WACO’S
LUMMOX
By
Waddie Greywolf
Chapter
33
Reverend David
W. Yates led the board members back into the living area of his
home. David was all smiles, but Lazarus could see there were no
smiles on the faces of Quincey Throckmorton and Raymond
Throwbridge. He’d lived long enough to recognize the look of two
men who had serious reservations about the agreement which their
preacher was about to make with the Grange. Right wing
Christianists have always been masters at making others feel
uncomfortable, so it warmed Lazarus’ heart to see the roles reversed
for once. The Reverend Yates was all bubbly and friendly as he
shook Lazarus and Charlie’s hands in acceptance of their generous
offer. He made it a point to shake the rest of the men’s hands
including Chief Tin Penny, whom he considered little more than a Devil
worshiping heathen.
Many of the
Native Americans were returning to their old faiths which were totally
unacceptable to an intolerant group like the Christianists. To
Lazarus’ way of thinking, the American Indians were probably closer to
the truth of the universe than the Christianists ever were. The
fundamentalist looneys were so far off base from the original concept
of Christianity, it was all but unrecognizable. It was just one
more reason for Yates to disapprove of and hate the Grange. They
welcomed and accepted anyone regardless of their beliefs unless they
were unbendingly rigid fundamentalist. There, they drew the
line. It was a double edged sword for Yates because his in-laws
were staunch members of the Grange which, in effect, said they agreed
with their more liberal politics. It caused many arguments
between him and his wife; however, Abigail was quick to remind him the
Grange’s liberal acceptance of his not-so-conservative preference for
casual wear saved his ass.
* * * * * * *
On the ride back
from town there were some choice lines exchanged by the cowboys, to
whom nothing was sacred. The men had been through a lot in the
last couple of years together and began to wallowed in the comradery a
little ribald humor could provide after a particularly unpleasant visit
with the other side.
“I wonder what
sort of outfit that money’s gonna’ buy Preacher Dave? He can
afford several nice ensembles if he shops wisely.” laughed Sonny.
The other men laughed knowing some of the money would probably go for
that purpose before it went to feeding and clothing the poor.
“Knowing David,
I’ll bet they’ll be very tasteful.” allowed Warren in all
seriousness. They laughed again.
“I don’t know,
Dad, I showed you them pitchers the Grange sent him to shut him
up. You gotta’ admit, he weren’t a real comer. I’d put him
in the same category as Eleanore Roosevelt.”
“Aww, c’mon,
Son, he weren’t that pretty.” Warren shot back. Sonny set
his dad up and Warren knocked it out of the park. The men were
laughing their asses' off.
“Gentlemen,
gentlemen, please,” Lazarus feigned mock indignation, “we’re
talking about a man of the cloth here.”
“Yeah, nine full
yards per dress, I’d wager.” insisted Ranger, and it set them off on
another round of laughter.
“As big as he is
he’d need the whole nine yards.” allowed Ed. “And then some for
extras.” they laughed harder.
“Do you think
our offer was received in the spirit we hoped it might?” asked
Charlie of Sonny and Warren.
“Can’t rightly
say, Mr. Goodnight. My son-in-law can be a difficult man to deal
with; not because he’s clever or real bright, but because he has a such
a narrow view of life. Whatever works for the moment seems to be
his m.o. for everything he undertakes. He may feel one way about
something today and change his mind a hundred and eighty degrees
tomorrow. I did put one thought in his head. I told him it
would be a nice gesture if he tried to get young Stan Edmunds back from
the clutches of the H.P. and return him to where he belongs in our
community.”
“I thought we
weren’t gonna’ put no strings on his accepting our help?” Lazarus asked
Sonny.
“I didn’t put it
to him that way, Ramrod. I just told him if he felt grateful and
wanted to show his good faith it might be a nice thing to do. He
reacted about like I thought he might. He turned green around the
gills.” The men chuckled. Sonny continued, “He’s afraid of the
Holy Prophet and I imagine he has a right to be. We’re really
surprised he stood up to him the way he done, but then he had a sharp
stick poke’n him in the ass.” Sonny laughed referring to the
Grange’s threat. “Hell, we all never know from day to day who
might be next to be hauled off and labeled as a dissident. As
long as we operate within the framework they set up and keep our noses
clean, I don’t see how they can get away with rounding us up and doing
what they done to the Blooms. They just done that because the
Blooms were poor and knew they couldn’t fight back.”
“It was also a
way to take a shot at the Grange indirectly. Scudder knew the
Blooms and Stan were a part of the Grange family. He’s testing
the waters. David got me aside and asked if I knew anything about
the Blooms being raptured from their re-education center. I told
him I didn’t know nothing about it. I lied and told him it was
the first I’d heard about it. I told him he know'd more about the
rapture than I do.” said Warren Steele.
“He didn’t seem
too upset about it, but I don’t think he’s put two and two together
with the Grange; mainly, because the Blooms ain’t show’d up on
anybody’s radar. As far as the H. P. and Reverend Yates are
concerned, they just vanished. That’s the way we wanna’ keep
it. I got to thinking, this rapture thing is a great cover for
what we’re doing. Most of the Christianists think it’s gonna’
happen all at once, and in the final days it just might when we go to
collecting folks; however, ain’t no reason the rapture couldn’t be an
ongoing thing; some today, some tomorrow and the next day. Who’s
to say? They say God works in mysterious ways. Perhaps that
should be our moto for the Grange.” Warren concluded with a
chuckle.
Before Sonny and
Warren went back through the gate to their ranch they wanted to visit
Jack Hall for a minute and see how he was doing. They were
impressed. He was sitting up in bed playing Texas hold ‘em with
Waco, Blue, Travis, Little Bear, Ox and Keekepata. Laying next to
him on the bed was Patty with her head in his lap. He was playing
cards with one hand and petting her with his other. Under his
right arm was Jill, and sitting on a pillow next to his left shoulder
was her brother Jack. The scene looked like a cross between a
velvet painting of dogs at a poker party and a picture of a bad Star
War’s costume reunion. Jack Hall looked like he fit right in as
the Earthman who accidentally found himself in a strange situation,
which wasn’t too far from the actual truth.
“Howdy,
brother!” Sonny hailed him.
“Howdy, Sonny,
Mr. Steele.” Jack returned. “Good to see ya’ll again.”
“Looks like you
got over your shyness with the strange critters.” Warren observed.
“Ah, hell,
they’s a great bunch once you git to know ‘em. This damn Bigfoot
was about to wipe ma’ cowboy ass at poker, and the little miss with
wings cheats like a two-bit buffalo gal. The big’un don’t say
much, but he don’t have to playing poker. He’s too good at take’n
ma’ money.” Jack laughed. I’s about to lose ma’ shirt a while ago
when the cavalry arrived. These two pretty little ring tailed
critters ain’t given me a wrong suggestion yet. I’d like to take
‘em to Vegas with me for a weekend.” Jack grinned and winked at
Sonny. They laughed.
They stayed for
a minute, wished Jack well and then followed Charlie and Lazarus to the
Canteen for a cup of coffee before they went home.
“By the way,
gentlemen, Lazarus promised the Stamper boys you met at our Sunday
Grange meetings he would give them a ride into space, but he’s been
putting it off because so many things been happening. We’re
finally gonna’ do it the first weekend in August. That’s Thursday
afternoon through Saturday evening late. It’s sort of like a
three day cruise of our solar system. We’d like to invite you and
Vivian, Sonny, and you, Warren, to go along with us if’n you’d
like. We don’t have room for your boys this time, Sonny, ‘cause
there’s some other folks we need to invite.”
“‘At’s all
right. They don’t need to be doing everything we do. I’m
just pleased we’re git’n to do some things with ma’ dad. He’s
looking so much better these days, and I'm feeling a hell of a lot
younger. Hell, yes, we’d love to join you men. I don’t even
have to ask Vivian. I know she’d want to go. We’ll make
arrangements. Is there anything you need us to bring?”
“Naw, we got
ever’ thing planned. It’ll be a sleep over, but you’ll have
proper stateroom facilities and privacy. Bring an overnight bag
with a change of clothes if you wish. Nothing fancy.
Western clothes will do nicely. Food and drink will be provided.”
“Will we be
taking the big ship out?” asked Warren.
“No, it’s pretty
much anchored in the blue granite mountains. We took it out once
when Lazarus first got here, but it caused all sorts of problems.
There were government men all over the ranch looking for
something. I don’t even know if they knew what they were looking
for, but we just played dumb, and they went away. We’ll be taking
one of the smaller crafts, a puddle jumper, but it has all the comfort
and capabilities of the larger ship. It’s plenty big for our
purposes. It’s called the Buttercup.”
“We really
appreciate you and Captain Long’s generous invitation. We’ll look
forward to it.” said Warren as he shook Charlie’s hand.
They left and
returned to the small barn on their ranch.
“I don’t know’s
I’ll ever git used to that.” said Sonny to his dad after they walked
through the gate.
