would not go forward with the wedding unless Jason was there beside his mother. While that in itself was not cause for suspicion, when considered in conjunction with the preceding events of which she had knowledge, it opened a frightening possibility; Carlo was sexually attracted to Jason, to her son, to a ten-year-old boy. Leane walked slowly, reluctantly moving towards Carlo's bedroom, soon to be her bedroom. The mere idea of intercourse with the man was repugnant to her. When she remembered Sophia's firm, young body she wanted nothing else. Sophia's grasping legs had held her head so tightly than Leane had been unable move, except to give succor to the vagina presented to her and to accept the pleasurable manipulation of her own. Momentarily, she paused outside Jason's door. It was closed, for the first time ever, it was closed. It was so unlike him. Without knowing why she tried the handle carefully and was not surprised to find it unlocked. He was only ten-years-old, still too young to need such extreme privacy, though old enough not to allow his mother to observe him naked. He had not done that for many years. All day, from the time his plane had landed at Fiumicino until he had finally gone to bed, Jason had sulked. He had surveyed them critically during the wedding ceremony, fulfilling his duty to his mother by standing by her at the wedding, but he had done so with a miserable, almost sour expression, and unconcealed disinterest, even mutiny. Later he had wandered away during the celebration on the terrace. All through the day and into the evening Jason had observed his mother with reluctant affection and Carlo with something that bordered on outright dislike or disdain. Leane wanted to talk with him. She did not intend to put up with a spoiled, wretched child, even one of her own making. Jason would have to grow-up quickly and adjust to her changed expectations. His life had changed and if he did not behave, her solution was already formulated. Jason would go home with her mother and spend the next few years in a boarding school. Again, without knowing why, she opened the door cautiously and stepped inside. The light was off and for a fraction of a second, in the darkness and silence of the room, she thought that Jason was asleep. But he was not asleep. Neither was Jason alone. The light from the hall spilled through the open door behind her and illuminated them. She gasped in shock, her mouth dropping open in sudden dismay. Carlo was sitting on the edge of the bed, his hand between Jason's bare legs, the sheets and boy's pajama pants discarded at the end of the bed. He was half-naked and Carlo was playing with a small, very-rigid penis. That Jason had become erect through no fault of his own, that he had fought valiantly, though ineffectually against his body's instinctive response, was of no importance and of no interest to his mother. The undeniable fact was that he had stiffened and lengthened until his penis throbbed from the very hardness of its erection. More lonely than he had ever been and with his heart cruelly 'broken', Jason had tried desperately to resist. He had tried to beg Carlo to leave him in peace, pleaded for him to stop, and lost. His traitorous penis decided an outcome that would be otherwise. It responded to Carlo's gentle touching even as memories of the things he had done in Carlo's bedroom came rushing back and he submitted unwillingly. Leane's hand flew to her mouth, stifling another gasp. A scream of rage welled up within her. "My God, Jason what in the hell are you doing?" she demanded. Jason felt a hot flush burst through him as he twisted away, burying his shame in his pillow. He sobbed as his mother stepped closer. She saw his immature, but very-aroused genitals displayed between his wide-stretched legs and watched as Carlo's fingers continued to grasp his undeveloped scrotum, still squeezing firmly on the tiny, highly sensitive testicles inside. "You disgusting little pervert," Leane shouted angrily at Jason and then she turned to the man who continued to fondle him. "How could you? Tonight, Carlo, of all nights? Couldn't you leave him alone for just one night." Carlo smiled enigmatically, almost unseen in the darkness. "Why Leane? Why should I? What did you expect?" "What do you mean, what did I expect? I expect you to leave my son alone. I expect you to be my husband! We were married today, damn it, I expect to be fucked. Not my son, Carlo, me!" she swore furiously. Carlo scratched his cheek thoughtfully. "I might have married you Leane but I fully intend to consummate it with Jason. Tonight! " "You're crazy. He's a boy! I,... I won't allow it. It's obscene! It's unnatural! It's,... it's against God!" she argued foolishly. "Perhaps, Leane, but little Jason doesn't appear to be averse to the idea, now does he?" Carlo taunted as his fingers squeezed harder on the boy's testicles. Jason winced, momentarily trying to pull away from the strong hand that possessed him. Leane glanced downward, seeing again the small, still-very-hard penis. It appeared to be very exposed as it protruded from the boy's groin. Instinctively, protectively, Jason tried to bring his knees together and hide his genitals. As his knees lifted up, Carlo firmly pushed them down again onto the bed. "Look at him Leane. He wants it just as much as you do. Only he wants it in his ass while you want it in your cunt. And personally, Leane, I prefer his ass." "You,... You,... bastard. How could you?... How could you marry me? How? It was only to get him in your bed, wasn't it? All the presents, everything, were for that weren't they. You don't want me! You don't want a woman, what you want is a ten- year-old boy! You're sick, Carlo," Leane sobbed. Carlo shrugged. "Maybe, Leane. There isn't much you can do about it, you know." "I can go to the police. It's child abuse. They'll put you in jail," Leane said triumphantly. Carlo laughed. "You're joking. Not in Italy they won't. You really don't understand do you. With my money they won't do anything. What's more likely is you'll be deported." He laughed again. "Perhaps I could have you declared an unfit mother, or even insane. I would get guardianship of my little prince." "Never! I,... I'd kill you first." Carlo grinned, now rubbing Jason's penis between his fingers. The little foreskin retracted easily and the tiny glans pushed forward. It went unnoticed at the time and Carlo did not pay any attention to it. "As I see it you have a choice, Leane. It comes down to leaving tomorrow, and ending our marriage with an annulment, or accepting that Jason sleeps with me," he offered graciously. "Under the first choice, you'd get nothing at all. Under the second, well it will all be your's and Jason's one day, won't it. Your son still has a few years left to share with me,... when he's older he'll go his own way. Till then, you go your own way, with Sophia or whomever you desire." "You're asking me to consent to you fucking my son," Leane said angrily. "You're crazy!" "If you wish to be crude about it. Yes! It's a price he doesn't mind paying, so why should you? Look at him, Leane, Try to tell yourself your precious little boy isn't queer. Of course he is. He probably would be happier being a girl." Carlo grinned. "It's your fault he's like this. It's your fault he wants it in his ass, Leane. Believe me, I know," he added. "Hardly. I don't know how you can say such a terrible thing. How is it my fault?" Carlo rubbed his hand slowly over Jason's thighs, then back against the small, slowly softening penis. Within a few seconds its stiffness returned, responding of its own volition to the man's exploring fingers. Carlo smiled. "You've as good as emasculated him, you know. You've made him the way he is. You've ruined him with your nagging and your hatred for his father. And now your little boy needs a man, Leane." "And that's you, I suppose. You're sixty-one and you want to have sex with a ten-year-old boy. That's disgusting!" Carlo smiled slowly and then glanced at Jason, his face still buried shamefully in the pillow, still sobbing. "Disgusting? No, I don't think so. Jason and I are old friends. He's a sexy boy. He likes it, Leane. He's as queer as any boy I've known, probably even more so than most because he's younger. Look at your little boy, Leane. Look at his cock. He's embarrassed in front of you but he still likes it. He's always liked it, right from the start, a month a ago." "He might like it but that still doesn't make it right!" she exclaimed angrily. "But why do you think it's wrong, my dear? He wants to learn about sex and I want to teach him. He's old enough to get laid. God knows, when I was ten I was fucked often enough. For him, well it's a natural part of growing up, isn't it?" Carlo explained with a surprising calmness. Leane sighed and shook her head in despair. "So I married a goddam boy lover. Do I have a choice, Carlo?" "I think you're smart enough to chose the best for Jason, Leane. With me, both of you will be very wealthy. Jason will go to the finest school in Rome. He will want for nothing. Neither will you for that matter. When he's older he'll go to whatever college he