Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2024 10:43:08 +0000 (UTC) From: D J Subject: Possessed Boy Possessed Boy Authors note: This story is a work of fiction, and the characters in it are not real persons. The physical birth difference described for Sam and his father are real. This work is copyrighted by the author and all rights are reserved. I hope you like it, and I appreciate all comments, praise, complaints, death threats or offers of marriage. Send them to dj92570j@yahoo.com Please donate to Nifty if you like the stories; your contributions provide this place and keeps it going. Sahypo Jan 2024 Popeye the sailor man is a trademark of King Features I punched the blinking button and picked up my desk phone. I manage the parts department at a major full line car and truck dealership. It was almost lunch time and I was going over inventory data when the direct line rang. "Midway Ford, Derrick speaking, how may I direct your call?" "Mister Wells? Sharon Landers here, from Pinal County DFS" My attention was completely focused on the caller now. I had known Sharon the entire time I had been a foster parent with the Division of Family Services for several children needing temporary homes over the last fifteen years. "Oh, yes, Miss Landers, how are you?" "I'm fine, thanks, but um, I have a situation on hand...I need to place a child immediately if you are able to handle it as an emergency... and, they're in your school district." "I'm not fostering any children at the moment, so accommodating one is no problem. Fill me in." "OK, great! An eleven-year-old boy was dropped off at school this morning by a foster parent with all of his clothes and belongings. This woman insists the kid is possessed by demons" "Huh?" "Yeah... or the devil and is adamant that he is not to return to her home...of course, he's distraught and doesn't understand any of this. I shouldn't be telling you this, but I strongly suspect that there are mental health issues with this foster parent. I have talked to her briefly and I think we are going to de-credential this home and family." "Oh, wow. Has he been a discipline or behavior problem?" "Not at all; nothing negative has been reported, at least until this morning's events, and he has no disciplinary history at school, either. This was his first placement. He was with this family for a month." "What put him in the system?" "Addicted parent, serving time for possession with intent to distribute, no family willing to take him." "Are there siblings?" "Nope, and no clue as to who the father is." "Super." "Can you help me out?" "Won't hurt to talk to him. What's the boy's name?" "Thanks, Derrick. Terry Davis. Can I meet you at Canyon Middle School?" "Sure, right now?" "Please, if you can." I hung up, and let my office administrator know that I was going to be out the rest of the day. "I maybe have a new kid." I said to her, as I flipped the lights off in my office. Bad grammar, but she knew what I meant as this wasn't the first time I had gotten a placement. "Son or daughter?" she quipped. "Son this time. Film at eleven" I joked as I went out the door and stepped into the Arizona heat. I met Sharon at the school office. I was familiar with Canyon Middle, as it is three blocks from the house, and I had sent some of my other care kids there while they were with me. She filled me in with more details on this morning's events, and it sounded like this kid had lived a pretty grim last four weeks. The home environment was religious and sterile to an extreme, with strict adherence to diet restrictions and days of fasting. He was not allowed to watch TV or movies or read anything other than the Bible and religious literature. No one was allowed to come over and Terry was not allowed to go to friends houses in the neighborhood, either. I couldn't see how a home like this was credentialed to care for children in the first place. I seriously felt bad for this kid, and could only imagine what I was about to see when Sharon and I were escorted to a conference room by a student aide to meet him. He was perched in a chair in a fetal position, his head between his knees at a table with all of his belongings piled on it. He looked up at Ms. Sharon and I with red rimmed blue eyes and tear stains down his cheeks. He was still sniffling and trying to gain control of his emotions, so he must have been almost hysterical earlier. Physically, he was somewhat nondescript in appearance. Thin, not scrawny looking but more like lacking build, as if he had not begun to fill out yet. I couldn't tell how tall he was while he sat there, but his skin was very pale with light freckling on his face. His hair was black and long, below the ears. In all, he looked like a typical sixth grade boy, and certainly not like the devil or a demon. I took a seat at the table across from Terry and introduced myself. He didn't try to shake my hand, so I just put mine on the table. He put his feet down and leaned forward to look at the floor with his