Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 18:16:13 -0700 (PDT)
From: Evan Bradley <EBradley33@excite.com>
Subject: Chapter 12 of "Ambush"

The following fictional story deals with sex among males.  If you are
offended by such material, are too young, or reside in an area where it
is not allowed, depart.  Though not always observed in this story, care
enough about yourself and humankind to practice safe sex.

The author retains all rights.  No reproductions or links to other sites are
allowed without the author's consent.

EBradley33@Excite.com

                            Chapter 12
                     Confessions and Absolutions

Pain.  Not sharp, just nagging pain.  In my chest, my ribs.  I slowly opened
my eyes.  Kenny's mop of dark brown hair spilled across my right
shoulder.  My right arm was lying across his back.  His warm breath swept
soothingly out across my skin.  He had placed his arm across my chest, his
artistic, talented fingers splayed across my left pec, measuring my
heart's feelings for him, I hoped, the thought evoking a smile to balance
the pain.  His leg was thrown over my right leg.  It felt so wonderful to
hold this Golden Child, but I knew I had to get my dose of pain pills
because it wasn't going to get better.

I tried to ease myself away from Kenny, but his eyes started blinking,
opening, brightening, matched by a goofy, sleepy smile.  "What's up?" he
asked.

"Judging from the hard sausage wedged snug up against my hip, I'd say
your dick."

We giggled.  I continued to ease my way to the other side of the bed so
that I could arise to get my medication in the kitchen.

"Where ya' goin'?" Kenny asked.

"Just out to the kitchen."

Suddenly more alert, he rolled out of bed, trotting out of the bedroom,
shooting back a "Don't move" as he passed through the door.  That small,
poochy  ass was moving enticingly.  In less than 30 seconds, he was back
with a glass of water and some pain pills, his fat cock wagging from side
to side.

After I gulped them down, I asked, "Where's Robert?"

"His older brother and his family are coming today for a visit, so Robert
needed to go home.  He told me to explain and tell you how much he
hated running off but how much he enjoyed last night."  I shook my head
in understanding.

As Kenny was leaning down for a kiss, he moved over to my ear,
whispering, "I've fucked you, but you've never fucked me."

"Not for lack of desire," I explained, smiling.  "I'm afraid I'm not in the
best shape for that activity."

"You fucked Robert last night."

"Only in a manner of speaking."

"Worked for Robert. It will work for me," he murmured, kissing me
gently again.  "You won't have to do anything but get that big cock up,"
he said, reaching backward behind himself.  "Oh . . . it's already up," he
giggled again.

As he moved back, he chewed gently on my nipples.  I moaned.  "Little
One, you are becoming one, skilled lover."  His eyes gleamed with
pleasure from the statement.

"I always thought I was too small for me to have the power to give people
pleasure."  He paused, looking at me as though trying to decide how to say
what he was thinking.  "You're small, Evan, but you have a lot of power.
You and Robert have taught me that I do have power and that I can use it
for others' good.  I believe it.  I feel it.  You called it 'the magic of my eye
and heart.'"

He reached for the lube, gently smoothing it over my cock and down onto
my balls.  "You're catching on to all those pleasure points," I observed.
"Let me get you ready."

He moved up on his knees, pausing over my stomach.  Leaning up, I
slowly licked from his balls, up the underside of his cock.  After running
my tongue around the head of his fat cock, I moved my mouth
down past the cap of his cock, at the same time moving my right hand
around his ass, sliding my fingertips lightly over his ass cheeks into his
crack.  Simultaneously, I slid my left hand under his balls, running my
fingertips caressingly along his perineum.  That cute little ass was putting
out micro tremors--he was turning on!  I brought my hands back in front,
commanding him to put a strip of lube on both of my fuck fingers.  He
giggled.  Damn!  He was so cute, so sexy.

I moved my hands back to their original positions.  I knew the second my
left fuck finger touched his hole, for he bounced up a quarter of an inch.  I
gently smoothed the lube around his hole, moving out in a larger circle.
Then back and inside his hole.  My finger activity was matched by my
tongue on his cock, whipping itself around his hard dick.  Occasionally, I
would push my tongue past my lower teeth, out of my mouth, taking a
swipe or two across his balls.  I heard something like a squeak-gasp burst
from his lungs.  I moved my mouth back to the head of his cock.  Just as I
pushed my right fuck finger in his hole, I gently chewed on his hard dick
head.  The micro tremors increased as a melodic "E-h-h-h-h-h-h-uh-uh-uh-
uh" issued from his mouth.  I slowly moved my left fuck finger in and out
of his hole while my right fuck finger circled his hole around my finger.
The micro tremors converted to trembling.

