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The author retains all rights to this story. No reproductions or links to other sites are allowed without the permission of the author.

Note: Thanks to Tim for feedback on the draft chapters.  I owe special thanks to Robb and Rock for doing the final proofreading and catching all those silly little errors I missed.

 

Send comments to: jeff_allen15@hotmail.com

Finding Family

by Jeff Allen


CHAPTER 36

CARTERVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

PARKER'S PERSPECTIVE:

My house was going to be packed for Thanksgiving, and I was looking forward to it.

We'd shuffled bedroom assignments to take care of everyone. Of course, Karl was going to be staying with me. Donnie's boys were moving temporarily into Donnie and TJ's room so that Nacio, TJ, and Bart could have the boys' two double beds. That freed up Nacio's room to allow the new couple, Josh and Brandon, to stay together for the weekend. Trey and Isaac were crashing in Ryan's normal room.

In addition to the group staying at the house, Karl's parents were going to be out for Thanksgiving dinner as were Robert Marquez, his son, Tyrone Jackson, and Robert's aunt, Elena Castro.

Eighteen people for dinner! I bought the biggest darn turkey I could find at the Winn-Dixie. Given the appetites of some of the folks who would be sitting around the table (especially Coach's Cubs), I wasn't expecting a lot of leftovers.

I canceled the study hall session for Tuesday afternoon and headed home as soon as school was out. Karl was already at the house. Trey, TJ, and Isaac were the next to arrive in Trey's trusty old Volvo wagon (formerly my trusty old Volvo wagon). Ryan and Nacio got home a few minutes later after first picking up Grant and Micah Micheaux at the day care.

Grant and Micah were delighted to have the "big boys" back home and quickly led TJ, Trey, and Isaac upstairs to show them the new little boy treasures they had stowed away in their room. Mutt was also happy to see the college guys. She was wagging her tail so hard, I thought it was going to fall off.

Josh and Brandon along with Mason, Brandon's dog, arrived about half an hour after the first wave from Adams State. Everyone knew Brandon from our visits to Adams State, but Mutt and Mason acted like it was their first time together. They sniffed and nosed each other for a few minutes before being distracted by Grant and Micah.

Judging from the body language between Brandon and Josh, it seemed apparent that they were smitten with each other. I was happy for Josh, but surprised because any time Josh had commented on a guy being attractive or being his 'type,' it had been a smaller and almost beautifully handsome male. Brandon was about the same height as Josh at about six foot four inches. He was ruggedly masculine but not what I would describe as fashion model handsome. I'd talked with Brandon several times over the fall semester when I'd been there visiting Karl. I knew he was a heck of a nice guy, but he had always seemed a little sad and slightly distanced from other people. However, I saw more genuine smiles on his face and heard more laughs from him in that first half an hour than I had in all the times I'd seen him before.

Robert's big Escalade pulled into the driveway just after dark. We all went to the door. Brandon ran around to the passenger's side of the big SUV and wrapped his brother in a bone- crushing embrace.

The two brothers were crying on each other's shoulder. The rest of us including Robert moved back into the kitchen to wait for Brandon and Bart to get their emotions under control.

After a few minutes they walked arm in arm into the kitchen. There were big tear tracks and huge smiles on their faces.

Bart was maybe two inches shorter than his older brother and not quite as muscular. However, he had the same dark hair, and strikingly light eyes as Brandon. He also had Brandon's strongly masculine facial features, but his face was almost classically handsome even with the black eye from his father. Bart was clean-shaven while Brandon had a goatee which partially hid a scar at the left corner of his mouth. Brandon also had a scar that ran down his left eyebrow and onto his left cheek. Looking at the two brothers I realized that they really looked remarkably alike and that if Brandon didn't have the facial scars he would have been just as handsome as Bart.

Since I'm a gay male, I also checked out how much of a package Bart was showing in his pants. Brandon's pants always showed evidence of an ample endowment. Believe me, it didn't look like Bart was lacking in that category either.

Robert introduced himself to Brandon and then took his leave promising to be back the next day for dinner.