hands under the table, in a posture of total surrender. He looked spent. "Are you okay? Did anyone hurt you today?" I asked. He shook his head and looked up slowly at me. He sniffed back tears and there was a catch in his breath. "I'm okay...I just can't...go back there. Please!" He begged in a tiny voice and visibly shuddered. "I hear you...no one is going back there, okay? Miss Sanders told me a little about what was going on there. Do you know why I'm here?" his eyes widened as if I had been told things about him that he didn't want shared. He shook his head. "I'm a foster dad. Miss Landers asked me to help you if you want that. And don't worry, she didn't tell me anything bad or embarrassing about you, in case you're worried about that." He seemed to relax a bit and even smiled ever so slightly. "So...I have to go with you?" he asked. "Only if you want to, Terry." I replied. "I'm here, but if you want to wait for a better offer, I understand." I was grinning when I said that, and Terry's lips twitched, but he didn't actually smile. Um, maybe that wasn't funny as I thunk it was... "Are you gonna make me go to church and stuff?" "No, but you can if you want to." "Do I have to go hungry and all that weird stuff?" "No fasting, no vegan shit either...I promise." Oops...I wasn't supposed to say that in a school, but it did cause him to smile. The ice was beginning to melt a little bit. "Will you let me watch TV and movies?" "As long as your homework gets done, sure." "Can I bring friends over and stuff?" "If I've met them, of course." He still didn't look too sure, so I suggested to Ms. Sharon that Terry and I go home, get him settled and give him a few days to decide if he was comfortable with me. He said he was okay with that, Ms. Sharon agreed and set out some forms I needed to sign to take guardianship of Terry. He was in no shape to be in school, and I felt that taking him home and letting him de-stress would be best given that the day was half over and he had missed the entire morning of school. I sat next to him and he let me wipe his face and tell him things would be okay. I helped him carry his things to my truck and got him buckled in, and proceeded to the house. It only took a minute. "Easy walk to school from here, right?" I observed. "Uh huh" He replied as he got out of the truck and we carried his stuff inside. My home is a very nice custom build in an exclusive neighborhood, and his head was on a swivel as soon as he entered the house. I showed him two of the four bedrooms and let him choose one to move into. The third bedroom was my man-cave/ theater room and office, and the master bedroom and bath opened onto a pool deck and hot tub inside a walled in back yard, that was very private. I had a small garden and fruit trees planted along the wall, which was covered in vines. His mouth gaped as he walked through the place and he kept saying "Wow!" The master bath has a huge walk-in shower, with enough room for four people. There is also an oversized tub for soaking. "Do you really live here?" he wondered. "WE...really live here, if you choose to stay." I replied. We walked into the kitchen, which is bigger than most two car garages, and had I spared no expense on the commercial grade equipment. My six burner Vulcan stove is the crown jewel of the place, and Terry looked it over closely. "You'll get fully checked out on this, don't worry." "What's "checked out" mean?" "Learning how to use it. In this house, we'll share the chores like laundry, cooking and the dishes. We'll switch out each week, and if you clean up as you go, keeping the house straight is not hard at all." "Okay...what else?" "Just a couple of things...don't let people that I don't know in the house when I'm not here." "Okay" "Second, never lie to me or hide anything. My trust is something you'll probably never get back if you lose it. I promise to never lie to you about anything either, Terry. The rules apply to me just as much as they do to you." Terry nodded and replied "That's fair." "When we talk about stuff, it stays between us. Your secrets are no one's business outside of the house, and if I ask you to keep something I tell you to yourself, I appreciate your discretion. Understand?" "Uh-huh. I know what discretion means." I took a chance and gave Terry a gentle squeeze against my side, and he put his arm around me and pulled me in a bit. I had expected him to resist or push me away, but his reaction was that of someone who was starved for affection. I rubbed his back and shoulders a bit, and let him decide when to drop the embrace. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to make you feel at home here, okay?" He looked up at me and his eyes were moist. He looked away and sniffed, and I hugged him a bit more. "Can you swim?" I asked. The question took him off guard "Um, uh...yeah, I can." He sniffed and dried his eyes with his hand. I got him a paper towel. "Okay, good. You can use the pool anytime if I'm home or you're with somebody else who can swim. I don't want you in the pool alone, and don't leave anyone you have over in the pool alone. Does that make sense?" Terry nodded. So far, he accepted all the rules and I could tell that he was very mature and intelligent. Terry was very guarded with me at first, but with gentle questioning and promises not to judge him, I found out what had happened. In a deliberate invasion of Terry's privacy, the foster parent had barged in without knocking and caught Terry masturbating. This is what precipitated a full-blown freak-out and melt down? Terry nodded. "She said I was a freak and possessed by the devil, and I'm too young to be doin' that stuff." He looked away and wouldn't meet my eyes. "Living there must have scared the daylights out of you...Jeez!" Terry gulped and nodded. "That's when she said I had to leave. I didn't get a chance to even pack. She just threw all my stuff in a bag and made me stand in the driveway until she took me to school. When we got there, she got into it with the principal and then Miss Sharon showed up and got her away from me. That's when you came." I nodded, and I think my next question embarrassed him a bit from the crimson blush that spread over his face. "When did you start masturbating?" "Like two months ago, in the mornings when I wake up." "Sounds pretty normal to me, Terry. Some boys start later than you, but all of them do it eventually." He smiled slightly, then asked "Even you?" I nodded. "Guilty, your horniness...I mean honor!" Terry cracked up and giggled, visibly relieved that I didn't find his activities unusual, or try to judge him for them. "Okay...well, I get the whole devil is influencing you stuff, and she's probably not aware of when some boys start greasing the weasel..." Terry cackled out loud and screeched in laughter at that, so I paused my thought for a moment. "But she called you a freak? I don't understand that part." "Uh-huh, she said I was a freak...don't know why either." "Um, Mister Wells?" "You can call me Derrick if you want to...what is it, Terry?" "Um, was...Er, is that lady crazy or something?" "I don't know. It sounds like she might be. I don't think Miss Sharon will send any more kids to her." "That's good." "Yeah...I'm just glad you're out of there. Sorry you had to go through that." "Thanks. Me too." "Are you totally sure that you aren't a freaky demon?" I teased, giving him a side-eye. He laughed and made a scary face. I think we are becoming friends. I asked him if he had had breakfast and he shook his head. It was just after eleven in the morning. "Ever cooked before?" "I can make Pop-Tarts and Ramen." I rolled my eyes and mumbled "Savages!" and gave him a wink to let him know I wasn't seriously criticizing him. "Do you like omelets?" He nodded. "I had one, like once, I think." "Watch and learn, Padi-Wan." His eyes got wide and he giggled. "Do you like Star Wars?" he gushed. "Yeah, I've seen all the movies, I'm not a geek though, like...you know...those guys." I said, rolling my eyes to the side where the imaginary "those guys" were. Terry laughed and smiled. "What do you want on your omelet?" He settled on ham, red and green peppers and mushrooms, and two kinds of cheese. I went ahead and made two of them, toast and oatmeal. I showed him how to flip the omelets and promised that next time it would be his job to make them. He nodded, but seemed a bit unsure. Terry had never tasted coffee, but turned out to share my taste in the beverage, preferring it black. He thought sugar and cream in it was disgusting, my sediments exactly, pun intended. After we ate, Terry took some time to move his stuff into the bedroom he chose, then he wanted to watch TV. He wanted to know if I had video games, and I told him no, but I did have a flight simulator on my office computer. He was interested in that, so I set it up for him and let him teach himself to crash and fly. Later we grilled steaks and had baked potatoes and salad. He told me he hadn't eaten like that in a long time. I asked him if he wanted to swim some before bed, but he said that his old swimming trunks were too tight on him and he needed another pair. I told him we could go shopping tomorrow after school. He snuggled up to me on the couch and poked at my belly and said, "Cool! Thanks!" About ten minutes later he asked me "Um, Derrick...Is it okay if I sleep in my underwear?" "If that's the way you usually sleep, sure." "What about naked?" I turned and looked at him. "If your door is closed, how would I know what you sleep in? It's totally up to you, Terry. You're big enough to decide what works for you." "Okay...it's just that...well the crazy lady made me wear these hot ass itchy pajamas, and I could never keep them on. I think part of what got me in trouble was that I was naked when she walked in on me." I now understood where this conversation was coming from. The kid just wanted to know where I stood on the issue. "Terry, I'll never come in without knocking if your door is closed, and some of