wants. He'll have opportunities that other boys will never have. He's actually very lucky. He'll be a lot happier living here than in that dump in Kentucky." "He,... he could live with his father," Leane retorted. "He said he wanted Jason to live with him! His father has enough money to give him most of those things and he wouldn't be screwing his ass either." "But then you'd get nothing, Leane. You'd go back to that dump and work. You'd still have to take Lockley's shit. You'd be still driving that old car. You'd still have nothing." "And what do I have to do, Carlo?" Leane asked suspiciously. "I have to agree to let you screw his ass, is that it?" "Nothing so vulgar, leane. I expect you to consent to Jason being my friend, let's call him my companion. What we do together is our business," Carlo said quietly. For some time, though uncertain as to when the thought had first occurred to her, Leane suspected that Carlo Gubbio had exploited his relationship with her son. In some undefined way, though visibly evidenced in the boy's increasing indifference and disturbing remoteness, Carlo had taken Jason's innocence in return for friendship. In fact, as Leane reflected on the signs she had observed, she came to the inescapable conclusion that she had managed to almost avoid for a month. However, her conclusion was so far fetched at the time that it was unbelievable. Such things could not occur in front of her nose and go unnoticed. It was simply impossible. But things had happened during the week before Jason had left to visit his father. There were things that could not be easily or simply explained away. There were Carlo's gifts to Jason for one thing; endless gifts from Carlo, expensive presents that were undeserved; a gold Cross, a watch, a diamond stud, clothes and toys of all types and sizes. Rewards, or tokens of Carlo's affection for the boy? She shuddered as she wondered. Rewards for what? Leane clenched her hands together. Again, the same conclusion came. And then there were the daily trips with Carlo in the sports car, disappearing for hours at a time it seemed, and the quiet, retiring boy, so shy and sensitive and becoming colder and more distant after they returned. It was as if Jason was ashamed as he ambled off impassively, seeking the seclusion of his own world of fantasy. What had happened in the car? Again, she reached the same conclusion. But with all the evidence, she was still uncertain. It could be an innocent manifestation of an old man's delight in her son, or confirming testimony of gross and deplorable behavior. But there was one thing that had happened whose significance was painfully and brutally clear even at the time, though she had chosen to overlook it. It had happened on the night before they left for Paris and Jason left to visit with his father. It was the night that she had spent so recklessly with Sophia. That was the night she knew, but still refused to believe. Or had she known then and merely accepted the truth of it. She shuddered. She remembered the night in vivid detail, just a few hours before dawn when she returned to her own bedroom, physically exhausted and still trembling from the passion that Sophia had aroused in her. She had heard the unmistakable click of a door handle as he stood in the shadows at the end of the hall, hidden from sight. She had watched in grim disbelief, at first rejecting the evidence of her own eyes. Little, naked Jason had appeared through the door to Carlo's room. He carried his pajamas in his hand. He stopped, turned, took a step forward and stood on tiptoes. Who he hugged, the person he embraced, was unseen, but there could only be one man who held the boy. It was a simple act that was too heinous to be believed. No, she decided, she had not overlooked it. She had simply chosen to ignore it. Her life would change, Jason's life would changed with her marriage to Carlo. If there was a price to be paid, then she would pay it and Jason would pay it. She could never return to the squalid, little apartment in Paris, Kentucky. She shook her head resolutely. Strangely, she did not feel revulsion. Instead, there was a curious freedom as if a load had been lifted from her shoulders. It was attended by an almost mystical fascination with her son's sexuality, he was so small and fragile, yet his body was desired by the same man she had married. It did not seem obscene, merely unpleasant and distasteful, perhaps even convenient if examined in a particular way. It would remove her from certain 'obligations'. Leane looked at Jason uncertainly, weighing the facts as she considered the opportunities inherent in a relationship involving Jason and Carlo as well as herself. All said and done, she had to agree to it if she wanted to maintain the standard to which she had now become accustomed. If it was what Jason wanted as well, then there was no 'problem'. She could live with it. Slowly she nodded, still stroking the boy's head. "Jason,..." Leane began. She paused for a moment. "Jason,... is this what you want?" Jason, sweetie, honey, do you?" she coaxed. She leaned forward and reached down an stroked the boy's small head. "Jason, answer me, please darling," she said. Jason shook his head slightly. "I-I-I w-w-w-a-n-t t-t-to l- l-live w-w-with D-D-Daddy," he wailed, stuttering with a frightening nervousness. He shook his head again, this time more vehemently. Carlo smiled at Leane. "The little prince is ashamed. I should think his answer is obvious," he smirked as he stroke the rigid little penis. "Jason, honey,... it's your body,... you can do what you want with it, understand. If this is what you want, then it's your business and no one else's. What you and Carlo do in private, well,... it's up to you to decide. Do you understand? Jason, answer me!" Jason, curled up in a little, fetal ball, nodded fractionally, his breathing strained as he struggled within himself. "M-M-Mom, p-p-please,.... d-d-don't be angry. I-I-I c-c- can't h-h-help it," he implored. "I-I-I w-w-w-want m-m-my Dad," he cried. Leane breathed out and shook her head. It was Jason's decision, after all. "You might see him next summer. If you're good and he still wants her, perhaps you can spend a week or two with him.... Good night, honey," she said softly. "M-M-Mom, p-p-please," Jason begged. But Leane had already turned away and was almost to the door. "Lift your legs up, Jason," Carlo commanded. "M-M-Mom, p-p-please," Jason whimpered. "D-d-d-don't,..." For a second Leane paused in the doorway. "Higher!" Carlo ordered. "Show me your ass, Jason! Yeah! That's better. Now pull you cheeks open.... Further,... wide apart." Leane quickly pulled the door closed behind her, uncertain as to the nature of the sound she heard, though it came from Jason and sounded a lot like an animal-like squeal of terror. PLATONIC LOVE. DAY 31, Frascati. August 23th, 1993 "The testicles are even more important than the heart, since, besides the heat and strength they give to animals, they are responsible for the continuance of the species, for they impart to the whole body a power similar to the sensory and motor power which the brain communicates to the nerves, and to the pulsatory power that the heart communicates to the arteries, and this power causes the male's vigor and virility." Galen "God Mom, I can't believe he's dead." Leane sobbed. "I don't understand why he isn't here, now, with us. Why was he driving in his car in the middle of the night. And Jason! What did he mean about Jason? I'm so worried. I,... I don't know what to do." Leane looked over towards the telephone. In shock, she could not focus on it. She shook her head wildly. "It can't be true! I don't believe it! Carlo's not dead! He can't be dead! We were leaving on our honeymoon today." She shuddered constantly as the pain came in terrifying waves, still trying to decipher the meaning of what she had heard only minutes earlier. "What did he mean, Mom? What he said about Jason. He said that Jason's recovering. It just doesn't make any sense to me? He said something about an operation? Jason's in Ravello, at Carlo's villa there, he said." She leaned down and tore a tissue from the silver box and wiped her tears away. "I don't understand? Where in hell is Ravello? What operation? Jason wasn't even in the wreck? Mom, I'm so worried," she gasped. Christina came over to stand beside her daughter, placing her arm around her daughter's shoulders. "Honey you're not making any sense. Tell me what he said. Who were you talking to on the phone?" "I was talking,... Cardinal Orselli," Leane said dazedly. "I don't believe it. It can't be true." "What can't be true? What did he say?" "Carlo's dead, Mommy. There was an accident,... on the freeway. A car wreck, and Carlo's dead. It happened early this morning,... south of here. Carlo was on his way back from a place called Ravello. That's where Jason is now." "You're still not making any sense, Sweetie," Christina interrupted. "Why is Jason at Ravello?" "Christ, I don't know. Orselli said something about an operation. I don't understand. Why would Carlo take Jason anywhere at night, I don't understand." "Yes, I'm sure it's very confusing." "Mom,... Carlo