Date: Fri, 11 May 2012 11:21:33 -0700
From: Flip McHooter <1977.flip@gmail.com>
Subject: So Cal Summer 1969- Revised Chapter 34c

This story is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents
are either the products of the author's imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations or business
establishments or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this story may be transmitted or reproduced
in in whole or in part in any form or by any means, mechanical or
electronic, including photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the Author
or Publisher, except where permitted by law. Copyright © 2012 by Flip
McHooter.

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. Comments are always appreciated! Flip.  1977.flip@gmail.com


Chapter 34c revised

We all went racing into the dining room to find Ace had untied his right
arm. How he did it was anyone's guess. Maybe with his yellowed vampire
teeth. But that's as far as he got before he passed out drunk.

I had to pull him up by his hair and slap his face a few times to make sure
he wasn't faking us out. You never know. "Okay guys, let's get this over
with. Where do we want to take the pictures?" I asked.

"I think we need to make sure that he's really out. Slapping him might not
be enough. He still could be faking. I don't trust that son of a bitch. You
guys don't want him getting loose, do you?" Lisa said. "Or hurting us, or
the little men."

"Got it, sis. But how can we tell for sure?"

"I think we should hold a match under his hand and see what happens," Chris
said seriously. I changed my mind about him and now I was starting to think
he was going to be a CIA interrogator when he got older.

"Okay. Let's try it. He's not my dad, so I really don't give a shit
anymore," Jake said. "Who has a match?"

That was a stupid question, since our favorite cannabis seller and resident
pot-head was right here with us. "I do," he said. That made us all bust up.

Once we were sure he was out for good, we untied him, not an easy task I
might add, since the guys used so many pieces of rope and they tied him up
so tight. Then I asked again, "Where are we going to take the pictures?"

"Good question, picklehead. Hey! How about in the pool house? That way
nobody will recognize it. We can push the furniture and rugs against the
wall and frame it just so, and then we get him and the little men on the
floor," Jake said. "It's white, so it might even look like a studio."

"Picklehead?"

"Yeah."

"Great idea, Jake. You're quite the cameraman, aren't you?" Enzo asked him.

"Yeah, he did great. You should see the pictures."

"Shut up Ryan!" Lisa said.

"Colt, Tucker, Cooper and Enzo. You guys go take the rest of the ropes off
of him. Once you do that, can you carry him out to the pool house?" I got a
chorus of yes' out of the biggest and burliest guys in the room. "Jake, can
you and Kenji go get your camera from your house and maybe some extra film?
Make sure we have enough to do a good job. Flashbulbs too. Go out the back
way in case Mrs. Kravitz is looking out her front window over here. She
probably isn't, but just to be on the safe side."

"Roger that Bucky! Be right back."

"Lisa, can you go make some more coffee for us and cocoa for the little
men? Extra sugary for the little dudes? I don't want them falling asleep on
us just yet."

"I'm on it!"

"Okay, little men, let's head to the pool house. You little muscle men can
help me move the furniture around."

"Shebang! This is fun staying up all night!"

"I know! It's like a TV show," said Chris.

"Can we do it again tomorrow night too, Ry?" asked Jordy.

"We'll see little dude. Maybe. It's the Fourth of July, so maybe we can do
something fun."

"Hot Dog!" yelled Chris.

We ran ahead of the bigger guys to open the sliding glass doors and turned
on the overhead lights. The good thing about the pool house was that no
matter how many lights we had on, you couldn't see it from the street. Just
like the tree house, totally private. We were able to push the two couches
to the sides of the room and then we rolled up the old rugs, like we did
when we played Judge Jordy. Just as we were finishing up, the big guys came
in carrying Ace, with Sloan trailing right behind. I had a pretty good idea
that she wasn't about to let him out of her sight ever again. Ace was
really out of it, his tongue hanging out like Sloan's does when she's
having a really good dream.

"Where should we put him?" one of the guys asked.

"Just drop him on the floor anywhere," I said. "I don't really care."

"Who gets to strip him?" Colt asked.

"Anyone who wants to, I guess. Let's all do it right now," I said. "There's
scissors in the drawer over there if we need them. I don't care if we wreck
his clothes. They're gross looking anyway, and besides, he's not going to
need them. Wait! Let me see that wallet."

Tucker whipped it out and handed it me. I was amazed, and yet, not really
all that amazed. Inside, was another boat-load of money, more than the guy
on the dock had, but even more interesting was the three or four sets of
driver's licenses tucked inside. Who the hell was this guy, really? About
that time, Jake and Kenji walked in carrying all of the camera
paraphernalia. Following them up was Lisa, looking like a Pan-Am stewardess
with all of our drinks on my mom's antique silver tray. I almost
laughed. If her hair had been in a bun, a purse strategically placed on her
arm and if she was waving at us like the queen, I probably would have
laughed my ass off.

"Jake and Lisa, I'd like you to meet Anthony Sardinia, or Joseph Licata, or
Luca Limoncello. He also goes by Ace Mariano. But I'm thinking his name is
really Tony the Fuck-Up. Here, look at these."

"Hey! Licata was someone down at my dad's shop, I mean, my dad's office. I
think that old lady receptionist," Enzo said.

"Yeah, I remember that. Think that old lady is his mom?" Kenji asked.

"No, she's dead. We never met her. Maybe some kind of relation, like a
great aunt or something. This whole thing is so weird I'd believe just
about anything right about now," Jake said. Then, looking at the naked Ace
sprawled across the floor, he said, "See, that can't be my dad. Just look
at him, Ry.  His dick is way too tiny. It looks like a shrimp cocktail."
That made all of us laugh, once again.

"It's way smaller than Chris's or mine's," Jordy said.

"Maybe he's cold, or that funny drink made him a shrinky-dink," said Chris.

"Okay. All you older guys, go on outside. The little men don't want you to
see what they're gonna have to do with this guy. Go for a swim if you
want. The pool is nice and warm. And I need you guys to be wide awake for
later on when we move Ace's car. So drink Lisa's coffee and swim around a
lot, but keep it down. Jordy, Chris, Lisa, Jake and I will be in here
taking some good shots of this asshole," I said, pointing everybody in
different directions. "We'll yell if we need you, and if we do, you guys
come running, okay?"

The guys all agreed, then stripped and jumped in the pool and started
playing around. I closed the door and turned down the lights. I thought it
might be easier for Jordy and Chris to get naked and on top of Ace without
everybody watching. As it turned out, they were both so amped up on the
sugary cocoa that they probably would have jumped off the roof and into the
pool if I had asked them. Jake took some really good shots, with their hard
little peckers sticking out towards his mouth. Then somebody had a great
idea. Lisa had to run inside the house and get her purse, and once she came
back she had an evil grin on her face.

"Get your boners off his face, boys, and give me some room to work
here. I'm going to put some make-up on him," Lisa said, once again making
us all crack up. "Wait until the guys outside get a load of this!"

She rummaged around in her big purse, and pulled out a tube of cherry-red
lipstick. Applying it liberally to his lips like a professional make-up
artist would do, he was all dolled up in no time. Next came some pretty
blue eye shadow and dark mascara, and a little bit of blushy stuff for his
cheeks. That last part made him look like my grandma. But the effect was
quite effective and he looked pretty freaky. Jordy and Chris couldn't stop
laughing. In fact, Chris had to pinch the end of his dick to keep from
pissing.

