Schoolie

Life in The Village, through the eyes of Tom Grant, the only teacher at the remote school.

This is an original work of pure fiction (just an expression of a fantasy)
by Robert A. Armstrong (a pseudonym)
(re-written from my 2013 version)

The resemblance of the characters by action, name, location or description to any real person is purely coincidental.

If it is illegal, or offensive, for you to read stories involving interactions of a sexual nature between adults and youths, then what are you doing here?

 

From Chapter 19

Mum suddenly breaks into our eating and small talk, "Are you boys OK? You both seem different this morning. You appear to have a glow about you. If one of you was a girl, I'd swear that you were both in love."

Shit! That broke the spell! My goose is cooked! Now what do I say? Silence!

However, yet again, Will replies faster than I could possibly have contemplated, and definitely not what I would have said.

"Why would one of us need to be a girl, Aunty Susan?" He delivers the words with such a straight-faced innocence that it has the effect of freezing time! Picture this: Mum has her knife in the marmalade. Dad has his coffee mug poised ready to set down on the table and Sis has her mouth open to receive a spoonful of cereal. Freeze frame!

Will keeps eating as though nothing has happened, seemingly unaware of the impact of his words. He is the only one moving. Maybe he's the only one breathing.

Me? I want to run, but I'm paralysed with fear and about to either shit myself or to throw up!

 

Chapter 20 – Surfers

 

What do I do? Do I laugh? Do I joke? Do I act offended? Do I confess?

Relief comes from the most unexpected person - Amelia. "Yeah, Mum. Why would one person need to be a boy and one a girl, just because they look happy? My friends and I are always happy!"

Thank God, she doesn't say `love each other'!

Will stops chewing. I think that he has suddenly become aware of what he said, and the implication of his innocent question. He swallows his mouthful, glances at my distressed face, then looks at Mum. "You know, Mrs..., Auntie Susan, I don't have to be a girl to be thrilled about my new family. I have a new Dad, a new aunt, a new uncle and two new cousins."

He doesn't let on that he knows anything further. He continues, "What is there not to love? Do you know that I always wanted a brother? You know: someone to play with; someone to wrestle with; someone to share secrets with; someone to teach me brother stuff? And Tom and I look so much alike that we could even be brothers. But, a cousin is close enough!" Mum and Dad both grin. They probably think that I haven't told him yet.

I think to myself, `Yeah... play with each other's body; wrestle with each other naked; share secrets of the most personal nature; and teach each other what thrills us and how to do it best.'

Dad joins in. "Yes, Will. I know exactly what you mean. Bill and I were very close growing up. We brothers had a lot of fun together. And I love him, too!"

However, Mum just can't let it go! She looks at me. "What do you say, Thomas? You've gone very quiet all of a sudden."

I think, `Work with me here, brain!' I deliberately take another bite of toast, chew slowly and swallow hard before saying, "Mum, after I found out yesterday that Will and I are related, I guess that I just pretended that he was the brother that I always bugged you and Dad to give me... no offence, Amelia!" She sticks out her tongue. "And, last night, we were so tired after everything that we just collapsed into bed together, like two little boys."

I ponder that this is the absolute truth! Then I add, "But, it was OK. He doesn't snore!"

"Well at least one of us doesn't!" Will quips. Sis laughs. I attempt to kick him under the table, but he is too quick and swings his legs to the side.

"Liar!" I joke and he flashes me a playful, broad grin. I continue, bravely, "And this morning, the `two little boys' even dared to shower together. And, I'm not telling exactly how much like brothers we really look!"

Will coughs.

Amelia giggles.

Mum blushes.

Dad says, "There's nothing wrong with saving water," and he winks at me. "Your grandma always insisted that Bill and I save water too, whether in the shower or in a bath."

I think, `Hmm. I seem to have eased into this relationship issue rather well. I've told them that Will and I have slept together and showered together, and still avoided discussion that might lead to disclosing our sexuality. And I appear to have both Dad and Sis on side with us.'

That will do for now! Let's change the subject - quickly!

I direct the conversation back at Mum. "By the way, Did Uncle Bill say where he's been for the last five years?" I'm sure that Mum would like to continue her own train of thought concerning Will and me and our `good mood' this morning, but yields the pursuit of her own interest to my question.