“It shore’ beats
the hell out of a horse and buggy, doe’nit?” Warren laughed.
The men walked
into the ranch kitchen just in time for supper. Vivian let her
slave lady go for the evening and told her she’d clean up. There
really wasn’t much to do but load the dishwasher and turn it on.
They held hands and said a prayer, then started to eat.
“How’d our boy
react to the Grange’s offer?” she asked.
“A lot more
enthusiastically than we expected.” Sonny declared.
“I thought he
was gonna’ kiss Ramrod Long.” Warren chuckled. Vivian laughed
wickedly at her father-in-law.
“Well, it is a
pretty spectacular offer no matter where it came from. Maybe
he’ll begin to see the light?” Vivian sighed.
“I wouldn’t bet
on it, Darling.” Sonny told her.
“I won’t.” she
replied.
“Set aside
Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the first weekend in August for a
small trip. We’ve been invited to take a three day tour of our
solar system in one of Captain Long’s puddle jumpers.”
“Are you
serious, Sonny? Is he making this up, Dad?” Vivian almost choked
on her Chicken Kiev from Sprawl-mart.
“Naw, he be
tell’n you the truth, daughter. Pack an overnight bag and one
change of clothes. Nothing fancy, we were told. Casual
Western wear.”
“Oh, my
God! I was holding out for one of them Mexican Riviera
cruises. Why the hell would I wanna’ see Mexican tourist traps
when I can see our solar system up close and personal? Eat your
heart out NASA! To hell with Mexico! Count me in,
gentlemen.” Vivian exploded with laughter.
* * * * * * *
Jack Hall had
never touched another man’s private parts in his life; however, being
as big as he was physically, he sometimes would grab hold of a
rambunctious stallion’s cock and help guide him into a mare when they
were breeding the horses on his dad’s ranch. That was
different. It was an animal. He’d had a couple of cowboys
give him blow-jobs in the bed of his pickup truck after the bar closed
when he was so drunk he could barely stand up. What he remembered
about it was pretty good. It felt warm and wet. He really
never thought much about it. He didn’t have to do much but lay
there with his Wranglers open and let them suck. Why not?
They were willing and he was horny. He didn’t mind a little
charity work. He never felt sorry or guilty he did it. Jack
did pretty much what suited his fancy within reason. He never
forced a woman to have sex with him. He didn’t have to, there
were too damn many who wanted to wake up in the morning with his boots
under their bed.
One afternoon
Cable was taking his blood pressure and checking his temperature.
He was generally moving around trying to make Jack as comfortable as
possible. He wasn’t paying much attention to Jack other than
tending to his needs. He changed his catheter when it needed and
after he didn’t need it anymore would hold his penis for him to urinate
in the plastic bottle. Cable, David and Jonathan bathed him
regularly. He’d never been so pampered in his life. Jack
never seemed the least self-conscious about Cable touching him on his
private parts. Did it have something to do with the
bio-mechanical men being naked all the time? Cable sat bedpans
under him and changed them without comment or registering distaste
until Jack could get up and walk to the restroom by himself. Jack
was impressed; Cable and his men were very professional. They
were good at what they did and made people comfortable.
“Cable?” Jack
said to get his attention one afternoon when no one was around.
“Yes, Mr. Hall,
is there something I can do for you?”
“Ranger Gibbons
told me you
might let me feel you if I asked right nice-like. Is that true?”
“Certainly,
Sir. I’m not shy. My master never allowed me to be
programed to feel shame about my person, Sir. None of his
bio-mechanical family have been programed to be self-conscious.
He likes to see us naked, and we like for him to see us this way.
He is very good to us and we are a part of his family. We
think on him as our ‘father.’ My body is just a utility for me to
function in. I’ve been told it’s quite nice as bodies go.
Mr. Gibbons seems to like my body. He fucks me once or twice a
month. Good man, Mr. Gibbons. Considerate partner and an
exceptionally fine fuck. I enjoy his visits. I feel really
good after he fucks me.”
Jack stifled a
laugh. He wasn’t expecting such an honest and open answer.
Cable moved closer to the bed to the cowboy’s hand and without
hesitation placed his handsome cock and balls in it.
Jack smiled and
felt them. Cable began to get erect and soon stood at full salute.
“You’re really
one hell of a good looking buckaroo, Cable. Thank you for letting
me feel you. I see you responded to my touch, are you programed
to like men for sexual partners?”
“I’m programed
for both, Mr. Hall. I do equally well with either sex. Do I
prefer one to the other? Not really. I find both quite
satisfactory, and before you ask, yes, I’m programed to have anal sex
both ways. Would you care to feel my rectum? You could
check it out to see how tight I can be. You might like to make
note of it for future reference if you ever care to use me.”
“Uhh, no, that
won’t be necessary. Perhaps another time, but thank you for
offering. You mean your master farms you out to have sex with
anyone?”
“No, Sir.
I don’t think you understand. I’m a free agent, Mr. Hall.
My master doesn’t insist I do anything against my will. I’m free
to participate in sex with anyone I chose, as long as they’re within
the limits of man’s laws and both parties are willing. Also, I
must not neglect my job to be off enjoying sex without having another
android or bio-mechanical to cover for me. That would be
irresponsible of me. I would consider it an honor to serve you,
Mr. Hall, if you ever wanted to try my anus, or I’ve been told I give a
pretty decent blow job. Either way, I would do my best to please
you, Sir.”
Jack Hall was
flabbergasted. He didn’t know what to say.
“Well, . . .
thank, you, Cable. Thank you very much. I’m sure you would
please me. Oh, yes, and one more thing, . . .”
“You’d
appreciate it if I didn’t say anything about this to anyone?” Cable
asked rhetorically.
“Yes, . . . yes,
I would appreciate it.” replied Jack blushing.
“No one will
know, Mr. Hall. If you decide you would like to feel my rectum
sometime, please let me know before hand.”
“Certainly,
Cable, and thanks again.”
“You’re welcome,
Mr. Hall, glad to be of service.”
Jack lay there
and pondered long and hard; so long and so hard, in fact, it pulled his
catheter from his penis, and he had to call for Cable. Cable
fixed it, smiled at him and told him to stop thinking about nasty
things. Jack blushed. He felt like an idiot. He’d
been gently chastised by a beautiful bio-mechanical man. It
started Jack rethinking his sexuality. He’d never actively
participated in sex with another man; however, he thought he just might
be able to with Cable. He would have to take it up with Ranger
Gibbons.
* * * * * * *
Induction into
the corps of the Holy Semi-vestal Virgins was light on substance and
heavy on bullshit. It was a crash course in fundamentalism and
stilted history of the new Theocratic regime. It was heavy on the
solid and exemplary leadership of the first great Sainted leader of the
new Theocracy, referred to as his Holiness Saint George the first, and
his ultimate takeover of the American government from the hands of the
Godless heathen liberals. It was explained in lurid detail how
Saint George (G. W. Bush) cleverly wrenched power away from congress by
ignoring the Constitution and adding signing statements to every bill
that passed during his administration. The politicians just
allowed it to happen. His own party rubber stamped everything he
did and the Democrats never confronted him even when they had the
chance after winning a majority in November of 2006. None of this
information was whitewashed for public consumption. The Theocrats
were quite smug and proud of what they accomplished. Why disguise
it? There was nothing the general public could do about it
anyway. The conscience of history stops with those who write
it. Like the smirking chimpanzee before him, Scudder ruled with
an iron fist and was so outrageous the bizarre became accepted as
commonplace, but by that time the main stream media was little more
than the ultimate spin tool and official organ for the
government. Today they could proclaim something black and
tomorrow make a retraction, there was a mistake and it was, indeed,
white. The only news source anyone could trust to be honest and
open was the internet. There were still enough subversive, die
hard, liberals who, at the risk of their lives, cranked out the
truth. Their only problem was getting anyone, who wasn’t
brainwashed by the man behind the green curtain, to believe it.
If Stan didn’t
know better he could’ve easily allowed himself to become
brainwashed along with the others in his class. Stan wasn’t
surprised to find out the position of being a Semi-vestal Virgin wasn’t
a lifetime opportunity. As soon as you reached eighteen, or the
Holy Prophet tired of you, whichever came first, they found you another
position in the government; usually some inconsequential, minimum wage
desk job in an out of the way place nobody ever heard of. Stan
didn’t plan to be around long enough to be reassigned. Nor did he
plan to be around long enough to have to participate in one of the
H.P.’s audiences, as his sexual evenings were known.
There was one
other young man in his class who Stan could tell came from a rural
community. He was a big young man, much bigger than the average
boy in the induction class of eight. He towered over the other
boys a good foot and a half. He was a couple of years older than
Stan, and a lot more hostile about being there. He was a star
athlete on his high school football team. His family was taken
for re-education the end of his junior year. The following year
he would be a senior, and it was going to be the greatest year of his
life. Suddenly he found himself ripped up out of his comfortable
life for no good, discernable reason, or at least no reason he could
understand. His name was James Robert Dodge. Jimmy-Bob, as
he introduced himself at Stan’s impromptu birthday party a couple of
nights before, was every inch an Oklahoma cowboy.
