It was approaching the dog days of summer when I first discovered what loneliness felt like for the first time in my life. Not long before my son headed out for school, my wife announced that she planned to leave for an extended period to visit her relatives. She’d been talking about it off and on for the past year so it didn’t come as any big surprise to me, but I knew in the back of my mind the chances were good that I might not ever see her again. Getting the boy enrolled at the university closed a chapter in her life that I think she’d been looking forward to for quite a while. We still respected one another but the flames of desire had burnt out inside her long ago and I had plenty of years to get over the hurt I once felt about it.

I allowed myself to collapse the first week after my wife headed out. I slept in late, did some fishing in the evening and just mentally shut down. In a way it was the best vacation I ever had. I was able to rest in the comfort of my own home and I took advantage of it. The crops were coming in nicely and so far, we’d been blessed with just the right amount of rain. It looked like it would be a good harvest.

I’d become quite popular with the local car dealer as result of everyone taking off. I let my son have my truck to take to school, I traded in our car for a new one so my wife could travel worry free the many miles she was planning to cover and I bought myself a new truck that was by far the fanciest one I ever owned. The dealer didn’t have many new ones in stock because they were closing out the year’s model but they did have this one that had been shipped to them by mistake. It was bright red and loaded with all sorts of electronic gizmos. It even had a leather interior, which I took a liking to, but the best part about it was the price. It had sat on their lot all year and they were ready to make a deal on it because it really wasn’t the type of truck anyone would consider for making use of out here in the country - it was just too damn fancy - more like what you’d see some city guy drivin’ around in to get a better view of the traffic jams.

I still had that trusty old Dodge pickup I could use for the tough haulin’ around the farm. It had been through hell and back and looked like it, but it also ran like it was still trying to get away from there. My dad had bought it right after the war. It wasn’t the most comfortable ride you’d ever experience, especially up and down these rough, unpaved country roads, but it did a great job haulin’ what I needed to carry around on the farm.

My son had been away for over a month by then and before he’d left, he’d kept me busy trying to keep up with all his sexual experimentations. Ever since I promised him that I wouldn’t deny him up till the time he left for school, he was after me almost daily. I’d forgotten how young men his age could be so preoccupied about sex.

He was horny all the time, but I got the impression that it had as much to do with an over-active libido and general curiosity as it did with his actual physical needs. He was full of questions about how it felt to me when he’d hold my crank a particular way or stroke it near the head and was constantly comparing his with mine. He knew more about my cock-head than I did, but he especially liked playing with my testicles. Mine are a lot bigger than his and he just loved rolling them around in his hands. I tried to teach him what all I knew about myself from all the years I’d been playing with my dick, but one day, he taught me something I never realized was possible with a man.

It happened one afternoon while we were out in the back of the property near the forest mending a fence row that had been damaged by some bears. We had worked pretty fast and hard to get it secure before nightfall and after we had finished the job and had everything loaded back up on the truck, he started horsing around with me and wanted me to get down and wrestle with him. We both knew full well he couldn’t win, but that never stopped him from trying. Besides, I knew how much the kid just loves rolling around on the ground so I let him have at me. I played around with him until I knew he was going to tire me out soon if I didn’t pin him down pretty quick so I laid him out flat and held him down.

He chuckled and fought to get his hands free and when I finally let him get loose, he went right for my nuts and grabbed them tight. I suspected all along that’s what this wrestlin’ match was about to begin with - he was so fascinated with my balls at the time - so I wasn’t all that much surprised by what he did.

He didn’t waste any time unzipping my overalls and had my crank and balls out before I knew it. I rolled over on my back to let him get his fill and he stuck his face right up under my crotch just to see how they looked from down there.

It wasn’t long before he started licking my scrotum. I was pretty spent from all of the other horseplay we’d been through the past week but feeling him licking me under there made me harder than a rock in no time. He sucked down on my dick a few times then got up on his knees and asked me to stand up and drop my overalls down for him so he could look up at me.

I knew he had something on his mind so I stood up and unfastened my bibs and let them drop to the ground. He had me spread my legs and the next thing I know he is back up under my crotch just a goin’ to town.

He just kept pressing his face right up under me and lapped at me like a cow on salt lick while he when on about how big my balls were. He went wild down under there, and the next thing I know, he was lickin’ up under my butt and suddenly I felt his tongue dive deep after my bung-hole.

I couldn’t believe how good that felt. I started moaning like a heifer in heat and reached back and spread my big ol’ butt out wide for him to have at it.

He went after it like a champ and pushed his stiff tongue half-way up past my sphincter. My crank got harder than a rock. I got so turned on, I started jackin’ myself off and talking dirty to him and within seconds, I was blowin’ my seed all over the place.

I swear, before I shot my load, I was near ready for him to fuck me senseless - it felt that damn good. I had no idea a man could get to feelin’ that way just by having someone lick their bung-hole like that.

After I finished blowin my nut all over the place, he stood up in front of me and wiped what spunk I still had dripping all over my crank onto his hand and lubed himself up with it.

He just loved getting’ me naked and blowing his spunk all over me like I was one of those cardboard men at a police firing range. It never failed that he’d stop jerking his crank right before he shot and would aim it right at me. He pointed his crank at my head, my chest, my stomach and then down at my balls and thighs and wouldn’t move on until he was satisfied that he’d spunked me up good at each and every spot. Whenever I was laying on my back, he just loved climbing up and straddling my body and covering my chest and face with his seed. It was like some kind of statement he needed to make to himself because each time he saw his load land on me, he’d shoot even more the next time and his shots would just build up stronger and stronger until he had absolutely nothin’ left inside him to unload on me.

I know his nuts had to ache like hell after he did that but I couldn’t help but marvel at his virility. He was shootin’ a load almost every day that would take most men a month to produce and damned if he couldn’t be ready to go again within a few hours if I’d of let him. I did my best to keep my promise by him, but sometimes I just couldn’t keep up.

Luckily, as the weeks went by, he seemed to slowly get his fill of me - which is what I was hoping for all along. I’d begun to notice early on, the more he had at me, the more mature and self-assured he became. Then I slowly began to notice a calm serenity about him that tempered his youthful exuberance. It pleased me to see that because it was far more becoming to a young man of his stature and build.

I don’t guess any father would ever really know the right way to handle a situation like I had with my son, but I’m certain now that it was the best thing I ever did for him. I saw him through a difficult phase of his sexual development and it freed him to be the man he wanted to be, but it didn’t all happen without having an effect on me as well.

Before my son ever let it be known he needed me in this way, I never considered having any kind of sexual encounter with another man, but I now realized the mutual sharing and appreciation of one another’s maleness, in the right circumstances, filled a need all men had seeded deep inside them.

I don’t know what exactly finally brought it all home for me, but a couple of days before my wife left to visit her family, she came out and said the exact same thing to me my boy had said to me the first time he came after me in a sexual way.

I pretty much felt all along I might not ever see her again, but when she came out that evening and said I should face up to the fact that I’m a ‘man’s man’, I got the impression she actually thought I’d be better off livin’ with another man. That’s when I knew in my heart that the odds of me ever seeing her again were slim to none.

I didn’t want to press her or pursue it any further because I didn’t think the conversation would lead to anything productive between us. I was pretty certain she didn’t know what had been going on lately between me and our son, but I sure as hell didn’t want to try and defend my decisions on how I was handling his situation if she did.

I knew how all of this might be viewed in the eyes of others, but I didn’t, and still don’t give a good goddamn about that. It was the eyes of my son I cared about and that was all. I knew all along in my heart of hearts it was the only way I could help him see his way through to being his own man and thanks to the man that would soon be his physical trainer in college, I was even more convinced what I’d done was right.

That man had helped me come to an understanding about a lot of other things that were going on inside me as well. I looked forward to the day I would meet him again, but I knew that day might be further off than I really wanted. He’d touched my heart and made me come to grips with my own personal longings for my father which I’d suppressed for far too long.

The day my son left for school, I was relieved I didn’t have to try and keep up any longer with all his sexual explorations, but I knew I was gonna miss him in the worst way. I didn’t even think about sex at all until my wife left the week after, but when I did, it wasn’t because I was horned up or nothin’ like that. Hell, I didn’t know what to think about sex anymore, I knew sure as hell I couldn’t go the rest of my life without it; but the way I was feeling at the time, I wasn’t even sure about that.

As the weeks of solitude passed, I slowly became accustomed to living by myself from day to day but I knew deep down I wouldn’t be happy livin’ out here all alone for the rest of my life. The only positive thing I can say about that time in my life was it gave me the chance to do a lot of thinking about myself and what it was I really wanted to do with the rest of my life. I’d been so used to having the family around that I never took into account that I really didn’t have any close friends to pass the time with and I knew there wasn’t much of a chance of that ever happening unless I made the effort to get out and socialize more.

I didn’t allow myself to dwell on all that too awful much, but one day, while I was out feeding the animals, I started to feel that need which tends to come over a man at the least expected time.