"He didn't say where he has been, exactly, but he did mention North and South America."

Dad chimes in, "He told me that he had been photographing some Aztec and Inca sites among the many things that he had wanted to capture both digitally and on special film."

I further direct the conversation away from the starry-eyed lovers... "And, do you know where he's heading next?" I have a vested interest in this piece of information - for both Will's sake as well as my own.

"No idea!" Dad says. "Does anyone ever know what he's thinking? He seems to just do things spontaneously. You'll have to ask him!"

I need to get away before Mum takes control again. "Hey, Sis, do you want to come for a stroll with Will and me while we check out the waves?

She looks shocked and says, "Did you just ask me to do something with you? Or are my ears malfunctioning?"

Now, Amelia has good reason to question me. Even though we get along well together, I've never really included her in anything that I've done, outside of compulsory `family stuff'.

"Yes, I did. Why? Don't you want to come for a walk," then I add, "... with Will?"

I've seen her infatuation for him, firstly because of his talent, secondly because he is her `new' (and only) cousin, and then, not to mention how handsome he is (although she would almost certainly deny that, if relating any similarity to me). LOL.

She shoots back, "Sure, I do!" and she starts to rapidly clear the table of the breakfast dishes.

I say, "OK. We'll meet you outside in five minutes." Then, glancing at Mum, I add, "I'll just go upstairs and tidy my room first. C'mon, Will, you can give me a hand." We take our own dishes to the sink and head for the stairs. I glance back at Mum. She is staring at me. I fear that I haven't heard the last of her interest in her nephew and her son.

As I open the door, I am shocked by the smell. The room reeks of sex! Will screws up his nose and looks at me. "I'll get the deodorant," he immediately smirks. While he sprays, I quickly make up the bed, pick up our hastily-discarded clothes and put them into neat piles on the camp stretcher.

Satisfied, I walk to the bathroom to take a pee, only to be confronted by the enema device lying next to the toilet. `Shit!' I think. I'll have to be more careful.' If Mum were to come snooping - as mothers on a quest tend to do - I can't leave anything incriminating lying around, and that includes the lube and condoms.

Will agrees to stash everything in his bag. Even Mum wouldn't take the liberty of looking into her nephew's belongings. I inhale the now-sweet air, open the windows then carefully scan the whole room. All good! I close the door behind us and we head downstairs. I call out, "Back soon!" to nobody in particular and make a hasty exit.

Amelia's not down here yet. Will and I stand by my car. I stare into his eyes and raise an inquiring eyebrow.

Will responds, "Tom, I'm really sorry! I nearly blew it, didn't I?"

I reply, "Yes, but thank God for Amelia!"

At that moment she appears, closing the door loudly behind her. "Did you just say something about me, Thomas?" she says, poking out her tongue.

"Yes, Sis. As a matter of fact, I did. As much as you may choose not to believe it, I was just telling Will how much I appreciate you."

Will gives his confirmation. "True."

She stops in her tracks and gives me a very strange look. "Mum was right - you are weird. I don't know what's changed, but I do prefer this Thomas to the old one!"

No poked tongue. Maybe this could herald a thawing of the juvenile cold-war relationship between the two of us.

For no apparent reason, I ponder the fact that my sister is also my cousin. How does that work? She and I have the same mother, but different fathers who just happen to be brothers! Sister or Cousin? Being both is just downright confusing!

I'm brought back to reality by Sis's clicking fingers in my face and her raised voice. "Thomas! Snap out of it! Come back to us!"

Will chimes in, "He's been doing a fair bit of that lately. Weird, eh?"

"Yeah, downright queer, if you ask me!" Her casual and derogatory use of the word `queer', which is also an inclusive term in the LGBTIQ community, actually `gets to me' more than any of her usual intentional insults.

I surprise even myself by avoiding the real temptation to engage in a verbal skirmish of traded insults with her about her `queer' caricatures and her `queer' friends, and simply reply, "If you say so, Sis."

Her response is, "WHOA! Definitely WEIRD! Who are you? What have you done with my brother? And where did you stash his body?"

Will and I laugh, and I say, "Come on, let's go and see if the waves are any good for teaching Will to do a bit of surfing."

