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This is the final chapter of Playland

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The Playland Arcade

part 7 the conclusion

by Chance. all rights reserved

Voyage to Astoria

Joey awoke to find that Peter hadn't come home. He wasn't particularly disturbed. Why should he be? The people in his life all had their own lives and moved in and out of his, accordingly. When his mother didn't come home for days at a time, Joey was not troubled. He figured that she would show up sooner or later. Why should it be any different with Peter?

Naked and completely erect, he moved to the edge of the bath tub that was in the small kitchen. He peed almost vertically into the air and it came down into the bath tub. Peter always liked when he did things like that and encouraged him. He collected the clothes from around the floor where he had discarded them and dressed for the day.

He would go look for Reggie.

Since Reggie's Mother was back on the day shift Joey felt free to take the RR train to Astoria and catch Reggie before he headed into town. He and his mother lived on the ground floor of a decrepit triple decker.

 The boy knocked. There was no response. He knocked again and then went around back. He pulled himself up and looked into Reggie's window. He saw him asleep in bed. He rapped on the window and finally was able to rouse the sleepy Reggie. He rubbed his eyes and wearing only his underwear, slowly stumbled to his feet. Opening the window wide, he wrapped his arms around Joey and pulled him into the small bedroom. The two fell back onto Reggie's warm and messy bed.

He seemed to fall back to sleep and lay quietly until Joey, cuddled up close and reached his hand into his underwear.

Their sexual encounters had become so plainly dirty that it was hard to call it romance and yet, they had become very intimate and uninhibited with each other. There was an unspoken language where they each knew the other as a natural compliment. They communicated visually, with touch and boy scent and were as comfortable with each other's bodies as they were with their own.

In preparation, Joey pulled his legs back and pinned them behind his arms making his hole entirely accessible. Reggie moved forward and first lubricated Joey with his tongue and then penetrated him. Once eased in together, they began consummating a union based only on pure pleasure and enjoyment.

They were blissfully ignorant of concepts like dedication, commitment, sanctity, purity, liability and accountability. And it's a good thing too because if they were aware it would destroy the innocent pleasure of what they were engaged in.

Being with Joey was the one time when Reggie could demonstrate his uncertain masculinity and experiment without fear. The younger one was not only accepting but encouraging. They took their time together starting over as if to recreate the magical beginning of the encounter more than once. They repeated the sequence several times until holding off was no longer possible.

Once Reggie started fucking with intensity and deliberation he did it hard and fast and continuously until he reached that perfect moment. Gasping, he alerted Joey and then tilted him up, came down on him releasing a large volume of cum that flooded Joey's insides.

Once completed, he collapse and then he seemed to go back to sleep.

The boy got up and wandered around Reggie's room. He occupied himself by opening drawers and looking at things. Scattered on the floor all around the bed were Reggie's dirty pants, tee shirts socks and underwear. He looked up at a shelf that held a glittery but a dusty series of junior bowling trophies. There was a framed picture of Reggie from the fifth grade and a pile of school books that sat where he had put them a year ago when he quit.

He found his way to the bathroom where he perched himself on the toilet in the same way he did after being with Peter. He peed and let Reggie's fluid drain out of him. Looking around he saw cosmetics, shower caps and many towels hung in a disorderly fashion next to the shower.

These were signs of Reggie's Mother. He wondered if she was anything like Jeanie. His mother had been gone for almost 6 months but now, she was due home in less than a week.

Naked with his hair in disarray, Joey wandered around the rest of the apartment. Everything was neat and in place. The exception was a vacuum that stood in the middle of the living room. The kitchen was also spotless with not a plate or a fork in the sink.

When he came back into the bed room he found Reggie sitting up in bed, lighting up... but it wasn't a cigarette.

He gagged, coughed and then choked before he handed the tiny bit of a cigarette to Joey. The smell was familiar to him but not from Peter. Peter only drank. Maybe his Mother smoked but kept it from him. He thought this because the smell was so common to him.

He took it from Reggie and drew just the right amount of smoke from the ragged joint. He climbed back on the bed with Reggie.

He passed the smoke back to the older boy who made another awkward spectacle of himself by choking and gagging more than the first time.

Joey said, "I gotta go to Jersey to visit a friend."

Choking on his words he said, "When?"

"Um, I guess today."