In the past when I started getting that way, I would more often than not just pull the fucker out of my pants and have at it if no one else was around, but for some reason I didn’t.

I guess in the past, knowing I had my wife around even if we weren’t having sex, somehow allowed me to get after myself without fully realizing how damn deprived I was. It’s kind of like I felt as though I was getting away with something, but being all alone now, just the thought of doing it somehow made me feel depressed inside. So I tried to ignore it and kept working even though my crank was getting harder than a rock and as uncomfortable as hell.

The next thing I know, my sweet baby bull that I’d been keeping a close eye on since the day he was born ran up to the fence and cried out for me. I walked over to him to see what was up with him and when I got to him, he nuzzled his head right down at my crotch and started sniffing and licking at me.

This bull calf had been charming the socks off me ever since the day he was born. He came out of the womb looking like a miniature version of a full grown stud and I decided then and there, even though I knew there was a good chance I’d probably pay for it in the end, I would give him his chance to sire. I was afraid he’d grow up to be a runt the way he was already looking so developed, but I didn’t care. I had plenty of pasture I could cordon off for him and I decided I wanted to see what his offspring would be like. I petted him and talked to him for a while and once he settled down, I realized my own need had subsided as well, so I got back to finishing up my work.

It was getting mighty hot outside by the time I completed my chores so I decided to clean up and head into town. I was needin’ to pick up a few things at the stores and I guess I was hankering for some social contact as well. Besides, my new truck was equipped with air conditioning and I thought it would be the perfect day to try it out. While I was getting dressed, I decided to go ahead and put on some underwear before I gussied up in my brand new pair of coveralls I’d just got from the catalogue store. Ever since my boy pointed out to me how much bigger my crank was than most fellas and how folks could easily make out the outline of it when I wasn’t wearin’ any underwear, I thought it might be best to start goin’ into town looking a bit more presentable. So I tucked myself down in them as best I could without makin’ myself too uncomfortable.

As I headed down the gravel road that led off my property to the highway, I decided to spend some of the evening in town and perhaps even drop by the old dance hall, but I didn’t get more than ten miles down the road before my brand new truck just stopped running. I was pretty damned disgusted by the time I locked it up and started walking back to the house but damned if I didn’t get more than a hundred yards down the road when I heard a truck comin’ my way from the direction of my house. A few seconds later, it crested a hill about a quarter of a mile away and I couldn’t believe it when I realized it was a damn tow truck! It was a big one too. I just shook my head and smiled thinking the odds of something like that happening way out here were at least a million to one.

By the time I could make out the guy behind the wheel, I could tell he was as surprised to find me out here as I was to see him. I decided to wave him down and I noticed a smile came over his face that would have brightened up anyone’s day. He pulled up beside me and rolled down his window and looked at me with an intensity I wasn’t used to getting’ from most folks.

“Anything I can do for you?”

“That’s my truck back there. It just quit on me.”

“How the hell could that happen? It looks brand new!”

“I don’t know. It just started sputterin’ and quit on me. Do you have time to help me out? I’d appreciate a lift back to my house. You passed it back there at the bend.”

He took his foot of the break and let his truck idle on up to where I was parked and I walked along beside him.

“So that’s your place I passed way back there huh? I was beginning to wonder if anyone lived on this road until I came up on your house.”

“This is all my property. I’m the only one that lives on it. This ain’t really a public road.”

All of a sudden he seemed a bit nervous like I might bite his head off. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to trespass. I didn’t see any signs posted.”

There was something charming about how he said it that made me smile. “I’m happy as hell that you did buddy! Don’t worry about that. No need to put up a sign to keep people out, I go for months without seein’ anyone as it is.”

He grinned so big after I said that, I couldn’t figure out what it was he found so funny.

“I’d just returned a tractor to a fellow and decided to take a detour just to see the sights on my way back home. This is all your property?”

“It sure is. It’s belonged to my family for several generations now.”

He stopped his truck a few feet away from mine and hopped out of the cab then motioned at the countryside. “It’s beautiful out here. Why don’t you pop the hood on that thing and let’s see if we can find the problem. You said it started sputtering before it gave out?”

“Yeah, but it didn’t sputter for long.”

He opened the hood and looked inside. I had given up years ago trying to figure out all the stuff they put inside the modern-day truck, but he seem right at home with everything. He went back to his truck and opened up a large built-in tool bin that was situated behind the cab. I realized then that his vehicle was as much a traveling garage as it was a tow truck.

He smiled when he noticed me scoping out his unit, but he went right to work on my truck and asked me a few more questions about what it had been running like before it shut down. By the time I walked over to see what he was up to, he already had the ignition system in his hand and was checking it out it with some sort of electronic gizmo. I couldn’t help but notice how rough and thick his hands and fingers were - they looked to me more like the hands of a brick-layer than a mechanic.

“That’s one hell of a unit you’re driving! That’s the finest piece of craftsmanship I’ve ever seen on a working man’s vehicle. Those tool bins sure as hell didn’t come outta no factory. Everything on that truck is top-notch. That must have cost you a pretty penny.”

He looked up at me and took prize of me like he’d just seen me for the first time.

“My father and his partner built it for me. I appreciate you noticing.”

“I was pretty certain I was looking at love.”

His eyes looked right through me and a moment later, he smiled the most beautiful smile I ever saw.

“You’re lookin’ at all kinds of love there big buddy! They’re in the process of building another one as we speak. My old boss got mighty jealous of mine and finally broke down a shelled out the dough to have one for himself. Why don’t you jump inside and turn her over a few times.”

I stepped in the cab and fired the ignition and an instant later, I heard him say “That’s good!” and I shut it off. By the time I got the key out of the ignition and got out of the cab, he had everything back together and in place.

He gathered up his tools and dropped the hood back down. “The ignition is fine. I doubt the timing could somehow have slipped that far off and besides, since you said it was sputtering, I suspect there’s a problem with the fuel system. I’m gonna raise her up a bit and see if I can find anything.”

As he hurried back to his truck, I noticed he walked with a bullish sort of gait that just seemed to fit his person. He was built big, but his waist was somewhat narrow in relation to the girth of his rear end and his legs were short and stubby compared to the length of his torso. It was almost comical the way his thick knees led the way almost as much to each side as they did going forward, but just looking at him gave the impression he was grounded and trustworthy.

He had extremely thick thighs and I’d noticed when he first got out of his truck, he lifted one of his legs up slightly as though he was trying to get his balls unstuck from them. I’d seen my bulls do something like that once in a while especially on a hot summer day like today, but never a man.

After he got his unit backed up to mine and the front end of my truck raised, he reached inside his cab and pulled out a pair of coveralls and stepped into them. I noticed he had the cuffs of them already rolled up a good eight inches - probably because he couldn’t find any big enough to fit his girth that had the legs short enough to fit him proper. He zipped them up just midway over his firm, hefty belly and grabbed some tools then lowered his big body under the engine. He bent his stubby legs up and pushed himself under a bit more then reached down between them and hefted up a walloping hunk of manhood. He pulled his balls up above his thighs then closed his legs together to keep them from dropping back down, but the long shaft of his cock hung down toward his big, manly ass and the fine shape of his thick cock head was easy to make out in the tight confines of his coveralls.

Now I normally never just stand and stare at a man’s crotch, but I couldn’t help but take a moment to appreciate how prominent his equipment stood out on his person as he laid on his back beneath my truck. Every time he moved his thick thighs, his fat crank and hefty balls squished around between them creating all kinds of interesting shapes and configurations.

I had to laugh to myself at what a show this guy was unwittingly putting on and figured I wasn’t the first guy that had ever noticed it by a long shot. Hell, it was impossible not to notice it, and damn if he didn’t have the sexiest ass I’d ever seen on a guy to boot. There was no doubt in my mind that I wasn’t the first guy that had ever noticed that about him either. It was a man’s ass for certain, but it was so firm and round and plump like a ripe cherry that it just beckoned to be touched and caressed.

I was startin’ to feel a stir in my pants and that reminded me I had put on some briefs before I headed out. I reached down and felt myself all tucked away in them right when he said, “I found the problem. They installed the primary fuel filter backasswards. How many miles you got on this truck?”

“Maybe a couple of hundred is all.”

He slid out from under my truck and paused and studied me for an instant then twitched his thick moustache and winked at me. “We need to get you into town so you can pick up a new filter cause you sure as hell don’t want to be driving this brand new truck without one.” I didn’t know what to make of him winking at me like that. I couldn’t honestly tell if he had done it on purpose or if it was just a mannerism he had, but I got a little embarrassed by it because I thought perhaps he’d noticed me checking how I was hangin’ in my underwear. His bright blue eyes looked me over pretty good before he stood up and handed me the filter. It was still hot from the heat of the engine and I had to juggle it in my hand.

“It’s done for. It’s all paper inside and they can’t handle a reverse flow for any amount of time without collapsing the elements and plugging up. The latest brain-child of an idiot. I ran across the same damn thing about three or four years ago.”

He wiped the sweat off his brow and headed back to his truck. His t-shirt was soaked with sweat and had already seeped through the back of his coveralls.

