Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:53:37 -0700
From: Flip McHooter <1977.flip@gmail.com>
Subject: So Cal Summer 1969-Chapter 22

The story below is a work of fiction, except the location. All characters
named are figments of my imagination. This story contains explicit sexual
situations between high school aged boys, (and some girls). If this is
illegal, etc., well you know the drill.

Also, because it's based in the past, some of it may not be politically
correct as I have tried to be true to 1969.

Thanks to everybody who has emailed me, I appreciate the tips and
feedback. Please let me know what you think of this chapter.
1977.flip@gmail.com


Chapter 22


He put his shake down on the tray sticking out the Camaro's window and
turned sideways in his seat so that he could look at both of us at the same
time. He took a deep breath and looked from me to Jake and then back to me
again. I was really starting to worry now because he seemed to be so
nervous. I sure hoped that this wasn't going to be some sort of bad news
for me and Jake.

"Okay, here goes. Let me start off with a story first, because that will
make what I have to say to you guys a little bit easier for me. I'm pretty
sure that Jake doesn't know this but Ryan, you know that when I was little,
granddad had a big ranch outside of Flagstaff pretty close to the Navajo
Reservation. I've told you and Jordan lots of stories about growing up
there and how much fun it was, riding horses and camping out. But one story
I never told you had to do with a good friend of mine who was just a couple
of years older than me. His name was Red Crow. I was maybe twelve when I
first met him, and I guess he was fourteen or fifteen. He was a tall
strapping kid and had beautiful long, shiny black hair. His hair went all
the way down his back. He would sometimes wear feathers in his hair and
lots of silver and turquoise jewelry. He was quite smart and very mature
for his age but he didn't like to talk very much. He was popular with all
of the people in his, well, not tribe, but more like all of his elders and
the people who lived around us. He was special in a different kind of way,
but I was young and didn't know, or couldn't tell you, exactly why. He was
just comfortable to be around even if he didn't talk a lot. When he did
talk, he had this deep penetrating voice that commanded respect and
attention, which was rare for a teenager back then. He was like a big
brother to me and he taught me many, many good things that I still remember
even to this day.

"Red Crow had to go to school on the Rez, as they called it, and I went to
public school in town. Back then, there was quite a bit of prejudice
against Native Americans, well, actually there still is today. Most white
people didn't usually mix with them and vice-versa. But your grandma and
granddad were different, and we always had Navajo friends and granddad
would hire them on the ranch as much as he could when he had the
need. Sometimes, Red Crow and I would meet after school and on weekends
when there wasn't any work for us to do. Sometimes, he'd take me camping,
or we would spend all day out riding the horses on the canyon trails. He
taught me lots of great and different things and I always had fun when I
was with him.

"Sometimes, we would be out all day and hardly talk to each other, but I
liked being with him and it didn't bother me with him being so quiet. When
he did talk, occasionally he would `talk-story' with me and that would be
special and fascinating and I loved it. He knew so many things about nature
and animals and native traditions. He would point out things to me as we
rode by, or he would just stop and listen to the sky, but only he could
hear what it was saying. Every now and then, he would stop suddenly and
quickly dismount his horse, walk over by the edge of the canyon and start
dancing and chanting. Sometimes, he would be really happy and other times
he would get real emotional during these chants. I was mesmerized by him,
but I didn't know why. He wasn't like anybody else that I knew and I was
really lucky to have a friend like him. I would ask Red Crow how he knew so
many things, but he would just smile at me or give me a wink, and never
tell me. Occasionally, when I would ask him a stupid question, he would
laugh at me and that would make me really mad. But I couldn't stay mad at
him because he made it impossible for me to be angry for very long. That
was just the way he was and after a while, I got comfortable with it and it
didn't bother me so much. He was unlike anybody else I knew, but sometimes
I didn't really understand him. But like I said, I knew he was special. So
finally one day, I had to ask granddad what he thought of Red Crow.

"What did he say?" Jake asked my dad, bug eyed and captivated by the story.

"Well, I didn't understand it at first, and maybe even today I still
don't. You see, in Navajo culture everything is either male or female. The
birds, plants, earth, water. All of it is either male or female. But
granddad told me that Red Crow was considered extra special because he had
both male and female spirits inside him. They called that
`nadleehi'. People that were nadleehi were very much respected and honored
because the Navajo thought they were blessed with twice as many spiritual
gifts, being both male and female. When Red Crow grew up he would have
special powers and would be able to perform special sacred ceremonies and
rituals that other Navajo people couldn't. Some say that the nadleehi could
see into the future and tell you what was going to happen. I just know that
Red Crow was in tune with nature and the spirit world and I really liked
being around him. I was a very lucky boy to have him as a friend. I guess
you could call him a wise man or maybe an old soul if you believe in
reincarnation.

