Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 10:58:56 -0500 From: MS Subject: Daddy's Little Boy Ch. 12 Gay/Incest Daddy's Little Boy Chapter Twelve (This is purely a work of fiction; any resemblance to anyone living or dead is strictly a coincident. This story contains sexual situations between adults/minors, minors/minors, and gay/incest; if this material is illegal in your area or this offends you please don't read any further. Otherwise read on and enjoy! The author would like to thank all of the readers who have written concerning Mason and his story, your support has been wonderful, so keep the letters cummin'!) June 1977 Brett McPherson tried to calm his rapid breathing and racing heart; he couldn't feel anything below his waist! His legs were like two heavy, useless, blocks of wood; he was paralyzed! But the smell of hot metal and the overpowering stench of gasoline reminded him that he and Mason were still in danger, somehow he had to get them both out of the wrecked car. Turning his head sharply he looked over the back of the seat to where Mason lay sprawled in the back seat, his body twisted and covered in blood, his head and arms hanging down off the glass littered seat, dangling toward the floorboard on the passenger side. "Hang on Mason I'll get us out of here!" Though Mason's chest rose and fell there was no response. Taking a deep breath Brett looked around the battered interior of the car, illuminated by the dim bulb of the dome light, which hung down from the sagging roof by a few wires. He looked through the gapping rectangle where the windshield used to be, the headlights shone at crazy angles lighting the woods beyond. The hole could be an escape but without the use of his legs he could never pull himself and Mason through it! With panic clawing at his throat Brett tried the handle to the passenger door again, jerking at it as hard as he could, the handle moved but the door didn't budge. Steeling himself against the pain he rocked sideways in the seat and threw his shoulder at the door; ripping pain shot up his arm, he thought he was going to faint and had to fight to stay conscious. Taking deep, ragged breaths he slammed his shoulder into the door again, his vision swam in and out of focus and he had to stop. After the wave of nauseating pain passed the thought of Mason trapped and unconscious in the burning car gave Brett almost inhuman endurance. With a growl of frustration and anger he began to slam his shoulder against the jammed door over and over. Like a trapped, frenzied animal fighting to break free of its cage Brett threw his bruised body against the unyielding door again and again until the pain became too much. Like a red curtain falling over him, suffocating him…stealing his breath…the world dimmed and abruptly went black, his last thought was, 'I failed.' Two miles away TVA Patrolman Tom Duncan was cruising slowly down the tangle of gravel roads that snaked throughout the hundreds of square miles of the national park known as, "Land Between the Lakes" or LBL as the locals called it. He and twenty other officers patrolled the long finger of land that separated the two large manmade lakes, keeping drunken tourists from setting the woods on fire and rescuing the local rednecks from their stranded pickup trucks when they got mired in the mud trying to ford one of the creeks. It was a government operation with government pay and benefits, so Tom had no real complaints, but it could get awfully boring at times driving up and down these mostly lonely, deserted gravel access roads in search of lawbreakers. He glanced at his watch by the light of the dashboard; "Damn!" he still had an hour to kill before his shift ended. He steered the four-wheel drive patrol Bronco down the cutoff road that led to a nice secluded place called Hillman's Cove. He took his wife camping there on his vacations and sometimes at the end of an evening shift like tonight's he pulled the Bronco to the side of the road to smoke a fat doobie and relax. Five minutes later he pulled to the side of the road near the mouth of the access road that dead-ended near the cove. Shutting the lights and engine off he pulled a long, white, neatly rolled joint from the sun visor and lit up. Sucking in the harsh smoke from the burning weed he held it deep in his lungs and stared off down the moonlit shadowed road. He decided he needed music to get high by; twisting the ignition key backward he switched on the auxiliary power and the radio dial began to glow green. It was already tuned to his favorite station, 107.5 Home of AM Gold, so he turned the volume up. "All of our times have come. Here but now they're gone," sung by Blue Oyster Cult filled the cab. Now that was luck, this was a killer song to get stoned to. Tom took another deep pull from the joint and held it while Blue Oyster Cult sang on. When he exhaled he realized he was filling the cab with reefer smoke and quickly cranked the