Traveler chapter 140
          Andy walked into the kitchen and looked at me as if I were insane, it was a little past seven, he thought that I should still be in bed. My family is up and around early each morning and they would be ready for breakfast very quickly, it may be seven in Tulsa but it was six at home and we eat at six thirty.
          Chrisy and Jerry were doing the honors with my cooks from the castle. Moments before Andy walked in Fakhir, had dropped a pan loaded with buttered bread that he was placing into the oven to toast. The rest of the boys were laughing at the red faced youth as they helped with the clean up his mess. Andy shock his head at them then grabbed himself a can of Coke Classic™ before joining me at the table.
          The boys started to straggle in with their bright faces and sweet smiles. I was glad to see that most of them kissed Andy on the cheek when they came to give me a good morning lift, around my family I am always in a state of lift. Someone shouted out that it had snowed, Theo was telling Andy that he was going to eat and then go back to bed but Ricky informed him that they had a snowball fight to attend.
          Most of my boys have never seen snow and most of those that have, had never seen as much snow as was on the ground outside. I had a perfect view of young glutes glued to the windows as they plotted their strategy and the locations of the their forts. Andy asked me if I was going to join them, there is no way Jose, at that eleven year old Jose turned and took a bow, that boy is extra spicy.

          I was impressed as eight young cooks began to set their efforts on the steam table. The smell of food turned the heads of my family away from the windows so that I could get a nice view of their other side. Seeing all of the boys standing close together in the all together is interesting. We have just about every size and shape of young man meat that there is in our family. All of the boys were hanging after their night of closeness under the covers. No one was thinking of sex at the time, their bellies needed something a bit more substantial in them than the warm protein that they had taken in overnight.
          Chrisy held a large Ruby Red in front of my face as he wrapped his arms around me from behind and nibbled on my ear, "I love you and I hope you never forget that." I won't, I love all of my boys and it hurts that I can not be with each one individually more often, they want it and some of them need it. I had to spend a day with Cullen and then I was going to find something special to do with Jimmy.
          I peeled the grapefruit as I watched my boys move through the food line, I don't believe that even the Army feeds as many hungry mouths at one time as we do in my house. We have one hundred and eighty eating machines move through three hundred dollars worth of groceries three times a day. Edmund loves to bake so there is always a wide assortment of low sugar snacks on hand for the boys to grab and of course I buy fresh fruit by the orchard load. I had one young driver from a local produce company tell me that I bought more fresh produce everyday than two of the large national food store chains. Maybe I should just move the kids' beds up to Safeway????
          I love a bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon and lots of real cow's milk butter in it. Jerry brought me a bowl fixed my way along with two slices of whole grain toast that Ger had baked sometime during the night. I will have to cream that boy, he is supposed to take a break on this trip.

          Andy and I moved to sit in front a roaring fire in a very large fireplace in the living room of his house. I was so cold that the goose bumps on my goose bumps had goose bumps. I suppose that I could have put on some clothes but why be uncomfortable? Andy was laying into me about my love for my boys and had just pointed out that I was in love with Cullen as well as Cory. I do love the boy very much, Andy made me realize that my love was deeper than a love of an uncle for his nephew.
          Cullen heard his name and had listened, he walked into the room and stood before me with tears running down his face, he slipped into my lap to smother me with his tender kisses. "Is it true unc, do you really love me? I love you so much that I can hardly get my breath sometimes. Vaddy knows how much I love you, and of course he loves you too, but I really am deeply in love with you. I want to be with you all of the time, but not next week."
          "What about next week?" Cory came in and sat on the arm of my chair and put his arm around me.
          "Dad, we have not had a whole Christmas together for the last two years. Four years ago we had a great time as a family but then the next two years you sent all of us to be with other people we love and you went to El's house with Cullen. Please stay with me this year. And daddy, dear sweet daddy, pleeeaaassee, take Cullen out to lunch and spend some time, just the two of you then come back here and fuck him like you fucked me in front of the fire last night." He looked around the room as his face turned a deep red, "That was supposed to be secret wasn't it? But I don't care who knows, I love you and I know that I can not loose you but show my cousin your love, right now, okay?"
          Andy told me that he had worked it all out and that I was going to be hog tied in my bed if I did not agree with the plans. Harry was to take Cullen, Del, and Cecil to England Christmas day. He would go see his parents for the week and then all four of them would return on Sunday of the following week. I had never planned for those three boys to attend the funeral but this arrangement would allow me to be with my family for a change. I would miss being with my sister and I really do enjoy their tradition of boxing day. I was sure that she would forgive me this time.
          I was a bit heartened by a bit of good news that Andy had for me. As a result of our trip to Hereford in October, and the raid on Dukey's home, wheels were put into motion. Foss International now has its own terminal at the John Lennon Airport in Liverpool, England. Cullen and I are both allowed to come and go with full diplomatic immunity when we enter the country.
          As a diplomatic flight carrying Cullen and his aides the boys would be able to fly in for their holiday without anyone being the wiser. That put my mind at ease, I have never liked slipping into the country through the US Air Force Base but, as I saw it, I had no other choice.

          I figured that if I was to be in Tulsa for two weeks then I needed a car to get around. I did have a little love muffin that I needed to spend a day with before I packed him off to his mother's house for a few days. It is going to kill me to not be near Cullen, I guess everybody is correct, I am in love with my own nephew.
          Cory followed me to our room and helped me to shower and dress. Damn, I almost didn't make it, that boy keeps me up so often that I can do practically nothing. Andy has one thing in his house that I love more than anything else, on the mantle of the large living room sits a grand mother's clock. My grandmother had one that looked identical to Andy's but the part that is magic to me is the Westminster Chimes. On the hour the clock chimes then counts the hour, it strikes once on the quarter hour marks and at the half hour it plays part of the Westminster Chime. That sound is soothing to me as I think back when I was a very young boy and my visits to my father's parent's home.
          I had a heavy overcoat over my arm as I walked down the stairs. As the clock struck its final note the front door bell rang, I opened it to admit the man from the car rental agency and bid him step inside while I put on every piece of warm clothing that I could think of. I was about to go outside, in the snow, where it was cold, where I could freeze to death and not thaw out until spring time. Andy was behind me somewhere laughing his stupid ass off at me and I could hear him and Cory talking about me feeling like I was an eskymoe, fuck them, I hate cold.
          Cullen came running to me dressed in a nice three piece suit and wearing a sturdy looking top coat, he wrapped a white silk scarf about his neck and smiled up at me. My heart melted. I leaned over and kissed Cory but pulled away before his tongue could bore home, I had to go and did not have time to play around. At least the driver had left the car's motor running and the heater was on. I slipped behind the wheel as Cullen slid into the back seat.
          "You may proceed my good sir, we are ready now," Cullen giggled from the back seat. I will proceed to eat his ass if he keeps that up.
          "Pardon me for asking sir, I noticed that there were a lot of naked boys in your house."
          "It is early morning and they are slow to dress sometimes." I wasn't ready to get into my family's lifestyle with some hourly waged clerk, not when the weather was nine hundred degrees below zero and the snow was over a mile and a half deep. I did hear a weather report on the car radio that stated that Tulsa had two inches of the white stuff fall overnight. Damn, with that much snow on the ground the city should be at a total shut down. I was surprised to see that there was actually traffic on the streets.
          I dropped the man at his rental office then I checked the GPS to see where I needed to go, I could not see a spot that said, "It is warm here," so I went on to the address that I had been given. I was totally impressed with Ona, Amadahy, Black Bear, and Red.–You will have to read Andy to learn what their names mean– The four men are lifetime friends and full blood Cherokee. They had a small restaurant in Tahlequah that was not making enough money to feed them so they had moved to Tulsa to start up a catering service. Cory had been told about them when he dropped our girls off at home and we looked them up. I called Red at home and arranged a meet so I could feel them out about going to work for me.
          Satisfied with our first meeting I sent them off to Andy's house then Cullen and I took a drive, through the snow. Okay, so I am stupid. At least I was inside of a warm car, not out playing in the stuff, I was going to have a house full of sick kids, I could tell.
          I'll be honest with you, I had never seen so much snow and it was kind of pretty, through the windshield. It was still the Sabbath and I had little time to play around but I wanted to see the pristine covering so I turned to drive along the eastern banks of the Arkansas river as it meanders through the town. There are large estates along that bank and large areas of undisturbed whiteness that looked pretty. Cullen's little head was turning back and forth so quickly that I am sure that I saw it turn completely around, twice.
          I pulled back up to Andy's house and saw a large truck at the door with a line of naked boys, wearing only their shoes, as they unloaded the truck by passing boxes from one to the other in a chain like fashion. I parked the car inside Andy's garage and saw that he had a company Lincoln, the fop could have offered me a Lincoln, oh well I had a nice Sedan de Ville.
          I made straight for the kitchen and a warm stove as well as coffee. Edmund was standing there with a cup of hot chocolate for me. He felt useless as Cory had gotten in his face and told him that he was on vacation and that he could not help with the storing of the tons of food passing through. I love Edmund and Mitchell but I know that they want to hurry to Albany. When they arrived at the airport in Tucson they were told that New York was not landing any planes due to the weather. He and Mitchell decided to fly to Tulsa and spend the weekend with us, that was great. They would fly on to their home on Monday morning so that Edmund could spend Christmas with his ninety year old mother. I inquired about the Crossly boys and was told that they were heavily involved in a rousing snow ball fight with my young lads. I love Edmund but I so have got to teach him how to talk like the rest of us uneducated fools.

