Date: Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:42:59 -0700 (PDT) From: don mumford Subject: MENTORING PAUL PEMBROKE Part 1 of 2 (Gilbert) by Donny Mumford MENTORING PAUL PEMBROKE By Donny Mumford *****Part one of two***** Graduating high school was almost anti-climatic. There was never any fear of failure, my name has been a fixture on the Honor Roll all through Middle School and High School. My extra curricular activities include Junior and Senior class vice president, three years of co-captaining the basketball team, reporter for the school newspaper, various other lesser positions in school politics, and a few memberships to school clubs including the LGBT group. It was titled LGBT even though we didn't have a transgendered member, not one that we knew about anyway... mostly everyone considered themselves bi. My grades, SAT scores, and extra curricular stuff looked good on my college applications and got me accepted to six different college the best known being Yale, although me being accepted there is mostly a legacy acceptance because my late father graduated Yale in the class of nineteen-seventy-two. I'll probably go there. I've qualified for some good financial aid and with my Uncle's help, I now have tuition necessary to make it happen... no sweat. Plus, I've saved some money from the summer and part-time job I've had with my Uncle for the past six years. During my High School years I've made about the normal number of friendships although my best friend, Gene Barkley, did dump me in eleventh grade when I came out to the world as bisexual. He claimed there was no way he'd be best friends with a queer and just like that we weren't speaking and that's been the case up to this very day. This past year we warmed-up enough to at least nod as we pass in the hallway, but that's as close as we've ever come to being friends again. Obviously it must not have been as strong a friendship as I'd thought it was... that's not a particularly uncommon situation among teenagers though. I won't say it didn't hurt at the time because it hurt badly, but I'm over it now. So, I'm known as an OK guy in school, one who's kinda popular but at graduation there weren't any big plans for a group of us to get together this summer. It was more like "Great to have known ya, good luck, see you around, kick ass in college" ... that sort of thing. The summer stretches out before me as a blank page except for Gilbert Hollis who I'll get to momentarily. Other than him, I have no fun goals to pursue this summer and no expectations that any will develop... I'll work for my Uncle of course and everything else is up for grabs. My bisexual status, by the way, is erroneous as are many bisexual statuses... I'm gay, not bisexual. The qualifier to my gay status is that until very recently I was a very inexperienced gay boy. As a junior I cautiously experimented with some gay sex... my partner was a rude dude named Yosh Polinski. He was not gay according to him, but he let me blow him one beery night at a party. Not at the party per se of course, but we'd been at the party talking together and one thing led to another which led to us being in his pickup truck with me sucking his smelly cock. Yosh knew I was in the LGBT club so that's how it started... him insulting me, and that led to a dare, which led to me sucking him off to climax. My first time and it was exciting enough that I spunked in my own pants too. Yosh wouldn't allow me to pull it out, said that would be too gay. He's shorter than me by about six inches but outweighs me by at least twenty pounds... that's twenty pounds of hard fat, not blubber. He was a tough kid back then, probably still is although I haven't seen him for over a year because his family moved to Montana, and good luck to em' too. I sucked Yosh off maybe two dozen times before he moved and it got pretty nasty near the end because, while he liked me sucking his pecker a whole lot, he couldn't really see himself as bi or gay so he took it out on me. His thing was slapping my face while I sucked him off. It got so bad it wasn't worth it to me anymore and I refused to take his cock in my mouth one day which led to a physical fight. The fight eventually got ugly too because he also couldn't see himself losing a fight to a faggot, but he wasn't quite tough enough to do anything about it. We were equally matched and I had my own motivation... he didn't want to lose to a faggot, and I was out for revenge for all the face slaps he'd laid on me the past couple of months. Before it was over there were a lot of facial cuts and bruises on both sides because it was mostly a fist fight, rather than a wrestling match. The final blow was delivered my me and it broke off two of his bottom teeth at the gum line, breaking a bone in my hand at the same time. My hand was in a cast for six inconvenient weeks and daily the cast served as a reminder of how much I didn't like Yosh Polinski. No repercussions from the fight except looks full of hatred were exchanged by the two combatants right up to the day he moved... obviously our mutually satisfying oral sex days were behind us. He never spoke to me again... a lot of that going around for me in the eleventh grade. The thing Yosh didn't realize is that me being slim doesn't mean I'm weak. I don't have bulging muscles, but they're significant just the same. In addition to High School extra curricular activities I work as a carpenter for my Uncle Tony's construction company... we build houses. Construction carpentry is hard work and builds serious muscles. It also teaches a skill that will serve you well all your life even if you don't pursue carpentry as a vocation, which I'm not intending to do. I've worked for him the past six summers as well as most of my other free time on weekends and even after school at