window down, it wouldn't do to turn in a vehicle that reeked of weed. Deciding it might be better to just smoke the jay outside, Tom turned the radio up and climbed from the Bronco. With gravel crunching under the soles of his shoes he walked to the front of the vehicle and leaned against the warm grille. Blue Oyster Cult floated on the air as he continued his recreational smoke. "Romeo and Juliet, are together in eternity, Romeo and Juliet…" Dragging on the joint Tom hummed along to the dark tune. Down the steeply sloped embankment less than a hundred yards away Brett stirred and opened his eyes, the nightmare was still there, alive and in living color, complete with pain. Every fiber of Brett's being seemed to throb with pain and the stench of gasoline was so strong it burned his eyes and throat. It took him a moment before he noticed the faint sound of music playing. Brett recognized the song but looking down to the radio he realized it was not only turned off but had been completely torn from the dash and lay in a tangle of wires on the floorboard. Confused Brett stared dumbly at the dead radio for a long moment before he realized that the music was coming from somewhere outside the car. People! People who could help! Grimacing against the stiffness in his muscles and the dizziness that threatened to drag him back into the darkness of unconsciousness, Brett leaned over to the driver's seat and pressed the horn, nothing happened. Frustrated, and terrified Brett slammed the side of his fist against the horn, once; twice…the darkness was coming back, dimming the corners of his vision. Just before the dark curtain swallowed him again a steady blare began to emit from the warped car hood, droning on and on filling the night with it's hollow sound; the horn was stuck. With a curse Tom bent and snubbed out the half smoked joint and pocketed it. Who in the hell was laying on their car horn? Damned ignorant rednecks whooping it up no doubt. He walked to the edge of the road and peered down into the shadows beyond the incline, he noticed a pair of red taillights glowing through the underbrush several yards away and down the slope. Probably a group of good ole boys that had decided to go off roading in the dark and gotten stuck! "Son of a bitch!" Rushing back to the Bronco Tom jumped in and cranked the motor; steering the vehicle down the access road that led to Hillman's Cove he pulled to a stop when he saw headlights shining down below the road. Turning on the spotlight he swung it down the embankment and illuminated a wrecked white Trans Am. Grabbing his flashlight Tom skidded halfway down the embankment calling out, "Is anybody hurt?" He paused to shine the beam of his flashlight into the car, from his vantage point above he could make out two forms, one in the front passenger seat, the other lay in the back. Neither of the people was moving; with the car's horn still blaring away he rushed back up the incline and to the Bronco where he radioed for an ambulance. Tom flipped on the blue flashers of the Bronco as he gave directions over the CB. In the background the radio played on… "The candles blew and then disappeared. The curtains flew and then he appeared, saying don't be afraid. Come on baby, and she had no fear. And she ran to him, then they started to fly. She had taken his hand, she had become like they are. Come on baby, don't fear the reaper." A week later Brett's parents, Dr. Kyle McPherson, his wife Patricia and Mason's mother, Sarah Smith sat in the office of Dr. Shuemaker at Martin County Hospital. Dr. Shuemaker was one of the top ten surgeons in the nation and chairman of the board of the hospital. He adjusted his rimless glasses on the bridge of his nose and steepling his hands he spoke to the three parents sitting across from him. "We've done every test available and the results are clear, in the wreck Brett's spinal column was compressed like an accordion cracking his three lower vertebrae and pressing against the nerves in his spinal column paralyzing him from the waist down. But since he's been here the spinal column has returned to normal and the pressure on the nerves has been released." "Then why can't my son feel anything below the waist?" Patricia McPherson asked, dabbing a Kleenex to the corner of her eyes. She was a pretty woman, tall and elegantly coiffed and dressed, but her face and eyes were puffy from crying. Dr. Shuemaker nodded, "That's what I want to try and explain. You see all of the tests show that there's no physical reason for Brett to be paralyzed. And didn't you say that he had taken the news of Mason's coma extremely hard?" "Yes," Dr. McPherson answered, placing his arm around his wife's shoulder as she cried softly into the Kleenex. "I'm afraid that what's taken place," Dr. Shuemaker explained, "Brett has internalized his guilt. Dr. McPherson you've heard of psychosomatic illnesses?" Dr. McPherson nodded. "I'm positive that that is exactly what