I was washing my truck when Drew came running over screaming. “She did it, I can’t believe the bitch is making me move.” Drew grabbed me around the neck and was bawling like a baby. “Why would she do this to us?”

“Slow down bud. What are you talking about?” I moved him away from my body and looked into his red swollen eyes. I couldn’t tell if I saw fear or something else in his eyes, but it was not the beautiful soul I was used to seeing in those eyes. I led him into the pool area and set us on one of the lounges.

“Now calm down and let’s see if we can’t work this problem out.”

“My mom and Steve are moving to Dallas!” Drew screamed.

“I knew they were considering it, but I didn’t know the decision had been made yet.” My mood was suddenly just as dark as Drew’s. I had not allowed the thought of loosing Drew enter my head.

“I’m sixteen, don’t I have a say in this at all?”

“Drew, bud, I don’t know. I have not let the thought of you moving away enter my mind.”

“They have Stevie, I don’t really fit in their family anymore. I can’t leave you Jim, I just can’t”

“I can’t imagine my life without you either, Turkey, but I have not talked to your mom about this at all. We need to talk to Stacy before we get too worked up. Besides, if I have to, I can always move to Dallas too.”

“I’m here.” Stacy said coming into the pool area. Stacy sat on the other side of Drew and tried to put her arm around him, but he pulled away. “Drew, you know I would never hurt you son.”

“Then why are you trying to make me move? I won’t move away from Jim. I’ll run away and come back, you know I will.”

“I guess I knew this would happen, but in my heart I thought you belonged with your mother. I was afraid you wouldn’t move with us, but I just had to try.” Stacy started tearing too.

“Mom, I love you and you have been a great mom, but I could never leave Jim.”

“I guess I knew that but it is hard to let your children go once they are grown, and you are not even grown yet.”

“Mom, you have not treated me like a kid for a long time. I may not be considered an adult by the law, but I am too old to fit in with your new family; you know that, as well as, I do. You know it would never work even if we tried.”

“Jim you are awful quiet. What do you think about this?”

“Actually Stace, you caught me off guard. I was in total shock when Drew came running over. You know how much I love Drew. I always try to do what is best for him, but right now, I can only think my world is collapsing around me. I am so scared right now, I can’t think.”

“I am slowly seeing Drew’s point about not really being part of our family anymore. I guess when you stop and think about it he has not lived with us for two years. And not lived with us much for four years. Being right next door didn’t make seem like a separation, but can I move so far from my son?”

“I know this is a knee jerk reaction, but if you take Drew to Dallas, I guess I will have to buy a house in Dallas.”

“Your businesses are here; your cars are here, how could you just move away from all that?”

“Those are just things; this young man is my life.”

“I don’t want us to move. We don’t belong in Dallas. Even if you moved too and I was still with you all the time, I would want to move back as soon as I turned eighteen and had rights as an adult. Mom, you know I’m right your place is with Stevie and Steve. I screw up your family too much for it to make sense.”

“Oh Drew, you have to know that you will always be my son and my family even when you are old and grey.”

“I didn’t mean it like not your son, but let’s face it, you belong in the kiddy pool with Stevie and I have been in the deep end for a long time without you holding my hand.”

Stacy couldn’t help but chuckle a little through her tears. “Okay, I see your point. I will have to talk it over with Steve, but I see I may have to let you grow up before your time. I assume that you want to be responsible for your turkey, as you call him?”

“Sure I will be responsible for him, gobbler and all.”

“You love my gobbler.”

“Andrew David Jamison, I told you a long time ago not to talk like that in front of me.”

“That reminds me, I hate being a Jamison when can I change my name to Carter? Jamison is nothing but a dirty word to me.”

****** Okay time to back track *************

When I was sixteen, my parents were both killed in an airplane crash. My grandmother (the only grandparent still speaking to me) raised me until she passed when I was twenty. Between the insurance from my grandmother and my parents and my father’s furniture business I was very wealthy.

I really didn’t care much for collage, but loved playing baseball and was an All American my senior year. I was drafted by the Cardinals, but really didn’t want to ruin baseball, for me, by making it a job. I built a house overlooking the fishing lake on the property my furniture manufacturing business owned. I love working with my hands, but didn’t really want to get too involved in the business and Uncle Richard runs it very well. Uncle Richard is not my real uncle just a good friend of the family that I always called Uncle Richard.

My love is cars. I especially love the old muscle cars and kept a large warehouse full of the fifty or so that I owned. I also have a garage behind my house that will allow me to work on four cars at a time if I need to. I try to keep at least three projects going all the time. If you have ever worked on older cars you know that a lot of time is spent locating parts and waiting on parts you have to have made for them.

