Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2004 02:15:38 -0400
From: Matt Holmes <ispamforfood@cox.net>
Subject: Boundary Waters Canoe Trip 2

	Upon returning home, life began to return to normal.  The summer
ended, school resumed, and the Boy Scouts continued on without Gary and
Chris.

Nick's father, Chuck, took over as scoutmaster of the troop.  He was a
preacher at a church in town. Upon his taking the position, he promptly
moved the weekly meeting place to the basement of the church.  Other things
had changed as well.  We now began and ended our weekly meetings with the
Lord's Prayer, and we would also attend church at the end of our weekend
camping trips.  It seemed little tacky at first, but no one seemed to mind.

	I continued learning more new skills during the meetings and
overnight camping trips as time passed.  Every time I thought about Chris,
I would remember the good things, such as spending time with Chris, and
that incredible might, as well as the harsh reality that my love was gone
forever.

	In the months that followed, meetings came and went, new Scouts
joined the troop, games were played, memories created, and the overall
quality of the troop improved.  I was surprised that Chuck was able to turn
the trip around, and help us earn the respect we deserved.

	I began to take a more active role in the administration of the
troop.  I had become a senior patrol leader, which is basically the
highest-ranking scout in the troop.  I planned and ran the meetings and
activities throughout the next few months.  It was a learning experience
for me.  I had always liked working with younger kids, teaching them a new
skill, or helping them through a problem or difficult task.  It is a
wonderful thing to know you can affect on a young man's life.

	There were a few troubled boys in our troop.  They weren't bad
kids, they just needed a little extra support.  RJ was a smart and
energetic boy, with a good heart.  Unfortunately, he was cursed with
attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder.  He had trouble concentrating
during the meetings, and would often wander away from the group during
camping trips.  I remember spending extra time with him, sometimes teaching
him a new skill which was troubling him, or consoling him when he was
feeling left out.

	There were other boys, some comedians, some were the brain's, some
the jokers.  Some boys seemed to right their own rules, form new groups.
Until you spend time with a group of boys such as those I had the pleasure
of knowing, you won't understand how much they appreciate the attention,
companionship, and respect they get from a supportive group of such as the
Boy Scouts.

	Here I am on a quest to better the world again.  Well, time
continued on until it was almost two years since I had seen my beloved
Chris.  Words cannot express the feelings I felt with him, and without him.
I was totally unsuspecting of a plan in the works, one that had been under
consideration since Gary and Chris' departure.

	The trip was informed, one Monday night, that the leaders wanted to
plan an activity for the more experienced scouts in the troop.  There were
various options given to us as choices: a week-long canoe trek through the
boundary waters of northern Minnesota, a couple of extra weekend trips to
WSR, Winnebago scout reservation, a local camping ground...OK, let's be
honest.  I don't even remember the other options that we were given.  The
only thing we were interested in was the canoe trip.

	Thus, the decision had been made, and plans began setting in motion
for the trip to take place from the 19th to the 26th of August.  You know,
it's interesting that I remembered the exact dates upon which the Trip took
place.  Maybe it was because I knew that it would be a memorable
experience.

	A few weeks later, now approaching late May, we were informed by
Chuck that Gary and Chris would be joining us on the canoe trip.  I was
shocked and excited by that wonderful news.  In just a month and a half, I
would be reunited with the boy that I missed so much.  A web of fantasy
began to spin in my head: things I would say, things we would do, and
memories we would create together.

	As school finished up, and it was approaching late June, we had
scheduled a weekend trip to Clear lake, Iowa, a town only nine miles away,
to begin learning the skills necessary to be able to perform well on our
trip.  We learned how to navigate the canoe, which is not as easy as it
looks; safety precautions and first aid skills, and other such activities.
I was enjoying my time out on the water with my friends, on such a warm and
sunny day.  Unfortunately, it was little bit to Sunny. A lot of us boys had
taken off our shirts in the balmy weather, and logic tells us that being
shirtless in an aluminum boat on sunny day can bring severe problems, and
many of us came back with quite substantial sunburn.  I was one of the
worst off.  I was thoroughly burnt to crisp on my shoulders, and majority
of my back.  It was so bad, that blisters the size of half dollars formed
on my shoulders.  When I got home, I had to see a doctor and get a
prescription for the severe sunburn I incurred on that eventful day.  To
this day, I have suffered a slight sensitivity, and loss of feeling in the
skin of my shoulders and upper back.