She put that stuff away and then dug around in her big saddle-bag sized
purse once again for something else. "Ta-Da!" she said as she pulled out a
leopard print bra and matching panties. That sent Jordy and Chris into
another round of giggles. She explained that they were Lulu's, but since
she decided to go braless when she joined the women's libbers, and she
wouldn't miss them anytime soon.

"Hey, sis? You know what we should do with the panties? We saw this girl at
that porn... I mean, at the theater, and anyway, she had on panties that
had the front part cut-out," Jake said. "Right around her cho-cho."

"Yeah. It was like a reverse jock strap," I added, "but like in lace."

"That's a great idea. Give me the scissors."

Once the alterations were completed, Lisa handed them back to me. "Here,
you put them on. I don't want to touch him down there."

"Oh, sure. What makes you think that I want to do that anymore than you
do?"

"Because you're Jake's boyfriend and you'd do anything for him, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. Lemme have `em," I said. After flipping them around and
looking them over for a minute, I had to ask, "How the hell does this bra
thingy work? It's got loops and straps and clips and, man, your mom has big
boobs just like you!"

"Just shut-up and put them on him," Lisa said, but she was smiling. She was
damn proud of her big boobies.

I didn't really have any trouble putting the panties on him, but it was
kind of gross fiddling with his cock and balls to get them through the
opening in front. The hard part came when I tried to put the bra on him. I
had to have Jake and the little men help prop him up while I got first one
arm and then the second arm through the loops. But then snapping it
together in the back was just impossible, so Lisa finally had to come over
and help out.

"He really looks pretty cute, don't you guys think?" I asked, once we were
done and we got a good look at him.

"Yeah boy, he shore's lookin' puuurrity," Jordy drawled.

"Or is it a she?" asked Chris. Then they erupted into another fit of
giggles, while Chris had to pinch his dick again.

"How are we going to get him to the car?" I asked Jake.

"We'll get all the guys and then we can all carry him. We'll put him in the
passenger seat and then someone can back the car out of the driveway and
park it on the street. I sure hope no one sees us," he said.

"I think we should take him around through the backyard. Then our only
exposure is out on the driveway and if we do it right, it will be only for
a minute. Lisa, would you please go grab some towels out of the cupboard
and tell the guys to get out of the pool and help us out."

"Sure thing."

The guys got dried off and dressed and then one by one they came in the
pool house. They thought we did a good job dressing him up, and were really
shocked to see the pictures of Jordy and Chris sitting naked on his
face. We all felt that making kiddie porn like that would get Ace, or
whoever he was, sent away to jail for a long, long time. I took all of the
cash out of his wallet and gave it to Jake to add to the stash that he got
from the guy on the dock. I wasn't sure what he was going to do with all of
it, but now there was enough to get him a good used car if he wanted when
he got his license. Lisa grabbed his torn up clothes and stuffed them in
her bag. She said she'd burn them later on. While the guys grabbed Ace by
the arms and legs, I took the wallet with the ID's, the Polaroid's and his
car keys. Tucker gave me the gun and the dagger out of his shorts and led
the way out of the room. We went around the other side of the pool, to the
small side yard that separated Jake's and my house. Stepping out front
first, I looked all around to make sure no one was watching. It was almost
four in the morning now, but I doubted anybody would be up this early. The
milkman and the paperboy weren't due for another hour or so.

I stepped to the side of his Citroen and unlocked the passenger side door
for the guys. This sure was a weird looking car, all slopey and
swirly. Moving on the driver's side door, I opened it and got in. After
tripping out on the weird steering wheel, I put his wallet in the glove box
and then helped the guys put Ace in the front passenger seat. We got him
positioned the way that we wanted him. I scattered the Polaroid's all
around and on the floor. I even stuck one in his bra. Then I stuck the gun
and dagger way under the seat where he couldn't reach them if he came
to. The problem that we had was that he was still so drugged up that he
kept tipping over. Jake had a great suggestion to strap him in with the
shoulder belt. That worked out well and once secured, I jumped out so Colt
could move the car down the street. He parked at the curb and then came
running back to meet up with us.

"What do we do now?" he asked.

"Let's go back to my place and then make an anonymous call to the cops."

"Groovy!"

Back at my house, I sent the little men to bed. The sugar had worn off and
they were about ready to drop any second, and in the event that the cops
knocked on the door, I didn't want them to think that Jordy and Chris were
the boys in the Polaroid's. They probably wouldn't have been able to tell
anyway, since only their bodies showed from their shoulders on down.

The other guys, Enzo, Kenji, Colt, Tucker and Cooper, were all beat too, so
they crashed in the family room while Lisa, Jake and I flipped for who got
to call the cops. Lisa lost, so she got on the phone to the fuzz.

"Hello? Is this the police department?" She almost lost it because she was
using a funny voice trying to imitate Mrs. Kravitz, or maybe Ernestine from
Laugh-In. "Yes, well, there is an odd looking car with a naked man in the
front of my house. You need to do something before the children in the
neighborhood wake up and see him. They would be scarred for life! Yes, oh,
all right, I'll hold. But hurry up."

"Here's Mrs. Jacobson's address," I whispered to Lisa, slipping a paper
across the counter towards her.

"What took you so long? How busy can you possibly be at this hour? What? I
didn't tell you because you didn't ask me. It's Ridge Top Drive. Yes,
uh-huh, exactly. The same place where that hippie party was the other
night. It's probably one of those deadbeat draft-dodgers. No, I'm not going
to give you my name. I'm an old woman and you're supposed to protect me. I
pay taxes, gosh darn it! Just send a patrol car and you'll see what I'm
talking about," Lisa yelled, and then slammed down the phone.

"Hey, that was pretty funny. You crank call people a lot?" I asked.

"Um, maybe. Sometimes when we're bored. There wasn't a lot to do in San
Pedro."

"How long do you think it will take them to get here?" Jake asked, changing
the subject.

"Probably not long. Shoot, I can't ever remember the cop's being up here so
much. You know, things sure have been fun since you guys moved in," I said.

"Let's go wait by the window. Turn off the lights so they think we're
sleeping," Jake said. "I don't want them to see us and think we had
anything to do with this."

We tip-toed through the family room so we wouldn't wake up the guys, but we
needn't have worried because they were all sound asleep. We got comfortable
on the living room window seat overlooking the front lawn and sure enough,
not more than two or three minute's later two squad cars pulled slowly up
the street. The uniform guys took their time getting out of their squad
cars and when they finally made it over to the Citroen, we could see them
becoming really animated. One guy was waving at his partner to come over
and look.

I had second thoughts about something that I had done that wasn't too
smart. After Colt came back from parking the car on the street, he handed
me the car keys. Then as we ran back towards home, I threw the keys into
the storm drain at the curb so no one would be able to find them. The
problem with that was that the cops thought Ace might be injured, and when
he didn't wake up after they pounded on the windows, one of the cops took
out his baton and busted out the side window. That sound, plus the noise
from their radios, started waking people up all around the neighborhood and
porch lights started coming on.

Right about then, an unmarked detective's car came barreling up the street
and pulled to a stop in front of the Citroen on the wrong side of the
street. Out popped the detective that had been here a couple of times
before. He was the one that my dad talked to about the broken brake line on
the microbus but didn't want to do anything about it. I think his name was
detective Bouner. He was also here for the showdown on the hill when the
cop got attacked. I was pretty sure that he was going to be paying a visit
to our front door pretty soon, and I was pretty sure he wasn't going to be
on our side.

"Guys, I think we're in trouble. That cop has been here before. Jake,
remember when my dad called him the day we cleaned out the garage?"