times... school and school activities come first of course, but after that I work. It's a matter of helping my mother pay a few bills certainly, but also I've been able to save quite a bit of money for college. The money is wonderful of course, but I also like doing the work, aside from the money. A lot of carpentry is done individually, without a lot of conversation and I kind of like that aspect of it. My carpentry job is another reason I haven't developed a group of real friends... I'm not around the Mall a lot or hanging out at some fast food joint, I'm working. Kids I call my friends are more like friendly associates in school than real friends, if you know what I mean. I don't really mind that so much to be honest. There are very few kids I know that I'd like to be close with. My sex life after Yosh was nonexistent until the second semester this year when another member of the LGBT group and me had a one month attempt to connect with something more than our dicks, but it just didn't happen. During that month we tried a few forms of gay sex together and I discovered I liked it all quite a lot. My partner for that, Mark McBride, and I are both versatile where anal sex is concerned and we explored that a few times. It was strictly us doing the act without benefit of any show of affection, so it wasn't great... just good. We finally more or less mutually agreed that while it had been sexy, it wasn't really happening between us. I think Mark found a better partner than me, that's what I think really happened... not that I was broken hearted about it or anything like that, although I did miss the sex. That's all there was to my sex life until about a month ago... then I met Gilbert. By the time I met Gilbert my High school responsibilities were pretty much wrapped-up as far as I was concerned, there were two remaining minor final exams to deal with... nothing I needed to worry about. All the extra curricular stuff was over with too so I was pretty much chillin' and just waiting for the actual graduation ceremony to take place, which at the time was a little more than three weeks away. On a Friday afternoon I'm coming out of the barbershop and there's this thin, short kid leaning up against a street-side lamppost smoking a cigarette. I could only see his profile but that was enough to tell me that this kid is seriously cute. Initially I thought he was a girl, that's how slight and cute he is but the cargo pants and T shirt indicated "boy"... plus, the real give-away was his hand in his pocket, obviously playing with himself. Normally I'm not on the prowl, but this kid intrigued me, captured me might be closer to what happened. His age could have been anywhere from fourteen to, I don't know... maybe sixteen, but something about his posture and the manner he smoked told me he was older than he looked. His black, shortish hair was moussed-up so that it was off his head in soft looking spikes... not sharp spikes. It was much too dramatic a look for me but worked on him. He had the smoothest possible olive complexion with that cute as a button profile I mentioned. Little pug ski nose, little chin, kind of a thin neck... I don't know, he's the cutest boy I've ever seen, that's all. I watched him take a drag off his filter cigarette, hold it in his lungs a few seconds that blow it out through his nose and mouth at the same time. He made a small "oh" with his lips so the smoke came out in a narrow funnel. I was fascinated by him, then I hear someone say, "Excuse me, can I get by..." and I'm like, "What... huh?" and realize I'm blocking the entrance to the barbershop. I'd been just standing there staring which is extremely unlike me, I don't stare for fear I'll get caught doing it... if I glance up and someone happens to catch my eye I immediately look away. Anyway, I excused myself and began walking down the sidewalk toward where I'd parked my Mom's Camero, but wanting one last glance at the kid so I looked back and the boy was now staring right back at me. Two big dark eyes staring into my blue ones, he had a little frown across his narrow eyebrows but the moment our eyes met the frown turned instantly into the cutest smile I've ever seen. I was totally captivated... he smiled with his bow-shaped lips as well as with his eyes and even his body too... that's what it seemed like. The kid started walking towards me before I even realized I was smiling back at him, both of us maintaining eye contact as he walked... I felt like I was hypnotized. As he approached me he held his cigarette between the index and middle fingers of his left hand out away from his body slightly... then two steps from me he raised his right hand to shake mine and said, in this amazingly boyish, almost musical voice, "Hi, I'm Gilbert... we know each other, but I'm sorry to say I can't remember where we met." My right hand automatically went to his and we shook once with a nice firm handshake, then let go. His hand was astonishingly thin and small compared to mine. He was no taller than five foot-five and very slim... maybe a twenty-four inch waist, if that. Small but beautiful, really a beautiful boy... his eyes were almost black... they were deep pools of sincerity... smiling warmth. Looking at him caused me to grin stupidly for no real reason, certainly not from what he said. I mumbled, "I don't think I'd forget you, so I don't believe we've ever met". The boy smiled indulgently, like I was a bit slow perhaps. He was the most relaxed, confident little fellow you can imagine... he goes, "Oh, I choose to take that as a compliment although it doesn't have to be, does it?" and he laughed with that boyish voice making it almost be a giggle. I scratched my cheek with the back of my fingernails three or four times trying to think of something to say. Gilbert thought of something, he