	Luckily, within a couple of weeks, the burn was gone, and new skin
replaced the damaged areas.  It was almost time to start our journey.
Last-minute preparations included going over packing instructions with the
Scouts, making driving arrangements, and other such activities.

	Finally, it was a night before the trip was to begin.  My mother,
who, bless her heart, is an insufferable nag, harassed me for hours
regarding the equipment I was taking.  I decided to use my brother's duffel
bag, which he had acquired when he was in the Navy.  It made me feel cool
to have such a bag.  Wants my equipment was set, I packed it in the car, so
I would have one less thing to do in the morning.

	It was a rough night of slumber, for the excitement outweighed my
need for sleep.  In seven short hours, I would be on my way to the most
exciting week of my life.

	As dawn broke, I dragged myself out of bed, and performed my
morning ritual, which included a shower, shave, and thorough flogging of
the dolphin.  Once that task was taken care of, I dressed in my scout
uniform, with my camouflage pants, and waterproof boots.  I was ready to
battle with the lakes and rivers we were about to conquer.

	Of course, the actual canoeing wasn't set to begin for two days.
But that didn't stop everyone from getting excited.  We met at Nolan's
house, loaded our gear into the trailer, and waited for the rest of the
group to arrive.

	As Gary pulled up to the house, having been given a ride by
Travis's father, Gene, he and his son exited the car, and walked over to
the rest of us.  I was a little taken aback by Chris' somewhat dramatic
change in appearance.  He was obviously in the middle of puberty, having
shot up in height, lost every ounce of baby fat, and taken on the
traditional look of an awkward teen ravaged by the hormones coursing
through his veins.  Not to say that was disappointed, but I missed the
youthful glow that his face now lacked.  I feel bad to think that my first
thoughts of him upon our being reunited were negative, but I was definitely
glad to see him.  He was, is and will always be that beautiful 12 year old
I fell in love with.

	I walked up to him, and greeted him.  "Hey Chris, how ya doin?"

	"Hey man, what's up?" he responded.  We both seemed to be a little
nervous over this whole meeting, but I couldn't take another moment apart.
As I shook his hand, I pulled him in with my other arm, and gave him a hug
that I so much wanted to give.

	"I missed you so much..." I wanted to say more, but I felt it best
to save that for a time when we could be alone to discuss such private
issues as those regarding our feelings for each other.  Being in Boy
Scouts, you have to be very careful with matters concerning sexuality.
Some troops apparently don't have problems accepting gay teens, but one
never knows until the subject is brought up, which I wasn't planning on
doing any time soon.

	I stuck as close to Chris as humanly possible while on the
ridiculously long ride from Mason City, Iowa to Duluth, Minnesota, over six
hours with the law-abiding citizen type drivers that were our leaders.
Chris was busy playing with his VirtualBoy, a very low-tech VR device which
was "top of the line" in the mid 1990s.  It's funny how things so
"revolutionary" become dust collectors in less than a year.  But of course,
it was the craze of the year, so we all took turns playing it.  None of us
slept during the ride there.  We were too excited to sleep.  Our car was
filled with 6 of the most hyperactive 14-17 year olds with hormones surging
so fast through their body that they couldn't even sit still for more than
ten seconds.  It was a VERY loud ride there.  I tried to hang as close to
my beloved Chris as I could.  His squeaky pubescent voice was so sexy I
never wanted him more than at that moment.  "No worries," I thought, "there
will be time for that."