"Anyhow, one day in early summer, when I was thirteen or fourteen, Red Crow
and I packed our horses with some food grandma made us, and our bed rolls,
and we went camping way up in the high country for a few days, just by
ourselves. One night, we camped by a beautiful mountain lake and before we
cooked our dinner and while it was still hot outside, we decided to go for
a quick swim to cool off. Back then, nobody wore bathing suits and it
didn't really matter because no one was around to see us anyway. That day
was no different. We stripped off our clothes, and we were about to dive in
the cool, clear water when Red Crow stopped suddenly, held out his arm and
looked me up and down. The only thing that was different was that I had
grown some and had hair on my body now. It was the first time that Red Crow
had seen me as a man and not as a little boy, and he was excited for me. He
grabbed my hand and pulled me to the sandy lip of the small lake and made
me stand in a wide clearing. He made a deep circle in the sand about six
feet around me then got some mud from the edge of the clear blue water and
began to paint designs all over my body. Then he had me paint designs on
his naked body, too. He showed me how to do it because they had to be very
specific. Some designs were of animals but others were stripes and zigzags
in very complicated rows. When we were done, he started singing and dancing
and stomping all around me.

"What was he doing?" I asked.

"He told me later that he was saying goodbye to the little boy and
welcoming the young man into the world. He was asking the spirits above to
honor me with their wisdom and understanding and to protect me from harm
and evil.

"Wow! That's really cool, Wiley," Jake said. "He sounds like a groovy guy.

"But Dad, if he was such a good friend how come you never told us about him
before? I'd like to meet him.

Before he could answer, the car hop girl came up and asked us if we wanted
anything else. Dad said he wanted a cold Coke with lots of ice, so Jake and
I both ordered chocolate milkshakes with extra whipped creme. I figured
we'd burn off all of that sugar in the pool later on anyhow. Once she left,
my dad continued on with his story. I was starting to wonder where this
story was going, and I was a little nervous about what he was going to say
next.

"So where was I? Oh yeah. I never told anyone about him because of
something really bad that happened later on. Even your mother doesn't know
this story, and actually, I don't think she would quite understand it. I've
kind of locked him away in my mind until today, keeping him to myself, and
I feel bad about that. After Red Crow did that special dance for me, we
jumped in the lake and swam for a while. It was a really cold lake, and we
got chilly pretty fast, so we got out to warm up and we laid on some big
flat boulders that were still warm from the afternoon sun. We were lying
next to each other enjoying the last of the sun when I caught Red Crow
looking at my body and smiling at me. The next thing I knew, he had started
rubbing my stomach and then he moved lower and started playing with my
willy. That made me jump because nobody had ever touched me there,
especially another guy. He told me that since I was a man now it was time
for me to learn all about sex and how to do it right. He said that since he
was nadleehi, he was the right person to teach me.

"I was really confused, because I knew how sex worked, or so I thought,
because we had seen the horses mount each other out in the corral, and as
kids, we talked about it at school out on the playground. All of us boys
were intrigued by the girls because they had different bodies then we
did. But he was a young man and so was I, and I couldn't for the life of me
figure out how sex between two men would work. I'm not going to go into any
graphic detail other than to tell you that he said he was going to be the
woman and I would be the man and that he was going to teach me all of the
ways to make a partner really enjoy making love. Basically, I was going to
put my willy up his bum.

"Umm, Dad, geez," I said, looking around to see if anyone was listening.

"Sorry, but that's what happened. You'll understand why I'm telling you
guys this in a second. Well, we did do that and a whole lot more over that
summer and he really did teach me a lot of things, really, really good
things. He taught me how to be a great lover.

"So why is that such a bad thing?" I asked. "And if you're going to talk
about what you and mom do I don't want to hear it. You can just let us out
here and we'll walk home.

"Hold on. And don't worry. That stuff is none of your business. I haven't
told you the bad part yet, so let me finish. I wasn't embarrassed by what
we were doing and he seemed to enjoy it a lot, too. He was really in tune
with himself and tried to share that wisdom with me. I guess in the Navajo
community sex isn't such a big deal and they aren't all uptight about it
like some people are today. I guess some of that rubbed off on me. Anyhow,
as I got older, I started to have girlfriends and Red Crow and I didn't see
each other as often as we used to. We were still friends, but I was busy
and he was busy and we drifted apart. When I turned eighteen I joined the
Army so I could get off of the ranch and see the world. Actually, I lied
about my age and I was barely seventeen when I enlisted. That was a couple
of years after World War Two had ended and the Army was starting to do
experiments out in the desert of New Mexico. I became an MP on a secret
base and was privy to a lot of things that were happening then. It was
scary and exciting all at the same time, but that's a story for another
time. The sad part is that I never did get to see the world and worse, I
never saw Red Crow alive again.

He stopped for a minute while the car-hop girl delivered his drink and
shakes, and then took his time starting the story back up. He seemed to be
misty-eyed, but I really couldn't tell from here in the backseat. Then,
after taking a deep sigh, he took up the story again.

"While I was in New Mexico, I found out that something really bad had
happened to Red Crow. Truly bad. It seems that one Saturday night he went
to town for a beer or two and he got friendly with some white guy that was
visiting our small town, looking for some ranch work. They had plenty to
drink and then when the bar closed, they went to the white guy's motel room
to drink some more. The story goes that Red Crow came on to the guy
sexually and the guy panicked and beat him to death with a big wrench from
his tool box. I was really sad when I heard the news, and I couldn't
believe he was gone. But I was really surprised when the chief summoned me
early the next morning to be one of the four special people that were
allowed to bury him the following day. My C.O. was cool and I took some
emergency leave to fly home quickly and participate in his funeral.

