We finished up the work that we had set out to do. Our biggest job was weeding the garden for Beulah. Kyle
had not been in her garden for several days so the weeds were sprouting weeds. With hoes in hand six of us made short
work of the half acre produce store. My mother would have loved to just live in this garden. She could make vegetables
taste so good. That brought a tear to my eye. I ducked my head and kept working. I didn't want to explain what I was
feeling. I just wanted to picture my mother with a full apron on as she walked down the rows filling it with good things
for our dinner.
Beulah came out to the fence and asked us to come on inside. She has a water well right outside the front door
with an old fashioned hand pump . Sitting under the pump head were two big porcelain pans. Next to each pan was a
bar of lava hand soap and a stack of towels. I had already had my fun with a hand pump so I let the others fill the pans.
Kyle and Justin moved straight to the pump and filled the pans then began to scrub their hands, all the way up to the
elbows. They worked at getting the dirt out from under the fingernails and around the cuticles with one of the two small
brushes that were laid out for that chore. The water is cold but it has the taste of lots iron in it.
Now clean we walked into Beulah's kitchen She had a table laid out with fresh picked vegetables. A large pot
roast sat at the head of the table where Theron stood watching us enter. We took our seats along the sides of the table.
Granny sat at one end. Beulah sat to the right of her husband, Theron. The man offered grace for our food then placed
large portions of the roast beef on plates to be passed along. Granny was given the first plate. Jer and I sat opposite each
other on granny's left and right hands. Justin was next to Jer and Frank was next to me. Kyle and Judd were opposite
each other with Beulah next to Kyle. Across from Beulah sat Carl Dickson in his motorized wheel chair.
I ate so many veggies that I almost forgot about the meat. My mom always made us eat lots of fresh vegetables.
We only had meat maybe once or twice a week. Sometimes we might go for two weeks without it. We never missed it.
I always feel so full and achy all over after I eat it. Except of course when I eat Jer. But I don't swallow his meat into
my stomach and I hardly ever chew. I did get a large portion of the cooked veggies from the roast meat pot though. I
love the flavors of the carrots, potatoes, celery, and onions after they have slow roasted in an oven with a juicy piece of
meat. I wondered how Jer's meat would taste with carrots and onions. Then I realized that he was rubbing his foot on
my ankle and I had a hard on. I moved in my chair as I glared at him. Kyle giggled because he could see my face and he
knew what was going on.
Granny told us that we needed to gather our things that she wanted to get back up the mountain before dark. We
all kissed Beulah and thanked her for the great meal then ran up to granny's house to pack. We heard Frank and Justin
talking to granny. "Mark reserved the cabin and I wouldn't put it past him to show up there just to make a scene. Frank
and I need some time alone. We have a lot to discuss. Momma, I have messed up so many lives. I just want to be with
Frank, alone. Is that okay?" We assumed from the silence that it had been okay because in just seconds granny looked
in on us and asked if we were about ready to go. She had tear traces on her face but she seemed to have a glow of
happiness so I think everything was good.
Back on the mountain side Kyle and Judd took off in different directions. I saw Kyle across the roadway with
three bags of garbage. He dragged them over to an old pickup truck that set under an old carport cover. Judd came up
with two large bags and the two threw their load into the back of the truck. They came up on the porch and told granny
that everything looked like it was okay. They had seen a few of the guests and waved at them. No one told them of any
trouble so it could be a quiet evening.
It sorta was. Jer and I just snuggled close for the most part. Yeah, we kinda had to suckle some ECB* out of each other but no real heavy stuff. We mainly talked about his dad and Frank. Jer is really happy for his dad. I asked about his mother. He told me that he didn't want to talk about her for now so I let it go and held on to him, who no one could make me let go.
I was awake early Saturday morning and feeling really good. I went down to breakfast. Granny had biscuits and
sausage gravy ready. She was dressed up. I could hear hymns coming up from the church camp. "Granny, are they
Sabbath keepers?" Granny looked at me for a long time then smiled.
"Yes, Ryan they are."
"Are you going to go to church?"
"Yes." She was looking at me.
"Can I, er may I go with you?"
"Do you know the Sabbath of the Lord Ryan?"
"Yes mam. I always went to church with mom and dad. I was baptized in a Sabbath keeping church."
"Do you have a Bible with you?."