has happened in Brett's case, his paralysis is a physical manifestation of his remorse and guilt over Mason's comatose state." Sarah spoke up, "But I've told him no one blames him, that we all know it was an accident. I told him that I know Mason wouldn't blame him either. He looked up to Brett like a hero, Brett is all he could talk about since they met…" She stopped and pressed a hand to her mouth as tears sprang to her eyes. "I know Mrs. Smith and I know the McPherson's appreciate your efforts, but Brett still isn't responding. What I'm most concerned about is his right leg, the operation to repair the damage and place the pins is serious and one of the factors in a full recovery is exercise. If Brett doesn't begin to use his right leg soon he may lose almost full use of the limb, the muscles will atrophy." Dr. Shuemaker paused to take a breath. Then catching Dr. McPherson's eye he nodded, signaling for the other doctor to speak. "I've told Dr. Shuemaker I may have a solution that could help out both boys." Dr. McPherson said calmly. Sarah looked up shocked and hopeful, "How?" For the past week she hadn't touched a drop of liquor, hadn't even wanted to, all she could think of was her poor baby being kept alive by all those machines. Poor, tiny, Mason was almost lost in all the tubes, wires and whirring, clicking, and beeping machines that surrounded his bed. Dr. McPherson cleared his throat, "I think Brett might listen to Mason's father, and who knows maybe Mason would respond to the sound of his father's voice." Sarah flashed an angry look at the green-eyed doctor, "Why would he respond to that man and not me?" "I didn't mean to upset you Mrs. Smith, but at this point I'm ready to try anything to save both of our sons." The fire in Sarah's eyes quickly faded, "I'm sorry…" her voice faded away. Patricia reached over and took Sarah's hand, "Just listen to what my husband has to say please." Her voice was high pitched and her tone desperate. Sarah squeezed Patricia's hand and smiled weakly, "Go ahead, but I don't see how we could even get David here, he's in prison." Straightening his posture Dr. McPherson told them his plan, "One of my close, and personal friends is the Governor of Kentucky, he has the clout and power to do what we need, he can not only release David, but he could give him a full pardon." Sarah tensed and she felt the anger begin to well up again but then the image of Mason lying pale and deathly on his hospital bed washed the anger away. "Go ahead, if David can help your son walk and my baby come out of that coma, you have my permission." Patricia McPherson couldn't contain her gratitude and leaning far over in her seat she hugged the smaller Sarah to her in a powerful hug as she wept, "Thank you! Thank you so much!" Dr. McPherson let out a sigh of relief and was surprised at how tense he'd been without realizing it, "Governor Thompson wants to hear you give your permission first hand before he'll start the ball rolling." Dr. Shuemaker pushed the phone to the edge of his desk. Dr. McPherson stood and lifting the receiver dialed his childhood friend in the state's capital. After giving the receptionist his name he waited, "Hello Joseph, it's Kyle McPherson, I have Mrs. Smith right here." He handed the phone to Sarah. Sarah sniffled and wiped her eyes before she took the receiver, "Hello?" she nodded once. "Yes, I understand, and I give you my full permission." She listened for a moment longer then handed the phone back to Dr. McPherson, "He wants to talk to you." Sitting on the edge of Dr. Shuemaker's desk, Dr. McPherson listened for long moments then nodded and smiled tightly, "Thanks Joseph, this means a lot to me. Bye now." Turning to the two teary mothers Dr. McPherson smiled wanly, "He's going to get the paperwork together. David should be out of prison by tomorrow." As Patricia hugged her husband Sarah looked outside through the slats of the window blinds, outside the world was bright with sun and the whole world went on as if nothing were wrong. She'd felt so guilty after she'd heard about the wreck; she realized she'd been so full of self-pity she hadn't paid the least bit of attention to her son or what he might be going through since David had gone to prison. At first she'd blamed David for all the misery she was feeling but now she knew some of the blame was her own and all of the blame for ignoring Mason all these months was completely hers. 