“I can’t believe you was able to get this off as hot as it is.”

He turned and smiled, “I’m used to it. Anyway, we ought to get into town and get you a new filter before everything closes.”

“Do you think the dealer will even have one?”

“You never know with something like this. You can call them when we get back to your place.”

He flailed his arms to free himself from his clinging coveralls and when he did, it was easy to tell his sizeable girth was mainly all muscle. His chest and arms looked like he’d done a lot of weight training in his time and I imagined that he still kept at it to keep in shape.

He folded up his coveralls and motioned for me to get in his truck, so I climbed in the cab and he opened the door on the driver’s side and tucked them away behind the seat. He looked up at me and reached down and hefted his manhood the same time he hefted his bulk inside the cab. Once he got situated, he offered his hand and said, “My name is Bull by the way.”

I couldn’t help but smiling from ear to ear as we shook hands.

He put the truck in gear and snickered, “Yeah, I know. I don’t have to explain that one do I? My real name is Dan, but everyone’s called me ‘Bull’ since back when I was in high school.”

We talked some small talk on the way back to my place, but it wasn’t until we had dropped off my truck in the driveway and were headed into town that we started opening up to one another.

“Frankly, I’m a bit surprised the dealer had that filter in stock, a lot of them don’t carry incidentals like that anymore in the big cities. I guess out here they have to.”

“I hadn’t much thought about that. So you aren’t originally from around here huh? To be honest with you, I still can’t get over how you showed up out here in the middle of nowhere right when I needed your help!”

He looked over at me and smiled, “Yeah, I was thinking that myself. After I dropped off that tractor, I decided to do some sight seeing.”

“I’ve never heard nor seen anyone towing a tractor before. Usually someone just comes out and fixes them on the property when there’s a need.”

He looked over at me and I could tell he was perplexed as hell at what I’d said. We both exchanged questioning glances for an instant, but it was he who managed to put two and two together. He started laughing and for some reason, all my old self-conscious insecurities about being so ignorant swelled up inside me. He must have noticed I was feeling hurt because he slapped me on the back and said, “Hey! I’m not laughing at you anymore than I’m laughing at myself. Where I’m from and the way I was raised, there’s only one kind of tractor - the kind that hauls large trailers down the highway. It took me a minute to think of what type of tractor you were talking about. What an idiot I am!”

That made me smile and he relaxed, but he studied me a bit longer before he put his eyes back to the road.

“I dropped it off on the other side of the mountain from your place - an outfit called ‘Denson’s’. Ever heard of them?”

“Yeah, I met him once over at a friends house. He seemed like a nice enough man, but I don’t know him all that well.”

“He does a lot of hauling for the small manufacturers in the area, seems to be doing pretty well with it.”

“So what made you come all the way down to my place?”

“Hell, I don’t know. Just got a wild notion I wanted to see what was on the other side of the mountain. Never been over here. I was heading into town to pick up some parts but I wasn’t in any hurry. You’re right, I’m not from around here. I’m from back east. I moved out here about six months ago. I live by myself, so I wasn’t in any rush to get back to the house.

I saw on the map there was a river that ran through here so I thought I’d check it out and see if I could spot any good fishing holes. Looks like the river runs all through your property though. Old man Denson told me to watch out for the big wooly bear that lived out here. I don’t suppose he was talking about you was he?”

I laughed, “I recon he was. I keep pretty much to myself I guess, but I didn’t know folks referred to me as ‘that wooly bear’. I’m glad it didn’t scare you off.”

“If anything it made me want to come out here even more. I stopped by your place to see if you were around. I was gonna ask you if you ever let anyone on your property to do some fishing”

“I don’t mind at all as long as you pick up after yourself, to be honest with you, you are the first person that has ever stopped by to ask. I’ve ran a few guys off in the past when I’ve discovered they were on my property without asking. It pisses me off when people think they can just do whatever the hell they want on another man’s land. What if I just snuck into their place of business and shit on their carpet and littered up the place? I don’t think they’d like that too damned much now would they?”

He laughed. “I know what you mean. People can be so damn clueless at times it makes you wonder how they manage to get dressed in the morning. Do you live alone or is your wife just out for the afternoon?”

“I’m by myself right now. My son is at the university and my wife is off visiting her family.”

“You seem awfully young to have a son in college.”

"The wife and I got hitched when we was in our early teens. It was arranged by our parents. That’s the way things were done in her and my dad’s time. Times have changed.”

He looked back over at me and held his gaze an instant like he was trying to figure out whether or not I was actually telling him the truth. I just shrugged my shoulders cause I didn’t know what else to say and he finally looked back at the road and shook his head and said more to himself than me, “You can sure as hell say that again.”

I couldn’t let that pass, so I spoke up and said, “I think that’s about the third time now you’ve looked at me like you don’t know what to make of me. I’m just an ignorant ol’ backwoods farmer if you haven’t figured it out by now, but feel free to drop by any time you want to do some fishing. The wife is gonna be gone for a while. . . a long while I suspect. It’d be nice to have another ‘Bull’ on the farm. There’s plenty of heifers to go round for the both of us.”

He laughed a hearty laugh, but he didn’t do it until he looked back over at me to see whether or not I was actually kidding with him. He shook his head again like he didn’t know what to make of me, but after a moment, he spoke up and said, “I tell you what, I haven’t had sex in so long you better stop giving me any ideas.”

“Well my wife’s been gone almost two months now so don’t feel alone on that count. Not that it would do me any good if she was still at home. The only real difference is that now I can I get after my crank wherever I want instead of having to hide out in the barn.”

He snickered and glanced down at my crotch, “That’s a good name for it. Never heard that one before. When’s your wife coming back?”

“Probably never if you want to know the truth - at least that’s what I’m thinkin’ right now. We was married way too young. She’s a good woman and I care about her a lot, but what fire there was in our relationship went out not long after our boy was born. I grew up to be a big ‘wooly bear’ as you put it, and she stayed the petite woman she was when we married. Things just didn’t work out for us after we got older.”

“Hey now! I wasn’t the one that called you that. I was just telling you what old man Denson said. He didn’t mean nothin’ by it as far as I could tell. I’d take it as a compliment if I was you. I bet you’re used to being called all kinds of nicknames anyway.”

“Nope. Never had one. I didn’t get much schooling like you did so I was never around many kids when I was growin’ up. I don’t want to give you the impression that I am a total back-woods hillbilly, I read a lot and try to keep up with things, but the truth is, I guess I basically am. Hell, you’re the first man I’ve seen since my boy went off to college in the late Spring. I recon if I’d never got hitched and had a son, I’d still be as ignorant as hell about a lot of things.”

“You’re putting me on aren’t you? You really haven’t seen anyone for nearly two months?”

“No. I figured that the county sheriff might have come around by now, but I haven’t seen neither hide nor hair of him either.”

“Come to think of it, I guess I could see how you could go for several months without seeing anyone. You live pretty far away from everything that’s for sure.

Getting married and having kids really changes things don’t it? I have a son too. He’s living with my wife, but he visits my dad once in a while on the weekends. I just hope my dad can get through to him and teach him the ways of a man better than I’ve been able to.”

“Well he seems to have done a good job with you. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you helping me out like this, but I mean to pay you for your time and gas and all.”

“Ah there’s no need in that. You would have done the same for me. I don’t want any money from you, but I will take you up on the fishing spot.”

“That ain’t right, this is what you do for a living. Hell, there ain’t no way I would have figured out it was that stinking fuel filter that was mucking up everything - especially on a brand new truck!”

“I was surprised about that myself. I almost didn’t bother to check it out since it looked like it was installed right, but damned if the paint on the outside showing the direction of the flow wasn’t pointing the wrong way.”

“How could you tell?”

“The shape of the canister mainly. It probably got turned around backwards somehow while it was being made and never got noticed. Stuff like that happens.”

“Sounds like you’ve seen stuff like that more than a few times.”

“I’ve been working on cars and diesels ever since I was old enough to hold a wrench for my dad. I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff that’s for sure. . . I wish my son could figure out what he wanted to do. It just seems harder for kids to come to grips with their lives nowadays. I think television has a lot to do with that. I think it stifles them. I’m glad I never went through that. I’ve never looked back or sideways or in any other direction once I started helping out my dad.”

“I was the same way. It never occurred to me that I’d do anything else other than run a farm. I can’t imagine doing anything else to this day. I like learnin’ new stuff but I like farming. I’m comfortable with it even though it can get mighty lonely livin’ way out in the middle of nowhere, but all the same. . .”

Silence hung between us for a moment before he looked over at me. We studied one another briefly before he spoke up. “Trust me. You can be just as lonely living amongst a million people as you can be living way out here. . . I bet you’ve had an interesting life.”

“Well I guess that depends a whole hell of a lot on what you call interesting. It’s gotten a whole lot more interesting this last year that’s for sure.”

“How’s that?”