"You see, in Navajo culture, after someone dies, only four specially
elected people were allowed to bury Red Crow. I was to be one of them. I
was surprised and felt very honored to be included since I was
white. Before starting the funeral process, the four of us smeared ashes
all over our bodies so we were covered all in gray. Even our hair. We were
naked, save for our moccasins, and they painted some tribal markings on our
faces and arms and torso's. The three other guys wore feathers and a little
bit of jewelry, but I didn't because I wasn't Navajo. They sang and danced
and I tried to participate, but I'm sure that I looked pretty foolish.

"Why did they do all of that?" Jake asked.

"It's thought by the Navajo that all of that ash would protect them from
evil spirits. It's believed that if the burial was not handled in the
proper fashion, the person's spirit would return to his former home, kind
of like getting stuck on this plane, and never go on to the great sky. The
Chief and another man were assigned with arranging the body and getting it
ready for burial. Another Navajo guy and I had to dig the grave while Red
Crow's body was being prepared. When we were done digging the grave, we
went back to the house and Red Crow's few belongings were loaded onto the
strongest and biggest horse and brought to the grave site, led by the
Navajo Chief. The two other guys carried Red Crow's body on their shoulders
to the grave. I was in front of everybody and charged with warning those
who we met on the trail that they should stay away from us and to turn
around and not to look back at us or evil would come to them.

"How did you talk with them if you weren't Navajo?" Jake asked. "Do you
know the language?

"Actually, I had learned quite a few words and phrases growing up playing
with the kids and then that day, the Chief gave me a special phrase or two
to say. Don't ask me what it was because I don't remember. It's a difficult
language to speak.

"Once we were at the gravesite and his body was buried, we took great care
to make sure that no footprints were left behind. The tools that we used to
dig the grave were burned in a campfire later on. Afterwards, we got
cleaned up and dressed and then met up at granddad's ranch to eat and
remember him and sing songs and talk-story. So many people were there, both
from the Navajo and from the white communities. It was nice because
everyone got along since we all loved Red Crow so much.

"After the funeral was over and most of the guests had left, I took out one
of granddad's horses and was riding around, not really paying attention to
where I was going. I guess I was thinking about Red Crow and my mind
somehow wandered. Because I wasn't paying attention, the horse had gone off
the trail and all of a sudden we were in the brush. Next thing I knew, I
heard a rattlesnake and before I could do anything about it the horse
reared up and knocked me off the saddle, flat on my ass. The horse went
running off, barely missing me and headed back to the ranch. I guess I must
have hit my head, because when I got up I was dizzy. When I found the trail
and started walking back home, there was Red Crow standing in front of me,
hunched over and laughing his ass off at me. I had never, ever, seen him
laugh that much because he was always so serious. He would stop laughing
for just a second and point at me, and then start laughing all over
again. He thought what had just happened to me was really hilarious.

"After a while, he finally stopped laughing for good and was quiet for a
bit and while he never said anything out loud to me, I could feel his love
pour out and envelope me. He was thanking me for our friendship and helping
him move on to the spirit world. It was comforting, and somehow I knew that
he was in a better place. I guess as a spirit, he could do more to help his
people that he loved and who loved him. I realized that I was crying, but
they weren't tears of sadness, they were more like tears of happiness for
him. I could just feel that he was where he should be, surrounded by love
and warmth. Once I realized that, he started to do a little dance, chanting
and spinning around, like he used to do, and then the wind kicked up real
fast and he just floated away, and disappeared into thin air. But I know
that he is always with me, deep inside, looking down and protecting me like
a shield.

My dad had to turn away from us, and wipe a few tears from the corner of
his eyes with a napkin from the tray. Jake and I just sat there digesting
the story, not being able to say much of anything, both of us being pretty
emotional, too. I had never heard my dad talk like this before and I was
really surprised, and I couldn't ever remember him crying like this. Pretty
soon my dad got it together and turned back around to face us.

"I guess you're wondering why I told you that story," he said, clearing his
throat. "I guess I'm very lucky to have met Red Crow and have all of those
great experiences with him over those few short years. I think, because of
that experience, I have a better understanding about life and love than
many other fathers may have. That's the real reason that I wanted to talk
with both of you boys. It's pretty obvious to me that the two of you have a
very special friendship going on. I've watched how the two of you are when
you're together and you seem to share some sort of cosmic connection, to
use one of Lulu's funky terms. I guess if I was a hippie, I'd say you have
a special vibration going on. I think it's great that you two have bonded
so fast and become so close. I'm very happy for you. So, with that being
said, as your father, I worry that in your excitement to be with each other
you might do something that would disclose the closeness of your friendship
or relationship to other people who may not be as open or as understanding
and supportive as I am. I worry that you may get hurt, physically or
verbally. People can be very mean and some are downright hateful. We don't
live in a perfect world and some people will frown on your relationship. I
just want you to understand that and know that I am always here for you
boys. Good or bad, okay?

