Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 19:14:13 -0400
From: Charlie <charlieje@mindspring.com>
Subject: Andy-11 (Young Friends)

             XI Charlie's Diagnosis

"Charlie!" the voice came over the handset.
"Andy? Izzat you Andy?" Charlie asked excitedly.
"Yeah, it's me, lil bro! I been saving my money to call soon as I heard it
was gonna be on TV. Man, you were so totally awesome!"
"Thanks, Andy." Charlie giggled, "But I wouldn't expect you to say
anything else."
"No, man, I mean it! I mean you had everyone in here clapping and
cheering, an' they think I'm big man on campus now, thanks to Mom and
the things she said about you and me. Man, that was outa sight! And those
videos! I had forgotten what a great summer we had."
"We're gonna have a lot more too. Just wait and see!"

The boys chatted for a few minutes, then Karen and Dennis spoke to
Andy, each giving their own encouraging words. "It's gonna be fine," he
told them both, "I can feel it. I was startin' to get pretty discouraged, but I
know it's gonna be fine now."
"How are your school grades?" Karen asked. Just like a mom, Charlie
thought.
"They're good, Mom. In fact they're great! Thanks to Charlie's tutoring
over the summer."
"And a lot of hard work from you, Andy. Just keep them up, no matter
what! As you said, if you can demonstrate how much you've changed,
that's got to count for something."

After Dennis hung up the phone, Charlie got a bad case of sniffles. "I
forgot..." he sobbed, "I forgot to tell him we love him."
"I think he knows that, son." Dennis assured him. "Now, how'd you like to
have your dad get you ready for bed?"
"Dad, do I have to? I'm not even a little bit sleepy."
"I didn't say you had to go to bed. But you love rattling around in your
diaper. I thought you'd jump at the chance."
"Not any more. I'm not showin' off my diapers any more."
"Ok, then put a pair of boxers on over the diaper."
"How about just the boxers? Then you can put the diaper on when I go to
bed. I wanna get used to not wearing them 'cause when Andy gets here
I'm gonna tell him I kicked the habit."
"But Charlie, we've already pretty well concluded that it's more than a
habit. That it's..."
"Dennis," Karen interrupted, "Let him try."

Charlie did try, but he failed. It's not clear whether two years of wearing
diapers, not trying to hold his water, had caused him to lose control, or
perhaps whatever condition had caused the problem had worsened. But
after a week of attempts, daily accidents at school and wet beds at home,
he reluctantly submitted to his diapers again. The good news, he said, was
that the pain in his groin, which was starting to become debilitating, was
somewhat relieved by a warm wet diaper. But that pain was a temporary
thing; his doctor's appointment was next week and this time neither he nor
Karen were going to accept anything but a solution.

Evan Turnbull sat at his posh desk, his phone to his ear, staring straight
ahead. "Are you sure?" he said into the mouthpiece.
"I'm sure, Evan." It was the voice of George Williams, family attorney,
Atlanta. "After your young friend aired that broadcast on TNN, the phones
at Social Services went wild! There were calls from all over the United
States and some from other countries as well! I think they just might have
gotten away with it, but that broadcast drew too much attention and they
panicked."
"That's the worst thing I've ever heard of in my life! There's gonna be
criminal charges over this!"
"Evan, we might not want to do that. They were taking care of the boy."
"Sure, taking care of him all right, by helping themselves to his
inheritance."
"But it's not as if they were keeping the money. They were just
supplementing the income of the orphanage, and that helped all the kids
there."
"That's not the point. It's fraud! And theft! And if you give me some time
I'll think up a few more charges."
"But they planned to put all the money back. That's why they were
delaying the adoption. They just had more trouble than they'd expected
raising it all."

"What I want you to do now," Evan said evenly, "Tell those clowns to get
ready to deliver that boy to my custody. I'll be on the first flight to Atlanta.
Tell them if they're fast enough, they just might avoid charges. Provided,
of course, that they make arrangements post haste to return that money,
with interest."
"But you can't expect them to come up with that kind of money in an
instant."
"I can, and I do! I'll take the boy now, with all the necessary paperwork;
we'll discuss the money after he's settled in his new home. I'll call you
from the airport."

Without waiting for an answer, Evan hung up and dialed the Conner
number. There was no answer, so he left a cryptic message on the machine
that Andy would be there tomorrow, probably late in the day. Then he
hung up, wondering where they could be at this time of day.