	After the LONG ride all the way to the most northern part of
Minnesota, we arrived at the canoeing outfitters, which would provide us
with all the food, cooking utensils, and other various camping necessities
we needed.  Once there, our leaders checked us in at the main office,
retrieved our cabin assignments, and we split off into groups of four per
cabin.  Here were the assignments: Me, CHRIS, Travis, and Nolan.  In the
next cabin were Jason, Nick, and Michael in the other one, and the leaders:
Chuck, Tony, Gene, Ferd, and Tim in another.  Once we were given our
cabins, we unpacked all our gear from the trailer and stowed it in our
cabins, then changed for dinner, and we all packed back into the vehicles
and found a McDonalds nearby and had our fill.

	Once we teenage food processors finished the plethora of food we
ordered, it was time to high-tail it back to camp to get cleaned up,
packed, and ready for tomorrow's start.

	All of us were extremely impressed with the accommodations of the
outfitter.  The rooms were well heated, despite the cool climate of
northern Minnesota.  Once we gathered up our change of clothes, most of us
walked over to the shower building to prepare ourselves for a week of
showerless conditions.  Chris and I chatted along the way, until we entered
the bathrooms, walked to the back room where the showers were, and put our
materials down.

	I don't know about Chris, Trav, or Nolan, but I was wicked nervous
to undress in front of them.  Even so, I wasn't about to be called a wuss
or anything.  So, I decided "fuck it", and started undressing, pulling my
shirt over my head, exposing my hairless, but chubby stomach.  I eyed the
other two, which decided to follow one step behind me the entire way.  As I
sat down on a bench to untie my shoes and remove my socks, the other three
removed their shirts as well.  Not that I stared, but I did get a pretty
good look at each boy's upper body structure.

Chris, my love, was pretty short, as he was when I last saw him 2 years
before, though he had grown SOME since then, he was thin and skinny.  His
chest was hairless and very light, evidence of his chronic fear of spending
too much time in the sun.  He had small nipples that stood erect in the
cold night air.  He continued undressing slowly but steadily, removing his
shoes, socks, and shorts, and stopped, waiting for the rest of us, his
smooth hairless legs looking luscious, his body smelled of male hormones,
the sweet stench of a boy transitioning into a man.

	Travis was the tallest in our group, a regular bean pole.  He
seemed to have a natural six-pack, and very long legs, which were further
revealed as he unclasped his belt, unzipped his pants and tossed them in
his locker. His legs were also thin, with light blond peach fuzz covering
them evenly.  He stood in boxers, waiting for Nolan to catch up.

	Nolan was the group's smallest member. He was very short, but
extremely well built.  He wrestled and played other sports in school, so
his body was in perfect shape, six pack and all.  I couldn't be sure of his
ethnic background, but he did have very tight curly hair, and a medium
brown skin that suggested his heritage came from Central America, though I
can't be sure.  He had thin, hairless legs that were as fit as his upper
body.

	I was basically of average height, but not nearly as fit as these
other boys.  I was quite the pudgy one; my baby fat seemed to stick around
for a few years longer than desired.  I was by no means fat, but overly
plump I guess.  Lower body was pretty strong, legs with quite a bit of dark
hair on them that gave them the illusion that I was tanned.  If it wasn't
for that, I'd be as white as a sheet of paper.

	Alas, it was time for us draw the curtains.  Nolan was the first to
shove his boxers down and dash into a stall, fast enough for me to only get
a partial view of his development, which contrasted his undersized frame,
with clear evidence that he was well into puberty, with dark pubic hair, a
good sized flaccid penis and medium sized low hanging balls.

As he locked himself in the shower and began to bathe himself, Travis was
next to kick off his jockeys.  I was, once again, not at all surprised with
his development.  He had a good sized endowment, with medium-large
testicles, which hung mid-level behind his flaccid 5 inches.  As he turned
to the shower stall, his lean dimpled cheeks smiled at us all the way.

And then there were two...

