Date: Sat, 30 Nov 2019 11:20:34 +0000 (UTC) From: Peter Brown Subject: Last of the Line Chapter 20 Last of the Line by badboi666 =============================================================================== If sex with boys isn't your thing, go away. If, as is much more likely, you've come to this site precisely to get your rocks off reading about sex with 14-year-olds then make yourself comfortable - you're in the right place. Don't leave, however, without doing this: Donate to Nifty - these buggers may do it for love but they still have to eat. http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html =============================================================================== Chapter 20 When we returned to the tavern I saw my Father and Gideon still in earnest converse. Seth murmured that my Father would surely look kindly on me if I were to bring him another flagon, so I went to the potman and joined them with four flagons. "I met Seth while I was walking, and he showed me some of the other places in Barbary, Father. It is an exciting place, for there are so many sights that Uttoxeter did not have." My Father roared with laughter. "Aye, my boy, and plenty of them not fit for a lad's eyes." I buried my nose in my flagon, hoping to conceal my blush. "Well, Seth," said Gideon, "have you and the lad seen enough of Barbary that you will return to the camp in the spring? Young men like the bright lights and the taverns." Seth laughed and said that while the taverns were good places to spend an evening he needed gold in order to buy the flagons. "A good answer," said my Father, slapping Seth on the back. Until then he and Seth had not been much acquainted, but from that evening Seth came more and more into our company. I could not complain, naturally, as I wanted to be close to Seth all the time, but I confess that sometimes his being beside me in my Father's company, feeling his warmth on the settle next to me, smelling the scent of his body - a scent which I had come to love - feeling that I was inly inches from the source of all the joy with which he filled my arse - all these things made my balls ache to be released. Seth and I fucked in that room, or another like it, a dozen or more times in the next month or two. Late in February 1850, when I was lying in his arms, knowing that the knock would come soon and we would have to leave, I murmured to Seth that I would have my birthday in a few days. "When?" "I will be 15 on the 5th day of March. Nine days time." "We must have a special celebration then," he said, "but perhaps we should wait until the following day, for your Father will doubtless wish to celebrate such an important day with you." I remembered how my 14th birthday had taken place. It had been the day our group had finally come to the camp where we had stayed and found gold - and found Seth, I thought happily. "I think I know a treat for you," he whispered. I pestered him to tell me what he had in mind, but he was adamant. "No, for it will not be a surprise if you know what it is to be." Even in bed a mere three days before the surprise celebration his lips were sealed. Sealed, that is, on the subject of what was to happen the day after my birthday - they were very far from sealed in our bed. Our fucking was becoming more skilled and twice he had let me fuck him. The first time I spunked almost as soon as my cock was in him, and I was greatly vexed and shamed, but he told me that that was what always happened when a boy had his first fuck. I was loth to believe him, but on the next occasion many minutes passed before the surge of joy escaped from me. "There," Seth said quietly, "see how much longer you lasted this time. By the time you are 16 you will be able to make it last as long as I can." I snuggled into his neck. "Fifteen and a half, I hope," I whispered. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I was greatly amused by Amos's progress from innocence to experience, but his description of his being seduced by Seth, and his feeling he was in love, didn't seem to be leading to his fathering a son - a performance without which I would not be sitting happily in front of a roaring log fire a week before Christmas 2035, the better part of two centuries later. No doubt the Memoir would explain in due course. I set it aside for a while: Amos and Seth could stay in Amos's second post-fuck cuddle for a few days. ***** Dodo and Jack had stuck to their promise to allow Billy and me to have two nights together before they came to call. I'd gone to see Jorrocks the day after I got back to ask him how they were getting on, and indeed whether the new man Dunstable was going to hire had arrived. It dawned on me that Dunstable's zips had made no mention of anyone. "No, Sir, Mr Dunstable was in the middle of trying to find someone when you appeared suddenly with those two scallywags. As there's not a great deal to be done in the Winter I told him - Mr Dunstable, that is - that I would talk to you and decide whether a man was really needed." "And is this the right time?" "Yes. Jack is an excellent worker - he's very keen and happy to do all the things I ask him. When he sits and we talk he asks the kind of questions an apprentice gardener should be asking. It's my belief, Sir, that in that boy is the makings of a proper member of the gardening staff. His brother isn't as gifted. Don't misunderstand me, Sir, he does what I tell him, and he does it well - a