“Family stuff. Mainly with my son. I don’t want to go into it, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to hear it anyway. All I can say is it’s amazing to me what all a family can end up going through. A year ago if you told me I was going to go through all the crazy stuff I’ve been through with him the past eight or nine months, I would have said you were one crazy, perverted son of a bitch!”

I suddenly realized maybe I’d said too much the way he looked at me with those piercing blue eyes of his, but he just smiled and winked at me. “Ain’t families gurrrrrrreat?”

It broke me up the way he said it - like he was making fun of the way I talked, but couldn't do it right. I started laughing - then he started laughing until it just became infectious between us. Every time we looked over at one another we’d start laughing even more. I guess we both needed a good laugh because we went on laughing like that until we were nearly into town.

It did me a world of good to have a good laugh and I could tell it did the same for him. I suddenly felt very comfortable being around him and I soon discovered he felt the same about me because once we got to the dealership, he started loosening up and had me entertained for the rest of the day with his crazy antics.

I led him back to the parts department at the dealership and when we got to the counter, I leaned over on it some to show the guy the fuel filter and right when I started to explain to him what was up, I felt a pinch in the crotch of my coveralls. I stood up straight thinking my coveralls had gotten bound up leaning over so far and right after I did, I felt Bull’s hand grabbing my ass. I started laughing and looked back at him but he kept a straight face like nothing was going on. When I looked back at the guy at the counter, Bull pinched me hard enough to make me jump then stepped up to the counter and said, “Never mind this fluke of nature. He’s just mesmerized by all the sparkly things you have on the wall back behind you. We called a few hours back about a fuel filter. This one got installed wrong at the factory and left my buddy here stranded out in the middle of nowhere in his brand new truck. He almost starved to death before I could get to him!”

The guy just looked us over and said “Yeah, he looks like he hasn’t eaten in months.” Bull looked over at me and said, “See! Didn’t I tell you you was startin’ to get your girlish figure back Hoss?”

The guy just shook his head like we were nuts and took the filter back with him to get a replacement. I punched him on the shoulder after the guy left and gave him the meanest look I could muster up even though I was about to start laughing all over again. He returned the stare and punched me a few times in the stomach like he was wantin’ to pick a fight. When the guy returned with the filter, he saw us horsing around and just shook his head and smiled. He took the new one out of the box and compared it to the old one and sure enough, the paint on the canister was in the opposite direction of the one we had. The guy was surprised as hell once he realized Bull was actually right.

Bull picked up the new one and said, “That’s why it got installed wrong. You can send it back to the manufacturer and let them frame it if you want, we’ll just take this one, gratis. I ought to make them buy this man dinner, but we’ll let it slide this time. You can keep the box.”

The guy just nodded his head dumbfounded as we headed back to the truck. When we got inside the cab, Bull looked at me and winked, “I knew immediately that guy thought I was as dumb as they come when I said it got installed wrong. I can’t help it if I look like a dumb animal. I tell you what Hoss, it ain’t easy livin’ with the fact you have a whole herd of cattle on one side of your family tree!”

“You crazy son of a bitch! By the way, I really appreciate you pinching me on the ass and calling me a ‘fluke of nature’ you bovine bastard.”

He just laughed and winked at me and pinched me on the ass again. I jumped in my seat and wrestled him off and he said, “Do you always giggle like a girl when someone pinches you on the ass Hoss?”

“You little fuck!” I reached over and pinched his ass good and he cried out, “Hey that isn’t fair! I’m driving!”

I pinched him again then cupped his ass in my hand and squeezed it. “It isn’t fair because you got an easy target!”

He reached down and push my hand off him, “Hey now! Don’t start getting any ideas there plow-boy. I don’t put out on the first date.”

“I figured as much you prick tease. I had a feeling you were accustomed to being taken out to fancy restaurants and all before you put out. Well there’s a brand new Dairy Queen a block up the road. I’ll buy you lunch, then I’ll fuck you good.”

“Now don’t start making promises you don’t intend to keep there Hoss. You wouldn’t want to break a girl’s heart now would you?”

“OK smart-ass, you win. So what do you want? You have a choice between a hamburger or a cheeseburger - and French fries if you want.”

We ended up eating on one of the wooden picnic tables they had outside under a shade tree at the Diary Queen. The chairs they had inside were just too flimsy to support our weight and neither one of us had a chance of fitting in the booths.

I was really impressed at how quick of a wit this fellow had. He seemed to have an answer for everything even if it was all a bunch of silly nonsense, but I wanted to let him know two could play at that game so while we were eating, I finally thought up something to say to get back at him.

I leaned over close to Bull and whispered, “You know honey, you’re cuter than a bugs ear but you’ve got to do something about that big ass of yours. It’s embarrassing to bring you out to a fancy restaurant like this and have to eat outside on an old wooden picnic table just because you can’t fit into one of those fine lookin’ plastic dinette sets they have inside.”

“I thought you liked my girlish figure Hoss.”

“I do baby, but maybe you should lay off the cheeseburgers for a few years.”

“Fat chance of that!” he laughed, “I love cheeseburgers.”

“And another thing sweetheart. . .”

“Anything you want darling.”

“Please don’t pinch me on the ass when we’re out in public. That poor man about had a heart attack!”

“Awh hell baby he didn’t see nothing. Your ass is so big, you could park a battle ship back there!”

We both guffawed and carried on after that like a couple of schoolboys the whole time we ate. He threw a French fry at me and I threw one back at him and then he grabbed all of mine and we wrestled around on the ground for a minute - French fries flying everywhere - until the owner came out and yelled at us and said we’d better make sure to clean everything up because he didn’t want any ants out there.

We both stood up and looked at one another a little stunned and ashamed. The owner just looked at us like we were a couple of kooks and shook his head and went back inside, but I was starting to feel a little frightened too - like we was caught doing something really wrong - even though it was all in good fun.

Bull finished his burger before I did and he began fussing with the paper on his tray like he was thinking through some stuff. After I finished mine, he looked at me and I couldn’t help but notice a tinge of sadness in his eyes.

“Ain’t families great Hoss?”

“They sure are Bull.”

As we put away our trays and headed back to the truck, I began feeling sad too. It suddenly occurred to me we were about to wrap up the final leg of our journey together. I’d never met anyone like Bull. He had an exuberance and a lust for life that I’d never seen in a man his age and I felt closer to him in the short amount of time we had spent together than all of my other friends combined. He’d brought out a side of me I never knew existed, and frankly. . . I wasn’t ready for us to part ways and see that side of me disappear.

Once we got settled inside the cab and he fired up the diesel, I leaned back in the seat feeling the most relaxed I’d felt in a long, long time; but a little depressed too. He looked over at me before he pulled out of the parking lot and quietly said, “I like you Hoss.”

“I like you too Bull. You’re the best damn thing that’s come along in my life in a long time.”

“Ditto.”

I sat up and was about to say something to him - something I can’t remember to this day - when someone said, “Hey Bull! There’s a big pumpkin down about thirty miles west of the pickle park on the two hundred. Can you get to him?” I jumped clear out of my skin and he grinned but his expression got serious as he reached over and pressed a button on his radio. He picked up the microphone and said, “Roger that.”

“The guy says he thinks it’s his generator. Can you help him out?”

Bull looked over at me. He was all business now. “This could go into the night. He’s closer to here than your place. If I say I’m available, I might not be able to get you back home until late in the evening.”

“I didn’t want to go back home right now anyway Bull. Hell, let’s go!”

His eyes lit up and he smiled the biggest smile I ever saw. He clicked the mike and said, “I’m on my way.”

“Roger. I’ll let him know.”

He hung the mike back up and turned the truck around to head out to the interstate and all of a sudden it hit me that I had just agreed to go someplace I didn’t understand where the hell it was, with a man I barely knew, and I flat-out didn’t give a shit. I didn’t have a care, I didn’t have a worry. I just knew it was supposed to happen and it felt as natural as if we’d been paling around together all our lives. I could pick up feed tomorrow.

“Damn Bull! Those are some serious speakers you’ve got. I thought the guy had crawled up in your sleeper while we was eating!”

He laughed and tapped on his radio. “Yeah. I have a hard time hearing those little speakers. That’s why I’ve enjoyed talkin’ to you; you’ve got a nice deep voice that’s easy to listen to. I don’t have to strain to figure out what you’re saying.”

“Too bad I don’t have anything worth while to say.”

He grinned and winked. “You said I was cute and had a big ass.”

“See what I mean?”

“Now you’ve gone and done hurt my feelings Hoss.”

“Now don’t start that again - tryin’ to talk like I do Bull. You smart-ass. Where did you pick up that foreign accent anyway?”

“I ain’t tellin’ Hoss. You got to figure that one out on your own.”

“Well I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. In all seriousness, you are a handsome feller Bull. I bet you have to beat the ladies off.”

“The only thing I have to beat off every once in a while is my dick, Hoss. It’s nice of you to say that, but when I look in the mirror I don’t see ‘handsome’.”

“Well maybe it’s just the farmer in me Bull. I have a good eye for livestock.”