'Please Lord,' she said in a silent prayer, 'let David bring my baby back.' June 31, 1977 David Smith sat in the empty gym, located in the bowels of the Kentucky State Penitentiary finishing the last series of reps that would complete his workout. For almost two years he'd come to the featureless weight room three times a week to shape his body through vigorous weight lifting sessions. The results were evident in his massive biceps and forearms, his hairy pectorals were square slabs of muscles topping a torso that was taut with well defined abs that ended in a "V" below his slender waist. The thick muscles of his legs and high round ass stretched the nylon fabric of his blue workout shorts hugging him like a second skin. The outline of his heavy balls and thick cock bulged the crotch of the shorts outward, putting his sex on proud display. Not bad for a thirty-five-year-old, not that there were any admirers except for the skinny guard who shadowed him. Because sex offenders were so despised by the general prison population, inmates like David were kept in segregated cells to protect them from being seriously injured or in some cases killed by the other inmates. David and those like him slept in separate cells and took their meals, showers and exercise sessions alone. So in a prison population of thousands David was almost always alone except for the guard assigned to him when he was out of his cell. If it weren't for the kindness of the guard Franklin Horner and the letters he brought from Mason, David believed he would have lost his mind long ago. With a grunt he placed the fifty-pound dumbbell back on the rack and snagging the towel from the top of the weight rack headed for the showers. A guard named Moody stood just outside the open showers, leaning against the tan tiled wall as David soaped his body. Standing under the stinging spray in the cavernous room he watched the cluster of soap bubbles slide over and down the ripples, swells and bulges of his muscles. The suds traveled down his torso, his hips, thighs and calves before slipping over the arch of his feet and between his toes. David found himself staring at the tiny bubbles as they made their escape from the prison's walls by swirling down the holes in the round silver drain set in the concrete floor. "I wish I could follow you guys out of here," David said quietly to the small islands of bubbles swirling away to freedom on a sheet of spinning water. After he finished showering David stood toweling his body dry when he heard his guard Moody talking to someone. That was unusual because the sex offenders were almost always kept separate, so the only person Moody could be talking to would be another guard. Wrapping the towel around his waist he walked around the short dividing wall. Moody a tall, dark haired, scraggly, thirty six year old man stood talking to another beefy guard everyone called Bear. Bear was a massive man with arms the size of most men's legs and a big barrel chest and every exposed part of his body was covered in dark wiry hair. Bear was holding a young Latino prisoner by the upper arm as he talked to Moody. The Latino youth looked toward David and tried to act unconcerned and unafraid but it was obvious the boy was terrified. "Got us a little car thief here," Bear said to Moody nodding at the young Latino, "Pedro and some of his buddies were running a good sized stolen car ring just outside Peyton city limits, got him on a list of charges a mile long. Aint that right Pedro?" Pedro stood and stared off into the distance ignoring everyone. "I heard you were down here with one of the peds and thought you might want to help break in Pedro here." Bear smacked the flat of his hand across Pedro's firm rounded ass. "Seems he's got a big mouth and thinks he's a real Billy-bad-ass, thought we might see how bad he was with a big cock up his ass." Moody's gray eyes glittered with excitement, "I'm always willing to lend a hand in keeping a jailbird in his place," his eyes were already trying to undress the young Latino. "Hey Smith!" Moody called out without taking his eyes off Pedro. "Yeah?" David said with a sigh. He knew what was coming and though he hated the idea he knew it would be pointless to argue. Arguing with a guard only got your head cracked and maybe a few of your teeth knocked out, and that was if you were lucky. "What do you say to giving little Pedro here a taste of prison life?" Moody asked moving closer to Pedro and unzipping the front of the Latino's blue prison jumpsuit down to the navel. David looked at the lightly muscled chest and stomach of the Latino youth, his skin was the color of heavily creamed coffee, he was short and his face was handsome with full lips and a strong jaw. "Sure," Pedro shot David a look filled with hate and disgust, "You fuckin' fag! You aint even gonna touch my ass!" David stepped up to the other prisoner and whispered, "If you'd rather, these two guards will do it instead of me, but they usually use their billy clubs," he closed his forefinger and thumb in a circle and taking his other hand rammed a finger in and out of the hole. Pedro's dark gaze circled from the two faces of the guards and back to David's. The guards looked like real pricks and he didn't doubt what the white prisoner was saying but he'd be damned if he was going to let anyone put anything up his ass! "Fuck all of you pussies!" Bear moved so quickly his arm was a blur as he slammed his meaty fist into the base of