          Cullen never ceases to amaze me, he has learned the Tsalagi language from Mike and Cory and to my ear he sounds perfectly fluent. He was rattling off with Red and Majdy when Cory slipped up beside me. He ran his soft hand across my butt, "Hmm, hot buns for lunch." He pulled me aside so that Jawhar could place a large sheet of cookies into the oven that I was standing in front of. I had no problem with him putting the cookies in the oven but did he have to shut the door, I was enjoying the heat.
          Majdy looked up and spoke, Behrouz and Ramin both answered then Ramin walked over and began to talk to Cullen who was writing as fast as he could. I stepped over to see what they were plotting and learned that Red wanted recipes of the boys' favorite dishes. This just may work out, I only hired the four men to work during our stay in Tulsa but just maybe they...I don't know, wishful thinking on my part.

          The buses had arrived from Tucson, all four of them were parked along side the driveway into Andy's property. I knew that the boys would quickly tire of being in the house, what is commonly called cabin fever. After our brief church service I called all of the boys together. "Because we have many eyes watching every move we make I have to lay down some very unpopular rules for you," I started.
          "I can not allow any of you boys that are wards of the state to go out without direct supervision. I am going to try to make things as easy as I can but some of you are going to get your feelings hurt and I am sorry. Each school bus seats sixty passengers in this box are the pieces of paper that you wrote your name and your friend's name on last night. As I explained last night, the boy whose name is with yours is your buddy for the week. You don't have to sleep with him but you will go shopping with him.
          "Yes, I am going to let you go out into Tulsa and terrorize the citizens of the town. There are three boxes here, one is for all of the boys that are over sixteen. One contains the names of all of you boys that are wards of the state of Arizona, and the third contains all of the boys that have come to the family from overseas. I have the passports of all of the boys from this group right here and I don't want you to move from this room without having this document in your pocket."
          With everything else running so smoothly I was surprised that after four months I still did not have green cards for my boys. The last thing that I want to happen is to have those innocent children hassled by INS and their strong arm tactics.
          "I am going to break you up into groups of four boys, each group will have an escort with them at all times. Listen to me very closely and I mean listen with your mouth shut and your ears open, and look at me. Boys this is very serious, if you are stopped and you do not have your passport with you, you can be detained and I could have a hard time getting you back.
          "Every boy that came home with me last August has been legally adopted by me but we are in the land of red necks who shoot first then look to see if they can eat what they shot. There are forty seven of you, that will be ten groups, I have designated our college men to be with you. Harry and Toby will be with you on one bus. Andy will also be with this group. I will have to be with you boys that King Khaldun has entrusted me with, you are each at the most risk and I must stress that you will remain at my side at every moment. I am not above turning you over my knee and busting your ass in public if you disobey me. I am not making talk up here to scare you or because I have too much breath in my body that needs to get out, I am telling you that you are in danger.
          "It is sad but there is a lot of hate in the world today and there are those that hate others because of the color of their skin. I love you and I want to protect you. I am not taking these precautions because of any other reason. Now for you state wards, I am going to pair you off as a couple with a couple of the boys that have been with me for awhile. My reasoning behind this is that they know what I expect of them and they have proven themselves to me for sometime. You can build that same confidence with your actions, I reward those who prove themselves worthy of rewards.
          "There are eight of you that are fourteen or fifteen, you will go with Pete and Eddy and you will obey them or pay with the skin off of your ass."
          "We get to go with mommie," Eric grinned.
          "Careful or I might change your diaper in the middle of the mall," Pete retorted.
          "My next major concern is all of you that are under fourteen. I will have all eight of you stick together as a group with Ger and Luke. I know that I can count on you to show the others how grown up you really are, right Rod?" he nodded his head at me and smiled. I have to single him out from time to time or he thinks that I don't care.
          "One last thing, part of the reason that you are being broken up into groups is to avoid scaring the store employees. A lot of grownups see a group of kids and think that they are up to no good, I don't want anyone to think that we are there to steal anything from them. Cory can tell you how that feels, he was accused of stealing the first time he and I went shopping. But I will tell you this, if anything is taken without being paid for you don't want to know how I will embarrass you, before the family council and your subsequent beating." I was not looking forward to this trip but I have to let the boys know that I trust them and believe in them.
          I had gathered forty of the boys together to give them their special request money. They had come to me and told me that they wanted to pass out cash to strangers at the mall, that was the only reason that I had decided to take this trip Saturday afternoon. We could well wait until after Christmas to take the boys out but we discussed it and felt that giving someone a hundred dollar bill as they rushed about doing their last minute shopping would be great. What we didn't know...
          I had taken twenty thousand dollars out of the safe at home and passed it around to the boys. Each boy had five new one hundred dollar bills to give away. We thought that it would be best if we waited until we were leaving the mall and we wanted to spread out so we could be anonymous. We had pulled off our secret Santa business at home with no recognition, we do not want to be discovered in a strange town twelve hundred miles from home.
          
          Our day came off without a hitch and I was proud of everyone of the boys. We celebrated with ten large, double layer sheet cakes baked by Black Bear and Ona. Ona knows boys well, he iced the top and the middle of the cake but took extra care not to have any icing on the sides. That way there was no arguing about who would get an outside piece with more frosting on it. My new Indian cooks know how make sweets without sugar, honey, or artificial sweeteners, that is most pleasing to me. Edmund is in for a challenge if I take those four cooks to Tucson with me, the boys have all told me that they love the food that is being prepared for them. My same dietary guidelines are being followed so I had not noticed but somehow the flavors seemed more vibrant.
          I pulled Ger off to ask him what was different. He told me that he could not see anything different except some of the herbs that were being used. He had asked Turner to help him look some of those herbs up on line and none of them were dangerous or contained anything strange. Ger thought that they were just using some old Indian magic of which he was unaware. Ramin slipped over to tell me that he knew some of the herbs that were being used, he said that these grew in the mountains near his home and the cooks in his father's house often cooked with them. When he said father's house he clouded up and rushed me.
          "You are my father, that man was bad."
          "Look at me." I lifted his chin and looked him in the eye, "I understand what you meant. You had no other way of telling me of the herbs, I do not mind at all. Never be afraid to talk to me, son, I will always love you, no matter what."
          "Is my name Dickson?"
          "Yes, it is. Do you mind?" He threw his arms around me and held me tight. I don't always need words from a boy.
          Somebody yelled out that Cullen was on TV, I almost killed myself as I ran to the nearest set to see what was going on. Security cameras around the mall had caught pictures of a few of the boys as they gave away their money. The police were asking everybody that received one of the hundred dollar bills to take it to a bank or to the police so it could be checked to make sure it was not counterfeit. There was dead silence throughout the house.
          The pictures were not very clear and, to our fortune, the cameras had not caught any of the boys getting on a bus, at least those were not shown on the news report. The public was being asked to notify the police department with the identities of any of the people that had their picture displayed on the screen. Cullen and Del were the only ones that belonged to us, we have no idea who the other six boys were. We would have to sweat this one out but it really put a damper on our Christmas spirit.