He smiled, but didn’t say nothin’ for a while. He was thinking about something and I figured he would share it with me eventually. His expression got a bit more serious and when he finally spoke, I could tell by the tone of his voice he was being sincere. “It’s interesting though Hoss. My wife would once in a while say to me I was more of a man’s man than a lady’s man. I never really knew what to think of that.”

That immediately got me started thinking back to the day my wife said the very same thing to me. It wasn’t just the words, but how she said it that always bothered me somewhat - like she had just passed a verdict on my life. Suddenly, I was at a loss for something to say which made me aware that’s usually the way I was when it comes to discussing personal stuff. Throughout the day, Bull had managed to bring me out of that and he made me feel like I was the most interesting person on earth, but all of a sudden I felt unsure what to say back to him.

He broke the silence before I did. “I always thought maybe she was just jealous of the friends I had. She didn’t have very many. Anyway, it’s no big deal. . .”

“Awwh hell Bull! I doubt that. My wife said the exact same thing to me right before she left and I don’t have any close friends to speak of.”

“You’re puttin’ me on?”

“No. I’m serious. I can’t really say I have any friends I have a lot in common with. Hell I live to far out in the sticks to see many people anyway.”

“I’m talkin’ about her callin’ you a ‘man’s man’. So your wife said that to you too huh?”

“She sure did - just a day or so before she headed out. You know? I guess it’d be one thing if you heard that from another guy, but it’s another thing when your own wife tells you that. Especially the way she said it - it seemed judgmental to me. That’s when I pretty much got the impression she wasn’t comin’ back anytime soon if ever.”

“Well fuck ‘em is all I can say! Maybe they’re right. I mean after all, here we are, two big ‘men’s men’, and how about it Hoss - we seem to be enjoyin’ one another’s company pretty damn well if you ask me. Why I’d bet if you was a lady and I stopped to help you out on the side of the road you never would have told me I was cute and had a big ass!”

“You’re always making a joke aren’t you? . . . I like that.”

“No, I’m being serious Hoss. In fact I think you are the first person male or female that’s ever told me I was handsome.”

“Stop bein’ silly! Of course you are! You got strong, manly features and yeah you definitely have a bullish look about you, but it’s not like you’ve got a big wide flat nose and pointy ears or whatever. It’s just a good general way of explaining your appearance is all.”

“You’re diggin’ yourself in pretty deep there Hoss.”

I chuckled and fell back in my seat. It was getting’ near sunset and the country-side was full of color. We drove along in silence and basked in the glow of a perfect day. My mind started wanderin’ around all over the place and it kind of put me in a trance. I guess there comes a time in everyone’s life when you realize that fate has taken over the wheel and you’re just along for the ride. I’d never felt that feeling any stronger than I did at that very moment. It was like him and I had got swept up in a whirlwind together and neither one of us knew where the hell it would take us, but neither one of us seemed to care.

It didn’t seem all that long before we came up on the broken-down semi. Bull reached up and flipped a couple of switches on a console in the headliner of his truck and I could see the flashing of his light-bar reflecting off the back of the trailer as we approached. It was getting near dusk and Bull jumped out the instant he got us backed up near the front of the tractor. I lumbered out of the cab and took a moment to stretch before I walked back behind the truck. Bull was already up surveying the damage in the engine compartment and the driver was on the ground looking up at him. He jumped and his eyes got big when he noticed me. He was a young, skinny kid that barely looked old enough to drive. I realized he probably didn’t expect anyone else other than Bull to be in the truck so I smiled and nodded.

The truck was bright orange and all of a sudden I made the association to what the guy had said hours ago on the radio. So I spoke up - thinking I might should say something so the kid wouldn’t be so frightened of me.

“Well Bull, I now figured out what the Big Pumpkin is, but I don’t remember us driving by any ‘pickle park’. Ain’t never heard of one either. I like pickles though. I got a whole barrel full back at the house. I’ll let you try mine when we get back.”

The damn kid practically doubled over he was laughing so hard and Bull was smiling too, but then the kid said something to Bull which I couldn’t make out over the sound of the diesel. Bull looked back at me with the most hurt look on his face I ever saw then said something back to the kid and motioned for him to get back in the cab of his truck like he was sending him to his room. The kid jumped up in his cab and shut the door. Bull didn’t seem too happy as he climbed down off the truck and walked over to where I was standing.

His eyes were glaring and he didn’t even bother to look at me. I knew for certain he was pissed off about something then. He just opened a compartment and grabbed the ends of the cables to his battery charger and jerked on them and stormed back over to the tractor. The cable got hung up on the spindle and he jerked on it again making matters worse. I stuck my fingers up by my head and bent over like a charging bull and ran over and untangled it for him. He looked embarrassed like he knew better than to do that so I made a show of feeding the rest of it out to him like it was supposed to be done until he had enough to make the connection.

When he came back to the truck to get his tools, I asked him what that was all about and he just said, “Ah nothing. This isn’t going to take long, we’ll have his stupid ass back on the road in no time.”

I pitched in and helped out as much as I could. Bull was surprised to find out how much I knew about diesel engines until I pointed out to him I had more than a few of them on my farm equipment. When we finally got the kid back on the road and were headed back to my place, Bull brought the topic back up.

“You know Hoss, I never thought about going around and offering my services to the farmers. Do you think they might be interested?”

“I’m sure they would be Bull. Most of us out here have service and maintenance contracts with the manufacturers reps but we don’t carry one on all of our equipment. It gets too expensive. I never thought to ask you how things were working out for you business wise. Are you keepin’ busy?”

“I could always take on more work, but I’m a hell of a lot busier than I ever was back east and I can charge more for my services. Way out here it’s damn near like I’m doing rescue work. The truckers are happy as hell to see me when I show up except for that little twerp back there.”

“What did he say that pissed you off like that? I got the impression it was something about me. I think I startled him. I don’t guess he was expecting two of us.”

“Never mind Hoss. He thought he was being funny, but he was just bein’ a little jerk is all. I shouldn’t have got so upset.”

“What did he say? It couldn’t have been any worse than bein’ called a ‘fluke of nature’. You can tell me what he said. It won’t bother me none.”

He looked hurt. “I’m sorry if I offended you Hoss. That was uncalled for on my part, but I felt like I knew you well enough to poke fun at you. Hell! I feel like I’ve known you all my life! I know that’s crazy, but I do.”

“I’ve been feelin’ the same way Bull. . .”

He leaned over the steering wheel and fixed his eyes on the road. I studied him and wondered what was going through his mind. It was pitch black out and we were the only ones out on the highway. We hadn’t crossed paths with anyone for quite a while. I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes trying to imagine what in the world could have got him so upset. We drove along in silence for a long time before he ever said another word.

“I think you’re a handsome son of a gun Hoss and I mean that.”

Hearin’ him say that the way he did touched my heart. I reached through the darkness and put my hand on his shoulder then began rubbing the back of his neck. “Thanks Bull. That means a lot to me - especially comin’ from you.” He rolled his head around sensuously in my hand. I couldn’t help thinking he responded more positively to my touch than my wife ever did in all the years we were married. I kept rubbing his thick neck and shoulders waiting for a sign he’d had enough, but he let me continue without saying a word until all the tension left his body. His shoulders slumped and he leaned back in his seat and I let my hand drop down beside him. He reached for it and held it firm. “I don’t know Hoss. . . I feel like I’ve been swept up with you by some invisible force. It’s like we both got thrown into the middle of some story-book fantasy.”

He kept his eye on the road and waited for me to respond to that but when I didn’t say nothing after a moment, he looked over at me and caught me wiping a tear from my eye. He was surprised by that. I could see it in his face. I smiled at him, embarrassed at the emotion I was showing, but he just nodded like he understood and tighten his grip on my hand something fierce.

“It’s eerie that you would say that Bull because I was thinking something along the same lines a few hours back. I’ve had a lot of fun today. You bring out a side of me I didn’t even know existed.”

“How’s that?”

“Well I tend to be shy and introverted. I know that about myself. I realize what people see when they lay eyes on me so I’m careful not to force myself on anyone. You don’t look away from me like I notice a lot of people do at times. I guess I must do things I’m not aware of that puts people off. I get self-conscious. I sure as hell don’t see ‘handsome’ when I look in the mirror either. Bull.”

“You’re a fine lookin’ man Hoss. I can’t say I know what it’s like living in your shoes cause I have to admit, you wear the biggest shoes of any man I’ve ever met in my life. Hell, I’ve never even seen another man as big as you, but don’t feel alone on that count Hoss, cause you’re not. I’ve noticed the same thing in my time - I’ve noticed how some folks seem to have a hard time looking me in the eye and tend to shy away because of my build. But you Hoss. . . you’ve been real open towards me. You look at my hairy ass like you really like what you see.”

I chuckled. “So you’ve got a hairy ass do you? Well I bet it isn’t near as hairy as mine.”

  “Yeah? Well I wouldn’t be too quick to put any money on that bet if I was you - cause my ass is covered with it.”

“Well don’t start saying things about yourself to get me all riled up there Bull buddy cause I like hairy asses! My wife’s ass was so hairy I had to roll it up in curlers to get to her pussy!”