Pedro's skull. With a cry of startled pain Pedro went down on his hands and knees, hitting the concrete floor hard. "You'd better listen to prisoner Smith there," Moody warned, "I'm just dying to see if I can get some punk's asshole to swallow this whole thing," he held up the thick, long black billy club, "That is without having to get stitches." Bear jerked the youth back to his feet by pulling on the cuffs that locked the boy's hands behind his back. "So big man what's it gonna be? Ole Smith's dick? Or Mr. Billy Club?" Looking down at his feet to hide his humiliation and the tears of frustration in his eyes Pedro mumbled, "I'll take Smith." Bear thumped the back of Pedro's skull, "What's that? We didn't hear you?" "I'll take Smith!" Pedro said louder. Bear's meaty face split in a wide grin, "Looks like we're gonna have a little show Moody!" "Let's go girls!" Moody said motioning toward the showers. David took off his towel and draped it back over the dividing wall as the two guards took Pedro's cuffs off then ordered the young Latino to strip. Even though he didn't like what was happening he couldn't help but feel a thrill of sexual excitement as Pedro pulled off his prison jumpsuit to reveal his lean, hard toffee colored body. "Smith is already getting a boner!" Bear announced. Pedro looked over at the naked prisoner and his jaw dropped, the guy had a monster piece of meat swelling and growing between his legs. "I can't take that!" Moody pushed Pedro toward David, "You'll have to learn!" David led the shaking Latino to the tiled wall and leaned the young man's back against it and whispered in his ear, "What ever you do in this hell hole, never let anyone see that you're scared, not the guards or the inmates. If you do they'll rip your intestines out through your ass and shove them back down your throat." Pedro snorted and rolled his dark eyes, "You're scaring me!" "I warned you," David said and turned the youth around so that he was facing the wall and had him bend at the waist. "I'll try and get you ready but it's still going to hurt." "Just fucking get it over with!" Pedro snapped. David sank to his knees behind the bent over Latino and using his hands he spread the smooth round cheeks of Pedro's virgin ass. Lapping with his tongue like a dog he began to rim the young Latino car thief's puckered asshole. At first Pedro squirmed in discomfort, it felt weird having a man's tongue poking and licking around his shitter but then something strange happened, he started to actually like it and his cock started to swell and lengthen. David stiffened his tongue and began to jab the pointed tip deeper and deeper into the youth's wet pucker, working his tongue further and further into the softer tissues beyond the boy's spastic sphincter. "Aw, shit!" Pedro moaned as his fat seven incher reached full erection, throbbing and bumping against the muscles of his stomach. The white guy's tongue jabbing in and out of his ass was actually turning him on! He wondered if this made him a fag, then David replaced his ramming tongue with his thick forefinger and Pedro forgot about everything except the sensations. Twisting his finger as he thrust it in and out of the Latino's tight, slick ass David tried to stretch the kid's hole, preparing Pedro for his ten-inch cock. "Yeah! Finger fuck his ass!" Moody urged walking in slow circles around the pair of naked inmates. Bear stood leaning his back against the far wall yanking on his half-hard pud. "Uummmmm!" Pedro moaned and pushed his ass back to meet David's plunging finger. Keeping his finger buried in Pedro's hot hole David stood and gripped the base of his throbbing cock, "Okay, here comes the real thing, just try and relax." Pedro opened his sex glazed eyes and looked over his shoulder, "What?" David placed the fat plum colored head of his cock against Pedro's spit shined hole, "Try and relax," David said as he began to press his hips forward pushing the head of his cock harder and harder against the Latino's virgin hole. "You're too big!" Pedro grunted as the pressure of David's fat cock against his sphincter increased, trying to push it's way inside his ass. "Relax," David crooned running his hands up and down the smooth, hard skin of Pedro's back. Then he felt it happen, the tip of his cockhead was forcing its way into Pedro, stretching his ring of sphincter muscles wider and wider. "Aaaahhh!" Pedro cried out in pain, "You're killing me! Take it out! Take it out!" "Shut up pussy boy!" Moody barked. "Go on Smith, ram that big dick up his ass!" "Relax!" David grunted as sweat began to bead over his entire body. He could feel the spongy mushroom head of his cock forcing the Latino's ass wider and wider until finally the flared head disappeared into the hot soft tissues beyond. "Aw, Fuck!" Pedro shouted, "It hurts man!" "Try and relax," David panted as he began to push again, forcing the shaft of his cock to sink deeper and deeper into Pedro's incredibly