Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2012 19:37:43 -0700
From: Douglas DD DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Big Time  Chapter 18

Welcome back. Remember all the usual stuff about this being mine,
you being 18, and that there is sex between minors. Also, please give
to Nifty to keep this site afloat.

In this chapter the State Championship game comes down the last
three outs. In the seventh grade section Noah has his way of
fertilizing his skin to grow pubic hairs and Bobby makes some new
and important friends.

State Championship Game Mustang Lineup

1. Jerome-Center Field (Senior)
2. Eric-Second Base (Junior)
3. Rich-Shortstop (Senior)
4. Marty-Third Base (Senior)
5. Scott-Designated Hitter (Junior) Hitting for Hunter-Left Field
(Junior)
6. Connor-First base (Senior)
7. Kevin-Catcher (Junior)
8. Danny-Right Field (Junior)
9. Rodney-Pitcher (Senior)


CHAPTER 18
SAFE AT HOME

<Junior year, State A Tournament, Pasco>

So, here we were--nut cutter time. The seventh and last inning of the
Class A State Championship Game, with the score tied at 2-2.  Even
though it seems like a month ago, it was just yesterday that I thought
that if we didn't win the state title not only were we failures as a team,
but that I was a failure as a person. And now, just a little over 24
hours later, I realized that no matter what happened in this last inning,
if indeed this inning would even decide the game, none of us were
failures. There was no doubt in my mind or in the minds of any of us
that we were champions in every way that was important. We didn't
need a trophy to tell us that, we all knew in our hearts and souls that
it was true.

There came a time in our quest for this moment that people doubted
us, sometimes mocked us, told us we were living a dream that
couldn't ever come true. When we were young and starting out on our
Go to State quest we didn't have the experience to listen to the
doubters. We were too busy making things happen to think of the
possibility of failure. But there came a time when even we doubted
that we would be here, a time when our confidence, our drive, our
sense of team let us all down to the point we wanted to give the
whole idea a royal "fuck it" and move on.

But here we were, knowing we had nothing to prove to anybody,
knowing that we were right where we were supposed to be,
absolutely sure we were in the big time and it was our efforts and
what we had inside of us as people that got us here. Noah and I were
always talking about baseball being the perfect game. Time never
runs out, mere inches can make the difference between victory and
defeat, and so many different kinds of skills came into play during a
game. Baseball was a game that set its own pace. Sometimes we
bored our friends saying how perfect it was, some of them even
calling us possessed with the whole perfect game idea. But to us
there was no game better,

I knew that our dream plus our hard work had won over much of the
town. I'd heard that a bus had been chartered to bring Mayfield fans
to the championship game. What I didn't know until later was they
had enough demand to charter two buses. Plus, a lot of fans drove to
the Tri-Cities, some of them having come yesterday and stayed the
night. There was no question that the Go to State Team had given
Mayfield a whole new outlook on the athletes at the high school. They
saw us as unselfish and hard working. The fact that many of us were
openly gay was not a negative with most of the town, and our attitude
towards those who had a problem with it was "fuck `em". Our hard
work had paid off, putting us into the title game. Where we went from
here, however, would be determined by how we took everything we
had learned on and off the field and put it all to work in this last
inning.

The Go to State Team had tapped into the vein of civic pride that so
many small towns in America posses. Big cities might give a parade
to the teams that won the World Series or the Super Bowl, but in
small towns like ours it is youth teams that get celebrated. Every
person in Mayfield knew every one of our players, and we'd come to
know many of the people in the town--people many of us had never
talked to before.

As we gathered in the dugout for our seventh inning, and final inning,
at bats, it was Connor, of all people, who said, "Eric and Noah have
pissed me off with their whole perfect game shit more times than I
can count, but damn it, guys, does it get any more perfect than this?
Does it ever, at anything? We're here, we did it, and we can win this.
And that is just fucking perfect." His smattering of obscenities earned
him a look from Coach Sanders, but Coach didn't say anything to
him. In fact many of us swore later that he was trying hard to hide a
smile. Marty swore later he heard Coach whisper, "You're fucking
right, Connor," under his breath.

Maybe it was because the way Connor presented his opinion was
perfect in itself. When Mr. Negative stands up and says life is perfect
right at this moment, it would be a totally stupid thing to tell him to
cool the language down and Coach Sanders was not a stupid man.

Kevin would be leading off the inning. Before he even had a chance
to grab his bat and go to the on-deck circle Coach Sanders was
making moves. He instructed Rich, Vince, and Lars to go to the
bullpen. Vince had already been instructed to don his catcher's gear
so Rich could get some warm-up pitches in case he was needed in
seventh and final inning. Lars was going with them as protection from
foul balls heading into the bullpen area.

The Loggers had a new pitcher on the mound. Seeing how we hit
their starter in the sixth, that was no surprise. Kevin and Danny, who
would be batting after Kevin, eyed the new pitcher carefully hoping to
get him timed, which isn't all that easy from the on-deck circle.

Kevin finally stepped to the plate and took a fastball for a strike. That
was his real timing pitch. If that was the pitcher's best fastball then he
wasn't a really hard thrower. Kevin took the next pitch, a breaking ball
that was also a called strike. Kevin was taking the pitches for the rest
of us, so we could all see what kind of stuff the pitcher had.

The next pitch was a little up and in and then came another fastball
which Kevin timed perfectly and lined up the middle for a single. We
had the go-ahead run on first with nobody out. Justin then came in as
a courtesy runner for Kevin, a move that is allowed for the catcher
and the pitcher by a somewhat complex rule.

