Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2018 16:22:00 +0000
From: Jonah
Subject: Letter from America,   Chapter 3

A Letter from America

The usual disclaimers apply. No character in this story is a real person,
so if you think you spot any resemblance to anybody living or dead, you are
in error, however several characters deliberately resemble characters
created by another author.  All my characters live in England, but, if you
want to know more about their American visitors, you can visit the story A
Neglected Boy, by Jacob Lion currently serialised by Nifty on the"Gay
Adult/Youth" site , or visit https://jacoblion.weebly.com/

Please consider donating to Nifty - keep this site going.
http.//donate.nifty.org/donate.html


Chapter three: The Americans

The arrivals lounge was packed to the gunwhales.  People were everywhere.
Odd people, holding bits of cards with names on them, hung about anxiously
near the gate. It had never occured to me to do that.  Meeting people at
airports was a new experience for me.  Somehow I hadn't expected all these
people and I'd just counted on being the only adult white male hanging
about with two little Indian boys.  Actually Simon and Peter don't look
entirely Indian.  They are only half Indian after all, but their almost
black hair and brown eyes definitely don't look English, which isn't
surprising because no part of either of them is English.

Iberia flight 4208 was on the display screens as "landed" and we had
already seen the big American Airlines Boeing 787-8 jet land.  Obviously
the incoming passengers had to clear customs but it would have been hard to
say which of the three of us was scanning the lounge arrivals gate most
anxiously.  There had been a trickle of people through the gate, obviously
at holiday time Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs were going to town. You'd
expect a crowd from an aircraft that size.  Another trickle through the
double doors just as a hand fell lightly on my shoulder and a voice said,

"Excuse me", with a light American accent.

 I turned and was confronted by a pair of the bluest eyes I have ever seen.
The confusion must have registered in my face because the eyes narrowed as
their owner queried,

"Jonah?"

I smiled and took the proffered hand.

 "You must be Jacob",

"That's right, and this is Kori"

He indicated a boy of about twelve with the widest smile ever and, I
discovered, the warmest handshake.

  "And the one trying to squeeze the life out of your youngest is Liam".

"Hey!" said the child in question.  Obviously all the greeting I was going
to get, but whether because he wouldn't put Peter down, or Peter wouldn't
put him down, there was no way of telling.

"Don't worry," I replied, "Peter goes in for hugs.  He'll more than return
the compliment.  Have you got your luggage yet?".

"Yeah, Kori just stashed our baggage over there".

Kori, in fact, the introductions over, was returning to the pile of
suitcases, but the thing that surprised me was that Simon was in his wake.
For Simon to do something without having to be ordered to is unheard
of. What has Kori got that I havent?  Silly question.  What HASN'T Kori got
more like.  The boy is a god.  Eyes that twinkle merrily, a grin that makes
you wonder why his face doesn't fall in half, hair that falls across his
face in the most affecting way, and that's just the top bit.  Need I go on?
NO, actually I mustn't go on. Simon is sprouting a definite tent-pole in
the front of his trousers and I am in severe danger of following suit.
Liam is like a fair version of Peter.  All that energy and enthusiasm.  As
for Jake, well I know that he is the boys' guardian but, if I hadn't known
that already, I could have taken him for their elder brother. He certainly
doesn't seem that much older than Kori, and he is incredibly good-looking.
                                                                                     I
can feel the tightening at the front of my trousers.  Any moment now, Peter
will notice and will almost certainly tell Liam - and anyone else who will
listen.  Time to move.

"Right, well we can't let Kori and Simon do all the work.  Let's get this
stuff outside and comandeer a taxi."

The London taxicab is a big beast.  None the less we had this one bulging
at the seams.  NO - I'm going to have to stop saying things that get me
thinking along those lines.  This is embarrassing. Anyway back in Harrow we
finally got all the luggage upstairs.  I feel embarassed by the little two
bedroom maisonette that the boys and I share, but Jacob is enthusiastic in
his grattitude, and his boys are both genuinely excited by the adventure.
The amazing thing is that my boys are too.  It seems that our guests have
brought sleeping bags and are prepared to sleep on the floor. Well we'll
see about that.  They obviously haven't seen an English Winter.

I had broached the subject of Madam Tussaud's in the taxi.  Kori and Liam
had never heard of it, but Jake was enthusiastic. Apparently, their flight
included a five hour layover in Chicago, then the overnight leg to
Heathrow, so the boys had slept on the plane.  After a quick wash and brush
up in the bathroom all six of us headed for Rayners Lane tube station,
pausing only at Chicken Cottage for a burger and fries.  The Metropolitan
line train to Baker St. was larger than the Piccadilly line tube we had
used earlier.  The Metropolitan is a surface line,built by cut-and-cover
methods so it can accomodate bigger coaches than the true tube.  At Baker
Street Kori recognised the sillouhette murals of Sherlock Holmes that
adorned the tiled walls.  It proved necessary for us to go a little way up
Baker Street so that I could show him the modern office block that stands
where the great man's home at 221b Baker Street would have been if it had
ever existed.  Kori was undeterred.  Out came his phone and we all had to
be photographed in front of the office block.

 "Is he like this all the time?" I asked.

"And then some", replied Jake, laughing, "You gotta love him".

I couldn't disagree with that.