"Please, Brother Cub," Kenny pleaded, "fuck me now, or I'm going to
lose it."  I slowly ceased my ministrations and backed my mouth off his
cock.  He started moving back.  Upon reaching my cock, he carefully bent
down and kissed me passionately.  We held the long, hot kiss, our tongues
slowly sweeping over each other.  Then he moved back, looking into my
eyes.  As I read them, I saw more than I ever had.

"If I ever need help, can I come to you?" he asked softly.

"Of course, Little One.  I love you.  You're my friend, my brother.  If I
had a son, I'd want him to be like you.  You are good to the core.  You DO
have special sight.  You are more powerful than you imagine.  You are the
Golden Child of myth.  I'm blessed for having known you.  And I'm
blessed in your love."

During my long answer, he had reached for my dick, placed it at his hole,
and started backing down on it.  By my last sentence, I was fully encased
in his hot, tight, sexy hole.  Kenny sat up and slowly lifted his ass up,
clasping my cock with his interior muscles.  He released his muscular grip
on the ride down.  Up he rose again, grinning at me, eyes twinkling.

On the ride down, I pushed up, flexing my cock.  He gulped, "U-u-u-u-u-
u-u-h," issuing from his still-smiling mouth.  As we continued the fuck, I
started running my fingertips up his legs, under his balls, along his
perineum.  As his ass reached the bottom of his trip down my cock, I
slowly moved my crotch in circles, sliding on the lube I had spread in
circles around his hole, eliciting little moans from him.  For minutes,
ripples of pleasure spread out from my cock into the rest of my body.
Man, this was good!  However, my leg and my chest were telling me that,
as much pleasure as I was experiencing, I was going to pay if I kept this
effort up much longer.

A glance at Kenny's balls told me he was about to blow, for they had
flattened themselves under his cock.  With a painful lunge, I rose up and
swallowed the tip of his cock, biting it gently.  A little scream escaped his
mouth as his ass clamped down hard on my cock.  Cum shot from his
cock, filling my mouth.  Cum shot from my dick, filling his pussy.  After
waves of cum ceased, we were both panting.

He slowly lay down upon me.  "Hurting you?" he gasped.

"No."  I caressed his back and ass in slow, sweeping circles with my
fingertips as we both cycled down.  I was in bliss.

"I have learned more about how to really love from you and Robert than
most kids my age usually know.  I love you so much," he whispered.  "It
isn't exactly the same way I love Robert, but it isn't any less."  He rose up
on his elbows, looking at me seriously.  "I know you love me too, but it
isn't exactly the same way as you love Mr. Minor."  It was a statement,
not a question.  I realized that when he arrived last evening, he knew he
was going to initiate this discussion with me.

"Yes," I agreed.  "Does the Lion know?"

A little smile played across his mouth.  "We talk about you more than you
probably think.  He's happy for both of you.  When I mentioned how
much I saw the two of you connect in the hospital, he smiled.  'It makes
me happy to know our brother has found a soul mate equal to the one I've
found in you.  Let's celebrate this new connection.'  We couldn't help it:
we made hot, passionate love, thinking of you and Mr. Minor getting it
on," he confessed amidst his chuckling.  What a beautiful being!  I was
smiling back, still caressing him.

"Do you think Mr. Minor would ever want to join the Pride?  I don't want
to lose you as my brother."

"Well . . . I don't know how it's going to play itself out with Tim and me.
We aren't as far along in our relationship as you and the Lion are.  I would
like it if we all became brothers.  I don't want to lose my brothers either.
Please tell the Lion I said that."

"Okay," he said.

"Have you and Robert discussed college and your future together?"

"Yeah.  He's going to a local college to complete a lot of his general
education requirements while I finish my senior year.  Then we'll go
together to state university."

I shook my head--sadly, I realized.  "That's the trouble with being a
teacher," I complained.  "Watching students move off into the future while
knowing you'll never see them again actually hurts."