          Sunday the snow was a mess. I especially did not like the looks of the dirty slush piled against the curbs as traffic sped along the streets that were almost dry. I have heard of icy patches on roadways and kept my eyes open for anything that might cause me to loose control of the car. I couldn't care less about the car but those inside it do cause me great concern.
          Timmy and Harry were riding in the back seat, both were heavily armed. Cullen was strapped into the seat next to me as he gawked about at Tulsa's many tall buildings. "They aren't as big a New York, unc, but they are still pretty." I was impressed with the knowledge that Tulsa actually has department stores downtown, they had not driven everything out to the malls, yet.
          I pulled up in front of a store that Andy had recommended to us. Cullen had told me that he wanted to buy a really nice Christmas gift for his parents. They are genteel people so tee shirts and coffee mugs would not work. Sach's looked like it would be a place that Cullen could find what he wanted. I parked in a no parking zone by the door and set a flashing blue and red light on the dash as Harry set one on the rear package tray. I placed my Government Agent placard on the dash board and the four of us went inside the store.
          Cullen looked at everything but could decide on nothing. He was about to give up when he screamed like a little girl with his boy soprano voice that I love but hear so little of now that his voice is beginning to change. He had a hold on my hand as he dragged me over to see a glass ship in a bottle. I was studying the intricacies of the glass filaments that made up the ten inch ship with two tall masts, complete with rigging. I have watched glass blowers work at their trade and I have long wished that I could have some of their pieces but with a house full of rambunctious boys about the fewer fragile things around the better. The boys egos are the most fragile thing in my house, even my plates and glasses are plastic.
          "Is this for you mother or dad, or both?" I asked him. Harry and Timmy stood with their backs pressed against us as they watched the crowds nearby.
          "It's for mum. You have seen that big ship in the bottle in the library. That's her favorite." I had seen the long two masted black ship with the white stag on a field of blue across the stern. I looked at the ship before us and could see many similarities between the two. El had once told me that her ship in a bottle was the Pelican, the ship commanded by Sir Francis Drake. Drake had renamed the ship the Golden Hinde in 1577 in honor of his patron. Hind means dear.
          "Ah, I see that you like the pretty boat there, boy. It is a little too expensive for my tastes," a tasteless clod said as she looked down her nose at Cullen.
          "I'll take it."
          "That will be five hundred dollars, boy. Cash or will daddy charge it today?"
          Cullen flipped out his platinum Visa with his picture on it.
          "Do you have some form of ID this could be a fake," she sneered.
          "May we see a manager please?" I asked her. She stiffened herself up then turned and nodded at a suit nearby.
          "This boy wants this boat but he won't show me any ID." She passed Cullen's Visa to the man. He looked the card over, front and back then studied both the picture and Cullen. I was about to explode.
          "I will need to see two forms of local ID, with pictures before we can accept this card."
          "Who's your boss, lackey?" Harry had his hand on my shoulder, I was about to deck the dick.
          "That would be me, what seems to be the problem?" The store's general manger came up to us.
          "His Royal Highness would like to purchase this glass replica of Sir Drake's Golden Hinde but your lackeys seem not to want his business."
          "His Royal..." suddenly the man's eyes widened and he bowed low. "You majesty, I am so sorry. I did not recognize you, sire. I am one of your most loyal subjects, well my mother is. She immigrated from our country when I was very young but we still have our hearts there and hope to return for your coronation next spring."
          "I am humbled, sir. I would like to purchase this trinket for my mother. She has another replica made of wood inside a twelve inch bottle and I believe that she would cherish this piece."
          "Nobody ever noticed that this is Francis Drake's boat, sire. It was made by a man locally that is a loyal English man and historian."
          "Sir, it is SIR Francis Drake. It is always proper to refer to a Knight of the Realm with his proper title. My mother is a Dame Grand Cross, GBE, and my uncle, here, is also a titled GBE. He bears the Knight Grand Cross for acts of chivalry to the Crown. My uncle and these two security men are Knights of France as well, they each wear the Ordre de la Grand-Croix." I kicked the show off in the shin. He just smiled at me.
          I am supposed to wear the eight pointed silver star pinned to my left breast but in America that is a little bit to pretentious. I have learned to wear the small ribbons signifying my honor on my suit when I go out, Tim and Harry each wear their ribbon pin as well. The manager looked at my three ribbons over the left breast pocket of my three thousand dollar tailored suit and bowed to me.
          By that time we had began to draw a crowd of the curious so I tried to hurry things along. "Where would you like to have this delivered, sire?"
          "I will take it with me, I am joining my mother in a few days and I want to present this in person." The manager had two young women trying to package the art piece but they were unsure just what they should do. I asked if I could hold the fifteen inch long bottle. The manger passed it too me as if it were a basket overfilled with eggs. I gently shook the bottle, when nothing moved or rattled I gave it a vigorous shake.
          "I believe that your artisan has built his model well, you might wrap this well with thick folds of paper, bubble wrap would work even better, then place it in a bed of foam, or if you have any, the inflatable bubble wrap would be better. This must survive an overseas flight." The manager sent one of the women off to the dinnerware section for some of their packing materials. I looked at Cullen.
          "Well young man, do you have anything in mind for His Lordship?" I asked in a subdued eighty decibel voice.
          "He sits in the House of Lords in Parliament, what does he need?" Cullen was loving playing the snooty game and I have to admit that I was having a little fun myself.
          "He likes to read, how about a book, or ten?"
          "Unc, he has more books then your Library of Congress, you have seen his library, it is almost as big as my bedroom suite, at least the front two rooms of it." That brought about a few remarks from the crowd.
          Suddenly a young girl pressed her face past Timmy, "Are you really a King? May I have your autograph?"
          "He is not some rock star but the King of a nation..."
          "It's okay, unc, I will only be young once. At least that is what you always tell me, so let me indulge the masses a bit."
          "I know what to get your father," I was looking toward the jewelry department. Cullen was looking in the direction of the men's wear. "Don't even think about a neck tie, he'll hang you with it." Cullen giggled.
          "I have seen some of his cuff links, how..." Cullen squealed and dragged me off to jewelry.