my kids were less than modest around the house." "You mean like naked..." "It's allowed here, yes" "Er, like how many were there?" "Um, you're my tenth." "So...like what happened to them?" "I, um...I keep them chained in the basement, once I drain their life force, BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" He rolled his eyes and gave me the "bullshit!" face. I guess my Dracula impression sucks... "C'mon, Derrick!!" he protested. "I wanna know." "OK, seriously, they all eventually went back to their families and their own lives. I still hear from some of them." "So, am I going to go back to my mom, like when she gets out and stuff?" "If that's at all possible, Terry, yeah. I guess that depends on your mom mostly." He sat there looking straight ahead, no expression on his face. I couldn't tell what that meant. There was another long silence as we watched another half hour of television. "Derrick?" "Hmm?" "I um...wanna stay...Please?" "You sure?" "I like it here. And...I like you, too." He said, squeezing in tighter against me. "I guess you have spoken, I will make it so, Number One." Terry grinned up at me and chuckled at my Star Trek reference. I made a mental note to call Miss Sharon in the morning, but I got beaten to that several minutes later, when she called me to find out how Terry and I were getting along. I told her it was going well, no signs of demonic activity, we were getting to know each other, and that he said he wanted to stay. I handed the phone to Terry, and a series of "Yes, ma'am's" and "No, ma'am's" followed. He handed it back to me and we finished the call. I hung up, and dropped the phone in Terry's lap. He grunted and let out an "oommph!" and I giggled at his facial expression. "Done and done" I said, dusting that task off of my hands. Terry smiled up at me and said, "You whacked me in the nads with the phone, you know." I winked at him and responded with "You're too young to have nads, demon!" "You sure about that, mister?" he asked and slapped me on the belly with a huge grin. I pinned him into the couch beside me and saw a look of panic on his face, as I suppose he thought I was going to batter him or something, but that changed when I started to work over his neck, armpits and ribs with the tickle attack. He immediately began screaming and laughing and trying his best to keep me at bay. It was totally one-sided conflict, and after about twenty minutes he went limp and stopped trying to fight. We were both exhausted and he lay next to me and looked at me while getting his breath back. "Sorry I scared you a bit. That was fun, huh?" I gasped. "Yeah...it was uh, different." He replied, which puzzled me a bit. "Different how, like from other times?" I wondered. "Nobody ever tickled me before." He admitted. "Seriously?" He nodded. I thought to myself, how could a kid grow up in any setting with people who loved him without getting into tickle wars? I guess the answer to that is obvious. "Well, anytime you want a tickle attack, you got it, okay?" I said. He nodded and was silent after that for a while. I guess we'll have to work up to those a bit first. Then he said "Um, that Miss Sharon lady, um, she asked me if you gave me stuff to make me say I want to stay, or um, were you making me say that and stuff." "Terry, she has to ask you things like that, to make sure you aren't being forced into things against your will. It's to protect you. Understand?" He nodded. We said our goodnights a little later and went to our rooms to get some sleep. I asked him what time school started, since it had been a while since I had students living with me that went there. I told him I would wake him in plenty of time to get a shower and breakfast, then went to bed. That didn't last long. About two hours later I was visited by a preteen Halloween ghost, all four foot nine inches of him. Terry came into my room wrapped in a sheet and laid down next to me on top of the covers. He didn't say anything or try to wake me up, he just lay down and started snoring. I knew that it wasn't unusual for some kids in traumatic situations to have separation anxieties and a desire to be close to those that they feel safe with, trust and have attachment to. I knew that it might take some time before Terry would fully feel confident in his new environment. I woke up and could see him looking at me in the early morning light. "Hey mister. How'd did you sleep?" I asked. "Okay, I guess. You snore." Terry replied. "I don't doubt that...Eww, don't kiss me, my mouth tastes like dinosaur shit." I said with a grimace, making Terry laugh. "Yeah, um...That's gross!" He said with a yawn and a stretch. "The bathroom next to your room has towels and shampoo and everything you need when you decide to get up." I said as a flipped the covers back and got out of bed. I kept my back to Terry as I stood up, a pair of boxers keeping things civilized. I stepped into the shower and when I finished, Terry was gone, presumably getting showered and dressed. I