Soon after I graduated collage someone built a house next to me. Well, it was next to my property but still about a hundred yards away. When the family moved in they became good friends. The Jamison’s were nice people and I loved having them over for a cookout and some swimming and they invited me over for dinner quite often. Dylan was a building contractor and Stacy was a financial consultant. They had an eight year old son Andrew that we called Drew. Drew loved to play pranks would always try to get something over on me. Dylan and Drew almost became fixtures in my garage; they both loved the old cars almost as much as I did.

Of course being eight Drew was always full of questions and his father would tell him to put a cork in it quite often. When Drew was in the garage and his father wasn’t, I let him ramble on with his questions. Drew’s questions were usually well thought out and so I knew he was really trying to learn something. I did my best to answer his questions as best I could.

Drew loved baseball and so when we were not working on cars we were playing pitch or working on some baseball skill. I really enjoyed helping Drew. He was constantly trying to improve and was very attentive and did his best to apply everything I tried to teach him.

When Drew was nine he was asked to join a traveling tournament team. The team’s first tournament was held in the same city we lived in so I went to the first game. The Jamison’s didn’t know I was known for my baseball skills from the local university and were surprised when several people asked for my autograph. Even most of Drew’s teammates knew me and was telling Drew how lucky he was to have me as a friend. Of course, Drew ate it up and was full of himself when his coach asked if I would help coach the team.

These kids were all naturally gifted athletes. I talked a few of my old teammates that still lived locally into helping make these kids even better. We offered a lot of individual instruction and by the end of the regular season we were a well oiled machine. The Indians had qualified for the nine year old USSSA World Series in Oklahoma, but they were not planning on playing. The coach said he wasn’t going to take the kids there; he was finished for the season. The parents ask if the rest of us would take the boys and we managed to get our entry in and off we went to the World Series.

The boys loved the tournament but it was awfully hot. Out of seventy-six teams we came in eleventh mostly because we didn’t quite have enough pitching for so many games over a weeks time. The boys were thrilled at having done so well and the parents were as proud as they could be. We played excellent and didn’t beat ourselves in any game we played. We also got the sportsmanship award for how well our boys conducted themselves on and off the field.

It was then that the parents approached me about taking over the team. Seems most thought the other coach was taking quite a chunk of their money for himself. I found that they were paying twenty-five hundred per boy and they also had sponsors and put on a couple of tournaments to raise money.

I told them if they could make sure the old coach didn’t cause problems that I would take over the team. We decided to stay together for fall ball and soon had sponsors lined up so that all of our tournament fees and uniforms were paid. My business sponsored the hotel rooms for the entire fall season, so the parents were only out their meals and gas when we traveled. We have what is considered an old team. July thirty-first is the cut off for age in the baseball world and most of our kids had birthdays in August through September. So when our boys were playing at nine most would be ten before the end of the year. Drew’s birthday is August third, so he is one of the oldest. Corey our main catcher has an August first birthday, so he is the oldest.

We won every tournament we entered and only lost four games the whole fall season. We had already qualified for the World Series next season for ten year olds so our regular season had no pressure at all. One of the reasons that I enjoyed coaching this group of boys is the parents. I can remember back when I played in these traveling tournaments, we had some parents that were bossy and wanted everything their way. This group was awesome to deal with. They were eager to help with anything that we needed them to do.

During the fall season Drew’s parents didn’t want to go to all the tournaments so Drew stayed in my room. It is standard practice to have all parents sign documents so that the coach can have any of his players treated in case of an emergency. I had Drew’s parents sign temporary guardianship papers so that when Drew was in my care there was no doubt that I could make sure he was covered in an emergency.

We actually came in fifth in the World Series that year.

Dylan still came over a lot, but Drew was always over it seemed, and I loved having him there. I really missed him when he wasn’t around. Drew was actually a lot of help working on the cars; he seemed to love it as much as I did. He was growing fast and was getting close to being as tall as I am. I could tell he was maturing at a fairly early age too. He already has quite a few leg hairs. Once he turned eleven, he made every effort possible to show me his cock. He wasn’t blatant about it but would wear loose legged shorts with no underwear and sit with his leg bent to give me a good view. I actually caught him posing his dick and balls a couple of times. Drew was definitely big for his age in the genital department. His cock and balls looked huge on his hairless pubic mound. I thought it best to just ignore him. I also noticed that he would hug me every chance he got. I enjoyed the hugs and the view too much to actually put a stop to it.

Dylan and Stacy didn’t make many of our tournaments out of town and so Drew became quite an exhibitionist in our hotel room. I knew I shouldn’t, but I didn’t bother trying to hide my nakedness either. I told myself that it was to defuse any sexual connotations, but on more than one occasion I had to make a hasty trip to the bathroom to hide my erections. Drew, on the other hand, didn’t try to hide his. I knew I was in love with Drew, but I could never let him know. I had a hunch he was infatuated with me too, but I knew I had to be the adult and keep sex out of our relationship. I couldn’t help my fantasies though.

The End of part 1. Part 2 should follow shortly.
You can email me at jc_thedad@hotmail.com