was having sex with Jason," Leane breathed out. "What? You must be joking!" "No Mom! Last night, when I went to bed,... I found Carlo in Jason's bedroom. He was, he was playing,... with Jason's penis. I was angry, of course. He's my husband and he was playing with my son's penis. He was rubbing it." "Leane, I,... I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." "Don't be stupid, Mom! I married a goddam faggot. He married me only to get at Jason. He told me that. It's very simple, really. Jason sleeps with him at night, instead of me. He intended to consummate our marriage with my son, with Jason." Christina regarded her daughter with visible shock. "You can't be serious?" "Oh yes! I'm serious! You better believe it, Mom. Either that or a divorce, and then I get nothing. The papers I signed before we were married are explicit. Carlo knew exactly what he was doing. He said that Jason will sleep with him, maybe for a few years, until he's thirteen or fourteen, and after that everything will work out fine. There's no problem! All I have to do is put up with it until then." "You mean you agreed?" "Yes, in a way, I guess I did. I,... I told Jason it was his body and he could do what he wanted with it... I said it was his business,... what he did with Carlo at night. I didn't want to know about it." "So Jason's gay? Well, well. I guess it isn't a surprise is it? I always knew, I always said that he was effeminate," Christina said cruelly. Leane shrugged as she tried to appear unconcerned. "So what if he is, does that make it any better? And what if he isn't?" "Well, I'm sure he'll grow out of it, then. And if he is queer, then what's the loss? As far as I can see, all you can do is gain, Leane. In fact, both of you are better off living here than in that dump in Kentucky. You won't have to work and you'll get everything sooner or later, as soon as Carlo dies. I mean he's sixty-one, he can't last forever, can he?" "Mom, I thought about that. It seems so selfish of me,... to allow Jason to do it so that I benefit," Leane said quietly. "It's wrong and we both know it. I ought to call the police." Christina smiled. "It's a bit late for that now, isn't it?" "I guess so. Mom, what about Jason? What operation was Cardinal Orselli talking about?" "I'm sorry about Carlo, honey. Really I am. But I'm sure Jason's fine. It can't be anything really serious, can it? He's not at a hospital, Lee, now is he? Didn't Orselli say he was at Ravello, staying at Carlo's villa?" "So where in the hell is Ravello, Mom? I didn't even know that Carlo had another place besides this. What goddam operation was he talking about? Jason was perfectly fine yesterday. There's nothing wrong with him." Leane turned away from her lover and stalked over to the telephone. "I'm going to call the police and find out what's going on!" she said angrily. Christina shrugged, " Good luck, kiddo. Dealing with those clowns will be an experience, I'm sure. Look, Jason's got to be okay. Maybe he broke an arm or something. Or cut his knee, who knows. These people could mean anything when they say 'operation'. God only knows what Jason's doing in Ravello, though." "But where in hell is Ravello?" Leane demanded. "God I'm worried, Mom!" Leane stood before the telephone, considering the problems and the vagueness of the replies she expected, that she knew she would get at eleven o'clock in the morning. "God, how I hate this country. What did he mean about Jason being better in a week, or so? About being able to come back here at the end of the week. Christ, that's six days away. What operation were they talking about? Mom, I'm scared, really I am." There was a long silence as Leane walked back over the window and stared out at the countryside that opened outward from the terrace. She turned back to the other woman and spoke hesitantly. "Mom,... do you think,... it has anything to do,... with what Jason was doing with him at night?" Christina shrugged, "Maybe. But I'm sure he's fine. Like I said, it's probably just a broken arm or something like that." Leane swallowed nervously and looked back at her mother angrily. "What if he's been hurt? What if he got hurt inside? From doing those things, well maybe he was injured. He's just a boy and,..." The other woman shook her head and interrupted. "I think that's silly, Lee. I'm certain they were still just playing around together. I'm sure it's harmless and Jason's okay." "Don't be stupid Mom. I know he was going to do it with Carlo. What do you think 'consummate' means for Christ' sake? If he's hurt Mom, its my fault. I let him do it. God, I told him it was okay. I told him it was his business what he did at night with Carlo. I said,... Mom, I even said it was his decision,... what he did in bed with Carlo." Christina nodded sympathetically. "It's too soon Lee. Believe me, honey. There's just no way he's going to get hurt enough to need an operation by playing a few dick-games with a sixty-one-year-old man." Leane looked back at her mother. She was still frantic as she brooded on her son's fate, now regretting her decision to bring the boy with her to Italy, let alone condoning his illicit relationship with Carlo. Christina moved towards the door, neither enjoying her daughter's pain or appreciating the interruption to her planned schedule of shopping in Rome. "I'll get Tony. He'll know where Ravello is. He may even know what happened to Jason. I'm sure he's fine!" Christina left the room, glad to be free of her daughter's problem, but knowing inside that it wasn't over - it wasn't over by a long way. As she walked down the hall she couldn't help but smile to herself as she thought. She expressed her contempt for her grandson in an unheard whisper. "I always knew he was queer, a stupid, goddam faggot. I wonder what trouble the little shit- head's got himself into now." She found Tony in the kitchen eating an early lunch. With no Italian beyond the few simple phrases that every tourist picks up, conversation was impossible for Christina. Finally she managed, "Ravello? Dove Ravello, Tony?" It produced a long discourse from the young man and much gesticulation. She pulled him after her, back to the library, back to Leane. Ten minutes later, after many attempts and raised voices, they were still no closer to understanding where Ravello was, what had happened to Jason, and Leane was barely able to avoid crying. It was the sound of tension and worry in the mother's voice that finally convinced Tony to bring a map. They unfolded it on the ancient oak table where the fate of many had been decided over the centuries. Tony stabbed his finger on the map, at a point several inches below Rome. Ravello was clearly shown, a small town on the Amalfi Coast. Within a few minutes, the two women were able to convince Tony of the need to take them to Ravello. Tony was very uncertain. He was convinced that Cardinal Orselli would not be pleased. It was in direct violation of the orders he had received earlier that morning, but then Tony had never been one to follow orders and he owed no allegiance to the old man now that Carlo was dead. He brought the Mercedes limousine to the front door and was waiting when the two women came out. They had changed from tennis clothes to something more suitable for the journey south. The road from Rome to Naples was busy but they still travelled quickly; 209 kilometers on the A2 autostrada at a speed that was often in excess of 140 kilometers per hour. A little more than halfway, they crossed the Liri River and then after another ten kilometers or so came to Monte Cassino. They looked, but there was no sign of an accident having occurred there only twelve hours earlier. There was no sign of the remains of red Ferrari Testarossa. However, it would have been on the other side of the autostrada, heading north, back to Rome. Tony stayed on the autostrada all the way to Castellammare. Uncertain of the best route, the fastest route, he stopped the car and leaned over the seat, pointing at the map with his finger. One way was via Sorrento and Positano, the other was more direct, though on bad roads over the mountains. They took the shortest route, one leg of the triangle, up into the Monti Lattari. Tony was an aggressive, but skilled driver, wielding the wheel with two hands and using the accelerator to power the heavy car through the sharp bends of the steep ascent into the mountains. It seemed to take forever. The road was narrow and it twisted and turned, sometimes one curve after another in endless succession. They reached the summit in the mid-afternoon, just after three p.m. and started the descent. The huge Michelin tires on the Mercedes limousine howled, the engine roaring as the car hurtled downward. The noise echoed off the rock walls and seemed to bellow back at them as the car raced across narrow bridges that spanned deep gorges and through the tunnel outside Agerola. The road became even more torturous as they came closer to the coast. On another day, Tony would have stopped the car, letting his passengers enjoy the spectacular view of the Amalfi Coast. The mountains came right down to the sea, cascading into azure water with