dressed and went to the kitchen where Terry was sitting at the table, still wrapped in the sheet. One arm was exposed, shoveling cereal into his mouth, while he was reading the back of the box. I fixed myself a bowl and sat down next to him and began eating. "I'm home around five every night, so I'm going to give you a key. Keep it in a safe place." Terry looked at me and grinned and said, "I guess that means I live here, huh?" I put my hand on his arm. "It does. You got about 45 minutes before you have to leave for school." I said. He nodded and kept eating his cereal. He watched me take my spoon and bowl to the sink, and make a cup of coffee. He finished eating and brought his bowl and spoon, and left to get ready for school. I sat down with my coffee and heard the shower in the hall start. From what he had told me, I had a good idea what he was doing besides bathing. My time was running out and I needed to get to work, so I put all that out of my mind and waited for the shower to stop. I stood outside the door and told Terry I would see him this afternoon and make sure the front door was locked when he left. I filled all the curious staff at work in on Terry, and although they all knew I fostered kids, they wanted to know all about each of my "new arrivals". Two of my employees had decided to sign up and take the training and go through the process to be certified in the counties we lived in, and anticipated their first placements. I had to stop by the school before it closed after work and update their records with Terry's change of address and custodial pickup authorizations, as only named individuals could remove Terry from school grounds. I had a trusted neighbor down the street from me that I put down as authorized years ago, and verified that she was still on file with the school district. That all being done, I went home and found Terry on the front porch waiting for me. "You aren't locked out, are you?" I asked. "Oh, no, I've been inside already. I'm just waiting for you!" I remembered that I had promised him a swimsuit shopping trip. He seemed so different than he was when I first saw him yesterday, crying and upset and scared. He seemed taller and much more vibrant. "So is your day going well?" I asked as he got in the truck and buckled in. "It's great, yours?" "It's going good too." We drove for about five minutes to get to Wally World, and parked. Before we got out, he looked at me. "Derrick?" I looked over at him and waited for him to speak. "I don't know what I woulda done if I couldn't have gotten away from Crazy Lady. I almost took off. I don't know where, but anywhere else had to be better." "I get it. And I promise you that I will never hold you if you want to leave. All you have to do is tell me that's what you want. You always have a choice. I need to ask you something, and I hope you will tell me the truth." "Um, what is it?" he asked, unsure of himself. "Have you ever had thoughts of...uh, hurting yourself, or um, worse?" "Like...you mean sui...?" his word caught in his throat as he said it, and I just nodded. He shook his head. "N-No, just um, running away, you know. Not other...stuff." "Okay. I needed to know. I'm glad you're here Terry. I mean that" I replied. "Well, that pool is waiting on us. We better get this done!" I said as I opened my door. Ten minutes later, we were looking at men's swimwear, and Terry was trying to decide what size he needed. I could see the tag on his jeans under his belt and read 22 inches. I stuck a finger under the waistband of his jeans at the tag and tugged, causing Terry to giggle and be pulled off balance. "Stop! You'll make me fall over, and that tickles!" Terry found something that he liked and I looked at the label for the size. I noticed that the shorts were very baggy. "That should fit ya" I told him. "Your jeans have a 22-inch waist. I would get one more pair just in case that one doesn't fit right." "Okay" he replied and the search was on again. He found another baggy pair that he liked and called it good. We decided to stop off and pick up Chinese food on the way home. It turns out that we both like Szechuan hot and spicy dishes, so I took him to my favorite place and we ordered one of those combos that had five different dishes that fed two people. We would be pretty stuffed when we finished the food, but of course that wouldn't last long. I asked him what he had for homework, but it was just a reading assignment. I could see that he read very quickly, and when I asked him about what he had read, he was able to give me a detailed summary of the material and had cogent thoughts about the characters in the book. I asked him if he was a good student, but he just shrugged. "Not really. Sometimes I don't get my homework done and I get yelled at for sleeping in class and stuff." "What keeps you from getting it done?" He looked away, and I could tell he was not comfortable getting into the subject. "Stuff at home...you know." "Craziness and chaos?" I asked. He