After everyone had been introduced to Bart, Josh took both brothers by the arm and headed upstairs with them. Brandon and Bart hadn't seen each other in almost three years. We all knew that Josh was taking them up to one of the bedrooms where they could talk privately. Sure enough, Josh was back down stairs within just a couple of minutes.

It was my turn to cook that night so I put a couple of big pork loins in the oven and then Karl and I started peeling potatoes. Josh came into the kitchen. He got the table ready, and we talked while we worked. He gushed about Brandon. Karl and I smiled knowingly at one another.

"Uh, can I ask you guys a real delicate question?"

"You know you can, Josh. What is it?"

"Well, I really want Brandon to...to...to have anal sex with me."

"Okay, if you're ready and he's ready."

"Well...I've never done that before, and Brandon...well let's just say that I think Brandon's part horse."

I got concerned. "Brandon isn't trying to force himself on you, is he?"

"Oh no. Nothing like that. In fact he told me he wanted to make sure I was relaxed before we tried anything. It's just that I've never felt this way before. I think I might be falling in love with him."

"Josh, an emotional connection with a partner makes a huge difference in the ease and pleasure of anal intercourse. If you're relaxed and willing and your partner is patient, you'll be amazed at how far you can stretch."

"Okay. Um...uh, I've got another `issue' about Brandon that I want to talk with you about."

My concern returned, "What's that."

"Brandon has some really bad burn scars on his back from something that happened in Iraq. He's pretty self-conscious about them, and I'm a little concerned about the shower situation."

"Are you saying that he's not going to want to shower upstairs in the big showers?"

"I think he might be afraid that he'll gross out the other guys. He was afraid that I'd think he was ugly and not want to be around him."

"And did you think that?"

"No. Those scars aren't who Brandon is."

"Don't you think the rest of the guys will see beyond the scars too?"

"I know they will, but Brandon doesn't."

"Tell you what, if Brandon's uncomfortable taking a shower up stairs with all of the guys walking around, he can come down and shower in my bathroom."

"Thanks, Parker. You're the best."

"Don't I get a hug for that?"

Josh grabbed me in a bear hug. I motioned to Karl, and he joined us in a group embrace.

Brandon and Bart came back downstairs a little before dinner. Their faces were still tear stained and their eyes red, but they had big wide smiles.

With eleven big guys and two little guys around the table for dinner there weren't many leftovers. I watched the food disappear and hoped I'd gotten a large enough turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.

After Nacio, Ryan, and Isaac cleaned the table and washed the dishes they joined us in the living room. Donnie and TJ came down after getting Micah and Grant in bed. We watched a football game and did a lot of joking back and forth.

Josh, Brandon, and Bart were sitting on the floor together close to where Karl and I were snuggled up on the couch. Josh was on one side of Brandon, and Bart was on the other. Josh looked up and caught my eye. He nodded his head in my direction then he leaned over to Brandon and whispered something in his ear. Brandon's expression grew anxious.

Josh stood up and pulled Brandon up with him. Brandon looked even more unsure and anxious.

"Hey, guys, listen up for a minute."

There were some protestations from the others who were watching the game.

"Guys, please listen for a minute. Will someone turn off the sound on the TV?"

Karl hit the mute button on the remote. All eyes turned to Josh.

Josh turned to Brandon. "Go with me on this, babe. Okay?"

Brandon nodded his head, but the look of anxiety was still in his eyes.

"Guys, Brandon...my man...the guy I'm falling in love with has a problem. He's afraid people will judge him on outward appearances instead of for the great human being he really is. The reason Brandon thinks that is because he got badly burned while in Iraq, and he has some pretty major scarring on his back."

Josh started unbuttoning brandon's shirt. Brandon reached up to stop him, but Josh kissed him on the lips and said, "Trust me." Brandon dropped his hands, and Josh finished undoing the buttons and removed Brandon's outer shirt. Then he pulled up on the hem of Brandon's undershirt. Brandon raised his arms, and Josh slid the shirt off leaving Brandon naked from the waist up. Josh turned his boyfriend around so his back was visible to everyone else in the room.