          "I want your attention over here, who's the ass hole with his car parked at the front door? That is a no parking zone and I am about to tow it." Harry ran to the man and brought him back to me and he bowed. Cullen bade him rise and return to his station. The cop looked at us studiously.
          "I am the ass hole. That is a rented car and I don't have the King's flags to place on the front fenders but I left my lights flashing and my placard on the dash board."
          "And what give you the right to have emergency vehicle lights in your rental." I had a sweetheart in front of me and I was going to enjoy chewing him up. I passed him my badge and ID. I love it when all of the color drains from their face, I thought that this self styled big shot just might actually pass out.
          "Your people are so dull that I could not get a proper escort for the King to shop for a few gifts for his parents before he returns home tomorrow. I will park wherever I please for his security." He did not like that and was calling for his sergeant to back him up. I pushed my panic button on my phone, I was in the mood for one upmanship, I have not done this since St. Louis last spring and I needed a good pick me up.
          I almost broke out in laughter as I heard Harry on the soundbud stuck to the skin behind my ear. He was telling our agents to bow to Cullen then to me when they entered and to be sure to refer to Cullen as "Your Royal Highness." I could see Timmy's shoulders shaking so I knew that he was doing his best to contain his mirth as well.
          The cop's people were first on the scene with the FBI right behind them. Two FIS men came through the front door with their weapons drawn and two more came out of the woodwork. Cullen was quickly surrounded as the cops stared with slack jaws. Each agent turned and bowed low before Cullen then bowed to me, "Sire, we had a call that His Royal Highness needs assistance."
          I knew one of the FBI agents, we have sat together in a few meetings. "I like your salad, sir. I had heard that you have received Knighthood in three countries. I believe that the Congress had to pass a special bill so that you could be so honored." He was grinning, he pointed to his ear bud in inside his ear, he had heard Harry's message. Our agents and all government agencies like to play it up in front of local cops. These salaried people think that they are the perfection of law enforcement but when it comes down to cases they don't hesitate to ask for aide from another agency.
          Harry and Timmy did the talking as I guided Cullen into the jewelry showroom, I asked the store's manager if he would shut the doors so we could shop in private. Crowds gathered about the windows of the glass enclosed main showroom but it was quiet inside. Cullen was browsing as I studied the diamond cufflinks on display. I told the clerk what I was looking for and as he went to his vault I called Cullen over to me.
          He instantly fell in love with a pair of one carat yellow diamond cuff links but his eyes widened when a three carat yellow diamond tie pin was laid with them. "Hunky uncy, they're perfect," it was my turn to giggle. He agreed to the six thousand dollar price and his purchase was boxed up for him. The manager asked him what color of paper he wanted and Cullen quickly said, "a pale yellow foil." I know that Philby likes the color yellow, he told me that it was soothing, like the yellow flowers that grow wild on his estate in the spring time.
          An older lady stepped in and began to wrap Cullen's gifts while he selected a style of bow for it. I was browsing when I remembered something from one of our trips around the globe. The boys liked to purchase small trinkets to remind them of where they had been, most of the time they purchased a small pin which I have seen on the bulletin boards in their rooms.
          I saw a small gold pin that said Tulsa on it and asked the clerk if he could get me one hundred and eighty of them within the next two weeks. He made a phone call and told me that he could have them for me by Friday the twenty eighth. I whipped out my plastic and asked for the pins to be delivered to Andy's house the following Monday. I explained that I had a funeral to attend on Friday.

          Traditionally we exchange gifts on Christmas eve and this year was no different. I suppose that the little ones may wish to get up and run down the stairs to see what Santa had left under the tree for them and I am enough of a romantic to have something for each of them to open on Christmas morning but our main time was shared in front of the fireplace, in the dark of night, as the snow fell. Only the lights of the fire and of the twelve foot tall tree lit the room as we sat about singing songs of praise to He who made our lives possible.
          At midnight Hunky Claus–RD–wearing only a santa cap, a red scarf, with white fur trim, and a large red ribbon around his balls and cock then tied in a large bow on top of his cock so that only the head peeked out–entered the large room where the tree was. He was accompanied by two elves-Roddy and Dane, dressed similarly but in green-the little ones quickly began to pass around packages as RD passed them over. I go out of my way to see that every boy has exactly the same number of packages set before him, package size does not matter to a boy whether he be eight or twenty five, I had that range in my family. Not counting Edmund, Timmy is the oldest at twenty five with Kardal and Hamal both being eight years old.
          I was moved to see all of the solid couples in the family exchange earrings with one another. We had a lively discussion one night about how unfair it was that boys didn't wear diamond jewelry. All of us admire a nice diamond neckless but that would be a bit much to wear to school. Someone suggested diamond dog collars but we thought that was a gift to be kept in the boys' bedrooms and between them alone.
          Each boy had similar ideas, they had each purchased a pair of ear rings. They placed one in their lover's ear then wore the other one, each couple had two sets of real, mined diamonds, not man made or zircons, of one quarter and one half carat each. Once the packages had been exchanged the boys engaged in the family form of Christmas caroling by playing Jingle Balls.
          Cory slipped into my lap and handed me a tiny package wrapped in gold foil. I stared into his eyes as I opened the box to see a man's ring with a three carat emerald cut blue diamond set in the middle of a square mount. I handed him a small package which he tore into, inside was a matching pair of perfect one carat blue diamonds cut in the shape of a heart, also in the box was a sixty thousand dollar blue solitaire diamond ring in an emerald cut. His fingers are long and thin and I had a heck of a time finding a mount that would not look like a wart on his hand but the brightness in his eyes will forever outshine that dull piece of rock he now wears. We sat face to face and placed an ear ring in each other's hand, there are sixty of us that will have to have our ears pierced Christmas day.

          The boys roared when Cullen told them about his shopping trip. Many of them turned to Timmy to confirm one point or another but Timmy kept his mouth shut. Harry told the boys that he was a security cop, not a reporter. I held on to Cory and let Cullen tell how I laid the peons low. He really got into his tale when it came to the smart mouthed cop. Those boys that had been with me at the truck stop in St. Louis when Steven was assaulted in the rest room-85-knew what could happen.
          Harry made all of us feel good with his next bit of news. The cop that had started everything had a picture of the boys that had been circulating counterfeit money about the mall the day before, he was showing his picture of Cullen around to the people that were rubber necking and asking them if that was the same boy that was claiming to be King. Timmy grabbed Chrisy and began to howl as Harry told us that the manager of the store got into the cop's face and assured him in no uncertain terms that Cullen was in fact the Royal Crown Prince Cullen Muneday. Harry said that all or the FIS agents confirmed that, as did the two FBI men. The cop's sergeant told the man to get back on his beat and to not bother him for the rest of the year.

          Cory was begging me to do something more for Cullen before he left for his mother's house Tuesday morning, I had a plan but I was not ready yet to reveal it. I was about to think that the boy had a bucket under his chair but at last Vadik left to use the bathroom, I followed. I shared my idea with him and he wrapped his arms about me in gratitude.
          When bedtime finally came and I made all of the boys double check for any wrappings or left behind items. My main concern was a stray piece of wrapping paper getting too near the fireplace and burning the house down around my sleeping babies. Vadik led Cullen to my room with Cory right behind him. Cullen was giddy in his joy at spending the night with all three of us. I had kept myself pure the entire day so that I could handle all three of them in the way that they expected to be handled. Cory wanted me to take care of Cullen and, of course Vadik, but I was not about to leave him out. The four of us got very little sleep.

          Christmas day was a warm, laid back day for the family. The love, the tenderness, the overall feeling of the family warmed the house to a temperature well above the below freezing weather outside. Several of the boys had prepared skits or music for our entertainment. Shane had composed, what he called, a requiem of love for Cullen to perform. Alexandre, Jourdain, Brice, and Casey were the choristers to back Cullen up with their sweet voices. I was so moved that my heart ached. Cory continually turned to wipe tears from my face as I wiped the tears from his soft cheeks. My babe is nineteen but still smooth and soft, he has a thin little mustache which I love. I am surprised that with half Indian blood in him that his features are still soft. Indians, as a rule, are very thin bearded, a trait that is pleasing to me.
          I ran Cullen off to check his baggage. Every boy, old family and new, wanted to hug him and wish him a Happy Boxing Day, few of them understand the tradition but they had their hearts in the right place. Cullen, Cecil, and Del would spend the next four days with El while Harry would spend the time with his mother and dad.
          My tear dam broke when Toby held Kenny in his arms as he told Harry that the two of them were going to try to have themselves a real Christian Christmas by themselves. Toby wanted to spend time doing whatever Kenny wanted to do, as brothers.
          At last we were loaded into the Caddy and headed for the airport, Cullen cried the entire trip up the freeway to the our fŗĩęñďş Çłųß airplane as he sat with his arms wrapped around mine and laid his head on my shoulder.
          I had the ground crew remove seats near the wings and install beds for the travelers' comfort on the long flight. The plane would fly to Base B to refuel then on to our new FI facilities at Liverpool's John Lennon Airport. I waved goodbye until my arms were tired. As soon as I watched the plane disappear into the gray dawn I wiped my tears and said a little prayer for my dear nephew then quickly returned to Andy's house.

