Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 19:11:17 EDT
From: DOItByHandx2@aol.com
Subject: Jason and I: Moving In with Dad

When I was five and my sister two, our parents got divorced. Our mother was
granted custody of us. Shortly after the divorce, she re-married a man several
years her junior. He was a very mean man giving us kids a life of anxiety;
constantly putting us down and yelling at us. Ten years later, when I was
fifteen, I was in such a rage about the way we were being treated that I went
to the judge and asked to have my father granted custody of us. The judge
split us up; I to be with my father and Sis to stay with mother and her
husband. If I hadn't made the move, I might have killed the man.

Life with my father was much different from what I had been used to and it
took me some time to adjust to his laid-back approach to life. We lived in a
two bedroom, one bath apartment. It was big enough for the two of us. I had my
own room and I began to relax and not be apprehensive about every little noise
that might have been caused by my stepfather. I went to school during the day
and played seasonal sports after class. Dad left for work early, just after I
got up, and he stayed at his place of employment long hours. Meals were simple
affairs cooked up by him. I also learned to cook a little.

As I said earlier, my father was a laid-back man, and although our life
together was a good one, we were more like buddies than father and son. I
missed his affection, as I had missed a male's affection from when I was a
little boy. But that was soon to change. Dad had a younger brother who was a
career Marine. He was a MSGT in the Corps and had been stationed at an NATO
Base in Ankara, Turkey. It was time for him to be rotated to another base and
enroute to the new one, he was able to take some of the leave coming to him.
He spent it with us as my father and he had not seen each other for many years.

His name was Jason; he was 35 and in very good shape. He had a no-nonsense
approach to the problems of life and people. The two bedrooms in the apartment
each had a double bed in them. It had been decided that Jason would sleep with
me, leaving Dad free to have lady "visitors" as the mood descended upon him.

Jason arrived late in the afternoon and after he unpacked his stuff and changed
into some civies, we sat around and talked until Dad came home. Then after a
few beers were broken out and I was allowed a sip or two. We ate dinner late
and soon we were all headed for bed after a full day.

I normally slept in my skivvies and climbed into bed after Jason and I had
decided who was going to sleep on which side of the bed. He removed his clothes
and was soon down to just his shorts, green as grass. Through the front slit
of his shorts, I could see dark hair and the base of his cock. Lights out, we
were both soon asleep. During the night I half-woke up and found that I had
snuggled up to my uncle while he quietly snored away. I was content. A while
later I woke up and found that he had put his arms around me and was holding me
close to his chest. I felt the feeling I had long yearned for, affection, the
feeling that I was not alone in the world. I put my arms around him and went
back to sleep.

Nothing was said the next day, nor was anything ever said. As long as Jason
was with us, he slept with me and held me close. He had to have felt the need I
had for affection. Also, it might have been that he needed some affection, too.
When he arrived at his new base, he would sometimes send me postcards which
portrayed a soldier, by himself, looking into the window of a home with a happy
family inside. I always felt that the soldier was he. He mentioned to me
once that I reminded him of Tonio Kroger. I thought that Kroger was a fellow GI
of his. It was many years later that I came across the short stories of Thomas
Mann and one of them was "Tonio Kroger." A story about a man always alone,
always on the outside looking in.

When Jason's thirty years were up, he was retired from active duty and I never
heard from his again. I think of him always and have made sure that my sons all
have the affection that is their right and which I was denied. I have never
told anyone about Jason, not even my father, not even my wife. But Jason was
the great man in my life. Where-ever you are, Jason, thank you and I love you.