"Yeah. So what? I think his name is Detective Boner."

"Yeah, something like that. Anyway, the cops might be dumb, but they're not
stupid. They're going to put this all together after they realize he's
Lulu's husband! And then he's going to figure out that we had something to
do with it."

"Relax," Lisa said. "Mellow out. All we have to do is get our stories
straight. Here's what's up: We're over here spending the night with our
friends while our parents are away. Maybe Ace came looking for mom in one
of his drunken stupors. We were over here so we didn't hear anything going
on, like him pounding on the front door. In fact, now that I think about
it, maybe we should go out front and be looky-loos like the other neighbors
are doing. Let's head them off at the pass, so to speak."

"I think she's right, Ry. They can't possibly think we did that to Ace,"
Jake said. "And it would look strange if we were the only ones who didn't
come out to see what's going on. You know how nosy neighbors are and
besides, we're right next door. In our old apartment building, anytime
there was a fight and the cops showed up, everybody was out leaning on the
railing watching the action."

"All right, if you say so. I guess we can go out front." I took another
look out the window and this time I saw Mrs. Jacobson out on the sidewalk
in her bathrobe and rollers. "Let's go see what all the excitement is
about!" I said, trying to get into character.

As we walked out the front door and down the walk, we spotted the detective
walking up the steps to Jake and Lisa's house. Just as he was about to ring
the doorbell, Lisa yelled out, "Hey! Nobody's home. Who are you looking
for?"

"You live here, Miss? Oh, and you two again," he said, looking back and
forth between Jake and me. "How did I know that you two would be here?"

"Nice to see you again, Officer Boner," Jake said curtly.

"It's Detective Bouner. Do you know whose car that is parked in front over
there?" he asked, pointing down the street. The cops had gotten Ace out of
the car and laid him down on the sidewalk. One cop had pulled out a blanket
or tarp or something and had covered up his lower body so the neighbors
wouldn't see his privates. It looked like they were waiting for an
ambulance to come check him out.

"That's our dad's car! What's going on?" Lisa asked.

"Is that him on the ground? Is he dead?" Jake asked, hamming it up. You'd
think these two had gone to drama school.

"No, no, just calm down, kids. He's just passed out drunk. But I need to
ask you guys some questions," he said. I don't know what it was about him,
but he just seemed like he didn't really care about Ace. Maybe he knew Ace
somehow.

"Where is your mother? Why are you kids over there and out this late?"

"My mom is on vacation and we're staying with Ryan and his family while
she's gone. And we're out this late because you made so much noise it woke
us up. So what's going on? Please tell me what's the matter. What's
happened to our dad?"

"Well, it appears that Mr. Mariano has had way too much to drink
tonight. Somehow he made it here to your house before he passed out in his
car. I read the reports and I know that he and your mother have been
quarrelling and that someone suspected him of tampering with the brakes on
her Volkswagen bus. Any idea why he would want to come back here?"

"No, not really. We haven't seen that much of him for the last couple of
years. When we do, it always turns into a big fight. He never gives my mom
any money, and sometimes he treats us mean," Lisa said, quite
convincingly. Most of that was probably true.

"I see. This might seem like a strange question, but do you have any reason
to believe that someone, how should I say this, is sending him a warning?
The reason that I ask is because he's wearing women's undergarments," the
detective said, wrinkling up his face.

I don't know if it was the way that he said that, or if we were so tired
and wound up, or if it was just really funny, but Jake and I stared at each
other for a quick second before we both busted up laughing. Lisa almost
lost it too, but recovered nicely by saying, "What in the hell are you
talking about? Are you sure that's Ace? Our Ace? Our dad wouldn't wear
ladies clothes. Uh-uh. No way."

"Well, not completely. He does, or I should say, the gentlemen in that car,
seems to have a series of identification cards on him, so we're not one
hundred percent sure who he is. But I've had dealings with him in the past,
downtown, and I'm pretty sure I recognize him. Even in the state he's in,
I'm sure I know him. If his fingerprints are on file down at the station,
we should be able to determine his true identity. He was arrested recently
for some shenanigans downtown at a local ... well, never mind." He had
barely gotten that out when one of the younger patrolmen called him back
over to the car. Apparently they found something that was quite interesting
inside the car.

"Please stay right there. I'll be right back."

We stood there watching from our front lawn. Mrs. Kravitz had moseyed on
across the street and came up next to us, but surprisingly didn't say a
word. I think she was too intent on watching the action and didn't want to
miss a thing. Apparently, they found the pictures and were showing them to
the detective. Then another cop pulled out the gun and the knife from under
the seat. It seemed that the cops didn't know what to do now. When they
started passing around the pictures, they got more and more animated as
they flipped through all of them. I got the feeling that the regular cops
wanted to bash Ace's face in, but I think the detective thought this might
be a set-up, which of course, it was. About that time the ambulance pulled
up and two guys in white uniforms popped out to treat Ace. They put a
portable oxygen mask on his face and in a few minutes later he
came-to. Luckily for us, he couldn't see us because he was looking down the
hill. Just before they lifted him on to the stretcher, one of the cops
tried to handcuff him. That's when he really woke up and started to fight
with the cop. It took a couple of guys to control him, and during the
process, the blanket covering Ace's mostly naked body fell off to the
delight of the crowd. There were cat-calls and boos yelled from both sides
of the street. He didn't seem to notice and actually got a good punch to
the face of a young patrolman.

"Oh, my word," Mrs. Jacobson said, and covered her mouth in total
shock. "That's not your father, is it? Why would he be wearing those
clothes? He looks like a harlot."

"I hope he's not, ma'am," Jake said. "That's not his normal outfit. At
least, I don't think it is. We've never seen him this way."

"I see."

Both Lisa and Jake looked sad, and I'm not sure that it was all acting this
time. I felt bad for them and wished that they had had a better father
figure then the one that they got stuck with. Then I wondered who their
real dad was, and if they would ever know him. We'd have to wait for the
Lulu's to come home before we could get the rest of that story. That was
going to be first question out of our mouths the minute the pulled in the
driveway in a couple of days.

Ace was taken away in the ambulance, followed by one of the cops in a squad
car. After looking at the Citroen one last time, the detective came over
and joined our little group. "Who are you, ma'am?" he asked, looking at
Mrs. Kravitz.

"I'm Daisy Jacobson. Don't you remember me? You should. You talked to me
the other day right over there where their `Magic Bus' almost took out my
roses. I live in that beautiful blue house," she said, pointing across the
street. "What's all this about, anyway?"

"I'm not sure this concerns you right now. Would you mind going back across
the street ma'am, if you please? I need to speak to these youngsters
privately. Just go on home and if we need you, we'll come find you." Even
though he asked her politely, there was no doubt that he was ordering her
back home. With a loud huff, she went quickly on her way, but not before
she had the last word. "Honestly!"

Ignoring her theatrics, the detective asked, "I need to ask you some
questions, and I'd like to have you look at a couple of pictures. Actually,
just the boys. Come over here. Young lady, would you mind waiting here for
a moment?"

"I guess not."

We walked a little ways across the grass and joined him by the porch. He
pulled out two of the Polaroid's from of his pocket and said, "Boys, do
recognize these children?"

"Oh my god. That's just sick," Jake said, covering his mouth. "That can't
possibly be my dad, can it?"

"That's what I need to find out. You have a younger brother, right?" he
asked, looking at me. "Does this look like him?"