Kevin jogged to the dugout and Noah came to bat for Danny. It was
even more obvious now why Coach Sanders didn't use Noah in the
fifth. We had a fast runner in Justin on the bases, our best bunter in
Noah at the plate. Noah could control is bat better than anybody on
the team, which is the most important part of playing "small ball"--
dropping a bunt to move a runner on first base into scoring position at
second. Everyone knew Noah was going to bunt. The tension was
building and we could feel it in the dugout and could feel it coming out
of the noisy stands. Mayfield was well represented and the
enthusiasm of the Mayfield fans was contagious.

"Okay, Noah...move him over. You can do it, kid," I called out as my
boyfriend set himself up at the plate. I didn't know if he could hear me
over the noise of the crowd, but I was sure he knew I yelled
something to him; the two of us were connected in ways we couldn't
explain.

Noah came through like the master batsman he was, dropping a
gorgeous bunt between the pitcher and first. Against most teams he
might have had a hit, but the Loggers were an excellent team
fundamentally and they played his bunt perfectly. The first baseman
fielded the ball and tossed it to the second baseman, who was
adroitly covering first. But Noah did his job, and Justin was now
standing on second base. We now had the go-ahead run on second
base, in scoring position, with only one out.

Rodney was the next scheduled batter, but hitting was not Rodney's
forte. He liked to joke that studs like him hit on girls not on balls, but
we all knew it did frustrate him that he could never seem to master
the art of hitting a baseball. In fact, some of us wondered why Coach
had Scott DH for Hunter, who was a decent hitter, instead of for
Rodney.  We figured it had to do with letting Rodney, the senior, hit,
but I think we would rather have had Hunter, the hitter, hit. But one
thing about Coach Sanders is he liked to get everybody involved in
playing the game. It was hard to say if that made us stronger than we
would have been or if it made us weaker, but it did make him a great
coach to play for.

Kraig was in the on deck circle, ready to hit for Rodney. Since a
starter could only be re-entered once, and since Rodney had already
been pinch-hit for and re-entered, Rodney was done for the day. Rich
was going to come in to pitch the bottom of the seventh.

Kraig had a good at-bat, hitting a ball hard to right field, his opposite
field, and right fielder made a nice running catch. Justin tagged on the
catch and made it to third standing up. The go-ahead run was now on
third with two outs.

That brought us to Jerome at the top of the order, and put me on-
deck. Even though Jerome had yet to get a hit in the two tournament
games, the Logger pitcher didn't seem real eager to pitch to him, and
Jerome walked on four pitches. That brought me to the plate for the
biggest at-bat of my entire life.

As the number two hitter in the lineup I am not supposed to be a
power hitter, and I am not. I am supposed to make consistent contact
with the ball, find ways to move runners along, and to get on base. I
do a pretty good job of that. In this case, however, my job was not to
move the runner along; my job was drive the runner in.

The fact that I am not a power hitter doesn't mean I can't hit the ball
hard, but you will never see a shot from me like Marty hit over the
fence in the sixth inning. Oh, I could clear a fence in a smaller
ballpark, and if every planet and every moon in the solar system lined
up perfectly right I might even clear the fence here along the left-field
line. Since it wasn't my role I wasn't looking to hit a ball over the
fence, but I was looking to drive the ball hard and into a gap between
the outfielders. That meant I had to be on the lookout for the right
pitch to drive.

The pitcher the Loggers had going in the seventh was not as good as
their starter. He for sure wasn't as good as the starter they had going
yesterday, who looked like he was their best starting pitcher. They did
the opposite of us, starting their best pitcher in the first game while
we saved ours for today's championship game. The first pitch was a
strike, but wasn't the kind of pitch I was looking for. The next pitch
was in the dirt and only a great block by the catcher kept it from going
back against the backstop. This was a professional stadium and there
was a lot of distance between the catcher and the backstop, which
was actually part of the wall separating the stands from the field. If
the ball had gone past him Justin would have scored.

The next pitch was another strike and it was a fat one, coming in on
the outside of the plate, but looking like it would be catching most of
the plate. That pitch was mine to hit and I laid into it. I knew as soon
as I hit it that I got all of it and that it would take a really great catch to
keep me from getting at least a double. I knew that the Loggers had a
good outfield and that my ball could be caught, but it ended up being
hit too deep for either the left fielder or the center fielder to catch up
to. The ball hit the ground and scooted towards the left field wall as
Justin and Jerome both came in to score.

I could hear the crowd cheering and urging me on as I hit second. I
could see that the left fielder had just caught up to the ball and was
throwing in to the relay man, so I kept digging for third. Coach
Sanders signaled for me to slide to the inside of the base, which I did.
My foot hit the bag just as the third baseman reached to catch the
ball. I was in safe with a two-run triple and we had a 4-2 lead.

The Mayfield crowd was going nuts and it got even louder when Rich
hit the first pitch to him for a solid line drive single to left, bringing me
in to make the score 5-2. My fellow Mustangs were all over me,
hugging me, fist bumping me, swatting my ass, and even grabbing
my ass. It was a great moment.

 Marty singled up the middle on a 2-0 pitch and Rich chugged safely
into third.

The Logger coach then changed pitchers, bringing in a little lefty. He
threw a lot of slow junk as he took his eight warm-up pitches, and
slow junk was exactly what he threw Scott. It had Scott tied up
enough to strike out on a full count pitch.

We were now up 5-2 going into the bottom of the seventh of the State
Championship game. All we had to do was keep the Loggers from
scoring more than two runs and the first part of a dream that went
back to sixth grade would be fulfilled. We juniors, the kids who, as
sixth graders on the middle school JV championship, the team that
started us dreaming, would be State Champions, with a year left for
us to come back and do it again. And the seniors, who bought into
our dream would have their championship trophy to show at their
graduation.

