Notice:

The contents of this story is purely fictional although based on real life happenings in my life. All names have been fictionalize to protect the innocent and not so innocent. The content matter of this story concerns love and sex between males teenagers. If this is not what you like reading or it is illegal for you to read this material because of age or laws go somewhere else. This story is copyrighted by it's owner and may not be copied or published elsewhere without the owners permission.

Author's note:

Would you believe it's taken me a year to finally come up with the next chapter of this story? My only excuse is I couldn't figure out where to go next with Bastian...plus I was busy taking phtography classes, doing photoshoots, and then I got started on QuestStar (posted in the scifi section of nifty) and Landsphere (posted at crackerwriter.us) I was nudged by my editor Darryl to continue the story but the muse for this story was on hiatus until a few days ago - I was taking a break from Queststar and Lansphere and then bam! I figured it out. So, here it begins again. Hope you enjoy...Bastian is just about ready to have another adventure.

Dudes please write send notes messages to the authors of you favorite stories a number of them like ME enjoy making new friends. Speaking for myself it really gives me more incentive to write - if it hadn't been for my friends that I've met on line I would probably not written another word -nah that's not true cuz I love writing. But definitely Bill and Darryl nudge me from time to time. "Sam when are you going to write the sequel to Blind Love, or The Secret Life of Jonathan Greenwich. You said you were going to rewrite Dolphin Boy - where's the rewrite?" My answer is when enough people bug me to do it.

And make a donation to websites like Nifty - I have a very small income and somehow I will be making a donation to Nifty this month.

Sam Lakes

sam_lakes at yahoo.com

Foto

by Sam Lakes

Copyright © 2006 All Rights Reserved

Chapter Sixteen

My grandfather came out from mom’s room. “They’re bringing out the body,” he said softly to me as he draped his arm over my shoulders. “Bastian, she told me to tell you that she loves you. She passed away quietly the way she wanted to. She didn’t want any tearful goodbyes. She said ‘Goodbyes’ were to final. She said tell Bastian ‘See you later’.”

“That’s what she told me when I left and went to Paris. I’d forgotten that.”

“Your mom had wanted her body to be cremated and the ashes scattered in Colorado by Edna. She wondered if you could make a slide show of your photos to be shown at her memorial service. Would you?” he asked.

I nodded.

****

I was surprised at the number of people at Mom’s memorial service. Grandfather had asked me to speak and then show my slideshow. Grandfather had done his own slideshow which showed pictures of mom growing up which he narrated.

“Only a few Melanie’s friends knew that she had a son. Shamefully, I forced her to give up her son to his father. My only justification was she was much too young and I wasn’t fond of the father. I was wrong and it took me almost her whole life time for me to realize it.”

“Bastian is an amazing boy or perhaps I should say young man. His photography is outstanding and rivals in my humble opinion the best professionals. Aside from that he’s the most loving and caring individual I have ever met. Bastian…”

I stood and walked up to meet my grandfather. I was a little nervous – actually a lot nervous.

“At mom’s request I am going to show you some photos I took. At school I’m known as ‘Foto’ cuz that’s what I do a lot – take photos. It’s really mom that got me started between she and Edna I learned a lot. From Edna I learned the technical aspects of shooting a good photo. From mom I received the praise and validation and the belief in myself as a photographer. Although my time with her was short I shall always treasure those few months – life changing months for me.”

I showed my slide show like mom had requested. After the memorial service we returned to Chicago and life returned to normal. I called Marcy almost weekly to check on Noah and her. They were doing fine and she emailed me photos of him. He is such a gorgeous baby.

For some reason Brady and I started drifting apart. My schooling and school activities seemed to be taking up a lot of my time and I think the same applied to him.

I’ve seen Thomas Littleson around a lot. He’s really popular now and I am sure he’s totally hetero cuz he’s got girls hanging around him all the time now. We say ‘Hi” occasionally but that’s about it. I’ll have to admit there are times I wish he wasn’t such a cutie – nah I want him to be a cutie! I wish he were gay. He’d make a great boyfriend.

