Kurt
Life in The
Village, and the `coming of age' of a student at its remote school,
through his own eyes.
This is an
original work of pure fiction (just an expression of a fantasy)
by Robert A. Armstrong (a pseudonym)
Copyright 2013-2023. Robert
Armstrong. This complete work of literary art is protected by US,
Australian and International copyright law. It is the sole property of the
author and may not be reproduced in any form whether in whole or in part
without the prior express written consent of the author.
Licence is granted to Nifty Archive Alliance, Inc. for electronic publication
on the Nifty.org website. All rights reserved.
The resemblance
of the characters by action, name, location, or description to any real person
is purely coincidental.
If it is illegal,
or offensive, for you to read stories involving interactions of a sexual nature
between adults and youths, then what are you doing here?
From
Chapter 95:
Morning.
February 14. In my own bedroom.
My phone buzzes
and I read <Happy 14th Birthday, boyfriend! Will you be my
Valentine?>
I'm fourteen! On the fourteenth! LOL.
This is followed, immediately, by the beautiful magpie-song
ring tone. Andy is calling.
I let it continue before I answer.
It's a video call, and I am greeted Andy's equally beautiful,
smiling face.
Chapter 96
– William Drops In
[Author: Thank you for your messages of
support and encouragement while I have been unwell]
"Hey, boyfriend!" I smile at him. "Thank you. And,
yes, I will, but what does that mean?"
He answers, "I'm not sure, but maybe it's like saying,
something between, `Will you go out with me?' and `Do you want to get engaged
to me?' Something like that."
"I miss you!" I smile at him. "It just won't be the
same until I see you next holidays! Video calls are great, but..., but...," and I'm
sure that he can see my eyes fill with tears.
It's unlike me to get `emotional'. Except, however,
when Mum left. And when Ron left, and when Andy left the first time, and when...
Ok! So I do get emotional!
"Hey!" he tells me. "I rang to cheer you up, not to
make you unhappy!"
"Sorry!" I reply. "I just really miss you, and the fun
that we had while you were here."
He changes the subject. "Mum and Brian send you their
best wishes." Then he continues, "And, Brian told me that they really enjoyed
having the place to themselves for a month!
I'll bet you can guess what that means!" He wiggles his eyebrows up and down.
That cheers me up! The thought of those two probably
doing what Andy and I were doing, without having Andy there.
"Yeah!" I manage, taking a big breath.
"How are things now that you're back at school?" he
asks, changing the subject again.
"It has been all good for the past two weeks," I
reply. "But it's strange to be at school without William. For the whole time
that Karl and I have been at The Village, William was always here."
"Do you miss him, then?" Andy asks.
I reply, "I suppose it's only now that I appreciate
everything that he used to do. Not just our birthday cards with his hand-drawn
pictures of everyone. Not just being the one person that the `Deputy Sheriff'
couldn't boss around. Not just a protector and friend of the little kids when
we were all playing soccer. And, not just a person that I enjoyed `hanging out'
with in the boys' toilets, and mucking around with after school. Haha."
I must have been distracted while I was talking and wiping
away my tears! I look back at the screen. It's not Andy's face that I see.
Instead, there is another very familiar part of him! Waving at me. Hard!
"My birthday present to you!" Andy says. "I wish I was
there to give it to you personally!"
I pull my pyjama pants down. "Junior says `hello', and
wishes that you were here too!"
We return, but not immediately, to viewing each
other's face, blow kisses, and I say, "When I'm in bed tonight, it will be you
doing me, then me doing you when I swap hands!"
After some mushy stuff, we disconnect.
I dress for school then go into Karl's room, hug him,
and wish him a `Happy Birthday'.
"Here are my two birthday boys!" Dad says, as Karl and
I front up for breakfast together, dressed for the long drive from Whispering
Gums into school.
"They're no longer boys," Helen prompts him. "Look at
them both! Handsome young men!"
I grin at my identical twin brother. Helen is right.
He is handsome!
I can see what attracts Jacko to him! And, I guess, what
Andy sees in me.
During breakfast, Dad tells us, "Seeing that you're both
going to Jintabudjaree tonight, Helen and I will come in to have dinner
with you both at the pub, to celebrate."
Helen adds, "And we've invited Tom and William to join
us. Then, when you go back to their place, we'll stay the night in our new
house instead of driving back to Whispering Gums."
The new house isn't fully set up for all of us, yet.
It has their new double bed, but we haven't moved the two king singles from
here into there. Maybe Dad will get Jacko to do that with the Land Rover on the
weekend, with some more things for the lounge area and the kitchen. Obviously, Karl
will volunteer to help him!
Karl and I look at each other, and our faces both
brighten. Not necessarily into a smile of thanks, but a grin, knowing that
tonight, at Jintabudjaree, Karl will spend much of the time in William's bed,
and I'm hoping to spend some with Mr Grant!
"Oh, yes," I say to Karl, in between mouthfuls. "Andy
says `Happy Birthday' to you. He rang me earlier."
"Andy's such a lovely young man!" Helen comments. "How
old is he now?"
"He'll be fifteen in May," I tell her. "He's in Year
10 this year at school."
Dad asks, "Is Andy going to continue on to the senior
school? Or, is he going to start work?"
I don't recall this topic exactly coming up when Andy
was staying with us.
"He's not sure," I tell Dad. "Since his accident, Andy's
been swimming a lot and working out in the gym. He said that he likes it so
much that one option for him might possibly be to become a personal trainer,
and to help other people."
I'm the only one who knows the real truth about Andy's
`accident' (as we say to everyone). Actually, I think that Mr Grant and William
know too. Only the three of us know!
That he was raped and then thrown off a fourth-floor
balcony by a guy who, after he was arrested and held in jail for trial, was
found dead in his cell, after the other prisoners found out what crime he was `in
for'.
However, something positive did come from Andy's
rehabilitation. Apparently, he is an excellent swimmer!
I add to my comment, "And, he's so good at swimming
that he has become one of the stars at his local swimming club. One of their
best, apparently. Good enough to try out for the Olympic Games one day, they suggested
to him!"
Karl looks at me, amazed. His mouth is in fly-catching
mode! Is this new information to him? Didn't Andy or I tell him something about
that?
"The Olympics?" Helen says. "He must be really good
then!"
"Apparently," I tell them, "he was a great surfer and
body boarder even before his accident. He was one of the guys who taught
William to ride a body board when he first visited the Gold Coast with Mr
Grant. And, William told us that Mr Grant's young sister thought that Andy was
`hot'. Didn't he, Karl?"
"Uh-huh," my brother responds, nodding and humming,
with a mouthful of bacon.
"Lucky girl who nabs him as a boyfriend!" my Dad says.
"We've all seen him in shorts and without a shirt. Excellent body. Hard worker,
too!"
"And handsome, and intelligent, and beautiful manners."
Helen adds.
I totally agree. And, despite the fact that there are
many other things which I could add about Andy, I just let them pass through my
mind! No girl is having him as a boyfriend!
Instead of what I am really thinking, I say, "I'm
lucky that he wants to be friends with me."
"I think that he is lucky too," Dad adds. "You really
helped him a lot when he first came here when he wasn't able to walk properly
and to speak properly."
"Yes. I remember that!" Helen says. "It was on the day
that Tom became the owner of Jintabudjaree. Andy's recovery has been a miracle.
I'm sure that he really needed a friend to help him through it all! We're proud
of you, Kurt. You and Andy seem such good mates together now. How wonderful
that you can have each other as such special friends."
At school, Karl and I happily accept our traditional
`birthday bumps' from all of the kids.
Everybody helps by counting to fourteen every time, especially
to assist the little kids.
I enjoy it most when Mr Grant rubs my back fourteen
times instead of `bumping' me. Gently but firmly. I hope that he rubs more of
me like that in his bed tonight!
Jake's bumps are the fastest, and hardest. But I don't
mind! He and his sister, Jane, are now the two oldest of us students. Mr Grant
has made him a new `Deputy Sheriff', with his sister.
The trip into Cunnamulla on Saturday is a surprise!
New jeans. New boots. A new shirt. And, a new pair of
trousers is a good opportunity to catch up with Archie. Especially the extra
few minutes in the change room, while he checks how much my `measurements' might
have changed. Definitely growing!
We collect Helen from the doctor's office and head
straight to our favourite café.
I'm half-way through my custard tart when Helen, laying
a large brown envelope on the table, asks Karl and me, "Would you like to see some
pictures of your two sisters?"
"What?" my brother exclaims. "How can they do that?
Where do they ...?"
Helen explains the technology of ultrasounds and scans,
as she removes some `films' from the envelope.
The most obvious thing, at first, is the two heads.
Then, as I look more carefully at all three
`pictures', I can trace their spines, and I can even make their fingers, and
their toes. These pictures are much clearer than the earlier fuzzy one that
they showed me on the day that Ron left. Right here. In this café. Same seats. The
day that it was just Dad, Helen and me.
Dad, Karl, and I pass the pictures back and forth,
pointing out things that we have `discovered', or that we question.
It's Karl who finally asks the question, "How can you
tell that they are girls? Is it because they don't have a ...?"
He stops short of saying `penis' or `dick'.
He doesn't need to. We all know what he intended to
add.
Dad and Helen laugh.
"There were some other tests," Helen explains. "The
earlier ones were uncertain, so we waited a while longer before announcing it."
"So, I was right all along, wasn't I?" I grin at her.
"Yes, you were," she replies. "And, I remember our
deal. You get to choose one of their names." She adds, "From your father's and
my list."
This is news to Karl! He looks at me. His expression
isn't quite a frown, but it's not joyful.
It was as secret between Dad, Helen
and me.
Sensing his disappointment at being excluded from
something so special, I add quickly,
"As soon as you give us the list, Karl and I can talk about it."
Karl's almost-frown turns to an almost-smile.
"I thought that you were joking about Helen having
twin girls!" he tells me.
"Well," I smile at him, "You did say that one brother
was enough, didn't you?"
He grins and gives me a light jab to the shoulder. I
give him one back. Then we bump fists. And smile at each other. We're good!
Weeks pass.
And, William hasn't been staying at Jintabudjaree
recently! Mr Grant told us that he has been spending a lot of time with his
father, the photographer, travelling and talking to people about his paintings
and drawings.
Karl has spent most nights at Jintabudjaree in bed
with me. Occasionally he has slept alone in William's bed. And he has been keen
to get home on weekends to see Jacko!
It has been weird at school today. Something is very different!
This morning, I noticed a lot of food in the craft
room; like when we are going to celebrate somebody's birthday. Not the type of food
that Jane and her mother prepare. This is fancier. It's more like the food that
Mrs Smith, at the pub, would make.
I know, going through my memory of people's birthdays;
those that we have already celebrated and those that we have yet to celebrate, that
today isn't the date for any of them!
I did ask, but Mr Grant won't tell me what is going
on.
It's just before lunch, and we are all singing some of
our favourite songs, when, suddenly, one or two at a time, kids stop singing.
And, the strange sound becomes louder and more
distinguishable. Almost like a...
"Helicopter!" little Eric shouts! "Helicopter!"
We all stare directly at Mr Grant.
Does he know anything about this?
Is Mr Grant's father, the helicopter pilot, coming to
visit us again?
Mr Grant lets us all stand at the windows and watch
the helicopter descend into the middle of the new `Village Green', between the
school and the First Street of houses. No dust, unlike the first time that we
saw it!
When the rotor blades stop, we see three men get out, all
wearing hats. I'm sure that one is Mr Grant's father. One person looks kind-of
familiar. But the third one, I have no idea about.
The `stranger' heads towards the pub, and the other
two are coming our way! One of them is carrying a bag, like Karl and I have
when we go on holidays.
"Do you know who they are, Mr Grant?" David asks.
He looks at us and grins, without answering.
"William!" Little Eric shouts.
"I don't think so, buddy!" Jake tells him, patting him
on the shoulder.
"William!" Eric shouts again, pointing and jumping up
and down. "William!"
Karl, looking very closely as the two men get closer, points
and, says, "That one does kinda look like him, but William wouldn't be dressed
in those fancy clothes!"
"William! William!" Little Eric continues.
If he gets any more excited, he's going to pee
himself!
The closer they get, I can
see that the second person actually does resemble William. But, it's hard to
tell, with his head down and his hat pulled low over his forehead.
Then he looks up at us all, lined up at the windows, and
he grins.
"William!" Little Eric shouts, dancing and raising his
fist in triumph.
He's right! But, how was he able to tell?
"OK. A quick break before lunch," Mr Grant tells us.
Everyone turns away from the windows and heads for the
door, taking care not to trample the little kids.
"William!" Eric announces, latching onto him on the
verandah and wrapping his arms around one of William's thighs.
"Hey, little man!" William says, ruffling Eric's hair.
"Have you been a good boy, for your mother and for Mr Grant?"
"Uh-huh, William," he answers. "I've been good. Can
you please play soccer with us?"
I like William's response. "Sorry, little man. But
today's not soccer day. That's on Fridays."
Jane convinces Eric to release William from his grasp.
While all of us kids cluster around William, Mr Grant
and his father give each other a hug and they disappear inside.
"Dude," Jake says to William, "What's with these fancy
clothes?"
William is wearing black trousers, similar in style to
what Karl and I wore to Dad's and Helen's wedding, except, his don't have the silver
buttons at the side. His shirt is of small black-and-white checks, with black
trim around the collar and cuffs and down the front. He has a black hat
with a band that looks like a rainbow running around it. And shiny, black
riding boots.
"Nice, eh?" William responds to Jake.
"You going to a wedding, or something?" Jake puts to
him, pointing to his black and white outfit, head to toe, plus the splash of
rainbow colours on his hatband.
William seems amused by Jake's comment and answers, "I
have more like these at my dad's place. Most of the people that we meet wear
clothes like these; some are very colourful!
He certainly stands out amongst our school clothes of pale
blue polo shirts and basically blue or light brown jeans. Even the girls have
jeans. Only Eric and David have grey shorts.
"So, what are you doing here, dressed like that?" my
brother puts to William. "And, why did you come in a helicopter?"
William tells him, "This morning we were at a gallery
in Brisbane, all dressed up and then, straight from there, we flew by jet to Cunnamulla
for a display of my work at the Visitor Centre Art Gallery and Museum, which
the gallery director in Brisbane organised. And from there, dad and I came the
rest of the way by helicopter. The pilot is a friend of my dad's."
"Karl and I have been inside that place," I tell him.
"But we didn't see any of your work inside. And, the `Cunnamulla Fella' statue outside
is huge.
"It's only there for this month and next, then it all
goes back to Brisbane," William replies. "Except for one painting of the
gallery director which I did while we were there. It stays."
I smile and say, "Next time we're in there, we'll have
to go and have a look at it. We'll be able to say to people that we are friends
of the artist!"
William says, "They even took photographs of me with
it, which they are going to publish in next week's Warrego Watchman."
"What's that?" Karl asks.
Jake informs him, "It's the district newspaper. My dad
collects them every time he goes into Cunnamulla. The Visitors Centre keeps copies
for him."
"We'll have to ask our dad to get a copy next week
when he's there," Karl says.
"Fancy clothes, AND famous, eh?" Jake tells William.
Our questions and long discussions with William are
interrupted by Mr Grant appearing at the door and clapping his hands.
"Everyone, please get ready and come back inside,
now," he announces.
After lining up, the little kids go in first, and I
can tell from their `oohs' and `wows', even before I reach the door, that there
is something special inside.
When I get to see what is going on, the first thing
that I notice is that most of the furniture has been moved. Then I notice the
camera and some other gear that has been set up in the middle of the room. And,
finally, I see tables under the front window with all of the food that was in
the craft room earlier. Plus, a cake, that I didn't notice this morning!
Mr Grant and his father have been busy, while we were all
talking to William.
Mr Grant directs us where to stand, in front of the
painting that William did of everyone at the end of last year.
His father moves us slightly, right
or left, and tells everyone how he wants them to `pose', to appear exactly the
same as how William painted us.
Then he explains why.
He says, "I want to take pictures of you all in front
of the painting. I have a friend who can make a short video from them, to
appear that the painting comes to life, and that you all then melt from reality
back into the painting. Also, I want a picture of William together with his
painting, which I'll offer to the Warrego Watchman, and maybe to some
galleries."
Nobody mentions the food and cake. Not yet.
When Mr Grant's father has taken all the photos that
he wants of us in front of the painting, and a brief video of us waving, Mr
Grant asks us all to move back onto the verandah for a few minutes while some
photos are taken of William next to his painting.
Mr Grant calls us, "OK. All come back in, please."
The camera and all of the equipment have been packed
away.
NOW, we talk about the cake and the food.
"Gee, Mr Grant. Is it somebody's birthday?" David
asks.
There are only two candles on the cake. One is a `1'.
The other one, next to it, is an `8'.
Mr Grant, and his father, without saying anything,
point at William.
"Is it really your birthday, William?" little Eric
asks. Then he looks at the cake. "What number are you? Are you one, or eight?"
"Eighteen", David tells his little brother.
I'd forgotten to include William's birthday in my
mental list! It's a year ago, when he turned seventeen, that he got his
driver's licence. And, I recall how Jake and Karl and I had all helped him with
his reading, in the Motor Traffic Handbook. He ended up knowing the answers to
all of the questions.
Jake starts thumping one fist into the palm of his
other hand. Karl and I join in. Soon everybody joins us, and it sounds like a
lot of drums beating."
"Do we get to `birthday bump' William?" Eric asks,
looking up at Mr Grant.
We all line up, as we usually do, to deliver the
birthday bumps.
"Wait!" Mr Grant tells us. "Why don't you just gather
around William, and you can all bump him at the same time? Everybody can count."
The young kids gather first.
William looks down at little Eric standing directly in
front of him. Then he glances at Jake, Karl and me. I
know what he's thinking! Should he cover his balls to protect them from receiving
Eric's 18 `bumps'?
Instead, William draws a cross on his thigh with one
finger and then takes Eric's hand, closes it into a fist, and puts it onto the
cross.
Eric understands, and smiles up at William.
William grins at us. Pain avoided!
Karl and I take aim at one shoulder each. Jake positions
an open palm, ready, at the back of William's head.
Mr Grant begins counting, and we all join in while
delivering his birthday bumps. Gently.
It's funny to see William pulling different faces
while he is being bumped. Frowns, smiles, crossed eyes, poked tongue...! I'd
almost forgotten how much fun he can be!
I notice Mr Grant's father taking pictures of us all.
I'd love to see what they look like! Actually, I think that he's taking a
video. Even better!
We sing `Happy Birthday' to William and he
blows out all of his candles. All two of them.
"Are you really only two, then?" little Eric asks,
which breaks everyone up.
David explains how the 1 and the 8 together make 18,
so you only need two candles, not 18.
Those number-candles could have been invented for
someone who was 99!
I hear Mr Grant offer for his father to spend the
night at Jintabudjaree, which would need to be in the pink room. LOL.
"Sorry," he replies, "Maybe another time. My pilot is
keen to return to Cunnamulla today, so it would be convenient all `round if I
went with him. William is staying here now, so he doesn't need to come back with
us. We'll get his things from the helicopter."
I'm glad that William is staying and that Mr Grant's
father isn't, because that leaves just William, Karl, Mr Grant
and me tonight!
As we usually do on a Wednesday night, Karl spends a
lot of time in William's room, and I snuggle up against Mr Grant in his bed.
Mr Grant and I have a lot of fun, doing just about
everything except `giving ourselves to each other completely'. I know that
William and Mr Grant do it, but, for me, it's something to share with only Andy.
I don't know whether my twin brother has done it with
anyone yet, which would be either William or Jacko. I'd like to find out, but
don't know how to ask him, without getting too many questions back about how I
know, and who with, and when, etc..
If Andy and I hadn't promised to only do it with each
other, I would love to teach my brother how to do it! It's really tempting
sometimes, to go further with Karl than we already do!
Andy and I both know that we jack off, and a bit of
other stuff, with other guys, but, we trust each other not to go all the way
with them. A promise is a promise.
I'm good at keeping promises!
(to be continued)
-----
If you like the story, and haven't said 'hello'
yet, please take a couple of minutes to email me.
rob.zz@hotmail.com
I try to reply to everyone, though maybe not
immediately. Please be patient.
-----
The partly-parallel
version to this story, `Schoolie', told through the eyes of Tom Grant, gives
the backstory specifically for Tom, William, Andy and Jintabudjaree.
Find `Schoolie' at https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/schoolie
-----
If you're interested, I have 26 (A-Z) short stories
at
https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-friends/massage-tales
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