It shouldn't be a problem for us to get three outs and hold a three run
lead, right?

++++++++++

<Seventh Grade, Friday night, July 27, at Eric's house>

Noah was going to be spending the night at Eric's house for the first
time ever. Eric was excited because he really liked Noah. The two of
them fit together so well in their interests, the way they thought, and
in their level of intelligence. They even fit together sexually, as Eric
had discovered after topping Noah on Noah's bed a couple of weeks
back. Eric was pleased that Scott would be staying as well. His
boyfriend and his best friend would both be sleeping in his room with
him.

Noah had ridden with Bobby to Bobby's trailer. They exchanged a
long kiss, groping each other's junk and making each other hard and
horny, as they stood outside of the old doublewide. Both of them
wanted to go farther, but Bobby was never sure who would show up
at the trailer and when, so they finally stopped making out. Both of
them were flushed and breathing hard.

After stopping at his own house to pick up some overnight things as
well as his birthday present for Eric, Noah peddled back to Eric's. His
route took him past Marty's house and he saw Marty sitting on the
front steps, drinking something from whatever was inside of a paper
bag.

"Hey, Noah," Marty called out.

Noah stopped his bike, putting his right foot on the ground to keep it
standing up. "Hi, Marty. How's it hanging,"

"It's not," Marty said with a leer. "It's hard and rising. Wanna check it
out?"

"Not today," Noah said, knowing right away his wording had been a
mistake.

"Does that mean you want to some other day?"

"You never know, but right now I gotta go."

"Got a hot date with your boyfriend?"

"No. I'm just going to meet Eric and Scott."

"What do you want to hang out with those queers for? But then,
you're one of them, too aren't you?"

Noah sensed it was time to go and set his butt up on the bicycle seat.

"Fuck, come on up to my room and suck a real dick. I've got one that
will fill your mouth and then drown you in cum. Those two have little
weenies, not real cocks." He took a long swig from the bag and Noah
realized the Marty was drinking a beer. "Come have some beer with
me. Beer makes cum taste even better. I'm on my third and you don't
even have to catch up with me, it's cool. Just have a cold one and
you'll feel good. You're so small..."

"I gotta jet," Noah said, but then he decided to get the last word. "We
miss you at our meetings, especially since you were our number two
guy when we started." The Go to State group had elected Marty vice-
chair in their first election.

"Who wants to be number two to a bunch of seventh grade faggots?
Not me. I heard gay boy Rich took my place. Talk about faggots..."
but Noah was peddling away before Marty could finished.

"Asshole," Marty mumbled to himself. "Probably doesn't swallow
anyway, the little geek. Fucking gay geek in glasses." Marty giggled
at his alliteration and stood up. "I need another fucking beer. I wonder
if Randy's got his supply yet." Randy was Marty's source for weed.
He got up walked into the house, sporting a hard-on in his gym shorts
as he thought about little Noah on his knees sucking his dick.

When Noah got to Eric's house, Eric was alone. "Where's Scott?"
Noah asked.

"He had to do something with his mom. He should be back in an hour
or so."

Noah told Eric about running across Marty and what condition he was
in.

"He's like a teenage alcoholic or something," Eric said.

"Or maybe isn't even like one, but he really is an alcoholic. He needs
help. You saw how good a guy he was when he concentrated on
baseball and being a good teammate instead of being mister sex-
fiend asshole like he usually was."

"Yeah, when he got together with Rich he really changed. Rich said
that after that party at Steve's he went back to being the old Marty
and started acting like an asshole and drinking more than ever."

Noah nodded and said, "When I was a third grader he was a fifth
grader and would brag about drinking beer at home to us younger
kids. He even brought one to school once, but I don't know if he
drank it there. He was sexy weird then, too. He let me rub his boner
on the playground once and it wasn't in his pants when I did it. That
only happened once, but I remember that I liked doing it. A couple of
times when I saw him, I wished he'd let me touch it again. He
probably doesn't even remember it."

Both boys agreed there was nothing they could do about Marty's
problem without ratting him out. But Eric couldn't help but feel that
there had to be something he could do, not only because Marty was
without a doubt the best baseball player at Mayfield Middle School,
but because when he wanted to be Marty could be a pretty special
person, too. Not only that, he was sexy. Eric thought about when they
gave each other blow jobs at the end of the season party for their JV
team the day they won the league championship and how turned on
he was by the older boy.

"Hey, speaking or remembering stuff, I brought your birthday present
a little early since I can't make your party," Noah said. Noah would be
leaving for Montana with his parents on the day before the party.
Bobby would be going along with them.

"You didn't need to get me anything," Eric said. "I mean it's going to
be a bring no presents party."

"I know I didn't need to, but I figure you're a best friend and I give my
best friends presents." Noah handed Eric a small package. "You can
open it up now if you want."

Eric opened up the package and found two baseball cards in plastic
holders. They contained a 2008 Roy Halladay card and a 2006 Albert
Pujols card. Eric was delighted. "Whoa, two of my favorite players.
Thanks, Noah." Eric set the cards on his shelf of special cards. He
walked over to Noah and gave him what was supposed to be a quick
peck on the lips. Instead it turned into a couple of minutes of deep
kissing and exchanging of tongues as both boys let their libidos slip
out of control. Noah was kissing his second boy that afternoon,
causing his boner to accurately reflect his feelings.

The two eleven year olds finally broke off their kissing, their faces
flushed and red. "Whoa, I wasn't prepared for that," Eric said.

"Me either, but I liked it." Noah adjusted his junk, which had gotten
constricted in his pants. Eric noticed what Noah was doing and did
the same.

