By Mickey S.
This is a fictional story.
Most of the characters and events are figments of the author's imagination.
However, some of the fictional characters take part in real events and some
real characters take part in fictional events. In spite of that, this is a fictional
story. My thanks to Tim and Drew for all of their help.
The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the
author's consent. Comments are appreciated at NJMcMick@yahoo.com.
Chapter One
It was supposed to be a summer vacation. That's all, just two months with the
family in
It had been a warm afternoon in late May and we were outside playing baseball
in gym class. As a skinny, non-athletic sort, I was playing right field, as
usual. Since only the left handed kids hit the ball out that way and there
weren't very many of them it wasn't a crucial position. It was the bottom of
the final inning and my team, of which I had been the last player selected, of
course, was ahead by one run. There were two outs and a man on first base when
Tom Lyons came to bat. He was the most-popular and most athletic boy in our
class, and in my opinion, the best-looking as well. And left handed, although that wasn't what I was thinking at the time. I was
too absorbed in his tousled blond hair hanging down over his forehead and the
thought of his deep blue eyes. I was brought out of my trance by the loud
thwack of the bat hitting the ball. The ball was coming right toward me, or so
I thought. I took a few steps toward it before I realized it was going to go
over my head. I back-pedaled quickly but, as luck would have it, tripped over
my feet and fell flat on my back. The ball hit the ground about ten feet behind
me and rolled away. By the time I got to my feet and chased it down, Tom had
circled the bases and was scoring the winning run.
My disgusted teammates didn't speak to me on the way back to the locker room.
Tom Lyons did, though. He patted me on my back and thanked me.
"Couldn't have done it without ya,
Coop. Thanks." I was willing to overlook the sarcasm in his voice just
to look into his eyes and hear him say my name. Unfortunately, things got worse
in the locker room and then in the showers. My teammates were riding me about
my ineptitude, of course. That was almost an everyday thing. But Ed Jamison had
seen Tom speak to me and razzed me about it.
"Just because you've got a crush on
One of the others picked up on it.
"Screw the team? He'd probably rather have the team
screw him."
"I don't know why they make these sissies play on our teams and ruin the games
for us."
"That's bad enough but we sure shouldn't have to put up with them in the locker
room, gawking at our privates."
I was staring down at my feet as I dried off, wishing I could just disappear
and desperately trying not to look at anyone. I'd realized some time before
that I was interested in other boys but thought I'd been careful not to show
it. I couldn't afford to make a slip.
The jeering got worse as we went back to our lockers. Words like fairy, sissy,
queer and nancy-boy were repeated over and over. I
just wanted to get dressed and get out of there. I was reaching for my
underwear when I felt a hand firmly grasp my shoulder.
"Nancy-boys like this don't belong around real men like us. What do you say we
throw him out, men?"
All of a sudden there were hands all over me as I felt myself being pushed
toward the door. I panicked, reaching out, grabbing at the others but that only
seemed to make them angrier when I touched one of them. The door opened and
next thing I knew I was standing out in the sun, stark naked, as the heavy door
slammed shut behind me. I tried to open the door to get back in but the others
were holding it from the inside. I pounded on it but that only succeeded in
drawing attention to myself. Finally, I gave up and
ran as fast as I could across the campus to my dorm, holding my hands over my
crotch. I must have passed half the student body on the way. It only took a
couple of minutes but it seemed like forever until I was in my room. I
collapsed on the bed, crying.
The last two weeks of school were hell. No one in my class spoke to me, only at
me or about me. And my name had become
"I know it had to be tough on you, but don't let them get you down, Woody. Lots
of guys our age put others down to build themselves up and it's not your
fault."
"But look at me. No wonder they pick on me."
"So you're not athletic. Lots of boys aren't. Bullies are always going after
guys who are smaller than themselves. That just shows what cowards they really
are. Try to avoid the worst ones and whatever you do don't let on how much they
upset you. If they think they're not getting to you, they'll probably let up
after a while. And I'll put out the word that anyone who has a problem with you
has a problem with me. Maybe that will stop them."
"I appreciate that but I can't come off as hiding behind my big brother. That
might only make things worse. And I don't want to get you involved in this."
"Don't worry about getting me involved, but I understand what you mean. I'm
proud of you for wanting to get through this on your own."
"Proud? I'd think you'd be ashamed having such a wimp
for a brother."
TR looked me right in the eyes and spoke very seriously. "Woody, don't let me
ever catch you calling yourself names again. You're my brother and I love you.
There's nothing that could ever make me ashamed of you."
By the time Mother and Dad came up from the city to get us, I was on the verge
of a nervous breakdown. It was probably obvious to them that something was
wrong but I couldn't bring myself to tell them what had happened. TR just told
them that I'd had a problem with a couple of my classmates but that I was
handling it.
So even though it was just for the summer and I probably wouldn't see any of my
school mates even if we stayed in
"Are you out of your mind, William? Do you have any idea what's going on over
there?" He paused. "Of course you do, and knowing your political inclinations
and your sense of adventure I can understand why you'd want to go, but why
would you risk taking your family? Those idiots over there are going to end up
killing each other again, and that socialist in the White House is going to do
his damnedest to get us involved, but at least we're safe here for now."