Reggie responded, "Well, I was thinkin of just stayin in bed all day and goin out just before my mom gets home. Are you going to be at Peter's apartment later? I never been there so give me his address."

The sensation of the pot was new to Joey but agreeable. He was sitting up next to Reggie when he first felt it. It was sort of a dreamy feeling like he was about to become weightless. He sat with his legs slightly spread and looking down he saw that he had become intensely erect. He was so erect that it seemed almost to be glowing and radiating through his body. He looked at Reggie and smiled broadly.

Just touching it was unnaturally pleasurable causing it to move stiffly up and down. His foreskin retracted on its own and the sweet scent of Joey's penis hung in the air around both of them. He stretched his slim body out and pushed his hips up making his erected cock and scrotum prominent and available.

Reggie had discarded the rest of the smoke and moved over to share in Joey's magical erection.

"I never seen you get a boner like this before., it's so red and tight. Does it feel good?"

Joey nodded with opened mouthed enthusiasm. Reggie positioned himself between Joey's legs where he could suck his cock and lick his compact scrotum. The intensity and the suddenness of it was not to be drawn out more than a minute. Joey's response was chaotic and almost musical causing a vocal resolution to come very quickly. It was more spectacular than anything Joey had experienced before and it concluded with a spontaneous embrace between the two boys.

"Reggie, can you get any more of that stuff?"

A lull of a few minutes went by and Joey said, "Do you want to go to Jersey with me?"

Reggie was gnawing on a toenail and seemed preoccupied. "What's in Jersey?"

Joey was looking out the window and beginning to think about getting on his way. "Oh, just this guy I met. He has a big house and he said that I could come down and visit anytime I wanted."

He looked over at Reggie, "The house must have a hundred rooms and he lives there all alone."

Reggie picked a small mirror and was fretting over his complexion. "Well, suppose he don't like me."

"Well if he likes me then he'll probably like you."

Reggie put the mirror down and looked at Joey. "Wait a minute, is this guy a creepy suit?"

The boy responded quickly because he really did not want to go alone. "Not really, he's really nice. I stayed overnight and it was a lot of fun."

Reggie didn't have any plans to begin with so he said, "Ok."

The Old Man 

Edward was stunned at the sudden and unexpected appearance of the two street boys at his doorstep. haltingly, he moved aside and let them enter. Reggie was in awe, looking all around at the impressive interiors.

Feeling unbalanced having to deal with two boys at once and looking doubtfully at a the boy in red cargo pants that were about to fall to the floor, he said, "Joey, what is your friend's name?"

He looked at Reggie and then back at Edward. "Reggie."

The teen maintained a serious almost defensive expression then offered Edward a series of complicated handshakes and fist bumps that not only left Edward confused but branded him as not being part of the culture that Joey and Reggie were a part of.

Not wanting Edward to get upset with their sudden appearance, Joey tried to warm things up. "So I was thinkin about you and I was tellin Reggie what a nice man you were and we decided to come and visit you."

"I appreciate that but you should call first."

Edward was worried about appearances. This town was conservative and the two young boys of obviously low morals and appearing to be decidedly sexually active could start a fire storm of gossip at his expense. This was what was going through his mind. He would have to keep them out of sight.

Edward was troubled and conflicted. They were the answer to his loneliness, the solution to the emptiness of his life and just looking at them filled him with excitement, but what if Clayton and his idiot boyfriend should drop by. They would see through him in a second. Reggie bent down to tie his shoe unintentionally exposing a naked butt crack. The two boys were a handful and all of it increased the tension building inside of him.

Reggie spoke up, "You got anything to eat?"

They were both looking up at him.

"Well I don't know, what do you boys like? I could order a large pizza? Let me phone it in and then I will take you on a tour of the house."

The first floor was filled with what Edward called presentation rooms. The living room, the study, a large dining room and the foyer with a grand staircase. As impressive as they were, they looked barren and unlived in.

Reggie continued to be in awe. "It's like a castle from olden times."

The old man was having trouble figuring out what to do with the two boys so showing them around was a good way to ease his awkwardness. He really wished that Joey had come on his own and not brought a friend.

They climbed the stairs to the second floor. On the landing between the first and second floor was a large stained glass window depicting a fantasy landscape.

Reggie's eyes were wide. "It's like a church."

Edward chuckled, "I hope not."