nodded. "Yelling and screaming and stuff." "And you never got any sleep either, I guess." He nodded. I was afraid of what he would tell me once he fully trusted me and decided to let me into his world further. I only hoped that worse things hadn't happened. "Well, I promise no craziness here...What do you say we hit the pool?" I suggested. He lit up like a meteor and raced to his room to change. I could tell that he didn't spend any time in the sun. He was white as a ghost, and the new suit was definitely not tight on him. He dove in and swam under water the length of the pool and halfway back before surfacing. I guess I don't have to worry about him drowning, but I probably still will. Just a little. We swam for about two and half hours, which pretty much wore me out from all the dunking and throwing and splash fighting we got into. He really liked it when I would lift him and toss him, always coming back for another go until I was out of steam. We got out and took showers and put our wet suits in the laundry to be ready for tomorrow. We watched TV and then headed to bed. Tonight was different than his first night with me, as he didn't bother trying to sleep in his own bed. He was wrapped in the sheet like last night, but I told him he could sleep under the cover if he was cold. He wedged up against me in a fetal position with his back to my chest. I was trying to find someplace to put my arms when he said "Squish me" in a quiet voice. I wrapped him up and pulled him into me harder and asked him if that is what he meant, and he nodded and fell asleep. We woke up in the morning before the sun was up, and like yesterday, he preferred to have breakfast in the sheet before getting his shower and dressing for school. I stopped at Wally World again on the way home and bought a bath robe for Terry and a fishing license for myself. Terry could fish without one until he turned 12, so all I needed now was a box of worms. They come in one of those cartons like they serve macaroni and cheese in at KFC. He was working on homework when I came into the house, and tossed him the robe. He caught it and lay it on the table and looked at the carton. "Is that supper?" "Only if you're a bird." He looked at me funny and I popped the lid so he could see the moist dirt inside. The worms must have been sleeping, I suppose. He raised an eyebrow at me, I put it in the refrigerator and asked him how his day went. "Um, good. I aced the math quiz." "Good deal! That's awesome, Terry." He beamed at the praise, and picked up the package. "So, what's this?" he asked. "I thought you might find that wearing a robe is easier than wrapping up in a sheet." "Thanks. I never had one before." I made my famous across the universe chicken sandwiches for supper. Terry asked me how I knew they were famous across the universe, and I replied "Why do you think that there's UFO's? Thinkabouddit, kid! They're here for my chicken sammiches!" "Is thinkabouddit like fuggettabouddit?" Terry teased. He must have seen the Godfather sometime. "Donchaworryabouddit" I replied. He got a good laugh at that, and agreed that they were pretty good. He then asked me what a sammich was. "A sandwich...in Texas." He groaned and rolled his eyes and said I was full of it. I attacked his ribs, and we got into a tickle war until we were both sweaty and tired. We decided to head to the pool, and I was too sore from yesterday to lift and toss him. I promised him a re-match once I rested up. He opened up a little and told me more about his home life. I learned that he had never been physically or sexually abused, but it was obvious that he'd been neglected and had lived with a lot of stress. We stayed in the pool until it was getting dark, and I turned on the lights on the pool deck and underwater. I told Terry to watch the sky carefully, and soon the show began. Dark little shapes began to flit and swoop in the air above the pool, dipping down to snatch unseen insects. "Whoa! What are those, Derrick?" "Mexican free-tailed bats." "Whoa!" Terry replied, in awe. "I know...They're pretty cool, aren't they?" "Yeah." We stayed and watched until it was dark, and the bats left to range further afield. I turned off the lights and we went inside to shower. I put on a pair of shorts and a tee shirt and Terry joined me in his robe. I showed Terry how to run the laundry before we sat down to watch TV. It was Friday night, so I let him stay up until he got sleepy and decided to go to bed. He still wanted to sleep beside me. When we got up in the morning, I told him I was taking him out today. "What are we doing?" "Ever been fishing, Terry?" "No" He shook his head. "I never had anybody to take me." "Now you can say you've been fishing." He broke into a huge smile and watched me take the carton out of the refrigerator. We grabbed a pair of rods out of the garage and got in the truck. I took him to a spot that I used to go as a kid, and showed him how to bait a hook, and cast. It took him a few tries to get his timing