He started laughing and laughed so hard I thought he was gonna have to pull over and stop. I couldn’t believe his reaction.

“That was bad Hoss. That’s the funniest damn thing I’ve heard in a long time. If that was the truth, you’d love mine then.”

“That’s what I’m talking about Bull. I’ve never thought of myself as being all that clever and funny, but you make me feel like am. You understand my sense of humor and you treat me like I’m a regular guy and not like some big ol’ curiosity that belongs in a freak show. I feel like I can be myself around you. There’s no way I could explain to you how much that means to me. I’m sorry about showing all the emotions like I did a minute ago. I don’t want to put you off by that.”

“There’s nothing about you that puts me off Hoss. Nothing. I guess that’s what I’ve been trying to say to you. Hell, I’m not sure what it is I’m feeling towards you. I’ve never quite felt this way before and I just don’t know how to put it in words.”

“Well let’s just leave it at that Bull. It is what it is. There’s no since in trying to put a label on it.”

We drove on in silence after that. I was physically and emotionally spent, and after a while, I leaned back in my seat and kind of fell into a trance as I thought everything over. The next thing I was consciously aware of was Bull pullin’ off on the gravel road that led up to my house. It had taken all that time - hours in fact - for my heart and mind and soul to come to grips with the horrors of feeling true love for the very first time. I knew I had to take a chance and invite him into my life, but the fear of rejection and finding myself once again all alone had me paralyze. I figured if I didn’t say anything to him, I’d probably see him again from time to time, but I already knew that if it turned out like that, our friendship would always be a bit torturous to me.

I tried to brace my heart for the pain of rejection by rehearsing in my mind what I would say to him if he passed on my invitation. I even allowed myself to visualize standing at my drive and waving goodbye to him - perhaps never to see him again - as he drove off to wherever it is he came from.

I was nervous as all hell but I finally allowed myself to look back over at him and cherish the sight of this incredible man who had unwittingly struck this bitter-sweet blow to my heart. All kinds of feelings rushed through me when I did and they took my breath away. I couldn’t help thinking this might be the one lasting picture of him I would end up remembering the most if I never saw him again. He felt me looking at him and braced himself then leaned over the steering wheel and gazed intently at the road as if he was looking for something.

“You’ve been deep in thought Hoss - unless you sleep with your eyes open.”

“It hurts Bull.”

He forced a smile and slightly nodded his head. A moment later, he took one hand off the steering wheel and rubbed his eyes with his fist, but kept them fixed on the road.

“If it didn’t hurt, how would you know it was real Hoss?”

I was about to say my piece and get it over with but he slowed down the truck and let it roll to a stop. He put it in park and gripped the steering wheel so tight his knuckles turned white then shut down the motor and said, “This is the spot Hoss.”

He opened the door and jumped out of the cab then walked in front of the truck and looked up at me and back down at the ground. I suddenly realized where we were and what he was talking about. I jumped out of truck and it felt like I floated down to the ground. I walked around to where he was standing but he didn’t look up at me. He kept his head bent down at the ground and pushed the gravel around carefully with his toe.

“This is where you was parked, and see that? That’s where I slid my fat ass up under your truck and pulled off that crazy screwed up filter and right here. . . right here is the hole you made in the road while you was watching me work. You were kicking your feet in the dirt the whole time. I figured you was afraid I might screw up your brand new truck.”

“I didn’t realize I was doing that.”

“Oh I did. You was kickin’ up dirt like a bull on a rampage. I remember thinking to myself, ‘You’d better not screw anything up Bull or this guy will tear your head off.’ Now look over here. Stand right there. Now face me. You see this spot here? This is the spot where I’m thinking ‘You better have this right Bull, or no tellin’ what this big son of a bitch might do to you.’”

“I don’t remember that. I don’t remember anything happenin’ here.”

He stepped closer and stood on his toes and put his hand up to my ear and whispered, “That’s because it ain’t happened yet.” He took a hold of my head in his strong hands and turned me to face him then he kissed me right smack on the lips then he did it again.

“You’re beautiful Hoss and I’ve fallen in love with you.”

I had to turn away for a moment because all the beauty in the world could not compare to that I saw in his eyes. By the time I got up enough courage to look into them again, I saw the same courageous fear I too was suffering. He braced himself for the worse; for me to tell him how incredibly sweet he was but how all of this was totally insane. I tried to speak, but I was breathless as I fought hard not to breakdown and cry.

He lowered his head to the ground and kicked the gravel and I picked him up and slobbered all over him. I lost all control. I kissed him passionately and started bawling like a baby at the same time. His strong arms wrapped around my neck and he rubbed the back of my head and ran his fingers through my hair. I was a complete mess - laughing and crying at the same time fully aware of all the loving and lustful feelings that were swelling inside me.

I lowered him back to the ground - his face all wet with my slobber and tears. I pulled out my handkerchief and wiped him off, and a tear rolled off my cheek and landed on the chest of his greasy, sweaty t-shirt. I put my finger on the spot where it landed. “I’ll never forget this day for as long as I live Bull. I really liked wrestling around with you under that tree at the Dairy Queen.”

He smiled and looked down at the gravel in the road, “Neither will I Hoss, neither will I.”

We embraced again and I lifted off his cap and kissed him on the forehead.

“You’ve got beautiful hair Bull.”

He tapped me on the chest and said, “You’ve got a beautiful heart Hoss. I didn’t expect. . .” He fought back a tear. “I didn’t mean to upset you Hoss.”

I’m sorry Bull. “That was the most beautiful, romantic thing I’ve ever experienced in my life.”

He smiled and looked down at the ground and pushed another rock around with his foot. “Well I guess I’d better get you home before I do and say something even more stupid.”

He turned on his heels before I could speak and climbed back inside his truck. I kicked the ground in frustration not really knowin’ what to say or even what would happen next. As I climbed in the truck, he pulled away before I got the door completely shut and I knew right then he was ready to bolt. I realized suddenly that I’d been so full of emotion, he didn’t have any clue as to what I was thinking or how I was truly feeling.

Neither one of us said another word till we got back to my place. He backed his truck up to mine and grabbed the fuel filter and his coveralls and hopped out of the truck without saying a word. I walked around to him as he positioned the lift up under my truck. His eyes looked fatigued and uncertain but in my mind, our fate was sealed. I was ready to get on with it, and I just prayed he had the courage to actually carry through with his words.

“I’ll start fixin’ us dinner Bull.”

I moved toward the house then I remembered he would probably need the keys to my truck so I reached in my pocket and handed them to him. He tossed them in his hand several times measuring their weight as though he was holding the keys to our future.

I walked to the back of the house and fired up the grill then let myself inside and opened up the house. The cool mountain air drifted inside and I could hear the sound of Bull’s diesel like it was right inside the house. I went in the kitchen and cleared off the table. It occurred to me that this was gonna be the first time anyone had actually sat down here and shared a meal in a long time.

A feeling of normalcy came over me as I busied myself with the task of fixing us a meal and for a brief moment, I allowed myself to dwell on how crazy that seemed, but I didn’t let it fester. I worked quickly and kept busy and by the time I heard the high whine of Bull’s hydraulic lift lowering my truck back to the ground, I had things pretty far along. The thought of what I’d do if he just got in his truck and drove away crossed my mind, but I didn’t dwell on it and hurried to get dinner as far along as I could.

I heard the door of his truck close and a few moments later I heard him try and start up my truck. He had to turn her over a few times before the fuel worked its way up to the motor, but it fired up steady and sure. Bull revved it up a few times then let it idle then revved it up again.

I fired up the stove and began cooking up some onions and mushrooms to put over the steaks I was gonna grill. The smell sparked my appetite and a warm feeling came over me like I hadn’t felt in many a year. It wasn’t until they were near done and ready to put on hold until the steaks were cooked that Bull came into the house and found his way back to the kitchen.

“It smells mighty good in this house Hoss.”

The picture I got of him when I turned around to greet him is indelible in my mind to this day. He just looked like he belonged there. He was standing in the doorway leaning on the sill - looking so comfortable - like he was standing in his favorite spot that he’d picked out a long time ago. I hadn’t seen him in full light ever since we’d started working together on the broken-down semi. His coveralls were soiled from head to toe and his t-shirt was nearly as bad.

I smiled from ear to ear. “You look like you’ve found your spot there Bull.”

“I’m pretty good at supervising a meal but I can’t cook worth a damn. I’d come over closer, but I’m afraid I might catch on fire. Your damn truck peed on me Hoss. I stink with gasoline.”

I walked over to him and could smell it as I got closer. “Damn you’re a sight! Why don’t you go get cleaned up while I finish up dinner.”

“Show me the way.”