          Our Christmas dinner was like nothing that I have ever experienced, neither had any of my boys. Our cooks had contacted their friends in the tribe to hunt wild game for us. Our table was set with three wild turkeys, six pheasant, venison, dozens of quail and doves, squirrel, and rabbit.
          There were salads of wild greens that had been harvested from under the snow. Though not as abundant as would have been found in later seasons, what greens and tuberous vegetables were found had been supplemented with whatever Safeway had to offer. I had fallen in love with Jimmy's sage and corn bread dressing that he prepared for our Thanksgiving meal but the dressing that those men served us was the Pièce de résistance.
          After the huge lunch of wild birds and game we gathered back in the only large room that could hold all of us at one time. "I don't know how the rest of you feel but I am stuffed to the gills and I have never known a better Christmas. I only wish that the ass holes of the world that want to X Christ out of the name of the day could come to know Him and His love for them.
          "We all have love enough to carry us through for a few minutes this afternoon but we all need a replenishment of that love, constantly. Andy knows all of you by name and sight but he does not know your history or what brought you to our family. I would like to ask some of you to tell us about yourselves, please."
          Kent Boyd stood up-128 "This here's the bestest boyfriend in the whole house and I wants ya all to know all bout him cause I love him so much that it hurts inside. Baby stand up and tell them why I loves ya."