I ducked my head and looked at my shoes. I felt really bad. I was in such a hurry to see my Jeremy that I didn't
bring my Bible with me. She rubbed her hands through my hair as she held me close. "That's okay my little man, we'll
find you a Bible if you want one. Why don't you run up and get dressed. We need to get a move on." I grabbed a biscuit
and slapped some butter on it and ran back upstairs. I almost ran into Kyle who came in the side door. He and Judd
were wearing suits and ties. I don't have a suit. Oh well, God doesn't look at our filthy rags anyway, He looks at our
heart so I ran on upstairs.
Jer was just coming out of the bathroom. He was still naked and looked like somebody had kept him up all
night. Hehehe, I wonder who. I pecked him on the cheek and ran to get into the shower. He came to me and asked what
I was up to. I told him that I was going to church for the first time since I had buried my parents. He got under the hot
spray with me as I told him that I loved going to church on Saturday morning and that I had really missed it. He was
washing my back and I told him to hurry so I could wash his. I was washing my own front parts and arm pits.
We dressed up. He had an extra dress shirt and found a boy's sized tie that wouldn't hang past my knees. We
were back downstairs in quick time. Jer ran to the table and split a biscuit into a bowl then spooned some gravy on it. I
looked at granny. She nodded so I ran over and did the same. I don't ever remember eating so fast. Judd and Kyle were
finished so they put the food away. I grabbed one more biscuit and Kyle put butter on it for me. He asked if I wanted
jelly or honey. I shook my head, no.
Judd took my empty bowl as I picked up the biscuit. Granny came over and took my glass of milk and poured it
into a paper cup. She filled a paper cup with milk for Jer and rushed us out of the house and down the road to the
church camp below. I finished my milk and my biscuit as we came to a garbage can at the side of the road. I tossed my
cup away and wiped my mouth on the back of my arm. Granny stopped us and looked us over. She straightened my tie
and smoothed Jer's hair down then turned to the door. Kyle opened the door and let us enter.
The place was full of older kids, about Jer's and my age. The little kids had gone home and the young teens
were here for two weeks. There were quite a few grownups which I found out lived around the area and came to
worship here year round. This was junior high week with kids from sixth through eighth grade, about eleven to
fourteen. This was going to be so cool.
I really liked the preacher. He was young and he talked to the kids and told us stories about the Lord Jesus and
how he related to kids. He told us stories of teenage martyrs through history and their sacrifices for the Lord. I never
knew that Joan of Arc was a young girl and not some old woman. She led a army against the English to try and keep
true Christianity alive in France.
After services we all stayed for the big lunch that was being served. While we were still in bed looking at the
inside or our eyelids granny had been up cooking. She had called the camp for several of the campers to come up and
get two cakes that I had seen her making the evening before. She had also fixed up a large dish of oat burger patties
with wild mushroom sauce. I had watched Kyle and Judd picking the mushrooms a few days earlier as we sat around
the spring on top of the mountain.
Most of the kids were from Tulsa or Oklahoma City. They gathered at this camp site every year. The highschool
kids would be up in two weeks then the statewide camp meeting would begin. Their pastor told me that they had around
seven hundred people that had already registered. Granny said that all of her cabins were reserved by church members. I
told them that I loved to go to camp meeting with mom and dad. We have a big RV that just sits beside the house now.
Neither Ricky or I can drive it. We don't know what we will do with it.
The camp has a very large swimming pool with a three meter board. I hadn't seen that before. It was not open on
Sabbath but we were told that as church members we could come over and swim just about anytime. I was happy when
I learned that this was the same church group that I belong to in Arizona. I asked if I could move my membership here.
Suddenly all eyes looked at me. "Do you plan to live here?" Granny asked.
I got scared all of sudden and started to shake. My eyes got all wet. "I want to. There is nothing for me in
Arizona 'cept Ricky and he can come here too." Jeremy threw his arms around me and hugged me tight. We almost
kissed each other but Kyle told us to look at a blue bird in the tree nearby. Saved by the bird.
Later on granny and I talked. She let me sit in her lap and tell her all about my brother and my school and my
friends and everything. She told me that since I am only fourteen years old she would have to talk to my legal guardian
about me moving in permanently. I told her that I guess that would be Ricky. She smiled. She let Jer and me have some
ice cream then we walked around the camp. I had not really taken the time to see where I was. I was having so much
fun looking at all of the scenery and even the mountains and trees too. My main scenery pulled me up behind this one
cabin to a group of rocks where we sat together and admired each other's hard scenery. It sure is a creamy view, and
delicious too.