unbelievable drama. Christina and Leane had been silent for almost two hours in the car, the tension building until the air seemed to crackle. "It's so beautiful," Leane said at last. Christina smiled and lovingly placed her hand on the other woman's thigh. Carefully, so that Tony would not notice. "Yes, Lee! Yes, it is beautiful," she agreed softly. Leane smiled, stroking the hand tenderly. "I'm sure he's okay," she said quietly. "Thank you for coming with me, Mom. I couldn't stand this by myself." Christina nodded, now caressing Leane's thigh slowly with her fingertips. It was an indecent touch, couched in the intimate contact of mother and daughter. Tony glanced in his rear-vision mirror and smirked knowingly, thinking of the many jokes that the servants had about Jason's mother and the 'little prince', as Jason was affectionately called. Tony swerved violently as the mountain road joined with the coast road at Vettica Minore. Now the road became a corniche, the most famous road in all of Italy. It followed the coastline, twisting back and forth as it snaked from one mountain to another. In places, it was incised into solid rock, with glimpses of the ocean still far below and wild-shaped rocks that plunged into the crystal waters. The road leaped deep gorges on narrow bridges that were made even more dizzying by the speed of the car. They raced through Amalfi and for a few moments a police car gave pursuit until the driver saw the plates and recognized the owner. Immediately the police car pulled over, giving up the chase. Only a few minutes later, the Mercedes began the steep climb to Ravello, winding its way through a series of hairpin bends along the Valle del Dragone. Vineyards and olive trees lined the road and both sides of the gorge. Above them, the white walls of the village seemed to grow out of the hillside. Just before the Cathedral, the car skidded to a halt, squealing tires as it accelerated up a narrow lane that skirted around the village. A few more minutes and Tony pulled up and stopped the car in front of a large rusted gate. He turned the engine off and twisted around, now-smiling with a twisted, knowing smirk. Now, the boy was most certainly 'the little prince' in more than name only. "We are here!" he announced. "Villa Pallavicino. It belongs to Carlo. Your son, Jason, is here!" Leane turned to Christina. "Come with me, Mom?" she asked quietly, her voice breaking with the tension of the last few hours. The two women got out and walked up to the gate. It was locked. Christina turned to the small metal grate in the wall and impatiently pressed the buzzer, demanding admittance. Minutes passed and there was no answer. Again, Christina pushed the buzzer and an angry, ancient voice called out loudly. "No tourists. This is private property." Leane looked at Christina uncertainly. "Is this the Villa Pallavicino? Do you have my son in there? My boy, Jason, is he in there?" she demanded. "My husband is Carlo Gubbio!" This time the voice seemed angrier. "Private property. No one is here. No boy is here." Leane looked at her mother with desperation and shook her head. "He's here, Mom. I know he is." At that moment, a telephone rang somewhere inside the house. It seemed to come from the left of the gate. The minutes that passed seemed like an eternity. Finally an old woman came out of the house and shuffled slowly up to the gate. She was old, perhaps sixty, and stooped from years of hard, back- breaking toil in the vineyards. She looked though the crack between the two gates suspiciously. "Signore Gehring?" she asked in a voice that scratched with harsh, angry tones. Both Leane and Christina nodded. The old woman appeared confused for a few moments. "Signore Gubbio? Jason's mama?" This time only Leane nodded and she stepped forward so that she stood before the old woman. She watched watching her fumble at the lock on the other side with gnarled, arthritic fingers. One gate swung open, just wide enough to admit her and she stepped through. Christina stepped forward too but already the old woman was closing the gate. The lock clicked as Christina reached it. The old woman smiled slyly as she pointed, "Her! Just the mother is allowed in! She is the boy's mother!" She turned and shuffled her way back towards the house, expecting Leane to follow her. Leane stopped in silent amazement. She was standing in the most beautiful courtyard she had ever seen. It was cool and shaded and planted thickly with hydrangeas and tea-roses. Three sides of the house formed a U-shaped cloister. Above the colonnade of Romanesque columns, pointed arches gave a distinctly oriental appearance to the building. A marble fountain provided the centerpiece. Water splashed from a beautiful, bronze statue of a naked boy. Except for the short, tight curls, the resemblance to Jason was remarkable, though it could have been any ten-year-old boy who provided the model. The boy's body arched back, feet planted apart, legs braced, two tiny hands guided a small penis, directing a stream of water that splashed into the pool below. The woman stopped and turned back again. She sighed impatiently. Quickly, Leane caught up. They walked into the colonnade. At the corner of the cloister, the inside wall stopped and formed a doorway. Leane looked though into another garden. Like the courtyard, this too was richly flowered, one side lined with an avenue of box and cypress trees, leading to a belvedere in the distant corner. Beyond the rotunda, the blue ocean and sky merged. She turned back to the old woman, not wanting to be left behind again and antagonize her even further. The woman was observing her curiously. Leane shivered involuntarily. "Jason,... my son, is he okay?" she asked nervously. There was nothing but silence. Leane asked again. Again silence. Then, after nearly a minute the old woman spoke. "Cardinal Orselli will explain as soon as he arrives from Napoli, Signore." "Damn you," Leane swore. "Is my son all right? For God's sake, answer me! What's Cardinal Orselli got to do with my son?" "Cardinal Orselli will explain... The boy is,... okay." She stopped, knowing that she was forbidden to say more. For a reason beyond her grasp, she was strangely drawn to the mother's frantic worry. "He will be all right. He is a good strong boy," she added. "For God's sake, please? Please tell me what's wrong with him?" Leane pleaded. "He is better, Signore. He has woken up once and eaten already. He is asleep now. The boy will get his strength back in a few days." She paused, unwilling to continue the explanation. "He's young. I'm sure he'll recover quickly." "Recover from what?" Leane asked loudly. "Tell me, what's wrong with my son." "Castrato." The old woman said the word so softly that Leane could barely hear it. For a while she did not grasp the meaning of the word. Slowly the full import came to her and she stared at the old woman in disbelief, dumbfounded. "What,... do you mean? Castrato?" she gasped. The explanation was everything Leane sensed and anticipated in a quickly growing horror. "Si Signore, gelded. Like a capon. You understand, his eggs are gone?" Leane felt her legs weaken and she swayed, nearly fainting as she leaned heavily against the ancient stucco wall next to her. "Why? Was it an accident?" she asked in a trembling whisper. The old woman shrugged. "Why does it rain? It was not an accident. These things happen, Signore. Cardinal Orselli will explain. He will be here soon, within the hour. He called from his car. I should have said nothing." "But why? Why do that,... to a little boy? To my son? To Jason?" Leane murmured in disbelief. "You answer your own question, Signore. He won't miss what he doesn't know. He is still too young to know what he had there." "Where is Jason now?" Leane asked weakly. She was no longer able to deal with the implications of her son's injury. The shock grew until she felt very faint and she shivered as she realized the terrible implications of what she had heard. The woman looked upward, identifying some remote, unseen part of the villa that was above them. "The little prince is sleeping, signore. It is good for him to sleep. He will forget sooner. He will forget what was taken from his body last night." "But why my son? Why him? Who would do that to my son? To any boy?" Leane questioned with growing annoyance. The old woman merely shrugged. "You must wait for Cardinal Orselli. He will explain but you should understand one thing. It was not forced on the boy, Signore." Leane's jaws clenched in anger and she breathed deeply as she tried to control her rising panic. "Wait here, in the garden, Signore. He will be here soon enough." Obediently, Leane waited in the garden for Cardinal Orselli to arrive. Somewhere in the ancient villa lay her son. Her instinct, all reason, the special bond of mother and child, all told her that she should go to him, but the old woman had been adamant. The old woman, Maria, had said that the boy was sleeping and could not be disturbed. She would see him as soon as Cardinal Orselli arrived and had talked with her. Leane felt impotent, suddenly very alone in the foreign country that at first had seemed so