"You know Dad, you're the best! I was so scared of what you'd do if you
found out about Jake and me. I wanted to tell you about it so badly, but
didn't really know how to say it or what you'd think. I guess it really
helped that you had such a good friend as Red Crow. I love you! Thanks," I
said, leaning up and giving him a hug as best I could in the cramped car.

"Don't worry son, I love you no matter what. You should know that already."
Then, turning to Jake, he asked, "Are you okay, Jake?

"Yeah, I guess so. I'm kind of surprised and sorta speechless. You're
really sure that you're not mad at us?" he asked quietly, looking down at
the floorboard.

"No, son, I'm not. Why should I be? You're a great kid and you make my son
very happy. That's the most important thing there is for a father. And
besides, both you and Lisa seem like my own, and I love you guys, too. Man,
listen to me. Now I sound like a hippie. I guess Red Crow taught me more
than I thought.

"Wow! Wiley, I wish you were my dad. You're so cool." He leaned over and
gave my dad a big hug, too.

"Hey, Dad? Does Mom or Lulu know about me and Jake?

"Well, your mother has figured it out and I have to say she's not a hundred
percent excited about it, but give her some time and she'll get over
it. She told me once that one of her brothers got into a scene with another
guy and her family gave him a pretty hard time about it, so that's probably
the only thing she has to go on. But I wouldn't worry about it. She just
has to think it through a little bit and then she'll figure out that it's
not such a big deal. Like Billy Preston says, you gotta love the one you're
with.

"And as for Lulu, if she knows she hasn't said anything to us, but she's
not going to care one way or the other. She loves Jake's Uncle Gus and his
boyfriend whatshisname. You know how she's always talking about them. I
actually can't wait to meet them. Ryan, after we meet them next weekend, I
don't think your mom's going to be a problem at all. She'll see how happy
they are being a couple and she'll want that same happiness for you
boys. Just don't go around kissing and holding hands in front of her, okay?

"Dad! C'mon! We wouldn't do that. Geez.

"I'm just joking with you," he said, laughing. "What do you say we get out
of here?" He turned on the car lights so the girl could see that we wanted
service. She hopped over and Dad paid the bill giving her a good size tip,
probably `cause we were here so long but more likely `cause she had big
knockers.

Once we got back home, the rest of the day was spent swimming, doing sexy
stuff, eating, doing more sexy stuff, and fooling around with Jordy and
Lisa. Then at night we'd do some more of that sexy stuff that we liked so
much. Actually, to be honest, we did more swimming then the sexy stuff so
we could work off all of that rich food that we'd been eating all week. I
was beginning to think that we were going to have trouble sticking to any
sort of diet that Coach Brian was going to put us on. Oh, well. We didn't
have to worry about that until Monday.

We did have a weird thing happen to us late Saturday afternoon, though,
after we got back home. Jake and I had just finished swimming our laps and
were putting on some clothes after a short shower when Jordy came running
into the pool house to tell us to come quick.

"There's something on Lisa and Jake's front porch that you have to
see. C'mon!" he shouted.

We followed him out of the pool house and ran out in front, crossing both
of our wide front lawns and then up to the steps. We couldn't see what it
was at first, because our parents and Lisa were blocking the way.

"What's going on," Jake and I both said at the same time.

The Lulu's finally parted to let us to see the lifeless body of a big fat
rattlesnake stretched out on the top step of their front porch, right in
front of the door. It was probably one of the biggest rattlers that I'd
ever seen around here. But it was kinda weird because it was missing its
head, sorta like someone had ripped it off and ate it or something.

"What's that snake doing on our front porch?" Jake asked.

"I don't know sweetie. Luann, Lisa and I just came back from shopping
downtown. We walked up the steps and I was just about to open the front
door and there was this dead snake just lying there. At first it scared the
poop out of me until I realized that it wasn't moving. Anybody have an idea
of how it might have got there?

"Maybe some dog or coyote caught it and just dropped it there," Jake said.

"Maybe it's a present from one of the neighbors," Lisa joked.

"That's not funny, Lisa," Lulu said. Turning to my mom and dad, she asked
"What do you guys think? You've lived here a long time. Has this ever
happen to you?

"We've had our run-ins with snakes from time to time. Usually out in the
woodpile or hiding in a dark corner of the garage. Never seen a headless
one before, though," my mom said, "or one that big and plump.

"Maybe it's a flying snake and it crashed on your door," Jordy said. I
couldn't tell if he was being serious or not.

"What do you think, Wiley?

Everybody turned to look at my dad, who up `til now hadn't said
anything. When I looked over at him he was white as a ghost.

"What did you just say, Jordy?" he asked, in a halting voice.

"I said, maybe it was a flying snake. Why, Daddy?