To make matters
worse, his younger sister, by two years, was taken to one of the Holy
Prophet’s Temple Virgins induction centers, and was in indoctrination
somewhere within the Holy City’s Tabernacle Plaza complex. He
couldn’t find out where. No one would tell him anything. He
wanted to get a message to her. He was really angry and wasn’t
interested in cooperating in anyway with the people connected with the
Holy Prophet or the semi-vestal virgin program. He was
miserable. Because they were the only two men who wore cowboy
boots, Jimmy-Bob slowly gravitated to Stan.
He would sit at
the back of the room during orientation and watch everyone with a big
menacing scowl on his face. He watched Stan out of the corner of
his eye. All the young men appeared to be scared or cowed by the
hyper-religious freaks leading the induction. It was part
brainwashing, cheerleading, prayer meeting, and a crash course in
social interaction and etiquette. Jimmy-Bob noticed, while Stan
didn’t seem to be taken in by the people doing the inducting, he
appeared cool, calm and collected, like he had an inner peace, wisdom
and strength unusual for a kid his age.
Having grown up
with the stigma of being a slave, Stan Edmunds quickly learned to be
less assertive than his fellow school mates. Ole and Hattie never
treated him as a slave. They patiently, yet painfully, explained
to him the only way they could keep him and raise him as their son was
to tell everyone he was their slave. That’s why football and
sports became so important to Stan. He could assert himself
without fear of reprisal. At home, in private Ole and Hattie
called him ‘son’ and he called them ‘ma’ and ‘pa.’
One morning at
breakfast Jimmy-Bob asked Stan if he cold sit with him at his table.
“Sure, sit
down.” Stan told him.
“Where you
from?” Jimmy-Bob asked Stan.
“Reason County,
Texas.”
“Figured you was
a country boy. You don’t fit in with the rest of them freaks no
more’n I do. We stick out like two sore thumbs.”
“Yeah, I guess
we do.” sighed Stan.
“Where’s Reason?”
“West Texas
area. Just before the badlands heading West toward El Paso.”
“Where you from?”
“Ada,
Oklahoma. South central Oklahoma. Only claim to fame is the
birthplace of that idiot preacher Oral Roberts.”
“Why you here?”
Jimmy-Bob asked him.
“I hear the H.
P. likes young cowboy footballers. I was a slave to some good
folks who loved me, and I loved them. They raised me from a
toddler. We was more like family than master and slave. I
lived with ‘em and worked for ‘em because I loved ‘em. They’s the
only family I’ve known.”
“Yeah, I got me
two uncles what bought themselves a couple of slave kids to
raise. Well, one was ma’ uncle the other was his mate. They
was family until they got hauled away for being a gay couple and their
kids was sold again to some worthless family what treated ‘em like
shit. They’s like ma’ cousins. They’s in my school and come
to school all dirty, no shoes or boots, no jackets or winter clothes;
they’s half-starved most of the time. The kids in our school
would pitch in and buy them lunch to make sure they had one decent meal
a day. I was more fortunate. I was a free-boy. Me’n
ma’ little sister lived with our parents. They were good church
folks, but they weren’t fundamentalist. They was active in
community projects, but all that got took over by the Christianists
government. It went to shit with what they called faith based
initiatives. It was little more than a huge drain of government
funds for the fundamentalist churches to pedal more of their right wing
religious propaganda. Very little of it went to the poor.
My parents, they got rounded up for re-education by the Swing Low Sweet
Chariot Jesus Roundup squad. Me and ma’ little sister got sent
here. When ju’ git here?” Jimmy-Bob asked.
“About three
days ago, the night I met chu,’ on my fifteenth birthday.”
“That’s
rough. I just turned seventeen in May.”
“Wanna’ stop by
my room after supper this evening.” Stan offered, “I still got me some
birthday cake and ice cream left over from the party the officer what
arrested me and his boyfriend brought me the night of my
birthday. I’d be right proud to share it with you.”
“Yeah,
sure. That’ud be nice. Thanks, Stan.”
“No
problem. Us cowboys gotta’ stick together.”
“I hate this
place. I wish we could figure a way out of here.”
“Not to
worry. Stick with me and I’ll git us out of here.”
“How? They
watch us around the clock.”
“I got some
connections. I’ll tell ya’ later, but you gotta’ trust me,
Jimmy-Bob, and keep your mouth shut. I promise you, I give you my
word as a cowboy, I won’t never lie to you.”
“Okay, I’ll
trust you. Ma’ dad taught me the cowboy way. I won’t never
tell nothing you don’t want me to.”
“Good man.
First thing you gotta’ do is make ‘em think you’re going along with
their shit; all the crazy crap they’s trying to teach us. Just
‘Amen’ ever’ damn thing they say. They love it when they think
you’re buying into their garbage and they’s convert’n you to their way
a’ thinking. They’re persistent, but they ain’t real
bright. How intelligent can they be to swallow the shit they
believe?” Stan drawled like it was just an accepted fact.
Jimmy-Bob thought it was funny. It was the first time Jimmy-Bob
laughed since being there. He stuck out his hand to Stan and they
shook. They each understood it was their cowboy word to one
another. It was their bond.
* * * * * * *
Later that
evening the two men were alone in Stan’s small space. Jimmy-Bob
noticed Stan locked the door after he came into the room, but he didn’t
say anything. Stan retrieved from his fridge what was left of the
birthday cake and ice cream and split it equally between him and
Jimmy-Bob. Jimmy-Bob looked at his and then at Stan’s portion.
“You gave
yourself more’n me.” he said like a little kid, then laughed.
“Here, you can
have mine.” insisted Stan.
“I’s jes’ fool’n
witcha.’” Jimmy-Bob laughed, “You ma’ buddy ain’t cha’?”
“You bet,
cowboy.”
“Buddies can kid
with each other, right?”
“As long as it
don’t git serious.”
“I won’t.” said
Jimmy-Bob a little embarrassed. “How come you locked your door?”
“Don’t want no
unexpected visitors coming in unannounced. This way they gotta’
knock. I ain’t try’n to keep nobody out; I jes’ don’t want no
surprises.” explained Stan.
It sounded
reasonable to Jimmy-Bob and Stan seemed sincere. After all, they
had very little privacy. The men sat enjoying their cake and ice
cream when Jimmy-Bob could swear he heard a dog bark softly.
“‘At’s why you
locked yore’ door, you got a dog in here, don’cha,’ you rascal?”
Jimmy-Bob perked up and grinned real big.
“Well, yes and
no. It’s my little pup, ma’ buddy, ma’ cow dog, what I had to
leave behind in Reason. He comes to me ever’ evening about this
time, and we have a few minutes to be with one another.”
“Okay, you’re
git’n back at me for fool’n witcha,’ ain’t cha’?” Jimmy-Bob pointed his
spork at Stan.
“Naw, you
promised to believe me if I promised to never lie to you, right?”
“Uh, ‘at’s
right!”
“Okay, Moe, you
can show yourself now.” Stan spoke softly.
The three
robo-cams were capable of producing a limited three dimensional
hologram. All of a sudden there was Moe, big as life running in
circles around on the floor of Stan’s room. He stopped and sat
looking right at Stan. Jimmy-Bob’s mouth dropped open.
“Howdy, little
brother. Damn, I been think’n on you all day. It’s so good
to see you again.” Stan spoke to Moe.
“Yes, yes,
yes!” Moe jumped up and down on his front paws emphasizing each
word. “It’s your little brother, Moe, Master Stan. I’m so
glad to see you. Who’s this big cowboy?” he asked.
“This is my new
cowboy brother, Moe. His name is Jimmy-Bob. He’s in the
same boat as me.”
“Howdy, Mr.
Jimmy-Bob. Great to meet’cha’! Ya’ll got boats there?
I love boats.”
Jimmy-Bob and
Stan laughed.
“Uh, no, Moe,
that’s just an expression. It means we share the same
situation. Neither one of us wants to be here. Where’d ju’
come from?” asked Jimmy-Bob.
“I’m back in
Reason with Master Waco and Master Stan’s cowboy brothers. They
let me come to him ever’ day about this time so’s he won’t get too
lonesome for home. Master Stan’s ma’ buddy; he’s ma’ big brother.”
“How ju’ learn
to talk?” Jimmy-Bob asked. He couldn’t believe he was carrying on
a conversation with a cow dog.
“I’s born this
way. Master Lucas, he’s one of Master Stan’s cowboy brothers,
taught all us pups to talk and sing. Master Stan’s been teach’n
me to become a cow dog. I love working cattle. Ma’ daddy
done told me it was in ma’ blood to herd. I guess he’s
right. I ain’t never happier than when I’m out herding cattle
with Master Stan.”