much like her own. Again and again she looked back at the villa. Its white stucco was fading in spots though it still gleamed in the brightness of the late afternoon sun. She walked up and down the avenue, following the box hedge. There at least she was shaded from the dying heat of the sun as she tried hard to understand what Maria had told her. Alone, she decided that none of it made any sense. There was no reason why her young son would ever do such a terrible thing to himself. Maria had spoken as if the boy had come willingly. But that seemed most unlikely, and the fact that he had some how agreed to be mutilated like that; that was simply impossible. And yet, despite her anger and shock, she also felt strangely relieved. Her son was, had been, very close to one of the most important men in Italy and she suspected that if it had not been for Jason, Carlo would not have married her. Now, she would, according to her marital right and the will that Carlo had made the day after the marriage, inherit everything. And then, only hours earlier her marriage had been abruptly and very successfully terminated. She had, within a period of only a six hours, become very, very rich. Perhaps she should had been more assertive when she discovered that Jason and Carlo were becoming 'close'. Perhaps he was too young to be the man's 'companion', but it was too late to worry about that now. However, what she felt was more than relief from what had promised to be an unfortunate liaison. Despite her misgivings, almost in direct contradiction to the disgust she felt, there was an intense, possessive pride in her son, in the fact that Carlo Gubbio had not only befriended the boy but had been intimate with him as well. There was a curious fascination in that fact that although her son was physically and sexually immature and emotionally still a child, he had been Carlo's lover every bit as much as she had been his lover. It was difficult for her to imagine what Jason had done with her husband, but he did have the intelligence of a boy in his mid-teens. He was intelligent enough to understand both what the man expected of him and what he needed to do to enjoy himself. It both depressed her and fascinated her. Jason was an unusual boy, a truly remarkable boy, whose young life had been destroyed by the abomination that now dominated her thoughts. The horrible mutilation of his body seemed to have no cause beyond the undeniable fact that it was her fault. She could only blame herself. For a long while she thought about asking Maria to bring her mother in. She did not. In some strange way she knew that this was her problem. It was something that she would have to face alone and not with her mother beside her. It was something that she would soon have to face with Jason. The few things she knew were unbelievable, yet she also knew that the old woman had spoken the truth. She knew it instinctively, from deep inside her. It was a 'gut feeling' that was unimpeachable. Fifty long minutes passed before she finally saw the man framed as a dark silhouette in the doorway of the villa. He was talking with the old woman and although Leane was nearly at the distant belvedere, she recognized the tall, distinctive figure of Cardinal Orselli. For a moment she thought about going to him but she hesitated. For some reason that nagged at her mind, she knew that he should come to her. She must not be the frantic mother of a little boy whose life had just been devastated. She waited in the dark coolness under the rotunda at the belvedere, enjoying the cool breeze as it swept upward from the ocean far below and swirled around the marble structure. The man approached. He was well-dressed, bearing himself proudly. His clothes were from the finest tailors in Rome. He stopped as he reached the belvedere. "Bon giorno, Signore Anderson," he said gently. She nodded her head, a life of respect for the clergy was instantly revealed in a gesture of acknowledgment, "Your Eminence," she breathed out. The man smiled reassuringly. He was old but he was still unusually handsome, not unlike the parish priest she had known as a young girl in Baltimore. "I am sorry that we have to meet again under such circumstances." Leane nodded and returned the smile weakly, obediently submissive. She swallowed and took a deep breath as she prepared to release the torrent of words she had prepared in her mind. Cardinal Orselli anticipated her attack. "Maria has told me that you know what has happened to your son. I am sure you have many questions and that you are very angry. Your son, Jason, is a wonderful boy." Leane nodded and released the breath with a nervous tremble, her right hand clenched. "Your Eminence,..." she began. The man smiled again, still reassuring, still calming her. He spoke very quietly, his soft voice penetrating to the core of her being. "It was what the boy wanted. Jason requested it,... that it be done to him." Leane shuddered. "He's only ten,... Damn it! He's ten years old." She shook her head, still disbelieving. "Ten-year- old boys don't request that,... that they be castrated. How could you do that to him?" she begged. "I did not do it, Signore." The silence that ensued was intense as they stood only a few feet apart, glaring at each other. "How could you allow it then?" Leane added. The man shook his head with dismay. "Signore Anderson," he began gently. "You knew that Jason was with Carlo Gubbio at night. You must have realized that your son was doing things with him, things that ten-year-old boys generally don't do with men. How could you allow your son to do that?" he concluded quietly. Leane spun around angrily. "That's different," she retorted. "That's very different to this. Jason was,..." She paused looking for the appropriate word, "agreeable." Cardinal Orselli smiled slightly, "But Signore, he's still a little boy, isn't he? Does it matter if he was,... agreeable to the arrangement?" She sighed, wondering why she had ever agreed to bring Jason to Italy and to take up residence in the beautiful villa at Frascati. Bringing Jason had been Carlo's idea and now she understood why. She wondered why it had been so easy to give her consent, even if it had occurred simply by accepting the 'arrangement' and by telling Jason that 'what he did with Carlo Gubbio was his business.' "What's Carlo got to do with this?" she demanded angrily, glad that she could find a way to shift the focus from her irresponsibility and away from her culpability. The man moved away from her until he stood with his back against one of the eight columns supporting the dome of the rotunda. "The accident is most unfortunate. Carlo Gubbio should be here now, explaining this. He understands better than I do,... better than all of us. He should be here to comfort the boy." The man looked away towards the horizon, following the rugged coastline towards the Isle of Capri, where the sun was slowly sinking closer to the sea. "I expect that he made the boy aware,... of the possibility, say we say. The decision, ultimately was Jason's. However, I'm certain that your son understood the consequences of it. I'm sure he knew of the,... uh,..." He stopped, searching for the right word. "... uh,... ramifications of the operation and how it would affect him later. In my opinion, the boy's reasons are probably the same as those when he went to Carlo Gubbio at night. You know he went willingly." He turned back to face Leane. "Your son is a homosexual. But it's not only that. You know as well as I do, Signore, that Jason is a girl living in a boy's body." Leane shook her head, trying to deny the fact that she had already come to accept long ago. She had known it to be true ever since her mother had first observed the quintessential differences between her beautiful, slender, blond grandson, and other boys of his age. "But how could you agree to it?" she repeated. "How could you allow the mutilation of his body?" The man shrugged. "It's not my right to agree or disagree with what was done. Besides it's done now, anyway. You may now want to accept that Jason requested it, but that is the truth." He gestured out towards the water. "It's not something that you can put back, or make better by being angry. This thing, this mutilation as you call it, is not that terrible for him. Simply, it makes him less of what he is and more of what he really wants to be." PLATONIC LOVE continued. Leane nodded slowly. In a strange way it made sense to her. She looked out towards the ocean, silent in her own confused thoughts. It was, she realized, like a tragic comedy. At first the entire world had been so different for the two of them when they left the States and came to Italy. It was a vast, barely-believable change from the apartment outside Lexington to the beautiful villa overlooking the Roman Campagna. Was this the price of it? "Who,... who did it?" she breathed out. She feared the answer even as she spoke the words. "Carlo." "Oh God! No! I don't believe you! Carlo wouldn't do that. Not to Jason! Not to us," she screamed. She sagged back against the column behind her as her knees weakened. There was a terrible pressure in her bladder and she fought