          "Okay, so like I'm Slade, least that's what I like to be called. My ma named me Orville after her granddad that gave her all of her money. I guess my name is Orville Michael Fallon but please call me Slade, I don't never wanta remember those other people.
          "I had four friends that shared their young man hood with me. Michael, Andrew, Jacob, and Pat, forgive me but Pat was by far my favorite. All of us were within weeks of being the same age and had known each other since first grade. We didn't live all that close together but we were within the same school district. As we had gotten older we would ride our bikes to each other's houses to just hang for an hour or two.
          "Somewhere along the summer between our seventh and eighth grade years we began to have sex together. We had a big camp out in Andrew's huge backyard; far back under the apple and pear trees where we were virtually hidden from the house. Truth or dare was the game that was used to break the ice and do what we all really wanted to do.
          "We had dinner at five o'clock on Andy's patio, his mother served up burgers and beans with potato salad and soda, we were wired. Bags of chips and a cooler of sodas was left on the table for later, if we wanted them. By six we were all naked and shaking our willies at each other. Jacob knew what he wanted to do so he had brought the cloth tape measure out of his mother's sewing kit. We made a bet that the smallest dick had to suck the next sized bigger dick.
          "All of us knew for sure that he had the biggest dick and had no problem with the bet knowing full well that we were going to get what we had heard was a blow job. Michael added the twist that almost queered the whole deal. "You have to suck dick until he makes sperms in your mouth," he told us.
          "We all looked at each other looking for a way out then Pat jumped up with, "And ya gotta swaller the shit." Ewww, that was too much. Andrew began sticking his shorts covered middle up at us, he pulled the thin material taught to show his boner. It was plain to see that he didn't have any underwear on, his cock weren't no big thang indeed and this bolstered the rest of us. I knew my cock was way bigger than that little baby stick.
          "We agreed. Jacob had to go first since it was his idea. All of the clothes came off except our shorts, those too if we had on underwear. Pat had on tighty whities but he didn't even have a bulge, I was feeling good. Pat took the tape measure and laid it down the length of Jake's cock, three and three quarter inches. We wrote it down. I was beside Jake so I was to go next. I pulled my shorts down with a relish and stuck my crotch toward the sky. Pat measured me and I almost creamed. The feel of his hands on me was like heaven itself. Four and seven eighths inches. Wow, I knew I was big, I puffed out my chest.
          "Mikey stood up and dropped his shorts, his stick jumped free in the air. Four and one quarter inches, Pat wrote it down. Andy pushed at his waist band and lifted it over his tent pole, he was uncut, I had never seen an uncut cock. Pat was still on his knees as he moved a little closer to the proud boy, four and a half. All eyes were on Pat, the most popular kid in our class. The one that everybody wanted to be friends with stood before us with nary a sign of anything in his tight briefs but smooth skin. He rolled his sweat damped underwear down his hips and over his thighs. He stood up and...he didn't have a dick, he had a cleft that ran down between his legs, the dude was a girl. He giggled at us and shook so that his underwear kind of slid to his knees. He reached down to push them away and as he stood up he spread his legs. Out popped the biggest cock in all of the world.
          "The dude had tucked his cock and balls between his legs when he took his shorts off, he had us all suckered We were mesmerized by the sight before our eyes. We all sat with gaping mouths then it hit me, "I am going to get to suck that thing." Yeah, get to, not have to, I wanted it, I wanted that huge piece of meat in my mouth so bad that I was shaking all over. The others were shaking too. I don't know what they were feeling, I just wanted to get it on.
          ""So who's gonna measure me?" he sneered at us. With a shaking hand I reached out and took the tape measure from him. I laid it on top of his dick, he had a lot of golden hair on his crotch. I pushed the tape into the hair until it was tight against his groin. His cock flipped up and a big drop of clear liquid formed up on his piss hole. I let my finger wipe it off as I pulled the tape tight along the top of the most beautiful thing on this entire planet. "Five and one half inches," I shouted. Pat patted me on top of the head and winked at me.
          "Now came the time of reckoning. We all looked at Jake. Mike walked up to him. "Huh uh, lay down, let your first time feel really good. Spread you legs wide and let him get on his knees 'tween em," Pat directed. Mike laid down as Pat showed both boys how to do it. Jake bent over and took a little bit of the head in his mouth, Pat put his hand on the back of his head and pushed him all of the way down. He held Jake down for a minute and then put his hands on each side of the boy's head and started lifting him up then pushing him down. "Keep suction on it, keep your teeth out of the way and suck. Lay your tongue against it so that you can push it against the roof of your mouth.
          ""Keep those lips tight, you are all gonna be good cock suckers by morning." Mike was wiggling around and humping his cock in and out of Jake's mouth then he arched his back and came up high off of his sleeping bag. He was pumping real sperms into Jake's mouth and Jake was still pumping up and down. Pat and Mike both put their hands on Jake's head and told him to go slow. Jake didn't pull off, he was sucking and then he licked all around, he loved that stuff. I hoped that I could do that with Pat. I had tried tasting my own and it made me gag so I never did that again.
          "Mike was like all, "Yeah! Great, man that was so cool. Thanks man you can do that anytime." Then Pat looked at him and pointed at Andy. Andy hurried and laid his ass down, he pulled his legs back showing us his tight pink hole. He spread wide as Mike was pushed into place by Pat. Mike couldn't say no but his heart wasn't in this. He bent over and sniffed at Andy's cock, "When'd you wash that last?" Pat pushed his head down. He took the cock in his mouth and began to learn how to be a cocksucker. I wanted to ask Pat how he knew all of this but I didn't.
          "Mike got into what he was doing just like Jake did. When Mike started to cum he was trying to swallow the whole boy. He had his arms around Andy and was holding him so tight. Andy was humping and pumping one huge load of cum into Mike's totally hungry mouth. When Andy pushed Mike away Mike wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and said, "Yummy, you taste good." Andy giggled as he looked up at my cock. I shook my hips so it swung back and forth over his face. I wanted to kneel down and fuck him in the mouth, and I did before we finished that night.
          "I laid down and Andy was right down on me. No coaching was needed as Andy had been paying attention. I felt so good I wanted to cum at once but I was trying to hold back. Pat told Andy to get hold of my balls and pull them away from my body. "Not hard just slow even pull, that will make him hold off on cumming until you are ready." Andy was loving what he was doing as much as I was loving what he was doing. He was taking all of my cock in and out of his mouth. I could feel it when I got to the back of his mouth and it got really really tight around the head of my cock. Andy was squeezing my cock and making me feel so good. Finally I couldn't hold it and I just burst, I can't ever remember having a cum like that. I could feel every part of my body just drain itself as my strength all seemed to move down to my cock. Even when I was done I didn't want to stop, I wasn't tender or anything. I wanted Andy to turn around so I could suck him and we would suck each other all night long. Then I looked at Pat's cock right by my head, it had a drop of that stuff on the end again.
          "I reached over and grabbed Pat's balls and pulled him to me. His cock touched my lips and I opened my mouth and took him in. He moved closer and began to fuck my mouth. He wasn't going all of the way in. He turned my head and got over the top of me with one leg on each side and kept right on fucking. Andy was still sucking me and I was in heaven.
          "I held on to Pat's big balls but my hand was in the way. I moved back and he began to take really long strokes in and out of my mouth. I could feel him going down in my throat. Now I may have only been thirteen but I had heard of deep throating and I was proud that I was able to do it for Pat, I really liked this guy.
          "Andy was doing such a number on me that I couldn't hold back. Pat's cock sliding its full length in my mouth was turning me on so much. I filled Andy's mouth with more of my manly cream as Pat slammed his pubes into my face. His cock swelled up about ten times bigger than it had been and my mouth was full of hot liquid. I knew he was cumming but it was going down my throat, I wanted to taste it. Pat pulled back and flooded my mouth with more of his hot juice. I was able to pull off and swallow then I took it right back in for more. Three times I got more, I loved his taste. He was slow pounding in my face, I had my arms around him and was squeezing at his ass.
          "My cock was suddenly sensitive. I wiggled out of Andy's mouth. He rolled aside and was breathing heavy. Pat pulled out of me and I was breathing heavy. Pat was on his knees breathing heavy. I felt like I was the king of the world. "How about me, who's gonna suck me. I wanna get sucked," Jake was whining.
          "I got my breath and rolled up on one elbow. I looked around the inside of the tent at all of my fucked out buddies. I looked at Jake and motioned for him to come to me with my head, "I'll do you." I sucked his dick, it was small but somehow that didn't matter. It felt right sucking him also. He got off in minutes, I kind of wanted him to last longer.
          "We sat in a circle and talked for awhile. We all liked it and wanted to do it again. We pulled our shorts on and ran to the house for a pee break and a drink of water. I heard Pat tell Andy to pull his skin back and wash his cock. It wasn't until a few days later when Andy and I got together by ourselves that I learned about head cheese and the smell but somehow even that tasted good to me and I know that Mike liked it because he told me so.
          "Over the next three summers and school years in between we got together with one another and sucked the shit out of each other. We loved to suck. We loved to sixty nine. We spent the night together and sucked all night long. It was only in the summer time that we could get together as a group and do things but all of us were with one boy or another at least twice a week and every weekend.
          "All of us that is except Pat, somehow Pat was above all of that. He never said anything and I don't think any of us ever spoke of it. Pat would let us suck him but he never did any of us. He most specially liked me and I sucked his dick three or four times a week every week. He lived a little over a block away from me so we rode our bikes home, we would go out behind his garage where he would drop his jeans and I would suck him. He would keep his mostly hard dick in my mouth as I jacked off.
          "He encouraged me as I stroked, I loved the smell of him after a full day at school He was so musty and just a hint of urine. I liked to play with his butt and he really liked it when I would run my fingers up and down through his crack; we never ever touched anyone's ass hole, we just weren't that far along in those days. I would smell his ass crack sweat on my fingers as I lay on my bed beating off at least two more times before going to sleep every night. I don't know why I never got sick. My mother was always on me to wash my hands before eating, "Wash your face and hands before going to bed." But to do so would wash away his smell.
          "Just a few weeks after our night in Andy's back yard I was on my knees sucking Pat's cock. I liked to get up close to his body so I could feel his skin against mine. If it wasn't too cold I'd pull my shirt off and wrap my arms around him, pulling his lower body against me. I would suck him off then reach down and stroke my hard cock. I was stroking before he would cum and I hoped that someday I could cum at the same time that he did. Anyway this one afternoon I was pounding away and he was fucking my face. He was horny and on the road to a second ejaculation without a rest in between. I started to cum and just kept on pounding my cock letting it shoot far and wide. Pat began to fill my face with his second load, I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into me as if I wanted his body to go down my throat. My hand was covered in jizz and I was rubbing it into his fantastic bubble butt.
          "When he softened and pulled back I sat down on my heels. I looked down as he pulled his pants up and I had creamed the crotch of his briefs, mortified I froze. He pulled his pants up and stopped. He pulled the briefs up and arranged himself in them. He looked at me and put his hand under his balls, he pulled his hand out and smelled of it then he licked his fingers. "You kinky devil, that's neat." He pulled his pants up and we walked on home. >From then on if I was on my knees he wanted me to cum in his briefs for him. He said he felt good with my cum on his balls and up his crack.
          "He spent the night at my house three times over the course of our acquaintance. I learned that he had learned about cock sucking during the spring break the year of our camp out. His aunt had come to stay for a week, her son was fourteen and he loved to suck cock. He taught Pat everything he knew about ways to make a boy wiggle and never made Pat do anything to him. Pat told me it was a good thing because he was no fucking queer. That hurt and I asked him if he thought I was a queer because I liked to suck his cock. Pat held me close and told me that he never thought that. We were just five very good friends that would do anything for each other and he was so glad that I didn't mind helping him to feel good.
          "I was glad to make him feel good. When he spent the night was the only time that we could get naked together. It was a whole new ball game in my bed at night with Pat naked beside me.
          "It all ended when my step-ma opened my bedroom door. My ma died of an overdose when I was real little and pa is in prison for drug dealing. They found five hundred pounds of pot in the trunk of his car but he says that he didn't know that it was there. My stepy never wanted me but I came along with my pa so she was stuck. She found herself a way to get rid of me.
          "It's not so bad, now I live here and I have a neat boyfriend that loves to do me when I do him." He bent down to give Kent a kiss but was pulled off of his feet to fall across Kent. We all laughed as legs flopped about with the end result being Slade up in Kent as they were cheered on.
          I have never let on to Orville what I have done. The money that his grandfather had left was for him, it was set into a trust fund that had been paid out in monthly installments to the boy's father. The step-mother continued to accept the monthly check. I hit her where it really hurt when I attached the funds and filed charges of fraud and forgery against her. She will have to reimburse Slade sixteen months of payment that she received after he was out of her house. My accountants are still examining her reported expenses from the time that her husband was arrested, I will make sure that every penny that she received went for Slade's support.