bit slowly sometimes, but I keep an eye on him - but he doesn't seem to enjoy it as much as Jack does. I think what I mean is that Dodo - a strange name, and one I found it difficult to call him at first - works at what he's told, but doesn't have the spark to know what needs to be done. I don't think he's suited to the kind of work you're thinking of giving him." He paused, waiting for a response. "I think what you're saying is that Jack is in the right place and that I need to find work better suited to Dodo's skills, whatever they are. And we do need a man for the heavy work. Is that right?" He nodded, "yes, that's it in a nutshell." "Thank you for being so direct, Jorrocks. I'll tell Dunstable and I'll talk to both your scallywags in the next day or two." I paused, and went on, "has either of them said anything about their life before they came here?" He shook his head. "No, Master ... Sir, but it's very clear that something terrible happened. I didn't think it my place to pry, and neither of them has wanted to open up." "that's what I expected, Jorrocks. You're right - the last two years have been horrible for them. They lost the rest of their family in rioting, so they've been orphans looking after each other in a dangerous world." "And you rescued them," said the old man with a tear in his eye. "You were a good boy when you were Master Dab, and a good man now you are the Earl. God bless you," and he clapped my shoulder. I shook his hand and he turned away, embarrassed. "God bless you too," I said quietly, "for being kind to my scallywags." Neither scallywag was in sight, so I went off to find one. Jack was in the small greenhouse and greeted me with a very broad grin. "Hello, Dab - I can call you that, can't I?" "Yes, Jack. You only have to 'sir' me if there's anybody else about. Not Billy or Dodo of course. I've just been talking to Jorrocks and he's full of praise for you. Has he said anything to you about it?" Jack thought a bit. "He's very kind and we talk about the gardens and what needs to be done. He asks me lots of questions - what have I seen, what needs tidied up, all kinds of stuff, and I think he likes that I want to learn so much about what is here. He's told me that there's less to do in Winter, but there's still a lot of preparing for the Spring. I like him," he ended simply. "That's good," I said, "because he thinks you have the makings of a good gardener. If you learn half of what he has in his head you'll be great, so just keep at it, OK?" He nodded. "I can stay then?" "Of course you can stay, Jack, that's the promise I made to both of you. Now I need to see Dodo - where is he?" Jack wasn't sure, but that morning Jorrocks had sent him out to find out whether the big fields were ready for planting. "I've no idea what he wants, but he's told me that if the soil isn't too hard some stuff can start to be planted. I'm sorry I can't tell you any more. Dodo should be out there stamping around to see what's what." Since there was no-one around I gave the juniormost gardener a friendly kiss - gleefully reciprocated. "I'll see you in bed tomorrow night," I whispered. "Mmm." I went out towards the fields and saw a figure a fair way away - too far to go across furrows without boots. I decided that Dodo could wait - just as well, really, because if he didn't fit into Jorrocks's plans I would need to talk to Dunstable before working out what to do with him. I went indoors to see him. He was in his Office. "Hello," I said, "do you have half an hour?" We sat in comfortable arm chairs either side of his fire with a glass in our hands. Lunch was an hour away. "Thank you for all the zips - it's been good to know that things have not been a problem here. No jilly trouble?" He shook his head, "no, nothing within thirty miles or more. You all right apart from that one time?" I nodded. "Jorrocks is very happy with Jack - the younger one - and he seems to think that he can turn the boy into a proper gardener. I've just spoken to Jack and he's happy here, and loves what Jorrocks gives him to do. So Jack's settled, and has a progress path in front of him. Dodo is another thing though. Jorrocks says he's a good worker, but his heart isn't in gardening. We have to keep them together, but we also have to find another job for Dodo. Jorrocks told me that you had started trying to find a man to take over the heavy stuff, but the two of you agreed to wait until what he calls his scallywags had settled down. "Yes, it made sense not to have three newcomers all at once." "I agree, but I think you ought to restart the process knowing that you've got Jorrocks and Jack, but not Dodo." "Very good, Sir. I will think about Dodo." "I'm not sure that thinking is going to help much. What do we know about him? He's fit and intelligent - the two of them survived on the run for two years, after all. He's looked after Jack, which suggests some sense of responsibility. What positions do we have which might need those attributes?" He shook his head, "nothing springs to mind. We have all the indoor staff we need now that Billy's here." We left it there. I said I would be talking to Dodo that afternoon, and if anything emerged from that conversation I would let Dunstable know. "Is Billy happy being indoors?" "Byrd finds him very useful, so useful in fact that Byrd is doing very little. He will be 68 this year, and I think we ought to let him retire on his birthday. If you agree I will let him