We started back to the house and I turned to look at the cabin that we had walked behind. It had a big seven on
the front of it. Now I knew what cabin seven was. I giggled as I thought about old, fat Mark being here without Franny.
When we walked in the kitchen door granny called for me to come to the living room. She was on the telephone. She
flipped a button or something and I heard Ricky ask me how I was. He and Bobby both got fired. Their boss doesn't
like fags and he saw the two boys kissing before they got out of the car Wednesday morning. He made their day
miserable. He kept going around calling them fags and telling all of the other workers that there were two fags working
along side of them. Ricky was mad. He had been there for two years and was friends with just about everybody there
but now nobody wanted to talk to him because he was a fag.
He asked me if I really wanted to live in a backwoods, hick state like Oklahoma. He was on a speaker phone and
everybody heard him. I yelled at him and told him he was as much a bigot as his boss was. He told me that Mr. Kincade
had an idea and he wanted to know if I was okay with it. I had to think for a minute until I remembered that he was
talking about Jeremy's dad. I always called him Mr. Kincade but the last few days I had been calling him Justin or
hearing him being referred to as Justy.
Justin wanted me and Jer to fly back home and help Ricky and Bobby pack everything that we wanted to keep.
Then he and Frank would come out with a truck and move all of Ricky's and my stuff along with his. He would help us
to rent our house out or sell it, whatever we wanted. He had contacted Jer's mother and told her that he wanted a
divorce and that she could have the house and her car. He would get his and Jer's stuff out of the house and it would be
over. She wanted custody of Jeremy but he told her that that was not going to happen. She was the one who abandoned
him.
It got kind of nasty before we were back on the road to Oklahoma. Justin knew some people and they had our
house sold in just a few days and for a lot of money. Ricky and me had this huge sale and let people come in the house
and buy whatever they wanted. We had all of our stuff in the RV and in one bedroom, which we kept locked. People
even wanted to buy the doors off of our house but Justin was there and so was Frank and they kept the house together.
Every piece of furniture and every plate, fork, and spoon was sold. I cried a lot 'cause that was my mother's stuff but I
really had no need for it. Justin told me how much it would cost to rent a storage unit and in less than a year I would
spend more than what I could buy new stuff for.
Don't tell anyone but I kept the old housecoat that my mother wore most of my life. I stuck it in my suitcase.
We had all of the pictures and important papers that we could find. Justin found two more insurance policies on mom
and dad. He got that money and put it in the bank for us. He found a bank deposit box key so he took Rick and me to
this bank. We didn't say nothing. We took this little book that had mom's, dad's, Rick's and my names in it to this lady.
She looked at the book and at a card she had in her file cabinet. Justin had told us not to say that mom and dad were
dead. We were just supposed to empty the box and take everything in it home. "We were selling the house and moving
away," we told her.
She called her boss over. He looked at our book and at the card. He asked us what we were doing. We told him
the same thing we told the lady. He told us that our parents should come and get the contents of the box themselves.
Ricky said that they were indisposed and we had come so they could do what they were doing. He looked the man in
the eye and told him that our names and signatures were in the book and on the card. He remembered the night that dad
had us sign the card. The man had nothing that he could say so he told the lady to let us into the vault.
She opened up this steel gate made of shiny bars and led us into this room lined on both sides and all the way up
to the ceiling with these little doors with two key holes in each of them. She put a key that she had on a chain around
her neck into a box and told us to put our key in. Ricky handed me the key and let me put it in this one door and turn it.
The door opened and the lady pulled out this long box. It was about a foot and a half long and maybe eight inches wide
and six inches tall.
She carried the box over and set it on this counter top that was sort of private with three walls around it. Justin
had already told us that we shouldn't take time to look at anything for too long. We had a gym bag with us and so we
just dumped the contents of the drawer into the bag. We left the empty drawer and our key on the counter and left.
Back at our house Justin made Ricky and me go into mom and dad's old room and lock the door behind us. We
were alone as we opened the gym bag and began to look at what was inside. Dad had stock certificates and what were
called bearer bonds held together with rubber bands in little groups. We found our birth certificates and mom and dad's
marriage license. There were two small books that said Our Baby on the cover. We opened them. One was Ricky's and
one was mine. Mom had written down when we took our first step and what the first word was that we had said. There
was a little lock of hair from each of us and a small plastic bag labeled first tooth along with the date and a picture of
each of us with a missing front tooth. We were so cute.