Jimmy-Bob looked
at Stan, grinned real big and shook his head like he couldn’t believe
it.
“Listen,
Moe. Is Master Waco there?” Stan asked.
“Yes, Sir,
Master Stan. You wanna’ speak with him?”
“Just for a
minute, and then I’ll tell you ‘goodbye,’ little brother.”
Moe wasn’t there
anymore. He just vanished. Instead, there was a handsome
young cowboy standing before them. Stan could see Jimmy-Bob out
of the corner of his eyes and could tell he was impressed.
“Howdy,
brother. We was gonna’ let you have the whole time with your
little buddy.” Waco said to Stan.
“I appreciate
that, Master Waco, but I need to ask a question. How do I get a
DNA sample of my new cowboy brother back to you?”
“Well, just a
small piece of his hair would do, but a tiny blood sample would be
better. One of you got a straight pin?” he asked.
“Yeah, I found
some in my desk drawer.” said Stan.
“Take one, prick
his finger, get some blood on it, and I’ll make one of the robo-cams
visible for a couple of minutes. Press the small button on the
right side and a small drawer will open. Drop the pin into the
drawer and that’s all there is to it.”
“Could you
locate his sister from his DNA?”
“Shore,’ ain’t
no problem. We can locate anyone in his family down to first
cousins with his DNA.”
Stan went to his
desk and got a small straight pin and handed it to the big
cowboy. Jimmy-Bob smiled and looked at Stan like he was
crazy. His eyes got real big.
“I don’t think I
can do it!” he moaned.
“Give it to me!”
Stan demanded.
Jimmy-Bob handed
him the pin. Stan grabbed the forefinger of Jimmy-Bob’s left hand
and quickly stabbed it. Jimmy-Bob yelped. Moe barked.
Stan and Waco laughed. Stan squeezed a drop of blood from the pin
prick and generously coated the pin. Jimmy-Bob watch as a small
round camera-projector-like object materialized in front of him.
Stan punched a small button on the side, a drawer opened, he dropped
the blood coated pin into the small compartment, it closed and the
robo-cam disappeared.
“Thanks, Master
Waco. Can I say ‘goodnight’ to my little brother?”
“Sure,
goodnight, from all of us, brother. We’ll talk with ya’ tomorrow
evening.”
“Goodnight, all.”
Moe came back
and was running around the floor again. He just couldn’t stay
still.
“You feel’n
better, little brother.”
“Oh, yes, yes,
yes, Master Stan. Cable and Master Blue take good care of
me. Ms. Hattie and Master Ole feed me good and treat me even
better, but it ain’t the same without you here with me.”
“I’ll be home as
soon as I can, little brother. I got something I gotta’ do, but
I’ll be back home with you soon after. I love you.”
“Oh, oh, oh, I
love you, too, Master Stan. Goodnight!”
“Goodnight,
little brother, you be a good pup and mind Master Ole and Master Waco.”
Stan said softly.
“I will! I
will, I promise, Master Stan.” Moe said and then he was gone.
Stan looked up
and saw tears in Jimmy-Bob’s eyes.
“I’m sorry if I
hurt your finger, brother.” said Stan.
“I ain’t crying
‘cause of that. I’s crying because of Moe. He loves you so
much. I could jes’ feel it. I know you love him.”
“I really do,
Jimmy-Bob. Now, will you promise me again to trust me and believe
me, I won’t never lie to you.”
“Oh, God, yes,
Stan. I’m sorry I ever doubted you, but you gotta’ admit all this
is a little new to a cowboy like me what ain’t never seen nothing like
‘iss in his life.”
“I
understand. I’ll explain as we go along. It ain’t nothing
miraculous, but it is technology, of which, the folks around here have
no knowledge or concept. It’s the reason I made sure the door was
locked. It’s all based on solid physics and science. Some
of it’s pert-damn advanced though.”
“Are you an
angel, Stan?”
“Me, an angel?”
Stan laughed, “No, I jes’ done told you ever’ thing you witnessed this
evening can be explained in scientific terms; but, if’n you’d like to
speak with an angel, or a close approximation of one, I could probably
have one here for you to talk with in a matter of minutes.” (Stan
was thinking about Cable and how many folks thought he looked like an
angel.)
“No, no!”
Jimmy-Bob exclaimed. “That’s enough for one evening. I’ve got to
think about all this. What did you want with my blood?”
“I wanted to get
your DNA so when the time comes to have you raptured and to rescue your
family everything will go smoothly.”
“Now, wait a
minute!” exclaimed Jimmy-Bob.
“No, you wait a
minute. You made a promise on your cowboy word. I made you
a promise on my cowboy word. Now, you gonna’ trust me or not?”
“I trust you,
brother.”
“That’s
better. Now, I’ll answer any question I can without giving away
too much.”
The men talked
quietly for a couple of hours. Jimmy-Bob wasn’t real sure he
understood about the voices of the ancients talking with Stan and his
brothers, but what the hell, it made more sense than the Christianist
fairy tales he had shoved down his throat all his life by his fellow
school mates.
“You told Moe
there’s something here you have to do. Do you know what it is and
when it will take place?”
“No. I
wish I could be more definite, but I just don’t know. Time frames
are variable. It’s difficult to tell the future. You can
make broad speculations, but when it comes to actually happenings,
dates and time, it gets a lot more complicated. I’ll know when it
happens. Then it will be my time to do what I’ve been sent here
to do. Then and only then, can I get you and your sister out of
here.”
“You think you
can get ma’ little sister out of here?”
“I’ll do ma’
best, bro, but you gotta’ trust me, and do like I tell you.”
“Okay, I trust
you, Stan. I don’t know why I do, but something deep inside me
tells me I have to.”
The days began
to pass and Jimmy-Bob began to settle down. He didn’t give much
back at first, but he could see how Stan was playing their game and
begin to try his hand at it. While Stan didn’t suck up to the
leaders, he did give them little concessions from time to time to make
them think they were making inroads into brainwashing him to their way
of thinking; all the while, Stan couldn’t stand the people and saw them
as little more than emotional and intellectual retards. The group
leaders were thrilled Jimmy-Bob was slowly beginning to come around and
see the light and privately they credited his new association with Stan
Edmunds as having a big influence on him. They left the two men
alone and allowed them to bond.
The group
leaders, who called themselves the Learned Apostles of the Holy Prophet
and whom Stan and Jimmy-Bob saw as little more than neo-Nazi brown
shirts, gave their class of young acolytes a timetable of a month and a
half induction and three months practical religious education classes
before they would be considered eligible for an audience with the Holy
Prophet. Stan and Jimmy-Bob decided the longer it took them to
pass to the next level, the safer they were from having to ‘perform’
for his Holiness.
* * * * * * *
Jimmy-Bob, who
saw himself as a straight, cowboy stud couldn’t help wonder what was
happening to him. He was frustrated, because he was the older of
the two men and felt he should be the dominant alpha-male between him
and Stan; however, he found himself becoming more and more dependent on
Stan for his strong, unwavering emotional support. As a person’s
years advance, it becomes less important between adults who is seen as
dominant or subordinate in relationship to age; however, before the age
of twenty-one a couple of years difference in age can mean a totally
different understanding of the universe.
Jimmy-Bob just
couldn’t understand how a younger kid, as he thought of Stan, could be
so much more together, have a greater maturity and control of his world
than he did, but the very worse thing was, of late, every time he was
around Stan for any length of time, he would get aroused. He got
an erection every damn time he was with Stan. He never had any
feelings for another male before, but when he found out Stan was a
slave, something clicked inside him. He couldn’t understand what
was happening to him.
Was this what
happened to men who were in prison and deprived of female
companionship? He was around women every day in training, but he
really didn’t have access to them, nor was he particularly attracted to
them. The thought of making love or laying down with one of the
self-righteous, conservative religion spouting, born-again bubble
headed girls was an anathema to Jimmy-Bob. They represented
everything evil and repressive he’d been taught all his life was at
best questionable and at worst, downright wrong. He imagined the
ordeal of having sex with one of them was too strange to
consider. It would be like having sex with Jesus in a manage et
trois; then afterward, they would want to say sentence prayers.
The same was
true in high school. He appreciated women, but he didn’t see a
need to paw or maul them for appearance sake. He was never what
the cowboy’s in his school considered a rabid cock hound.*
Jimmy-Bob dated the most beautiful girl in school. He was the
school’s football hero, the captain of the team; he could have any girl
he wanted, but he never did. He was a good boy; he didn’t want to
bring his family shame and figured he had lots of time for that sort of
thing after graduation; however, now he found himself on the horns of a
thorny dilemma.