know, and make sure that in the next few months he trains Billy in all the things he'll need to know if he's going to be Byrd's replacement." "What about his working under Dowland?" "Satisfactory, but there will be a slight problem when Byrd retires. Billy can't really be a handyman and a footman - the two things require him to be doing two things at the same time." "What do you suggest?" "I think there's a bigger need for a handyman than there is for a second footman - after all, it's not as though you entertained in the style of your grandfather." I grinned: I had no intention of entertaining on that scale whatever. "I'll tell Billy tonight, and perhaps you can do so again more formally in the next few days once Byrd has agreed to retire." "Tell me, who else knows about Billy and me?" "No-one knows, I'm sure of it. Whether anyone guesses - I'm not so sure. Mrs Tallis is no fool and Weelkes must have been aware when she makes your bed and cleans the room that you have not always been its sole occupant. Whether Weelkes has gossiped to Mrs Tallis, and if she has whether either of them know who you might have been entertaining is another matter." He paused again. "May I make a suggestion?" "Go ahead, please." "You know my position. I am queer like you, but unlike you I do not have any sexual contact with anyone on the Estate. As far as I know no-one else is queer, apart obviously from Billy, Dodo and Jack, and Rivers, of course." I nodded: that was my understanding also, although there weren't too many left after those four had been dealt with. "The Countess and her maid - almost her carer now, I'm afraid - know nothing of what goes on. Your mother rarely leaves her rooms and her maid sleeps in her adjoining room. I'm confident that they know, or even suspect, nothing. It can't be long before your mother requires 24-hour care -" (as you already know, that was further away than Dunstable had expected - she didn't move into the hospital for another four years) "- and at that point I imagine you will no longer feel any need to ... dissemble." "I feel no need to dissemble, as you put it, now," I said, "for my mother's feelings don't affect me in that area at all. It's nearly 2036, the country is deteriorating before our eyes, doing what I do with Billy had been legal for 50 years and more. I know that there are plenty of people who are disgusted, but they can be as disgusted as they like provided they aren't working here." Dunstable was quick to reassure me that he hadn't meant to suggest anything of the kind. "No, what I was working round to suggesting was that you might find things more convenient were we to have an all-male staff." That hadn't occurred to me at all, but it might have been his way of solving his own lack of contact on the Estate. I wondered if he had someone in the village whom he visited from time to time. Surely not, or I'd have noticed it. "That needs thinking about. There's no hurry though," I said. "By the way, what about Dowland? Is he queer? It would be odd if there was a male staff member who wasn't." "I have no idea, Sir." ***** After lunch I pulled on some wellingtons and went in search of Dodo. I needn't have bothered with the boots because I found him with Jorrocks drinking the ginger brew. I accepted the offer of a glass and the three of us discussed matters horticultural for several minutes. Dodo had apparently returned from his morning's tramp with no clear idea of the readiness of the fields, so Jorrocks was planning to go with him 'once the cordial's down us - got to be warm on a day like this' to instruct him in what to look for. I didn't wish to interfere with the old man's plans, so I merely said that I wanted to talk to Dodo to see how things were, but that it could wait. "Come to the kitchen when you've finished and get Mrs Tallis to let me know when you arrive," I said, swigging my ginger cordial and leaving them to it. "I'll be in my office." It was almost 4 o'clock before Mrs Tallis zipped me. I said I would come and collect him. I found him with a large mug of tea in his hands. He looked frozen. "Come on, I've got a big fire. You can warm up there," and I led the way, a mug of tea in my hands as well. Once we got inside and the door was shut he made for the fire. "Fuck, it's cold," he said, "if I'm going to work outdoors you must get me some warm clothes. Jack too." Bugger, I thought, had no-one had the wit to see that these two, when they arrived, had no clothes or anything else with them. "We'll sort that tomorrow," I promised, "you and Jack make a list of everything you need and bring it to me - let's say - at 9. Rivers can take you and Jack into town to buy stuff. I'll tell Jorrocks you won't be with him until you're back with Rivers. Tomorrow night you and Jack are coming in here - thanks for being patient." He grinned. "It'll be all the better for being built up, Dab. Me and Jack haven't done anything - even wanked - for two days, so our balls'll be boiling by tomorrow night." It was my turn to grin. "Worth waiting for then." He was standing in front of the fire, beginning to thaw out. "Jack's getting high marks from Jorrocks," I said carefully, "the old man thinks he's got a born gardener to train. That'll make him happy." "Jack too, Dab. I haven't seen him as happy since before ... before ..." I went to his side and gently took the mug from him. He put his arms round me and buried his head in my neck, his body racked with