Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2012 18:48:04 -0800 (PST) From: Macout Mann Subject: ON MY HONOR 6 This story is about sexual activity between boy scouts and a scoutmaster. It is total fiction. There is no Poconola, MS. Any resemblance between persons or events depicted and actual persons or events is purely coincidental. If you are offended by depictions of explicit homosexual activity, or if you are underage, please do not read further. Otherwise, the author invites you to enjoy the story and to respond with comments or criticisms. The author would especially appreciate responses from readers who have been involved in scouting. All email will be answered. Please address macoutmann@yahoo.com. Also, please remember that nifty.org needs your support to keep this service available to all. Please donate what you can. "ON MY HONOR..." by Macout Mann Chapter 6 Trial Not just the boys in the group but the whole troop got quizzed by their parents and the police. Sammy's mother, for example, sat him down at the kitchen table and started, "Sammy, just what has been going on with you boys and Mr. Masters?" "Honest, Mama," Sammy said, "nothings been going on. We've just been doing scout things. I dunno what's with Noah. I thought he was cool, but he's gotta be off his rocker." Two policemen came on Tuesday. Their questions were more specific, since they knew exactly what was in the complaint. Had he ever been alone with Mr. Masters, when studying for a merit badge? Did they skinny dip, when they went camping? Did they share tents? Did they sleep naked? And they were very specific when they asked about alleged sex acts with Masters. Sammy said "yes" to the first two, "no" to everything else. Manly had said that a lot of people knew they didn't follow the rule about three people being there, when you were with your counselor. And this was the country, after all. Lots of people skinny dipped. The boys hadn't discussed their answers, so they didn't appear rehearsed. Manly even said he slept naked, because that's what he did at home. Later, both the district attorney and Rush Hammond would meet with each of the boys and raise the same questions. Sentiment in the town was overwhelmingly in Masters' favor. Noah and his family were snubbed wherever they went. The district attorney, a rising young politician named Bill Arnold, would have liked to have nol prossed the case for lack of evidence. Without confirmation by another scout of Noah's claims, it was the word of a child against that of a respected member of the community. Sure, there had been violations of scout protocols, but they were not even misdemeanors, much less felonies. Still there were those who believed the boy's story, and NASA, Lincoln's employer, was an important factor in the area's economy. Maybe more importantly, Arnold had been contacted by the Winnona Boy Scout Council's president, the head of a bank over in Biloxi. He was anxious that the reputation of the Boy Scouts be upheld and felt the best way to do that was through a trial. Arnold had to go through with it. Hammond, on the other hand, was not a criminal lawyer. In fact none of the attorneys in the county were. There was hardly any crime, certainly nothing like statutory rape. So he relied on his client to plan a defense. Together they decided that the best defense was to have Masters testify, present a parade of character witnesses, and then put two of the members of the group on the stand to back up Masters' story. Masters wanted to call Manly and Sammy, but Hammond chose Jake Reynolds, the youngest member and most recent inductee, next to Noah. Trial was set for September 10, just three months after Masters' arrest. There was a question of whether to suspend the activities of the group. Manly argued that they could sleep in separate tents and stay dressed except when swimming in case anyone came to spy on them, but that wouldn't be any fun. Masters didn't want to suggest to the boys that anything they'd been doing was really wrong, so it was decided that the group wouldn't meet, pending the trial. Masters had to satisfy his needs through clandestine meetings with Manly in the wooded areas of the town park. Manly, on the other hand, had the use of the storeroom at his father's business after hours. He got with all the others from time to time, Michael least often and Sammy not so much. His favorite partner was Jake. Jake had told him about messing around with his brothers, and Manly would have loved to get with the whole crew, but it was important not to let new people in on their secrets. At least for now. But he would often drive over to pick up Jake at the farm and bring him to the storeroom for sex. "I don't know why people are so upset about what we've been doing," Jake said one night. "We're just having a little fun." "They're just narrow-minded," Manly responded, as he pulled the younger boys t shirt over his head. Manly still spent half his life shirtless. Manly felt up Jake's developing chest and down his hardening gut to unbutton his beltless Levis, while nibbling on his stiffening nipples. "That feels so fucking good," Jake murmured. "I love your nice smooth bod," Manly replied. "I could eat all of you." "You can eat me anytime you want," Jake answered. "Right now I want to fuck your ass, and then I'll eat your dick," the older boy said. Sex wasn't the only thing in Manly's life. He also completed the requirements for Eagle Scout, and Masters presided at his Court of Honor. And soon afterward Manly was appointed Junior Assistant Scoutmaster. It was a big deal. Roger Simms, his dad, was very proud. The trial began, Judge Aaron Sterne presiding, and the jury was quickly empanelled. One woman asked to be excused, because she couldn't believe that such a fine man as Mr. Masters could do what he had been accused of. Her replacement joined all the others in saying that they were unfamiliar with the details of the case and could render a fair verdict. The district attorney's first witness was the Chief of Police. He described the circumstances of the Lincolns' complaint and Masters' arrest. On cross examination, Hammond asked two questions, beginning "Chief, did the police question any of the other boys in the troop?" "Yes, Mr. Hammond, we questioned all the boys, and the boys