goes, "Here, let's step over to the storefront so we don't block the sidewalk" he takes hold of my wrist and leads me over near the front of Rialdi's Sub Shop where he takes a drag off his cigarette and as the smoke drifts out asked, "What's your name?" I go, "Jon Pembroke, you in high school?" He laughs and says, "Graduated last year, but I know, I look very young... I get that question a lot." This was almost impossible to believe so I skeptically ask, "What, you graduated ahead of schedule... you one of those brainy kids?" He laughs again and says, "No, I graduated when I was eighteen, the usual age, I'm twenty now..." he's rustling in his back pocket and comes up with his wallet to show me his drivers license. Jesus, it says he turned twenty last month. I look up from the picture to him and back down at the picture, all the time thinking... twenty-year-old Gilbert Hollis doesn't appear to have a trace of a whisker anywhere on his baby face. He had an awesomely cute picture on his license, except in the picture he looks even younger than he does in person... good luck to Gilbert trying to get served in a bar a year from now when he's twenty-one. I was shaking my head staring at his license as he's stepped on his cigarette butt and said, "You just got your haircut at Supercuts... that's never a good idea, Jon. You should have gone to Hollis Men's Haircutting on sixty-ninth street. It's my fathers salon, for men only... it's where I cut, style, color etc etc etc men's and boy's hair." He laughs at that like it was funny, I looked puzzled so he added, "You're kinda quiet, huh?" I say, "Did you graduate from Upper Darby High School, I don't remember ever seeing you at school last year". He grinned and says, "I went to Bonner, the Catholic school... you still don't believe I graduated, do you?" and he squeezed my side in a good natured manner, still grinning... his face shining with happiness. What an unusual, but delightful kid... and believe me, I don't use the word "delightful" but maybe once a year, none-the-less I find Gilbert to be just that... delightful. I say, "You want to get a coffee, there's a Starbucks around the corner?" Gilbert says, "No, I hate Starbucks' bitter coffee. I'm waiting for the bus to get a ride back to Lansdowne where I live. Come with me and I'll make you a good cup of coffee in my apartment... plus I'll fix your haircut for you, for free." That startled me, "What?... my haircut? It's no good?" He laughed out loud and then said, "It's horrible, those ladies don't know shit about barbering... they're hacks when it comes to guys haircuts. Let's stand at the bus stop, it'll be coming any minute now, come on". I couldn't believe the words coming out of my mouth as I said, "I'll give you a ride, my cars in the parking lot up from here. It's the least I can do for a free haircut" I was grinning as hard at Gilbert as he was at me... he pats me on the ass back and says, "Cool... let's go." This all happened three weeks ago now but I still get all squirmy thinking back on the whole thing. In the car Gilbert once again insisted we knew each other somehow and said he'd remember sooner or later, claimed he had a good memory for faces. As I drove he directed me to a new apartment complex where I parked in the spot assigned for his unit. He'd been in town dropping his own car off for service, that's why he was waiting for the bus. He chatted easily about this and that, nothing boring but nothing important or controversial either... no talk of politics or religion or who's school is better, none of that sort of thing. I felt weird all of a sudden being inside his apartment, but he maintained the most casual and relaxed demeanor you can imagine. The place was very nice, but sparsely furnished. The few things he had looked like top quality stuff. He had the basics covered of course.. xbox 360 elite, forty-six inch flat screen plasma high definition cable TV with surround sound, and a radio/CD player/ipod player combination. Two small leather armchairs, two end tables, and a round table with two chairs in the kitchen... I couldn't see in the bedroom. "I just moved in a month ago, Jon... I'm still getting stuff for my place. Sit in one of the kitchen chairs and I'll get my barber stuff." OK, I'm thinking, this is weird, but why don't I feel even weirder about it than I do, that's the big question. Gilbert retuned and without putting a cape around me gave me an entirely new haircut that wasn't a whole lot shorter but when he was done my hair was somehow much more stylish looking. The hair clippings on my shoulders and down my neck were a pain in the ass though... Gilbert goes, "Sorry about not having something to put around you, here... lift your arms". Without thinking I did what he said and he pulled my Polo shirt over my head and off my body completely. He had a small soft towel which he used to brush hair clippings off my bare shoulders. "All better?" he asked with a cute grin. Then he used mousse to make the top of my light brown hair look like his. "Take a look, Jon... tell me what you think." While I gawked at my new self in the mirror on the wall Gilbert washed the mousse off his hands in the kitchen sink, then called out, "You want that coffee now?" I mumbled, "No thanks. Hey Gilbert, cool haircut!" and he called back "Thanks, Jon. You want to fuck me now?" My head snapped around and I'm blushing saying, "Huh... do I wanna what..?" Gilbert says, "I remember now... I didn't actually meet you, but I saw you some place. It was only for a few minutes but I remember thinking... oh my God, he's so hot. You didn't see me... you were with that ass Mark McBride at crazy Lou Bullous' birthday party a few months ago. Obviously you and Mark were together but I knew right away you two weren't made for each other in any way... I