All reason and
understanding seemed to vanish when he was around Stan. His mind
would fly out the window, and he couldn’t think of anything else but
what it might feel like to sink his big cowboy dick into Stan’s
muscular, athletic ass. Why would he think that way? Just
because Stan was a slave? He knew lots of slaves. There
were a couple on his football team, but he never had any feelings for
them that way. It became a total frustration for Jimmy-Bob and
only added to his feelings of masculine self-doubts and sense of sexual
inadequacies. In a nutshell, he wanted their roles to be
reversed. Above all, Jimmy-Bob wanted more than anything to be
Stan’s hero. He felt so confused and ashamed of himself he
withdrew and began to avoid Stan; however, he couldn’t avoid him
altogether without a confrontation. Jimmy-Bob didn’t know if he
could handle that.
Fortunately for
Jimmy-Bob, Stan was a worldly wise young man and didn’t miss his cowboy
brother’s gradual change. He never let on he knew anything was
different between them, but he could see the bulge in Jimmy-Bob’s
Wranglers and the wet spot at his crotch. He could actually smell
the sexual pheromones his big buddy exuded when they were together, and
it nearly drove him crazy sometimes. He was simply waiting for
his partner to take the initiative and become the alpha-male Stan knew
Jimmy-Bob could be. Because Stan knew and appreciated his own
self-worth, he neither wanted Jimmy-Bob to think he was a slut just
because he was a slave, nor felt compelled to lay himself at just any
freeman’s boots simply for his pleasure. Stan respected their age
difference and really wanted his big, older, cowboy buddy’s physical
strength and love to help support him through the coming days.
How could he make that happen?
* * * * * * *
Jack Hall was
growing stronger every day. He spent the month of July
convalescing in and around the Bandersnatch. By the first of
August his wounds were almost completely healed. No one was more
amazed at his progress than Jack himself. He seemed to undergo a
change while he was recovering. He gave up drinking and
smoking. He wasn’t allowed to smoke while on the Mighty Bee and
after a while away from it, he didn’t see any reason to go back to
it. He secretly wondered if the healing powers of the beautiful
crystals had anything to do with his decision to quit.
Jack was
introduced to the wonders of the colonies on board the ship and would
visit Blue and Keekepata often to take long walks in the
countryside. He became a familiar face among the colonists and he
was welcomed everywhere he went. He even seemed to be tolerant of
the same sex communities and was welcome among them. He didn’t
seem to have any problems relating to them. They admired,
respected and welcomed him.
He was still
convalescing for the annual Fourth of July Rodeo and picnic which was
held at Angus’ ranch, but he was able to see everything from a huge
video screen in his hospital room. It was almost as good as being
there. He wasn’t alone. He had several folks and critters
keep him company as it was becoming increasingly difficult for the more
exotic of the Grange members to be seen in public. Keeke, Ping
and Pong, Jack and Jill, and several others stayed behind. Jack
and Keeke struck up a nice friendship and she showed him several videos
of her dances. He was as enthralled and impressed by her talent
as everyone else.
Then there were
the pups. Patty had become Jack’s favorite, and she began to herd
him everywhere. She was always by his side when she wasn’t
working cows or riding herd on Bo and Jubal. Jack was so far
along in his recovery by the last week in July, Lazarus and Charlie
asked if he would like to accompany them and the boys on a three day
trip around the solar system. At first he thought they were
kidding.
“We’re quite
serious.” said Charlie. “Lazarus promised the Stamper men a trip
into space sometime ago, but we haven’t had time. We set aside
the weekend after next to take them for a ride. We’ve invited a
number of folks who have been active member’s of the Grange for the
last couple of years and would like for you to come with us if you
like.”
“If I
like? I would love to go.” he replied.
* * * * * * *
The trip around
the solar system was going on as planned. Lazarus would leave
certain key players behind, like Cable to run sickbay and to act as
Captain of the Mighty Bee while Lazarus was away. He wasn’t
concerned anything would happen with Stan while they were away, but
better to be prepared than to have to break off their trip and return
abruptly. Cable, and Kyron along with Ping and Pong and the
Kryscellians could handle anything that might come up of an emergent
nature while they were away. Then they had a host of Grange
members they could call on.
Lazarus planned
to take David and Jonathan along as hosts and maitre d’s to
direct
the other caretaker androids. Lazarus and Charlie made up a
rather large list of folks to take. Of course they planned to
take those closest to them. Waco and his crew were included
except Gavin and Jerry who were gone for the summer to visit their
family on the Archimedes, and Bron took Bronc and T’sgan, kicking and
complaining, back to the wilds for part of the summer. They
hadn’t returned yet. Waco’s crew included Lucas as his second in
command, JR, Travis and Little Bear; and of course, their
Sergeant-at-arms, Ox.
They didn’t take
some folks who went with them the first time. Some they
did. They invited Angus, but he didn’t want to go. There
were too many things going on at his ranch, and he just felt better
about staying around checking on Charlie’s place for him.
Furthermore, Charlie and Lazarus agreed with a suggestion from Angus to
reschedule the Sunday Grange meeting to be at his ranch in case
something unforeseen happened and they needed a little more time to
return. That way they would have a cushion of time and no one in
the Grange would be overly concerned.
Angus allowed
Shane and Bill Birdsall to go. They jokingly began to refer to it
as their second honeymoon cruise of the solar system. As
mentioned, Lazarus and Charlie invited Sonny, Vivian, and Warren
Steele. They also invited Jack Hall. They included, Hank
and Ida Mae except Ida Mae decided she didn’t want to go. She
said she would go if she ever had to leave the planet, but for now, she
didn’t want to go gallivanting about the solar system. Besides,
she insisted, someone had to stay behind and take care of the ranch,
the twins, and the critters. She insisted Hank go along because
she thought it would be a great bonding experience for him and
JR. She was right.
They invited
Jesse and Utah to go along and they agreed. Jesse claimed it
would be his and Utah’s first trip into space in a very long
time.
They invited Ranger, but he felt he should stay home with Mary and be
close if she needed to see Cable again. While she was doing
really well, she wasn’t up to full strength yet. She encouraged
Ranger to go. She knew she couldn’t, but she knew how much
Charlie, Lazarus and the boy’s comradery meant to him. Ranger
insisted he could go another time.
Charlie and
Lazarus made it a point to invite the old Chief, who wasn’t looking so
old these days, to go along with them. Chief Tin Penny jumped at
the chance to see his grandson acting as part of the crew of a
spaceship. He couldn’t wait for the afternoon to come.
Of course, their
main guest’s were the Stamper boys, Blake Tindell, Hoot Austin
and Cotton Daniels. The adults were going to leave Keekepata
behind; however, the boys felt so bad about it, Lazarus gave in and
included her. Blue gave his word as a cowboy, he would be
responsible for her. He had a long, serious, brother to sister
talk with her before he was satisfied she would mind him and not
argue. She agreed. It turned out to be a fortunate thing to
take her along.
There was much
wailing and gnashing of teeth for Bo and Jubal. They were left
behind in the care of Ida Mae. They were barely walking
and not yet totally housebroken, but they knew what was happening,
where
their family was going, and they wanted to go in the worst way.
So did Ranger’s son, Ranger Jr., and the Jessup’s boy, Cable.
Lazarus didn’t want to take care of babes on a pleasure
trip nor did he want his or Charlie’s men having to take care of
them. They would have their hands full being crew and hosts to
their guests. Besides, it was a good chance for Arlen and Bryce
to come to the ranch and get away from the jungle to be with the
boys.
Jesse made a
request of Lazarus and Charlie they consider inviting the Kodaly’s
oldest son, Johauk. They had no problem with Jesse’s suggestion;
however, they didn’t tell Johauk exactly where they might be going and
told him to pack as lightly as the rest of their guests. He could
get nothing from his brothers, except they encouraged him to come with
them, he would never regret it and would remember it the rest of his
life. They were going somewhere very special.
The boys requested their teacher, Lyle Chambers and Strom, be
included.
They were two important folks to the boys who helped them
considerably during the year. Lyle was spending quite a lot
of time with Strom on the weekends, and they would get away to the
abandoned farm in Parsons. It was becoming their second
home. Strom was looking into buying the farm from the town.
Lazarus told him he would back him if he chose to buy it.
The boys wanted to ask Leon Olsen to go along and Lazarus had no
problem with it. There would be plenty of room. They also
wanted to ‘lift’ Stan and his new cowboy brother to take them
along. Lazarus thought about it and thought it just might be
amusing to pick them up and have them disappear for several days and
for them to suddenly reappear. For a man over two thousand years
old,
Lazarus had developed a wicked sense of humor; however, he wasn’t
sure. He told the boys he’d think about it.
Jack and Jill
wanted to go, but their parents said absolutely not. The
youngsters were very upset and depressed until the boys and Jack Hall
came to Ping and Pong and interceded on their behalf. Jack said
he had a long talk with them and they promised to be good and stick
close to him. They befriended Jack during his convalescence, and
he grew quite fond of them. He reasoned they would be good
company, and they could stay with him and his constant companion,
Patty, in his cabin. Ping got a look of great doubt on her
usually expressionless face, but Pong had a look of exasperation with
her. He told her mentally she had to stop being so overly
protective of their children. She reluctantly agreed. Jack
and Jill were ecstatic. Jack just laughed and swung them up onto
his shoulders. They were all over Jack Hall, hugging and kissing
him. They were thrilled to be included. Poor Ping looked at
Pong and frowned. Pong took life very seriously; he rarely smiled
or laughed, but he did that evening. Ping threw a small book at
him, but he ducked just in time.
