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The author “Chance” is me, “Larkin” This is an effort to re-compose my old roster into a new roster comprised old and new works, re-written and done with more careful editing. (omitting junk) I hope you will understand.
Please send comments to: to larkin@tutanota.com...And I will respond
First published a year and a half ago under the title of “New York 1912” placed in the historical forum but a goodly number of people missed it. This gives me the opportunity to tidy it up and add to it here and there and restructure the ending.
This is a work of fiction. All disclaimers associated with homosexuality will apply without exception. There is reference to some drug use that is in character with the period but it is only incidental and not to proselytize. Persons portrayed in this story are fictitious or at best, coincidental.
Waiting for the Titanic
Part 3
City Life
I put my opium pipe aside and I'm resisting its compelling allure. Smoking opium every day becomes all encompassing. Cares and worries are carried aloft in smoky tendrils. I smoked a little everyday for a month and day after I stopped I was beset with a terrible illness that took a full 4 days to get over.
A old man I had met at Fitz's tavern said, "You need to watch yourself because each cycle of indulgence is followed by a period of abstinence doubles in its intensity and out of it will grow a frightful nightmare."
He gave me a resigned and knowing smile, "Like a snake eating its own tail."
April 15, 1912
I was heading to the Little Cup Cafe for a morning breakfast when I heard the cries of the newsboys coming from all directions. This was an unusual second morning edition. The first one had sold out almost immediately.
"Extra, extra, Titanic sinks!"
I paid a boy for a copy of the New York World and across the front of the paper was a now ominous lithograph of the long black ship.
I stood on the corner stunned in my tracks reading the horrifying news.
Titanic Sinks Four Hours After Hitting an Iceberg; 866 Rescued By Carpathia, Probably 1,250 Perish; Ismay Safe, Mrs. Astor Maybe, Noted Names Missing
Biggest Liner Plunges to the Bottom at 2:20 A.M. RESCUERS THERE TOO LATE
Expect to Pick Up the Few Hundreds Who Took to the Lifeboats.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST
Cunarder Carpathia Rushing to New York with the Survivors.
SEA SEARCH FOR OTHERS
The California Stands By on Chance of Picking Up Other Boats or Rafts.
OLYMPIC SENDS THE NEWS
Only Ship to Flash Wireless Messages to Shore After the Disaster.
Sitting at my table I was so engrossed in the paper that I didn't even look up. "Yes, yes, just coffee this morning thank you."
CAPE RACE, N.F., April 15. -- The White Star liner Olympic reports by wireless this evening that the Cunard, Carpathia reached, at daybreak this morning, the position from which wireless calls for help were sent out last night by the Titanic after her collision with an iceberg. The Carpathia found only the lifeboats and the wreckage of what had been the biggest steamship afloat.
"Pretty terrible, all those people drowning among the icebergs and all."
I looked up to see the youthful waiter that was bringing my coffee. He leaned over my shoulder to see the picture of the ill-fated boat. It was usually considered rude for a waiter to do this. When I looked up, our eyes met. I've always considered less than perfect manners a desirable trait.
I inquired, "Did they fire the cranky waiter?"
He gave me a wonderful smile. "I wouldn't know. The manager just handed me an apron and told me to be here every morning a 6 a.m. They said the owner of the steamship line, Mr. Ismay escaped cause he was wearin woman's clothes. You know what they say, women and children first.”
This was followed with a silly and giggling laugh.
He looked about 16 or 17 but when I asked, he said, "Ahm all of 15."
He was not as tall as me, but blond and angelic. "You know I came over on a boat like this only it wasn't near as big."
He mused, "I think,...it had only one smoke stack and not 4."
He gave out another giggle. By now the boy had my full attention. "What ship did you travel on?"
"It was the Kaiserin Victoria out of Hamburg. It stopped at Harwich and a friend smuggled me on board into his cabin. He was first mate. That's almost a captain. I had to hide in his cabin for the entire trip but I had a great time."
I knew that there must be much more to that story. "So you're English?"
"Yea, a Londoner. I had already decided that it was time for me to leave home and all."
The more I looked at him the more I realized how incredibly sexual he was. Perhaps it was his searching gaze or the opened mouthed smile that provided enough evidence. I was even imagining his bottom and its treasure with in. I adjusted my chair so that I might have a wider glimpse him taking special note of his bottom. It was fuller and rounder than Peter's whose bottom was almost non-existent.
The manager came up behind us. "Drake! Unless you want this to be your first day and your last day working here, Ya better get busy, you got other people waitin!"
I stayed on to have some breakfast cake and when he came around again he quickly introduced himself.
"How late are you working till?" He said maybe 9 in the evening.
His name was Daniel Drake and in a very short period of time we had developed mutual intentions. I gave him my card and invited him over for tea, brandy or whatever.
The Letter
When I arrived home I noticed a letter on the sideboard next to the front door. It appeared to be written with a blunt lead pencil and it required some deciphering.
Dear Mr. Edmund.
I am not going to school tomorrow. I should like to visit you again. I will ring your bell and if you are not home, I will go over to Washington Square near the big arch.
Billy Broome
There was no return address.