I was so completely sick of hiding my sexuality at this point that I was
openly staring at Chris, waiting for him to make the first move.  Chris
returned my seductive stare and slipped his jockeys to the floor, revealing
his pride and joy, a 4 inch limp penis, with small-medium sized balls.
Though it may have been small, it was magnificent in my eyes.  I had waited
three years to glimpse this masterpiece that is Chris' body.  Here it was,
in all its beauty, Chris making no effort to hide his genitals, instead
pleading at me with his eyes to reveal my own, which I did soon after.  I
was a little smaller than average, I'd say; about five inches or so, though
I never cared enough to measure it.  My balls were small-to-medium, with
plenty of dark pubic hair surrounding my genitals.  I wasn't much to look
at, but what I had was definitely enough to get the job done, if there was
a job to be done there, which I hoped and prayed there would be soon.

Both of us broke our stares suddenly and turned towards opposite stalls,
each of us enjoying the wonderful pleasure of the hot water trickling down
our bodies.  I had gotten so worked up seeing my friends naked that once I
closed the door to the stall, I popped wood almost instantly.  Frankly, I'm
surprised little John stayed down as long as he did.

I let myself relax for a few minutes, thinking about that last day at
summer camp two years ago, wondering if it meant as much to Chris as it did
to me.  I could picture it in my head with sparkling realism, reliving
every detail as though it was happening for the first time.  Does he still
love me?  Did he ever love me in the first place, or was that just the
result of overactive hormones?  God I wished it was real.  I wished with
all my heart that I could find that love we lost so long ago.

As soon as I got comfortable in the warm shower, I put my right arm up
against the wall and leant my head onto it, closing my eyes and picturing
my friends, and my love Chris, naked, exposed, shouting to the world their
developing sexual maturity.  I wrapped my hand around my rigid cock and
slowly stimulated myself to a powerful climax, spilling my load onto the
shower wall.

As I recovered from my blissful moment, I heard a cough from behind me,
which startled me, causing me to spin on my right heel dramatically,
catching Chris staring at me intrigued.  I immediately turned my back to
him and sat down with my back to the door, embarrassed at being caught by
the one boy whom I felt the most incredible feelings for.

Little did I know that Chris was not spying on me masturbating, but rather
masturbating while gazing at me from across the room.  Chris knew that I
was checking him out, and was just waiting for the right time to make a
move.  I was excited and nervous at the same time.  I had yet to have a
sexual experience, so I was pretty ignorant as to how to go about finding
the right moment, but I knew that in the shower house, with two hopelessly
straight boys showering as well, this was neither the time nor the place
for any further sexual activities.  We would find the time, I knew it...

	After getting out of the showers, drying off and dressing, the four
of us walked back to our cabin and began setting up our bedding to go to
sleep.  Trav and Nolan were on one side of the room, Nolan on the top bunk,
and Chris and I were on the other side.  I decided to sleep on the bottom
bunk, with Chris above me.  Besides, in my mind we weren't going to be in
separate beds for long...

	The four of us chatted about our excitement to beginning our
journey around the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota tomorrow, who we
wanted to canoe with, what we would do at nights when we weren't canoeing,
and other various topics until fatigue finally hit us all.  Trav and Nolan
were the first to knock off; Nolan's light snoring was almost melodic,
setting a peaceful mood to the air.  I lay on my bed with my head propped
up by my hand, staring at the bed above me.  I tried to clear my mind and
fall asleep but Chris was all I could think about, the vision of his
beautiful body imprinted in my mind for all eternity.  I was almost
startled back to reality when Chris popped his head down from the bunk,
looking at me upside down.

	"I can't sleep, can I sit with you for a bit?" he asked.

	Umm lemme think...DUH!

	"Sure, man, hop on down."

	Chris climbed down the ladder of the bunk and I sat up to make room
for him.  We sat with our backs to the wall of the cabin, at first not
making any eye contact.  I still felt as though what happened in the shower
was not real, just a product of my overactive imagination, however I was
about to be proved completely wrong.

	"About earlier," Chris started, "I'm sorry I caught you...you know.
I didn't mean to..." His voice quieting down to a whisper by the end of the
sentence.

	"It's ok, man," I quickly responded to help ease his anxiety.

	Chris stayed silent for about a minute, before he began again.
"Who were you thinking about?"

	Who do you think, fool?

	"No one really," I replied.

	You lying sack of shit.

	"Oh," Chris responded, sounding disappointed.  After a pause, he
continued.  "I...I was doing it too..." he meekly admitted.

	"I know," I stated in a non-chalant manner. I was both hoping and
dreading the direction in which this conversation seemed to be going.  But
I figured if this is the way it's meant to be, I better not do anything to
fuck it up.

	"Matt, can I tell you something?" Chris asked meekly.

	"Sure," I responded, my mouth dry and palms sweating with nervous
tension.  This was it.  This is where it was all going to come out.

	Chris gazed in my eyes for a few seconds, his awesome blue eyes
communicating the intense love he held for me in his heart.  We knew that
nothing needed to be said.  This was the moment when we knew for sure that
we loved each other deeply.  This love, this infinitely deep love, was much
more powerful than a simple friendship.  I was head over heels for this
teenage Adonis, and he was madly in love with me.

	I took his hand in mine, squeezing gently, reassuring him, giving
him the strength to take the next step.  Chris pursed his lips, cocked his
head to the right, and moved ever so slowly towards my lips, eyes closing a
mere millimeter before our lips made contact with a lightning bolt so
powerful that my heart raced, breathing sped up, and a hot tingly feeling
rushed over my body, electrifying every nerve with intense pleasure the
likes of which I hadn't felt for over two years.

	His lips tasted as sweet, I loved the aroma of his body, the
closeness and warmth our bodies shared.  I placed my left hand on his side,
touching his bare skin, so soft and silky; my right reached up and held his
cheek, as I attempted to slip my tongue past his lips, which he graciously
parted for me, revealing even more of his delicious candied mouth.  I
savored the succulent flavor of his saliva, while exploring as much of his
mouth with my tongue as possible.

	I was so emotionally driven at this point that I barely knew what
was happening.  My entire reality was the kiss, the moment.  But suddenly,
it wasn't enough.  I needed more.  I brought both my hands down to his
side, gently guiding his smooth body to the mattress.  There he lay on his
back, waiting eagerly for whatever I had planned...

	What did I have planned???? I have NO idea, but I seemed to be
doing damn good at this point.

	 I continued making out with Chris, my most valued dream coming
true right before my eyes.  My hands ran themselves over his torso,
fingertips grazing his erect nipples.  As I began kissing his neck
lovingly, Chris began grinding his groin into mine.  As if it were even
possible, my bliss jumped ten levels, to a point where I knew I would be
messing up my pants within minutes.  I gently ground myself into his
hardness in reciprocation, ever so lightly.  The pleasure continued to
build as the heat of our encounter enveloped us in a shield of warmth.

As my orgasm grew frightfully close, I knew we needed to slow down, fast.
Not that I wanted to stop, far from it.  But we were beginning to moan
softly, and since we were not alone, I was not going to let this situation
progress any further.  The Boy Scout environment is so unpredictable in the
way each troop deals with homosexuality, that it could have been VERY
dangerous for us to be caught in an awkward situation.  Gently I stopped my
hip gyrations and pulled my lips off my newfound love.

"We need to slow down," I whispered.  "I don't want us to get caught."

"Aww..." Chris sighed, "It was just getting good."

"I know, baby." Baby?  But we've got plenty of time for this.  Let's take
it slowly and carefully."

Chris sighed.  "Ok, but I don't know how I'm gonna get to sleep tonight
with this," Chris motioned towards his erection.

"Save it for later, sexy" SEXY??? Where was this coming from?

We hugged for a little more, and then Chris gave me a kiss on the cheek,
smiled at me, then climbed back to the top bunk and settled back under his
sheets.  I did the same, laying there still reeling from the new emotions I
had felt that day.

I knew that tomorrow was going to be an eventful day.  I had a million
questions to ask Chris, as I'm sure had just as many to ask me.  Until
Chris came back into my life, I had given up to the idea of finding a
boyfriend and being happy.  I was a Prozac-lifer with no chance of parole.
Everything changed that moment, the moment Chris and I were joined at the
lips in the most tender, loving show of affection that we knew of, a
re-confirmation of the love we felt so long ago, and had held inside us for
two long years.

This was going to be an AWESOME week...