Out of the three, Joey was the most relaxed. He was happy to be with Reggie and he felt safe around Edward.

The second floor had five or six bedrooms each with its own bath. All of them were done up nicely and although unlived in were kept presentable. Edward called them guest rooms.

"You mean you live here alone?"

"Yes, Reginald."

"Reginald!, my name's Reggie, don't ever call me that."

Edward immediately apologized. "I'm sorry, forgive me, I won't do that again."

The boy was visibly angry. "It's not Reginald, it's short for some stupid Polish name and I don't like that either so it's Reggie, understand?"

Edward continued to be apologetic. How he had been so cowed by the pimply teen, Edward could not fathom.

The third floor was different. The bedrooms were small and the bathrooms shared. Most of them were unequipped and serving as storage. Each room had a haunting feeling. It was as if they each were hiding dusty old secrets from the past.

Edward watched the two boys. "This was where all the servants lived."

Joey looked up at Edward and said, "Where'd they all go, did they quit?"

Edward laughed, "No, that was a long time ago. People don't have servants like that anymore."

The trio went all the way down the three flights and stood at an obscure door that led to the cellar. Of course the door creaked when opened. It was a black hole until Edward switched on a light.

"What's down there?"

The old man said, "Old brick walls, dirt floors and spiders everywhere."

The prospect of going down was ominous and fearful.

"What's a train engine doing down here?"

"That's the boiler to keep the house warm in the winter.

Reggie said, "It reminds me of a torture chamber I saw in a movie. "

The door bell upstairs was ringing, the pizza had arrived.

The hot pizza, refreshments and the trio headed up to Edward's room to relax and eat.

"Reggie, how old are you?"

Edward poured each a glass of milk.

The boy said, "Sixteen."

And you Joey."

He said, "Twelve and thirteen in a few more months."

Edward watched apprehensively as Joey lit a cigarette.

The old man poured a glass of wine. It was his first of the day. He took a full swallow and silently contemplated the moment. Looking out the window, he saw that the sun was going down...

The Terror

Who knows how much time had passed. There were several empty bottles of wine and Edward's nightly liter of vodka had been finished off as well.

Both Joey and Reggie were naked. The younger boy reclined on the bed and watched Reggie strutting around. The arrogant teen held a bottle aloft and drunk wine from it.

He knelt over a semi comatose Edward and growled at him. "You are our prisoner and we can do whatever we want."

His voice slurred, "Anything!"

Earlier, in a drunken state, Edward lay passive and allowed the two boys to tie his hands and ankles with extension cords. Doing this had embolden them and they had become pirates. They taunted him by masturbating each other and exposing their untidy butt holes to him.

Edward's alcoholism had evolved to where just the right amount would push him over into a state of catatonic paralysis. He was viewing Reggie and Joey like a mouse looking out of the eye hole of a long dead animal carcass. Edward was unable to move. The only thing that worked were his eyes and if nothing else, he saw a strange and unique passion play involving himself and two erratic and volatile street boys.

Joey and Reggie put on an inspired demonstration of dirty boy lust for the old man's benefit that made the hotel photo shoot look like nothing. The despotic teen kept reminding Edward that Joey belonged to him and that he could do anything he wanted.

The teen was pleased with himself and put his bare foot on the old man's face. "You are nothing!.. Me and Joey are the rulers and this is going to be our castle from now on!"

Edward was looking up but could say nothing. Reggie's bravado and careless cruelty filled the old man with a bizarre and lurid warmth. Through the vodka haze he felt like he was receiving just punishment at the hands of two street boys and he was where he had always wanted to be.

"I get to fuck Joey and nobody else and especially not you, you big old fag."

He climbed on Edwards limp body and rode him like a dead horse, seating his bare butt rudely on the back of Edward's neck . He swung an arm in the air and cried out in cocky arrogance, "Me and Joey rule!"

Journey Home

The room gradually came into focus. The old man looked up to see Joey's smiling face. It was morning. He was leaning over Edward untying the cord that loosely bound his wrists. Then the boy slipped off the one tying his ankles. The old man was still and fighting off the memories from the night before fearful of what he might see or worse, what he might remember..

"Joey, maybe you and Reggie better go, ok?"

The boy was in a good mood. Edward watched while the boy pulled up his too big pants. He pulled his belt tight causing them to bunch up around his narrow waist.