could tell." He walked out of the kitchen while he talked, my mouth was open looking into his eyes and thinking to myself... yes, I do want to fuck you. What I said was, "I'm gay, you're right about that but I'm very inexperienced so you might be wicked disappointed if we had sex together..." He walked right up to me and said, "No, I won't be disappointed. You have the cutest smile with those dimples and you're so hunky and tall... what, are you about six-three or something... and, no offense intended, but you're very innocent looking too." He spoke in that boyish voice, that plus his incredibly youthful face was spellbinding to me. I'm so captivated by this guy it's nuts, he's a year and a half older than me but looks like the cutest fourteen year old boy you can find in fifty states. I go, "Yeah, Gilbert... on second thought, I would like to fuck you... you're the cutest boy I've ever seen and the way you move that sleek body of yours is so smooth, it's sexy as hell." He's leaning against me biting his lower lip, his hand goes to my crotch and he says, "Can we do it raw? Are you safe?" Gilbert is so delicious it was difficult to stay calm but I did the best I could. I told him about the limited sex I'd experienced thus far in my life, which consisted of blowing Yosh and using condoms the few times Mark and I fucked. He said, "you poor thing" as he hugged around my waist and goosed both buttocks, then doing his laugh/giggle... not in a giddy or silly manner, he was having fun. The top of his head reached almost to my nose, he smelled fresh and new and clean. It has to be odorless mousse in his hair, when he leaned into me to hug and goose me I ran my fingers through his hair and it felt as soft as it looked and yet it went right back in place when my fingers had passed through it so I ran them through it again. Gilbert says, "It's 'Sebastian Shaper Full-On Mousse' it builds weightless body into all hair types. I used it in your hair... cool, huh?" I nod my head that it was indeed cool, then realizing he can't see my head at the moment, so I mumbled, "Cool" and he says, "Kiss me, Jon" and his head was back so my head came down and my lips felt another boy's lips for the first time in my life. Gilbert kissed back sucking on my lips slightly then pushing his tongue all around my gums under my top lip and I hugged him into me and moaned with the thrill of it... two gay boys kissing. His tongue went inside my mouth and licked my tongue a few times and my dick got very hard. I tried doing what Gilbert was doing and soon our mixed spit was wet around our mouths and even up the front of our noses. At that time it was the sexiest, hottest experience I'd ever had, hotter and sexier than fucking with Mark Mc Bride. After maybe three minutes Gilbert slid his lips across my cheek, over to my ear and, out of breath, whispered "You'll have me cumming in my pants, Jon". We slowly let go of each other, Gilbert took my hand and we slowly sauntered towards his bedroom. It was almost like a little boy had my hand, his hand was that small. Gilbert looked at me as we walked, talking "God, you're so hot. I love tall boys, just love them crazy-like. I can't wait for you to fuck me, Jon... and, we can do it raw too. I haven't fucked raw since my first time with a kid I knew from my tenth grade homeroom... well, we did it about twenty more times after the first time actually. Since then it's been with a few different boys, always with a condom. I'm so excited." And he sounded excited too, no bullshit... he was like a little kid on Christmas morning. Me, I was a little nervous... I didn't want to make a fool out of myself. As it turned-out I needn't have worried, Gilbert made it all seem as natural as breathing. His bedroom had only a double bed on a frame up against one wall, no headboard for the bed... that's it for the bedroom furniture. A door led to a full bathroom off one wall, a big window was part of the opposite wall. No curtains on the window which looked out onto a whole series of windows for neighboring apartments. This didn't bother Gilbert, we stood facing each other kissing, then removing one piece of clothing, then kissing and remove another piece of clothing. To say it was sexy and exciting would be akin to saying the Grand Canyon was a big hole in the ground. When totally naked I saw that Gilbert's hairless body was extremely well put together, muscle definition on a slight frame like his looked really hot too, and that same smooth perfect skin tone of his face extended all over him! Everything in almost miniature proportions but very noticeable... defined biceps with proportionate strong pecs, small erect pinkish nipples, barely noticeable six-pack abs, flat lower abs, very slim tight waist, and small moving mounds of calf muscles that grew a little when he goes up on his toes. Like everything else on him his cock and balls went with his body size. Maybe a four inch uncut penis and a nice package of nuts surrounded by soft looking sparse pubic hairs that appeared to have been barbered to all be the same half-inch length... very neat. He turned to drop his jockey short in the pile of clothes and I stared at the perfect mounds of muscular-looking flesh that comprised his buttocks... they looked almost hard, maybe they were. Everything on his body went perfectly with everything else... it's inconceivable that he was just born with this package. He notice me staring again, I had this amazed expression on my face so, in a concern voice he goes, "What is it, Jon?" I point at in the general direction of his torso and mumble, "That's a perfect physique... how did, that is ...?" He says, "Oh yeah, I'm an amateur gymnast. I belong to a club and work out three days during the week and all day Saturday and Sundays. This summer I'll tour with my club