The scarring was extensive across his back and down one arm. I understood Brandon's concern that people would judge him harshly because of the scars. They weren't easy to look at.

Brandon's face reddened, and he lowered his head. Josh put his hands on the side of Brandon's face and raised his head.

"Now all of you have seen the outside, but 'it's what's inside that counts.' I want you all to know that Brandon Harris is the most beautiful person I have ever met."

TJ was the first to walk over and hug Brandon. One by one we all got up and hugged him. I don't think there was a dry eye in the entire house.

Finally Josh spoke up again. "Okay, now that we've cleared that up. Will somebody please turn the game back on?"

We all laughed our asses off, even Brandon.

Later that night, Karl and I lay in bed after making love. We were lying on our sides facing each other with our heads propped up on our elbows. Our lovemaking had been tender and unhurried.

I reached out and played with the hair around one of his nipples. "It's hard to believe that you graduate in three weeks."

"I know. I've enjoyed being a student, but I'm looking forward to being back here in Carterville and working in the store with Dad."

I'd been thinking about my next few words for several weeks. "Are you going to live back home with your parents or live out here with me?"

He smiled. "Are you asking me to move in with you?"

"Yes, if you're ready to try it."

"Parker, I've been ready for that for several months now."

We kissed, and the kisses turned more passionate. We ended up making love for the second time that night.

JOSH'S PERSPECTIVE:

 

I knew I was taking a big chance when I took Brandon's shirt off in front of the rest of the guys. I wasn't worried about the reactions of my guys. I knew they would love and accept Brandon even if he was the ugliest guy in the world because they all knew he meant a lot to me. What I was worried about was how Brandon would react to me forcing the issue.

When we got into our bed that night Brandon pulled me close and said, "That was a pretty ballsy thing you did tonight."

"Are you mad at me?"

"No, I was surprised and concerned when I realized what you had planned, but everyone was so accepting. They really don't care about what my back looks like. You knew that's how they'd react, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I was counting on it."

"Josh, you don't know what it means to me to have Bart here, to meet all these fantastic people...and to have you. I was alone for a long time."

"You're not alone now. Make love to me."

And that's just what we did. We kissed and petted and sucked until we were both close to the edge. Then he rolled me over on my stomach and used his tongue and fingers on my hole. He gradually worked up to moving four fingers in and out of my hole. I was leaking precum all over the bed sheets beneath me.

"Do you want to try it?"

"God, yes. If you don't do something soon, I'm so worked up I'll have to go down to the kitchen and use the biggest cucumber in the refrigerator."

After we stopped laughing, he slipped a condom down over his thick meat then lay down on his back.

"It's probably best of you straddle me. That way you can control how fast and how much goes in."

I moved into position, reached back and moved the head of his dick against my hole.

He reached up and put his hands on either side of my face. "It's okay if you can't do it. I don't want this to hurt you."

I bent down, and we kissed as I slowly lowered my ass down on his flagpole. Damn it hurt! But I was determined. Suddenly it was like my rectum simply opened up and I could feel his thick pubic hairs pressed against my ass. He was all the way in!

We kissed again. I started moving up and down on his cock. The feelings were fantastic. Every stroke of his dick in my ass brought more precum out of the end of my dick. It dripped off my cock and down onto Brandon's furry belly. He scooped some up with his fingers and tasted it. We kissed again, and I could taste the remains of my juices in his mouth.

Brandon rolled us over so I was on my back. That let him take longer strokes. I could feel the massive head of his cock passing over my hot spot with each stroke.

I couldn't last any longer. My body clenched. Cum shot out of my dick and hit my chin. Brandon leaned down and began licking the cum off my face as he continued his thrusts. When his orgasm came, he pushed into me one last time before throwing his head back and grunting. I felt his dick spasm once...twice...three times...inside me as he filled the condom with his seed. At the same time I pushed out another shot of cum.

I went to sleep in his arms.