right, then he was casting almost as well as I could. We got our hooks cleaned a bunch of times before he caught his first fish. Bluegill, or panfish as some call them, are masters at nibbling the bait off of a hook without actually putting the hook in their mouths. It takes a knack to detect them, and set a hook in one. He caught five or six more until the fish quit biting in the heat of the day. They would be back in the late afternoon, but we were getting hot, and hungry. Terry was so excited and wanted to know when we could do it again. I think I created a monster. We released the fish, and I threw out the worms left over onto the ground since they wouldn't keep more than a few days in the container. We got some lunch at a seafood joint and went home. I needed to vacuum the pool and do maintenance, and Terry wanted to watch. I was about halfway through vacuuming when Terry swam over and asked "Derrick, can my friend Sam come over to swim sometime?" "Sure, whenever you want." "Cool, thanks." He dove under and swam around the hose as I worked. When he decided to get out and lay in the sun, I made him put on sunscreen in case he was part vampire. It was obvious that he hadn't done this before, so I ended up putting it on him. "Don't use too much, and make sure you don't put it on above your eyes, or it will run when you sweat and burn like hell." He looked at me and nodded. "I wish you were my dad, Derrick" he said, before walking over to the chaise lounge and laying down on it. I was taken aback for a moment. Kids were often very candid, and I learned a long time ago to trust things they say on the spur of the moment, because they haven't learned to hide what they feel the way adults usually do. "I suppose I am, I guess, even if it's only temporary. Or until you get a better offer." I replied, with a grin. He had his eyes covered against the sun with his forearm, and he smiled and chuckled at my joke. I rubbed some residual sunscreen on my fingers into his bare armpits and he shrieked and giggled at the tickling. I went back to my pool duties and let him know when it was time to turn over. Later that week, I got a call from Sam's dad to check in with me and assure himself that Sam would be safe and supervised in the pool. I asked him if Sam could swim, and he told me that he could. He and I planned to meet when he dropped Sam off on Saturday morning. Sam is slightly shorter than Terry, but a bit more muscular. He has brown eyes and blond hair. He has a bit of a tan, or at least he doesn't burn in the sun easily. He and Terry went to the pool and I offered Sam's dad, Dan a beer, which he accepted. He and I went out to the pool deck to watch the boys, and talked. I found out that Sam's parents had divorced recently, and Dan had custody. I explained that I had been divorced two years ago, after fifteen years of marriage. We had never been able to have children, and had signed up to foster county kids instead. We had taken in troubled and abused boys, and all of them had turned out well. He asked me if I had ever thought of adopting any of them, and I said that it had not been an option with ours. The mission of the Division of Family Services is reuniting families, which was successful for all of our boys, so none of them had been available to adopt. I explained that Terry would most likely be placed back with his mother if she was able to turn things around on parole. In the meantime, it's one day at a time and do what you can to make things in their lives better. An hour and a half later, Dan said he had some errands to run and asked if Sam could stay and swim with us. He said he would be back around four to pick Sam up. I grilled burgers on the patio for lunch so I could keep an eye on the pool. The boys got out around two in the afternoon and Sam went home sometime after four. He was dressed in the shorts and shirt he was wearing when he arrived, and carrying his wet swimsuit. Later that evening after supper, Terry and I were watching something on TV, and Terry sat next to me and said he wanted to ask me something. I muted the TV and turned to him. "I think something's wrong with Sam's...you know...boy thing." "His penis" "Er, yes" Terry confirmed, blushing crimson. "It's okay, what makes you think that?" "Um, there's skin bunched up on top of the head, and the shape of the tip is kinda weird too, there's no peehole in it." "So, it's not like yours?" "Uh-uh" He shook his head "How many penises have you seen before?" "Um, only mine" Terry replied. I had a good idea where his confusion was coming from. "What else did you see, Terry?" "Well, it's really small." "Like how small?" Terry held his fingers about two inches apart. "How do you know all this?" Terry blushed again. "I saw it when we dried off after getting out of the pool." "Did he know you were looking?" "Uh-huh. He took his towel off in front of me and said he didn't care if I looked." From Terry's description, it sounded like Sam had something one of my other kids a few