Madam Tussaud's was a hit.https://www.madametussauds.com/london/en/ Kori's
phone was out of his pocket more than it was in it. Each of us had to be
photographed with the British Royal Family.  The boys wanted to be
photographed with the Beatles (I was surprised they had heard of them). We
were photographed alongside assorted celebrities. Then we went through the
Chamber of Horrors.  Kori and Simon, I noticed were holding hands, but
Peter was visibly upset by graphic scenes of torture and inhumanity. Liam
noticed too and began tugging on my sleeve.  I asked Jake if he would carry
on with Kori and Simon while I took Peter and Liam out.  Outside the
chamber it was easy to tell that Peter was not himself.  His normally dark
features were the colour of pale ash.  I found a bottle of water and gave
both boys some.

"Feeling better", I asked, when they had both had a sip or two.

"I wasn't scared", asserted Peter.

"Nah you weren't" agreed Liam. "You only came out 'cos you could see I was
scared"

Suddenly I could see why Jake loves his boys, and I was seeing a side to
Liam that I hadn't expected to see.  The bubbling, carefree, uninhibited,
fun-lover had, right in front of my eyes, morphed into a caring and
concerned person.  This is a boy who has known hurt, and has not let it
beat him.  Rather he has let it mould him into who he is.  Sometimes,
inside a diminutive child,you can fit a man ten feet tall.  I crouched down
and put an arm round each boy's shoulder.

"Well if you can't look at scenes like that without it affecting you, it's
to your credit.  Just remember that, if the others give you any hassle," I
told them.

"Not gonna happen", said Simon.

Jake and Kori were standing behind me too.

"Nah, we hadn't got the stomach for it either," said Kori.

"It's cool Bro", said Simon, putting an arm round his brother's shoulder.

If Jake and his boys are going to have that effect on my boys, they can
stay as long as they like.

"Hey there's a Star Wars display too." shouted Kori, "who wants to be
photographed with a wooki"

Three eager boys took off after Kori.  You wouldn't think they'd been on
the verge of nausea seconds earlier.

"How does he do that?" I asked.

"You can ask him," replied Jake,"but I don't suppose he can tell you.  He's
just being Kori."

"You must love him a lot."

"Wouldn't be without either of them", he said.  "They've both been through
a lot, but they've come out the other side because they're wonderful
people."

"Yes, I can see that.  We'd best go and find them"

The boys had photographed each other with most of the Star Wars crew, and
they insisted on photographing us too.

Then it was lunchtime.  We walked to the Natural Kitchen in Marylebone High
Street.  That was where I discovered how American culture differs from
ours. While my boys ordered a sausage bap and I contented myself with a
salmon salad, Jake and both American boys insisted on a full English
Breakfast.  At first I thought they obviously didn't know what that
consisted of.  They probably didn't, but they put it away without any
problems. As we ate, or gorged in their cases, I explained that the best
way to see London is to walk round it.  There are familiar scenes around
every corner, unexpected scenes a-plenty and the very street names are
archaic and quaint.  You can enjoy just getting lost.  It doesn't matter
how lost you get because, when you get fed up with being lost, you won't be
far from a tube station. Having fed ourselves we headed off for the West
End.  This close to Christmas, Oxford Street was wall-to- wall people. You
couldn't have driven a car down there if you'd wanted to.  The daylight was
going so the full effect of the giant illuminated globes, representing
snowflakes in white and purple, could be seen.

https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/oxford-street-christmas-lights-1

Regent Street had giant illuminated angels hanging above it

https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/regent-street-christmas-lights-2

and the shops everywhere were heaving.  All of us managed a little last
minute Christmas shopping.  I had given my boys a little money, and I
caught Jake slipping Simon another twenty quid.


"Jake",I said, more sharply than I had intended, and got the full effect of
the blue eyes.  I melted.

"I'm sorry" he began,"if it's......."

 I shook my head.

"Doesn't matter, " I said quickly. "Forget it".

I noticed Simon quickly pocket the twenty before Jake could be induced to
change his mind.

After a tiring day we dined at the Wolseley in Piccadilly.  That proved
expensive but the food was to die for, and I had quickly discovered that
Americans appreciate good food.  The train from Piccadilly Circus tube
station back to Rayner's Lane was not too crowded,and our boys had trouble
keeping their eyes open.  Peter had no trouble.  He just gave in to it.  I
was surprised that Liam didn't, but I'm discovering that he isn't the sort
of boy who gives in to anything.

I let the boys sort out sleeping arrangements in their room.  Kori and Liam
had come prepared to sleep on the floor.  Frankly I'd be surprised if my
boys would stand for that.  I returned to my room to find that a naked Jake
had put his sleeping bag on the floor.

"You needn't think you're staying down there" I said, "You'll freeze.  You
can have the bed. I'll use the couch".

"There's a lump in the front of your shorts that says you'd like to have
the bed too" He observed.

"I'm sorry Jake, I just...."

"Well why not?", he exclaimed. "We'd both be warmer and we both want to.
You don't suppose my boys aren't doing the same next door do you?"

"I don't know......."

I didn't know what it was that I didn't know, but Jake didn't care.

"Well I do.  Heck! back home I'd normally wind up with two boys in with me
by morning, if not more."

"I wouldn't rule that out here",I said, laughing.

There was no point in further argument.  I could see Jake was chubbed
up,and so was I.  I can't remember sleeping with another man before, but
the warmth of his body felt good and, although we lay back to back(at
first), we had both scooted back until skin touched skin and it felt
wonderful.

"G'night Jonah".

"Night Jake."