Scott came back about forty minutes later and just after that Eric's
mother came home from her part-time job. She was not in the mood
to cook for three hungry pre-teens plus her husband and herself, so
she finally decided that calling Pooh Bear to deliver pizza sounded
like the best thing to do. The boys were not about to object to having
pizza.

As the late afternoon wore into evening and then wore into night, the
boys found plenty to keep themselves busy. The three were good
friends, good kids, and they liked each other a lot. All three wished
that Bobby could have been there to join their fun, but they didn't let
his absence put a damper on their own evening. Bobby had promised
Noah he would call if Duke showed up, but Noah's phone was silent
leaving him with the impression that everything was okay at Bobby's
house. He saw that in relative terms, of course, since things were
never really that good there.

By the time it got dark, all three boys were in Eric's room, wearing
nothing but t-shirts and underpants. While they had talked about sex
at times, they hadn't done anything. After his two sexy kisses that
afternoon, Noah was incredibly horny and Eric and Scott weren't far
behind him in that department.

"I guess we're going to have to get off if we want to sleep," Scott said
as if it was the most natural thing in the world for three pre-teen boys
to do together. In the case of these three pre-teen boys, it was. While
the three of them had been in sexual situations together, it had
always been with their group. For the first time it was just the three of
them in a room in a sexually charged situation.

"So, what do we want to do, a circle jerk or what?" Noah asked.

"Well, we've both gone all the way with Eric," Scott said.

"Meaning what?" Eric asked

"We could both do you like back-to-back," Scott said with a sly grin.

"I don't think so!"

"I was just saying..."

"I have an idea," Noah said, working quickly to be the diplomat.

"What?" Eric and Scott asked simultaneously. Noah had a way of
coming up with interesting and unique ideas on a variety of topics.

"I'm the only one of the three of us who still shoots blanks, right?"

"Shoots blanks?" Scott asked.

"He means dry cums," Eric said. Scott nodded that he understood.

"Okay, I give, what do we do because of that?"

"Well," Noah said, "I assume the three of us were planning on
sleeping together and Eric's bed is pretty tight for three people."

"And what does that have to do with cum?" Scott asked. Eric stayed
silent. He knew that Noah always explained everything in his own
time.

"Be calm, be patient," said Noah, the ever calm and patient boy.
"Maybe what I need to produce my own cum is cum on my skin to
seep through the pores and help stimulate my manufacture of male
seed."

"That's the lamest thing I ever heard," Scott said, thinking that Noah
was being completely serious.

"You never know until you try it. Seed is fertile, you know," Noah said
with a totally straight face. Eric always enjoyed his friend's intellect
and quick wit, but it could confuse Scott at times.

"So, what do you have in mind?" Scott asked.

"What I have in mind is that the three of us take care of our evening
toiletries, strip naked, get under the covers of Eric's bed. We put me
in the middle, turn out the lights, and the two of you rub your dicks
along my body until you cum, one on each side of me. Then, I plan to
rub both of your cums into my skin as the two of you fertilize my body
with potential seed making capabilities."

"It may be a lame idea, but the part about cumming sounds like fun,"
Scott said. "But, if we're gonna fertilize you, shouldn't we like shoot it
up your butt, or in your mouth?"

"I thought I'd like to see if osmosis works."

"Osmowhat?" Scott asked.

"You know, having things like soak through your skin," Eric said.

"Why is it that I always feel stupid when I'm around you two?" Scott
asked.

"You feel that way only because you don't use your brain to its full
potential," Noah said. "Besides, being around you makes me feel
physically weak and immature and sexually inadequate, so it all
evens out."

"Ain't no problem with you and sex," Scott said. "I've seen you at
those parties. And I bet Eric didn't think so the other night."

Noah grinned as the boys decided to blow off their sexual energies
his way. The three got into bed with Noah in the middle, Eric to
Noah's left, and Scott to his right. The three of them had sprouted
rock hard boners. Noah turned to face Eric and the two started
rubbing their dicks together, exchanging kisses. Scott was rubbing his
boner along Noah's butt and ass crack.

They continued that way for awhile, then Noah turned around so he
could rub his dick against Scott's. "No kissing," Scott said. "That's just
for Eric." Noah shrugged. He knew about Scott's refusal to kiss a boy
other than Eric, even though he professed to be gay. Noah had his
doubts about Scott's gayness, but he kept them to himself.

Noah then rolled over on his back and let the two boys rub along the
sides of his hips and torso. He played with his own hairless three-
and-a-half inch cock as the boys humped him, almost in rhythm.

"You know you look really sexy without your glasses on," Scott said.

"He looks sexy with them on, too," Eric said, wishing as soon as he
said it he could take it back. He didn't want Scott to think he had
some kind of crush on Noah, even though he did. But then Scott had
just said Noah looked sexy, so it probably wasn't that big of a deal.

That was the end of the chatter as Noah once again rolled on his left
side so that he was facing Eric. Their dicks, touched, but Noah
guided Eric to his belly, having him rub against that instead of against
his dick. The pressure of Eric's own belly stimulated Noah's cock
close to the point of orgasm.

The grunts, and groans, and squeals were interrupted by Scott's long,
drawn out moan. "I'm gonna cum, you guys. Gonna fertilize Noah's
skin." Scott pushed his dick hard into the space above Noah's ass
and humped him rapidly as his clear, sweet boy cum splattered
against the eleven year old's smooth skin. Eric wasn't far behind, his
lighter, even clearer load covering Noah's lower belly and his pubic
area.

Noah then took both boys' semen and spread it around his belly and
chest, leaving traces in the small of his back where Scott had cum.
Eric scooted down and put Noah's hard dick in his mouth, a move
that had his friend dry cumming within thirty seconds.