competing with other clubs in Europe, it's my hobby... it's great fun." I'm nodding my head thinking, what did I do to deserve to be this lucky? Gilbert reached over and pulled down my shorts, saying, "Jon, you have a hot body yourself". My body is tall and lean with a flat stomach, I developed muscles working in construction as I've previously mentioned, but not with perfectly proportioned definition like Gilbert's... not even close. He threw my shorts on top of my pile of clothing while commenting about my body. I was very much aware of my cock which by now was so hard that when Gilbert pulled my boxer shorts down my boner bounced back up and off my belly. Gilbert did his little laugh at that, bent at the waist and went right down on my boner sucking my six inch uncut dripping cock while twisting and stroking it with his tight little fist. All the time with a grinning expression, his huge dark eyes at the top of their sockets staring into my eyes. I ran my fingers through his beautiful hair and bit my lip to keep from moaning like a girl. Then he was back up with his tongue all around the inside of my mouth, then "Fuck me Jon, fuck me before I blow my load on the floor." Instinct or something took over, I lifted him up with a hand under each armpit and laid him on his back at the end of the bed. He wet his finger and rubbed it on his hole, all the time looking at me with wide open eyes and an expression of smiling anticipation on his face. I bent my knees to line my boner at his hole then leaned forward, he scrunched up his face as my cock entered him, then a forced smile as his lithe legs smoothly went around my waist and clamped together at the ankles, he used his legs to pull me tightly toward him. My boner was quickly embedded way up his ass. Gilbert now had a pleased expression on his face like "look what we did". He quietly said, "It feels so fucking good, Jon" and he tightened his legs some more while stroking his boner and licking around his rosy, bow-shaped lips. My hips had a mind of their own and rhythmically began fucking that tight rectum. He reached over with both hands to grip my waist and tried pulling me closer. I leaned down and we sucked each other's mouth, his arms tight around my neck now. Then, once again his lips slid over my cheek to my ear and he whispered, "This is wonderful... I love to be fucked" then a little chuckle and he added, "and you're so tall, pick me up". I got my arms around his back and straightened-up with him sitting on my cock, his legs tight around my waist, his arms remained tightly around my neck, the top of his head against my cheek... the same cheek he'd just left a trail of saliva on. Without experience I wasn't sure what to do, but Gilbert knew. He was pulling himself up and down my boner, mostly with his muscular, strong thin arms but a little with his legs too. A minute of that and I made a contained squealing noise and fired a burning stream of cum into his bowels, then three quick little ones which made me feel dizzy... the enormous surge of sensations spreading out from my dick to my toes to my scalp, everything tingling and alive and electric. Naturally Gilbert knew I'd climaxed and he rode that cum laden boner of mine even faster now. Soon, with him grunting and sweating, I felt the first sharp string of his cum hit high on my belly and four shorter ones followed, all drooling down to gather where my cock entered Gilbert's body. When he climaxed he'd made an almost crying sound that startled me for a half second, but he continued riding my cock in a frenzy for another thirty seconds before slowing down so I realized he'd just had a ecstasy moment himself. We were both perspiring... his hot, wet forehead against my shoulder. I felt his heart pounding in his chest as he clung to me. I stood there numbly holding him, swaying slightly. It had been the most erotic ten minutes of my life, I loved the feel of his body and I gave a tighter squeeze to feel it better... he mumbles, "Can we lay on my bed together?" I was breathing a little hard myself and when I tried to answer only a grunt came out, so I nodded my head "yes" and he goes, "Please stay inside me. This is such a treat... skin against skin inside my body. You're wonderful, Jon... a natural, really." I stumbled over to the bed grateful one of us knew I was exhausted from carrying him. He may only weight a hundred and ten pounds, but a hundred and ten pounds is freaking heavy after a while. Somehow I sat on the bed, then laid back on it and the two of us squirmed up onto the bed entirely, my boner remaining up Gilbert's ass. What a relief to be laying down and not carry that weight. He did his laugh/giggle and said, "I was positive you were going to drop me near the end..." Getting my breath back I go, "Are you kidding? I could carry you all fucking day, he's not heavy, he's my sex buddy". Gilbert mumbles, "I really like the sound of that..." then in a serious way he asked, "You think we can actually be sex buddies? I haven had one for months now and that fuck we just had was so excellent... I can't believe I'm so lucky, running into you". We lay there and talked quietly for maybe twenty minutes before I fucked Gilbert again... this time it took twenty minutes to climax a small burst of pooch. We kissed some because it's so sexy kissing a boy, particularly that one. We finally got up and cleaned our bodies with washcloths, then dressed and went outside so Gilbert could smoked a cigarette. We made plans to get together on the days he didn't have gymnastic practice which is another way of saying... twice a week. Gilbert's a one hundred percent "bottom"... it's hard for me to imagine a boy who loves getting fucked as much as he does. He's also a sweet, considerate guy... and a great hair stylist too. I went to watch him at two gymnastic