"Wherever I am, Evan, you will always be with me.  But we'll both take
steps so that we can meet over the years.  I'll never let you get far from
me."

"Maybe this will make you feel better," he said.  "Remember when
you suggested that I sketch Jeremy as I saw him--really saw inside him?"
Kenny asked, eyes shining.

"I remember."

"I finished the sketch.  It's pretty good.  Jeremy will like it too.  There's a
smart-ass twinkle in his eyes, and his smile is warm, accepting.  I captured
his handsomeness on the outside and the inside."  He frowned a little:
"But there was sadness around the corners of his smile.  I don't know why,
but it's there.  Maybe Jeremy and I can discuss it.  Only trouble is he
hasn't been around much for me to give him the sketch and talk to him.
And when he is around, it isn't the right time.  But I'm going to look for
him today to see if he can give me a few minutes."

"Great!  I just have this feeling that he really needs it now.  Do you think
you could be a good friend to him?"

"Yeah, I like Jeremy.  He's always been kind to me.  Other guys make fun
of my size, but even though Jeremy is way taller, he never does.  Do you
think he was putting you down that time in class that he was talking about
little people being throwbacks?" he asked.

I thought a few moments.  "I don't really know.  What do you think?"

"Jeremy likes you, Evan.  I've watched him when you two are going at it
in class.  His eyes are shining, but it isn't because he's putting you down.
It's like there's this special chemistry between you two, and he's starting
its energy and then sharing it first with you and second with the class.  He
gets high on that, you know.  Making others feel good."

"What do you think was going on the day he lost his temper with me?"

"I think something really bad had happened to Jeremy the night before or
that morning.  That was a different Jeremy than the one we all know.  I
could tell when he was putting you down that he was hating himself for it.
It was like some poison inside that was transforming him."

"Your special sight into people was telling you that?"

"I don't know.  I knew at the time I was seeing it exactly what was
happening inside him."

"And you say you haven't seen him at school much?"

"No, even less than I usually do."

"I'm even more confirmed in my belief that Jeremy needs a friend right
now.  So I hope you two can connect today."  I glanced at the clock.  "Ah-
oh.  You have enough time to grab a shower and a bite to eat before you
have to head off to school."

"But I have to stay here to help you.  After I've done that, I'll go to
school."

"Are you kidding?  I took a blood oath when I received my teaching
degree that I would never dismiss class early or encourage a student to
miss class or be tardy.  You want them to drum me out of the corps?"

He groaned, "Okay.  But I may just throw on my clothes, letting your cum
seep slowly out of my ass all day long."

I laughed: "Kinky Cub, you smell like you've been to a week-long orgy."

"Feels like it," he shot back.

He showered quickly.  I donned a bathrobe and prepared cold cereal for
us, juice for him and coffee for me.  Then he moved to the door.  I had
followed him out of the kitchen.  At the door, he turned, carefully
throwing his arms inside the crutches and around my waist, kissing me
gently, warmly, sweetly.  Fixing me in a determined stare, he said, "It
works two ways, or we're really not brothers.  If you need help, I want you
to come to me.  You have trouble asking for help because you're afraid of
being a burden or being rejected.  So I'll remind you of the Bond that
binds us brothers together.  You must honor it, or it will fail because of
you.  I know that super-responsible Evan Halsey will never allow that to
happen."

Tears filled my eyes.  WOW!  This brother was growing before my eyes.
"Keep reminding me if you see me falter.  I love you so much, Kenny.  I
wouldn't want to let you down."  He touched my lips with a soft kiss,
smiled, caressed my cheek with the backs of his fingers, and was gone.

I took a bath--45 minutes.  After dressing--35 minutes, I changed the
sheets on the bed--half an hour.  Started a load of laundry--ten minutes.
Loaded the dishwasher and ran it.  Sorted through some mail.  Created a
stack of bills at the kitchen table that needed to be paid soon.  Dr.
Sorenson was correct:  even the simplest task required more time.  I
chucked the laundry in the dryer.  I was tuckered out.  A smile crossed my
face.  I crutched myself into the sunroom, lay down on the sofa, and
started reliving Tim's and my last habitation there as sleep overtook me.