I had to get into drama mode right now, but it was easy to do because I was
protecting Jake and Lisa, and Jordy too. "Umm, it's not like I see my
little brother naked, but I'm sure that's not him because his wiener is
bigger than that. Besides, I've been with him all day, well, all night too,
plus I know he would never do anything weird like that. He's sound asleep
upstairs. That's totally sick. Are you sure that's Jake's dad?"

"No, we're not. Did you boys hear anything unusual tonight?"

"No sir. We hung out and watched a movie, and then we went to sleep around
midnight. We didn't hear anything until you guys showed up," Jake
said. "And like my sister said, we're staying with Ryan while my mom is on
vacation. If that really is my dad, what's going to happen to him?"

"I'm not sure. We've been interested in him for a couple of things that
happened downtown recently. The D.A. is going to be very interested in
these pictures, and if they can be substantiated, he'll probably go to
prison for a very long time. And anyway, we just found out he's a key
suspect in a murder down in the Redondo Beach Marina."

"A murder? Oh, man! Who got murdered?" I asked.

"One of Mr. Mariano's employees was found floating face-down in the marina
and his boat had been crashed into the rocks. The Redondo Beach police
think it's some sort of turf war. Anyhow, that's not your concern right
now."

"I knew my dad was scummy, but I didn't think he was that
scummy. Detective, don't tell Lisa about any of this. It would break her
heart. Just take him away and throw away the key. He deserves it," Jake
said, very convincingly, I might add.

"All right, but if you boys can remember anything, please let me know, all
right?"

"Yes sir."

"And have your mother call me the minute she gets home."

"We will," Jake said.

"Uh-huh. Well, good night, then." Detective Bouner nodded slightly towards
Lisa as he walked across the lawn back to the Citroen. A tow-truck had just
pulled up and was attaching the lift to Ace's car. It looked to me that
they wanted this wrapped up quickly. I also was beginning to think that
there was much more to Ace's story that I'd probably never know.

"Think he believed us?' I asked Jake and Lisa.

"I don't know and I really don't care. Just as long as Ace is gone and we
never see him again," Lisa said.

"It's kinda funny that they think Ace had something to do with what
happened at the Marina tonight," Jake said.

"Why? What are you talking about?" Lisa asked.

"They don't have a clue we were down there," I said. "He just told us that
the Redondo Beach police are looking at Ace for a murder. I guess the guy
we threw overboard really was one of his employees."

"Well, I'm sorry he's dead but I'd do it again in a heartbeat to save my
little brother."

"Me too. Getting Jake back safe is all that matters. C'mon, let's go get
some sleep."

**##**

I woke up a few hours later with a splitting headache in my forehead, right
between my eyes, something that never, ever happened to me. And not only
that, I had an odd and tingly feeling that someone was watching me. But
when I looked around the room, all of the guys were sound asleep. I could
feel Jake's piss hard-on sticking up between my butt cheeks as I pried my
way out of his tan and meaty arms. I stood up and rubbed my temples for a
minute, sticking my fingers deep into the flesh, and then quickly pulled on
my dirty sweat pants.

Since it was still warm, I left my t-shirt lying on the floor. Sloan woke
up and looked up at me to take her outside. The minute I nodded yes, she
was rearing to go take a wiz, just like usual. As we wandered through the
congested house, I could see that everybody was coupled up and snoring
away, dead to the world. Enzo and Kenji were snuggled up and wrapped
tightly in a couple of flowery old sheets next to us, while Tucker and
Colton were snoring away happily on the other side of the couch, both of
their naked asses sticking out proudly to the world. Colt had his right arm
draped lazily over Tucker's broad back. I peeked in the living room and saw
that Lisa was secured in Coop's long arms on the couch, holding her tight
just below her naked and exposed humongous tits. Turning away, I guessed
that the little men were still fast asleep upstairs, still in their
clothes. It was just me and Sloan against the world.

It was still early, maybe a little past six, as Sloan and I quietly made
our way through the room and then into my mom's big kitchen, where I
grabbed a couple of aspirin out of the cupboard and downed them with a big
gulp of cold water straight from the faucet. I couldn't believe that I was
up again after only a couple hours sleep. We headed through the kitchen
door and outside onto the big pool deck. The cold cement felt good on my
bare feet. It was a spectacular July morning, warm and sunny, with just a
slight, cool breeze coming down off the mountain tops. The few puffy clouds
in the crisp blue sky were busy making bizarre shapes for the people living
down below in the valley to try to figure out what they were. The little
birds that hung out in our trees were darting around in a groovy way,
chasing each other without a care in the world. A couple of pigeons were
doing a crazy courting dance, while a red-headed woodpecker was darting
from tree to tree looking for the right spot to start drilling. I watched
them for a minute and decided that if I had to be reincarnated as an
animal, I wanted to be a bird. Then I changed my mind when I figured out
that I'd have to eat worms. Ick. Plus, my head was pounding so much right
now that there was no freakin' way that I could ever be a woodpecker.

While Sloan took a good, long, hard piss on one of my dad's favorite
bushes, the one with the crazy red flowers, I slowly walked around the pool
deck and sucked in the morning air, deep, deep into my lungs. It felt
amazing and it woke me up, but it didn't take away the pain in my head. For
this time of year it was unusually quiet, and oddly calm. I didn't even
hear the normal small-plane drone going on overhead. Nobody was mowing
their lawns or firing up their old, rusty cars. It was totally, totally
quiet. But then I remembered that it was the Fourth of July and was a
holiday today, so I guessed that all of the neighbors were taking advantage
of the day off and sleeping in.

I looked around the yard and then over to the path that went behind the
garage and led to both the pool and tree houses. It was cool and shady,
silent, and still somewhat dark over there, but I could just make out a
lone figure standing there looking back at me. Our eyes locked on each
other. It was a man, very tall, and standing perfectly straight, wrapped up
in an old and worn red, white and black wool Indian blanket, with crazy
fringe at the bottom. He was also wearing a dusty black derby hat. It
seemed to me funny at first, but then completely normal after a second or
two. Like this was his place. Like he had been here, like forever. For some
crazy reason, I wasn't scared, and instead, felt compelled to go over and
meet this guy and see what he was doing in my backyard. Or maybe it was his
backyard. I wasn't quite sure. I wanted to talk with him and see what was
up. Maybe he was a ghost of a native Gabrielino-Tongva that inhabited this
area for centuries before us gringos, like the dudes my dad told us stories
about. They got screwed a hundred years ago. Up the butt, and not in a good
way. Anyway, Sloan saw him too, and like me, instead of going ballistic,
she just cocked her head in wonderment. I could almost swear that she even
smiled. She seemed unusually content. Surprisingly, I wasn't bothered
either by seeing a strange dude standing in the pathway in the middle of
our backyard, this early in the morning.

The more I stared at him, the more I had this odd, magnetic attraction to
him, and so I started to walk around the pool and towards this guy. Sloan
followed a couple of steps behind me, excited but not barking like she
normally would have been doing. As we got closer to the path, I could see
that he had tossed off the blanket and threw his hat to the ground and was
standing there buck-ass naked with all of his prominent assets hanging out
front for the whole freakin' world to see. He stood tall and erect, his
meaty arms crossed over his taut chest. He had a dark brown tan all over
his whole body, and long, shiny black hair crept down his neck, way past
his shoulder blades in the back, and almost to his big brown nipples in the
front. Two thin sections of his hair around the top of his forehead were
braided with what I figured were dark feathers and silver beads. The beads
shined bright in the low light. His stomach was tight and had defined
ridges like he had lived a hard, work-filled life. He had a big black bush
of curly pubes hanging over his dark, un-cut cock and droopy balls swinging
to and fro. I noticed that the guy had sensuous, long hard legs that ended
in big, really big, flat feet. I still wasn't scared or worried by this
guy, and not even interested in his nudity. I was just compelled to go
towards him for some unknown reason.