I woke up with a start. Brandon was sitting up in the bed crying.

"Babe, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I just had a dream."

"But the dream made you cry. What was it about?"

He lay back down and put his head on my chest.

"I saw Rayvon. He was right here in the room with us. He was dressed in fatigue pants and a tee shirt, just like that last day in Iraq. He came over and stood beside the bed. He brushed your hair out of your eyes and smiled. He bent down and kissed me. He told me that everything was all right. He said that I had made him happier than he'd ever been in his whole life, that he was glad he'd had the chance to love me, but that you loved me too, and that he was happy for us. Then he just sort of faded away."

He was silent for a bit. "Josh, do you believe in ghosts?"

"I think I do now."

I pulled my man in closer.

BART'S PERSPECTIVE:

I wasn't quite sure what to expect at Parker Arnold's house. I knew that my brother, Brandon, would be there. I hadn't seen him for almost three years, and that was before he'd been sent over to Iraq and gotten injured. I was excited to be with him again...and excited to be away from my parents. For the first time in my life I felt like I had a chance to really be myself.

While I was excited to see Brandon again, I was a little nervous about meeting all the other guys who were going to be at the house. I shouldn't have been. Each and every one of them accepted me and accepted Brandon in a heartbeat. I'd never been any place like that before. You could just feel the love in that house.

When Robert and I arrived, there were some quick introductions, but Josh, Brandon's new boyfriend, hustled my brother and me upstairs to one of the bedrooms so we could have privacy. I'm glad he did because both of us did a lot of hugging and crying for over and hour. When we went back downstairs, I know we must have looked like a mess.

Dinner was simple but delicious. It was also filled with lots of joking and laughter around the table. Meal times at my parents' house were mostly silent affairs. The children weren't supposed to talk at the table. Here everyone talked!

I looked around the table. Donnie Micheaux was handsome with dark milk chocolate skin, beautiful almost black eyes, and brilliant white teeth. His voice had a silky, sexy quality that made you want to melt. Donnie's two young sons sat on either side of him. Grant and Micah had to the most beautiful and happy children I'd ever met. You could see some of Donnie's facial features in his boys, but their coloring was much lighter than his, and their mops of hair formed soft ringlets around their faces. I wondered why Donnie had custody of the boys instead of their mother. 

TJ Ladd sat next to Grant Micheaux. It was easy to pick up on the fact that TJ and Donnie were a couple. I saw them kiss a couple of times and touch each other in familiar ways. I'm sure my eyes just about popped out of my head every time they kissed or touched. I'd never seen that before except on the Internet. TJ was well built with hazel eyes and medium brown hair. Every time he looked at Donnie or one of Donnie's boys the love he had for them was written all over his face.

Trey Arnold and Isaac South sat next to TJ. Trey was Parker Arnold's nephew and was just about the best-looking guy I think I'd ever seen in my life. He had blue eyes and dark brown hair that was turning prematurely gray which looked really hot with his young face. His temples were already sort of salt and pepper, and he had gray strands mixed in with the dark hair all over the rest of his head.

I knew Isaac was in college with some of the other guys, but his light brown hair, hazel eyes, and fair complexion gave him a younger appearance. It didn't look like he had to shave very often to keep his face clean. Isaac had a quick sense of humor. He kept all of us in stitches with his deadpan delivery of one-liners. I really liked him.

Ryan and Nacio were sitting on the side of the table with me. Ryan was very good looking, with the same medium colored brown hair and hazel eyes as TJ. He was a senior in high school, but he looked like he was the same age as his brother.

Nacio was the youngest of 'Coach's Cubs', as the guys called themselves. He was in eighth grade, so I guessed that he was about thirteen years old. He was obviously going through a growth spurt. His hands and feet were way too large for the rest of his body, and he acted like he wasn't sure about his body movements. I remembered the way I was at his age, and I had a lot of sympathy for him. He had the dark eyes, black hair, and golden bronze complexion befitting his Hispanic heritage. He was going to be a great looking kid when he finished growing. Too bad for us gay guys that Ryan and Nacio were straight.

