Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2009 08:56:15 +0100
From: A.K. <andrej@andrejkoymasky.com>
Subject: Lesson of Life 5/5 (young friends)

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LESSON OF LIFE
by Andrej Koymasky (C) 2008
written on January 12, 1993
translated by the author
English text kindly revised by "wet0blanket"

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USUAL DISCLAIMER

"LESSON OF LIFE" is a gay story, with some parts containing graphic
scenes of sex between males. So, if in your land, religion, family,
opinion and so on this is not good for you, it will be better not to
read this story. But if you really want, or because YOU don't care, or
because you think you really want to read it, please be my welcomed
guest.

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CHAPTER 5 - The big step - leaving the village

The period of our army service came and it was long and heavy. We had
hoped to be assigned to the same place, as we were born in the same
month and place but, in the event, Dario was sent to Caserta and I to
Vercelli. We were also unlucky because we never got even one of our
leave periods on the same days. So we had to content ourselves with
writing each other. We never wrote so much in all our lives, neither he
nor I - we each sent a letter to the other as soon as we received one,
that is about three times in a month.

Both Dario and I, even though we both had had some opportunities, all
through the army service we never had sex with anyone else, because we
were really in love and we weren't interested in anybody else.

We both, not to be caught by the others, decided to always sign our
letters with a woman's name - Dario signed Margherita Salis, that is
Dario's mother name. I myself signed Marilena Soddu, a fancy name but
with the same initials of the name used by Dario.

Dario was not able to write very well - he studied only to the primary
fifth year, as then his father wanted him to start working his fields. I
was able to write a little better than him, though not so much better -
I studied up to the third year of junior high school. Afterwards I too
helped my father to make the bread, to sell and to deliver it. But
differently from Dario, I always liked reading a lot. I don't mean that
Dario didn't read at all, but he read only comic-strips stories or the
sports page of the newspaper. On the other hand I liked to read fiction.

Anyway eventually the army service ended for both of us and we finally
met again at our village, Tratal"as. I got home three days before him,
and already on the second day I went to see Commander Guglielmo Gerbi.
He had me enter his office, closed the door and asked me how my army
service had been. So we talked for some time.

I then said, "Commander, soon Dario will also come back... We haven't
changed our plans at all. We want to leave this village so we can be
able to live together."

"I'm glad for you two."

"Commander, one year ago you told me that you could possibly help us to
leave this place..." I then said.

"Yes, and in these months I have been thinking about you two. Listen,
when Dario Piras comes back, you will discuss it with him and take a
decision. I have a proposal to make to you two. I have renewed contacts
with an old friend... we did our army service together here in
Tratal"as, in the carabinieri, then I remained here and he instead went
back to Pordenone, where his father had a small furniture factory. He
now owns that factory. So I explained him about you two and asked him if
he could hire you as workers in his factory. He answered me he would, as
I'm guaranteeing for the both of you."

"Did you tell him about us? You mean that... that you really told him
everything? I mean... also that Dario and I are..."

"Yes, certainly, even though of course I didn't yet tell him your names,
for the moment."

"But he... that friend of yours..."

"If you want to know if he and I made love, the answer is yes. You once
asked me if I never fell in love... If he remained here with me, I think
I would have fallen in love with him. I possibly was in love with him,
even though I never admitted it, not even to myself."

"But he preferred to get married, is that what happened?"

"Exactly so. And he now has three children."

"But did he like women better?"

"No, and this has been, I think, his biggest mistake. He didn't have
your courage. Of course those were different times, moreover we were
still under fascism and people like us, in those times, risked ending up
in prison or in the internment camps..."

"But... this friend of yours does he get on well with his wife?"

"Not less and not more than many other married couples."

"Does he have a lover, a man lover, I mean?"

"I didn't ask him and he never told me... Who knows? It's possible - he
may have some adventure once in a while, one-time encounters, as many
married men do, just to be able to cope with their situation."

"I... I would feel bad enough to die if Dario married... He also once
wrote me the same thing, if I was the one who married."

"Each of us is made in his own way, Cosimo Puddu. You two are made of
the same cloth, and it's good that you met, you have been lucky... Well,
listen now, when your Dario will be back, talk with him about my
proposal and if he too agrees, I will arrange for you to meet with my
friend."

I felt a great pleasure that the Commander said 'your Dario'. I said, "I
am sure he will agree as I do. Should we have to go to Pordenone to meet
your friend?"

"I invited him to come here to see me and to be my guest for some days
and he has accepted, so you would be able meet him here at my place."