"Oh, man. This is so damn weird. Give me a minute." Dad walked away from us
and over to the middle of the lawn. He seemed to be kind of spaced out and
then after a second he started looking up into the sky and turning around
slowly. When he finally stopped, he was looking up to the east. I looked
over at my mom as she just stood there looking at him with her mouth
hanging wide open. Bugs or a 747 could fly in there and she wouldn't even
notice. Actually, everybody was just looking at him and wondering what the
heck was going on. Then, as suddenly as he walked away, he busted out
laughing. Now everybody really got worried. Has he gone nuts or what?

"Come over here people! We have something that we all have to do," he
yelled at us.

Everybody kind of looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders and
some rolled their eyes. We were trying to figure out what the hell was
going on as we slowly walked over towards him in the middle of the big,
green, grassy lawn.

"You're going to think I'm crazy as a loon, but we have to form a circle,
hold our hands out and then when we're evenly spaced out, we need to sit
down Indian style. I have a great story to tell you guys.

"Oh, boy!" said Jordy. "This sounds like fun, Daddy.

"Wiley, have you gone mad? What will the neighbors think?" my mom asked
him, clearly annoyed.

"I don't give a rat's ass about the neighbors or what they might
think. Come over here and grab our hands.

"But Wiley...

"Never mind, honey. If anyone is looking they'll just think we're playing a
game. I've never been more serious then I am about this.

We made a big circle, just like he asked us to do, holding out our arms as
we spaced ourselves out accordingly. Then we sat down with our legs crossed
like we were going to play a game of duck- duck- goose.

"Are we going to meditate, Wiley? Do you want me to run inside and get some
incense and my finger cymbals? I think I have enough grass mats for
everybody. I can even bring out a portable record player so we can listen
to some chant music." Lulu was really getting into this now.

"No, Lulu, we won't need that stuff today. Is everybody comfortable?

Everybody said they were, except for my mom, who didn't say anything and
instead gave him the evil eye. She always scared me when she started to do
that. `cause you never knew what was going to come next. Not wanting to get
into a heavy scene out here, my dad purposely ignored her.

"Okay everyone, bear with me a little bit. It's been a really long time
since I've done anything like this. Probably twenty years or more. Earlier
today I was telling Ryan and Jake a story about a friend of mine who I knew
very well when I was growing up on granddad's ranch in Arizona. He died
many years ago, and apparently, when I spoke out his name today he decided
to come and give us a visit.

"Wiley, what in the Sam Hill are you talking about? This is silly, totally
silly. Is this really the time and place for this? How can that possibly
happen if he's dead?" my mom asked, totally exasperated now.

"Yes, it is, dear! Please shut the hell up so I can tell our new friends my
story," he said, trying to remain calm. "I was telling the boy's earlier
about my friend Red Crow, who was a very special Native Navajo. Today he
would be referred to as a shaman. I guess when I said his name, he decided
he was happy that I remembered him, and he came back to us now in spirit
form to bless us and show his love for us. He was the one that played a
joke on us by putting the snake on the doorstep. Spirits come in many
forms, and they can play jokes on you, at least that's what he used to tell
me. My guess is that, well not a guess really, but more of a strong feeling
or intuition, is that Red Crow has come to welcome our new neighbors and to
circle us with his love and protection. That's what he did best.

Dad went on to give everybody an abbreviated version of his and Red Crow's
friendship, but he made a point of not telling everybody that he was
nadleehi and that he had experimented with guy sex. My mom finally settled
down and forgot all about the neighbors while everybody else listened in
rapt attention.

"So, since we were talking about him earlier, he had to find a way to show
us that he was happy that we were thinking of him and finally talking about
him. You probably don't know that snakes play a very important role in
Navajo and Hopi culture and to them the snake is a symbol of the lightning
people. They supposedly bring rain to the dry, arid land. I guess since I
hadn't thought of him for many years, I would be considered `dry' and his
spirit would be considered `lightning' because he was pulled back to this
plane by me when I was talking about him to Ryan and Jake
earlier. Rattlesnakes are pretty much the only venomous ones out on the
reservation, but to them all snakes are to be avoided and revered. Snakes
are seen in Navajo sand paintings and other artworks all over the area, and
especially in the caves and on the cliffs where I grew up. Every time we
would see a snake, Red Crow would make us stop whatever we were doing and
then he'd tell me another story about them.

"But why did he throw a snake on their front door, Daddy?" Jordy asked,
clearly fascinated with the story.

"Because it's his way of saying `People, here I am and I love you. I am
looking out for you and I want you to share this blessing with each other
and other people that you meet'. When he was in a silly mood he would joke
around and once he told me a story about seeing a Tt'iish Naat'a'i. In the
Navajo tradition that's the name for what they call `snake-that-flies'. Not
very many people have seen a Tt'iish Naat'a'i, and when they do it's
considered a very, very, big blessing. And I guess throwing it on Lulu,
Lisa and Jake's doorstep is his funny way of saying welcome.