Amelia grabs Will's hand and takes off with him towards the pedestrian crossing. Will glances over his shoulder at me and shrugs apologetically. I've never had any reason to be jealous of my pesky little sister, until now - seeing her fingers interlocked with Will's and swinging his arm as they walk together. It should be me by his side, looking so happy!

However, I console myself by watching Will's curvaceous butt in his tight shorts, then muse that perhaps Amelia has done me a favour, after all. I call out, "Hey... I love you... Sis!"

She says to Will, loud enough for me to hear, "What has he taken? What is he on?"

I chuckle in my own mind, `If you just knew! The only thing that I've taken recently is my brother's virginity!'

Will must be on the same wavelength. He replies to her, "Nothing that I haven't taken as well, I'm sure." Then he looks over his shoulder at me and gives me a very broad smirk. I wink back.

The strong salty smell of the ocean, isolated from me for months now, evokes positive memories of years of romping with mates, surfing before school and even back to my childhood as I recall Mum and Dad lifting their little boy high above each wave as it foamed and swirled around us before flattening out, up the golden sand. I inhale it again.

This morning, the rolling swells are relatively small and gentle - perfect for giving Will an introduction to body boarding.

I'm aware that Will has never seen or felt the ocean. His only experience with water has been in the river at the weir or at Jake's place.

"C'mon!" I say, "Take your sneakers off." I remove my sandals and head across the stretch of sand, freshly groomed by the local council officers with their large tractor-like `toys' that both pick up debris and leave the sand smoothed behind them.

The fine sand squeaks as I plant my feet heavily into it. The high-pitched footsteps of Will and Amelia are close behind me. The soft dry sand turns into that which is firmer and wet, and I walk straight down into the water and stand calf-deep.

"Hey, it's cold!" Will exclaims as he follows and stands next to me. Sis plants herself next to him.

"It's not that bad, really. You get used to it pretty quickly," I tell him.

We stand, and I enjoy the ebb and flow of the water around my legs. Each time it retreats, it seems to scoop out some sand from around my feet and I feel my heels sinking. We periodically step out and watch as it takes only three or four waves to erase every trace of our previous footprints.

I step deeper. Knee deep.

Sis spots a school friend jogging, and waves. "Back soon!" she calls to us, hurrying off to join her.

The sun is sufficiently high above the horizon to be shimmering off the ocean's rippled surface. The flashes of light are only broken by a body-boarder taking advantage of the appropriately-sized swells. "Would you like to have a go at that?" I ask Will, indicating the young guy on his board, coasting past us right to the shore. The athletic lad of about 14 stands, tucks his board under his arm and hurries close to us back into the deeper water, smiling as he passes, his wet white Speedos clinging to his body and leaving nothing to the imagination, front or back. His body instantly reminds me of Karl and Kurt.

"Hell, Yeah!" Will chirps.

Having followed the direction of his gaze to the boy's Speedos, I remonstrate with him "Hey. I meant the board, not the boy!" I reprimand him playfully by digging him in the ribs with my elbow. Then I think that I, too, had checked him out! We are so much alike, Will and I.

"C'mon, let's go back home and get some boards. I have a collection in the garage. I also have some Speedos that will have people checking out your wonderful body." Then I add, "We can wear matching ones."

Will adds, chuckling, "And I'll be checking you out too!"

I manage to catch Amelia's eye as the two girls, still at a distance from us, have turned and are heading back in our direction. I give her gestures to indicate that Will and I are heading home. She signals acknowledgment.

Entering the house, I immediately lead Will down the internal stairs from the kitchen to the garage. My boards are right where I left them months ago. I select two, give one to Will and explain that the velcro'd leg rope, apart from contributing to the boards being referred to as `tea-bags', is to stop the board from being swept away by a wave in the unfortunate circumstance of you and it becoming unceremoniously separated.

We head straight up to my room with the boards, avoiding any potential encounter with Mum. I fear what she may confront me with, or ask me.

I close the door and lean my board against the wall next to it, then head for my drawers. I rummage through the one containing underwear and swimming costumes and extract two pairs of pale blue Speedos. I know how revealing these are when they are wet. LOL. They are slightly different sizes and the smaller pair will sit perfectly on Will's marginally slimmer hips. I hold them both up to show him then toss him his pair.