After a long nap, I started crutching around through the rooms in my
home.  I needed the exercise, but I really needed to think.  I centered in my
mind.  My body was just marking time during its journey through the
house.  I pondered who I had become after the roller-coaster ride I had
experienced over the last couple of months.  I had never had one man who
was interested in me on any level, let alone four men.  Now I was having
sex--good sex--every time I turned around.  But it wasn't just sex; there
was genuine caring too.  Why did they like me?

Suddenly, an arresting half-line from one of Wordsworth's poems shot
through my mind:  " . . . we murder to dissect."  I remembered the moment
years ago when, upon first reading that line, I immediately intuited the
truth it offers.  For me the greater personal truth lay in the reversal of the
formula the line expressed:  to paraphrase, when we pick something apart
too long, we kill it.  Is that what I was doing when I tried to figure out why
Tim could possibly want me?  Why Robert and Kenny would want to
include me in the Pride?  Why Troy would have fantasies about me and
then make love to me?  Yeah, I was likely to pick such situations to death.
I had ALWAYS had to know--even if I knew I wouldn't like the
discovery.  When I was betrayed in marriage, I had to push on to find out
all of it.  Obviously, it was time for me to transcend that urge, to better
determine when to give it full play and when to rein it in.

But Susan?  Odd.  I had not picked that relationship apart.  Why?  I made
another circuit through the rooms of my home, mulling this question.
Certainly Susan was no threat to me.  There was nothing about which
Susan could . . . our would . . . betray me.  Of course she knew plenty
about me that I wouldn't want others to know.  They would not learn it
from her.  I trusted her without qualification.

After another circuit through the house, I knew that the major factor that
made it unnecessary for me to pick at the foundations of our relationship
was that Susan and I were simpatico.  As she had said when she visited me
in the hospital, we occupied the same wavelength.  That's why she was
not threatened when she told Troy to make love to me.  Because of the
"twin" relationship she and I had in bringing the new Troy forth, it was, in
a sense, like his making love to her.  In some ways we were the same
beings to him, the reason he was comfortable with it.

I wondered if Susan's, Troy's and my relationship was one of those so
special that we would remain close friends even into their adult life.  I had
heard about such relationships among teachers and their students, thought
the phenomenon wonderful, something really right happening.  It was
every bit the same as parents and their adult children being friends.

A sudden epiphany led me to differentiate among the men in my life.
Troy's sweet love-making had been prompted by Susan.  As much as he
seemed to enjoy it, he was Susan's man and would always be.  I wouldn't
want it any other way.  Kenny needed to connect with me literally and
figuratively, and Robert, loving Kenny, had assisted in that's happening.
For some reason, our loving had helped Kenny move into a developmental
stage, but once having completed that stage, he would not need for me to be central
to his development.  Tim, however, was another matter.

Tim needed me.  I had heard him say it, felt it verified in his voice, and
discovered it validated by his behavior.  While he held me in his arms in
the sunroom, he had confessed, "'I like this, Evan.  Nothing this good has
happened to me for a long time, maybe ever.'"  Tim's need was genuine
and deep.  And I needed to be needed, to be able to give someone love in
order to receive it.

I once heard a book advertised on National Public Radio in which the
author categorized people as users or "those used," an over simple but
provocative dichotomy.  In like manner, people could be categorized as
givers and takers, or more kindly, givers and receivers.  I realized that to
receive love, I had to have an opportunity to give it.  After Tim sucked me
off the second night in the hospital, I had felt uncomfortable because I was
unable to reciprocate.  The next day I was on edge, feeling that something
wasn't right, worrying about what he thought of me after that one-sided
event.  But when I was able to repay the one-way when Tim visited me
here at home, I suddenly felt square with him, felt the full effect of that
wonderful suck he put on me, felt my feelings for him surge forward.

I heard a knock at the front door.  Unusual.  Most people had just been
walking in, finding me napping.  Opening the front door, I was delighted
to see Susan, Troy, and Jeremy.  "Hi guys!"

I hadn't seen a more somber crew since the last funeral I'd attended.  "Uh-
oh," I thought.  "This is not going to be pleasant.  I wonder what's up."

I moved back on my crutches.  "Come on in," I said as I gestured to the
living room.  Susan entered first.  Troy and Jeremy hung back, starring at
each other.  Finally, Troy put his hand on Jeremy's back, gently pushing
him through the door.  Jeremy started upon seeing my face; his
complexion lost color.  Suddenly realizing that he had not seen me since
my flight down the stairs, I recalled my raccoon-looking visage.  I surely
hoped I lost that before I returned to the classroom.  I didn't want people
having this reaction to me.