I led him back to the bathroom and got him a fresh washcloth and towel then went down in the meat locker and cut up two good sized steaks and brought them up to the kitchen. He was in the shower by then so I checked up on him and saw he’d folded up his clothes and laid them on the floor just outside the bathroom door. I gathered them up and got them started in the wash. I took all his belongings I’d emptied out of his pockets back to the bedroom and set them on top of my chest of drawers then dug around to find something for him to wear. I finally found a pair of pajamas with a drawstring in the pants I knew he could make fit him and put them and a bathrobe along with a new toothbrush on a small hutch that stood opposite the bathroom door and walked back to the kitchen.

When I heard him shut off the shower, I walked out on the back porch and threw the steaks on the grill then paused to gaze at the stars and humbly thank my maker for this unforgettable day. Bull stepped out on the porch wearing the pajamas and bathrobe just about the time the steaks were done and immediately walked out to where he could see the night sky.

“There ain’t one city light that can even come close to this Hoss. I didn’t even know how beautiful the night really was till I moved out here. I want to go there one day.”

I walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulder and caught a glimpse of a shooting star trail across the sky.

“Where’s that Bull?”

“To the center of the galaxy.”

I looked back up to see where the fallen star had originated from, and there was the mighty Taurean constellation staring me in the face. A chill went all through me. It all happened so fast I knew he didn’t see any of it, so I didn’t mention it. Besides, I knew it was all meant for me, and me alone, to see - and how do you explain to someone what had just happened in a flash and what it all meant to you? I was afraid he might not believe me anyway, and I knew bringing it up would lead to conversation that neither one of us was ready for.

“I’m sure they could use a man like you out there.”

“Think so Hoss?”

“I’m sure of it.”

As I gathered up the steaks and headed inside he said, “I think they’d be better off with a man like you Hoss.”

I stopped in my tracks and turned back toward him. I could tell he still wasn’t sure where we were with all of this and in all honesty, neither was I, but I sat the plate down and gave him the biggest hug I’ve ever given anyone in my life.

“I ain’t goin’ nowhere without you Bull.”

He looked up at me and put his hands on my shoulders and said, “You really think this can work?”

“What do you think Bull?”

“I don’t know what to think.”

“Neither do I Bull so I guess it’s just best not to dwell on it right now.”

He stepped inside the house and I turned back around and stared up at the sky and thanked God in his heaven for being so kind to me.

It wasn’t nothin’ fancy, just a simple home cooked meal, but Bull went on and on about it like he hadn’t ever eaten in his life. I noticed he kept pickin’ around his tomato but when he finally cut into it and gave it a try, he went after it like he’d never eaten one before in his life. I got up and sliced another one for him and set it on his plate and he smiled and thanked me.

We talked about the events of the day while we ate and kept the conversation wrapped inside that little bubble that contained the brief life we’d already shared together. Nothing about our past was ever brought up and he never said a thing about his clothes and the pajamas and bathrobe I’d left out for him. When we finished eating, he got up and cleared off the table and started cleaning the dishes and told me to go ahead and take care of any other business I needed to do.

I took that to mean I should go ahead and get myself cleaned up, so I did. When I stood at the mirror, I saw a different man than I’d ever seen before. I could tell a heavy burden had been lifted off his shoulders, but he looked spent and exhausted from going through the process. I kept an eye on him as he brushed his teeth and felt reasonably certain he’d be alright after a good nights rest, but I detected there was still a hint of doubt in his eyes and that worried me some. I left him standing there and went to the bedroom and put on some pajamas then walked back to the kitchen. Bull about had everything cleaned up so I went and hung his clothes in the drying room and turned on the heater. When I stepped back into the kitchen he turned and raised his head to me. I motioned back toward his clothes and said, “They’ll be dry in twenty minutes or so.”

He just shrugged and said, “I ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

“I just thought I’d let you know.”

He turned away and started drying off the last pot he had in the sink. When he was done, he folded up the dish towel and sat it down on the counter top and turned and looked up at me. “You look as tired as I feel. Let’s get to bed Hoss and see what tomorrow brings.”

We shut off the lights and he followed me to the back of the house into my bedroom. He took off the bathrobe as I turned back the sheets and crawled into bed. I shut off the light and walked around to the other side of the bed near the window where my wife had always slept and got in bed with him. He rolled over on his side facing away from me and I said a little prayer as I lay beside him before I turned to cuddle up to him. I put my arm around him and he took my hand in his and held it tight and before too long, I fell off to sleep.

Time had ceased to exist since the moment we’d met, but when the light of the new moon flooded our room, I woke up and quietly laid there and wondered how long it would stand still for us. Bull’s steady breathing had counted off the moments it took for me to realized that what I thought had been a dream, was in fact for real. I didn’t want to ever move, but eventually, I had to get up to answer the call of nature. I slowly and carefully got out of bed, but when I returned from the bathroom, he was now laying flat on his back with his arms spread out across the bed. I walked around to the window and stood beside it and admired him bathed in the moonlight. His barrel chest and manly belly slowly pulsated like two pistons in rhythm to his breathing.

“What are you doing Hoss?”

I looked up at his beautiful face and his bright blue eyes glittered in the moonlight. “You’re just too beautiful Bull.”

He smiled and patted the bed with his left hand and I lowered myself on it underneath his arm. He wrapped it around my neck and I rolled over and nuzzled up to his chest and let my arm lay across his big, firm belly as I surveyed the rolling landscape of his beautiful body. He tensed up as my hand wandered all over his body. He raised his head and watched as I slowly make my way up to his chest and when I reached to unbutton the shirt of his pajamas, his body stiffened and trembled. He was nervous as all hell and so was I, but the way he held me told me he wanted it as much as I did.

I took my time and carefully unbuttoned every button before I rubbed the palm of my hand all over him and felt the coat of hair that covered him. It was fine and silky like a prized pelt. His firm little nipples stood up when I touched them and he held me closer and guided me down to them.

His head fell back and his breathing became erratic the moment I began savoring his silken man-flesh. His rough hand wandered down my back and pushed my body tighter to him but he shivered in a way that told me he was still unsure. I licked the fur on his chest and slowly worked my way to his manly teat and sucked on it with a passion. He jolted and moaned then nudged my hand down toward his groin.

I moved my hand down slowly and gently to his manhood and cupped it in the palm of my hand. His thick crank was swollen and puffy, but he wasn’t hard. I gently worked my fingers in the fly of his pajamas and gingerly lifted it out. It flopped over the back of my hand as I massaged it between my thumb and forefinger near his groin. I slid down toward the foot of the bed and he nervously raised his head to watch what I was doing. He looked fearful, and for an instant, I thought he was going to have me stop, but when I sucked the full of his crank all the way down my throat his stomach heaved and his head fell back.

I waited for his cock to throb and fill my mouth but it never did. I could tell he was trying to make it throb for me, but I figured he was still too nervous to fully relax so I let it slide out of my mouth then slipped further down on the bed between his legs and untied the draw string of his pajamas and slid them off him.

The sight of his cock and balls hanging down between his stubby muscular thighs brought back memories of how I had reveled at the sight of them while he was working underneath my truck. It was just perfect down there. His cock was just downright beautiful and his testicles were just the right size and shape to complement its stunning appearance.

My crank leapt up at the sight of him as I let his pajamas drop to the floor. I lowered myself on my stomach to hide the fact I was getting hard then took his back up in my hands and felt its perfection.

“God Bull, you got the most perfect cock on earth big buddy.”

He raised his head and looked me in the eyes and just like that, his perfection throbbed mightily. He fell back and bent his knees up revealing the full magnificence of his underside and I dove down on him and began licking his beautiful balls. His thighs began pulsating then he spread his legs out wider and pushed my head down further underneath him and when I lapped his musk off his prostate, he bucked his legs and cried out, “Oh fuck hosss! . . .yeah! . . .Oh yeah!”

His legs began trembling and his crank began to throb in my hand. His prostate was long and ran prominently right up to his pucker-hole. I licked it and caressed it with my lips and he shivered and bucked then gasped for air, “Oh yeah baby! . . . Yeah!”

I bit his furry ass and licked up under his balls with total abandon. He kept moving his thighs in and out squeezing my head tighter and tighter until he was hard. I looked up at his perfect dick and marveled at the beauty of it. His thick, wide cock-head was the most beautiful thing I ever saw. I raised up and took it in my mouth and he fucked it down my throat with a brutal thrust. I knew right then I would never tire of watching his big, beautiful man fuck himself into me. He fucked my face with such brutal force I almost shot my load right then and there but he stopped right when I thought I was about to loose control and pushed my head down under him and raised his legs up and stuck his pucker-hole right up to my face.

I dove down on it and he bucked and started talking dirty to me in that deep voice of his that’d had me under his spell ever since we met.

“Eat that ass buddy! Yeah! Lick that hole. Show me what kind of cunt-licker you are big man!”

I stuck my hard tongue right up his ass and he spread his legs wide. “Yeah! Stick that fucker down there! Gitcha some of it!”

My cock throbbed hard at the thought of fucking his tasty ass. I wasn’t sure if he’d get to wanting it like I did the day my son went after mine, but I went after his beautiful pucker-hole with that thought in mind.