Guess what I got a ‘Dear John’ letter from Brady well really it was a ‘Dear Bastian’ letter – well to  cut a short letter even shorter there is no us – he’s found someone else. I thought I would cry or be upset but I’m not. I just feel sort of numb. That was last week.

It’s funny. I complained to my Dads about always having to move and now that we are here in Chicago for the next few years I find myself thinking about traveling – you know going some where different. In fact I find myself thinking a lot about spending the summer traveling around the US. I figured if I had a car I could do it.

Imagine traveling state to state taking pictures of our country. America is a beautiful land and there are simply millions of photos waiting for me to take them. I had decided the best thing would be to have a hybrid car. I got some posters of hybrids from the local dealers and put them up on the walls of my room. For me I decided that the Prius was the one I wanted based on fueleconomy.gov website.

The good news is I got my driver’s license. The bad news is I don’t have a car. I thought for sure my dads would get me one for my sixteenth – you know it’s supposed to be special and despite really big hints about the Toyota Prius Hybrid and other hybrid cars – I didn’t get a car.

In fact my whole sixteenth birthday was a bummer except for getting my license. Why? Because I spent it alone. Dad was off on some investigation God knows where and Michael pulled an extra shift because someone got sick.

I got a call from Marcy wishing me a happy birthday. I was glad she called but ended up being even sadder when she hung up because I wished I had spent the day with here and Noah instead of alone.

The next day when I left for school Michael was still sleeping. I’m pretty sure he and Dad forgot my birthday. It’s not exactly the first time.  School did a good job of keeping my attention off my loneliness. I'm still in all AP classes, so I have tons of homework and projects to do. I am still the main photographer for the school’s paper.

I have lots of acquaintances. I suppose that was the problem with being in love with someone way older than me (meaning Brady) because I seemed to keep others at a distance and never made any real friends. I wonder if I could find another boyfriend. Do I even want one? Should I try to find a girlfriend as that would be more ‘normal’ for a boy of sixteen.

I spent my study hall for three days straight shooting pictures of nothing but girls – cheerleaders and such. Pretty girls, buxom girls, flat-chested girls, plain janes , all kinds. Not one of them appealed to me.
 
I was sitting in the journalism class room uploading some of the photos I had taken for the school paper when someone came up behind me and cleared their throat so as to get my attention. I turned around to see a boy standing there with a really nice canon professional quality digital camera. It was a Canon Mark III 1Ds– you know the camera body alone cost $8,000.

My Canon EOS Rebel which was sitting on the table seemed awfully inadequate. I wanted to hide it or deny that it was mine.

“Hi, I’m Leo Johnston. I’m new and I was told to report here and speak to someone call Sebastian McCormick,” said the boy.

“Nice camera, I’m Bastian. The office people insist on calling me Sebastian, but I prefer Bastian. What can I do for you, Leo?” I replied pleasantly while drooling over his camera.

“I’m ugh,” he looked a bit nervous, “Well, I was hoping to, ugh, be one of the photographers for the school paper.”

I really couldn’t take my eyes off his camera. Damn it was nice. It was a professional camera not like my low end SLR digital. His was megapixels bigger than mine. If my dads wouldn’t get me a car they sure wouldn’t get me a professional camera.

Edna used to tell me it’s not the camera that makes a picture it’s the photographer. Anyone can snap a shutter, but a photographer understands light, composition and uses that knowledge to create an awesome photograph. I knew that to be true but I was still envious of his camera.

I think I phased out thinking about his camera and eventually blushing I said, “Sorry, it’s just the camera I was fantasizing about. I’ve never seen one except in reviews.” I finally looked at him. “Ye-ah, well. We get a list of photos wanted and go and shoot them. Then upload them here.”

“Is that your camera?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’ve had it since I was thirteen. So, its kinda old. Nothing like yours.”

“Yeah, I guess so. My dad got it for me as a present for moving here.”

“Oh, where from?” I asked as my eyes drifted back to his camera.