Alley Cats
I was still in a state of mental confusion over the horror of thousands drowning in icy black waters with the sinking of the Titanic on one hand and my new acquaintance, Daniel Drake on the other..And now I was torn between Daniel and little Billy. I thought to myself, How could a young boy like Daniel be holed up in a ship's cabin for 14 days and say he had a wonderful time? There could be only one answer to that question...And what if Peter shows up before Daniel's arrival, only to grudgingly have to move over in favor of my new pet? How would he take it..? Or what if he shows up in the middle of our dirty deeds? I know that he will stand at the door and pound on it until I let him in.. And then, he might turn on his heel and be done with me forever. I would consider it a terrible loss because I am extremely fond of Peter.. One thing is certain is that because of the terms of their employment, they would both be gone by dawn allowing me to prepare for little Billy's visit later that morning..It's plain to see that I have complicated my life beyond reason..
I stopped by the Italian green market and bought some fruit and then on to the bakery for bread and some pastries and finally to the Jewish grocer for some cheeses and meats. Nothing in this world is more volatile and unpredictable than hungry boys. This is the wellspring of murder, anarchy and revolution.
The Silly Goose
The young waiter from the Little Cup Cafe was light on his feet. He was like a dancer going on stage. Daniel instantly approved of my small flat and after surveying my room he moved towards the window to have a look at the street, 3 stories below. I opened the window wide letting in the cool night air. We both leaned on the sill and looked out into the night. Unlike Peter, Daniel was a bit girlish but I didn't mind.
There was a silent pause until I said, "That's what I love about New York, it never sleeps. Even in the late evening people are hurrying here and there.”
I looked at the boy at my side, "Is London like this?"
I was right, Daniel's bottom was shapely. Acting as though it was inadvertent I let my hand brush it's contours enough to feel that it was full and firm. He had the same friendly smile but did not let on or acknowledge any transgression.
"Not in the part of London I lived in. In my part of London, if you'd go out at this hour your could easily be robbed for a 6 penny bit or murdered with a knife or worse."
I poured the boy a glass of brandy. "Well that's true here too. One has to know how to carry them self in the city at night.”
Mistaking it for wine he drunk it down. "You know, more than 2 glasses of wine and I completely lose control so be prepared."
Giving me a wry smile he said, "I usually have no money so I have nothing to offer but myself."
He giggled, "Take me and do anything you want to me."
He was such a harmless boy. The more I laughed the sillier he became.
With that, he offered up his glass for a refill. It brought back memories of my Latin tutor, Mr. Robbie.
Without warning, there was suddenly a dark distant look of deliberation in his eyes. He wrapped his arms around me pulling me onto the divan where we lay in a passionate and writhing embrace. Pulling me closer we kissed and I felt his tongue probing passed my lips into my mouth. I've kissed before but with someone like Peter or maybe Claude it would be unheard of.
Daniel was breathless. "I want you to give me a baby, please."
His bottom was arched towards me and he was stroking the soft fabric of his pants.
I stopped and looked at this silly boy who had just gotten off the boat... "Daniel, have you forgotten that we are both men?"
I corrected myself, "I mean that we are both males?"
Daniel started up with a silly giggle and then looked pleadingly at me and said, "We can try can't we?"
He slid his pants down off his bottom and rudely spread himself so that his hairless hole was plainly visible. He stuck a finger in and out of it as if I needed to know how it worked.
We both began to undress. Daniel quickly took my cock into his mouth and lavished it with bubbly spittle. He was very skilled in getting me erect but it was all to one purpose and one purpose only. Without further foreplay and holding onto my stiff cock, he turned himself around and pulled me closer, aiming my cock at his hole. I have to admit that his good-natured whorishness engaged in this vulgar and rude display suited both our natures.
The boy was naked and was on his hands and knees with me behind. It was an easy and trouble free entry and the full thrust of my in and out caused him to swoon with pleasure. In the beginning it was exquisite and I plunged myself in as deep and rapidly as possible. Then it was wonderful like a soft engine designed only for pleasure. Then after more than 15 full minutes, it just became run of the mill anal penetration and it was going on and on and with Daniel showing no signs of satisfaction or resolution. More than a half an hour of continuous in and out and I began to tire. It began to go from intense pleasure to being work. I had injected generous quantities of jizum up his rectum once already and to go again took even more hard work. Exhausted, I fell on my back out of breath but Daniel was not to be deterred. He climbed up on me and rode me like a horse until my cock was numbed to all sensation.
In an effort to distract this single minded whore, I disengaged. "Daniel, can I get you something to eat? How about a kruller or some baklava?"
~
It was after midnight when Peter was at my door. Still in uniform, he strode in quickly, then paused and gave Daniel a contemptuous look.
"Edmund, where'd you find this tramp."
Daniel, always wanting to be accepted now look crestfallen.
Peter went on. "I've been running since 6 this morning, from one side of town to the other because of that damn boat sinking. The SOS signal was picked up from the Marconi wireless coming in from Newfoundland."
He still seemed out of breath as a result of the chaos. "Marconi is our competition but they couldn't handle the volume so they contracted us to handle local deliveries. Cables are comin in from all over the world. One good thing though, I've made a fortune in tips. I have only 4 hours off to get some sleep then I have to get back."
Wearing all his clothes, the smelly boy crawled onto my divan and curled up between the wall and me and went instantly to sleep.
Daniel was up on one elbow. "Do you think that maybe he'd give me a baby?" Then laughed at his own silly comment.
I had been worried that Peter would show up but all is well since a dog and cat fight has been averted. Relieved, I sought refuge in my opium pipe.
Daniel was still wide awake. "Hey, let me have some of that!"
In the wee hours I opened my eyes to see a naked Daniel on his knees sucking on Peter's cock. Peter was businesslike and getting ready to go back to work. He treated the boy in front of him as if he was a common facility... When I opened my eyes again they were both gone and it was getting time for me to tidy up in anticipation for little Billy's visit.