"Unfortunately, I can't remember any of his songs or Native chants right
now, so let's just sit here quietly for a second and just hold hands. Lulu,
if we're not doing this right let me know. Close your eyes if you want, and
try to clear your mind of all your thoughts. You can think about good
thoughts or just pay special attention to the things that come into your
mind. Try to push away the normal `chatter' that runs through you
head. Jordy, try and picture in your mind what a flying snake would look
like. The rest of you, if you want, try to picture what you think Red Crow
might look like and thank him for coming today and blessing us with his
love and protection. Send him your love back in return. That would make him
very, very happy.

We sat there for a while, not saying anything and I was truly surprised at
how relaxed and happy I was. Call it energy or chi or whatever you want,
but I could feel something flowing through Jake's hand to the right of me
and Lisa's hand to the left. My hands got very hot and theirs did too! I
tried to picture how Red Crow looked and surprisingly, an image popped
straight into my head. I don't know if it was right or not, but I could
tell he was a handsome guy, with really long, shiny black hair and a
headband tied around his forehead. He was wearing a bright, long-sleeved
red shirt with a dark leather vest. He had on fifteen or twenty strings of
colorful beads wrapped around his neck. He indeed felt special and he
radiated love and peace to all of us.

We sat there on the front lawn for about fifteen minutes, I guess, until I
could sense that some folks were starting to get restless. Jake's mom Lulu
certainly was, because when I opened my eyes I caught her staring at Jake
and me and giving the two of us a great big smile, her eyes radiating love
and support for us.

Then turning to my dad, she said, "Thank you, Wiley. I understand it all
now.

I sat there in shock for a second. Did Red Crow really just tell her about
Jake and me? Holy shit. Maybe he told my mom to mellow out, too. At least I
hoped so.

Then, everybody stretched and slowly stood up. "What should we do with the
snake?" Lisa asked.

Dad looked around at everybody for a minute, and then, catching us all
totally off guard said, "Red Crow just told me that Ryan and Jake are to
bury it out underneath their tree house by the old deer trail.

Everybody started talking excitedly now, sharing their own experience with
Red Crow. I won't bother spelling it all out, but everybody had gained
something positive from it, including my mom. In fact, she went over to my
dad and gave him a big hug and kissed him hard on the cheek. The folks and
Jordy and Lisa slowly wandered into our house to start making dinner while
Jake and I went into his house to find a shoebox to put the snake in. When
we got up to his room, I was surprised at how energized I was.

"That was really something, wasn't it?" I asked Jake.

"Fuckin' A it was. Man, your dad really tripped me out. And then when my
mom said that she understood, well that was even more trippy. Help me find
a shoebox and then let's go downstairs in my mom's room to find a scarf or
something to wrap the snake in. We might as well give that snake a proper
burial, since Red Crow went to all of this trouble," he said.

"Hey, did you picture Red Crow when we were meditating?

"Yeah. He was a tall sharp dude with really long, straight black hair that
made him look really sexy. His hair went all the way down to his butt and
was really shiny. He had all kinds of beads on, too, like a hippie, and a
thing tied around his forehead.

"Shit! Me too. What color shirt did he have on?

"I think it might have been red, but I think it was that color because of
his name.

"Did he have black pants on?" I asked. "And a vest?

"Fuck! Yeah, he did. How did you know that?

"I don't know. I just did. Do you really think Red Crow came to your house?

"Hell yeah, I do now. And I think maybe he had something to do with us
meeting each other, too." Jake said.

"Really? How do you figure? How would he even know us?

"Well, just think it through. Out of all the places that we could have
moved, we moved here, next door to you and your family. Even you said that
Mr. Baily knew that we would be fast friends. How did he know that? It just
seems to me to be, shit, what's that thing that my mom says? Oh yeah,
Karman Ghia.

"You chowder head. It's karma!

"Oh yeah," he giggled. "C'mon, let's go find one of my mom's scarves.

We bounded down the stairs making lots of noise and went into Lulu's room,
and Jake started nosing around in her bureau for something cool and
psychedelic looking to wrap the snake in. I waited close to the door while
Jake dug around in the deep drawers because I didn't feel real comfortable
snooping around in there. Her room was hot, and it smelled musky like
patchouli oil. While I was waiting, I noticed some legal forms that were
lying on top of Lulu's leather guitar case. Being just a tiny bit nosy, I
picked up the packet and flipped through the papers to see if there was
anything that was interesting. And shit, was it ever interesting! And
really scary, too. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell anyone about it because
it would really hurt Jake and Lisa if he found out. From what I could tell,
Jake's dad, Ace, was suing Lulu for sole custody of Jake. I didn't see any
papers with Lisa's name on them and I thought that was really weird. Why
did he want Jake and not Lisa? Oh, man, Ace wanted to take Jake away from
me. Shit! Fuck! Damn!

We headed out underneath the tree house, the dead snake wrapped up and
secured in an old Keds shoe box. I was kinda spaced out and Jake picked up
on it right away.

"Hey man, what's wrong with you all of a sudden?" he asked me.

"Oh, um...I really don't like funerals very much," I said, trying to throw
him off the track and trying to forget what Ace was trying to do to him.

"Well this isn't really a funeral. It's more of a thank you to Red Crow for
watching out for us. I think it's kinda boss.

Keeping my mind off what Ace was up to, I asked Jake if he thought we
should get naked and smear ash all over us.