He kicked and moaned as I probed deeper and deeper until I had him pushed right up to the head board. I slid open a drawer in my night stand and pulled out a tube of lubricant that’d I once tried using on my wife with no success. I licked his big, hairy ass like a bear licking honey then slicked my finger up with the stuff and stuck it in him. He bucked and looked down at me and cried out.

“Yeah baby! I wanna see your big ass fuck!”

His voice was harsh and gutteral. I had an urge to just rape his ass right then and there, but I knew I’d have to get him a hell of a lot more ready than he was if I was ever gonna get the chance to fuck him and fuck him good. I fingered him gently but steadily until I had three fingers up inside him. His crank had softened up when I started playin’ with his ass, but now it was startin’ to throb big and strong. I hadn’t let him see my dick fearful that he might put a stop to all this right then and there. He kept lookin’ down at me like he was tryin’ to see what kind of equipment I had but I stayed flat on my stomach to keep him from seeing my lust-filled crank until I felt I had a good chance of getting inside him.

I pushed his legs high up in the air and got half-way up on my haunches and greased myself up good without lettin’ him see my crank.

I looked him in the eye and said, “This is gonna hurt some buddy but I think we have a good chance at it.”

I lifted my crank up and let the head of it slide up the crack of his ass to his honey pot. His eyes opened wide as he felt it and he looked down to see what was in store for him.

“god . . . Fucking . . . DAMN!”

He almost looked frightened, but when he felt my cock head slip inside him, his big thighs spread wide and his eyes rolled back then he worked his legs and I felt the heat of his hot ass surround my crank as it slid inside him. I thought I was a gonner there for a moment. For all intents and purposes I was pretty much a virgin. I hadn’t fucked in eighteen years. He felt me tremble as I fought to gain control and looked up at me. His eyes opened wide and he grabbed my crank urgently and held it tight as a vise. I shook something fierce as I fought the urgent need of my throbbing crank and only managed to win out thanks to the strength of his rough, meaty hands. I broke out in a cold sweat and moaned like I’d just been released from torture as I regained control of myself. He slowly relaxed his hold on me then hefted my cock and tried his grip on it in several places like it was the finest tool he’d ever put in his hand.

“You’re such a fuckin’ man Hoss.”

“Yours is perfect.”

He smiled and grabbed it and pushed it down between his legs. “It doesn’t even come close to what you got buddy.”

“It’s fuckin’ perfect Bull buddy.”

He smiled. “You ready to git cha’ a piece a’ ass big man?”

I looked down and watched my crank slowly slide into his hairy man-hole and realized I was drooling. I reached up and wiped it off the corner of my mouth and smiled a little embarrassed. “God it’s beautiful Bull.”

“Git cha’ a piece a’ ass you horny mother fucker!” He said it like he was daring me to actually go through with it. I hesitated as the realization of what I was actually doing hit me like a two-barrel shotgun and crazy thoughts raced through my head. ‘You’re trying to fuck a man up his ass you stupid hillbilly!’ ‘You’re so big and ugly you can’t. . .”

“You want that man-ass or not plowboy?”

Our eyes locked and our muscles tensed as I tried to ram myself inside him. He purposely fought me every inch of the way but I overpowered him and inch by inch I plowed him a brand-new asshole. We were both trembling as I made my way up his furry ass. I rammed the last of myself into him hard and my balls slapped up against him. My crank was rock-hard and unfeeling. I pulled it out some and fucked him again.

“Yeah I want that man-ass! I’m a man’s man remember? Just like you Bull . . . just like you.”

I ground my crank down in him and he bucked like a mule. “Oh fuck Hoss. That’s the spot there big buddy. You got what I need for damn sure! Look at that fucker Hoss! Look how fuckin’ hard you’ve got me.”

I looked down at him and his beautiful cock was sticking straight up as big as it could be. He looked so proud of it he reminded me of a three year old boy sportin’ his first boner. I reached down and fisted it and felt it throb, it was as hard as granite.

“That’s the finest dick I ever saw Bull.”

He smiled and put his hand around mine and said, “You’ve got the dick of death big buddy. I can’t believe that mother fucker! You got me wantin’ it bad Hoss. Fuck it feels good!”

I fucked a long stroke and tasted his sweet, smooth fuck-hole tight around my crank. His head fell back and his entire body relaxed, then he grabbed his cock and began working on it. It was beautiful watching him. His big strong body swelled and the muscles and veins in his forearm popped out as he fisted his mighty cock with his powerful hands. I fucked him long and slow and felt the force of his need consume his body. He bucked his ass and I rammed it good for him - pushing my balls tight against his furry pucker-hole. My cock-head flared and I felt the tip of it release some pre-cum into his hot hole. A deep moan vibrated through his entire body. It was so strong and forceful it rattled a china figurine my wife had on her bed-stand. The sound cast a spell over me. I lost all control. Raging lust and anger engulfed my being and I grabbed up his ass in both hands and started fucking it like it was all there was to him. I couldn’t stop. My eyes were fixed on my crank as I watched it pummel his man-cunt over and over again. I was gone, completely nuts, and I fucked eighteen years of anger and frustration out of my life all at once.

“Git your piece of ass big buddy! Fuck it good! Yeah! . . . git cha’ a piece a’ ass. . . yeah! Fuck it!”

The sound of his voice half-way brought me around. I pulled my eyes away from my fuck and when I saw how he was looking at me, I never felt more appreciated as a man as I did at that moment. He was looking right through me. He knew what I was doing. He knew what was going on inside me. He knew I wasn’t just fucking him but fucking away a demon that’d been tormenting me for years.

It’s impossible to explain the effect that had on me. I looked back down at our man-stuff all fucked together - his big bull-balls hanging down on top of my crank all fucked in his ass and our big hairy bellies slamming together and his big, fat, perfect cock in the fist of his meaty, rough hands, and his arms and broad shoulders, and just the way he looked.

He had the worst case of ‘man’ I ever saw in my life and I wanted to fuck it for him good. I hammered him hard, and fucked it, and fucked it, and fucked it, until my crank exploded.

The most fearful sound I’d ever heard from man or beast vibrated through my body and escaped into the room. Bull fell back and spread his legs wide and I fucked my sword right through the heart of the burly beast. He started bellowing. Spunk flew out of him like it was shot from a cannon and my sweet baby bull that loved me so dearly, ran up the pasture to the bedroom window and began howling the most fearful cry I ever heard.

I fucked him hard again and held him tight against my groin and he unleashed the most impossible stream of spunk I ever saw. It blew high up behind him and landed square on a portrait of my father hanging on the wall above the headboard. He hollered in painful ecstasy the duration of each blast and I deep-fucked him good and hard each and every time he blew off.

I never had a orgasm so strong and complete. Powered by man-lust and fortified with love, I filled him full with my spunk and left my mark all over him.

I pulled my crank out of his ass and held it menacingly for him to see. It was the meanest, stiffest, biggest fucking dick I ever saw in my hand and I felt like I could rule the world with it.

“You’re mine little Bull Buddy! Ain’t nobody ever gonna take you away from me!”

His eyes got huge. He bucked his thighs down around my waist and squeezed me tight with them and the seed of life exploded out of us both all over again.

I aimed my crank right at him and proceeded to spunk him up from head to toe. His head fell back after my first wad hit him square in the face and he twisted it up and made the most determined expression I ever saw in my life and pointed his perfect dick right at me and let me have it.

I bellowed out when it hit me and my baby bull started crying out again. Bull finally realized where it was coming from and snapped his head toward the window, but turned back toward me when his spunk flew out of his perfect cock-head and hit me up under my chin.

My baby bull kept crying at my window as we marked our territory on one another. It was all too fantastic and unreal and driven by a primal urge seeded so deep within us we were both shocked by its force and determination.

Our fuck turned into joy and laughter from all the commotion he made. I fell on top of Bull and splashed into the ocean of life we’d fashioned from our own will. I kissed his beautiful face and licked my seed off it as I fucked myself back into him.

We kissed one another passionately and laughed and drowned ourselves in our pleasure as my baby bull continued to cry out into the night. Bull lovingly squeezed my cock with his thighs over and over and I finally dropped my dead weight on top of him and collapsed into his arms.

He didn’t flinch. He just caressed me and hugged me tight with his strong arms and kissed me all over as if I was as light as a feather and I then knew. This sealed it for me - I knew I’d finally found my life companion.

I was so full of joy, I was about to break down and cry when my baby bull charged the fence. I realized he wasn’t going to settle down until he heard the sound of my voice so I jumped up and opened the window and tried talking to him to settle him down, but he remained nervous and upset.

Bull sat up in the bed and watched like a concerned father. “We need to go out there.”

He was right in more ways than one and I knew it, so I led him out the house to the fence and we petted and coddled my sweet, baby bull until we finally managed to settled him down. The two of them fell instantly in love in the moonlight and he nuzzled his new daddy and began lapping the bull-seed off his big, furry body and when he finished, he did the same to me.

It was almost day-break and I looked up at the heavens. Taurus was now high in the early-morning sky.

I never felt so grounded, immovable; and so at peace with the world.