exhibitions and was blown away by how good he is, but he says he probably couldn't even make a good college gymnastic team. That I find hard to believe... the bodies on those gymnast are amazing, college team or not... seeing what they can do with their bodies is priceless. So, I had a great month with Gilbert, but he left last week for a two month run of exhibitions with his club. They do fund raisers all year, like the exhibitions I went to in order to pay for a portion of the trip's cost, plus they have sponsors. More than half of the boys are high school age and hope to use this experience to springboard their careers into college scholarships. Our last time together Gilbert whispered, "I love you, Jon" and I said the same back to him, but we'll see if that's valid last eight weeks, I'm not so sure because he likes getting fucked too much to pass up the opportunity and I can't imagine there won't be opportunities... after all, he's almost perfect. I have the most wonderful feeling for him already and I can just see us growing closer if we have the opportunity to do so. I do know that was my most noteworthy life experience to date and I fully expect that two months from now we'll pick-up where we left off... with or without the "love" word involved initially. I've never been in love so I don't know if my feelings for Gilbert are love or just great affection... they're at least great affection though. It's Monday of the first full week after graduating High School, Gilbert's been gone less than a week... I'm sitting on my porch daydreaming while waiting for Uncle Tony's foreman to pick me up for work. Checking my watch, then looking up I see the company pickup is approaching our driveway, but the foreman isn't driving, it's my uncle. As he's parking the truck he holds his hand up in the 'wait there' way so I stay put on the porch wondering what's up. Uncle Tony's my father's brother and ever since Dad death he's taken an interest in me, my Mom, and my kid brother Alex. Sort of a surrogate father, or at least a strong male figure in our lives. Uncle Tony and I are both six foot, two inches tall but that's where the similarities end. He's a big, burly man with a lot of swagger. His salt and pepper hair is curly and longish, big meaty hands, huge shoulders, and there's an air of authority about him that seems to require my brother and I say "Yes, Sir..." while conversing with him. I mean, we call him Uncle Tony too, but respond with the 'Yes, Sir or No, Sir' when applicable. "Yeah" or "Nah" wouldn't work with Uncle Tony. After saying that I must include that when treated with respect he's a gentle and very likable man who we have come to love. He says, "Morning, Jon... how are you, son?" I go, "I'm well, Uncle. I was expecting... that is, where's Mr Wiggins?" Uncle sits down on the old rocker next to the chair I'm sitting on and pats my thigh, "Oh, you're not happy to see your old Uncle... is that it?" I smiled, shaking my head... it's not that. He tells me he needs to talk to me about something and his demeanor is hesitant almost, nothing like I'm used to from him. He starts out, "I know you're only eighteen years old but I've found you to be mature beyond your years in most things... and, well, with that in mind I'm going to propose something for you. It's unusual and if I could think of a better way of handling this, I would... but I can't. I have this specialty job that I need you to try and handle for me... I mean instead of the normal carpentry one, Jon. It'll mean you'll need to spend six weeks or so in New Hampshire where my first family lives. It has to do with my son, Paul...." Uncle Tony's on his second family because six years ago his first wife divorced him due to the fact he'd become an alcoholic. He has a son who the mother has custody of. Leaving New Hampshire when the divorce was final, Uncle Tony moved to Pennsylvania where my father helped him overcome his addiction to Makers Mark, a rather expensive bourbon, and then loaned him seed money to begin a small high-end construction company. Uncle Tony, free of his unhappy marriage, kicked his addition and made a success of the construction company within a year. Dad died of brain cancer a year later leaving mother, my brother, and me with some life insurance income, but not enough to maintain our standard of living... Dad wasn't good with practical matters, but he was a hell of an engineer. Mother graduated from business school so Uncle Tony hired her to do the company's accounting and marketing which provided the extra income our family needed while also allowing Mother to raise my younger brother. Uncle Tony acquired a new wife three years ago, and a baby girl a year after that. What I'm saying, in other words, is that Uncle Tony's part of our family too and I'd do anything for him... we all would. His son, Paul Pembroke, is my cousin obviously, he's fifteen years old now, but I've never met him. Uncle Tony goes on to say, "My ex-wife has done a terrible job raising Paul and since she's involved with this man, her new boyfriend, it's been even worse for Paul. I haven't been allowed to get involved with Paul's life till recently and I'm shocked to see how helpless, how without direction his outlook is. All he does is watch television". Uncle Tony has my undivided attention because I always give him that, but even more so today because of the desperate tone in his voice. He's shaking his head slowly like... it's unbelievable, but true... then he continues, "Yesterday I heard from my ex, first time in months; she wants to have Paul stay with me while she goes on a two month vacation with her rich boyfriend. I simply don't have the time to spend with Paul though, this is our busiest season... you know that Jon. And, it's not fair to burden Mary Beth with Paul when she's