"Joey please call next time, ok?"

The boy was cheerful and began tugging Reggie awake. Reggie gave out a frightening moan. Neither Joey or Edward could catch sight of Reggie's face. Silently he dressed and when he was done, the younger boy pulled the pimply boy to his feet and they walked out the bedroom door, down the stairs and let themselves out into the bright sunlight. Reggie promptly threw-up on the trimmed lawn.

The two boys sat next to each other on the bus ride back to the city. Reggie was slumped down in his seat. It was a while before he looked up in a way that Joey could actually see his face. The expression was one of pain and horror. Tears were rolling down his cheeks and his usual stupid smile had been replaced with a frightful frown.

"What's the matter?"

His voice cracked and he mumbled something not quite intelligible. "Ey feel oful... Ohhhh God!"

"Reggie, you don't have to cry.."

With that he lifted his head up and moaned out loud. "Oooooohhh God!"

Everybody on the bus looked in their direction. The driver of the bus looked in his mirror and called out. "Hey, keep it down back there!"

A large black woman sitting in front of the two boys turned to see what was the matter. Joey was slightly embarrassed with the attention but smiling.

The woman said, "What's the matter with him?"

"I think he drank too much."

She laughed out loud in a way that even made Joey laugh at Reggie's unfortunate state.

Then she said to the pathetic and pitiful Reggie. "You take some aspirin and get some sleep and you be as good as new before you know it. The Lord taught you a good lesson and now you have to be careful how much you be drinkin when you're havin a good time."

She laughed and smiled again and gave Reggie a kind pat on the shoulder. He was in too much pain to notice.

Going down to Ninth, Joey walked along 8th Avenue with the still sick Reggie trudging behind. The walked right passed Tony's Bar but before he got much further he heard someone calling his name.

He turned to see Tony waving him back. "Joey!"

Tony had gained a lot of weight and he was dressed in his usual clean-up apron. "Joey, Peter's in jail."

Reggie finally caught up and Joey looked at Tony wanting more news. "I was up at Riker's Island most of Yesterday and It doesn't look like he's getting out anytime soon. He was robbing someplace in the 20's and the cops got him. They promised him 12 years so he pleaded out for 4. He wanted me to make sure you knew. They are sending him up state in a few days."

"Can I go and see him?"

Poor Tony was out of breath with worry. Joey wasn't the only one who cared about Peter. "Yeah, but you gotta get your Mother to take you. Don't go alone because they won't let you in."

Joey slowly realized that Peter hadn't told Tony that Jeanie had been gone for almost 6 months. Maybe they could go when she gets home...

The boy keyed the door to Peter's apartment and Reggie pushed his way ahead of him and fell down on the cluttered bed. He curled himself into a fetal position.

Joey lay down next to Reggie but he did not sleep....

By early evening the teen was feeling better. He sat up in bed and opening the pizza box that Joey had bought earlier, pulled out a cold slice. The younger boy was next to him puzzling over pictures in a magazine.

The teen looked around the room. "You wanna hear something weird?"

Without looking up, Joey said, "Yeah, what?"

"I've been here before.. I met this guy at the Port and he brought me here."

The boy looked up at Reggie, "What did he look like?"

He describe the guy as tall and skinny wearing a Yankees ball cap.

He stared at Joey.. "So you think that was Peter?"

The boy appeared to be un-moved and said, "Sounds like it."

Reggie did not fill him in on the details and Joey didn't ask because he knew Peter only too well. Anyway, Peter wasn't comin home anytime soon. The boys might as well consider Peter's apartment their new home...At least until the rent runs out.

The old man had given Joey enough money so that the two boys could go out to eat at the Greek diner, go to Playland and do pretty much what they wanted. Late at night they fucked around in Peter's bed and then again in the morning.. They were after all, perpetually horny. They went out for breakfast and slowly the day wound down to the time when Jeanie's bus was due to arrive at the Port.

By eight that evening, Reggie and Joey sat on the stair by the platform waiting for the bus to come in. A cop tried to throw them out but Joey quickly told him that they were waiting for the bus from Chicago and what time it was coming in.

The cop said, "Ok, but if I come around at 8:30 and you two are still here, I'll kick your fuckin asses the hell outta here!"

