Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 21:44:28 -0500 From: Retta Michaels Subject: Rural: Rural Love: Chapter 1 Rural Love By Retta Michaels Disclaimer: If you are not old enough to read this story, then please don't read it. If you can not legally read this in your country, or locale, please don't read it. This is a story about homosexual relations between two individuals. If you do not find this sort of story interesting, you are on the wrong site. Any and all coincidential names, dates, ages, or situations which occur in this story are exactly that....coincidential. This story is fiction. Chapter 1 Billllllllleeeeee! I heard the yell of my Aunt Paulette clear out to the barn. She and my Uncle Nick had taken to raising me after my mom and dad died. It wasn't a good memory. At least Mom and Dad died together. All I had was a mess of memories and a lot of nightmares to show for our house burning down and taking them away from me. The metal of the wood stove burned through, and the hot coals landed on the floor. The problem was, I had thrown buckeyes in it, and I felt guilty as hell. Maybe they would have lived had them buckeyes not gotten thrown in there. Everybody told me it wasn't my fault and the stove would've burned through no matter what. But, I could tell how people really thought. I saw them when I walked into the church. All the eyes were on me, and they all thought I was a murderer, or, What kind of person would do that to their own parents? They said I lived because I was the furthest away. Me, I didn't mean to do it. Heck, I was meaning to have some fun. I'd done it before and the way everyone jumped when they popped made for everyone getting scared and then laughing afterwards. Only this time, no one was laughing. They were all dressed in their Sunday's finest and laying up there in them closed caskets . When the funeral was over, my Aunt Paulette and Uncle Nick took me in. They were nice, but I could tell they blamed me. Both were real quiet and would whisper when I left the room. My Aunt Paulette thought they should take me to a shrink. I didn't need no shrink, I needed to be taken out somewhere and ran down with a brush hog and chopped up into little pieces. So, rather than sit and listen to them whisper, I went out to the barn. After not coming when my aunt yelled, my Uncle Nick came out and walked cautiously into the barn. He saw my tear stained cheeks and said, "Billy, your aunt called, didn't you hear her?" The tone of his voice told me he felt sorry for me. I said, "Uncle Nick, she's just calling me for supper, and I don't deserve to eat. I just deserve to die. So, if you'll just start that tractor up over there, I'll lay down and you just run over me with the brush hog." I began to cry real hard. He looked at me and said, "Billy, it...wasnt....your......fault." He said it slow and deliberate like, like he really meant it. All I heard was "You....killed....my....sister!" I started crying harder and he hugged me to him. He knelt down so he was looking me in the eye and said, "Billy, we know you threw buckeyes into the wood stove. I told your daddy that thing was going to burn through. We were going to go on Saturday and get you all a new one that would've been better. So, if anyone is to blame, it's me because I didn't want to go get it right then. If I had, the buckeyes wouldn't have done a thing to it." I looked at him and really cried hard now feeling sorry for him. He said, "Billy, sometimes, things happen and there's not a thing we can do. All we can do is to try to be better people afterwards. I love you and Paulette loves you, so let's go in and eat and then we'll talk some more after supper." I walked with him and he held me real close to him. I had a head ache from crying and snot was running out of my nose. I wiped it off with my sleave and he said, "Billy, when we get inside, I'll wash your face and then we'll get you an aspirin. It should make you feel better. I've got me a whale of a headache going too." How he knew I had a headache, I'll never know, but I'm glad he knew. When we got inside, Aunt Paulette took a look at me and came over to hug me. Uncle Nick said, "Hon, Billy's blaming himself just like I am. I told him it's nobody's fault and that things just happen. So, we're going to wash him up, and get us an aspirin, and then we'll eat your fine supper." She smiled and patted me on the back as I walked by her. I could smell homemade biscuits from the oven. We went to the sink and he took a washcloth out. The coolness against my skin felt nice and afterwards, he poured us some milk and gave me an aspirin. I stood looking at him and together, we drank our milk. Afterwards, I couldn't help but smile because he had a milk mustache just like me. He