Brandon sat next to me at the table, and his new boyfriend, Josh, was next to him. I knew Josh was a football player, and he looked like it. He was tall, and his arms were so big they were stretching the fabric of his sleeves. He had masculine good looks and had very dark, almost black, curly hair, an olive complexion, and greenish eyes with a slight brown cast to them. I knew that Josh was the one who had started the process that resulted in my sitting around the table there in some little town in the mountains of North Carolina instead of being in a homeless shelter like I would have been out in Salt Lake. I owed him a big debt, but at the same time I was a little jealous of the relationship that he had with my brother. I knew I had to put that jealousy aside because it was clear that Josh and Brandon cared for each other. You could see it in their eyes whenever they looked at other.

Parker Arnold and his boyfriend/lover/partner...I wasn't quite sure which it was...sat at the end of the table. Karl had dark brown hair and blue eyes. He had kind of classic good looks, but his nose must have been broken at some point because there was a little crook just below the level of his eyes that put the end of his nose a little off center to the right. Rather than detracting from his good looks, I thought it made him look more interesting.

I figured that Parker Arnold was probably in his mid to late twenties, but like Trey his curly dark brown hair was rapidly going gray. In fact, he was close to having as much gray as brown in it. Like Trey, the combination of the gray hair and young face was startling.

I had been forced to run away from my home to keep from having the crap beaten out of me by my father. Four days later I'd been reunited with a brother I'd thought I might never see again, and I was laughing and joking around a dinner table with a bunch of guys I'd only met a few hours ago but it felt as if I'd known them for years. Amazing!

After dinner that evening, Josh made Brandon stand up and take off his shirt exposing the scars on his back. I knew Brandon had been burned in Iraq, but I had no idea how badly he was scarred! I started crying. Isaac reached over and took my hand to comfort me.

Brandon sort of had his eyes cast down on the floor, but Josh looked around at all the rest of us and said, "Now all of you have seen the outside, but 'it's what's inside that counts.I want you all to know that Brandon Harris is the most beautiful person I have ever met."

That's when TJ got up and hugged Brandon. Everyone else did the same thing. My brother was crying, but I think they were tears of release and gratitude.

When I hugged him he whispered in my ear, "Don't ever be afraid of who you are, Bart. I was afraid of myself for a long time, and now I know I've got friends who truly don't care about the outside."

That started me to bawling again.

That night Ryan, Nacio, and I were sleeping in the room that was normally used by Grant and Micah Micheaux. They had been moved to a pallet on the floor beside their father and TJ in the room on the other side of the shared bathroom. Mutt and Mason were settled down right next to them. Ryan and Nacio slept in one of the two double beds, and I had the other. We sat on our beds and talked for a couple of hours before finally going to sleep. They told me about how they'd become one of Coach's Cubs. Nacio told me about his mom being deported back to Nicaragua. Ryan talked about how his mom had shipped him off to a military school and then tried to steal the trust funds that had been set up by his and TJ's dad before he died. I heard about Josh's mother's murder, about Trey losing his parents in a mudslide out in California, about Isaac's parents dying in a fire, about Donnie's wife leaving him and taking all their money, and about Karl being forced out of West Point. All of them had found a welcoming home with Parker Arnold. Ryan and Nacio made it clear to me that they considered Brandon and me to be the latest additions to the family. I really teared up at that point, and the two of them came over to my bed and sat on either side of me until I got it back under control.

Sometime in the middle of the night I felt someone climb into the bed with me. I opened my eyes and saw Micah Micheaux pulling up the covers. Before the little tyke even got settled in, Mutt came over and sat beside the bed. The dog was followed by a very naked TJ. Even though it was dark in the room I could tell that TJ had a great body. He had a moderate amount of hair on his chest and stomach and a very respectably sized penis and balls. He bent over and scooped Micah out of the bed.

"Sorry," he whispered to me.

Micah snuggled into TJ's arms and said, "I had to pee. Then I forgot and got back in my bed."