As I got closer and closer to this guy standing in the middle of the path,
his look seemed to morph into a bunch of familiar faces. It made me wonder
if I had just taken some acid tabs instead of the two aspirin.

Shaking my head to try and clear it, I looked long and hard at this dude
again. At first I thought he was the Dark Man, because for a split-second
his face got all hairy and scraggly and he seemed to put on weight, but
then I soon realized that he was too clean and buff to be him. Then I
thought it might be the guy that tried to break in the back door last night
and got whacked and thrown down the canyon, but his face shifted too fast
for me to be completely sure. And besides, that dude didn't have long hair
like this guy did. The morphing faces sent shivers down my spine, but I
still didn't feel any fear. In fact, it kind of tickled running down my
back. Blinking a couple of times to clear my eyes, and then taking another
hard look at him, I thought he might be a ghost of the cop who fell down
the cliff after getting bit in the crotch by that coyote.

But no. Oh no. Oh freakin' no. He wasn't any of these guys. He didn't seem
to be anybody that I had ever met before, and yet, he was so familiar. We
were almost ten feet away from each other now, when his face settled down
and went blank, like an artist's pale canvas. The pain between my eyes
suddenly went away with a hard jolt, and on came a crazy realization that
this guy was my dad's long-ago friend Red Crow. Wow! I scrunched up my face
and tried to figure out how that was even possible since I had never seen
him before. My dad had told me he was dead, maybe twenty years ago or more,
and this guy didn't look much older than Colt. Not much older than a
teenager. The naked guy just stood there looking at me, cracking a slight
smile as he somehow sensed my acknowledgement of who he was.

We were maybe three feet apart now, when I stopped walking right in front
of him. We both stood there sizing each other up, but I felt a strange calm
and I wasn't the least bit scared. Sloan plopped down hard on my foot and I
swear, when I looked down at her she had the biggest, shit-eating grin on
her face as she stared up at this guy. Dogs just seem to know what's right
and what's wrong.

Sucking in a bunch of fresh, cool air, I asked quietly, "You're Red Crow,
aren't you? For some reason I know you." I didn't really need to say that
because I already knew the answer to my question, but I had to start with
something since he wasn't going to talk first -- he was waiting for me. I
could just feel his thoughts, coursing through my mind. It was really
strange, but energizing at the same time. I got the feeling that he was
pure energy, and I wanted to spend hours talking with him. He was like
nobody I had ever met before.

"Indeed. I am him. And you, my friend, are Wiley's number one son. Ryan
Jacob Miller. Is that correct?"

"Right on! How the heck did you know that?"

"You are special. I've been watching you for a long time now. You should
know that."

"Really? Me? All the time? I've never seen you before."

"Yes you have. You just weren't aware. You have a big brain, but you don't
use it to your benefit. We've been here all the time. I know all. I have
seen it all."

"Seriously? All the time? Everywhere? Even in the bathroom?"

"Yes. Even plopping in the great white bowl."

"Oh my god. Yuck! And you watched us in the tree house when I was naked
with Jake and doing our most private things together? But how? And why? Why
would you do that?"

"Walk with me, boy."

"Are you going to answer my questions?"

"Maybe. Soon. Walk with me."

"Where to?"

"To one of your secret places."

He stuck out his arm and motioned for me to follow him. I guess I didn't
really have a choice. Sloan happily jumped up and ran ahead of both of us
towards the trail. He turned and followed Sloan, his hard and tight butt
cheeks facing me. If he had some clothes, they weren't around here, other
than the blanket and that crazy hat. I guess he traveled light. He looked
nice being naked but he didn't turn me on, and instead, just made me feel
comfortable and intrigued. I wanted to ask him a million questions, but I'd
have to wait. We walked silently and steadily for maybe ten minutes, maybe
more, until we reached the rock out-cropping that Jake and I had hiked to
so many times before. It felt even more sacred and special now that he was
here.

Even though I had a so many questions in my mind that I wanted to ask him,
I couldn't speak when we finally stopped walking. I didn't know what to say
or which question to ask first. Plus, I had this immense feeling that this
guy was going to tell me things that maybe I wasn't ready to hear and the
thought of that overwhelmed me. Maybe I was too young to hear this
stuff. Or maybe I was too inept. But then, I was my dad's age when he had
his experience with Red Crow, so maybe I was able to understand it after
all. I felt totally conflicted and was starting to freak out.

"Ryan Jacob Miller, please sit. Turn down your mind. It's moving way too
fast. Your brain is big, but you are not using it correctly. Don't get
ahead of yourself."

"Okay. I'll calm down. Sorry. You know, you can call me just Ryan, if
that's okay, or Ry. That's what my friends call me. And what should I call
you?" I asked, jumping up and sitting on the ledge of the big granite rock
so I could look him in the eyes. "Is Red Crow all right?"

"No, Just Ryan, oh no. Call me Sam. Sam, Sam, Sam. Sam I am," he said, and
then he started laughing. But I didn't. I didn't think it was that
funny. When he calmed down he started talking again, "Seriously, just call
me Red Crow. I don't think you could pronounce my real name, even if you
tried. The literal translation in English is Red Crow, but I don't have the
time to help you learn the translation into Navajo.  The Navajo language is
very complicated, and you'd probably botch it up."

"Yeah, right. Okay, Red Crow it is. Red Crow is what my dad said he called
you when he was a teenager and you guys hung out together. He just told us
the story about you a couple of weeks ago. What you guys did at that
lake. And Sam just doesn't fit. Sorry, but Sam seems goofy to me."

"That's fine. I like Red Crow. And I know his story. I am him but I am not
him. We are both, but not together."

"Seriously? Both what?" Red Crow just looked at me and smiled. "Okay, I
kinda get it. Both and together. Like my mom's tuna casserole on
toast. Separate but equal. Tasty, but not really so tasty. Good, but not so
good, depending on how you make it." I was really running off at the
mouth. "I get it. So are you dead? Or are you like a spirit or a ghost,
maybe? You're not a vampire, are you? And why the heck did you come here to
tell me this stuff?"

"Are you done with your questions? I'm not a ghost, but something more like
energy from another plane. It's hard to explain. You are not yet ready to
understand all of it. You are smart, but not so quick."

"Well, make me understand. I may be young, but I'm not stupid." Changing
the subject I said, "You know, my dad loves you like, well, like he loves
my mom. But not like my mom. Geez, now I sound like you! Does that make
sense? He cried over you when he told Jake and me the story of your life
and when you died. We all did. It was sad."

"I love him. And, I love your mother too, but she is not open to me
yet. Sometime, she will be. But that is not a concern of mine. Right now,
the spirit of my people flows through me. They are here with me. For
thousands of years. And they are laughing with joy and wonderment. But do
not be embarrassed. This is normal to them and they love you. All of you."

"Wow. That's heavy. Okay, so what do you want to tell me?"

"I am nadleehi. I am what you would call two-spirit. I am both male and
female. Masculine and feminine. I take the male form, but know all things
female. I am male and female inside, deep inside my soul. But you already
know that. I am the earth and the sky. Black and white. Positive and
negative. Yes and no. A real dichotomy, dontcha know? In this form, I have
a cock, but not a slit-skin pussy. I am hastiin achak (man spirit). Your
dad is not.  You are not. You both have cocks. Jake is not and neither are
your friends. You and your friends are not nadleehi. You are all most
definitely male, male who loves other males. Except for Lisa. She has a
pussy but acts like a man. That has caused us overlookers much humor, Just
Ryan."