"How did mom get our teeth from the tooth fairy?" Rick smacked me in the back of the head and told me I was
going to be a toothless fairy in a minute. I told him Jer would like that, then I couldn't hurt him when I chew on his
dick. Ricky just sat and stared at me then he started to laugh.
We had Justin look at what we had. He told us that we should put our baby books somewhere safe. It might be
fun to look at them when we were old men. He looked at the stocks and stuff and we told him to take them and find out
what they were worth. All of the stocks and bearer bonds were good for whoever had them. They were not listed in
dad's name so we could cash them and not worry about Uncle Sam taking the money away from us. All together we had
just a little more than two hundred thousand dollars to split between us. Justin had the stock broker give him several
cashier's checks so that we would not be putting a lot of money into the bank at one time to draw suspicion.
Mrs. Kincade blew any chance of ever having Jeremy with her. Jer and I met her for lunch. She wanted him to
come and live with her. She did not know about any of us being gay. Justin had told her that their marriage was not
viable any longer and he filed for divorce on grounds of incompatibility. Man, I have learned so many big words. I have
to say them right or I get slapped in the back of the head and laughed at.
Jeremy told his mother that he would live with her. I almost choked on my french fries. He told her that he was
gay and he wanted me to live with them also because we were in love. She shrieked like something unholy. She reached
across the table and hit Jeremy so hard that she knocked him to the floor. She kicked him, hard, as she got up the pulled
him up and started slapping his face and cussing at him. I was trying to pull him away when two policemen grabbed her
and pulled her back. They put hand cuffs on her as she kept yelling at them to, "kill the little queer ass hole."
Mrs. Kincade was in jail for felony child abuse and attempted murder. The police even aggravated the charge
because she was kicking at his head as he lay on the floor. He had to go get four metal stables in the back of his head
where she busted him open with her sharp toed shoes. I am just glad that those two cops liked Big Macs™ and were
sitting there eating to see the whole thing. They will make better witnesses than anyone else and there were a lot of
them that gave their names and told what they saw and heard. Because she kept repeating, "Kill the queer," the police
listed it as a hate crime which carries some really long mandatory jail time on conviction.
We had to have an interview with two detectives over at Jer's house later that day. Justin told them that he was
moving back to live on his family farm and help his widowed mother with the livestock. He wanted to take Jeremy with
him. The police asked him if he knew that his son was gay. Justin acted surprised. "Well, I know that the boys spend an
awful lot of time together. I guess that is why Jer didn't want to leave without Ryan." I wasn't really in the middle of
this mess. I was just a name so the police didn't even talk to me. They told Justin that it might be better for him to take
his son out of the environment that he was in. Hard work on a ranch might just be what the boy needed to straighten
him up. Jer and I giggled because we know what it takes to straighten him out.
When the police left Justin went to his bedroom and made a phone call. A little later he knocked on Jer's door
and asked if he could come in. We had already cum in and on and over but we told him to enter anyway. He took a long
sniff as he entered the room. He told us that Frank better hurry and get back here with the truck or he was going to have
to take matters in hand. We giggled at him as we saw the tent pole making room in his pants for the big show.
Justin was all happy. He called his lawyer. Because of the assault he would get uncontested custody of Jeremy
and they could move out of state or wherever they wished with no problems. They would have to appear before a judge
in two weeks to have the divorce granted legally. The really big news was that since Mrs. Kincade had done what she
done, er ah, did, then Justin could go ahead and sell the house and everything would belong to him. He asked if she
couldn't take half of the money they had to pay for a defense lawyer. His attorney told him if he wanted to make any
monies available to her that was his business but that he would strongly advise against it.
Justin called a friend of his that had offered to buy the house many times and he wanted to pay cash for it. He
loved the house and the neighborhood. He said that the town's best schools served that neighborhood and he had two
kids in elementary school now. He would love for them to be able to walk the one long block to the school nearby.
Justin sold him the house and all of the furniture. They would put the money into escrow the next morning. "What's an
es crow? I get all confused with all of this grownup talk."
It had taken us two weeks to get everything done. Ricky and I had to sign so many papers to sell our house. If
we didn't do it then we would have to come back out and do it at closing time. The house was paid for with mom and
dad's insurance. Justin took the two policies that we found and paid all of mom and dad's final debts, including dad's
credit cards. They had been dunning us to death and threatening to sue us for everything we had. Justin got the them to
settle for half of what they were demanding us to pay.