got the new baby and all... Mary Beth's a wonderful woman but she couldn't handle Paul." I could tell Uncle Tony was having difficulty getting all this out... it was painful for him to admit that his own son was in such bad shape and Uncle feels partially responsible for that and yet he can't help the kid now and keep his new business going at the same time. He patted my knee again like man who have a hard time showing affection sometimes do to indicate to boys that they like them... not in a bad way, a nice way. He's usually so confident, looks ya right in the eyes and all, but today, not so much. He goes, "I'll bring Paul here if need be of course, but what I'm proposing to you is you go up to New Hampshire and see what you think of Paul. Mentor him if you think you can... get him started in the right direction. Spend twenty four hours a day with him. He's got nothing going for him, he isn't good at anything so he's got no pride. No one's taught him how to act, all he knows is the television. Look, I got this idea of what I'd do if I could get away, maybe it's crazy but maybe you can do it." I'm shaking my head that, yes, I'll try to help the kid if I can. Uncle Tony looks me in the eyes now and quickly says, "My idea is for you to take him to that little piece of land I own in the White mountains and teach Paul how to grow up... how to be self sufficient. There's a very small cabin there with electricity and running water but only sleeping accommodations for two. You and Paul can build an additional structure that can be used as a bunk house for maybe six people so the cabin will be usable. As it is, only two can use the place at a time and it'd be nice to have our families be able to enjoy the lake and the boating... it's a beautiful area." His eyes were shining now, he was excited... he says, "You can teach him to play basketball, try to find out if he actually has an interest in life. If he does, he's kept it a secret so far, but you can get it out of him, Jon... I just know you can, son. Mentor him to be like you with all your self sufficiency capabilities, your quite an autonomous individual in case you don't realize it." It was news to me that Uncle Tony felt I was self sufficient and independent, but when I thought about I knew he was right. He went on to tell me I'd be earning just as much money doing the mentoring as I'd earn on the construction job site, but more important than that is that it will be a precious gift to Uncle Tony if I can help his son. He'd discussed this idea with my Mother last night and then just this morning with his ex-wife. My mother was skeptical but OK with it, and the ex-wife basically doesn't care if it's me or Uncle Tony who looks after Paul, just so long as it isn't her... she's going on that trip with the boyfriend come hell or high water. I was flattered Uncle Tony would trust me with this responsibility, especially because he knows I'm gay and it's his fifteen year old son he's entrusting to me. We talked about the details some more, but there really wasn't much more to discuss. In the end it comes down to two questions, am I willing to try it, and can I succeed? The answer to the first question is yes because I wouldn't refuse Uncle Tony. The answer to the second question is... the chances of success are slight, but neither of us know for sure, it depends a great deal on Paul obviously... he may reject me out of hand or he may give it a try. The only way to find out is to go to New Hampshire and meet my cousin Paul Pembroke. Uncle Tony's ex-wife owns a fairly new Jeep Grand Cherokee which will be at my disposal, I'll have one of the construction company's Visa card to use for expenses, and Uncle Tony left a basement full of carpentry tools in the house he once owned, but that now belongs to the first Mrs Pembroke... the tools are at my disposal as well. I'll take a bus to Salem, New Hampshire where Mrs Pembroke will meet me and drive me to her house to meet Paul. I'll either bring Paul back to Pennsylvania with me if I don't see it working out in the woods with him, or he and I will build a cabin from scratch which for me sounds like a lot of fun. It certainly would give the kid a feeling of accomplishment... me too. I'll put up a plywood backboard and hoop to see if I can get him interested in basketball, there's the lake for swimming and fishing. I'll spend time exclusively with him... show him someone cares about him. If Paul can learn to be more autonomous, grow up early, he'll have a chance at life even if his mother continues ignoring him. Jeez, who am I kidding? This has a snowballs chance in hell of being successful, but for Uncle Tony I need to give it my best shot. That night in bed I though of Gilbert and of how wonderful the past three weeks had been with him and then I got scared, really scared at the responsibility my Uncle has put on me. What do I know about mentoring a fifteen year old. I tried imagining if some eighteen year old tried mentoring me when I was fifteen and wasn't thrilled at my conclusions. Then I forced myself to think of Gilbert again which led to a fabulous masturbation with him in my head... eventually I needed to muffle myself with my pillow so my brother Alex in the next room wouldn't hear my squeal at climax. Gilbert turns me on like I never would have believe possible... I believe it now for sure. Early next morning my duffle bag was packed and ready to go. I spent an hour with my little brother Alex telling him stuff I thought he might want to know about being a twelve year old... a lot of what I told him embarrassed him, he blushed and giggled about some of the things. He's always looked up to me... never missed one of my basketball games in High School. He wanted to come with me of course, but I explained why that wouldn't work out. I promised to take