                *       *       *

"Mr. Conner," the doctor said, "We've gone over your son pretty
thoroughly. Can we talk in my office?"
"Sure, doctor." Dennis said as he, Karen and Charlie rose. "...er without
the boy?" he added.
"THE BOY?", Dennis said, making no effort to hide his annoyance.
"'THE BOY' has a name. It's Charlie. And as I recall he is the patient, and
he has as much right as anyone to hear what you have to say."
"Ordinarily I would agree with you," the doctor said without emotion,
"But... this is no ordinary circumstance."
"If there's something serious going on, then that's all the more reason for
him to hear. Charlie comes too!"

"I'm afraid your son..." the doctor began.
"My son is right here." Dennis interrupted, "He has very good command
of the English language; probably better than I do if the truth be known. If
you have something to say about his condition, he would appreciate if you
address him!" Charlie beamed with pride. He loved these exchanges every
time they were in a position where someone tried to belittle him. Dennis
could simply not stand it and would not tolerate it.

"Very well. Charlie, do you know what cancer is?"
"Yes sir. It's an abnormal growth of body cells which eventually destroys
tissue and can be life threatening."
"That's good enough for this discussion. And of course you know what
your testicles are and why they're there?"
"Yes sir."
"And do you understand what puberty is?"

"Doctor," Dennis said impatiently, "He's a farm kid. He knew what
puberty was before he could hardly pronounce it. He has artificially bred
cattle, has even castrated bulls! Now can we please get on with this?"

The doctor was getting annoyed now. Who the hell did these people think
they were anyway? "Ok, Charlie," he said with a sigh, "I guess there's no
room to work up to this, so here it is: I'm afraid your testicles have cancer.
That's where the pain is coming from."
"I... I have cancer?" Charlie echoed incredulously, "Does that mean I'm
gonna die?"
"We honestly don't know until we have a look around. We have to do
surgery as soon as possible. Tomorrow if that's possible."
"Are you sure, doctor?" Karen asked. "I thought that since he hasn't even
begun puberty..."
"I am about ninety percent sure. It is certainly very rare in boys his age,
Mrs. Conner," the doctor said, "But it happens. The good news is that
since his hormones are really not pumping yet, or so we hope, there's a lot
less chance that it has spread. What I propose is that we keep him
overnight and get him well sedated, then in the morning we'll do a biopsy
to be sure. If the test is positive, we can go ahead with the bilateral
orchiectomy and he will only have to endure one OR procedure instead of
two."

"What... what's an 'orchey-ectomy?" Charlie asked. He was pretty well
sure he knew from the way the conversation was going, but he wanted to
hear the word, in English, in terms he could understand.
"It's a surgical procedure," began the doctor, "Where we..."
"They want to castrate you!" Dennis interjected.
"That's what I thought." In his mind Charlie pictured himself trussed up
the way he had done calves: hanging with all four feet tied together,
exposing the area involved for any and all to do whatever they chose. He
saw in his mind the way they lurched and stiffened when he applied the
clamp; the smell of burning flesh as he cauterized the wound.
"It's not as unpleasant as it must be for farm animals," the doctor said as if
sensing his dismay, "You'll be asleep through the whole procedure. There
will be little or no pain. When you wake up it'll be over."
"And I'll be a castrato." Charlie added.

"You'll be a what?" the doctor asked.
"A castrato."  Charlie answered, then he explained how young boys in
ancient Italy were castrated to preserve their voice. "Singular is castrato,"
he explained, "and plural is castrati. Does that mean my voice won't ever
change?" he asked the doctor.
"Frankly, I haven't had much experience with boys as young as you,
Charlie. But more than likely you can expect some change in your voice,
but not nearly as much as if we didn't have to do the procedure."
"Well then it ain't all bad. I love my voice."
"But there are other things to consider, Charlie." Dennis reminded him,
"You'll never be able to father children. You might not even be able to
function sexually."

Charlie eyed his father, studying him for a moment. It was true, he had
never seen a steer try to mount a cow, but it didn't seem to bother the
steer. If the steer wanted to, he reasoned, then he'd try even if he was
unsuccessful; but he'd never seen one even try. "It's ok Dad," Charlie said
at last, "I can live with that."