* * * * * * *
The Fourth of
July was a great dog and pony show in the Holy City. It was such
a hypocritical farce; however, all but a handful of people continued to
celebrate it. All the Dominionists and Christianists had big
parties full of patriotic chest beating, tears and great, empty
bloviator speeches about liberty, freedom and the American way.
It was all such a sham as the U.S. had become something totally
unrecognizable from what it was even twenty years previous. It
was a total dictatorship run by a few unimaginably wealthy corporations
who only allowed a scumbag like Jerry Scudder to rule the
country. He was no more than a religious icon, a figurehead to
keep the poor masses in their place with fear and trembling.
There was nothing free in America anymore. The sacred
Constitution was actually removed from its case and destroyed.
Anyone found with a copy of the document was immediately arrested and
sent to a detention camp as a liberal seditionist. Many were
executed for their diehard beliefs in democracy.
Brick and Tim
decided to give a Fourth of July party and barbecue for some of their
friends and a couple of the newer vestal virgin inductees.
They struck up a friendship with Stan and Jimmy-Bob. They
invited them to Brick’s apartment several times for pizza and a movie
and once took them on a tour of the Holy City. Because of Brick’s
position he even managed to give them a tour of the White House and the
Holy Prophet’s apartments. It all seemed overly sumptuous to the
two young cowboys compared to what they knew in the communities from
which they came. They wondered why these people should live in
such excess when others were barely getting by or starving.
Brick and Tim’s
Fourth of July party was a quiet, laid back affair and everything was
comfortable. Brick had his own small pool and deck area off his
condo-apartment. It was very nice for entertaining. It was
hot that day in the Holy City. It was also very private and no
one could see into the pool area. Brick encouraged their guests
to
enjoy the pool au natural. No one seemed shy about being around
each other in the nude.
There were
several Temple Guards by the pool. Three were members of the
elite Knights of the Holy Order and were clipped. They were
completely smooth at their crotches. They had no penis or
testicles and the pubic hair had been removed to accentuate their
baldness. Their urinary tract was relocated to just a small
opening about an inch from their anus. Jimmy-Bob irreverently
referred to them privately as glorified eunuchs; which, was exactly
what they were. There was nothing holy about them.
It was difficult
for the boys not to stare at them, but it didn’t seem to bother the big
men. They actually seemed to get a thrill out of exposing
themselves to everyone. It was like a social thing, a symbol of
honor or a badge of courage, that set them slightly above and apart
from the common man. They claimed they didn’t feel nude at all,
because they had nothing to hide. The shame of their genitals was
taken away from them by the Holy Prophet. There was a ceremony
each year in the Tabernacle for all the Temple Guards, especially to
introduce to the congregation of God the newest members. All the
Temple Guards were completely nude at these services and great emphasis
was given their return to a more natural state acceptable in the eyes
of the most Holy. (The fact they really turned the Holy Prophet
on was not considered.) Supposedly, they regained the original
innocence man was supposed to live his life with before the original
sin
against God made man aware he was naked, and he tried to hide himself
from his maker. They no longer felt they had to hide themselves
or their gloriously developed bodies from anyone. Stan thought
they had a good point even without their penises, but their logic was
hopelessly flawed.
At the party,
Jimmy-Bob wouldn’t leave Stan’s side. He didn’t seem particularly
shy or uncomfortable, he just felt more comfortable with Stan
around. Both young men had fine young athletic bodies and were
well endowed. Jimmy-Bob was one of the best hung men there, but
he was also one of the physically largest next to the Temple
Guards. In fact, the three who were complete eunuchs tried to
encourage Jimmy-Bob to consider volunteering for the Temple Guard
training program. They felt he had great potential. The
thought completely revolted Jimmy-Bob, but he’d learned a lot from Stan
in the couple of weeks they’d been in the Semi-vestal Virgin Induction
Program. While he was reserved, he remained polite, and smiled a
lot. Stan like Jimmy-Bob just the way he was. He thought
his buddy was the epitome of what a cowboy should be like. He
cringed internally to think of Jimmy-Bob as an overblown Temple Guard.
Brick sat down
to talk with Stan for a minute when Jimmy-Bob decided to take a quick
swim to cool off.
“I think you
have an admirer,” he told Stan, “but, I also think he’d like to be more
than an admirer.” Brick added.
“I wouldn’t
mind, but I ain’t real sure about him or how he feels about
things. I know he gets erect when we’re alone together.”
“You mean he
ain't parked his Dodge in yore' garage?” Brick grinned.
“Now,
Officer Brick, you know cowboys don’t never kiss and tell.”
“After getting
to know you, I’m well aware of that fact, and thanks for not saying
anything to Tim about . . . ?” Brick trailed off.
“Why would
I? I ain’t the kind a’ man what needs to go around hurt’n
people. I like Tim. He’s been a bigger help to Jimmy-Bob
and me than all them stupid induction Apostles put together.”
“I didn’t hear
that.” grinned Brick.
“I’m sorry, I
know you’re a company man.”
“Yes, and no,
but I have to keep up appearances. I have a feeling I’m not going
to be offered a position in the Holy Order.”
“Maybe that’s a
blessing in disguise, Sir.”
“I don’t
know. Maybe.” Brick said like he really didn’t care one way or
the other.
“You’n me, we
needed something from each other and we shared what we had. When
I offered, I didn’t really count on nothing. You were the
arresting officer. I figured if you wanted to kick me out, you
would. I tried and jes’ got lucky.”
“I’d say we both
got lucky. I enjoyed it, Stan, but thanks for not saying anything to
Tim.”
“No need for
thanks. I got what I needed and so did you.”
“The way that
big cowboy looks at you, I doubt seriously he’d turn away if you
offered. We have an extra bedroom available for the
evening. You and Jimmy-Bob could stay over and have some
privacy. I can fix it so you can spend the weekend with us.”
“That would
really be nice, Master Brick.” Stan answered.
“You don’t have
to call me ‘master,’ Stan. Mister Armstrong or Officer Brick will
do if you feel you have to be respectful; otherwise, just call me
‘Brick.’”
“Thanks,
Sir. I’ll try to remember.”
“Do you call
Jimmy-Bob ‘master’?”
“I done it a
couple of times to see how he’d react. He didn’t respond, but his
dick got harder. I don’t know what to do. I want him to be
the leader.”
“You have a
strong personality, Stan. You can be intimidating. I get
the feeling the cowboys you grew up with and ran around with treated
you like one of their brothers and not as a slave.”
“They did, but I
knew my place. They knew theirs, but they never lorded it over
me. If anything they was the first to come to my aid or defense
if some free-boy was picking on me and I couldn’t fight back because
I’s a slave. After Master Waco and his brothers warned a bully
they never tried it again. If they did, they’d wish they
hadn’t.”
“That’s the way
it is in small towns. They take care of their own. I think
Jimmy-Bob knows and appreciates that. Why don’t you talk with him
this evening? You two can have some privacy.”
“Thanks, Officer
Brick. Maybe I will.”
“Do you want me
to say something to Jimmy-Bob? I’d be happy to, or I could have
Tim say something to him. Tim can be pretty subtle.”
“I don’t
know. I’ll leave that up to you, Sir.”
“Fine. I
hope you enjoy yourself today.”
“I am. I
thought it would be a lot different, but the people seem nice.”
* * * * * * *
Stan and
Jimmy-Bob stayed over that evening with Brick and Tim. Another
couple from out of town were going to stay with them, but they got a
call from home, one of the men’s sisters had taken ill and they had to
go. Only Brick, Tim, Stan and Jimmy-Bob remained.
After the guests left the men helped clean up the place, but it didn’t
take long with four people. Afterward they sat in Brick’s living
room and watched some of the Fourth of July concerts in
Washington. The Boston Pops and the fireworks. There were
fireworks all over the Holy City which lit up the sky.
It was still
very warm out; however, Brick pulled on some khaki shorts and Tim
pulled on a nice pair of white polished cotton shorts. Jimmy-Bob
and Stan just put on their Wranglers and boots without shirts.
They were sitting on Brick’s huge, black leather couch. Tim
settled into Brick’s huge arms to get comfortable. They shared a
quick kiss.
“If you guys
wanna’ get cozy with each other, don’t be shy.” Brick offered. “No one
makes any judgements around here. Tim and I have been a couple
for sometime now.”
Without saying
anything, Jimmy-Bob put his arm around Stan and pulled him over onto
his big chest. He leaned down and kissed Stan gently behind his
ear. Stan glanced at Brick and Tim and got a big grin on his
face. He turned his head slightly and his mouth met
Jimmy-Bob’s. They kissed a long, deep, but gentle kiss.