The airlines had never paid anything for my parents death so Justin got on that. He found out that there was a
class action lawsuit being filed so he got our names on that. I don't know how we can sue the air for causing the plane
to crash. Justin tried to explain something about weathermen and air traffic controllers and some sort of equipment on
the plane that prevented this sort of thing. I don't know about all of that. I told Jer that I was really glad that his dad was
no longer mad at me and that he was there to help Ricky and me.
Finally the time had come for us to leave for Oklahoma. Justin told us to get a good night's sleep because the
long trip would exhaust us. We had gone out to dinner at my favorite steak house. I still didn't know what Ricky and
Bobby were going to do though. Ricky talked as if he was going to go with us but Bobby still lived at home with his
mother. Cripes the dude is over nineteen and in love with my brother why can't he just go?
Ricky came to our table all smiles. He told us Bobby had stopped to wash his hands but would be right with us.
He said that they had some great news. I guess that Jer and I are still considered little kids and nobody talks to us. We
found out that Justin had his lawyer file what he called an intent to sue against Ricky and Bobby's old boss. They were
discriminated against and sexually harassed. They had been called into to work that morning and had been gone all day.
I didn't know what to expect. Bobby showed us his check first then Ricky pulled his out.
The company wanted to settle, quietly. They gave both boys five years pay plus twenty five thousand dollars in
pune...punitive... anyway some sort of damages. They earned thirty five thousand dollars a year so five years pay and
those damages they each had a check for two hundred thousand dollars.
Bobby took Ricky home with him and told his mother that he was gay and in love with Ricky. The old woman
was domineering and she loved to lord herself over Bobby all of his life. I had heard him called a momma's boy many
times. This day he showed that he had balls. He told his mother that he was moving out. She threatened to cut off his
allowance that she gave him each week. He told her that he didn't need her two hundred dollars a week. He had a job
that paid him six hundred and seventy five dollars a week and had been working there for nearly three years.
She was aghast. These words that grown ups use. What the hell does aghast mean? Oh well. Bobby told her to
fuck off. He gathered everything he wanted out of her house and put it into the truck to go with us. He asked Justin if he
or Frank could drive our RV and we would all go to Oklahoma together. He and Bobby could live in the RV back there.
Justin told him, "Like hell you will. You will go back home with us, as a family. You can live at the ranch or I'm sure
that momma has a place on the mountain. Either way you two are welcome." I was so happy I was crying again. Jer
held me close. I had my love and my brother. What more could I ever want?
So that's how we all ended up here Mr. Dickson. We're all fags living on the ranch. Granny goes up to the
mountain every weekend but we live here and go to the same school that Justin and Frank went to. Kyle and Judd stay
up at the mountain.
Judd's old man is an ass hole. He has let Mark move in with him. We all know what that is about. Hiram
Alonzo Jones is a fag who puts other fags down. The whole county knows about him and Mark now. Al tried to give Jer
and me some shit down town one day. The sheriff was there and he heard what the man said.
The sheriff looked at Mark and then at Al. "Hiram, I remember you and your old man. It was pretty well known
that you were queer clear back in highschool but you seemed to have a craving for livestock. As I recall there was a
time with a young calf? Are you still into that or is Mark's udder your main focus now?" Fifty people heard this right in
the middle of town. "I'm gonna tell you once and once only Hiram Jones. You leave these boys alone. You quit talking
trash to people. This is a new century and there are new laws. I can put you in a nice gated community where they really
like sweet boys like you. Wanna try me?"
If you want to write my story and put it on the web I don't mind. Maybe someday I can tell you more. But for
now I am just want to grow up some and love my man with all of my heart.
*ECB
Ryan Edgecomb may be small in stature but the boy is a super man in the making. I have so enjoyed this summer and his tales. I look forward to what the future holds for this lad as he grows into adulthood. This is truly one boy that it will be a shame to have to let grow up. His innocense and his charm are captivating. I
thoroughly enjoy every precious moment that I have spent with the lad and hope to have many more afternoons with him in the future.
For now I will wish him well and watch from afar. At least I have many connections to the bright eyed boy in our small community. I am going to get my fishing pole and go sit under my favorite tree by the lake's shore and think about young Ryan and his love for hunky Jeremy.
You may find interest in these stories by Carl Dickson:
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Currently running serialized sagas by Carl Dickson: