Opening the truck door, swirls of dust near choked me. A HUGE DOG WAS WAITING TO HAPPILY GREET THE STRANGER COMING OUT OF THE TRUCK. He was really not a dog. He was a horse. No joke! OMG I have never in my whole life seen a dog this big. He was a Great Pyrenees and stood nearly four feet tall while standing on all fours. He had long shaggy white fluffy hair, huge head, big eyes... and soooo friendly. My immediate reaction was fear, but even I could tell in mere moments he was a shepherd of some sort and super friendly. If you ever got lost in a snow storm with him, at least you wouldn't freeze to death! Everett came round the truck and called the beast down. "PY! SIT!" he cried, "leave Chaz alone or he won't ever come back!" Py immediately stopped his climbing on me and slobbering, sat back on his hind legs and looked expectantly at me.

"He wants a treat for minding. Better feed him." Everett chuckled. I tossed my hands up in exasperation – having NOTHING in my pockets he could eat but my fingers. Not giving those up on my first day... Everett came to my rescue again and pulled a treat out of his pocket. "Better put some of these in your pocket and feed him when he minds...he can be very persistent about his treats," Everett handed me several dog treats out of his pocket. I looked them over and must have had some sort of look of disgust on my face.

"You get used to it," Everett quirked while walking away, "besides...you wash before you eat. Right? He looked back at me with one of his flashing smiles. I followed dutifully with no comment, Py fast by my side. Looks like I've been adopted. But my eyes were fixed on Everett. He was wearing faded jeans, and scruffy work boots and a very well-worn and faded tank top. The jeans fit him very nicely...distracting me immensely. But so were his rippling muscles from out of the tank top. Huge rounded shoulders from lots of basketball, the veins of his biceps were bulging, and even his forearms were huge. The sight of his arm pit hair just almost gave me a boner. I wanted to run fast to catch up and rub my hands all over that torso... and I could tell that if he ever dropped those trousers I would bust a nut instantly. OMG...I will never last the summer, the first 15 minutes were about to ruin me. How can I possibly NOT give it away that I want him to notice me...to touch me again...that I want to touch ALL of him. Ugh. Shoot me now.

The barn was white metal siding, very nicely built. Looked expensive. Entering the open doorway, the overly large, heavy looking sliding door was opened all the way on this end. I could tell the opposite end door was open halfway. A cool and brisk cross breeze greeted me as I approached the entrance, my eyes tried to adjust to the changing light. The inside was spacious, cool, and remarkably well organized – obviously well kept. The floor wasn't dirt, but concrete. Ceilings were taller than I could guess, and from the inside I could see that there were two levels to both sides. The lower levels seemed to be all divided into stalls or rooms, and the upper level was open wide. For the hay, I presumed. The middle of the barn was wide and organized. I could only guess the whole thing was roughly the size of a football field. Various sized tractors and other farm implements were neatly staged along the sides of the barn. Everything seemed to have a place, and be in its place. All the side stall doors were closed. The whole experience was bewildering to me. I guess I was caught up in staring at the new environment, because I was brought to my senses when I felt Everett take me by the hand. His touched frightened me beyond belief and I jumped back. I guess he mistook my reaction for disgust or something, because I could see on his face a look of disappointment at my reaction. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said gently. But he put his hands in his pockets and just nodded over his shoulder for me to follow him. I wanted to cry, I'd already ruined everything.

Everett led me over to a normal looking John Deere tractor where Mr. Baker, was tinkering. Meredith Baker was a man about my own father's age...45ish. He had a weather worn face of a farmer, wearing blue Dickie's pants and shirt, and a John Deere ball cap. Hearing our approach, he squared away at us wiping his hands on a rag that was greasier than his own hands. "Pops, this is the kid we hired to work with us this summer; Chaz," Everett told his dad while kind of pushing me forward to meet the man, then shoving his hands deep into his own pockets. I stuck out my hand to shake his, his grip was crushing and I tried my best to man-up and squeeze back. I could tell it was a boyishly futile attempt.

"Chaz Moran, right. I've known your daddy since we were pups in school," Meredith said with ease, as if he'd known me all my life. Well...maybe he had. "We definitely need to work on that handshake there, Bucko," he said smiling. "Ev, boy, if you don't slow that dang truck down on the gravel I'm gonna have your keys." Everett shifted his feet and looked down sheepishly, hands still deep in his pockets.

"Sure, Pops, I'll slow down. Promise." Somehow all three of us knew that was a shallow promise. This seemed to be an ongoing skirmish between them. But I could instantly tell there was great affection between father and son. There was no disrespect from man nor son.

"Ev, you go on down to the Alfalfa field and bring up the tractor. I want to get it ready for the week. Leave the spreader there, I'll need that tomorrow over on the coastal field." Meredith began the task of lining out the day. "You, Chaz, go on over there get the push broom and sweep up this central area of the barn while Ev is out after the tractor." He saw by my blank look that I had no idea where to find said broom. "Ev, fetch Chaz the broom. In fact, show him around a bit so he don't get lost going for a piss or something." With that the old farmer was back tinkering with the tractor.

I was a bit embarrassed that I was being treated like a little kid, but decided if they wanted to pay a kid to sweep a barn, it might as well be me. All this was dancing about in my head while I dutifully followed Everett...Ev. He pointed at the clearly labeled "Men" room as we passed down the corridor without stopping to see if I understood. Thankfully it was obvious I would understand what this was. Next we stopped at what proved to be the broom closet. Ev opened the door, I peered inside without volunteering to step inside. Though the room was dark, I could easily see the room was larger than my whole bedroom. Shelves lined each of the four walls except the wall with the door. Ev pushed me into the darkened room and turned on the light as he came in. The room stank with musty smell of a barn, dust, hay and chemicals. As with everything else about the farm I had noticed so far, it was incredibly organized. Everything seemed to have a place, and despite the smell was remarkably clean...for a barn broom closet. I was looking about at all the stuff on the walls and shelves. I could explore in here for a whole day! There were leather straps, and what I figured were horse gear (I later learned is called Tack), all sorts of tools which might as well been torture implements as far as I was concerned...having never seen such things in my life. Then it happened. I felt Everett stand behind mad and slowly place both hands on my shoulders, gripping firmly, but sort of comfortingly. My heart stopped. I could feel his warmth, his hands were warm through my cotton shirt. I could almost feel the room start to spin. Everett leaned forward and in a sort of hushed voice said, "...the broom is over here in the corner," turning me by the shoulders to look in the far corner of the closet. Half a dozen brooms were lined up in a sort of tray looking thing where it was obvious someone expected the broom to return when finished with its task. He leaned forward, pressing his body into my back...which I quickly realized was his attempt to get me to move forward toward the brooms and trash bins. My feet shuffled forward and I picked out one of the smaller brooms. Reaching past me, his whole body making contact with mine as he did, he took that broom out of my hand and selected the largest broom.

"Use this one," he said while placing the larger broom handle in my hand, almost holding hands with me as he did, as if making sure I had a grip on the broom. "That little one will take you a month to finish this huge-assed barn." There was not a possibility I could find a thing to say. I was in a trance, feeling him so close to me, and I became acutely aware of his cologne...and it was all I could do to resist turning to sniff his neck. But even in my trance, instincts told this little guy that would get my ass kicked. Awkwardly I took the red-handled push broom from him and turned to go to the door. I looked back over my shoulder on my way out the door...I caught a glimpse of him re-arranging his package. OMG! I know my face turned fire-engine red, I could feel my ears burning. Not wanting Everett to know I was watching him adjust himself I quite literally ran out the door, banging the broom three or four times against the door frame trying to get out the door.

I put the business end of the broom down and started immediately sweeping up the dust and debris that had blown in, settled in, and fallen off various farm instruments. Everett made his way out of the closet, his white teeth showing a full faced grin. He was so tanned, so...yum! He winked at me, turned and started jogging out the far end of the barn to where I suppose was the Alfalfa field, Py running happily alongside. I settled into dividing up the large area into smaller sections. There were expansion joints in the concrete every fifteen feet or so, so I planned to sweep watch section making the whole barn seem less intimidating. Nobody told me what to do with what I'd swept up, so I decided to leave a small pile in each section and later would go exploring for something to use to sweep up the debris. I'd gotten about a third of the floor swept and I was already sweating profusely, and my hands were beginning to get red and sore. I never thought about work gloves when organizing for the day back at home. In my mind I could see my mom's cotton gardening gloves in the garage. Even those obvious girl gloves would be preferred over blisters. My hands would be hamburger meat by the time I go the whole barn done. Damn-it. But I was determined to NOT whine, or ask for help or gloves. I was given a task, and I would do this till I bled, or till I finished. There was no way I wanted to disappoint Ev, nor his dad. I wanted to show them I was NOT a little kid, and despite being so shy to begin with, they would see that I can work hard as anyone else.

While pushing the broom, I attacked the work with a vigor. My mind raced with millions of thoughts...like why was he being so nice to me? Why was he acting weird...touching me? I was afraid he was setting me up for something. Maybe he wanted me to make a mistake and try to touch him so he could pulverize my face. I imagined Dad coming to look for me, finding me slumped in the tray for the brooms in the dark broom closet...bloodied, bruised, clothes torn, crying. I also could NOT get the thought of him getting a boner while standing so close to me. What the hell was that all about? Was he planning to rape me? Oh shit. He wouldn't have to rape me, I'd let him have what he wanted. But of course, I couldn't quite work that part out. Sucking and jacking was all I knew about. I knew boys get raped, but up till this very moment I had never even let my mind go to that place...what being raped as a boy actually meant. My mind could see him holding me down with one hand, forcing my pants down with the free hand, then his own pants opened...the rest was a blur. Shit. Shit. Shit.

The noise of the tractor rattling up to the same door Ev had ran out of brought me to my senses. The echoing tractor engine grew closer. Ev was looking so incredibly sexy sitting up on the seat both hands on the wheel, pulling the big engine to a slow, and then stop. He switched the engine off and the echoes quieted. Py, dutifully following Ev's every move was quick to climb up on the tractor to a spot looking as if was well rehearsed and his territory (I was later to learn Py rode shotgun on the tractor half the time Everett was driving...the rest of the time Everett had the tractor out in the fields, Py was scouting and hunting varmints and so forth the tractor scared up). I could hear the engine pinging as it cooled. Ev swung off the seat and bounced over to me slapping me affectionately on the back. He surveyed my progress – well over half of the huge barn - and seemed genuinely impressed. "Damn, kid, you got serious broom skills!" My own grin was impossible to hide. Py was sniffing at my dangling hands, nudging them to bet him, as if my reward for hard work was the privilege of petting Py! I followed his nudging and petted the beast and reached for a dog-treat from my pocket. I offered the treat to this white monster, to which he responded by licking my hand then sitting on my feet and looking at me for more.

Everett put his arm around me and gave me a sideways hug – I was speechless. I felt so much like a little kid in his arms. I'm 5'4" and weigh 118 pounds sopping wet. Everett is six feet tall, and has to weigh at least 180 pounds...solid as a freaking rock. The muscles just bulge everywhere. He outweighs me by over fifty pounds! The hug was hard, and he was as sweaty as me. When he hugged me, he noticed my shirt was dripping with sweat.

"Put that broom down, bud, let's go get you some water," he was saying, all the while leading me back over to a room near the broom closet. He took his work gloves off and slipped them into his back pocket.

"Wish I'd thought to bring some gloves," I said...I guess I said it a little too loud because suddenly Ev stopped on a dime and I collided into him. He turned to me with a big-eyed look on his face.

"Oh shit," he exclaimed while reaching for both my hands. "I'm so sorry, little dude, I wasn't even thinking." Everett and both my hands in his, turned palm up. Sure enough blisters were already forming and they were quite red. "Fuck!" he said, pulling both my palms up toward his face for a closer inspection. He took me into a room just a couple of doors down from where the broom closet was, Py following every step. This was some sort of very nice break room or lounge. The floors were stone tile, and the paneling and cabinets were oak. The counter tops were marbled and the table was a rugged ranch-style, quite large. Leather chairs all around. I'm sure most office buildings didn't have as nice of a break room as this barn. He usured me over to the sink and began to run cool water over my reddened and blistered hands. He made me stand there with my hands under the sink as he went over to the refrigerator and got ice. A towel served for the ice bandage which he tied over my hands and made me sit at the table while he set about finding water and a snack. Of course, the room had everything he needed to make us both comfortable. After he got some peanut butter crackers and bottles of very cold water he pulled up a chair right in front of me, taking my hand to inspect again. I fumbled with the water and got mine opened, and began gulping it down while he was examining my blisters.

"It's not so bad," I said bravely. "I just don't sweep very many million mile barns." I grinned, and he laughed. He reached into his back pocket and took his own leather gloves and handed them to me.

"Here, wear these. I have plenty around here somewhere," he said long around as if a dozen pair might just suddenly appear.

"Na, th...those are yours," I protested. "I'll get dad to get me some tonight so I can bring `em tomorrow."

"Nonsense. You keep these," he said and pressed them to my chest. "I'd like it better if you keep mine." He was looking directly into my eyes. His were green. I'm sure I blushed, because he turned away quickly. I felt a familiar stirring in my jeans, and my heart was racing as fast as my brain was swirling. Everett stood and started walking to the door. "I guess I gotta get back out there and find Pops to see what he wants next," tuning to look at me, "you coming?" That soft and gentle smile again – those amazing teeth. I also noticed his tan was so danged sexy on his face. The shoulders had no tan line, like my arms do, so all I could assume is that he goes around shirtless enough to not have tan lines. This, of course, set my mind to wondering what he would look like without ANY clothes on and exactly WHERE tan lines might start on this perfect body...or if there were tan lines... OMG. Have to purge that thought immediately! My erection was not just a stirring now. Damn.

Finding no way to hesitate, as EV was standing at the now opened door waiting for me, looking at me...I fumbled with my water bottle and NEW gloves in some sort of vailed attempt to drop them so I could bend over and hopefully find a way to rearrange things so that my boner might not be so obvious. Feeling retarded for being so clumsy looking or acting...but at this point, I was desperate. If Everett saw me with a boner, he would get rid of me instantly. While I was fumbling for the gloves and water I'd "dropped" I had an image in my mind of me walking home, sweating, crying as I'd been humiliatingly fired on my first day for being a pervert. Standing, I just had to move quickly, hoping and praying he didn't notice and if he did that he wouldn't pound my face. In a blur I was out the door, pulling on these leather gloves, tripping over Py several times as he seemed not completely certain I should be wearing Everett's gloves. They were a size too big, but I could feel the moisture of sweat from his own hands just having been in them. Absentmindedly, I brought the gloves up to my nose to smell the leather. Knowing they were his...oh man, this is going to be an impossible summer.

I walked over to the spot I'd left the broom and picked back up where I'd left off, took it in my gloved hands and set to work. Py seemed completely uninterested in my brooming, and went to stand by Everett, who was leaned up against his tractor watching me work. I was beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable with the audience. Every glance over my shoulder revealed Everett with his chin resting on his folded arm across the tractor, boot up on some lower step...watching me without flinching. As if...as if it were completely natural. Py, on the other hand acknowledged my glance with that quirky nod some dogs get when you look at them. Each glance, I would turn away quickly...but eventually stopped being embarrassed. Work was exactly what my boner needed for full retreat, and my own self-conscious relief. The gloves made me feel completely better – so I began to just loose myself in the brooming.

Twenty minutes later I had made it all the way to the other side of the barn. Leaning on my broom and looking back at the work, there were a billion piles I now had to clean up, but the barn did look freshly swept. I was pleased with my job. Everett and Py had disappeared. Wiping sweat from my face with my shirt lifted from my belly, I decided to head back to the broom closet and grab the dust pan needed for cleaning up the piles. On my way back to the broom closet I was taking inventory of what and how I wanted to finish. I'd need a smaller broom, a dust pan and a trash bin of sorts. Nodding to myself, I believed I had seen all these things in the broom closet. Switching on the light and stepping inside, I absentmindedly closed the door behind me. Peering around the room I began to see all the items I'd need. I looked into a couple of smaller lidded trash bins and chose the smallest empty one. The lid, I placed on the floor, grabbed the dust pan, and went to choose a smaller broom. While I was in there, alone...I decided it was ok to explore some of the unknown items I saw earlier. I picked up several items, turning them over and over in my hands, trying to figure out what they might be used for...and if Everett had been the last one to handle this stuff. Then thinking about Everett handling things...my mind of course went back to him holding both of my hands in his looking at my redden hands. The look of genuine concern on his face at my predicament...now, thinking back, I remembered him bringing my hands toward his face and his face toward my hands. At the time I assumed he only wanted to look at them more closely...but now...now I realized he was about to kiss the palms of my hands, but had pulled himself away before that could happen. At THIS thought, I had an immediate boner. OMG.

Looking around the room – still very obviously empty and quiet...no ghosts or hiding aliens... My gloved hand reached down to cup my own boyhood which was now bulging and straining against the confines of my jeans. The feel of my gloved hand against my crotch felt...different. A moan escaped my lips. Pulling the gloves off and holding them to my nose for a deep smell of the sweat and leather was intoxicating. On impulse, I reached for the button on my jeans and opened them easily pulling the zip and bringing much needed relief to my straining member. As I grabbed my stiffy through the cotton of my boxers, I realized I was as hard as I had ever been in my life. Slipping my hand inside the waist band, I quickly had my full and hardened boyhood in my hand. Only a very few pulls had cum spurting all over my hand, belly and undies. My breath was ragged, the room full of not only all the normal barn closet smells...but now also full of boyhood pleasures. I drew in a deep breath and closed my eyes momentarily to relish in the afterglow. I could hear the blood pulsing still in my ears.

A sudden awareness of the door opening shocked me into absolute panic. I turned swiftly, defensively away from the opening door and had my pants zipped and buttoned in a Nano-second. Shit, shit, shit!

"There you are," his familiar voice said. Everett. I didn't know if I should be relieved that it wasn't his dad...or another farm worker...or family member, or if THIS was worse. I was in a near panic. Forcing myself to look as innocent and "routine business" as possible, I reached for the broom and trash bin and turned to face Everett. There was an awkward moment of silence, as I had no clue what to say...and this ever so slight knowing look on his face.

"What?" he asked while searching my face for a clue.

"Umm...what, what?" I asked genuinely confused by his question.

"Oh...nothing...you just look like you've been caught with your hand in the cookie jar, like a little kid. Or with your pants down..." he said slyly while exaggeratedly looking me squarely at my crotch, raising his eyebrows Charlie Chaplin style. Stupidly, I looked down to see what he was looking at. My boxers were hanging out of my half zipped jeans...with an obvious wet spot. I closed my eyes and near fainted, felt the room spin, and was sure I was about to pass out of complete embarrassment.

Everett obviously picked up on my panic. "Little dude," he said innocently, "don't sweat it. This floor has had plenty of jiz squirted on it. What's a guy gonna do when he has business to tend to around here?" He asked conspiratorially while stepping completely into the room, pulling the door shut and closing the distance between us effortlessly. Standing directly in front of me, only a foot of distance between us, his smell quickly filling the space between us. I was staring straight ahead at his chest, completely incapable of looking him in the face. I could see the dampness of his shirt, smell the not-foul odor of his perspiring body. His shirt was damp, clinging to the crevice of his pecs, nipples very obvious under the thin cotton fabric. I was trembling.

Lifting my chin with a curved finger, forcing me to look him in the eye, Everett's shoulders hunched slightly and head crooked, looking intensely into my eyes when my own eyes eventually made full contact with his. "Chaz," he spoke quietly, gently. "I don't want you to be afraid of me. I want us to b...be...friends."

"Why?" I asked, my lips and voice quivering. He gently put his hands on the sides of my shoulders and pressed them firmly, his thumbs rubbing my arms...almost in a caress. "Why would you want to be friends with...me?" There, I had done it, put it out there. We'd get to this, now or never. Was he about to make a fool of me, pulverize me, or set me up for humiliation or something? The air was thick, my ears were ringing, though there was not a sound anywhere to be heard...except for the THUD, THUD, THUD of the blood pressure in my ears, the sniffles of my nose, and the ringing of fear internalized.

"You don't know, do you?" he asked matter of factly.

I shrugged. "Know what? I know you are...YOU, Quarterback, Mr. Popular, Mr. Perfect. Everyone likes you, you are perfect in every possible and conceivable way." I sighed. I might as well get this over with. A tear leaked from my eyes, which instantly pissed me off at my own girlishness. "And I know I am just me...a shithead tiny underclassman that nobody knows, or likes, who can't even sweep a fucking floor without getting blisters." I looked down at my sore hands...only top notice some jiz on my finger, which I immediately tried to wipe away. Fuck.

Everett wiped the tear from my cheek with his thumb, making me tremble involuntarily. He grinned at me, his head still cocked boyishly at me.

"Little dude, you are amazing, squeezing my shoulders again. "What I meant was, you don't know that I AM THE ONE WHO ASKED FOR YOU TO COME HERE TO WORK WITH ME THIS SUMMER." He let that soak into my brain a few moments, saying nothing else until I got what he was saying.

"Really?" I asked.

"Really."

"Why?" I asked again.

Now was his turn to turn red. "Because," he said without his normal sound of confidence. "Because I want to get to know you. And because I never ever get to talk to you at school. Because I know that if I did try to talk to you at school everyone would give you shit about being singled out by that jerk you just told me I am."

"Sor...sorry," I sniffed, "I don't think you are a jerk." Our eyes were still locked on each other's. "I just don't understand why you would want to be friends with me."

Then, things took a radical turn. Everett pulled me into a full bromance hug. He hugged tightly. I could feel his sweaty warmth, his hands on my back, his heart beating against my face which was plastered to his chest. His breathing was as ragged as mine. Despite the confusion and spinning sensations in my mind, I found my own arms slip around his midsection to return this unexpected hug. Slowly he pulled away, and held me back by the shoulders. My eyes did not need assistance to lock onto his green piercing eyes this time.

"Chaz," Everett said, sounding somehow different...almost vulnerable, "I've known you your whole life. But when you turned 12 I really began to realize I wanted to be your friend...only I couldn't think of a single reason why a high school kid could or should be hanging out with a middle school kid. Even with our families knowing each other. But, this year, I decided you might be old enough that I could get away with inviting you over this summer to work here on the farm. I hoped you and your dad would say yes, because I want to get to know you, to be your friend." He stopped talking...our eyes still locked together.

"Why?" I asked matter of factly. "Do you just want to embarrass me, or make fun of the skinny little kid who can't keep up? Are you going to be telling all your buddies how much of a pussy I am so you all can laugh at me and ridicule me at school when I go back? I just don't get it. There is no reason. Or, at least, no reason that isn't shitty." His sigh was audible, and the look of disappointment was evident.

"Chaz," he almost pleased, "I won't hurt you. Ever. I promise. I..." but he couldn't seem to finish.

"You what?" I wasn't going to let it pass. It was going to get worked out, I was not going to spend all summer being laughed at. I'd walk home first. Fuck this. I wasn't prepared for what he did next.

Everett let me go. He seemed resigned that this whole situation was fucked up. Turning his back to me he walked over to the closed door, spun about, and squatted down, sliding his back down the smooth door. Once he got near the floor, he shifted position to sit on the floor, knees up to his chest, back still pressed to the door. He placed his head in his hands and ran his fingers through his hair. I stood silently watching. Waiting. Uncertain. Afraid. Paralyzed. My heart felt like it was skipping beats. For all the world, I felt as if I were a small gazelle or fawn trembling, staring, waiting to be eaten by some vicious animal...knowing the inevitable, but completely powerless to run, or change reality that I'd be soon slain and eaten.

Watching him, I noticed his shoulders tremble slightly...then I realized he was crying. What the actual fuck?!

Not knowing what mysterious power caused me to do this...I stepped forward a step, then two, then six...spinning around, I slumped beside Everett and assumed his identical position; knees up, head in my hands, fingers running through my brown hair, back pressed against the door. I sat in solidarity with him. I wasn't crying, but if he didn't stop soon, I am sure I would be...

Several minutes passed. He seemed to be gaining control of his emotions. He wiped at his tears, wiped his nose on his shirt. Put his head back in his hand, and glanced at me sideways. I could feel his stare. I looked back at him. This time, unlike earlier in the open bay, he quickly avoided my eyes. More silence.

"You are going to make me say it, aren't you?" he asked finally very quietly. His voice was of resignation, of pending but inevitable disaster. I had nothing to say...was incapable of speech, still so completely bewildered at all these raw emotions and conflicting fears, desires, and events. A deep sigh was all I could muster.

Silence. Deafening silence.

Everett dropped his hands, looking straight ahead, almost as if he refused to look at me. His voice was hollow, shallow, quiet. "I'm gay. Ok? Happy now? I'm gay, and I thought... I thought..." his voice trailing off without completing what he was thinking. He wasn't heaving and sobbing, but tears were awash on his face, freely flowing. Rising effortless from his slouched position, he reached for the door handle wordlessly, still not looking at me. Politely I scooted over and forward slightly allowing him access to the door. He pulled the door open only enough to allow him to slip sideways through the opening...then he was gone. I was left setting the floor not having a clue about what to do.

A smile spread across my face. His revelation, though to him felt disastrous – to me gave me the hope of possibility. Maybe this was going to be an interesting summer after all. I rose, dusted off my pants, adjusted my zipper, wiped my face, gathered my tools and slipped out the door. Remembering the light I reached back in to switch the light off. Turning to finish my chore, I tripped over Py. Py barked at me and ran off toward the opened barn door, where he stopped, turned back to me and barked twice more then ran off down the back lane towards where he tractor and Everett had come a couple of hours earlier. My heart began racing...then my feet did.