"Would we be able to be workmen? To make furniture? I am a baker and
Dario is a farmer..."

"Nowadays it is all made by machines, you would have only to push
buttons, you would surely be able to learn the work."

"I don't know how to thank you, Commander Gerbi."

"There would be a way you could thank me, Cosimo..." he said and when he
saw my expression he smiled, for the second time since I knew him. "No,
I know, I'm not asking it, don't worry."

I too smiled and asked, "And... did you find another boy, Commander, in
all these months while I was no longer here and was doing my army
service?"

"Yes, I did, first one boy, then another one."

"Do you like him? Are you getting along well?"

"We can meet seldom, as it happened between you and I... But yes, he
likes doing it with me and I like him."

"I probably know him..." I dared to venture.

"I don't really think so. He is a boy living in San Giovanni Suergiu..."

"How did you meet him then?"

"If I told you, you would also understand who we are talking about." he
answered.

Finally Dario also came back. As soon as I met him, on the street in
front of the parish church, I told him about Commander Guglielmo Gerbi's
proposal. He wanted to know why the Commander was interested in us and
ready to help us. I had of course previously asked leave of the
Commander to tell Dario everything, and now I did so. Dario didn't feel
bad about it, because I also explained to him that, after we told each
other we were in love, I stopped doing those things with the Commander.

"It's fantastic!" Dario said brightening up, "Of course we will accept
his proposal. When will his friend come here?"

"I think soon. The Commander will let us know."

Brigadier Guglielmo Gerbi's friend came to our village just ten days
after Dario came back home. His name was Lanfranco Bottega, and he too
was forty-nine years old. He was not a really handsome man, but I asked
myself if when he was young he might have been handsome, to be
attractive to the Commander. Anyway, he seemed to be a likeable person.
The four of us went to have a meal together at a countryside restaurant
and we talked for a long time. Mister Bottega told us that it was fine
with him if we were able go to Pordenone with him when he would be
leaving Sardinia. We told him we would, we had just to tell our families
and, whether they agreed or not, we would leave with him.

Dario pointed out that if our families didn't agree, we would have to
leave without a lira in our pockets and that he therefore didn't know
how we could pay for the trip fees and then to live out of home until we
earned our first salary...

Mister Bottega told us not to worry, in that case he would advance us
some money, money, taking it back a little at a time from our salaries.
He also told us that he would arrange for our lodging - he had a dear
friend who lived in a really big apartment and who could give us a room
there, at least for as long as we needed, until we would be able to rent
a small apartment all for ourselves. "He will host you even for some
months, if I ask him to do so." he said.

"But wouldn't your friend think it weird that we two... that Dario and
I... I mean..." I asked.

"My friend knows everything about me, and he too shares our same tastes,
therefore he would surely not be surprised..."

"But how can we pay him the room?" I asked.

"It would be enough you give him a hand to keep his apartment clean, to
be ready to do some errands for him, some small works, and if you are
polite and kind... No, no," he then said seeing my expression, "Not kind
in that meaning, he will for sure never ask you any payment... in kind,
don't worry. He already has his boyfriend and they never cheat on each
other, as far as I know."

Well, some days before we had to leave, Dario told his parents and I
mine about our decision to move away. Dario's parents told him he did
well to leave, because at the village he would have nothing but a meagre
life. So his mother prepared him a suitcase with his few things, and his
father gave him also some money.

My father on the contrary absolutely wouldn't hear about it, so we
quarrelled, and when he saw I was determined anyhow, he didn't talk with
me any more. My mother secretly gave me some money and I prepared my
suitcase.

Our leaving day finally arrived. The Commander took us and his friend in
his jeep to the train station of Carbonia. There we took the train to
Cagliari and from Cagliari the ship to Civitavecchia. We then took again
the train up to the north, and finally reached Pordenone. All along that
journey we talked with mister Bottega, who was a really agreeable man.

When we got to Pordenone, Mister Bottega took us in a taxi to his
friend's house. He had already called him from Sardinia and he was
waiting for us. He was a man of sixty-one, tall, plump but not fat, with
a white beard, whose name was Franco Brandolini. He lived there with his
lover, a man of thirty-nine, going bald, he too tall but slender, almost
ugly but really likeable, whose name was Matteo Zanforlin. Mister Franco
was a recently retired revenue officer, while Mister Matteo owned an
ice-cream shop in downtown Pordenone, on the cathedral's square.