"Wow. Seriously? You guys watched all of us naked? Lisa too? And what we do
with our dicks? Bummer! Even when we're making out together? And smoking
Coop's weed? I can't believe it. Don't you have more important things to
do? Do you overlookers like watching that kind of stuff?"

"Yes we do. We can't do that in our plane and it gives us great
satisfaction to watch you. It is very rewarding to see you enjoy and share
your love and your bodies so unconditionally and freely with each other. It
makes us happy. But we are not voyeurs. It is your freedom and love that
you share that makes us happy."

"But still, that's kinda gross. It's like watching my parents do it. Do I
have to look up and see if you're spying on us from now on?"

"No. And it's not like that. We enjoy watching your life forms make love,
with total compassion and understanding. However, after today we will have
no contact with you in that regard and we won't be watching anymore. Today
is an important and last lesson for you."

I leaned back on the big rock and thought about that, looking deeply into
the tall man's face. I hoped it was true. I really didn't want to be making
out with Jake and keep thinking that we were being watched, even if they
were only ghosts or spirits or overlookers or whatever. I guess it sunk in
because I said, "My dad told me you were special. And now I kinda know
why. You know, he loved you. He loved you very much. He cried when he
talked about you."

"I know. He is my Bich'áayaa íí'áhí, my, how do you say,
boyfriend. But that's not really the correct translation. He is more than
that; so much more than that. Inside. Inside my heart. My being, my
soul. But not my soul. It's hard to describe. I think he knows that
too. But it was not meant to be for us, at least not on this plane. Not
now. It's not our time. It could never have been, and that made me so
sad. So sad that I had to go away, so long ago. I'm so sorry that he had to
be hok'ee (abandoned), but I did not have a choice in the matter. At least
he met a wonderful girl and had two smart and intelligent free-spirited
boys." He was staring straight at me with his dark, piercing eyes. But I
wasn't the least bit uncomfortable.

"He knows. I know he does. He holds you right here in his heart," I said,
pounding my fist hard to my chest. "I know he loves you like a brother." I
was starting to tear up. "Maybe more than that. I think that's why he loves
Jake so much and embraces us together. Maybe he sees you and him when he
looks at Jake and me."

"Indeed. He is my shilah (brother). I love him very much. I will always
love him. That is why I am here, Just Ryan."

"You put that snake on Jake's step, didn't you?"

"Maybe. Focus please, young warrior."

"Okay, cool. So what do you want to talk about? I wish Jake was here. I
think he'd go crazy meeting you."

"That can't be."

"Why not?"

"Because he is on a different path than you are. Don't get me wrong; you
are both born to be together and do great things. It's just that he comes
from the dark side and you are from the light. Do not look worried, Just
Ryan; he is not evil. But that side will always be there just under his
skin. It will be a constant challenge to him. But together, you both will
do much good. It will be difficult and will test your love for one
another. He has to go down his path and you will have to travel down
yours. But the paths will always cross and you will always be together."

"What do you mean, his challenge?"

"He is night and you are day. He is black and you are blue. Turquoise
blue. You are holy boy, born of water. He is black yei'ii, or black
slayer. Monster slayer. He will always protect you. He has no fear; indeed,
he is fearless. And his love for you is absolute. He is north and you are
south. He dives off cliffs while you swim below."

"Oh wow. Okay, I kinda get all that. But anyway, my love for him will
overtake all of our challenges, right? I'm certain of that. Like rescuing
him from the boat last night. Why else would he have moved in next door to
me? I didn't even know that I liked boys until the first second I saw him."
I couldn't believe I was saying this out loud, but then it didn't really
matter since these voyagers or whatever they are had seen us humping. "I
think it was the same with him. I think we are soul mates destined to be
together forever. Doesn't blue water overtake everything? Wasn't this world
created from blue water? I think we learned about that in our science
class."

"You are very wise, Just Ryan, but you run at the mouth. As for you and
your Jake, that may be, and probably will be done. But it will be a
difficult life for the two of you. It's not easy for two boys, well, young
men, to be together like you two are in a sexual and romantic way. You have
much on your side: good friends, great parents, and strong love for one
another. Plus, the spirit warriors above are looking out for you. But don't
get me wrong; the two of you will have tough times ahead. But I know that
together, the two of you will be incredibly happy and live a full and
rewarding life."

"What about Jordy? And Lisa?"

"The one you call Jordan is a new spirit. It is unwritten. It's anybody's
guess. So guide him with peace and love and in a positive direction and he
will do great things as well. The girl Lisa is one with the earth. She
always will be. She is special in her own right, although she will never
admit it. Nothing will bother her and she will have lots of babies. That's
the Mother Earth in her. But make no mistake: She is a wolf and will
protect her cubs to her dying day. Do not ever cross her -- she will be a
tempest. If you keep her close to your heart, she will always be an amá to
you and protect you and your Jake."

"Okay, thanks. I will. What else do I need to know?"

"Listen close, Just Ryan. You have forged a special bond with your boy,
your Jake. And with your tribe. They are all good men. You have good people
who love you both very much. That is not common and it is very
special. Keep them close to your heart, always. You must seal that
bond. You and your Jake must become blood brothers and unite your souls to
each other and to the world. You must do this in front of your tribe. And
you must do it today."

"What are you saying? Blood brothers? And why today?"

"Today is special. You and your boy have proven yourselves. Your spirit
warriors will guide you for the rest of your lives, but after today, we
will no longer be here to protect you. You don't need protection from us
now that you are proven," Red Crow said.

"Why do you talk in rhyme? Do you guys read Dr. Seuss when you're not
watching us make out? You sound like the Dark Man."

"That is because I am. We are both. He is me and I am him."

"Oh, man. Really? So after today he will be gone too?"

"Yes, really. Now go; time is of the essence. I must shed this skin now."

"Where will you go? You can't go yet! I have like a million questions for
you. Will I ever see you again?" I asked.

"It is not up to me to say. But you already know the truth, don't you, Just
Ryan?"

"Yes, I guess I do. You're right here," I said, pointing to my chest.

"And right here," Red Crow said, pointing at his head. "Now watch! This is
freakin' bitchin', as you say."

He walked over to the middle of the trail and started to quietly
chant. Sloan had been sleeping in the cool dirt at the base of the rock,
but now she got up to watch, too. As his chant became louder, he started to
do a little shuffle, and soon he was spinning around and around. The faster
he chanted the faster he spun. Pretty soon the chant turned into a
whirling-humming sound as he became a blur in a rainbow of colors. He was
starting to fade from sight, and just before he was spinning at top speed,
I heard him say, "Love your boy-o!"

And just like that, he was gone. I felt kind of melancholy after that, but
I also felt love and a kind of peace that I had never felt before. I wanted
to run back to the house and tell everybody about what just happened, but
instead decided to take my time and think through everything that he had
told me. I guess that it made sense that we had some invisible help with
our marina caper. After all, any one of us could have been really hurt. And
it made sense too that the cops never caught up with us or suspected that
we had anything to do with the boat crashing or Ace's pictures. I guess it
was true what they say about having friends in high places. And in a weird
way it made sense that Red Crow took the form of the Dark Man. Then I
realized that he didn't tell me how to do the blood brothers thingy.