"Wow, that was first class," Noah said. "Thanks guys, that was a lot of
fun. I guess I better go clean myself up."

"What about your oswhatever?" Scott asked.

"I don't think the owner of the bed wants his sheets totally soiled, so I
have to hope it all soaked through really fast."

"The sheets will dry," Eric said. "You've got to keep the cum on you if
you want to be fertilized." Eric then rubbed his finger over a cum
dampened spot, picked up a bit of boy cum, and then deposited it on
Noah's tight, marble sized balls. "I'm putting some there just in case."

Even with the tight squeeze in the bed the boys were asleep soon
after. All three of them were used to cuddling with another boy in bed,
after all.

<Saturday morning>

Eric woke up to an empty bed, which surprised him somewhat. Scott
loved to sleep in and rarely woke up before Eric did, yet his spot on
the bed was empty. He knew that Noah was an early riser, and he
was gone, too. Even with the curtains closed the room was lit up by
the morning sun. Eric could see Noah sitting at his desk reading, but
Scott was not in the room.

"Good morning, cutie," Eric said.

Noah turned around and smiled. "Are you talking to me?"

"You're the only one in the room. Where's Scott?"

"He went to shower. He says I kept kicking him all morning and he
couldn't sleep. I've been told by those I've slept with that I'm a pretty
quiet sleeper, so maybe he was kicking himself for something."

"And just who have you slept with?"

"Well, not that many actually---you, Bobby, and Nicky."

"Do you still have our seed on you?"

"Of course. It's all crusty and flaky, but I'm sure the important parts
have seeped into my skin.

The two boys joked some about Noah's osmosis theory. Eric asked
Noah what he had planned for the day.

"Nothing much. I thought I might ride over to Bobby's, I know he
doesn't like me coming over, but I do it sometimes anyway. He didn't
call last night which I guess is a good sign that he didn't have any
trouble."

Or it could be a sign that he couldn't get to the phone, Eric thought,
but he kept the thought to himself.

"I was thinking," Eric said, "which I know is dangerous, that since we
have our sponsorship stuff going strong with appointments next week
and all that maybe we should start to work on finding a coach."

"Today?"

"Yeah. Let's ride to see Coach Sanders. Since he doesn't plan on
moving away and was interested enough to come to our last games,
maybe we can talk him into helping us."

"You mean you want him to coach us? Because if you did I think it
would be the greatest thing ever for us."

"I think so too, but he could give us some ideas if he doesn't want to
coach us. He knows people around here who are involved in
baseball, and he'd know who the best ones are. It would be a start,
plus it would be a fun bike ride." Coach Sanders lived out of town on
the other side of Lake Mayfield, a lake that had been created by the
hydroelectric dam that Eric's father was the superintendent of. "I'm
sure Scott would want to go too."

"Go where?" came Scott's voice as he entered the room, naked
except for a towel draped around his shoulders. Eric told him what he
was thinking. "Sounds good, I'm in," Scott said.

"Let's stop at Bobby's on the way and see if he can go with us," Noah
said.

"Sounds like a plan," Eric replied.

Eric and Noah, who were both naked, left the room and crossed the
hall to shower together. The mere act of being together in the shower
got them hard, the act of washing each other's asses and genitals got
them very horny, and the act of jerking each other's preteen boners
under the hot, pulsing shower water, got them off.

"Now that was a great shower," Noah said as the two of them dried
off. "A fine way to start a morning."

"Yes, it was." Noah started for the door, but Eric held out an arm to
stop him. "Before we go back to Scott I need to ask a favor of you."

"Your wish is my command."

"If Coach Sanders lets us talk to him, I need a few minutes alone with
him. If you can think up a way to get everybody to go someplace with
you that would be great."

"Why do you need to be alone with him? I need to know why I'm
going to do this, even if I obviously can't tell anybody."

Eric told Noah his reason. Noah gave Eric his most serious look. "It's
a risky thing to do, but I agree you have to try."

"Thanks. If you don't agree, you don't have to help."

"Oh, I agree. But it is risky and it might backfire."

"I'll take the chance."

As the two boys headed for Eric's room, Noah told Eric in a quiet
voice, "You know, you're a really special friend."

Eric didn't know what to say, so he simply patted Noah's bare ass as
they entered Eric's bedroom.

The three boys dressed and went downstairs to eat breakfast. Eric's
mom appeared from nowhere as they came down, and quickly
cooked them up some stacks of pancakes. "You boys are up early
today, it's not even noon yet," she said.

"We're going to ride our bikes out to the lake," Eric told her, ignoring
the barb.

"Do you want me to pack you a lunch?" The boys agreed that would
be a great idea, so she put together a simple lunch that they could
carry in their backpacks.

"Drink plenty of water," Eric's mom warned. "It's supposed to me in
the mid-eighties today and you're going to be working up some big
sweats." A day in the mid-eighties in the Great Pacific Northwest was
a very hot day.

"We will, mom." He and Noah filled some bottles with water. They
were bottles that they could strap to their bikes as well as place into
their backpacks. They figured they could also get water at the county
park and refill their bottles at Coach Sanders's house---if he was
home and if he let them in.

When they were all packed and ready to go Eric and Noah got their
bikes out of Eric's garage while Scott went over to his house, which
was two houses away from Eric's, to get his bike and helmet. As they
got ready to peddle away, Eric's mom stopped them and gave them a
bottle of sunscreen. She had a pretty good idea that the boys would
soon have their shirts off, which turned out to be the case.