When they finished Stan looked Jimmy-Bob in his eyes.
“Thanks for
that, cowboy.” he said.
“You’re
welcome. Been want’n to do that for a while now.”
Nothing more was
said, but after a while, Brick and Tim decided to go to bed and left
Jimmy-Bob and Stan alone on the couch.
“You wanna’
watch more TV?” Jimmy-Bob asked Stan.
“Not
really. I’m sort of TV’d out. What say we go lay on the
deck chairs, talk and enjoy the evening. It’s about time for my
buddy to visit.”
“Sounds
good. I ain’t talked with Moe in a while. You think it’s
wise for him to appear here?”
“Why not?
They’ve gone to bed. Know’n how crazy them two are about one
another, they ain’t gonna’ be checking on us.” Stan
allowed.
“Would you like
to have somebody that crazy about you, little brother?”
“Depends on who
it was?” Stan replied.
Stan was kind of
sad Jimmy-Bob didn’t continue with his line of questioning. They
lay down on the comfortable deck lounges and looked up at the moon and
the sky.
“Beautiful
night.” said Jimmy-Bob.
“Great.
Even if everything smells like gunpowder.”
“You’d think it
would’ve gone away by now. Probably because there’s little air
movement. It’s still hot.”
“You wanna’ take
another dip in the pool, cowboy?”
“I wouldn’t
mind.”
The men shucked
off their cowboy boots and Wranglers and hung them over a couple of
deck chairs. They dove into the water and swam around for a
bit. They were standing up to their shoulders in deep
water. The water was warm and felt good. Jimmy-Bob came up
behind Stan and folded his arms around his front, pulled him close to
his big, warm body and gently kissed him behind his ear. He was
sporting a full erection and it came to rest right in Stan’s
crack. Stan wiggled his butt so his could wrap his cheeks around
Jimmy-Bob’s big cowboy dick.
“What if that
someone who was crazy about you, was a cowboy from Oklahoma? Do
you think it’s possible for an Oke cowboy and a Texas cowboy to find a
little happiness together?”
“Hell, I ain’t
prejudice.” shot back Stan, “Weren’t chore' fault you weren’t born in
God’s country.” he laughed and leaned back into Jimmy-Bob’s
embrace.
“I should drown
you right now.” Jimmy-Bob growled.
“Oh, oh, oh,
don’t do that, Mr. Jimmy-Bob” came a small voice from the side of the
pool.
“Moe? Is
that you?” Stan called to the pup.
Moe suddenly
appeared by the side of the deck, except this time he didn’t seem like
a holo-projection. He looked real.
“Master Waco
found out how to project someone from one place to another using the
robo-cams. He didn’t know about it until he asked Kryon, and he
told him how to do it. I can be with you and Mr. Jimmy-Bob for a
few minutes, Master Stan.”
The men couldn’t
believe it. Moe was actually there, for real, on the side of the
pool. They swam over and petted Moe. Jimmy-Bob was beside
himself and Stan had tears in his eyes as he was hugging Moe.
“This is a great
Fourth of July surprise. I know Master Waco is behind this, ain’t
he? It’s jes’ the kind of man he is. He’s s’damn
thoughtful. He knows how much I miss you, Moe.” said Stan.
“He set it up,
but Master Cable is monitoring my visit. If anything goes wrong
he’ll pull me back in a second. So if I suddenly disappear don’t
be upset.” warned Moe.
“We won’t,
little buddy. It’s so great to see you again and get to touch
you. You don’t know what this does for my spirits.” Stan told him.
“Mine, too, Moe,
to finally git to meet you in person.” added Jimmy-Bob.
“Can I come in
the water, Master Stan? I ain’t sure I know how to swim, so don’t
let me sink.”
“All dogs know
how to swim.” said Jimmy-Bob.
“Not so,
cowboy.” laughed Stan, “I had me an old hound-dog once who I had to
teach to swim. He fell in the water by mistake one time and sank
right to the bottom. He didn’t even try to swim. He didn’t
know how. I had to jump in, clothes and all, to save his life.”
assured Stan. “Once I taught him how to swim he never had a bit
of problem after that.”
Moe jumped into
the water and Jimmy-Bob caught him and held his hand under him to
support him.
“Move your front
paws like ‘iss.” Stan instructed Moe and showed him what he
meant. Moe started dog paddling and everything followed
naturally. He was swimming. He was so proud of himself.
“This is great.”
yelled Moe as he headed for shallow water and the steps.
“Don’t try to
swim and talk at the same time, Moe.” Jimmy-Bob chastised him and
laughed.
* * * * * * *
Brick and Tim
were laying together making love in Brick’s bedroom which was upstairs
over the pool area. Tim thought he heard something, excused
himself for a minute and went to peak out through the
mini-blinds. He couldn’t believe what he saw. Jimmy-Bob and
Stan naked in the pool with what looked like a beautiful, young Border
Collie swimming with them.
“Brick, I think
you better come take a look at this.” he whispered to his mate.
“What is it,
love?” Brick asked.
“Remember Stan
telling us about his pup, and we heard it bark?”
“Yeah, ‘at was a
neat trick.” Brick said.
“Uh, I don’t
think it was a trick, dear heart. His pup is swimming in your
pool with them.” Tim giggled.
“No!” said Brick
as he ran to Tim’s side. He parted the blind a little higher up
and looked out. “Son of a bitch, he wasn’t kidding us. He
really does have a pup come to him. Who’s that talking with them?”
“Uh, watch the
dog’s mouth, sweetheart.” Tim urged Brick.
Brick watched as
the three of them lounged in the shallow water together with Moe
sitting on the bottom rung of the concrete stairs. He saw the
dog’s mouth move and words came out.
“This is really
nice, Master Stan. It’s good to finally meet you, too, Mr.
Dodge.” the dog said.
“Son of another
bitch, a dog that talks. What is this? This it too
much. I’ve gotta’ check this out.”
“Wait,
Brick. Didn’t Stan say something to you about having faith in
him? And didn’t you make him a promise you would trust him?
Do you know exactly what he meant by that?”
“I assume he
meant for me to believe in him. What he told me was the truth.”
“That’s
right. Now, are you gonna’ do what you gave your word to him you
would do?”
“What? You
mean just trust him and not investigate? You mean not say
anything about it?”
“Exactly.
He didn’t lie to you, Brick. He told you the God’s honest
truth. We can see it with our own eyes. He told you his pup
came to him every night and they talked with each other. We jes’
never considered the dog might be able to talk back to him.” Tim
giggled again.
“You don’t think
I should say anything?”
“No, I don’t
unless he wants you to know more. There’s something special about
that young man. I felt it the first time I met him. He’s an
old man in a young man’s body. He has the wisdom of the ages
within him. Besides, I’ll bet you a blow job, if you go barreling
down the stairs and rush out there onto the deck that dog will
disappear in an instant. Then you’ll be embarrassed, and they
won’t get to enjoy the visit with their friend.”
“I’m beginning
to think he ain’t the only one what’s got the wisdom of the ages, my
love.” Brick said to his lover.
“You mean me?”
Tim asked surprised.
“Sure.” affirmed
Brick. “You’re plenty smart. You’re smarter than I am by a
longshot.”
“Naw, I
ain’t. You just got a different kind a’ smarts. What I told
ju’ is basically what Stan told you and me the night of his
birthday. Trust is a two-way street. It’s too bad more
folks don’t practice it. I have a feeling if you just trust him,
he’ll share with you anything you wanna’ know about him and his pup.”
“You might be
right, Tim. We’ve shared a couple of things that surprised me
about him. He saw right through me. I was gonna’ have my
men shoot his pup, but he begged for my mercy. He could see I
have a soft spot for slaves and animals, so I jes’ told ‘em just to
bring him back if they could catch him. They didn’t find
him. Said there was a drifter in the barn cleaning stalls who
told them his dog took off into the badlands. I guess he was hurt
pretty bad when Lou kicked him real hard with his steel-toed
boot. The pup cried, landed in a prickly-pear patch and ran off
yelping like he’s really hurt. Looks like he recovered pretty
well.”
“I didn’t know
about that.” Tim said sadly.
“The dog was
going to bite Ansel. Lou was just protecting his partner.”
“That sounds
pretty hollow to me. From the looks of him, he ain’t even a full
grown dog, Brick. He’s still just a pup. I’m surprised Stan
trusts you at all. It tells me a lot about his character.
He’s able to forgive. That’s some’um what’s difficult to teach
folks. Slaves and poor folks learn forgiveness to survive.
They first learn to forgive themselves for sometimes being unable to
forgive others. That sounds like a riddle, but it ain’t.
Forgiveness grows from there. Soon they’re able to forgive those
they never thought they could.”
“I apologized.”
Brick looked sheepish.