TJ laughed softly and cuddled with him as he walked back to the bathroom and then into their room. I watched his naked butt as he went. I got an erection watching him.

Brandon woke me up the next morning by sitting on my bed and rubbing my back. He used to do that almost every morning when we were kids.

"Morning, Bart. It's time to get up. Everyone else is downstairs."

"It's too early."

"No, it's already nine o'clock. Most of us have already been out for a jog and eaten breakfast."

I groaned, "My body's still on Mountain Standard Time. Gimme a break."

"Nope. No breaks. Get up and get moving. You'll adjust in a day or so. You and I need to decide what we're going to do about finishing out your senior year."

"Can I take a shower first?"

"Sure. I'll go put on some more coffee."

"Since when did you start drinking coffee?"

He laughed. "When I went into the Army. The Mormon diet didn't last too long in boot camp."

The shower stall in the bathroom was amazing. It was essentially a big tiled room with four showerheads. I wondered if the guys in the house all showered at the same time. Just thinking about that made my dick start to plump up. I had to turn the water over to cold to get the darn thing to shrink back to normal size.

Brandon had been right. Everyone else was up and moving around. Parker and Karl had already put the turkey in the oven. The aroma was starting to spread out of the kitchen into the rest of the house.

Ryan and TJ were down on the floor playing some game with Grant and Micah. The two dogs were lying right next to them watching every move as if they knew how to play the game, too.

The rest of the guys were moving around cleaning the house or polishing the silver flatware for the meal. I grabbed a couple of doughnuts in the kitchen, and poured myself a cup of coffee. Strict Mormons don't drink alcohol or have things like tea or coffee that have caffeine in them. My family had been very strict Mormons. I gently took a sip of the coffee feeling like I was partaking in some forbidden pleasure. Bleah! That stuff was awful! I dumped a bunch of milk and sugar into it and tried again. That was better. Actually it was darn good, and within a couple of minutes I started to feel some of the effects of the caffeine. Yes!

Brandon and I talked about school options. Basically, I could either enroll for my last semester at the high school in Adams or I could get a G.E.D. from a community college nearby. It didn't take me a long time to decide that I wanted to enroll in the regular high school even if I was going to be coming in at the middle of my senior year. Somehow the idea of going to a college, even if it was a junior college for my G.E.D., kind of scared me a little. Sure, I'd be the new kid at the high school, but at least I knew what high school was like.

"It's snowing!"

Trey's announcement focused every eye out the windows.

The snow was coming down in big fat flakes that quickly began to cover the grass. By dinnertime, there was at least four inches on the ground.

Thanksgiving dinner was an amazing affair. Robert Marquez came and brought his aunt, Elena Castro, and his son, Tyrone Jackson. Tyrone was obviously a mix of African-American and Caucasian like Donnie's two boys. He was as tall as his father with black curly hair and a fantastic smile. Tyrone came right over and started talking to me. I think he was actually flirting with me, and that was just fine by me. I was half hard the whole time he was talking with me.

The last people to arrive before dinner were Karl's parents, Lester and Joan Henson. I'm not real good at telling the ages of adults, but Mr. and Mrs. Henson looked lots older than my own parents so I figured they had to be in their late fifties or early sixties.

I couldn't believe the dinner. We had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, at least three kinds of vegetables, some sort of layered salad, and delicious rolls that Elena Castro had baked fresh that morning. Dessert was pie. Pumpkin, apple, pecan, or banana cream. I had a little of each.

The food was great, but the best part about the meal was the people. No one shouted. No one got angry with anyone. They laughed; they joked; they teased each other; but it was all done in love.

Brandon, Josh, Donnie, and I cleaned up the table and kitchen after the meal. Suddenly I just started crying. I mean the tears were rolling down my face. They stopped what they were doing and hugged me asking what was the matter.

"I...I've just never been any place like this before. You all really love one another. I can't believe how lucky I am to be here."

I looked up. Brandon had tears running down his face too. Josh drew him into a hug. I could tell they really cared for one another.