Facing him, I drop my shorts and underwear and discard my T-shirt. Starkers! I watch his eyes as they widen, scan my body and focus below my waist. Then he teases me by removing his shirt first, then his shorts. He turns sideways to show off to me the bulge in the front of his undies, then pulls the waistband down at the back to cradle and lift his butt cheeks. He knows what turns me on.

"Need a hand with those?" I ask. "They seem to be stuck on something."

"Yeah," He smirks.

I reach for the sides and pull them as far down as possible while still allowing his erection to restrain any further movement without it popping out. "Hey, there's still a snag here somewhere."

Then, running my hand down his abs and through his bushy pubes, I rest upon his stiffness, which jerks at my touch. "Aha! I've found the problem!" I liberate his steeliness, then push the clothing downwards to his ankles. He steps out of them. I run my hands back up his legs, cup his balls with one hand and jerk his cock a couple of times with the other.

He pushes his body against mine, initiates a close-quarters sword fight, rubbing and thrusting while, at the same time, reaching around and grasping my butt cheeks.

"Hey, bro. We could go back to bed for a while," he rasps seductively.

"Yeah, right! And have Mum asking why we took so long upstairs? No thanks! I'm sure that she's already suspicious. Besides, you need to leave me some energy for tonight."

He smiles alluringly at me and replies, "Yeah. You're gonna need it!"

I back off, pull my Speedos on and struggle to stow my engorged cock. I decide to just let it stick out of the top of the waistband, face Will and say, "See what you do to me?"

Will does the same, his extra bit of length reaching higher and pointing straight towards his navel. "Looks like you do it to me even more!" he jokes.

"Come on. We need to cool down before we head downstairs, in case Mum is there." We set about doing anything that will distract us from each other's body. I even wash my face and hands in cold water.

With a semblance of respectability regained and semi-chunky cocks concealed, we grab our boards and head down. "If you see Mum, hold your board on the side between her and your body. She can't possibly see anything, then," I tell Will.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I spot Mum in the kitchen, I avoid eye contact and call out, "Just taking Will for a surfing lesson. Won't be long!" then I head out without allowing her any time to respond.

 

The water seems initially cold and dispels all residual chunkiness. The young guy is still here and has been joined by a few others, one wearing multi-coloured Speedos and the other two in thin-fabric board shorts.

We stand hip-deep in the water which rises to almost neck level with each swell, then subsides, sometimes well below crotch- (to almost knee-) level, revealing the obvious outlines of a pair of natural cock-and-ball bulges that, I notice, attract the glances of more than just one of the surfers.

We watch these guys for a few minutes and I explain to Will what they are doing to catch the waves and ride them in. We venture deeper. I help Will grasp his board and give him a helping shove as the next swell passes. He glides all the way to the beach then stands, looks as me and lets loose an excited, "Hell, Yeah!"

I follow closely behind him. He's already on his way back out to catch another wave, paddling on his board as he has seen the others do. I catch half a dozen rides then decide to sit and watch my handsome young brother for a while. I lay my board a few metres from the water's edge and take a seat on it. My feet are flat on the sand, with my arms supported by my raised knees.

Will appears to be enjoying himself immensely. Not only has he mastered steering from side to side across the swell but it's also obvious that he's made some new friends. He and the other four guys are all talking and laughing together as they alternately paddle out and ride back.

I also can't help but notice them regularly checking out, pointing and playfully snatching at, each other's packages, and not bothering to be at all discrete about it. There are some comments that I can't make out, but lots of good-hearted laughter, probably resulting from a few of them, including Will, getting noticeably chunkier in their Speedos or board shorts.

I decide to re-join the fun, introduce myself to them and, as Will's `obviously' brother, am accepted readily into the teenage group.

At one point in the frolicking, somebody suggests doing `tandem' runs. I'm not sure what they mean until I see one guy remove his leg strap and leave his board on the sand. Then I watch as the two of them head out with one board.

Their intent becomes evident when one guy holds on to the board as though he is going to ride in, and the second one swims onto his back. Four hands on the front of the board and bodies resting in such a way that the top guy's package would be nestled firmly into the hollow below the bottom guy's backside. Hmm.