          I had listened to Cory and to my heart and I was going to try to make another in my house know that Sandra Clause is real. Around seven o'clock I took Jimmy to a first class hotel and ordered us a quiet lunch to be served in our room. Tulsa is in the Bible belt and there are some strong attitudes against sinners everywhere in town. There are several world renown Bible colleges in the area, Oral Roberts University being the largest, it is located within sight of Andy's house.
          When the young man from room service brought in our appetizers before our dinner was served he looked about the room with an inquisitive expression on his face. I told him that we would be ready for our main course in a half an hour and he smiled, widely. Jimmy and I acted like lovers as we fed each other our finger foods. The platter was piled high with potato skins, fried cheese sticks, jalapeño poppers, shrimp, and frog legs. I am not a big fan of jalapeños and even less of the battered and fried variety, Jim wasn't sure about the frog legs. We fed each other and enjoyed ourselves.
          I removed the cover from the tureen of tomato soup and served up a bowl full for each of us then we cleaned the large bowl of garden salad and the assorted vegetable platter on the side. Neither of us was ready for more food when the knock came at the door signaling our next round. Our young room service waiter entered and never removed his eyes from us as he cleared the table then reset it for our main course. He asked us for our toppings for the large backed potato. I chose shredded cheddar, chives, butter, sour cream, and imitation bacon bits. Jimmy wanted chopped chillies added to his which the young waiter quickly put in place.
          My only objection was to the over cooked green beans almondine, the pearl onions were pieces from the middle of a larger onion, the oregano was dried, not fresh. The green beans are only supposed to be sautéd in butter over medium heat for one to two minutes, these had been boiled. I asked that they be returned to the kitchen with a suggestion to the chef about what he could do with them.
          I had ordered a pot of coffee, a six pack of cokes and a quarter bottle of cognac. I told the waiter that we would need at least an hour before he could serve the cherries jubilee. I discovered that we were in a garden variety motel, not a four star hotel. The flambee flamed out, the cherries were from a canned pie filling mix with a half gallon of cornstarch and sugar mixed with cherry bits. I called the front desk and complained, loudly.
          Jimmy was happy with his lot, it was more than he had ever had but I had wanted our evening to be something truly spectacular. Of course I had allowed Jimmy to drink all of the cognac, he is not a drinker so he was feeling no pain.
          I have a hard time when I am confronted with incompetence, I took Jimmy to the bed and loved him but my heart was not in my actions. I had to leave. Jimmy was still happy with our time but I was not through with our day, I was just through with the hotel and the service. I made sure that Jimmy stayed away from everyone as I went to the front desk and told the manager on duty how I felt about his tent village. I pointed to the water stain on the ceiling over the front desk. I told him about the dust bunnies under the bed in our room and about the lack of towels, we had to call housekeeping for the tiny towels they offered so that we could take a shower.
          The cop that had been such a loud mouth at Sach's came in to pick up his wife from her job as a waitress in the hotel's coffee shop. He listened to me then told the desk manager that I was a knight and he better listen to me before I ran him through with my lance. The desk manager told him that room service had told him that there were a couple of queers upstairs.
          I turned to leave and found myself face to face with an old face, my old reporter friend from Mississippi, the sister of the Ohio State Police Colonel was grinning at me. "Sounds like a story here Sir Chris. By the way, congratulation on receiving a Knighthood from three different countries, you are a legend in your own time. Is the young Crown Prince with you on this trip?" I was half scared of her and half glad to see her, she could print what she knew and all of my family would be in jeopardy.
          "No ma'am, I put him on an airplane to England this morning, he is on his way to see his mother for the holidays."
          "That would be your sister, Dame Muneday?" The woman had been doing her homework. "I saw His Royal Highness on the news last night. Why was he passing out one hundred dollar bills?"
          "He wanted to share a little holiday happiness. He thought that no one would know him as he played like secret Santa."
          "Darling, why are you staying in a dive like this? You are worth several billion dollars, I understand that you bought the Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas. Why not buy a hotel or two here?" She winked at me and I took a deep breath.
          "I have been scouting a few places, I have a young management student with me that is looking at the hotel business but as you say, this place is a dive. I am going to find out who was paid off to rate this place at four stars."
          "Well, darling, like they say, 'It's not so much what you know or who you know, it's what you know about whom you know.'"
          "Well put my dear. So what brings you to the slums?" I waved my arm in a wide circle as she grinned at me.
          "I have an ill sister that lives nearby and this place is convenient. I would like to hear of your experience with this riff raff, I am doing a story that could use a little personal insight. Is it true that you are with one of the country's foremost intelligence agencies, even bigger than the NSA or CIA?"
          "You know that I can not comment on that and I don't even like to hear talk of our agency."
          "I understand, my brother told me about your silly secrets. I don't understand why the government has to try to hide everything. the public has a right to know."
          "The public would not be able to sleep at night if they knew what I know."
          "Like that bunch in Europe that was kidnaping young boys to be used as sex slaves. I talked to the mother of your young Bryan, she hates you but is glad that you rescued her son."
          "You know what, I never learned your name, I refer to you as Rita Skeeter..."
          "Darling, I am flattered but I don't have a Quick Quotes Quill that can write my stories for me."-Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; chapter 18, pg 201- J.K. Rowling-Arthur A. Levine books-2000

          "Pardon me, sir. I have just cleared it with my home office and your entire stay has been refunded to your credit card. We are most sorry for your troubles."
          I looked at Rita, "Most sorry? hick in the sticks cain't even spoke good." Both of us laughed as I walked over to Jimmy, "He took a glass of cognac, the first drink of his life. He really is a master organizer and I believe that he will make somebody a great manager someday. I hope to see him manage his own business.
          "Give my brother your best and I am sorry about your sister," I told her.
          "I don't have a sister, I just stopped here to use the can, I don't like gas stations..." she winked at me. I walked her out to her car and watched her drive away. A valet brought my car to the door for me to pour Jimmy into.

          Cory was not happy to see us return. I had him help me to smuggle a drunken Jimmy up to our room, Cory giggled all of the way. We got Jimmy naked and into a tub of hot water as I shared our story. Cory was aghast when I related my run in with Rita, I told him that I thought that she would be okay. I know one thing for sure, I owe that lady.
          Cory had plans for the evening and left me alone with a drunk on my hands, I teased Jimmy as I loved him. Cory delivered us a tray of food with much better service that we had received in the hotel, but there was no liquor, I looked. I held Jimmy against me with his head on my chest and his legs spread out between mine, as I fed him a complete meal. I had a lot to make up to him because of our miserable day.
          After I set our dishes outside of the bedroom door I led Jimmy into the inglenook. His eyes brightened as I made us a bed where we could look out on the disaster that had been a beautiful snow covered series of terraces the night before. I opened the small panel for the fireplace and gathered him to my chest once again. We sat like that for several hours as I ran my hands over his firm chest and belly. A few times I ran my hands over his firm upright but I was holding back on the sex, I love him, I had no plans to use him.
          The house grew quiet and we could see the lights in the various rooms click off and their reflections on the snow go dark. A little past midnight Jimmy grew rigid and turned to me for a prolonged session of love making. I called on my memory as I thought of our first afternoon in Traveler as it set in the parking lot of a truck stop in Mobile, Alabama.
          I took Jim around the world before I stuffed him full of man cock. He threw his arms around me and told me to love him long time. I giggled as I thought about that line in so many movies featuring Oriental hookers, Jimmy just didn't have the right look to star in those movies. The young man has the right look to star in my life and I was ready to make him beam.

          I awakened to Cory kissing my face, Jimmy had run to the toilet. Cory led me to the bathroom and into the shower where he and Jimmy both joined me. "How are you doing this morning, my young friend," Cory asked him.
          "I owe you for letting me sleep with your boyfriend," Jimmy's face almost clouded but I was not about to allow that.
          "I am your boyfriend too, Jim. Remember, it was you that I met in that truck stop. I left you and Cory behind as I moved on in search of cum filled cock. I love both of you more than you can ever know. Were I not married to Daylight you would be fighting it out in court because I would be married to both of you."
          "You would? I know that you would. That makes me happy to know that you really love me that much."
          "Jim, I don't know how to show you how much you mean to me. This dude here is always on my case because I don't get you in bed more often so I know that he loves you as much as I do." Jim stood and looked at Cory as the water pelted the smooth skin of his face. He stood up on his toes and kissed Cory then me.