for control. The old man nodded sagely. "You know that Carlo is a doctor. Is it such a surprise? You know that he loved the boy, don't you?" Leane pushed her fingers through her hair, clasping them tightly as she fought against overwhelming misery. "NO! No! No, He,... he he wouldn't do that to Jason. It's a lie," she sobbed. "Carlo is,... was,... very,..." He paused, half-closing his eyes thoughtfully as he searched for the words he needed. "demanding. Sometimes he was irrational. He was not,... not insane,... but confused about his feelings for boys." "You think he was crazy don't you?" Cardinal Orselli shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps sometimes he was. You knew how he felt about your son but you didn't stop him." "I tried. I found them together,... last night." Leane shuddered. "I, I didn't think he would hurt Jason. Not like this!" He pressed his hands together and interlocked his long fingers. "I know that he was very careful not to hurt the boy more than was,... necessary." Leane closed her eyes as clenched her fists powerlessly. She felt impotent and sickly, her rage surging helplessly within her, unable to find an outlet. Her son, her beautiful son had been sterilized. "Is Jason all right?" she finally asked with motherly concern. "Yes! Of course, he's sore, but otherwise he's okay. The boy is still weak, needless to say. Even though it's a minor operation, always there is some weakness that follows. The boy needs to rest and regain his strength. In a few days, he will be up and walking around." "A few days! Could I stay here with him?" Leane asked. Cardinal Orselli smiled warmly. "I think it would be better for all of us if you went back to Rome. Jason needs time to understand and to accept his loss. This is not a time when a mother's comfort can help him. I will send for you when he is ready to see you." The woman nodded, accepting that she could not help her son in this problem that seemed to be of his own making. She had nothing to offer Jason. "He's okay then, except for...?" she asked again, still very uncertain. She was unable to say the words. They stuck in her throat, unspoken. Leane took a deep, long breath. "Yes, I suppose it would be better if I went back to Rome. I trust,... I trust that you will help him through this." The man nodded gently. "Would you like to see him, Signore? He's still asleep, from the medicine for the pain." Leane nodded and walked beside Cardinal Orselli, back towards the villa. Each step seemed to take all her strength. "You must decide what to say,... to others," he continued "What do you mean? What I should say?" Leane asked uncertainly. The man gestured to the world beyond the confines of the villa. "You cannot say that he was castrated simply because Carlo did not want your son to become a man. I think it would be best if you said something else. Perhaps that he had a tumor. With cancer, I believe that removal is the only treatment." He paused thoughtfully. "Carlo, before he left last night, told me that there will only be a little scar and it is underneath so it will barely be seen. You might even choose to say that he was born without testicles." "What?" "Some boys are born without testicles. It happens sometimes. There is a boy at my school in Naples who is like that," the old man explained confidently. Leane swallowed and shook her head with a dull, slow motion. "A tumor?" she said. Cardinal Orselli gestured with his hand. "Perhaps that is best. You should decide. Your mother will certainly ask and there will be many other times as well, I'm sure." He took another step forward and then stopped. "It is a pity that Carlo cannot be here with us to explain things to you. His death is a great loss. Naturally, as a doctor he understands this thing so much better than I do. I believe he intended to tell you that the boy's testicles had become twisted during the night. Ah,... a torsion I think it's called. That too, usually results in removal. Perhaps that explanation is even better. It's your decision." They were halfway to the house, next to the stairs that led up to a terrace, when they stopped again. "It's still not right," Leane said, "but I think I understand why now. It's because,... because Jason wants to be with a man,... but he really doesn't want to be a man." Cardinal Orselli nodded affirmatively. "I think that is right. I have known of other boys who are very much like Jason. They exist as males because they are born like that, though they would be far happier to be of another sex," he said emphatically. "Most of them don't have the opportunity available to them at the time when it's right for them. Some have surgery when they are older." "What do you mean, the right time?" Leane asked. "It depends. I expect that before puberty has started is probably best. But not too soon, certainly not before they are,... interested," the man replied softly. "After puberty, it's too late to stop the changes and the boy often becomes fat. Then, he must take drugs as well." "It's beautiful here, Your Eminence," Leane observed quietly. She needed to change the subject. She needed time to think and to gather her strength for what she would see inside the villa. Her son was asleep in a room somewhere inside but despite the nerve-racking drive from Rome and the long anxious wait, she did not want to see him. The man nodded. "Please. Please call me Giovanni, Signore. Perhaps I can call you Leane?" Leane smiled weakly and nodded as the man gestured to the villa. "It was built in the thirteenth century. Over there, behind the trees is the Villa Rufulo. Several popes have lived there in the past. And Charles of Anjou, even Wagner, the German composer. Sometimes, boys were brought there too,... as well as here." "I don't see what that's got to do with it." "The Villa Pallavicino is still kept for that purpose, you realize. It belongs to Carlo, he acquired it many years ago, to,... uh, entertain his boys. As you can see, Signore, it is very private here. Before the Great War, choir boys, only castrati, were brought here. Sometimes it is still referred to as the Villa Castrati." He smiled. The operation was done up there," he added, pointing to a small window of a room on the third floor. "Is that where,... Jason is?" Leane asked awkwardly. Cardinal Orselli nodded, "Next door, in the corner room. That is where the boys recovered. There is a beautiful view from there and it is very quiet." Leane shivered uncomfortably, imagining the bed, the boy lying in it, the mutilation between his legs. The man continued. "It was done often enough just a hundred years ago. Many boys from across Europe were brought here. It was done to preserve their voices for the choir, you know. The other changes in their bodies, were of value too, of course." "He can't be a father!" Leane said with painful finality. "He can't have children can he?" "No, of course not! But then," the man shrugged, "Jason wouldn't want to have children anyway, now would he? We both know that. You knew that when you came here, when you allowed him to sleep with Carlo Gubbio." "Yes! Yes, I suppose you're right. Is it very painful, Giovanni?" she asked after a long, guilty silence. "The operation? No, it wasn't painful at all for him. Of course, he was unconscious. Afterwards, I am told that there is always some pain until the wound heals. A few days." The man started to lead the way again. "Please come, Leane. I would like you to see him before he wakes up. It would only upset him more to see you." Leane followed Cardinal Orselli into the villa and along the cloister that enclosed the courtyard until they reached the entry hall. Maria opened the door. "Your Eminence, the little prince is still asleep," she said quietly. She watched Leane curiously, now glad that the brewing anger within the boy's mother had been dissipated. "He is a beautiful boy," she said with open admiration. "He has your looks, Signore." Leane smiled slightly, then followed Cardinal Orselli up the stairs. She was oblivious to the beautifully carved balustrade, the works of art and other ecclesiastical artifacts that covered the walls. At the top of the stairs, the man turned to the right and led the way along the corridor. Leane looked into an open doorway and stopped. She trembled visibly. This was the room that Cardinal Orselli had pointed out to her from the garden. The room was painted white. The floor was covered with large, square red-ceramic tiles. In the center of the room was a bed. No, it was not a bed. She shuddered. This was where Jason had been taken during the night. The purpose of the leather straps was obvious. Straps for his legs, for his arms, for his abdomen. Straps to hold him in place, to force his legs wide apart, to secure his hips. He would have been immobile, even if he was conscious. His groin would have been directly over the shiny metal pan. Once the incision had been made into his little pink scrotum, his blood would have dripped steadily down into it, collected before it splashed on the floor. Leane shook her head relentlessly. She was startled as the man came back towards her. She closed her eyes, wishing that she was elsewhere, away from the terrible place, anywhere. Giovanni shuffled uncomfortably, waiting for the outburst of anger. "In the past, it was called 'the throne' and the boys that were gelded became 'little princes'," he said softly. "Afterwards, they were treated very well, like royalty you might say." Leane felt the bile rise in her throat and she swallowed. In her imagination she heard a loud plop as one of her son's testicles fell downwards. It was a cruel, metallic sound, of life ending. In the silence that followed she heard the steady, dripping sound of blood escaping from tiny, severed arteries. As she stared miserably at the ancient artifact she saw tiny dark spots on the wooden frame. "That's,... that's Jason's blood,... isn't it?" she demanded. She did not want to hear the answer. "But why are there blood spots?" Leane asked as she pointed to the one on the wood frame, and then saw another, and another. They were fresh, still dark red, not black like old stains would be. "Yes, I expect so. Sometimes, there is a lot of blood. In Jason's case there was some, though not as much because the incision was so small. He was asleep when it was done," he added gently. "The boy saw none of this. It's better that way. In the old days, before anesthesia, the boys were given wine. A lot of wine, I imagine." The man looked away. She heard him sigh sadly. "I'm sorry, Leane, I cannot lie to you. During the operation, Jason woke up. The drug had worn off enough for him to feel some of the pain, I expect. For a minute or so, he was very upset, until Carlo could give him more and put him back to sleep. I'm sorry. I did not want you to know that." "Jason was in pain wasn't he? He saw what was being done to him?" Leane asked concernedly. The man nodded. "How,... how can a man, a man like Carlo do that,... to a boy?" she murmured hesitantly. The man looked back along the corridor, towards the end room. "In a way, he was lucky. A hundred years ago, it wasn't done by a doctor unless the boy came from a rich family. Then, everything was cut off, even most of the scrotum. Now,..." he took a step away, moving steadfastly towards the one place that Leane did not want to go to. "Jason will still have a lot of feeling. A lot has been left, and as I said earlier, there will only be a tiny scar to show for it." The next twenty feet seemed infinitely long. Reluctantly, Leane walked beside Cardinal Orselli. His arm was around her shoulders comfortingly, almost protectively. Again, the room was painted white, but the floor was covered by a thick rug with intricate patterns that were woven in dark red and green. The bed was in the center of the room, though this time it was a bed in the usual sense. Leane walked quietly over to the side and stopped. She looked downwards at the small, fragile child lying back in the pillows. He was asleep. His silver-blond hair was freshly brushed. As she looked down at him, Leane was stunned by the child's beauty. His eyelids seemed like thin veils over his eyes, his lips were paler and fuller than she remembered. His nose seemed very small. White sheets covered him almost to his chest. Cardinal Orselli came up beside her quietly. Then, as if he could read her mind, observed softly, "You son is a very beautiful boy." She glanced back at him. "He seems so innocent," she said quietly as she turned back to look at the serene child. "Yes, he is beautiful isn't he?" she added. The man stepped forward and cautiously lifted the crisp sheets down to the boy's knees. The boy was naked. He was naked except for the thin, gold chain around his neck. The small, gold cross hung between the tiny, pink dots of his softened nipples. It seemed to make him even more beautiful. He was pure and immaculate, perfect in every way. "You will need to bring some clothes for him, when you return," the man whispered. "He came here almost naked. Except for a tee shirt, he has nothing to wear. Bring loose clothes, shorts that are cool on his legs, with room down there, between his legs." Leane nodded. Slowly she forced her head to turn, for her eyes to travel down the slender, brown body to her son's groin. His small penis poked through a slit that had been cut in a triangular-shaped bandage. It was secured to the smooth, small body with adhesive tape, joined by pink strips to his belly, and to the groove that marked the beginning of his thigh. There was nothing to see, no sign of the operation, just a flat, white bandage that followed the contour of his body. It covered the small pubis and tapered downward over the curve of his urethra as it passed between his legs. Leane breathed out silently. She was eternally grateful that the boy's wound had been covered. She could not have faced that. Not yet, perhaps not ever. Then she shuddered as the realization came to her. The problem was what she hadn't seen. Where there should have been a plump, little bulge made by the boy's testicles, there was no bulge. There was just an empty flatness. She turned as the thought struck here, looking deep into the man's eyes for the first time and seeing sincere compassion and understanding within. Leane looked down again at the naked body lying on the bed. For the first time she noticed her son's suntan. He was a tanned to a delicious, golden-brown color from head to toe and everything in between. Even the tiny penis that poked from the slit in the bandage was brown and the bronzed skin disappeared from his belly and thighs, unbroken by even the faintest variation in hue or shading. That Jason had been naked most, if not all of the last few weeks was patently obvious. Giovanni smiled. "He has a wonderful tan, doesn't he?" Leane glanced up quickly, suddenly aroused from her private reverie. The man raised his eyebrows, "He looks as though he hasn't had any clothes on for some time, perhaps several weeks." She returned the smile. "I would say that's probably true," she answered even as she wondered how her young son came to be so tanned. Jason had spent almost four weeks with his father on the boat. He must have been naked the entire time. But there other changes in Jason as well. Beyond the fact that her son was considerably more confident and had not stuttered once since he came home, there were changes that only a mother (or father) would notice. The boy seemed happier than he had been in a long while. The rich, brown body was very different to the pale, awkward boy who had left on the airplane nearly a month earlier. She had noticed her son's bleached silver-blond hair and his healthy, dark tan as soon as he stepped off the airplane, but she had not conceived of the fact that it extended beyond his face and limbs. Even lying on the white sheets, even knowing the injury that had been done to Jason's body, she still found that the golden lustrous flesh to be intensely erotic. He radiated unbridled energy and life that was, in many ways, distinctly sexual. For a moment she wondered whether Carlo had seen the boy's tan in the darkness of his bedroom. The question formed in her mind as her eyes looked downward again. "What happens to him now, Giovanni?" she asked quietly. "Pardon?" "Now that Carlo is gone,... what happens to Jason?" Giovanni lifted his head up and stepped back slightly as he brought his hands together, pressing thumb to thumb and fingertips to fingertips. "That is difficult. If Carlo was still with us, there would be no question of it. The boy's welfare is the most important thing. There is, of course, prostheses for such an injury. His physical appearance, the,... aesthetic loss can be corrected with ease." Leane looked at him uncertainly. "His eggs would be artificial, of course. But there would be no need for anyone else to know. The development of his body, similarly, there are treatments available. Hormones can compensate for what he cannot produce for himself." The woman nodded. "He would grow into a man, then?" "If that was what he wished. Except, your son could not be a father, of course." "No, I understand that." "Your son can decide what he wants to happen. It is a matter for him and his lover to decide," Giovanni said quietly. "His lover?" Leane questioned. "But Carlo? Carlo's dead?" she acknowledged with finality. The man tilted his head slightly. "Yes, that's true. But Carlo was not your son's lover. He had yet to savor that pleasure with him." "Then what do you mean about Jason having a lover?" she persisted. "Your son has not been a virgin for quite some time, Leane. Perhaps since he started getting suntanned. He's been very active for a few weeks at least." "What? What do you mean? Active?... Oh! I see! But,... well, how can you tell? But Carlo?..." she asked awkwardly. "Carlo did not,... penetrate the boy. That would have happened soon enough, I'm sure. There are signs,... that are unmistakable,... that Jason is not a virgin." "Signs? What kind of signs?" The man breathed out slowly. "Leane, when a boy begins to have sex with a man, it's very painful. The man is big, the boy is small. A small body has to stretch and become accustomed to its presence. At first there is considerable bruising there and the flesh is very raw. Then, with practice, the opening is enlargened