They moved into the living room, Troy and Susan taking the sofa, Jeremy
one of the wing chairs and I the other.  I had a premonition about what
was going to unfold.  I knew I wasn't going to like it.  This morning's
revelation of some transcendence on my part was, I realized, suddenly
borne out here--I didn't want to know the pieces that were going to be
laid before me.

After looking at each other for a few seconds, Susan began, "Mr. Halsey,
Jeremy came to Troy and me today with a problem.  We encouraged him
to come talk to you about it.  We agreed to come along with him to be
whatever help we could."

"Okay," I responded.  "Shoot, Jeremy."

He looked over at me, his eyes full of tears.  He gulped.  "I . . . I pushed
you."  The tears started pouring out of his eyes.

I just looked at him, then Troy and Susan.  I gulped.  "Why, Jeremy?
What did I do to cause you to push me?"  This was the news I dreaded.

"Nothing."

I just stared.  "Then why?"

"Sir, life at home is bad.  My folks and I had a knock-down drag-out that
morning.  It was my birthday.  You see, I thought maybe it was a good
time to talk about escaping from the future of the "radiator shop."  I talked
about my desire to go to college, to be my own boss someday.  I guess the
idea frightened my parents.  We started arguing.  They told me we were
too poor.  That I wasn't smart enough.  That I'd just be a failure, a loser.
That I was putting on airs.  That my own people weren't good enough for
me.  They were telling me I had to give up those stupid ideas, had to
realize that I couldn't have what I wanted, that we weren't that kind of
people.  We were all very angry.  I refused to back down.  We started
shouting at each other, threatening each other.  My dad got physical.  Then
he told me to get my stuff and get out and not come back."

"I was so hurt.  I had no place to go.  I was ashamed.  I couldn't tell
anyone.  They all have homes and good families.  So that day in class, I
took it out on you.  I think it was just because your class is the first one I
have in the morning, so it all boiled up and out.  When you told me that
you deserved my respect, I felt horrible.  You were right.  You have
always been special to me, and I sometimes thought I was special to you."

His head dropped and he sobbed.  Troy moved over and knelt beside him,
smoothing his hand over Jeremy's back.  "It's okay, guy.  This is good for
you.  It's poison.  You're getting it out.  Go on."

Jeremy looked at Troy and smiled through the tears.  He looked at Susan,
who nodded her head to tell him to go on.

"I was so ashamed.  Overwhelmed.  I didn't even know where I was going
to sleep.  I just couldn't tell anyone.  The least I could do was apologize to
you.  So I sat down in a classroom near the stairs because I knew you
would come by when you were going to YOUR home.  I guess that was a
mistake because I started thinking about how my classmates all had
glowing futures, were going to college, had nice moms and dads, had a
place to stay, knew where their next meal was coming from.  I knew the
next time my car broke down, I couldn't afford to fix it.  My money for
food was going to run out soon.  I was really afraid."

"I started getting angry.  Why couldn't I have those things?  What had I
done to make me so undesirable?  When you walked by, I don't know
what happened.  I just saw your back.  Before I knew it, I was walking up
behind you.  I just shoved you because I was so angry.  I guess I wanted
your attention.  I wanted you--anyone--to make it go away, to help me,
to save me.  I guess I didn't reckon on your being so close to the stairs.  I
thought there was floor ahead of you."

"I was shocked when I saw you fly out into the air and down the stairs.  I
heard your head hit the stairs.  It made my stomach lurch.  Then you
started tumbling horribly down the steps.  I ran into a classroom and threw
up in a waste can.  When I came back, I saw you at the bottom of the
stairs.  Here's the part I'm really ashamed of.  I saw the blood on your
face, and there was blood coming out under your head.  I thought I had
killed you.  I ran."

He threw himself out of his chair and at my feet, putting his head in my
lap and sobbing uncontrollably.  With my hands raised away from him as
though he were afire, I must have looked bewildered.  I glanced at Susan
and Troy.  Susan smiled and nodded her head encouragingly.  I gently
placed my hands on Jeremy's back, massaging him slowly.  He sobbed
and sobbed and sobbed.  Finally, he grew quieter.  He raised his head,
looking at me.