laughed and said, "Billy, we're going to get through this, and hopefully, you'll find that one day you're glad you live here. Right now, a lot of decisions are needing made for you, but those will settle when everyone gets used to the situation." We went over to the table and I saw Aunt Paulette had my favorite, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, and biscuits. I liked fried chicken and proudly reached for a drumstick. My aunt smiled and said, "Billy, let's say grace and then you can eat all you want." During grace, I thought about my mama and daddy being in heaven and said, "God, please tell my mama and daddy, I love them. I know they can hear me, but I want you to tell them I'm sorry so they know it's true." My aunt dabbed her eyes, and my Uncle Nick had tears in his eyes too. I didn't care if they heard me, I just wanted mom and dad to know I was sorry. After supper, my Uncle Nick said, "Billy, we're going to town tomorrow as I've got to pick up some supplies. Afterwards, we'll go to the livestock auction as I want to pick out some calves. Would you like to go with me?" I nodded as I liked the livestock auction. All the animals were neat. They had horses, cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, and even goats! I then asked to go outside and my Uncle Nick went with me. He hugged me as we walked and said, "Billy, your mama and daddy had quite a bit of money invested. They also had a lot of insurance and that farm over there had owner's insurance on it too. Now, you're too young to run it, so I was thinking that we put some livestock on it and that would be your operation. I'll help you run it and we can hire someone to work it. You don't have to if you don't want, but letting that land go to waste isn't something that should be done." I looked up at him and said, "Uncle Nick, that farm's yours. Mama told me the land came from Grandad and you should've gotten it when he died. She never felt right about them getting it instead of you." Uncle Nick said, "Billy, the farm is yours. My dad thought your mama should've had it, so he willed it to them. He willed me money with which Paulette and I bought this one. Fortunately, it was up for sale and it was so close to that farm, I was happy. I always enjoyed living close to them and not once did I hold a grudge it wasn't left to me. You'll find your mom and I thought different on things." I looked at him and said, "Uncle Nick, you do whatever you see fit. I'm not old enough to run a farm and it's not fair you now have to run two. So, you do with it what you want and take the money from it as yours. You're raising me and that's enough." My Uncle Nick smiled and said, "Billy, we're raising you because we wanted you. Paulette and I haven't been blessed with kids, and some day, the way I see it, this farm will be yours too." I looked at him and said, "Uncle Nick, what if I don't want to be a farmer. What if I want to go to the city and be a hellion?" He laughed real loud and said, "Billy, do you know what a hellion is?" I said, "Well it must be fun because they sure do get on t.v. a lot! Everytime they'd be on the television, my daddy would turn the channel and would say, 'Them hellions are taking over the television.' So, one day, I asked him where the hellions were and he told me in the cities. I figure I'd like to go see some." My Uncle Nick said, "Billy, your daddy thought that anyone who didn't believe as he did were hellions. I'm sure he found hellions right here in our little town." I looked at him wide eyed and said, "Really? Could I meet one?" He laughed again and said, "Billy, I'm sure you'll meet people in your life you'll think are hellions and you don't need to be runnin' 'round chasin' your daddy's." I got quiet and thought about it and said, "You're probably right. I'll just have to find my own." We walked to the creek and he said, "Billy, is it o.k. if I invest that money of yours in some more farm land?" I said, "Uncle Nick, that would be fine. Mom said land was the best investment because no one could take it away and it wouldn't be frittered away like some people do buying all them things." He said, "What I'm going to do is start putting your money into land around here and then when it's time for you to do what you want in life, it will be worth more. Right now, land isn't going for as high here as it is in other parts of our state. The only reason for that is the roads aren't that good. I've heard talk they're buying up land over near Charlotte to build a super mega highway, so then the roads will be reaching somewhere and people will want the land more. With the money you've got, you should be setting on quite a nest egg when that time comes." I said, "Uncle Nick, what happens when that kind of egg hatches? I'm