The Arrival

Joey and Reggie watched as the bus rolled slowly into the dock. It paused for a second and then the door opened making a squishing sound. The two boys watched the people emerge, some in stumbling in disarray from a long journey. Finally a woman that appeared to be Jeanie came out lugging two cumbersome canvas bags. Joey met her at the door and hugged her.

"Here honey, carry one of these for me. "She thrust the other into Reggie's hands.

Mother and Son and Reggie headed up the stairs, onto the concourse of the Port Authority of the City of New York.

It was almost as if she looked right through her son. "I am so fuckin sick."

He helped his mother. They headed out the side door and down 42st street towards 9th avenue.

"Mom, Mom, we got evicted, you don't live there no more."

She stopped short and looked at Joey. "Well where are you stayin?"

"I've been stayin at Peter's."

Without skipping a beat she said, "Ok, Peter will just have to put up with us and that's all there is to it."

Peters place was on 47th. After climbing the 5 flights of stairs they opened the door to Peter's apartment bringing with them, an atmosphere of chaos. The small apartment seemed even smaller with three people in it.

Reggie looked around and saw no place for himself in this new dynamic.."I gotta go, I was gonna meet up with this guy downtown."

The boy nodded and watched Reggie go out the door and down the stairs.

Jeanie was opening her bags and scattering their contents all around the room as if she was looking for something that just wasn't there.

She confronted her son. "Joey, I know you got money and I need it! I know how you squirrel it away but I gotta have it now. Don't fuckin lie to me you little shit, I've given you money lots of times and now I need it!"

Joey gave her the 100 dollar bill that Peter had given him. She seized it and headed out the door, down the stairs and back out on 9th avenue with Joey in tow. Jeanie was heading up to 53rd street.

She talked with a Puerto Rican kid. "If the cops shut the Dominicans down, where the fuck are people goin?"

The kid said, "Try 2nd between B and C in the East village."

The two figures descended down into the subway to take the RR over to Astor Place and then to walk from St marks place over to 2nd street between avenue B and C.

By now Joey knew that his mother was back on heroin. He also knew that there was nothing he could do about it.

There was a long line of junkies queuing up to buy dope in front of the building. "Joey, wait for me across the street."

The line moved quickly and she disappeared into the building. When she came out, Joey re-joined her. She went up to a another guy and asked where she could gets some needles and he pointed out a guy wearing a red and white sock hat.

Her pace quickened when they headed back across town. She looked down at her son who was hurrying along side of her and said, "It's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright.

Back in Peter's apartment she sat on the bed while the boy watched.

He held the spoon of fluid while she cooked it with a lighter. "Whatever you do don't fuckin spill it!"

He didn't want to help but he did what she asked. The boy looked down at his mother's bruised arms. He saw the fluid being pushed into her veins and then to be drawn back into the syringe, blood red.

It wasn't more than 30 seconds before the weight of pain and tension miraculously lifted and just vanished.

She lay back on Peter's bed and sighed. "Thank God.. fuck this is a lot stronger than I'm used to."

Joey was uncomfortable being with her but he didn't know where to go.

She looked at him and gave her son a smile. "I bet Peter's going to shit when he see's us."

The boy sat on the bed with his mother as he had always done in the past but the wall between them had grown and now it seemed to have solidified.

He said, Peter's in jail.."

She said, "Well who else is here besides you?"

"Just me."

She rummaged around in her bag for a cigarette. "Well that's one problem solved, we can stay here."

She never asked why Peter was in jail or how long he was going to be locked up or if he was alright. Peter had taken care of her son for almost 6 months and all she knew was that she had a place to stay and shoot her dope.

Jeanie was finally calm and out of the misery that she carried with her like an awful plague. She talked with Joey for a while. "Joey, the trip was like hell on Earth. I'll tell you all about it in the morning."

The boy thought his Mother looked older and tired. She just needed sleep. When she dozed off, Joey let himself out and was soon back on the street. It was late and things in the Playland arcade were not encouraging. It was not like Joey to be preoccupied with the worries of real life. Jeanie had given him enough to be angry or pissed at her but he still could not hate her. Instead, he tried to take on her pain and worry.

The Black Limo

Standing on a small traffic island he looked across at the glittering facade of Playland and thought to himself,

"What's going to happen to us?"