"Good," I said.  "You got that out of you.  Troy was correct.  Keeping it in
you was poison."  I looked into those tear-filled eyes.  "I know now that
you didn't mean to hurt me.  Life just ganged up on you.  You WERE
overwhelmed.  Just one question.  Are you certain I did nothing to cause
your hurt?"

He looked down, tears glinting in his eyelashes.  "No Sir, you did nothing
wrong.  But I know I have to go to the police and tell them what I did."

"No, Jeremy.  We are all," I glanced at Susan and Troy, "keeping this
among ourselves.  It was a misunderstanding and an accident."  Jeremy
looked at them.  They smiled and shook their heads in agreement.

"You forgive me?" he asked plaintively.

"Yes, my friend, you are forgiven.  Where have you been staying?" I
inquired.

"Mrs. Burge might have let me stay with her, but she has enough children
that their house is pretty full.  I'd just be a problem again.  So I have been
sleeping in my car."

"Have you been going to school?"

"Off and on."

"Have you thought about returning to talk to your parents now that you
have been gone a couple of days?"

I looked at Susan, who quietly nodded in the negative, signaling me that
we did not want Jeremy returning to his home.

"It's over, Sir.  There's no room in the inn."  A wan smile graced his face.

"Then you'll stay here with me.  I have plenty of room."

Jeremy looked startled.  Susan and Troy were grinning to beat the band--
as though they didn't suspect that it would all turn out this way all along.
"But . . . but . . . Sir, how can you do that after what I did to you?"

"It comes from my heart to match the honesty and strength you have
shown here tonight."  He plunged his head back down into my lap,
sobbing again.  Finally, he raised his head.

"Sir, I just don't know what to say.  I hurt you so badly and you are
helping me."

"If you call me 'sir' one more time, I'm going to swat your ass!"

He grinned, tears streaming down his face but a smile breaking forth.
"Ou-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u!  Spanking!  Kinky!"

Susan, Troy and I burst out in laughter, with Jeremy joining in.  "I guess
we have our smart-ass Jeremy back," I said.  We hugged again while I saw
Susan and Troy swapping glances.

"You're correct, Jeremy, you are special to me.  I couldn't sleep knowing
that you were worrying about where you were going to harbor, where your
next meal was coming from.  Besides, you can help take care of me until I
get back on my feet."

"Uh-oh," Troy broke out, grinning, "you've just been enforced into
servitude, Jeremy.  It'll be KP until you graduate."

Jeremy grinned.  "I don't care.  It will be tons better than what I left
behind."  He hugged me.  "But what are we going to tell other people?"

I pondered the question, for I knew there could be legal implications.
"How old are you?"

"I just turned 18."

"You're a junior and you're 18?" I asked in surprise.

"When it was time for me to go to kindergarten, my dad was working on a
ranch in the boondocks of Wyoming.  No way to take me many miles to
kindergarten.  So when we moved here the next year, I was six, but my
mom was afraid I'd have trouble in school if I missed kindergarten."  He
glanced at Susan and Troy.  "So she enrolled me at that level.  I've been
forced to go to school with little kids ever since."

"Bite me," Troy responded.  We all laughed.

"That solves some questions.  At 18, you are free to live where you wish.
And the Department of Family Services won't attempt to pull you into the
system.  I think most of your classmates and friends at school know things
haven't been going well for you at home.  You can just say you turned 18
and decided to move out."

"What if they ask where I'm living?"

"Tell them whatever leaves you feeling comfortable.  It won't bother me if
you tell them you're living here.  By the way, I know Kathleen Burge will
take it most kindly if you tell her as early as possible tomorrow morning.
Have you had dinner?"

"No."

"Troy, could you go get pizza for all of us and bring it back here?  I'll pay
you when you get back."

"Sure, Evan.  Susan, do you want to come too?"

"Yes," she said.  She looked at Jeremy and me.  "If I don't go with him,
he'll bring back three pizzas; then we'll have to invite our friends to come
in and help us finish them off.  You two don't need that this evening.  You
go on talking.  We won't be gone long."

As Troy and Susan walked toward the door, I looked Jeremy in the eye:
"And we'll have a talk about college too."  They paused, turning back.

"Sir, I have no money.  My argument with my parents started over my
trying to talk to them about going to college."