"As for fathering children," the doctor offered, "We can spend the evening
tonight, before we sedate him, attempting to harvest whatever sperm he
might have. I can't offer any guarantees, but if we can get some healthy
sperm we can freeze it until such time as he needs it."
"H-how..." Charlie asked, "How do you do that?"
"Much the same as you do with animals. Except we don't use an
ejaculation machine like you do on the farm."
"You mean someone has to... to..." Charlie could not get the word out.
"Yes, someone has to masturbate you."
"No, Dad!" Charlie said flatly as panic set in, "No way!"
"Or," the doctor continued, "We can show you how if you don't already
know, and you can do it yourself."
"Dad!" Charlie pleaded, "Tell him no! Please tell him no!"
"But it's all very clinical, Charlie. You'll be left alone and not disturbed
until you finish."
"And how do you keep people out? Put a sign on the door sayin' keep out,
boy beating off?"
"Charlie!" Karen said, "What kind of talk is that?"
"It's the talk of a young boy in a great deal of distress." Dennis defended
him. "I can sympathize. They are talking of "harvesting," of clinical
extraction of something he doesn't even know he can produce, as if they
were buying a sack of potatoes."

"Doctor," Dennis said, "Would you give us five minutes with our son?
Please?" The doctor realized not only had he failed in excluding his patient
from this discussion, but he himself had just been excluded. But he had the
sensitivity to understand, so he left the office.

"Charlie," Dennis said as Charlie curled up in his arms, "Would it help if
your mom or I helped you with it?"
"No, Dad! It wouldn't! It'd make it worse!"
"But Charlie," Karen pleaded, "If you don't do this, you can never ever
have children. That'll be the end of the Conner blood line."
"How do you figure? There's always Andy. If I ever get married I know
he'd give me some of his sperm..."
"But that's not the same," Karen argued. "Andy is from..."
"Andy is gonna be your son, Mom! Does that mean his kids will be less
your grandchildren than mine? Won't his children be good enough for the
Conner name?"
"Charlie! That's a terrible thing to say!"
"It's a terrible thing to think, Mom. But is it true?"

Karen thought a moment, realizing that it was a very good question. It was
a little more simplistic than she would have liked, but a good question
nonetheless. "No, Charlie," she said finally, "Of course it isn't true. Of
course you can use Andy's sperm."
"Would it help tonight," Karen offered, "If Andy were here to help you?"
"No, Mom. That would be worst of all! It would be better if he finds out
about it after it's all over."

"I have to ask you something pretty personal, Charlie." Dennis said. "I
never thought I'd ever have to ask, but we need to know. Have you ever
ejaculated?"
"What's that have to do with anything, Dad?"
"Well, if you can't ejaculate, the whole subject is academic, isn't it?"
"Maybe for you. It certainly isn't academic for me."

"Ok Charlie," Dennis said wearily, "Let me put it another way. When you
and Andy... er... got together, did you have an orgasm?"
"Dad! I can't believe you even asked!"
"Would it help if I left?" Karen offered, "So you men can have your man
talk?"
"No, Mom. Please stay. I think the talk is about over anyway."
"Charlie," Dennis tried again, "You're not making this very easy for us."

Charlie lost it. He jumped off his father's knee and faced him, his face red
with rage. "Easy for YOU?" he demanded, "Why is this so hard for YOU?
It isn't YOU who's gonna get castrated. It isn't YOU who's got cancer. It
isn't YOU who might die! It isn't YOU who's got to get on a table and
spread your legs and let them cut off your sex. I'm sorry if I'm not makin'
it easy for you, Dad! I'm real sorry; but I'm gettin' through this the best I
can, and I'm NOT gonna lose all my dignity by letting some cute little
nurse jerk me off while a whole herd of doctors and nurses watches. Can
you imagine the talk around the nurses station? NO! It's not gonna
happen! I thought you'd understand!"

Charlie could say no more. He ran to his mother and melted in her arms.
Karen responded as any loving mother would. Dennis whispered "You're
right, Charlie. We'll do it your way. Just don't die on us, ok? That's all
that matters right now." He stuck his head out the door and asked the
doctor to rejoin them. "There'll be no attempts to harvest sperm," he said
clearly.
"But..."
"No attempts!"
"And you're not puttin' me to sleep!" Charlie added.
"But Charlie, we have to. The procedure..."
"Have you ever heard of local anaesthetic? If calves can be done without
anything, I think I can take it with a little local."

"You heard him," Dennis shrugged. "What can I say? He knows his mind
and he says local, so local it is."
"But he's just a child!"
"Yes he is, doctor! And when you get through with him at least part of him
always will be a child! At the same time we're asking him to do a lot of
growing up pretty fast. The least we can do is honor a few of his wishes."