When they got to Bobby's house, they parked their bikes against the
old wooden shed next to the trailer and walked up the wooden foyer
that was built in front of the double-wide's door. Noah knew one of
the trucks parked in the clearing belonged to Lenny, but he didn't
recognize the big truck with over-sized tires parked next to it. He had
a bad feeling that it belonged to Duke, though he didn't remember
seeing it the one time he'd run into Duke.

Noah knocked on the door and a big man wearing only a wife-beater
and boxers answered it. Noah's stomach sank to his feet when he
saw it was Duke. He knew right then that Bobby had had a rough
night and might be in big trouble.

"Well fuck, will you look at this, Lenny?" Duke said. "A herd of little
faggots comes to the door. We got Bobby's little fuck buddy and his
little bitch friends. You guys come over for a little fun?"

Noah stayed calm, which was not easy to do considering how hard
his knees where shaking. "No, we came to see if Bobby wanted to get
away from you guys and go bike riding with us."

Lenny came up behind, Duke. He had a pair of shorts on, but no shirt.
"I bet they ride more than just a bike, don't ya think, Duke?"

Duke glared down at Noah and said, "Wouldn't surprise me. Red's
little fuck buddy is a mouthy little shit, ain't he? Bet he'd be wild in
bed."

"Is Bobby home?" Noah asked, ignoring the sexual innuendo coming
from the two men in front of him.

"No, he ain't home, and if he was he wouldn't be goin' nowhere's with
the like of you little queers." Duke said. "He run away from me last
night cuz he don't like somebody telling him what to do. He's a
spoiled little bitch" He glared at Noah again. "Just like you. Hell, I
figured he went to get his ass fucked by you. Turns out he was at the
faggot neighbor up the road."

Noah was still outwardly calm although inside he wanted to claw
Duke's eyes out.

Bobby's mom came up behind the two men. She was wearing a blue
flowered dress which she had quickly pulled on. Her hair was mussed
up and her eyes were red like she had been crying. "Duke, it might be
a good idea if you and Lenny left."

"Why, because little Red was telling lies to that bitch you talked to on
the phone? The boy is spoilt rotten and needs to be put in his place. I
asked him to do something..."

"Duke, shut-up." Duke looked ready to strike Bobby's mother and
may have done so if not for the three young witnesses watching the
confrontation with wide-eyes. "You two get your asses off my property
now, and don't come back," Bobby's mother said.

"Why me?" Lenny asked. "I ain't the one who found him stealing beer
and runnin' around in his underpants trying to get him some cock
from Duke." Lenny was saying this for the benefit of the three boys.
Duke had told Lenny what had happened between him and Bobby
the night before.

"You leave, or I call the police."

Noah had only been to Bobby's place a couple of times. On one of
those visits Duke had put his hand inside of Noah's underpants and
groped him. But this was the first time he'd seen Bobby's mother be
assertive with either of the two assholes in front of him. Usually she
was mellowed out on drugs and booze.

"Fucking bitches, you and whoever the busybody broad on the phone
was. You ain't heard the last of either one of us," Duke threatened.
Duke might be stupid, but he wasn't going to push the issue,
especially when one of the three boys in front of him was a boy he'd
groped, a move that he admitted to himself might have been a
mistake. He felt fortunate the boy hadn't ratted him out and he wasn't
going to push him into doing so. He knew Noah was not a pile of crap
piece of trailer trash like Bobby or his niece, Missy. Duke knew it was
time to take a loss and deal with it later.

Eric said, "Come on guys, let's go." He'd seen enough and was
thoroughly disgusted by it. The fact that Duke had molested Noah
was something he didn't know at the time, but he had no doubt that
those two men were molesting his friend Bobby.

Noah took a deep breath and turned away as the other two boys got
on their bikes. He followed them and mounted his bike. They were
getting ready to ride up the dirt drive to the road when Duke and
Lenny took off in their pickups, barely missing their bikes as their
trucks tried to gain traction on the dirt driveway.

Right after the two trucks pulled onto the road, a white pickup truck
turned into the drive. The boys could quickly see that there was a
man and a woman and a redheaded boy in the front seat. The couple
was bringing Bobby home. The boys stopped to give the truck room
to come through the driveway as well as to see what was going to
happen next.

<Seventh grade, The barn, Earlier that morning>

Bobby woke up with a start. He opened his eyes and found himself
looking right at a man with unkempt white hair and a bushy white
beard. He had a wrinkled face, but his eyes were smiling, even
through his wire frame glasses.

"Well, looks like we have ourselves a lost critter up here in the loft,"
he said with a touch of humor. "What would you be running away
from boy?"

Bobby recognized the man standing on the ladder as the owner of the
small farm on which the barn sat. All he could see of the man was his
head and shoulders. Bobby sat himself up against a bale of hay, but
said nothing.

"Cat got your tongue? I know we got plenty of them running around
this here barn who could've took it. I'm John McGowen and you
would be?"

"Bobby." The name was barely whispered out. Bobby was positive
that he was now in deep trouble and whatever problems he had were
about to get worse.

"Well, Bobby I remember you from the last couple of summers when
you hung around with your brother when he helped me with some
projects. Tyler I think he was. Good hard worker and I know you ran a
around a lot and you did a lot to help for a little tyke. Which brings us
back to what you're doing up in the loft of my barn at seven in the
morning."

"Nothin'."

"I can see you're doing nothing, but a boy don't normally sleep up in
the loft of a neighbor's barn unless he's in some kind of trouble. And
he don't normally end up there wearing next to nothing unless he's
got some kind of big trouble."

Bobby went into silent mode again, his frightened eyes looking
straight at the gentle old man standing on the ladder.