They continued
to watch and after a while they got out of the pool, Moe shook
himself. Jimmy-Bob and Stan lovingly toweled him dry. They
hugged and kissed him, told him ‘goodbye’ and he simply vanished.
“Woah! Did
you see that?” Brick asked rhetorically.
“That’s
impossible. That sent chills up my spine.” allowed Tim
“I gotta’ change
ma’ shorts.” laughed Brick
* * * * * * *
Jimmy-Bob and
Stan decided to head off to the bedroom. They both showered, but
Stan took a little more time than Jimmy-Bob. When he returned to
the room Jimmy-Bob was already in bed. He smiled at Stan as he
finished toweling himself. Stan crawled in bed into the arms of
his big cowboy brother. He reached up and kissed Jimmy-Bob
again. Jimmy-Bob returned his kiss with gentle passion, but there
seemed to be part of himself he was holding back from Stan.
“You feel like
talking, cowboy?” Stan spoke softly.
“Yeah, I jes’
don’t know about what. I don’t understand what’s going on with
me, . . . and you.”
“I thought it
was because I’m a slave. Your attitude toward me changed when I
told you I’s a slave, and you get harder ever’ time I call you
‘master.’”
“You mean like
now?” Jimmy-Bob grinned. Stan moved his hand slightly and felt
the cowboy’s roaring erection.
“E’aup.” agreed
Stan.
“I thought on it
a lot. H’it ain’t only that. Honest, Stan, I wanted it to
be that, I really did, but now I know it ain’t. There’s something
deep inside me what yearns to be more to you. It started with a
fantasy of me rescuing you from all of this shit and taking you
somewhere I could be your master, . . . I could own you and you would
be mine to take care of for as long as you needed me, so I could love
and protect you from people like the Holy Prophet. I fantasized
about me loving you like you love Moe.”
“Like I’s a cow
dog?” Stan asked with a hint of indignation.
Jimmy-Bob looked
hurt. He was quiet for a moment, but he didn’t back down.
“Naw, ‘at ain’t
right, and you know it. ‘At ain’t how I meant it. You’re
more sensitive and intelligent than that, little brother, but if I must
spell it out for you, I will. Love is love, but unconditional
love is the greatest love of all. You love Moe, and he loves you
unconditionally. Less’n I’m so stupid I can’t see it, but I don’t
think there’s anything sexual between you and Moe. I’m only
trying to tell you about where I am now and how I got there.”
“I’m sorry,
Jimmy-Bob. I’ll shut up.”
“Maybe that
would be best until I finish; besides, you keep interrupting me, it
breaks my train of thought, and I had this all rehearsed in my mind how
I was gonna’ say it if I ever got the chance. I was gonna’ tell
you in the pool, but we got interrupted. It goes beyond just an
animal lust for your body; although, there is definitely that, plenty
of it, and it’s very strong; just look!” Jimmy-Bob exclaimed pointing
to the tented sheet.
“Then, several
days ago an old song from the 1960's ma’ dad used to sing all the time
started going though ma’ head, and I couldn’t get it out. Still
can’t. Ever’ time I’m around you I hear it playing in the back of
my mind. Dad used to play it in our old pickup truck when we’d go
hunting or fishing. ‘cause my mom didn’t like country music, but it was
something dad’n me shared. It was some old cowboy who had a
pleasant enough voice; don’t remember his name, but that ain’t what’s
important. I could never understand what the words meant, and one
day I asked ma’ dad. He just smiled, sighed real big and told me
one day it would strike me like a bolt out of the blue, and the meaning
of them words would come to me. Well, it did come to me the other
day jes’ like he said. The words keep running through ma’ head,
and all I can think about when I sing them to myself is you,
Stan. I think I understand now what them words mean. They’s
simple words: ‘And I need you more than want you, but I want you for
all time, and the Wichita lineman is still on the line.’
“Are you saying
you’re in love with me, cowboy?”
“Afeard so,
Stan.”
“And you wanna’
be my man?”
“‘At’s a good
way a’ put’n it without any qualifiers. I know my offer might
have all the earmarks of being a dominant alpha-male thing, but I’m
trying to be honest here. To be your man says it all,
cowboy. I don’t need to be anything more’n ‘nat, . . . less’n you
want me to be. It rips me a new asshole ever’ time I think of you
having to share your body with that awful old man or one of his
cronies. I don’t want you in the arms of any other man what you
don’t wanna’ be, but mostly I’d like to think you could find a home in
my arms, little brother.”
Stan was totally
unprepared for what he was hearing. He underestimated his
cowboy. He never considered Jimmy-Bob might be so
sensitive. Stan thought it was about the sweetest thing anyone
ever said to him. He started weeping silently and turned away
from Jimmy-Bob. It almost broke Jimmy-Bob’s heart. He
thought he’d really fucked up by being so bold and laying his cards on
the table.
“I’m sorry,
Stan. I didn’t mean to offend you. The last thing in the
world I wanted to do was hurt you. Maybe I’m come’n on too
strong. I worried about that.”
Stan turned back
into Jimmy-Bob’s big arms but continued to weep softly.
“No, no, . . .
‘at ain’t it a’tall. You didn’t hurt ma’ feelings, cowboy.
It’s probably the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me, and it touched
me deeply. I was unprepared. I guess I was hope’n for
something like ‘iss, but didn’t never think it would happen. I’s
jes’ surprised, is all. I was happy jes’ being yore’ buddy and
maybe act as a slave for you if’n you needed me. I’m still
willing.”
“Then gimme’ a
kiss.” Jimmy-Bob demanded softly.
They kissed a
long, passionate kiss. Jimmy-Bob rolled over on top of Stan so
the full weight of his bigger body was pressing on him. Stan grew
very excited. Jimmy-Bob broke off their kiss.
“There’s only
one problem.”
“What’s ‘zat,
cowboy?” Stan asked.
“I ain’t never,
. . . I mean not even, . . . .” he stammered.
“That’s
okay. I’ll teach you.” Stan replied.
“I’s hope’n you
might offer. Teach me to be the man, master or cowboy you want me
to be, little brother. Show me how you want me to take you.
I can imagine some of it for myself, but if you want me to be yore’
man, teach me how you need me to take you. If you consider being
mine, in any capacity, I wanna’ take care of you. I wanna’ be
yore’ man, Stan.”
They kissed
again but this time things noticeably changed between them. Stan
gave in and decided to let his cowboy take the lead. He would
direct and instruct until Stan got Jimmy-Bob into his saddle; after
that, he would slap his rider on his butt and tell him to ride like the
wind; break his new pony in like he wanted him. Wants and needs
are a two way street, but Stan knew all about that, he’d been well
trained. It excited him greatly to think he would be training his
own cowboy lover or master to ride him like he needed. Could life
get any better? How was it, in the middle of a pseudo-religious
dung heap he found a pearl of great value? What were the
chances? He tried to think about the odds, and he intuitively
figured they must be staggering. Indeed, the intelligence behind
the forces of the universe sometimes move in mysterious ways.
Mysterious,
hell! Don’t you believe a word of it! They wanted Stan and
Jimmy-Bob to find each other. They planed it that way; the rest,
was up to the boys. There was much frivolity and happy times that
evening among the carriers’ of the Voices. The music of the soul
can be heard and enjoyed by the universe; one only needs a full heart
to sing. Quarks bang into anti-quarks and spill out into other
unidentified realms, they ring through deep gravitic-wells amplified by
large black holes, filling the void with their raucously gay cacophony,
invading the usually silent ether with sounds of pleasure, love and
laughter, they sing and cavort with one another in choruses and
Rabelaisian dances of homogeneous delights. They sing, “Grace,
honor, praise, and then delight, here sojourns day and night, two sound
bodies conjoined as one, but lined with two good minds a sultry sum, do
here pursue with greatest might, grace, honor, praise, and more
delight. Sing forth ye carries of the Word, their Voices have,
this
night, been heard. So let us praise their wisdom bright, be there
no doubt, at least this time, they got it right.”
End Of Chapter
33 ~ Waco’s Lummox
Copyright 2007 ~
Waddie Greywolf
All Rights
Reserved ~
Mail to:
waddiebear@yahoo.com
* In the South
and Southwest a woman’s vagina was often referred to as her
‘cock.’ Uniquely Southern, the phrase ‘eating cock’ is not meant
to convey an act of homosexuality; rather, it refers to
‘cunnilingus.’ The term and its reference has its base in English
literature. See “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” by D. H.
Lawrence. Needless to say, and not surprisingly, over the
years the terminology has caused a good deal of confusion,
misunderstanding and backhanded snickers from those who are not from
the South. If you find yourself in some out-of-the-way roadside
tavern in the South, you never want to attempt to convince a three
hundred pound drunken redneck, with a Confederate flag sewn into the
overlay of his leather biker jacket, the error of his ways, when he
stands on the bar and loudly announces to one and all, he just loves to
‘eat cock’! Trust me, Bubba will not be amused.