tight, hot, virgin hole. He could actually feel the kid's ass muscles being forced apart by the hard shaft of his cock as he sank in deeper and deeper. Pedro was panting in short bursts of breath, "Uhhh, Uhhhh, Uhhhh!" resting his hot forehead against the cool tiles of the shower wall. It felt like the guy was shoving a baseball bat up his ass! The pain was a burning, scorching ball of electricity that ripped through him threatening to unravel his sanity. David was panting as well never letting up but slowly forcing his ten inch cock deeper and deeper into Pedro's spasming ass until at last his hips hit the smooth flesh of Pedro's ass and his low hanging balls thumped against the back of Pedro's hairy legs. "Take it out!" Pedro wailed, his voice echoing and ricocheting through the cavernous shower room. "You're fuckin' killing me!" "We're just getting started!" Moody crowed his gray eyes flashing with sexual heat. Reaching into his shirt pocket he pulled out a tube of KY-Jelly and uncapping it squeezed a large blob of the clear lubricant onto the fat end of his billy club. Then putting the tube away again he placed the blunt, greasy end of the club between David's ass cheeks. David winced as Moody rammed the end of the thick club into his ass, forcing it in rather than easing it in slowly. Moody was a pain freak and one of the guards he really hated. He tried to relax his ass muscles as Moody rammed the club deeper and deeper up his unprepared ass. "Oh, hell yeah!" Moody panted as he watched at least eight thick inches of his black billy club disappear up David's ass! He fumbled with his fly and pulled his hard cock free. "Go on!" he snapped at David, "Fuck his ass!" Trying to ignore the pain the billy club up his ass was causing him David began to ease his cock in and out of Pedro's ass in short slow thrusts. He kept up the slow pace until his own ass grew used to the guard's thick billy club.. Then he leaned his body over Pedro's bent back and whispered, "I'm gonna have to really start fucking you now, so try and relax." Pedro didn't reply but raised his head away from the tiles and nodded. He focused his attention on making his tight ass muscles relax when David began to withdraw and plunge back in his full ten inches. "Awwwww!" he shouted out his pain. "Ride that club!" Moody chanted to David as he jacked his own cock, "Fuck his ass! Ride that big black billy! Fuck his ass hard!" Each time David withdrew his cock from Pedro's ass he pushed the club deeper into his own and each time he thrust his cock into Pedro the club slid from his own ass. At first the sensation was painful and distracting but as his ass adjusted to the invasive club he began to enjoy the feeling of having something fucking his ass while he fucked Pedro. Pedro was slowly getting used to the big, fat cock plowing in and out of his ass and the erection he'd lost had started to come back. To his surprise he was actually starting to get turned on! Leaning on the far wall Bear was really pounding the shaft of his fat, six-incher as he watched David's thick cock plunging in and out of Pedro's smooth ass while Moody rammed the black billy up David's ass. He could feel the tight hot sensation in his groin, "I'm gonna cum!" he bellowed. David picked up his tempo, throwing the full length of his cock in and out of Pedro's tight, pulling hole, and riding the billy club harder and harder up his own ass as he did. "Are you close?" he asked Moody through gritted teeth. "You gonna blow your load up his ass?" Moody asked eagerly, his skinny face shiny with sweat. "I'm almost there," David warned, then he reached down and gripped Pedro's fat seven-inch boner and began to jack his fist up and down the hot hard shaft in time with his thrusts. "Cum with me!" Pedro tossed his dark head and his eyes rolled back in his head, "Aw, fuck me! I'm cumming!" As Pedro's cock began to throw long streamers of white cum onto the tiled wall and shower floor, David felt his own cock squeezed by Pedro's ass so tight he couldn't move it begin to shoot hot globs of thick cum deep into the Latino's guts. "Fuck! Here it comes!" Moody's eyes were almost bugging from their sockets as his own skinny cock began to spew quick jets of jizz onto David's legs and ass. "Shit yeah!" Pedro thought he was going to pass out from the intensity of his climax, his cock kept shooting out thick ropes of cum as David's fat cock pumped hot slick jizz up his ass again and again. The cavernous shower room echoed with the four men's grunts and groans as their orgasms ran their course. Cum splashed onto the wall and spattered in thick drops onto the concrete floor until they all fell silent, drained and spent. July 1, 1977 One day later David sat on his bunk in his tiny cell located in Cellblock C anxiously waiting for the familiar tread of the guard Franklin's footsteps. David passed the time doodling in a small sketchbook; the corner of his latest letter to Mason peeked