"I can see you're a bit afraid of me and there ain't no need to be. I
don't mean to hurt you, boy. In fact my Maggie is fixing up breakfast. I
don't think she'd have a problem throwing in a little bit extra for a
small boy if we hurry to the kitchen."

John started down the ladder but Bobby didn't move. "You can't stay
there all day, son, so you might as well come on down. Get some
food in your stomach and we'll go from there."

Bobby realized how hungry he was. His dinner had been a bowl of
cereal well over twelve hours ago. If he hadn't been around John
when Tyler worked for him off and on for the last two summers, he
would probably have tried to figure out a way to stay in the loft until
he could run away. But he was hungry and John had been nice to
him when he came to the farm with Tyler. Plus, there was no doubt in
his mind that Duke was still at the trailer and he didn't want to go
back there. And he truly did not want to be riding around wearing just
a pair of shredded briefs and a hoodie. He decided to pick the lesser
of two evils and stick with John for now, at least until he got some
breakfast.

Bobby climbed down the ladder and saw his bike leaning against a
wall. He'd done a poor job of concealing it which is how John had
found him, or so he thought.

"That's all you wore, son?" Bobby was clad only in his hoodie, the
torn briefs, and a pair of shoes. He answered the question by nodding
yes.

"Guess you really had to leave in a hurry. I hope you wore more last
time you slept up in the loft." Bobby blushed when he realized his first
visit hadn't been as secret as he thought. John could see Bobby's
embarrassment and confusion. "Man's gotta know what's going on
around his property."

John walked out of the barn and towards his house with Bobby
following quietly and shyly behind him. They walked in through the
back door, heading through the mudroom and into the kitchen. John's
wife, Maggie, was busily making up breakfast. Bobby remembered
her making up some good lunches for John's three boy work crew
last summer. Even though he was just tagging along, he ate his share
of the food and he always found the lunches to be delicious. Maggie
didn't seem to be at all surprised to see a half-naked eleven year old
boy come into her kitchen.

Maggie welcomed Bobby to her kitchen and ran off a line of
comforting chatter as she cooked. John and Bobby sat at the kitchen
table, watching her add ingredients to her preparation and listening to
her chatter.

"Not often we have surprise guests around here," Maggie said.
"Especially very special ones like we have this morning." Maggie was
a retired elementary school teacher. She had a knack for
communicating with children and putting them at ease. "I have to say
you're dressed rather informally, but I think we can take care of that
once we put some food into your stomach. Growing boys need a
good breakfast in order to face the day and I'm sure you're no
exception." Bobby wondered how he could be considered special
when he was sitting at the table wearing nothing but a hoodie and a
pair of almost shredded briefs. What surprised him is that he didn't
feel at all self-conscious about it.

"How do you like your eggs, Bobby?" Maggie asked.

"Sunnyside up, please."

"And we have a polite guest this morning as well. That is really
special," she said as she broke eggs into a frying pan.

John got up and put an extra place setting at the table as Maggie
finished preparing breakfast. She dished out a meal of fried eggs,
hash browns, bacon, toast, and juice.

"Maggie makes up a king's breakfast," John said. "Eat breakfast like a
king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper. That's one of our
keys to a long and healthy life."

A long and healthy life was not at the top of Bobby's priority list right
then, but cleaning his plate was. He was hungry beyond imagining
and he started digging right in as soon as Maggie filled his plate.

"Looks like we have a very hungry boy here, pa. Nothing makes a
cook feel better than to see her work being gobbled up." She sat
down and ate as well, with small talk from her and John making
Bobby feel more and more comfortable. Maggie's breakfast was as
excellent as her lunches and Bobby had no problem emptying what
had been a heaping plate of food.

"A clean plate club member as well. So many talents," Maggie said.

After they finished eating John cleared the table and Maggie sat with
Bobby, who started looking around nervously. He had a feeling he
was about to be interrogated. Instead, Maggie had him stand up. Now
he did feel self-conscious standing in front of the woman wearing just
the torn briefs and hoodie. The briefs were torn along the side and
back, exposing his right butt cheek. Bobby and the clothes were dirty
after he had slept in them in the hay.

"Oh, don't look so embarrassed. I raised three boys and a girl, I have
seven grandsons and two granddaughters, and I've been watching
young boys running around in their underwear and less just about my
entire grown life. But I have to admit, none of them ever showed up at
a stranger's house wearing nothing but..."

She turned to John, who was rinsing dishes and placing them in the
dishwasher. "He looks the same size as Ray, wouldn't you say so,
pa?"

"You would know that best, ma. You're the one who bought the
clothes."

"Well, he looks the same size. Come upstairs with me, sweetie."
Bobby normally didn't like being called sweetie or any term like it, but
when it came from Maggie it didn't bother him. He followed her up the
stairs and into a clean, neat room that he figured was once the
bedroom of one of the McGowan's children.

As if reading his mind Maggie said, "This was once John Junior's
room. Now it's used by grandkids when they stay over." She opened
an old wooden wardrobe which had clothes hanging on the right side
and some plastic bins stacked on the left side. "Now, let's see, which
one of these has Ray's stuff," she muttered to herself.

She pulled the top bin off the stack and opened up the second. "This
is it." She pulled out a neatly folded pair of faded jeans and dark blue
t-shirt. "Take that sweatshirt off and let's see how this fits you." She
handed Bobby the shirt and pants.

Bobby was once again self-conscious, but he trusted the kindly gray-
haired lady and did what he was told. He stood in front of her wearing
nothing but a pair of tattered briefs and a pair of trainers. "I need to
call home," he said. "I need to tell my mom where I am."

"Get dressed first, hon. A good breakfast and being properly dressed
makes a body feel good about itself. Let's see how those clothes fit."