There is much laughter, chuckling and gyrating as they ride in. The first pair reach the beach and there is an audible `my turn' as they swap over the leg strap and head back out.

I suggest to everyone that three of us, Will, me and one of the others, should keep our leg straps on and provide rides for each of the other three. Then we can swap.

Joey, the lad in the white Speedos, volunteers to be the third.

The others all jockey for position - Will being the one in greatest demand.

In providing three rides, I am greatly aware that Simon and Luke, the two older of the other boys, are more `firmly' excited than Andy, who is the other young one.

At the end of their rides, the three head for the shore to get their own boards. Will, Joey and I swap top and bottom positions until we've each had a ride on and under the other. Will, when on my back, whispers, "This is so much fun. I wish that Karl and Kurt were both here with us." The thought of Kurt and I riding alternately on each other's back makes me even harder than I was a moment ago.

The six of us stand in knee-deep water. All embarrassment about erections and pretence about checking each other out, are gone. Then I enjoy my three rides, especially on top of Simon and Luke who keep wiggling their backsides to feel me up. I enjoy a few gyrations and lunges of my own that are met with groans of approval and satisfaction.

Simon announces that it's time for them to go before the sun gets too high and too hot.

Joey says that he should be going too, but adds, "I've got to shower first to get the salt out of my hair and the sand out of my arse."

They all agree that showering is a good idea and they look to Will and me for our intentions. Will casts me an inquiring glance. I respond with, "Great idea, guys. We'll join you in a minute."

Excitedly the quartet dash up the beach.

My knowledge of these dressing sheds and showers is such that I know Will is in for a treat. I say to him, "Let's give them a couple of minutes' head start. You'll see why when we go in."

As the two of us lean our boards against the inner wall and enter the dressing sheds, all that can be seen immediately is a row of four pegs above a wooden bench seat that is host to two pairs of Speedos and two board shorts. I smile.

The showers, directly opposite the seat, are concealed from the entrance by the inner wall, for privacy. There are four shower heads above an open space with a shallow open-channel drain for the water. Wet sand covers the concrete floor, rinsed from bodies and swimming costumes.

Four naked boys look at us expectantly. Will appears a little uncertain what to do, so I take the initiative and head for the centre of the warm showers. The guys separate to make room for me, but look a little disappointed that I'm still wearing my Speedos.

I don't keep the four of them in that mood for long.

I slip my Speedos down, give them a good rinse and then step back out to hang them on a peg. There are now 5 naked erections. Will follows my lead, and then there are 6.

I hear one of the younger guys say, "Wow! Look at that one!"

Who can blame him?

Soon our six naked bodies are nudging and rubbing together under the four shower heads.

There are some convenient liquid soap dispensers on the wall below the shower heads, provided by the local council. One of the older boys squirts himself a handful of liquid soap and asks, "Who wants their back washed?"

Without waiting for a response, he takes to soaping up Will and `washes' him from shoulder to knee, with some extra attention to his glutes, but without any attempt at doing anything more. There is an obvious contentment at just being allowed to do this.

I take some soap, turn to Joey, hold up my cupped hand and look into his eyes. He nods, turns his back to me and I enjoy the feel of his youthful back, butt and legs. It soon becomes an all-in soap-o-rama, with people readily turning their backs to somebody else for a `wash'.

When I have also washed young Andy's back, I switch my attention to myself `up front'. Everybody watches intently as my hands soap up my pubes and slide up and down my stiffness. The idea seems to be inspirational, or at least `permissionary', and it takes less than a few seconds for all of us to be enjoying a free-for-all of pseudo-masturbation.

I look at Will who seems to be `going for it', much to the amusement and pleasure of the boys. I simply say to him, "Hey, later, bro!" then I rinse and step out. I retrieve my Speedos and sit on the bench to `cool down', watching the frenzy of pumping hands. Will joins me.

Simon and Luke decide to `do' each other. Young Andy and Joey come and sit with Will and me to simply watch as the `seniors', inevitably, both cum, spurting copious amounts. I clap and whistle. The others join in the applause for the great show and the two happy endings.