I swatted his butt playfully.  "There's that 'sir' again.  As far as college is
concerned, we'll find financing for you.  You'll be 18 when you graduate.
You can borrow money.  I went through undergraduate and graduate
schools on loans and scholarships--all the way.  I've paid it all back too.
You can apply for Stafford loans.  Whatever you can't get through a
subsidized loan, you can get through the unsubsidized arm of that
program.  I'll co-sign with you."  Susan and Troy had paused to hear this
last bit of discussion.  They were beaming as they walked out the door.

Jeremy's face immediately crumpled and he threw himself back down in
my lap, crying, shaking his head.  If he didn't quit that, he was going to
find himself staring at a boner.

Until Susan and Troy returned, Jeremy and I talked about the logistics of
his living with me.  I showed him the guest room.  He marveled over the
space and having his own bathroom.  He assured me that he could cook,
knew how to do laundry, could clean house, mow the lawn, work outside.

"Jeremy, we're roommates now.  We'll share responsibilities.  But your
studies and your job will come first."  He threw his arms around me in a
bear hug. "Ow-w-w-w," I exclaimed as my ribs complained.

"Oh, please, please . . . I'm sorry," he cried.

"Cool it, Roommate.  Just remember that my ribs need some healing
time."  When he saw my small gym, he eagerly inquired about our
working out together.  When he saw the sunroom, he whistled.  "This room
is so restful.  I can see myself reading assignments out here, just soaking
knowledge up."

"Then let's sit down for a moment to talk about important matters."  We
discussed his job.  I made certain that he understood he would have his
own space and privacy but that I would expect him to study.  I told him
there would be no drinking for him while he was living here until he
reached legal age, and, though I had never seen any signs of Jeremy's
doing drugs, I would not tolerate them on the premises, including any in
the possession of visiting acquaintances.  He assured me on all counts that
he understood my concern but that I had no worries.  Laughing, he said,
"My old bucket of bolts takes so much money that there's nothing left to
spend on drugs or alcohol."  I thought to myself that if it looked as though
things would work out in our rooming together, we might see what we
could do for a vehicle upgrade for him.  Oh, hell, even if the roommate
arrangement didn't work out, I'd probably help him anyway.

We finished our tour of the house.  "Jeremy, since this is your home now,
you should feel comfortable asking friends over.  I think you haven't had
much of an opportunity to do that. Since you like the sunroom so much,
use it for study groups or bull sessions with your friends or whatever.
Once I'm back on my feet, you should consider having your friends over
so that they'll know where to find you and know that you are well
situated.  And those will be YOUR social occasions.  I won't be butting in.
Just be thoughtful of your roommate."

Susan and Troy returned with a pizza and cokes.  We all moved to the
kitchen, sitting around the table devouring the pizza.  Jeremy's spirits had
changed remarkably.  He and Troy were talking animatedly while Susan
and I were quieter.  I was wondering how this new living situation would
affect Tim's and my future.  I discovered pleasantly that I knew whatever
complications arose, we could work them out.  I wasn't going to worry
about it.  Jeremy had a home again, he was safe, he could look to a
positive future.  I pondered the years that he thought there was little future
for him, and now everything had opened up in a matter of minutes.  I'd be
high too, were I in his place.

It was decided that Troy would drive Jeremy to his car while Susan
remained behind.  The guys would return here.  Susan and I moved to the
living room.  "Evan, those were wonderful decisions you made this
evening."

I looked at her askance:  "I made decisions?  Whom are you kidding?
You were the puppet master here:  I was the innocent victim of the Divine
Susan Connolly, Earth Mother.  You managed all of this.  You knew how
I would behave."

That charming laughter bubbled up.  "You're not unhappy are you?"

"No, friend, I'm not.  To be able to help someone so much in need of
shelter and caring is balm to my spirit.  To give Jeremy opportunities he's
not had and to help him to a productive, happy future gladdens heart and
soul.  And I thank you for making it possible."

"Never fear, Evan.  We love you; we won't abandon you any more than
you would abandon Jeremy, now or in the future.  And I'll call off the
Halsey Night Patrol.  But since Jeremy will be working, someone will be
checking with you each day to see what you need done until you return to
school."  She paused a bit.  "How do you think Mr. Minor will take this
new arrangement?  Will it be a problem for him?"

"I don't know.  I'll just have to play it by ear.  But I suspect he has a heart
as big as mine."

(To be continued.)