Donnie hugged me. I was taller than him, but he put his hand on the back of my head, and pushed my face down to his shoulder. "Go ahead and cry, buddy. Every one of us has felt just like you do right now. Everyone of us felt like the world was closing in on us before we came here. You're now one of 'Coach's Cubs', and that means you will always have a bunch of brothers who love you and support you."

Well, jeez! That just made me cry all the harder.

PARKER'S PERSPECTIVE:

We didn't have a whole lot of leftovers from the Thanksgiving meal. We sent most of the leftover turkey home with Lester and Joan Henson. Elena Castro insisted that we needed to keep the pies she'd baked, and I had no doubt from the looks on the faces of some of the guys that they would have thrown me out in the snow if I hadn't taken her up on her offer.

Tyrone stayed with us that night. I don't know for sure where he slept that night or who he slept with. I figured that wasn't my concern. The guys could work that one out.

Actually, Tyrone was supposed to spend the rest of the weekend with us. Elena Castro was going out of town to visit some friends in Jacksonville, and Robert was headed to Philadelphia to join up with Sean O'Connor and meet Sean's family. Sean was the good-looking, copper haired dentist who checked my broken tooth in the hospital emergency room after my accident. Even in my semi drugged state after the accident I'd been aware of the vibes between the two of them when Sean came into my room while Robert was there. They'd been officially dating for about six months. I knew from conversations with Robert that he was very interested in Sean, and since Sean was having Robert meet his parents, I figured that Sean must be serious about Robert.

We had about eight inches of snow on the ground the morning after Thanksgiving. All of us, except Donnie and Karl who'd had to go into town to work that morning, got bundled up and built snowmen in the yard and pulled Grant and Micah around on the sleds.

After a couple of hours playing in the snow with the guys, I headed back into the house to get things ready for lunch.

The phone rang just as I got my boots off.

"Hello?"

"Parker, how ya doing today?"

I recognized Sheriff Red Stuart's voice.

"We're doing fine, Sheriff. How about you?"

"Well, I've had better days. I've got me a problem down here at the jail, and I was hoping you could help me out with it."

I knew I was being suckered into something, but I bit anyway. "What's the problem?"

"Well this morning one of my deputies saw a kid climbing out of the dumpster behind Takamachi's Restaurant. The kid claimed he'd been thrown out of his house, and that he was just trying to find something to eat in the dumpster plus get out of the snow for a while. The deputy didn't really have much choice in the matter, so he brought the kid down to the jail and called the boy's parents. Well sir, the father told the deputy that he wasn't going to...and I quote...let that faggot bastard back into the house where he would spread his queerness to the other kids. The father told us that we could just keep the kid at the jail until he rotted. He didn't want him back.

"To make matters worse, after the deputy told the kid the jist of what the father had said, the kid made a noose out of his shirt and tried to hang himself."

"Oh, God. Is he okay?"

"Yeah, the deputy came back before the kid could get the noose tied around anything high enough. The boy's okay, but he's pretty emotionally strung out. He told my deputy that he was gay and that he wanted to die."

Red took a deep sigh before continuing. "Now, if someone in my jail tries to commit suicide, I'm supposed to get them over to the mental ward in the hospital ASAP, but I don't think that's what this kid needs. He's been rejected by his family, and he's feeling pretty worthless right now. I think what this kid needs is some of that special care you've been giving to your other boys."

"I don't know, Sheriff. What if he tries suicide again?"

"I know it's a gamble, but I just don't think this kid needs to be in a hospital. He needs to be someplace where he's going to be loved and accepted. Would you at least come down here and talk to him before you decide yes or no."

"What's the kid's name?"

"Jorge Menendez."

Oh shit!

(To be continued)


AUTHOR'S NOTE: Many of the characters who play parts in this story were previously introduced in either "When Love Comes" (last posted in the College section on Sept. 6, 2001) or "Love of a Lifetime" (last posted in the College section on May 19, 2003). While not necessary, readers may find it useful to read the two earlier stories posted on this site.  Both previous stories are also posted at www.crvboy.com.

 

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