As Simon and Luke clean themselves up, Joey pulls up his white Speedos over his still-excited teenage cock and asks, "Do you guys come here often? I haven't seen you before."

Will jumps in, "We're just here for the school holidays, but I'm hoping that we can come for a swim every morning." Then he looks at me with puppy-dog eyes, as an afterthought, seemingly to beg permission.

I respond to him and Joey both, "Sure, providing that it's warm enough! What about you guys?"

"We're here every day, about the same time," Joey replies.

Subtle hint?

"OK," I say as I get up. "Maybe we'll see you again tomorrow."

"Fantastic! I will definitely be here then," he chirps.

"Thanks Tom!" and "See ya, Will!" ring out from Simon, Luke and young Andy as Will and I retrieve our boards and head out.

A few minutes later, as we near our house, I see a car parked behind mine. Is it too early for Uncle Bill? Or, have we been enjoying ourselves for longer than I had thought? And it's not the yellow `flash' that I had been expecting, but rather a 4-seater BMW convertible - perfect for taking his two sons to lunch. At least one of his rides has to be a rental car, maybe both of them. He could not travel the world and yet keep these garaged anywhere. Hertz or Avis must love him!

 

Uncle Bill, Mum and Dad are at the table drinking coffee. Sis is also there. I'd forgotten about her. She made it back before us, but then Will and I were somewhat distracted for a while, weren't we?

Dad, who is the only one facing us, calls out as we enter, "Hi guys. How was the water?"

"Fantastic!" Will replies instantly.

Amelia turns towards us and adds, "It looked as though you made some new friends while you were there."

OMG. Was she there long enough to see us getting aroused and playful? And did she watch us riding tandem? I am embarrassed at the thought!

My young, quick-witted, country brother saves us again. I'm definitely gonna keep him!

"Yeah, they could tell how hopeless I was and they all wanted to teach me how to ride a board, properly. No offence to you, Tom! It was fun catching the waves, and falling off, and riding tandem and racing the others in pairs. I was just getting into it when it was time to head back. They reckon that they're good enough to teach me to ride a surf board properly, too. No offence again, Tom. Amelia's smirk erupts into girly laughter.

I throw Will one of my playful expressions that says, `Thanks, bro', `You're a young smart arse' and `I love you', all within the one smirk. Then I say, "Yep, he was really getting into it. He was handling himself like an expert at the end." My innuendo is intended purely for Will's amusement. He does not disappoint, and smirks back.

Uncle Bill cuts in, "OK, guys, get dressed and we'll go and grab some lunch and talk about the future, because I think that Will has a big one."

Will and I turn towards each other and smile but say nothing. I can't help thinking, `yes, Uncle Bill, but not as big as yours, from what I hear,' realising that I have never actually seen the `Big Willie'.

We stow the boards in the garage, dash upstairs and dress in our matching clothes. Before we head down, Will grabs me, hugs me, kisses my neck and says, "I love it here, and I love you, Tom."

What can I say? "I love you too, Will. If you weren't my brother, I'd ask you to marry me."

He giggles, "And if you weren't my brother, I'd say `yes'."

Hugs and kisses!

If it weren't for the fact that Uncle Bill is waiting, this could very easily turn into another passionate love-making session.

We say our good-byes to Mum, Dad and Sis.

Will sits in the front passenger seat next to his dad. I sit behind Uncle Bill so that I can look at Will and, at the same time, see Uncle Bill's face in the rear-vision mirror. He backs out and accelerates at a more respectable speed than he did in the Ferrari last night. He drives about a kilometre and pulls off the highway into a mostly-vacant car park overlooking he beach.

Will looks at him, then me, and pulls a face as if to say, `What's happening?' Uncle Bill doesn't wait for the question to be verbalised. He quickly provides the answer.

"Boys, there's something that I really need to speak with you both about. I don't know how you will react, but I have to say it anyway."

"What's wrong, Uncle Bill?" I ask nervously, thinking that he's about to tell us that he's going to disappear again and leave his two newly-found sons to resume their previous roles while he travels the world or, worse, that he wants to take Will away with him, today!

"Tom, you know that my life has been spent mixing with a lot of very talented people, don't you?"

"Uh-huh," I reply with some uncertainty. I don't know where this is going but I can feel that my heartbeat has quickened and is beginning to pound in my chest and in my head.