“St. Louis. My parents got divorced recently and Dad decided to come here to work. His new boss suggested this school said his son went here.”

“Yeah, who’s he? I’ve probably met him. I think I’ve taken photos of nearly everybody who goes here.”

Leo shrugged his shoulders, “I really wasn’t paying much attention. I wanted to stay in St. Louis. I miss my best friend – I’ve known her all my life. But here I am in Chicago with an expensive camera.”

“So, what grade are you in?” I asked.

“Eleventh, thank God. Only one more year to go. What about you?”

“I’m a sophomore-junior.”

“Sophomore-junior?” he asked.

“I’m in all AP classes and some of them are at the junior level.”

“Whoa, you must be really smart.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

My eyes drifted back to his camera. Damn it was nice! Then back to him. “Sorry, I’m just a fotogeek! There’s a basketball game tomorrow night The paper will want photos of our team. So, we can both cover it.”

“Cool.”

We chatted a bit longer. He let me hold his camera. So, I played with it for a bit took a couple of pictures of him.

“You’re good,” he said.

“Yeah, well, that’s an awesome camera. Thanks for letting me play with it,” I said.

“I can’t wait to get home now and send these off to Lisa, she’s my best friend.”

“Cool,” I said as I started packing up my stuff. I called Alfie, “Hi Alfie. I’m ready. Okay, see you outside in ten.”

“Who’s Alfie? Your dad?” he asked.

“No, he’s a chauffer and works for my dad’s company. Sometimes, I go by Metra, but Dad insists that I get chauffeured when he’s out of town and Michael, my other dad can’t pick me up or bring me to school. You need a ride?”

“Nah, my dad’s company is putting us up in a condo on North Lake Shore Dr. until we find a place. I'll just get a taxi.”

“Nice area, we lived there when we first got here and then we moved to our house. I think Michael still owns the condo he rents it out to my Dad’s company.”

“Oh, so where’s your mom?”

“She died at Christmas, but I never lived with her except for a short time when I was thirteen,” I replied. The look on his face told me he was a bit confused. We weren’t friends yet so I didn’t see the necessity to explain anything. I shouldered my backpack grabbed my camera bag, “Gotta go, see ya,” and stared out the door.

“Yeah, see you around,” replied Leo.

I had dinner alone because Michael was at work. I thought about Leo. He wasn’t cute. He passed that cute boy stage. Now he was at the handsome young man stage. Dark brown hair, dimples when he smiles, hazel eyes and an awesome camera. I’d love to have a camera like that.

I was in the middle of doing my homework when our house phone rang. I ignored it because we had call screening. I could hear who it was and if it was something important I could pickup or if not important it would just go to voicemail.

“Hi, Bastian. It’s me Leo, Leo Johnston.” I picked up the receiver.

“Hey, Leo. How did you get this number?” I asked.

“My dad gave it to me. He works for your dad. He asked me how my day went I told him I was going to be working on the school paper as a photographer and then I showed him the photos you took of me. He really liked them. Anyway he asked who took them and I said Bastian McCormick and he said he was glad I met you and you were the son of his new boss. You were the person I was supposed to meet. Not only that but your dad told my dad that the camera I have is the best camera on the market according to his son.”

“Oh, well great,” I said not knowing what else to say because it pissed me off a bit because I thought Dad was planning to get me a new camera when he asked me the question about what camera was the best camera on the market.

“Yeah, it is. I sent the photos to Lisa and she loved them! I knew she would. I really missed her a lot.”

I really didn’t want to get into a conversation with him about his girlfriend.

“Well, okay but you’ve got one of the best cameras in the world and it’s not like St. Louis is that far away. I’m sure your dad will probably let you visit your girlfriend during holiday breaks.”

“Yeah, ugh-” he said.

He paused slightly which gave me the opportunity to cut in and end the call, “Well, look you caught me in the middle of some math problems,” I lied, “So, I have to go now. Glad everybody like the pics. Bye.” I hung up.