"There's one more thing." Charlie said. "I... I want to go home tonight. I
got some things to do, so I'd like to stay home from school tomorrow and
get things done up. I promise I'll come in the next day and I won't give
you any more trouble."
"But Charlie," the doctor protested, "It's imperative that we deal with this
as soon as possible."
"Doctor, I've had these pains for two years! And now suddenly we can't
wait one more day!"
"What's so important that you have to do it now, Charlie?" Dennis asked.
"Just trust me, Dad. Please?"
"Ok doctor," Dennis said, "If Charlie says he needs a day, then he needs a
day. That'll give you a little more time to get things scheduled."

By the time they got home from the hospital, it was after 10. They had
stayed to get all the paperwork done, make sure Charlie would have a bed
waiting for him, and give him a better idea what he could expect. They
were due back in the hospital tomorrow, Wednesday, at 4 pm. Dennis had
asked him on the way home why he had to go home tonight, to which he
replied "I dunno, Dad. I just somehow know it's important."

They checked the phone machine; there were five messages, two of them
from Evan Turnbull. Andy would be at the Conner farm by 2 pm! "Wow!"
Charlie exclaimed, "Now I know why I had to be here. That is so cool!"
"Charlie," Karen cautioned, "You might want to think about this. You
need to consider the possibility that... well... things might not be the same
between you and Andy."
"Why not?"
"Charlie, that's what we've been trying to make you understand. After
your surgery, you're gonna be... well... different."
"I'll still be Andy's brother. Why would that change?"
"Charlie, after what you and Andy did... I mean..."
"Oh." Charlie said, the lights suddenly coming on in his head, "You think
because Andy and I did sex things, that he won't love me any more 'cause
I can't do those things. Is that what you think?"
"You have to look at it from his viewpoint. He's young and..."
"And nothing, Mom! He's my brother! That's all that's important. And
now he's gonna be here with me. An' you wanna know something else?
He's gonna be in the OR with me when they do it!"
"I don't know about that, Charlie. They gave your dad and me permission
to be there, and even that wasn't easy. I don't know if they'll let Andy in
or not."
"If they don't, there isn't gonna be any surgery. It's just that simple,
Mom."

Karen and Dennis looked at each other, each searching the other's face for
some understanding; neither had anything to say. Charlie had gone upstairs
to get ready for bed, saying he'd call when he was ready. "I never heard of
such a thing!" Karen exclaimed. "I thought that Charlie'd be devastated by
what's coming, and considering what he and Andy did, he'd be worried
sick about Andy's reaction. But he seems perfectly confident."
"He's a remarkable kid." Dennis replied, "And those two boys have a
relationship like none I have ever seen before. I think we can all learn a lot
from him and Andy. Somehow Andy has given him more confidence in
their relationship than we could have dared hoped for."
"I thought you'd be more broken up about this, Dennis. You know, your
son will be less than a man, sexually dysfunctional, all that sort of thing."
"Are you kidding? I thought you knew me better than that. He's my son,
Karen! That stuff means nothing to me! All that's important is that he be
alive and well and happy! Right now I'm incredibly proud of how he's
handling the whole thing."
"Well," she grinned, "I'm proud of both of you. Now all we have to deal
with is Andy. How is he gonna handle this?"
"Charlie seems to think there's no problem there."

Charlie lay in his bed staring into the blackness. He knew he should be
upset. He'd heard other boys, and even men at times including his father,
discussing the castration of calves and how cruel it was, robbing them of
their sexuality before they even knew it was there. He'd heard lots of jokes
about "the family jewels" and how they were almost more precious than
life itself. He knew that he would be more or less expected to scream and
yell, refuse to let them operate, carry on; but he couldn't do all that. For
reasons Charlie didn't really understand, he didn't mind at all, in fact in
some ways he was looking forward to it.

When he'd had some time to himself to think about it, Charlie realized that
being rid of the pains that were increasing steadily would certainly make
the whole episode worth the doing. He hadn't shared with anyone just how
severe those pains had become, but he knew that Andy would notice.
Well, no problem letting him know now, because in a matter of hours after
Andy arrived he'd be rid of the pain completely.

Then there was the whole diaper thing. He'd told everyone that he liked
wearing diapers, and given his lack of control over his bladder it was true;
but the thoughts of roaming the farm, going to school, performing on stage
wearing only boxer shorts under his clothes, or no underwear at all if he
chose, was thrilling to him! The doctor hadn't given him any guarantees in
this regard, but he was counting on it. As for the bedwetting, well, he'd
wait and see.

                *       *       *

If you wish to comment on this story, please send your comments to me at
charlieje@mindspring.com