from beneath the sheets of drawing paper. As David sketched his pencil lead made scritch-scratch noises that echoed in the sparse cell. The face he was sketching was the face of his son Mason, or at least the way he remembered Mason; almost two years had passed since he'd last seen him, surely the boy had changed in that time. He tried to imagine the changes that would have occurred in a maturing boy from age thirteen to fifteen and adjusted his sketch to reflect those changes. He paused in mid-stroke, his pencil frozen over Mason's eyes. Down the long concrete walkway that ran down the center of Cellblock C the heavy tread of shoes could be heard echoing up and down it's hollow length. Strange, David thought as the footsteps grew louder, how over time he had adapted his hearing to recognize several different guards by the sound of their footfalls alone. He knew the heavy tread approaching now belonged to the tall and powerfully built black guard, Franklin Horner. For nearly two years now Franklin would casually walk by David's cell on the first of every month and give a verbal signal that he was ready to take David's illegal correspondence and deliver it to Mason as well as deliver a new letter from Mason to him. It was an exchange that took only seconds and the slight of hand the men used would have impressed a seasoned magician. David's stomach knotted with anxiety as it always did at this time, he pressed his face close to the bars, looking and waiting for Franklin to walk by. If either of them were caught there would be hell to pay. At last he saw the tops of Franklin's highly polished black shoes flashing beneath the hem of his uniform pants legs. "How's it hangin' Smith?" Franklin gave the signal as he paused in front of David's cell door. "About ten inches!" David responded with his own signal. "Hot damn and pass the ham!" Franklin said with a deep laugh, "Give me five my man!" Keeping the tiny folded square of his letter hidden in his palm David reached through the bars extending his hand toward the towering black guard. "Take it easy sleazy!" Franklin said slapping his open palm against David's. As their hands slid apart each transferred a tightly folded note to the other's palm. As he walked away whistling to himself Franklin scratched his wrist and in the process slid David's note under his watchband. David stood at the bars of his cell door listening to Franklin's retreating footsteps and his tuneless whistling until both faded away to silence. The next ten minutes were the most anxious for David because as Franklin clocked out to end his shift there was always the chance that David's illegal letter could be discovered. Even the guards were searched before leaving the prison; no one was trusted in a place like this. Keeping a careful eye on his watch David counted down the ten minutes then hurried to stand on the seat of the toilet on the back wall. By leaning far over to the left he could just barely peek out the corner of the small barred window set high in the cell wall. When he saw Franklin's bulky form emerge from the employees exit and head for the parking lot below David sighed with relief and jumped down to the floor. Now that he could breath again David quickly unfolded Mason's latest letter, eager to read his son's writing. Holding the paper he shook his head and frowned, it wasn't from Mason at all; it was written by the guard Franklin. He read the short note: 'A week ago Mason was in a serious car wreck. He's alive but he's in a coma. Keep your cool and don't do anything stupid, there's been talk about a pardon from the Governor, maybe it's a rumor, maybe not, just don't do anything crazy. Hang in there. I'm sorry about Mason, he was a good kid." Suddenly the man who looked powerful enough to crush rocks in his fists crumpled like a puppet with severed strings. David sat heavily on the edge of his bed and clutching the letter to his heart he cried without making a sound. In prison you never showed weakness, and the only weakness David Smith had was the love and passion that burned inside him for Mason. As his tears flowed one splashed down on the open sketchbook, falling onto the image of Mason's sketched face. Twenty minutes later he quickly shredded the letter and flushed it down the toilet. He hated doing it but he couldn't afford to be caught with illegal letters during one of the many cell searches the warden called for at random intervals. David watched the shreds of paper swirl away and turned from the toilet to find a prison guard and a man dressed in a gray pinstripe suit standing outside his cell. His heart leapt into his throat, he was busted! "David Smith," the prison guard Moody called through the bars, "this is your lucky day!" Confused, David shook his head, "I don't understand." "You've been pardoned by Governor Thompson," the man in the suit said, "I'm Jack Krauss, your attorney." A few hours later David blinked at the bright July sun as he and