Sloan was sniffing around trying to figure out where Red Crow disappeared
too. I think it was driving her nuts. "C'mon, girl, let's head back to the
house." We slowly and quietly hiked down the trail. When we got to the tree
house I noticed that the blanket and hat were gone and in their place was a
thin necklace of small, silver beads and round turquoise stones. I knew now
that this wasn't a dream.

Back inside, everybody was still sound asleep. I looked at the clock and
couldn't believe that we had only been gone for fifteen minutes! It seemed
so much longer. Sloan looked around for the perfect spot and then plopped
down at Jake's feet. I stripped off my sweats and slid in next to him. He
stirred a little, wrapped his arm around me and then went back to sleep. I
laid there for a while thinking over and over everything Red Crow had told
me. It was a really amazing experience and I hoped that I'd remember
everything that he told me.

Around eleven, the guys were starting to stir, and I could hear Lisa and
Coop making out quietly in the other room. Upstairs, I could just make out
the sounds of Woody Woodpecker coming from the TV in Jordy's room. Jake
woke up and pulled me in real tight. "I had the best dream," he
said. "Wanna hear about it?"

"Another nude beach adventure?"

"No."

"Sure. Lay it on me."

"You and me were old, really, really old. Maybe forty. We bought Uncle
Gus's farm and all the guys were living there with us. Kinda like a
commune. We all had our separate cabins that we had built. We even had a
huge teepee in one of the fields that we slept in sometimes. And this huge
pool! It was awesome. Colt and Tucker had a barn where they fixed up and
restored antique cars, and Kenji and Enzo did some kind of artist
stuff. I'm not sure exactly what. They had really long hair and were
totally in love. Lisa had a big house and she was married to Coop. He grew
his ganja way in the back pasture and I guess it was primo stuff because he
made a lot of money off of it. They had a bunch of kids that called us both
`unca'. That was fun. We had the best house though, because we built it
ourselves. Do you think we could do that?"

"Build our own house? Sure, that would be boss," I said.

"No, dummy, grow old together. I don't ever want to be away from you."

"Funny you should say that. I was just thinking the same thing. But we have
to do something first."

"What?"

"Let's go for a swim. Then I'll tell you. When you hear it you're going to
shit your pants."

"But I don't have anything on."

"Then I guess you better get up and go to the bathroom, you nimrod."

We got in the pool and started doing our laps. One by one, all of the guys
started to trickle out of the house as they woke up. Some of them jumped in
the pool with us while others just hung around and talked quietly on the
deck. I think everybody was still feeling drained from everything that went
on yesterday. The last two outside were Jordy and Chris, and the first
thing out of their sleepy mouths was "We're hungry."

After breakfast, lunch really, I told everybody about my early morning
encounter with Red Crow. Jake was excited and a little jealous that he
didn't get to meet him. I told him that he had been watching over us and
that he was also the Dark Man. And who knows, he could have been a bunch of
other people, like the delivery dude from Pizza Man or the weird man
dressed all in red down at the Porno Theater.

I went on to tell them how he called us a tribe, and what he told us about
our future. Lisa began trembling when I told her what Rad Crow said about
her. "Like my dream," she murmured.

"Red Crow told me that our lives will always be intertwined, but we have to
do some kind of blood brother ceremony. And we have to do it today," I
said. "The thing is, he didn't tell me how to do it."

Jake was enthusiastic, as much as I was, about doing a blood brother
ceremony together with me. He especially liked the idea of doing it in
front of our friends, or as Red Crow called them, our tribe. But he wanted
to do something special to make all the guys part of the ceremony, but he
didn't know exactly what.

"I have a scathingly brilliant idea," Lisa practically shouted out. "Leave
it all up to me." She ran around the house whispering her plans into
everybody ears. It was sorta funny seeing the looks that we were getting as
she went around the room talking to everybody. First it was shock, then
surprise, and then finally, once everyone got it, everybody had big smiles
on their faces. Then they all got up and started running off in different
directions. They were all excited and happy to be included in her mad
scheme.

"You guys go in the pool house and take a shower and get cleaned up. As
soon as we're all ready we'll come get you. Close the drapes and don't look
outside. I'm warning you. If you peek, there will be trouble."

"Okay, okay. What should we wear?" I asked.

"Who's being the nimrod now?" Jake said.

"Geez. I'm not sure that was such a great idea involving her. I hope your
sister doesn't go all crazy on us," I said, as we walked outside.

"You know she will. But it will all be good."

Precisely at two in the afternoon, there was a knock on the sliding glass
door. It was Kenji and he wanted us to come outside. They were ready for
us. We walked through the doors into the bright afternoon sunshine and saw
all of the guys standing in a circle under the big oak tree. They had
gathered all of the fist-sized rocks that they could find and made a giant
circle around the trunk. They were standing around the inside of the circle
smiling at us. In the middle of the circle, Lisa stood holding an abalone
shell and wearing a pure white robe that you could see through. She had her
hair pulled back with a beaded leather headband that went across her
forehead and tied behind her head. Everybody else was naked, including Jake
and myself.

They had put a lot of thought into this and had probably ransacked Lulu's
bedroom finding everything they needed. There were different items that I
guess they would be using for the ceremony placed strategically around the
outside of the circle. All of the guys had caked themselves with mud that
they had mixed with water from the pool and dirt from around the
tree. Underneath their eyes in two dark stripes were patches of color. I
guess they raided Jordy's Halloween kit from last year as well, because
everybody had on a different color paint that spanned the whole color
spectrum. On their right bicep was a `J' mark in black, and on their left
one was an `R' in blue. I wondered how they knew to do that.

As we stepped into the circle, one by one the guys came up to both of us
and gave us a big bear hug, rubbing off some of their mud and different
colors of paint so that each of us had a small amount of their color and
essence on both of our bodies. Nothing was said, and didn't really need to
be said. We just accepted their unconditional love for us. Jordy and Chris
were the last two to give us a hug, and since they were a foot and a half
smaller then we were, we took turns picking them up. Once we were covered
in colors and mud, they all stepped back to their place along the stone
circle, spaced out evenly: Kenji and Enzo to the east, Chris and Jordy to
the south and Tucker and Colton to the west. Lisa and Cooper were standing
next to us on the north side, next to the big tree trunk underneath the
tree house.

Lisa indicated that we were to stand with our backs to the base of the
tree, so that we could feel the spirit energy emanating from Mother Earth
and radiate through us, and at the same time see and receive the love from
our tribe scattered around the circle. She called for Coop to come forward
and light the mixture of herbs and grasses that she had mixed and heaped in
the shell. If I knew Coop, I had a pretty good idea what one of the herbs
was in the mixture. Apparently, she had lined the bottom with dirt since
she could hold the shell in the palm of one hand. Once it was lit and
stayed lit, she used a pheasant feather to fan the smoke. Then, she started
the smudging everyone, starting with herself.

She drew the smoke from the shell with her feather over her heart, head,
back and shoulders, pulling the smoke down and grounding herself with
Mother Earth. Then she stepped into the center of the circle, and offered
the smoke to the six directions. First up to the Creator, then down to the
Earth. Next to the north, east, south and finally, the west. Then she came
around and offered the smoke to Cooper, using the feather to waft the smoke
around his body in the same order that she had done on hers. Next came
Jake, after Coop put in more herbs and sage, then myself, and then Kenji,
Enzo, Chris, Jordy, Tucker and Colt, in that order. Once that was done, she
circled the smoke around the ring in a clock-wise direction, and then set
the shell down in the center of the ring.