The man in a dark suit had come up behind Joey. When he spoke, the boy turned to see him. I suppose in Times Square it didn't really matter but it was late at night and the man was wearing wrap around shades.

"I've seen you here before, you want to make some money?"

Joey didn't answer but he thought of Jeanie and how both of them would need money to survive. Without a word, the man turned and began to walk off and Joey followed.

Halfway down the block there was a stretch limo double parked.

The man opened the door exposing a dark interior. A voice from inside said, "Oh, he's perfect!"

Joey climbed in, the door slid shut and the man got in the front and the limo silently drove off.

The interior was very dimly lit and it was lined with velveteen seats like a long couch with a very large man sitting at the back. The limo was swiftly driving up the Westside highway towards the Bronx.

"Let's have a look at you."

The boy looked at the man and found him mysterious and a little unpleasant.

"Come on, let's have a look at you, I'll make sure you get paid, now take off all your clothes so I can look at your pecker."

The boy hesitated but where could he go?

The man re-assured him, "Don't worry, no one can see you in here and I'll make sure to deliver you back to where Charles picked you up."

Joey guessed the Charles was the chauffeur's name but the large man kept his own name a secret. Once naked, the man masturbated Joey but Joey was distracted thinking about Jeanie and also that he didn't particularly like the man. If he had seen him in advance he never would have gone with him. The man encouraged Joey to stand up on the plush seats so the he could blow him.

Then as if in a routine, he said, "Turn around."

Not long after the limo rolled into a long residential driveway and a dark silhouette of a large house at the end. Joey looked around for his clothes.

The man said, "Don't worry, we're not going in."

The door slid open and the chauffeur climbed in and closed the door behind. Then he pulled all the curtains around so that they could bring the light up higher. Joey had never felt as trapped before as he did in this black limo with two strange men in the middle of nowhere. He was wishing Reggie was here. Charles, as the man called him, got undressed and began manhandling Joey much the same way Peter did but it was different. It was unsettling, strange and void of feeling.

The man said, "Charles, I want to see you make him suck your big cock. Make him do it!"

The man added to his unpleasantness by masturbating himself very rapidly but no penis was visible either because it was small or soft.

"Come closer so I can eat his ass while he sucks your big cock. Remember Charles, Tell me when you get ready to cum because I want to see it. Do it in his face!"

The man was playing puppet-master. Joey could feel a fat finger up his butt.

Charles was jerking off and he said, "Here it comes!"

The man leaned closer so he could watch the cum leap out and onto Joey's up turned face.

Almost immediately, the large man got out of the limo and walked away, towards the house. Charles gave Joey some tissues and they both dressed.

"Come on, sit up front with me and I'll drive you back to the city."

Charles became a pleasant and almost nice person once the large man disappeared into the house.

They had a slow and leisurely drive back into the city. “Sorry about that. I guess we was both earning a buck.”

He dropped Joey off where he had picked him up near Playland and handed him a 100 dollar bill provided to him by the large man.

Poor Jeanie

It is a special kind of silence. It is the kind of silence that tells you something is wrong. Almost before he saw her body, Joey knew that she was dead. Face white, eyes milky and open, she lay straight out on the floor next to Peter's bed. The woman Joey had known as his Mother was gone.

As a boy, alone, he had no idea what to do. He couldn't bring himself to get any closer to her let alone hug the Mother who had left him a long time ago. All he was able to do was to slowly back out of the room and flee, leaving the apartment door wide open.

He remembered Peter saying, "Don't ever let them put you in to foster care cause they will fuck you up so bad!"

Tony telling him how hard he tried to keep Peter out of jail when he was a kid because he knew it would ruin him.

He remembered the Sheriff who had a job to do but in spite of it, was kind to him and he had told him. "Sometimes, Social Services can be good but it can just as easily be a nasty prison for children. I seen some that got destroyed."

It was already late when the still small boy ran down 47th Street to Ninth Avenue. The city was suddenly cruel, without feeling and full of danger. There were sirens off in the distance for some calamity that made the boy alone, inessential and of no importance to anyone.

12 years Later

He was well dressed and exceedingly handsome. His rich black hair was trimmed and the dangling shark's tooth earring had been replaced by a small tasteful gold hoop. His unusually blue eyes had let him down a bit because he now had to wear contacts, but other than that, things were fine.