          "I am going to make a few changes," I told the boys Wednesday morning. "Del and Mitchell, you have both exceeded my expectations this past semester and I am going to allow you to enroll in the virtual school classes. I will tell you this, don't fall behind, don't goof off, work and work and keep working. School time is not play time and I expect you to work as hard as the boys that are already in the class.
          "I have just talked to Aaron James, Boner got a car for Christmas and he wants to drive up to the house so he can study alongside of the rest of you. Again, study during class hours. I have learned that Gary Byrd and James Walker have been given a car also so I expect that they will be at the house each day.
          "That is going to push our limits boys, that will make a total of fifty of you sitting around the family room. I don't know that we can continue to allow your friends from church to come in each day, we will just have to see.
          "We have a new teacher at the academy and all of you will have three hours a week in his class. That includes you boys that study at home." The boys began to moan as I stood and watched them.
          "Hey guys, lighten up, you don't know what class this teacher has." I bowed to Cas and thanked him for his input.
          "I believe that you will like the class, Mr. Bowman teaches chemistry and I have sat in on some of his labs, the man can make smoke bombs with several different colors of smoke," I had their attention. I may regret this class.

          "Donny has something to tell us," I shut up and sat down, I am not sure how the boys are going to take this one.
          "You all know that Davy is not with us. It is a long story but he didn't want to see any of you, he just wanted to slip away, forever. He is my brother and I love him a lot, he did the best he knew how to do after our father was killed and I will always be grateful for that. He showed me a lot of love but he has a head full of demons that he can't get rid of.
          "A lot of you know that he has been drinking for sometime, it has really gotten worse lately. I tried to go with him after Thanksgiving lunch and we went to his room, I found booze bottles hidden everywhere. I guess most of us thought he was just drinking beer but he is a full blown alcoholic and I can't reach him.
          "I told dad and the two of us talked to Davy several times, dad offered to help Davy with a program but like he told me, until Davy admits that he has a problem and wants help there is nothing that we can do." Donny was crying, Bryan quickly rushed to him and embraced him.
          "So he is gone. He was going to leave after you guys left and he won't tell me where he went. Daddy knows where each of us is at any moment so I made him look for my brother. His signal is coming from Florida. I don't know who is down there but I hope that he is okay." He broke down and really began to cry as Bryan led him up the stairs.

          "Boys, you know that I will not abide by substance abuse in my house. I let David slide for Donny's sake but I could not reach him. Some of you have tried to help him but he has not been the same since he returned to us last summer. I will ask all of you that feel led, to pray for him. I will put him high on my daily prayer list so that I can pray for him several times daily.
          "Another matter with substance abuse." I turned to look at Edgar, he rose and moved to the center of the room so that everybody could see and hear him.
          "Guys, take a look at a jerk. Al you and Greg have known me for a long time. You gave me shelter when I could no longer take my father and his friends using my butt hole for their playground. Chris, you came to me when I had to face that ass hole in court and you held me as I cheered over his conviction."
          Another boy began to cry and had to sit down. Through his tears he managed to finish what he had to say, "I am worse than a jerk, I never suffered half of what some of you have suffered but I couldn't deal with it. In my mind I was trash, I wanted to destroy the memories that haunt my sleep by using drugs.
          "Hector saved my life and doesn't know it. I met this guy that was going to show me how to shoot up, Hector found my stash of weed and we had a fight. That fight made me so mad that I forgot about that pusher dude and I just went to the park to get high. That little kid at the park is a good little cock sucker and I have let him do me many times. I went up in him a few times and I have sucked his dick. I am glad that he hasn't told anybody yet or I would not be here today.
          "I know...Chris, I never told anybody this before but I want to come all of the way clean. I was going to take the kid somewhere and really do it with him, I was so horny that I was ready to fuck anything that moved. That pusher had given me two joints that I took out of my bag of dope and went to the park to smoke. I lied to dad and everybody, I'm sorry, I don't have the right to call you that." He began to cry again, I wanted to hold him but he had to stand up to what he had done.
          "I lied about dumping my stash in the john at the park. Hector is right, all that I held I had left in my jacket pocket where he found it. Anyway the two joints that I had been given were real strong, stronger than anything I had ever had before, they messed me up, bad. Chris took me to a doctor after I got out of jail and he did some blood tests, he told me that there was meth in those joints. Meth is totally addictive, one hit of that shit and a person is hooked for life.
          "Chrisy and Timmy knew about the meth and they have watched me like a hawk so that I could not do any kind of wrong shit. I think that I was followed around school and to and from their house but I am glad because I got my head back on. I have been gone and have not been allowed to see or talk to any of you since early in September. I know about the family council and Chris told me that I have to come and stand before all of you guys and hear what my punishment will be.
          "I have called my aunt in Akron and told her that I need a place to stay for awhile so I just wanted you to know what I did and say that I am so sorry. I have really blown a good thing and I have ruined the best time of my life with the best bunch of people that I could ever hope to know. I do love you, I don't know some of you new dudes but you guys that were in Albany and after, I love you to death and I will always remember you."
          Now was the time to hold him, I rose from my chair and helped him to stand up, "There are some things in this world that are worse than a pot smoking, cock sucking, take it up the ass faggot. The first thing that comes to my mind is a person with a defeatist attitude. From your statements today I am surprised about the way you walked into your court date last October.
          "Boys, Ed...we did agree that you are Ed, Eddy over there is Eddy, Edmund is Edmund, you have the rights to the name of Ed. Now that that is settled. Boys Ed didn't tell you about his trial. He went before a judge for the charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He did not have any marijuana on him or in his car. The police searched his car throughly and could not even find any residue.
          "Our friend Bull argued that there may not have been any marijuana in the first place. Edgar had told the police that he had been smoking and it was the police that assumed that he had been smoking the weed. The police charged Edgar with contributing to the delinquency of a minor but Bull asked the arresting office to explain to the court the manner in which Edgar had contributed.
          "The boy testified that he found Edgar asleep and that he was horny from smoking some grass and wanted to suck Edgar's cock, it was not clear how he got into Edgar's car. Edgar testified to feeling ill and walking to his car then passing out in the back seat. There was no way to prove whether he led the boy to the car, if he called the boy over to the car, or if the boy just got in on his own. The knew that Edgar had not led him over, he only remembered seeing the man laying back in the car and he remembered trying to get his pants down.
          "Edgar was acquitted of his charge, the boy is now in the system as a teenage sexual deviant and I have been asked about allowing him to come to my house with a new group of boys that will arrive after the next semester begins." That made every boy in the house look up, somebody yelled out, "New blood." Somebody else yelled, "Fresh cum." Then next heard was, "More ass." I held my hand up to settle the boys so we could get on with business.
          "I was about to say that with the attitude that you have shown here to day I am surprised that you did not walk into that courtroom with a new rope already knotted for your hanging. Ed, you can never read a jury, you have to wait and then listen to their decision."
          I turned to the boys, "So this is Edgar's court date, does everybody have his ballots?" My trusty helpers had been passing around the room to give each boy one white and one black marble. Boys all around the room were holding up both hands with one or the other colored marbles in it so all could see them.
          With the size of the family it would take all day for them to pass around the ballot box, or even to line up to cast their vote into a box. Andy had provided us with a short barrel that had once held chlorine powder for his swimming pool, that was placed on the floor before me so that the boys could toss their vote into the can.
          I could not let Ed see how anyone voted so he was asked to sit to the side of the room, he was still with us but he could not see which color of marble anyone tossed in. A black marble is a conviction, a white marble is a vote to acquit, one black marble out of one hundred at seventy six will end Edgar's days with the family forever. In our family if one person has a problem with another we all have a problem, we can not deal with grievances of any kind. If a solution to the problem can not be found I will have to remove one or both persons in the dispute.

          Nope, I'm not going to do it. I have decided that I won't tell you how the boys decided Edgar's case. We each feel that there is never a reason to use drugs of any kind. There are a few boys that have to have certain medications, Bryan, Damien, me... But those are controlled and I oversee their use very carefully. I was getting a feeling that the boys had really been incensed by Donny's story about his brother, David, and they were out for blood, anybody's blood. The don't like for shame to befall our family.