"What I had no reason to tell you when you were younger is that many of those people were, and are, gay."

This is getting awfully `close to home', and I'm feeling very uncomfortable. And, yet, our eyes remain fixed on each other's in the mirror. I quickly glance at Will. He is staring at his dad. Now, I've never seen a `stunned mullet' but that expression definitely seems appropriate for Will right now.

"Yes?" I ask with an upwards inflexion as if to ask, and fear, where this is leading.

Uncle Bill continues, "I've spent a lot of time, sharing things with those inspiring people, even to the point of discussing their private lives, and how difficult it was for them to be gay, especially when they were younger. I have asked some of them what was the most difficult part for them regarding their sexuality. I wasn't surprised to hear that, almost universally, it was the pain associated with `coming out'."

He goes on, "Some shared that they had ultra-religious or abusive parents who would have thrown them out on the street if they had told them the truth at the time. Some were terrified of school-yard bashings while others feared losing their friends or their hard-gained places on sporting teams. Older guys thought that their bosses, at the time, would fire them for being `a person not fitting the corporate culture'. Even though there are laws against this discrimination in some countries today, most have only been enacted recently. Many guys ended up in the creative or performing arts because therein is broad acceptance of people for their skills and abilities, whatever their sexual preference."

"And you're telling us this because, as our father, you think it's your duty to give us the `birds and the bees' talk?" I ask with a touch of sarcasm but, in reality, hoping to deflect this discussion away from Will and me.

Unsuccessfully, as I feared!

Uncle Bill merely carries on. "Boys, over the years I have developed an acute awareness of gay guys, based on many factors, including their mannerisms. My gay radar has proved to be very strong and accurate despite the facades that people put up to `protect' themselves from detection."

I am now feeling way beyond uncomfortable! My knees are trebling uncontrollably. There can be only one reason why Uncle Bill is telling us this! He's going to ask one of us, or both of us, if we are gay.

Then he hits us with the shocking evidence. "I often wondered about you, Tom, being a handsome and successful sports star without a girlfriend. Then, having only seen you and Will together for a short while last night and again just now, it has all clicked! What I observed was the way that you two look deeply into each other's eyes when you are talking, and how you like to sit or stand close enough together so that you can touch one another - on the back, on the arm, and even giving each other a pat on the backside. And, besides the physical, the language that you use is jovial and peppered with double meanings, little sexual innuendos. Boys, seeing you two together, especially in those matching clothes that you are wearing, sets my `gaydar' pinging very loudly."

OMG! He hasn't said it, but he knows! There is no use in either of us even trying to deny it now. We've been so wrapped up in each other that we've let our guards down. He has seen the magnetism between us. And, I'm betting, that if he has seen it, then so has Mum, especially over our little exchanges at breakfast! Oh, no! Shit! I'm dead! We're both dead! Please, God, let me die now!

Mind you, I'm not ashamed for loving Will, but afraid of the consequences - not only rejection by the whole world who think that I'm just a normal, straight guy, but also for Will. How will he cope? Especially back home in The Village?

I look at Will. The tears welling up in his eyes trigger my own.

"Tom, Will," Uncle Bill says, "I want you to know that despite any fears that you may have, because I can read them, right now, on your faces, I will be totally supportive of you both in whatever difficult times lay ahead for you. And, I want you to feel confident that I will never repeat my thoughts or any of this conversation to another living soul, if that is one of your fears. Be assured that what is said in this car, stays in this car." This is eerily reminiscent of Marty's comforting `House Rule'. Thank you, God.

"This is just between the three of us - a secret between a father and his two sons. I will love you both and my wish for your lives is `happiness' and that you will not live in fear and pain. I will do everything within my power and resources to help that happen for you. And I will be there to support you if you want to tell somebody else. And there are some people whom you should really tell. And soon!"

He retrieves two handkerchiefs from somewhere and hands one each to Will and me. "Is there anything that either of you would like to tell me or ask me?"

I try very hard to hold in the tears and to maintain my now-fragile composure. But I lose the battle.

 

(to be continued)

 

There is a parallel version to this story, told through the eyes of Kurt.
Find it at https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/kurt-series/

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