He climbed into an older Volvo station wagon and started it up. He hated to drive into the city but he wanted to visit an old friend. After living all those years in Jersey it was amazing how rarely he had gone into the city but this was a special day.

It was Edward who had driven into the city that night to pick up a small shattered boy almost 12 years ago. Edward sheltered him, protected him and in the process he even began to repair himself.

10 years before, the pay phone in Tony's bar rang. "Hi Tony. It's Joey, do you know what hospital I was born in?"

Tony was surprised. "Joey, where the hell are you! We was all worried about you. I am sorry about Jeanie and after that, that's when we started lookin for you"

"Tony I can't tell you but I have to get a birth certificate. Where was I born?"

Tony paused and then said, "I think it was St Vincent's on 7th avenue in the Village."

He got the birth certificate but that didn't smooth things enough. Edward wouldn't have thought twice about adopting Joey but it wasn't that easy. They would want to know his circumstances and maybe put him into foster care or adopt him out to someone else. Because of this Edward couldn't get him into school because it would trigger questions about Edward's legitimacy as a parent.

The truth was that with all of Edward's good and noble intentions he was just as much on the wrong side of the law as Peter was when he was plowing Joey's ass in a one room flat while his Mother was turning tricks. Edward took it upon himself to educate Joey. He actually became a parent and just for a little while, Joey became a child. Keep in mind that child and saint are not the same thing. When he was 18, Edward got forged documents and got him into Monmouth College on the Jersey shore.

Peter 

Peter had served 8 years, 4 more because of some kind of infraction and his release records showed that he was living in an apartment in Coney Island. Joe avoided the city by crossing Staten Island and going into Brooklyn using the Verrazano Bridge. It was a pre-war block building of about 24 apartments. There was no one home. Joe walked the few blocks down to the boardwalk to look at the ocean. He sat for awhile on the benches watching the people and the ocean. It was mostly Russians settling here now. He remembered the day that he and Peter looked at the John Lennon monument in the park and then took the train out here to Coney Island. Afterwards, They ate Chinese and then went to a movie. He missed and long for those days.

Not being able to go without seeing Peter he sat on the stoop for more than an hour. Finally he saw a lean trim man dressed in white cook pants, carrying a fishing rod, amble up the walk. He actually passed Joe without recognizing him.

Joe stood up and said, "Peter"

The man turned and looked at him.

"Peter, it's Joey."

A look of astonishment fell across his face and a spontaneous hug that went on and on with joyful recognition. Both men were to the point of sobbing but of course they didn't.

Peter invited him in and gave him a beer.

"Joey, I'm starved, is it ok if I cook this fish and will you share it with me?"

Joe nodded, yes.

"I heard about Jeanie, Tony told me as soon as he found out. I am so sorry. You know junkies take too much without realizing it and things like that happen. I'm also sorry about me almost gettin you caught but I'd rather it be me get caught instead of you. Good thing I sent you home, huh?"

Joe was perfectly at ease with his old friend. "Peter, don't apologize for shit that happened a long time ago and anyway, you gave me a lot because I always knew that you cared about me."

Peter served up a small plate of fish for each. It was white, mild and delicious.

Peter went on. "You know I was worried about your Mother but I swore to myself that if anything happened to her I would always take care of you and always get you what you need but look what happened, I ended up in fuckin jail.. A lot of good that did."

They both drank from their beers

"I bet you got girls bangin your door down.. I don't know maybe you're already married?"

Joey smiled, "No, I'm not married."

Peter laughed, "Oh, so you turned into a worse boy pervert than even me!"

Joey smiled and said, "No, not exactly, I like men....I like older men, ...Older men, like you."

They looked at each other for a long moment and then Joe said, "It's been a long time,...You wanna?

Epilogue

Reggie

No one had seen or heard from Reggie since that last day. Joey made the trip to Queens only to find that his Mother had moved. The only thing that Joey could think was that Reggie was one of the many that disappeared during the eighties and nineties when AIDS stalked the land.

 Today

This will conclude the story of Playland and life in mid-town Manhattan in the mid-80's. This story is fiction but it mirrors real situations and events. Today, Playland is gone. The neighborhood where Joey, Peter and his mother lived is now the expensive and fashionable neighborhoods of Chelsea and Clinton just West of the brilliance and notoriety of Times Square. Even though it is the cross roads of the world,..The people are gone.

THE END