Well that phone call was all I needed to put me into a worse mood than ever. I had been studying the Great Depression for my American History class. I had to figure out some sort of report for out final report. Yes, I had a couple of months to do it and it had to do with American History. Something on the order of your favorite part of American History and so on.

I gave up on history and went to watch the Bulls against some other team. I’m not really a big sports fan but I like to watch the camera shots. Ya know I can’t help rooting for my hometown team and the Bulls played an awesome game.

After the game I went back to my studies of the Great Depression again my mind went off on a tangent. I started thinking about hobos and train hopping. I wondered if people still did it. Well, there was no point in wondering so I googled it. For the next few hours I was captivated by stories and warnings of the dangers of train hopping. It was dangerous in many ways but those who wrote of their experiences produce an air of excitement within me.

A number of those that I read warned that you should never travel alone. That presented a problem for me as I didn’t really have any friends that would be stupid enough to hop a train. Oh, yeah, I definitely am stupid enough to do it. Maybe all the moving around in my life is the cause of my wanderlust. I couldn’t even imagine all the photo I could take to document my travels on the road or rails.

I quickly ran to my room and took down all the car posters and trashed them. I’ll go on a road trip next year. This year, this summer it would be the trip of my life! Documenting my life as Bastian the hobo kid! I’ll just have to make friends with someone.

The house phone rang again.

I looked at the caller-id is was from our condo.

“Hello,” I said.

“Bastian, ugh, it’s me, Leo. Ugh, sorry to bother you but I ugh-“ He was sounding nervous and using a lot of ‘ughs’.

“Leo!”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry I was short with you earlier. I was just pissed with everyone and everything. Anyway, I watched the Bulls kickass on TV and went back to study history. Then I had an idea and so I’m doing all right. So, sup?”

“Did I do something to piss you off?” he asked.

“Not really, but when you told me your dad asked my dad about the best camera. Well, my dad asked me that four or five days ago so I told him. I sort of figured he was asking because he was going to get me one for my birthday. My birthday was almost a total bummer. “So, anyway, why did you call?” I asked.

“Well, I wondered if maybe we could hang out tomorrow after school, go to the game and Dad said your dad is out of town so, I thought you could come over here cuz then you – ugh – we wouldn’t be alone. And you could show me all the neat things on my camera,” Leo said in one breath.

“Ah! Your camera! Now that’s a good way to get my attention,” I laughed, “And my presence. Dude, I’d like that. I’ll have Alfie pick us up at school and drive us over to your place.”

“That’s great! Hold on a sec,” he said. I think he was talking with his dad. “Sorry, about that my dad said if you want you could sleep over and then we could do something on Saturday. We have a spare room.”

“Yeah, sounds like a plan, dude!”

“Oh, one other thing. I, ugh, Lisa, ugh she not my girlfriend – she was my neighbor and we grew up together.”

“Well, at least you had a best friend,” I sighed.

“Yeah, you must have tons of friends and probably a girlfriend or two.”

“Nope. I have a lot of acquaintances but I do have a godchild. His name is Noah, he’s three months old now. Marcy his mom sends me pictures of him regularly. She was going to name him after me but I persuaded her not too. They live in California.”

We talked for about another hour – I told him about my trip to California to see mom and about delivering Noah. He told me a bit about himself. I got the feeling things were a little rough for him prior to leaving St. Louis because of his parents’ divorce.

My final thoughts before falling asleep were about he and I becoming friends and spending the summer photographing our adventures.

Comments welcomed -

Dudes please write send notes messages to the authors of you favorite stories a number of them like ME enjoy making new friends. Speaking for myself it really gives me more incentive to write - if it hadn't been for my friends that I've met on line I would probably not written another word -nah that's not true cuz I love writing. But definitely Bill and Darryl nudge me from time to time. "Sam when are you going to write the sequel to Blind Love, or The Secret Life of Jonathan Greenwich. You said you were going to rewrite Dolphin Boy - where's the rewrite?" My answer is when enough people bug me to do it.

And make a donation to websites like Nifty - I have a very small income and somehow I will be making a donation to Nifty this month.

sam_lakes@yahoo.com