in Mr. Masters' special group more than once." "And did you find anyone who would corroborate the illicit activities alleged in the complaint?" "No, sir." "No further questions." Next, Noah was called. He seemed very nervous. He described what happened, when he had met with Masters for merit badge counseling, and what happened in Masters' tent. He did not refer to the previous night's activities with Sammy or to the night of his initiation into the group. On cross Hammond tried to sound very gentle. "You testified that you were sodomized by Mr. Masters a week before you and your father filed your complaint," he began. "Did you tell your father about it immediately after it happened? When you got home?" "No, sir. Not until the day we went to the police." "And why didn't you report Mr. Masters immediately?" "I...I guess I was ashamed." "And did you ask any of your fellow scouts if Mr. Masters had made similar advances to them?" "No, sir." "You weren't curious to see if you were the only one to be taken advantage of?" "I...well I figured everybody was doing it too...and it's not something you just talk to people about." "And, how did you come to speak to your father about it." "Well we were at the beach and I said something about skinny dipping at the campout and it would be fun if we could do that at the beach too, and he started asking me about what happened at the campout, and it just came out." "So you would like to go naked down on the Gulf?" "Objection! Immaterial," interrupted District Attorney Arnold. "Sustained," ruled the judge. "Have you ever had any other experiences like that you allege you had with Mr. Masters, Noah?" "Objection!" "Sustained." "No further questions at this time," Hammond concluded. Hammond called Masters as his first witness. He wore his Silver Beaver, one of the highest adult scouting awards, on the lapel of his blazer. Under extensive questioning, Hammond outlined the history of his special group of scouts, how they were chosen because he felt each showed special promise, and how his excursions with them were designed to enrich their scouting experience. He detailed extremely sanitized versions of their meetings and their campouts. He expressed dismay at the allegations brought by Noah and emphatically denied them. The district attorney began his cross examination by asking, "You did allow nude bathing at your campouts, Mr. Masters?" "Yes. No problem with that." "You mean that is a normal practice in scouting?" "It depends upon the circumstances, of course," Masters answered. "I don't think anyone would object to nude bathing in the solitary places where we camp out. In fact it is permitted at our own Camp Winnona. Boy Scouts often shower together. As I said, no problem with that. "We certainly don't advocate walking around the Gulf Beaches naked," he added. "Not germane, your honor, I object," Arnold interrupted. "Sustained. The jury will disregard the last statement of the witness," the judge admonished. "Duane," he addressed Masters, "please just answer counsel's questions." "And you maintain," the prosecutor continued, "that you and each scout slept in his own tent during your outings?" "Why of course, that's the scout rule." But isn't it also a scout rule that when a scout meets with his merit badge counselor a third person also be present?" "That's true, but this is a small town. Practically everybody knows me. All of us that are involved in scouting know each other. We don't have the sort of problems they have in big cities like Houston or New Orleans, where perverts can get into scouting. There's no reason to require something like that here." Arnold didn't expect to shake Masters and he didn't. Hammond next called one of the assistant scout masters who testified to Masters' integrity and propriety with the boys. He called Masters' pastor, who testified to the good Christian character of the scoutmaster. Then he called Manly Simms. Manly appeared in his scout uniform complete with its eagle regalia. He testified that he had known Mr. Masters and had been a member of the special group for almost six years and had never know him to do anything untoward in all that time. He described the times Mr. Masters had been his merit badge counselor, omitting almost everything that actually happened. And he said that since becoming the senior member of the group, he had closely assisted Mr. Masters in integrating new boys into the group and couldn't understand how Noah Lincoln could have possibly come up with the charges he had made. Manly had seen nothing anything like Noah described. Finally Jake Reynolds testified that as the newest boy other than Noah to be admitted to the group, "he hadn't done anything with Mr. Masters or anybody in the group he wouldn't do with his own brothers." Manly almost bit his lip in two to keep from laughing. In final arguments, Hammond stressed that Masters was one of Poconola's most outstanding citizens, that the jury had heard nothing but praise for him from anybody but "this city boy that is his accuser," and that the oldest and youngest member of Mr. Masters' special group had vouched for him. "I could have called all the rest of the boys and they would have given the same testimony," he concluded. Arnold made a much less impassioned summation. He simply said that Masters admitted breaking the rules and argued that there was no reason for Noah Lincoln to lie and that he certainly was of sound mind. The jury were prepared to exonerate Masters the minute they entered the jury room, but they did discuss the case briefly in order to demonstrate they had done their duty. Interestingly, the youngest of the jurors, an insurance salesman, had been a member of Masters' special group years earlier and knew exactly what had gone on. The foreman, a male nurse, had not been, but could easily assume that every word of Noah's testimony was true. He was visualizing every act as Noah described it. The three ladies on the jury just couldn't imagine anything like that happening anywhere. Scarcely an hour after they had been charged the twelve filed back into the courtroom. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?" Judge Stern intoned. "We have, your honor. We find the defendant, Duane Masters, not guilty." Copyright 2012 by Macout Mann. All rights reserved.