Bobby pulled on the jeans first. They were a smidgen loose at the
waist and a little long at the cuff, but overall they were not a bad fit.
He pulled the t-shirt on over his scrawny torso. He noticed that it was
a Seattle Mariners shirt.

"Not bad," Maggie said. "Close enough for government work." Bobby
smiled for the first time all morning. "You have a nice smile. You
should use it more often; it makes you look real handsome."

She left the room and headed down the stairs with Bobby following
her.  When they got to the bottom of the stairs and into the parlor,
Maggie got squatted down, putting her eyes at the same level with
Bobby's. One of the things she'd learned in her thirty plus years of
teaching was that it was much easier to communicate with a student,
especially a boy, if she got down at his level rather that glare down at
him from above. "Was your mother home when you ran away?" she
asked in a quiet, but firm, tone.

Bobby said nothing. He was overwhelmed by all that had been roiling
up around him. Maggie saw an eleven year old boy who was slowly
being crushed by a life he didn't understand and couldn't control. The
sadness and defeat in his face and eyes were palpable, a look she'd
seen all too often as a teacher. Bobby saw in Maggie a person he felt
he could trust. Trusting anybody would be a big step forward for him
since right now the only people he trusted were Noah, who was
eleven and powerless just as he was, and Tyler, his fifteen year old
brother, who, in Bobby's mind, had abandoned him to his new adult
friend and had forfeited some of his trust.

Bobby had spent two nights in Seattle with Tyler and Mr. Robinson,
Tyler's friend, and wanted in the worst way to trust him, to trust any
adult, but the teacher was stealing his brother from him. As nice as
the teacher was, Bobby had a streak of jealousy that kept his trust at
bay.

Right now, at this moment, Bobby needed to trust an adult. He knew
instinctively that if he didn't trust somebody soon something bad that
he wouldn't be able to stop was going to happen to him.

Maggie could see the boy battling tears. As much as he tried to win
that battle, the emotions that were pent up inside of him were too
much for him to control. The dammed up tears burst out in a flood
and he buried his head into the shoulder of the kindly woman
squatting down in front of him.

"No, Du...Du...Duke was there." A few sobs racked him and he
stuttered, "Mom...no...I was alone." Maggie quickly ascertained that
Duke was not a nice man and that he had probably tried to do
something to Bobby that was hurtful. She suspected it might have
even been sexual, although Bobby wouldn't confirm that.

"Give me your phone number, sweetie, and I'll talk to your mother for
you." Bobby sobbed out the number and Maggie stood up, this time
looking down at the slightly built redheaded boy, not with a look of
authority, but with a look of unconditional love and kindness. "Go in
the kitchen and keep my husband out of trouble. I'll be back with you
soon."

Bobby shuffled into the kitchen just as John put the last of the dishes
into the dishwasher. "You look right good dressed in those fine
clothes," John said, ignoring the fact that the boy's face was streaked
with tears. "How about coming out to the barn with me and help me
feed the horses."

Fighting back a couple of sobs Bobby gave John a small grin that
was genuine and not forced. He followed the old man out of the back
door and they headed for the barn.

"Maggie will get things straightened out with your mom. She's spent
most of her days talking to parents and getting her way. I doubt today
will be any exception."

John showed Bobby how to get the horses into the paddock next to
the barn. He let Bobby lead the last of the four horses out. He
showed him where the feed was and what to do with it and Bobby
was so busy he forgot about his crying on Maggie's shoulder.

"If you ever want to come by and help with the horses, you're more
than welcome. Cranberry is a gentle mare and if you ask her right she
might even let you ride her once you get to know each other." Bobby
had never ridden a horse and the offer made him light up.

After they finished, the man and the boy returned to the kitchen
where Maggie met them. "I had a good talk with your mom, Bobby---a
very good talk. Pa and I are going to take you home. For now there
shouldn't be any problem, but if there's any at all you let me know.
And if you ever need a place to go you're welcome here, only we
expect you to come up the main drive and knock on the door like
civilized people. We will always have a bed for you." Maggie gave
him a big, loving hug. "You and John go get your bicycle."

Bobby nodded, feeling safe and loved by the two friendly
grandparents who had entered his life in just the right way at just the
right time. The trust he showed them was not misplaced and would
help him as long as it could. But at this moment, Bobby was just
hoping that when he got home Duke and Lenny wouldn't be there.

John and Bobby went to the barn and retrieved his bike. "I know you
were probably in a hurry to get out of whatever problem you were
having, but when you come over here you want to have a helmet on
your head. Have you got one?" John asked. Bobby nodded yes. "Now
it don't matter much to me how a man wants to ride his bike, but Ma,
after all those years as a teacher, takes the safety of young boys
seriously. Better I let you know to wear one before she does. She's
got this strict side to her you haven't seen."

Bobby couldn't picture Maggie as being strict or mean in any way, but
he agreed to wear his helmet whenever he came over. "My friend
Noah keeps nagging me about it, too," he said.

"Sounds like he's a good friend if he looks after you like that."

"He's the best friend there is."

They loaded the bicycle into the back of John's pickup truck and
drove the mile or so to Bobby's trailer, with Bobby sitting between
John and Maggie on the bench seat. They had to stop for two pickups
barreling by before they could enter the dirt driveway.

"Looks like trouble's leaving," John said.

"I doubt it's leaving for good--at least not yet," Maggie said, hinting to
Bobby that his problems weren't completely over for now, but that this
was a start.

John eased into the driveway and Bobby saw three bicycles and
three boys off to the side, with one of them catching his immediate
attention. "Noah," he said, pointing out the window, "That's my
boyfriend, Noah."

Next: Coach Sanders