and becomes easier to penetrate." "And Jason?" "There are no bruises on him. Not anymore," Giovanni answered. "But! Then who? If Carlo didn't?" Leane asked suspiciously. The man shrugged. "I don't know." he paused for several seconds. "It made Carlo very angry." "Yes, I'm sure it did," Leane snickered. "The old bastard got what he deserved." "Perhaps? Carlo is,... was always very possessive of a boy he had,... befriended." "That's one name for it. He was crazy, wasn't he?" Leane asked. Her mind seemed numbed to the sadistic pleasure of her husband. Any love she had felt earlier had now evaporated. The old man nodded. "You're not even sure that,..." She bit her lip. "That,... that Jason... wanted it, are you?" Leane sighed deeply and shook her head. "If he was drugged when he came here,... then maybe it wasn't his decision. Oh God, I hate him." "Leane, please. It's too late now. The fact is, it's done and there's nothing that either you or I can do to change things. All that must matter now is the boy's happiness." "I know. I still can't help feeling sick inside. It's terribly wrong." Giovanni gestured towards the sleeping boy. "It depends. One might even say that it brings him closer to God." Leane's mouth opened to respond, but in surprise she was lost for words. The man continued. "A priest practices abstinence, does he not, to bring him closer to God?" The woman nodded uncertainly. He smiled reassuringly. "The search for eternal life is at the heart of all Christian theology, Leane. But, by producing children, a man assures himself of eternal life since the child will carry the father's life forward. Similarly, the experience of orgasm and the sex act itself, heightens the body's pleasure and denies the realm of divine mystery. Abstinence interrupts the natural condition so that a man's eternal life can be attained only though God." He paused and looked at Leane thoughtfully before he continued. "Abstinence, as part of Christian theology, dates from the Coptic era. There are many examples of hermit-monks living in the desert to avoid temptations, primarily of the female sex. For example, John Chrysostom is only one of many who tells us of this. Do you understand?" "Yes I think so," she said uncertainly. "That is also why a vow of celibacy is taken by a priest. Such vows have existed since the third century, and were much as those that are taken today. But even with total abstinence, nocturnal emissions and dreams of the flesh, were presumed to lead one away from the Divine Spirit. Abstinence alone was unsuccessful and for many centuries the act of castration was the practiced. Its precedent came from the Cult of Attis and the religions of Syria and it was the same as abstinence, except that it was irrevocable and therefore provided stronger evidence of the sacrifice necessary to attain eternal life. We can find ample proof that even the Gnostics performed self-ablation. It was a last resort perhaps, but frequent none-the-less." Leane appeared surprised for a moment. "But a child, Giovanni? Jason's only a child." Giovanni nodded. "According to the early texts, castration was even more effective then. Choir boys were castrated up the beginning of this century but it was done for reasons much more important than merely preserving the quality of a boy's voice. Puberty is the time at which the salvation of the individual, his eternal life, is assured. Therefore, preventing the occurrence of maturity ensures that eternal life must come from God." Giovanni smiled as he warmed to his topic. It was, after all, an area that had consumed his interest over the last fifty years or more. Leane nodded. "What you're saying is that the goals have not changed in two thousand years. Merely, the way in which we go about achieving them." "Yes. I think that's correct. In one way, the difference between celibacy and castration is a simply matter of degree." Leane nodded again. "This,... makes him,... I don't know, special in a way, doesn't it? In a way that is beautiful but very sad." "He is a beautiful child with a very beautiful body," Cardinal Orselli observed gently. "In some ways he has lost something very precious, in another way, he has gained immeasurably." "Now?..." She breathed out, a long painful sigh. The next thing she said stunned her as the words formed in her mind and she whispered, "Now he's even more beautiful, isn't he?" Cardinal Orselli nodded as he carefully lifted the sheet back so that it covered the boy's body again. "Yes, much!" he answered as he led the way out of the room and back down the corridor. "In a few days, the bandage will come off. He will heal faster when the air and light can reach the wound. In a week, it will be hard to tell that happened to him. In a month,..." His voice trailed off, leaving the obvious unspoken. They walked silently along the corridor, then down the stairs. At they landing, Giovanni stopped, examining a small painting. It was a pencil sketch of a young, naked boy, a detailed execution of smooth contour and slender limbs, a masterpiece by Durer. "Leane,... there is,... one more thing," he said slowly. Leane regarded him silently. "Late last night, before he left here, Carlo prepared a codicil to his will. Marie and I witnessed it. It was after,... he had finished with Jason,... I suspect it was because he endured some guilt from what he had done." Leane silently stared out the window. The spectacular view of the Amalfi Coast was fractured and distorted into a hundred little pieces of leaded glass. The ancient walls of the villa seemed to echo with the sounds of boys. She wondered how many boys had been brought there, how many had climbed the stairs and gone into the room where Jason had been taken. "Leane, in the new will, Carlo left everything to Jason. You are to have nothing." "What?" Leane gasped in disbelief. "Jason is the sole heir," Giovanni said flatly. "I don't believe you!... He left everything to Jason?" she questioned. The man nodded slowly. "He provides for you only until Jason is twenty-one, at which time he inherits everything." "Oh my God! The bastard! Is it legal?" Giovanni smiled. "It's perfectly legal. We have both lost more than Jason in a way, haven't we? Under the old will, the will he made when he married you, you received everything except for this villa and an endowment, which were to be mine, of course." "What are you suggesting?" she asked suddenly. "I think you understand as well as I do. If the boy receives his inheritance, you and I get nothing." "Where's the will now?" Leane asked. "I have it. It could easily be lost," Giovanni suggested. Leane took a slow, deep breath. "Then,... lose it," she said quietly as she turned away, adding under her breath, "What he doesn't know, he won't miss." They descended the stairs and walked through the loggia and out into the courtyard. Leane still struggled to understand but in a strange, terrible way, it seemed very right for Jason. She stopped to look at the courtyard again. Her sigh was full of regret but it also was pensive. She glanced over at fountain and saw the small, bronze statue of the boy urinating, a splashing, sparking fountain arcing into the water below. The similarity to Jason appeared even stronger now than it had been when she had first seen it. It was difficult not to smile when she realized the detail she had missed earlier. The little bronze boy was exactly like Jason. He too had been castrated. She turned around. Cardinal Orselli nodded reassuringly. Nothing was said but Leane's faint smile grew stronger as she sensed that everything would be all right. In one way at least, even without his inheritance, her son had gained as much as he had lost, perhaps more. Maria came out with them to open the gate, smiling as soon as she saw the mother's growing acceptance of her son. As the gate swung wide, Christina got out of the car. Leane turned to Cardinal Orselli. Their eyes met again. Recognition, understanding, appreciation, passed silently between them. Leane started to walk towards the car. She turned once and briefly looked up at the third floor of the villa, at the end where her son lay sleeping. She smiled and nodded her head at the man before she turned away. "Is Jason all right?" Christina asked. The other woman's voice seemed to startle Leane. "Uh! Oh! Yes,... I guess. Yes, Mom, he's,... he's okay." "What took so long in there? What happened to him?" Leane paused uncertainly, then took a deep breath. She had decided. "Mom, he had an accident. Jason's balls got twisted somehow." Christina smirked and shrugged nonchalantly. "Probably from having too much sex with Gubbio! We came all the way down here for that?" Leane half-closed her eyes thoughtfully. "Mom, they cut his balls off," she said quietly. Christina's smile disappeared. "You're joking?" There was a long silence as they stood next to the limousine. "They cut his balls off? The poor little bugger! Why? What's his father going to say?" Christina opened the car door and stood to the side as Leane settled into the seat. She followed, pulling the door closed after her. The Mercedes pulled away quietly as the ancient rusted gate closed with a noisy squeak.