not going to be raising no fowl am I?" He laughed and said, "Billy, you won't think it's foul at all when that day comes." We began walking back to the house. I said, "Uncle Nick, couldn't you and Aunt Paulette adopt?" He said, "Billy, we had talked about it, and then this happened. So, we did get someone. We got you. I think you're enough." I said, "Well keep it in mind because with me sitting on some egg waitin on it to hatch, I'm gonna be busy." He laughed again and said, "Billy, you'll be busy alright." I said, "Uncle Nick, can I tell you something?" He said, "Sure." I said, "You promise it won't go further...dead man's promise?" He smiled and said, "Yeah, I promise." I said, "No, you gotta promise the dead man's promise, or I can't tell you." He said, "Billy, I promise the dead man's promise." I said, "Uncle Nick, I think I like boys in front of girls." He looked at me strange and said, "What do you mean Billy?" I said, "Well, at school, I like looking at boys...not girls." He nodded and said, "Billy, when I was your age, girls weren't my favorite either." I looked at him and said, "Really!" He said, "Really...now you gotta promise to not say anything about that either. Because now, I like Paulette, so maybe someday some girl will sweep you off your feet like she did me." I said, "So, did boys give you a funny feeling?" He said, "Billy, you're too young for me to talk to this way, but since you asked the question, no, they didn't." I said, "Oh, well they do me...especially Bobby." He smiled and said, "Well, Bobby probably likes you too." I said, "No, Bobby likes Sally, he doesn't even know I'm alive." Uncle Nick said, "Well, Bobby probably isn't the one for you then." I said, "Uncle Nick?" He said, "Yeah hon." I said, "Thanks for not thinking I'm strange." He laughed and said, "Billy, you're not strange at all. You're just a kid growing up and getting used to things." I said, "Well, hopefully one day, I'll be used to them then." He said, "Billy, I'll let you in on something. I'm older and I'm not even used to everything yet." I said, "Well, maybe you'll get used to them after a while." He laughed and said, "Billy, when that day comes, I'll tell you know and that way it won't be such a secret." I said, "O.k." When we got back to the house, Aunt Paulette said, "Billy, you need to go take a bath." I said, "Can I take a shower?" She smiled and said, "Yes, you can take a shower." I ran into the bedroom and got some of my Tonkas and then ran to the shower. I liked taking showers because I could play with my Tonkas in it. No one would let me go out in the rain, but they'd let me play in the shower, so I liked showers. When I got to the shower, I began to play and my Uncle Nick said, "Billy, you need to wash your hair and body before you play. After that, you can play all you want." I said, "O.k." and then washed my hair. I figured the water would wash my body. I played Tonkas until the water got too cold. I shut it off and then got the towel down from the rod which was mine and began drying off. My Uncle Nick came in and said, "Billy, here's your p.j.s, so put them on and you won't be so cold." I took them and began putting them on. My Uncle Nick said, "Billy, you're a good kid. Don't let anyone tell you you're not." I said, "Well, Uncle Nick, you're a good uncle too...so, don't let anyone tell you you're not." We went to the living room and I saw Uncle Nick had lit a fire in the fireplace. For a brief moment I thought about buckeyes and began crying. Uncle Nick hugged me close and said, "Billy, I'm sorry." I said, "Uncle Nick, it's not your fault. I just thought about putting buckeyes in the fire." He hugged me close and said, "Billy, let's save the buckeyes for the fires outside. O.k.?" I nodded and he said, "Maybe tomorrow night, we'll build a fire outside and roast hot dogs and marshmallows. O.k.?" I nodded and he said, "Billy, when you get a chance, we'll go get buckeyes and we'll throw them in the fire together. That way, you'll see they're still fun." I never heard him all the way, I'd fallen asleep. Author's Notes: Hi everyone! As you can see, I'm off on another adventure of writting another story. This one here is taking a breather from my writting a story which includes biographical information. This one here is entirely fiction. I'm going to be posting another story on Nifty called "Military Man". I'll have the links here if they allow it. If you liked this story, you will probably like other stories by this author. Here is the links thus far, on Nifty. "With Love" /nifty/gay/beginnings/with-love/ Lastly...Yes, I saved the best for last!...You!!!....I would like to Thank you for taking precious moments from your lives to read any story I've written. It really means a lot to me. Retta