Jack Krauss left the prison driving through the huge iron gate that clanged shut noisily behind them as they drove on. He was dressed in the clothes he'd been wearing the day he'd been arrested over two years ago, and they were almost uncomfortably tight. He'd gained a lot of muscle mass and the t-shirt looked too small, stretching tightly across the hills of his chest, hugging the six pack of his stomach and his biceps nearly ripping the seams out of the sleeves. His pants were the same, skintight, hugging every curve and swell of his ass, legs, and crotch. The drive to Martin County Hospital passed by in a blur of colors that David barely noticed; he couldn't believe he'd actually been pardoned and released. Jack Krauss had explained everything but it still floored him. He was free! "This is where I get off." Jack Krauss said pulling up to the Hospital Entrance, "Congratulations on your new lease on life Mister Smith!" David opened the car door and stepped out but then turned and stuck his head back into the car, "How are you going to bill me for all this?" Krauss smiled, "Dr. McPherson has already taken care of all that." David nodded, "Well, thank you for everything!" David stood for long moments at the main doors that led into the hospital trying to brace himself for everything he was about to encounter, not the least of which would be his wife. With a deep breath he stepped through the doors and walked to the Information counter where two gray haired women sat smiling blandly. After getting directions to Intensive Care Unit he turned and began to walk down a series of long corridors. His shoes seemed to click too loudly on the tiled floor and the lights seemed too bright, he hated hospitals! Then it him, a sharp, sterile odor of medication and alcohol, it reminded him of illness and death. He only had to back track once and finally arrived at the double doors marked, "Intensive Care." David's heart was hammering in his chest, like a trapped bird throwing itself against the bars of its cage as he looked for and found the room marked 132. Stepping into the room his blood seemed to freeze in his veins turning his heart into a solid mass of ice in his chest. Lying draped with white sheets in the hospital bed, Mason's small body was dwarfed by the large array of machines whirring, clicking, and beeping around him. Wires, tubes and hoses connected his little boy to a respirator that wheezed and huffed as it breathed for him, a heart monitor displayed Mason's steady heartbeats with beeps and a small screen that displayed a bouncing green blip in time with the beeps. Fluids of different colors dripped into tubes that ran into Mason's hands that lay above the sheets straight and flat at his sides. David rushed to the bed and fell to his knees, stroking the only patch of skin that wasn't covered in bandages or electrodes, Mason's pale cheek. His little boy's flesh was warm beneath his touch. "Mason? It's your Dad." "Thank you for coming," Sarah said rising from a chair sitting in a shadowed corner of the room. David turned his hurt and confused eyes to his wife, "Our baby…" was all he could manage before the tears came. He was surprised when he felt Sarah's small hand on his shoulder, comforting him as he cried out his grief and confusion. After David gained control of his emotions he and Sarah sat talking for well over an hour before Sarah said, "I think it's time you went to see Brett." David nodded and rose from beside Mason's bed, his blue eyes gazed down at his frail looking little boy and with a quick kiss to Mason's cheek he left the room and headed for Brett McPherson's room. Rapping his knuckles on the closed door David waited. "Come in," came a deep male voice from inside. David opened the door and slipped inside quickly closing it behind him. When he turned around he found himself facing a handsome well-muscled young man sitting in a wheelchair. So this was the young man Mason had written so glowingly about, it hadn't taken him long to figure out that Mason had been falling in love with Brett. "Hello," David said to his rival for Mason's love, "I'm David." Brett recognized David immediately, he could see where Mason had gotten a lot of his good looks, "I know who you are." Brett said coolly. "Your Father wanted me to talk to you," David began. "Look, I know why my Dad sprang you from prison, he thinks you can convince me to walk again." Brett shook his head, "What a joke!" David tried to think of the best approach, he wanted things to go smoothly on their first meeting. "Brett listen..." "You're wasting your time here," Brett said turning his chair so that his back was to David, "shouldn't you be out lurking around a playground somewhere? I hear there's one just down the street, Martin Elementary, just your type!" To Be Continued... (Lyrics to 'Don't Fear The Reaper' are copyrights of Blue Oyster Cult and Elektra records 1976. No copyright infringement is intended or implied.)