"No, because I don't think we would do it right. What would happen if we
fucked it up and the snake people came and started to haunt us?

"Yeah, you're right. That could get freaky," I said.

When we got to our favorite oak tree, he dug a hole off to the side far
enough from the old trunk and away from the big roots so it wouldn't harm
it. He made quick time of it, digging down about two or three feet or
so. He lined the bottom of the hole with some small rocks, twigs, some
acorns and leaves to keep any water off the box in case any dribbled down
that deep. Where did he learn to dig a grave like that, I thought to
myself? I took the honors and covered snakey up with dirt and then tamped
it down real good. Then I put the shovel down across from the freshly
covered earth. I guess we'd have to burn the shovel later on.

"Do you want to say something, or do you want me to do it," Jake asked me.

"You go ahead. You seem like a pro at this stuff. If you miss anything I'll
say something.

"Okay. Here goes. Friends, we're gathered here today to... No wait, that's
a freakin' wedding! What do you say at a funeral?

"How about he was a good fat snake and will be surly missed by all his
other snake friends?

"Not to mention all of the mice and other little animals that he tried to
scarf up but got away!

"Do you think snakey will go to heaven? Like to a special snake heaven?" I
asked.

"I don't know. Maybe there is a separate section in heaven just for snakes,
kinda like where your favorite pets go when they die. At least that's the
story my mom told me when my pet turtle Skidmark died. Maybe all the snake
ghosts hang out and slither and crawl around together.

"I guess that makes sense. Well, let's just thank Red Crow then," I said,
grabbing Jake's hand in mine, twining our fingers and holding them it
tight. "Red Crow, thank you for coming today and for helping out our
family. I think you were, and are, a really good guy and I wish we could
have met you when you were here. I think you would have liked swimming with
us and listening to our rock and roll music and smoking our kind of peace
pipe. I bet you'd like hiking up our trails, too. Please watch over my dad
and mom, Lulu, Lisa and Jordy, Sloan too, and especially Jake, who you know
is my best bud. Thanks. Oh yeah, one more thing. If you ever want to play a
trick on someone, I don't think that Jake or Lisa would be too mad if you
played a good one on Ace.

"Good idea. Maybe he can make my dad be nicer to us, but I think that's a
lost cause by now," Jake said dejectedly. "If anyone can do it, Red Crow
can.

"Right on! That would be cool. I think you're right. Maybe Red Crow can do
it. You think that we're done? I'm getting hungry for some tasty vittles.

"I think so. Good-bye snakey. Thanks again, Red Crow. Okay, let's go to the
pot luck.

"Pot luck?

"Yeah. When someone dies, after the funeral everybody goes to the dead
man's house and brings food. At least that's what they did in San Pedro.

"Really? I thought it was like smoking some weird pot and then you just
take your chances or something.

"Ry, that's so stupid. Remember when Wiley said they did that after Red
Crow's funeral back at your granddad's ranch? Who the hell's being the
chowder head now?" Jake laughed, and pinched my butt as we ran down to the
house.

***

If the dark man was pissed off before, right now he was downright
livid. Once the boys had taken off towards the house, he started stomping
his dirty feet around in circles in the little, dusty clearing behind the
bushes where he hung out sometimes. He couldn't be seen over here because
the brush was so thick and his dirty brown and raggedy clothes blended in
with the landscape. And he couldn't really be heard shuffling around out
there either, because he was just far enough away from the gang on the
lawn. But he wasn't so far away that he couldn't hear what the boys had
just talked about. His deranged mind sometimes played tricks with him, but
his hearing had always been very acute.

He was sure that his plan with the dead snake would have scared them all
off. Scare all of them shitless. Maybe even make them move away. But
dammit, they made a silly game out of it! He saw them all sitting out on
the front lawn in a great big circle, laughing and playing. They were
surely mocking him and now he was beyond furious. Originally, he was only
after one of them, but now, he wasn't so sure. When his blood boiled like
this, it made the voices in his head scream in rage, telling him what he
had to do. It wasn't a good thing.

***

Everybody had been in a super happy mood at dinner, and later we played a
couple of board games before splitting up and heading for bed. Mom seemed
to be in an especially good mood since Lisa and Lulu made most of the
dinner and Dad had bar-b-que'd the spicy shish-k-bobs out on the
grill. Yum. Those were so delicious that I must have had three or four all
by myself and I think Jake packed away that many or more.

After dinner, Jake and I headed out to the pool house to take our
showers. Somehow I was able to spirit away a bag that Lisa got from the
pharmacy and had handed it over to me earlier in the day without the folks
or Jordy seeing it. I was pretty sure that it had all of the necessary
goodies that two boys would need for some serious butt fucking action. "God
love Lisa", I thought to myself.

We closed the drapes and locked the door to the pool house so we could take
a hot shower and get cleaned up. It was late for a Saturday night, but we
didn't have anything to do until we started our first practice down at the
high school pool around one on Monday afternoon. We could sleep late
tomorrow morning if we wanted to.