She cleared her throat and began. "Who stands for these two?"

Everybody in the circle shouted, "We do!"

"I call on the Gods and Goddess above, the Mother Earth, the Holy Spirits
and all of Our Spirit Guides and Warriors to come forth and join with us in
this sacred oath of brotherhood. We ask a special request that our
overlookers, Red Crow and his people, and the spirits that flow through
this sacred ground to take special delight in this oath today. We unite our
thoughts, love and prayers into this ceremony of my brothers, Jake
Theloniuos Mariano and Ryan Jacob Miller, as they unite to prove their
unyielding faith and commitment to each other." Then she turned to
Tucker. "You with the largest lungs, please summon our friends."

Tucker reached down and picked up a large, white and pink conch shell, and
walked over to the center of the circle. Then he took a deep breath and
blew a note six times to the six directions, then carefully set it back
down.

"Will the little men please come forward and place upon the brothers your
offerings?" Silently and respectfully, Jordy and Chris approached both of
us. They had in their hands a braided binding cord, one for each of
us. Jordy tied the turquoise blue and black binding cord loosely around my
wrists as Chris did the same with Jake's black and turquoise blue
one. While they were doing that, Lisa described the meanings of the
colors. Besides what Red Crow had told me earlier about the black and blue,
she went on to say, "The black signifies Jake's strength, empowerment,
wisdom and vision, success and pure love. The blue cord for Ryan signifies
tranquility, understanding, patience and health. Together, they make dark
blue, like that of the deep ocean, which signifies a safe journey,
longevity and strength."

When they were done tying the binding cords, the little men went back to
their place in the circle. They were smiling proudly at us. They were so
happy to be included in our ceremony. Then Lisa reached into her big sheer
sleeve and pulled out two index cards with printing on both sides. She
handed one to each of us. "Would you both hallow the Siblings Call
together?"

Jake and I looked at each other, and then down at our cards. Together we
said:

"Hail to Wodan, Highest God,

Hail to Thunar, Holy Ward,

Hail we Wuldor, oath-warder mighty,

Hail the Gods, High Goddesses, all."

Then Jake and I started to chuckle at what we had to read next.

"Jake, my brother, go first," Lisa said.

"Before all Asses and all Wans wise,

I, Jake Theloniuos Mariano, swear this oath,

Troth to Ryan Jacob Miller true I'll be e'er,

My clan shall be your kin,

My mother thine.

Should this bond e'er broken be

Then spill the brother's blood

In rivers run red to the earth.

Warg be the word-breaker

Hella have oath-breaker.

So shall it be!"

Then it was my turn. But I got to add my dad to the oath.

"Ryan, my brother, go next," Lisa said.

"Before all Asses and all Wans wise,

I, Ryan Jacob Miller, swear this oath,

Troth to Jake Theloniuos Mariano true I'll be e'er,

My clan shall be your kin,

My mother and father thine.

Should this bond e'er broken be

Then spill the brother's blood

In rivers run red to the earth.

Warg be the word-breaker

Hella have oath-breaker.

So shall it be!"

Next, Cooper went around the tree and brought out a gold chalice and a
bottle of red wine that had been opened earlier. The cork was partially
sticking out. He also had a dagger that he got from somewhere, from where I
could only guess. But it wasn't the one Ace had strapped to his leg because
this one was fancier looking and had jewels on the handle, and besides, I
hid the other one in the Citroen. He cut off the cords from our wrists so
that we could do the next part of the oath unencumbered.

"I'll hold these for you," he said.

"Thanks, buddy."

"Cooper, would you please pour the wine into the chalice?" He did, and then
handed her the cup. "Now, please prick their fingers, Jake first and Ryan
second. Then, brothers, squeeze a drop into the chalice."

I was kinda afraid that Coop might get crazy and slice off a finger, but I
needn't have worried. He just popped a little hole in each of our index
fingers that didn't hurt at all. Jake squeezed out a drip of his blood into
the chalice of wine that Lisa was holding, and then I did the same. After
that, Coop stuck the dagger in the liquid and mixed it all around. Then
Lisa and Coop looked at us while Jake and I said together,

"From Mother Earth's womb wend we forth again, Brothers as Brothers be
born!"

Then, as if on cue, Enzo came up next to us with a small silver plate which
held two good sized dirt-clods on a lace napkin. I had no freakin' idea
what this was for.

"Would you both grab a clod and fling it over your brother's head and over
and out of the circle? This part signifies your commitment to Mother
Earth." Once we did that, she had us link arms and read the oath on the
back of the card, together,

"Now sworn in troth true we shall be,

Born new as kin in blood,

This Holy draught drink we brothers to Gods,

And mighty Goddesses, aye!"*

"Please take a sip of the wine and then pour the rest around the sacred
tree where your brotherhood was born," Lisa said. Then when we were done,
she proclaimed, "So it is wrought. All hail! The blood brothers be!"

Everybody whooped and yelled. Then suddenly, a huge blast of warm wind came
blowing through the brush all around us, across the pool and then off into
the sky.

"Good-bye, Red Crow," I said.

I handed the chalice to Coop and then I turned and grabbed my new blood
brother and gave him the biggest kiss ever. When we were through, he was
beaming and so was I. We couldn't take our eyes off each other. All the
guys broke out into laughter and cheers, and then they all came up and
hugged and kissed us, even the little men.

And with that, we became blood brothers!

**##**

The Lulu's and my dad came home a few days later from Uncle Gus's farm, and
we told them as little of the story as we possibly could get away
with. They were shocked and amazed, but proud that we handled ourselves
maturely and that no one got hurt. Lulu wouldn't tell Jake and Lisa who
their real father or fathers were, and we wondered if she even really
knew. But I knew deep down that someday we would find out.

As for Ace, they really couldn't convict him on the kiddie picture stuff,
but they did throw the book at him for being indecent in public and a whole
bunch of other moral turpitude stuff. Mrs. Kravitz never missed a day of
his court case and reported back everything to my parents. She was really
into it. Ace was also being tried for the murder of the guy on the boat,
but the evidence on that was pretty flimsy and my dad thought he would
probably get off on those charges.

We got a call one day from the cops telling us that Ace had escaped
custody. Apparently, while Ace was being transported to the Pasadena
Courthouse, the bus he was on got ambushed on a side street downtown, near
the Porno Theater. Somehow, he was able to escape unharmed, and he and his
accomplices were never captured. There were rumors that Crash Ferrari may
have had something to do with it, but whatever really happened, we never
found out. We all hoped that Ace had taken off for Mexico or had gone for a
long swim to the bottom of the ocean or something like that and that we'd
never see him again. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. But that's a story
for another time.

The end.

***

I want to thank everyone who has written to me with their comments,
encouragement and tips on this story. This has been so much fun to do, and
receiving the great response from readers makes it so much better. A
special thanks to all of you who sent in music suggestions.

I couldn't have done this without the extraordinary help from my editors
Hans Schreiber and Jason T. Without their help and encouragement, I
probably wouldn't have finished this tale. Thanks to my Pagan Sister of the
Eastern Sun, Lisa, who helped review parts of this chapter. And to Trent,
who found a big mistake!

Finally, I want to thank Nifty for hosting this site and posting my story.

I you haven't yet told me what you think of So Cal Summer, please e-mail me
at 1977.flip@gmail.com. I'd like to hear what you think!

Thanks for reading, Flip


*Source: `Teutonic Religion' Kveldulf Gundarsson