him to Wildwood for a whole week when I got back from New Hampshire. Wildwood is an ocean, beach, and boardwalk summer resort in New Jersey. Alex and I hugged goodbye and my mother drove me to the bus station. She'd agreed to let me do this yesterday, but wasn't real sure about it today... she told me three times that if it got even a little weird to give it up and bring Paul back here. She inferred it was too much responsibility for me to handle... I preferred Uncle Tony's evaluation of things. The bus ride was interminable, but then there it was... Salem, New Hampshire. No, that's not where the witch trials took place. They took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692... I looked it up on the internet. Mrs Pembroke waved me over... she had no trouble picking me out, I was the only teenager on the bus, plus I'm tall and she surely had gotten a description from he ex-husband. She is fashionably slim and actually quite good looking for a forty year old woman. Perhaps a touch of a superiority complex about her and it grated ever so slightly from the beginning. Oh well, one night with her and she's gone. Her and the boyfriend leave early tomorrow morning for a flight to someplace. She wasn't much for small talk... her conversation consisted entirely of her justifying her leaving Paul for six weeks, "After all, I've been burdened with... oh shit, not burdened exactly, but I've had the sole responsibility of raising Paul and frankly, no offense intended, but teenage boys are a royal pain in my ass. I need this vacation god-dammit, an I'm going. Tony thinks he can put a guilt trip on me he has another thought...." on and on. Thank God the bus stop was only a twenty minute ride from her house. It was an OK ranch house, no garage so she parked her Jeep in the driveway. I hauled my duffle bag inside as she called for Paul. "Paul, come meet your cousin..." An annoyed voice yelled back, "No, I'm busy..." but he wandered out just the same. His mother said, "Do you know who you're talking to young man?" He smiled without humor and says, "I know very well who I'm talking to, mother dearest". He's a short, thin kid and his voice has a subtle soft whine to it. He was wearing a short-sleeved vertically striped shirt that gapped open near his navel, and too big maroon cargo pants with Top-Siders on his feet, the rawhide lacing gone from one. I said, "Hi, Paul... I'm your cousin Jon, good to finally meet you cuz". He shrugged elaborately and I came right out and asked, "Your mother tell you about what you and I will be doing?" Paul looked at her, then at me... I added, "Would you like to help me build a bunk house for the White Mountains cabin?" He shrugged again. I go, "Or would you rather just go back with me on the bus to stay with your father?" He shrugged and said, "I don't care." I go, "OK, we'll try the bunk house then, did you pack any clothes to bring with you?" Again with the shrug. The all-purpose shrug. Maybe I should work on mine. A man came into the foyer from the family room with a cocktail in his hand, I think it was a martini. He was as tall as me and thin as a weasel and looked even younger than Mrs Pembroke. Reached out his hand for an overly firm handshake saying, "You're tackling quite a challenge here... I gotta admire that in a youngster. Ramond Quinton, pleased to make your acquaintance." I said "Nice to meet ya." Mrs Pembroke had been fumbling with her purse, now she hands me two twenty dollar bills and says, "Mr Quinton and I have dinner reservations, you take Paul out and get both of you something to eat at Mc Donalds or someplace". I asked Paul, "You ready to eat dinner?" He shrugged and said, "I don't care". Ramond says, "Why not try The China Blossom, it'll be better than McDonalds for Christ sakes". Paul's mother says, "Yes, Paul likes that place, he'll show you how to get there" and she handed over the car keys. I hesitated to see if Paul might want to change his clothes before going out, but he just stood there with slumped shoulders looking dweeby. I said, OK, let's go". Paul gave me directions to the restaurant and when we're inside, seated and looking at the menu, he whines, "I don't know what to get" so I say, "What do you usually get here?" and he says, "I've never been in here before in my life". I started to say, "But your mother just said..." then stopped because he was getting ready to shrug again. I ordered for both of us and Paul picked at his food while looking down at his plate silently. You know what, I feel sorry for this kid. He needs a haircut, his clothes are all wrong, his mother doesn't even know he's never been in this restaurant, she couldn't wait to get Paul and me out of her hair, and frankly I can't imagine the self image this boy has... he can't possibly feel good about himself or his life. As I was eating, I stared at him... poor kid, dumped by his mother to eat with a cousin he's never met before with the prospect of spending six weeks in the woods trying to build a structure he didn't know the first thing about... what a glum circumstance for him. He has his mother's good looks anyway, no offense to Uncle Tony. Noticing Paul's slim body I couldn't help but think of Gilbert and how he and Paul are approximately the same size... it stops there, of course. Gilbert is put together with tight muscles and Paul's put together with chewing gum. Paul was lucky in one regard, he's one of those teens who never get acne... why is that, I wonder? His fingernails were dirty and he still had the sand in the corners of his eyes you get overnight sometimes... obviously he hasn't even washed his face today and it's almost seven at night. Poor kid, totally ignored... but cute. I gotta try to help him.... Wish Gilbert were here. To be continued.... next: conclusion Donny Mumford thinat20@yahoo.com