"Hey Ryan. What's in that bag that you've been carrying around all
afternoon and trying to hide, and I might add, not very well?" Jake asked
me.

"It's your enema and a vibrator for you to practice on so I can screw you
up your tight ass," I said, trying to be serious and not crack up. "And I
think Lisa got us some rolling papers, too.

"Nu-uh. It's my turn to pork you, buddy, in case you have forgotten.

"Oh yeah, that's right." I said, opening up the bag and looking over all of
the weird supplies inside. There was a long skinny silver vibrator with
small ridges and a pointy end, some KY jelly that said it was surgical
grade and a little blue plastic bulb with a long tip that I figured was to
clean out your insides. Somehow this last thing just didn't make having sex
seem all that sexy to me. I pulled it all out and set it up on the counter
for Jake to check out.

"That stuff looks like a doctor's office. Are we going to play doctor? If
we are, I get to be the doctor," he said, feverishly rubbing his paws.

"I don't know. I guess if you want. If you're gonna screw me then I've
gotta clean out my ass, according to Lisa. You be the nurse and stick that
enema up my butt!

"Well, um, yeah, about that. I'm not really into that shit, so to
speak. How about you take care of that business end of things after we take
a shower?

"That sounds like a good plan. I really don't like all of these
preparations either, but I really want to feel your long dick up my ass,
and I don't want you to meet up with any surprises, if you know what I
mean. But getting screwed by you seems so fucking bitchin'. I can't wait.

"No shit. Oh, I mean no kidding," Jake giggled. "I shouldn't be making all
of these shit jokes. It really was boss when your fat foreskinny dick was
up my asshole. I really enjoyed that.

"Man, so did I.

We took off our clothes and jumped into the shower. Since it was my turn to
get `porked' as Jake so lovingly called it, he spent a lot of time cleaning
me up and washing my nether regions. After we took care of all the
preliminaries, he started to work on my butt and asshole. He was really
thorough, getting down on his knees and rubbing all around my ass opening
and scrubbing it up real good. That felt so freakin' good that I almost
blew my load all over the shower. It also helped that in addition to his
tongue, he used a couple of fingers to get me in the mood. I was so horny
that he could have fucked me right there in the shower stall.

"C'mon, let's go. The water is getting cold. I'm all bonered up and it
wants to meet your asshole!

"All right." I said. "The rolling papers should be next to that bag. Why
don't you get them and go on up to the tree house and try to roll us a
joint while I take care of business down here. I'll be up in a minute or
two.

"All right. Have fun!

"I'm sure I will. See you in a few.

Jake left me and Sloan alone in the pool house. It was painfully quiet and
I missed him the second he was gone. It had been a really long time since I
had an enema, but I hadn't forgotten how awkward and uncomfortable they
were. I think I must have been five or six the last time my mom had to give
one to me. That was so freakin' embarrassing! But this time it wasn't so
bad because it was for a good purpose and I was all cleaned out in a flash,
save for a righteous fart that almost broke the sound barrier.

I shut the pool house doors and after Sloan took care of her business, we
headed up to the tree house. I guess Jake must have a romantic side to him
that I hadn't seen before or maybe because he had talked to Lisa, but
whatever it was, he had six or eight different colored candles lit and
placed all around the tree house, some incense going and some nice soft
music playing low on my transistor radio.

"C'mere you. This is really nice. What got into you?" I asked, as we
wrapped our arms around each other. Sloan plopped down in her corner, and
after licking her twat, started drifting off to puppy land. I guess she
found our lovemaking boring.

"Lisa said that since she thought I was going to pop your cherry tonight
that it should be nice and romantic and to make it special. I would have
gotten you some candy and flowers but that's just too damn girly.

"Yeah, that would have been a little much. But thanks for the thought," I
said, as I pulled him into a deep kiss. Both our wieners, half hard
already, plumped up to full size in record time. I couldn't wait to feel
his throbbing member deep inside of me. I was a little scared that it might
hurt, but the anticipation of finally doing it like the guys in the red
pickup had done was even more exciting. But for right now, it couldn't get
any better than this: slow dancing in the warm breeze, buck naked with Jake
up in the tree house and listening to that great Turtles song, You Showed
Me.

We slow danced a little bit, crotches grinding together and arms wrapped
around each other's backs, just listening and swaying to the song. I think
I had heard this tune before, but couldn't remember where I was or when,
but now that I understood the lyrics, it made so much sense for this
special evening that I started to sing:

"Taught it to me too

Exactly what you do

And now you love me too

Now you love me too

And now you love me too

"You know," said Jake, his voice just above a whisper, "You really showed
me, dude.

"Jake," I said into his ear, my nipples getting hard and the hairs on my
arms standing up, "I love you. Please make love to me."

***

Special thanks to Jason T. and Hans for the great help with editing this
chapter. They really make this chapter shine.

Thanks again to Trent for the music selections. They worked perfect.

And thanks to Mike for the slang.

Finally, this chapter is dedicated to Fred Martinez, a Navajo Two Spirit
who was sixteen when he was brutally murdered. Check out twospirits.org or
watch the trailer on YouTube.