They lived in a really big apartment, all furnished with very beautiful
furniture, old pieces from the Brandolini family whose ancestors were
aristocrats. It was filled with knick-knacks, souvenirs of the many
journeys our landlords had done together. They were lovers for eighteen
years already, and had lived together for thirteen.

The room they gave us had a king size bed, and this pleased me very
much, a wall closet for the clothes, a chest of drawers, a little table
with two chairs, and only one night table. There was no attached
bathroom; we had to use the same one as our landlords.

For the work, we had to be at the factory, on the Pordenone outskirts,
every morning at eight o'clock and we would work until five in the
evening, with one hour break for lunch - which we could have at the
company's mess. Matteo and Franco lent us their bikes to get to the
factory without problems.

The first day Mister Bottega entrusted us to one of the foremen who
explained us what we had to do, and he also gave us khaki overalls, the
kind in only one piece with a long zipper in front - like that used by
the petrol station forecourt attendants, with a leather belt and a
plastic violet lozenge with a yellow border on the left of the chest,
written inside in yellow, "Mobilificio Bottega" (Bottega furniture
factory).

The first night we spent in mister Brandolini's home, we both strongly
desired to make love. But I was afraid that the landlords, who had their
room just next to ours, would overhear us. But the desire was really
strong...

"Come on, Cosimo! We have just to be careful not to make too much
noise... Moreover, they are probably also making love in there, don't
you think?" Dario insisted.

"But if they hear us... I would feel ashamed..."

"What would you be ashamed of, silly boy! Because we love each other and
we need to show it by making love? Come on, Cosimo!"

How could I refuse it to him? More so because I too wanted it at least
as much as he did... So we undressed, slipped under the sheet, embraced
and started to kiss each other, to play with our tongues, to caress and
fondle each other, arousing each other little by little.

We threw caution to the wind, especially when Dario asked me to fuck
him, then fucked me. It was really very beautiful being able to unite
so, on that wide bed, in full freedom and above all knowing that from
then on we could make love any time we wanted, without any problem. When
we finally fell asleep, still totally naked and in one other's arms, we
felt happy as we had never been before.

The following morning Matteo came to wake us up to go to work, knocking
at our door and telling us, through the door, that if we liked to have
breakfast with them, it was ready.

We joined the two landlords in the living room, while on the radio, at
low volume, they were broadcasting the morning news.

"Did you have a good sleep, boys?" Franco asked.

"Yes, very good, thank you." Dario answered.

"Did you sleep enough? We could hear that you were awake until quite
late..." Matteo said with a little smile.

I think we both blushed.

Then Franco said, "You have nothing to be ashamed of, dear boys - you
love each other and you show it to each other in the best way two men
can show it..."

"We thought we didn't make too much noise..." Dario said blushing again.

"Oh no, it was not at all too much. Come on, boys, you should not have
such problems. It could sometimes happen that it's you who hear us doing
it. We don't do it as often as when we both were young, but we still do
it sometimes. And thank heaven not so seldom." Franco said giving us a
kind and warm smile.

"Thank you, you are both really kind..." I said.

"If we don't help those like ourselves, and if we don't understand those
like ourselves... who will?" Matteo commented.

On the second day we finally started our real jobs. The furniture
factory was rather big and full of modern machines. The foreman
explained us what we had to do and how, and luckily the job was not too
difficult.

The days were flowing fast, both thanks to our work at the factory and
to the various small things we did at home to repay the hospitality.

When Mister Bottega gave us our first envelopes with our salaries, we
decided we had to celebrate in a pizzeria, so we invited Mister Bottega
and his Matteo.

Then, when we had enough savings, we finally found a small apartment at
a stone's throw from the factory. It is really small, but it is enough
for us, because we have there all we can need. Afterwards, a little at a
time, we set to buying all we could desire to have. Mister Bottega let
us have the furniture at cost price, therefore we got it really cheap.
We even bought a TV!

We have lived there now for almost two years, we are happy and we get
from our life all that really is important - health, a job, a home,
friends, but above all love! I think that our neighbours suspect that
Dario and I are lovers, but they pretend they don't know and behave with
us normally.

I often recall my village and the Commander, brigadier Guglielmo Gerbi,
and of course also that day when he decided to give me a "lesson of
life"...

And inside my heart I never stop thanking him.

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THE END

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In my home page I've put some more of my stories. If someone wants to
read them, the URL is

http://andrejkoymasky.com

If you want to send me feed-back, or desire to help revising my English
translations, so that I can put on-line more of my  stories in English
please e-mail at

andrej@andrejkoymasky.com

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