sobbing. I stroked his hair, holding him tightly until it passed. I had no inkling that the loss of his family still caused such deep agony - he had seemed so in control. After a couple of minutes he stood up, wiping his nose. "Sorry, Dab." "Don't ever say 'sorry' for crying in front of me, Dodo. Tears are a sign of strength, not weakness. You and Jack have seen things no-one ought to see." "It wasn't that that made me cry, Dab, it was that Jack's been so happy since you brought us here. They were happy tears." I didn't say anything, but it seemed likely to me that they were the sort of tears that came because a great pressure was lifted - tears of relief, mixed probably with relief that Jack at least had found a home. "What about you, Dodo? Are you enjoying working for Jorrocks?" He didn't reply, torn as he was between wanting to show gratitude for being safe here, and confessing that he wasn't cut out for the gardening life. To make it easy for him I said, "I think you might prefer something else." His face lit up. "I've been so glad to get away from ... all that, and getting Jack settled has made me happy, but you're right. Jorrocks is kind, and he and Jack are great together, but it's not for me. But I can't face going away. Either we're split up, me and Jack, or I'm stuck doing something I'm no good at." I put my arms round him again. "There's no question of you going away, Dodo, trust me. There are other jobs on the Estate. I'll try and think of some, and you try and think of what you're good at, or what you might want to try. Tell you what - when Rivers brings you and Jack back tomorrow both of you come in here before you put your stuff away. We can talk then. OK?" Tears, this time of gratitude, weren't far away. "Why are you doing this, Dab? Why us?" "Because Jack was a lonely frightened little boy when you buggers ran off, and half of me felt sorry for him. The other half wanted to fuck him, but I think you knew that. Then you showed up and funnily enough I felt the same way about you - or no, that's not totally true. Once I'd seen Jack's cock when you showed up it was you fucking me I wanted. Will that do?" To my delight he moved inches forward and gently kissed my lips. "You've probably saved our lives, Dab. Jack and I will thank you tomorrow night, and as many times as you'll let us in the next hundred years." Now I was getting teary. Bugger off back to Jorrocks," I murmured, "and remember to tell him the two of you won't be with him until later on." ***** Half-way through the following morning Rivers appeared in my office followed by Jack and Dodo. "We've left the stuff in the Rolls," said Rivers, "and I'll take it up to their room." He winked at me, a sign which I interpreted as 'I want to talk to you later'. Dodo was full of gratitude for what they'd bought and Jack (when he'd been sharply poked) said 'thanks, Dab' as well. "Tell us more tonight," I said, "I'll collect you around 9." Wide smiles greeted this hardly unexpected news. Jack was all for going, but Dodo held him back. "Hang on a sec, Jack, there's something I need to tell Dab. I've thought about what you said yesterday, and the only thing I know I'm any good at is mending things and making things with my hands. I don't know if that's any help, Dab?" I assured him that it was of the greatest help, and he looked relieved. "Off you go then. We don't want Jorrocks to have to do everything himself. Dodo?" He turned back. Stick it out for another few days." He grinned. I went to collar Dunstable. "I think I may have found the way forward," I told him. "Dodo says he is good with his hands, mending things and so on. If we put him under Byrd for the six months until he retires he can be the handyman. I've no idea whether there will be enough time for him to learn all the details, but he's quick on the uptake - after all, the two of them have survived on their own for two years - and I want to give him something he's good at. He doesn't like what he's been doing outdoors. Jack does, as I told you." "What about Billy?" "Billy can train full time under Dowland. Keep this strictly between us though. Once Billy's trained - a year, two? - Dowland's position might be under threat. If Dowland turns out to be - how shall I put it - not one of us? - then Dowland goes. If he is - well, that decision can be deferred, can't it." "As you say, Sir. I shall say nothing. I don't feel I can ascertain anything useful about Dowland, however -" I interrupted him, "I wouldn't suggest that for a moment. Any investigation in that direction will be up to me when I think it's the right time. It's Billy I care about. Let me speak to him and see what's what. If he's happy - and I'm pretty sure he will be - then I'll ask you to speak to him formally in due course." "This is a change from what we were talking about earlier." "Indeed it is, but Dodo's views weren't known then. Do you have any problem with what I'm proposing?" He shook his head, "none whatever, Sir." "Good. Then leave the next steps to me." =============================================================================== The fun continues in Chapter 21 as I tell Dodo and Billy what plans I have for them, and Billy and I help deliver Jack and Dodo of what they had stored up. The story is, of course, fiction. Drop me a line at badboi666@btinternet.com - that is after you've dropped nifty a few quid. ===============================================================================