"
* * *
I should probably introduce myself and my family before I go any further. My
name is Woodrow Wilson Cooper, Woody to my family and Cooper or Coop to the
other boys at school. I pretty much answered to anything - except
The family had also grown to be quite conservative, aristocratic and snobbish
over the years. Grandfather, Thomas Cooper III, was the king, reigning from his
mansion on
Instead of going into the family business, he studied journalism at
For as far back as I could remember there had been tension between Dad and
Grandfather but it was apparently worse right after we came back from
While Dad was considered a radical rebel by the rest of the family, we didn't
exactly live a life of poverty. He was not only very successful in his career, he had income from a family trust fund as a
supplement to his earnings. So TR and I grew up in a very comfortable
brownstone on
* * *
Although I had my own personal reason for wanting to run away that summer, I
was looking forward to the trip for all of the reasons Dad had given to
Grandfather as well. Many people seemed to think the British were cold and
formal, stiff upper lip and all that, but my grandparents in
And I adored TR. Talk about hero worship, he was my idol, everything I wasn't -
tall, good-looking, athletic. So many boys his age
thought of their little brothers as pests, but he always had time for me.
I also loved being with my parents. They were different from any other grownup
couple I knew. Most of my friends' parents and most of my parents' friends had
another kind of relationship. The men spent most of their time with their men
friends. The women spent most of their time with their women friends. Yes, Dad
did belong to a club and Mother spent some time with her ladies clubs, but they
enjoyed each other's company more than anything else. Other couples seemed to
be more business partners than life partners and it was clear the men were the
senior partners. But Mother and Dad were friends, pals, equals. They talked,
they laughed, they hugged and kissed. After twenty
years, they were still on their honeymoon.
We were booked for passage on the Queen Mary the second week of June. Mother
spent the whole prior week packing. She always went overboard when we traveled;
her motto was `better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.'
But even by her standards I thought she was packing a lot for just two months,
especially for herself and Dad. After all, we'd have our laundry done several
times while we were away so we didn't need to take everything with us. The day
before we sailed a small truck came to the house to take the trunks which were
being shipped as freight. Mother had packed suitcases with what we'd need for
the four-day voyage and we took them with us in the cab the next day.
The last time we'd sailed to Europe the Queen Mary was still under construction
and we'd taken the
TR and I were sharing a stateroom adjoining Mother and Dad's in first class,
which was called Cabin Class on this ship. When I saw how enormous our room was
I realized why the ship held fewer passengers than the older one. Dad led us on
a quick tour of the ship. My favorite part was the huge map of the
When it was time for the ship to depart, we all went out to join the crowds on
deck. We had no one who was seeing us off - the family was barely speaking to
Dad due to his irresponsibility of taking us into a possible war zone - but we
stood there and waved to the throngs on the dock anyway. It was a huge party
and we took part to the fullest. Once the ship had inched away from the pier
Mother and Dad excused themselves and went below -
Mother to our staterooms to unpack and Dad to meet a newspaper friend in the
first class lounge. TR and I stayed on deck, enjoying the party atmosphere and
watching every detail of our departure.
As the ship reached the middle of the
"Will you take a look at that?" He whispered in my ear. I followed his gaze
into the crowd but had no idea what he was talking about. "The blonde," he
added.
Then I saw who he was looking at. Even I recognized that she was a beauty.
Though I wasn't attracted to girls, I could still tell which were pretty and
which weren't.
"Wait here, Wood." Without another word, TR was off in her direction. He went
right up to her and started talking. When she looked up into his face a big
smile broke out on hers. In no time they were chatting as if they were old
friends. After a moment he turned and pointed in my direction. I blushed,
having been caught staring at them. As the ship passed Battery Park and entered
the harbor, TR excused himself and came back to me.
"Okay Woody, it's all taken care of. We have dates for lunch tomorrow."
"W-we? What are you talking about?"
"She's got a little sister around your age so it's a double date."
A date? With a girl? I must
have looked as distressed as I felt. TR put his arm around my shoulder and led
me to a railing near the stern, away from what crowds were still on deck.
"Look, little brother, I know you're not interested in girls." I knew I must
have looked alarmed at that but TR just smiled. "At least not
yet. We Coopers tend to be late bloomers. But it would be a great favor
to me if you'd be willing to put up with the sister for at least a meal. After
I've had a chance to work my charm on her she probably won't feel the need for
a chaperone after that."
"Sure, TR, I suppose I can do that. But won't her sister be disappointed? I
mean, she may be expecting a smaller version of you. Look at me. I'm short and
scrawny, not at all like you."
It was true. TR was about 6'1" and while he didn't have a large build, he was
muscular and all in proportion. With his blond hair and blue eyes, he looked
like a matinee idol. I, on the other hand, was 5'6" and skinny. My hair was
blond but darker than his and my eyes were an odd blue-green mix.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Woody. You may not have noticed because I've
always been bigger than you, but I've grown quite a bit in the past couple of
years, As I said, we Coopers are late bloomers. You
may not end up as tall as me but you're not going to be short either. And
you've got a good frame so once you start to fill out you'll look great.
Besides, it's not all about looks, you know. You're a great guy and any girl
who doesn't see that doesn't deserve to be with you."
"I'm not sure I buy all that but I'll go to lunch with you and the girls
tomorrow. How bad can it be?"
TR grinned. "That's not exactly the attitude you should have going into your
first date, but it'll do for now, I suppose."
The ship was about to leave the harbor through the Verrazano