years back had been born with, hypospadias and an incomplete or hooded foreskin on top of his glans. I had never seen this condition until I gave Adrian a bath and washed his hair soon after taking him into care. He had next to the mildest variety, where the opening of his urethra was where the shaft and head of the penis meet underneath the tip. He also had a downward curved erection, which is common in hypospadias. He had been ostracized by other children at his school because he usually smelled like urine and had wet clothes. Once we figured out that he was peeing on his scrotum and wetting his underwear, I taught him to use his foreskin to stretch himself to direct his stream. He began to make friends and gain self-esteem in the third grade when his hygiene improved. "Do you know what a foreskin is?" Terry shook his head "Not really." "It's a covering of skin over the end of the penis that all boys are born with. Sometimes it doesn't form all the way, and ends up looking like the skin on Sam's." "Um, why is that?" Terry wondered. "Well, penises are not all the same, just like people aren't. Did you say anything to him?" Terry shook his head. "Did Sammy see yours? It's okay, I'm just curious." "Uh-uh. I just pulled my shorts up under the towel. I didn't take mine off...Um, Derrick? Is mine normal?" "I don't know, I've never seen..." What happened next surprised me. Terry stood up, turned to me and dropped his robe. Instantly, three things became very clear...why his crazy ass previous foster mother thought the devil was in him, why he preferred baggy swimwear, and why he thought Sam had a small penis. Terry's uncut boyhood dangled four inches flaccid, and had the girth of a hot dog. There was no doubt that a growth spurt had probably already started. I had never seen a boy endowed with length like this at his age, although I knew that it sometimes does happen. A couple dozen black pubes graced the base of his shaft, but his golf ball sized scrotum was smooth and bare. "...you, um, undressed. Looks normal to me. Do you keep it clean under there?" I wondered. "Uh huh, see?" he said, and pulled back the foreskin to expose his slick pink glans and pale white inner foreskin. After being in the pool most of the day, it didn't have any smell I could detect. He giggled. "Oooof! I get boners when I do that!" Terry blushed and I could see his organ stiffen and begin to rise. "You probably scared Crazy Lady to death when she saw that weapon pointed at her, Terry!" I teased. He blushed, giggled and shook his penis between two fingers. He snapped to full stiffness, five thin inches and some change pointed up at a sixty-degree angle. I turned the sound back on and began watching the show again, and Terry sat down next to me and turned his attention to the show. In a few minutes, he was flaccid again, and put his robe back on. We watched the show until I felt him sag over against me and begin to snore. I turned off the TV and picked Terry up to carry him to bed. I almost took him to his room, but stopped halfway and went to my bed and laid him on one side, and got under the covers on the other. The next thing I remember, light was coming in the windows and Terry was still in the same position on "his" side of my bed where I left him. He was watching me with open eyes. "Hey mister, good morning" I said "Mornin,' Derrick." He mumbled back. I closed my eyes and rolled over onto my back, not ready to get up yet. Terry opened the robe and got on top of me and lay down on me like a cat. Only heavier. And with bony elbows. And knees, too. I began to poke him in the ribs and make him jump and squirm. He was loving the attention, and screeching in laughter like I was killing him. This went on until he wore out and relaxed and stopped fighting. "So, are you still worried about Sam, or did I answer your questions?" "Yup, you did. Thanks." "Terry, don't make fun of him about what you told me, okay?" "I won't, he's my friend and stuff. Maybe my best friend, I don't know yet." "How long have you known Sam?" "Since kindergarten...but now we live so close together...we didn't use to before." "Gotcha" I replied. I ran my nails over his back and he sighed and whispered "Claw me harder, please." I stepped up the pressure. "Aw, yeah, that's awesome. Thanks". "You like back scratches?" He nodded against my chest. "My grandpa used to give me scratches...before he died." "I'm sorry, Terry. You must miss him." "Yeah...It sucked. Mom went to jail, and I didn't have nobody after that. And, and .... crazy lady..." Terry began to get upset, but he was opening up to me just a little and told me he had lived most of his life with his grandfather. He broke down and began to cry while lying on my chest as I scratched his back. "Sorry" he blubbered. "It's okay, why are you sad?" "Um, `cause he was nice to me and stuff, like you are." I could feel tears dripping onto my chest. "Do you believe in heaven?" He sniffed "Uh, yeah." "Do you believe he's there?" "Uh huh." "Then he knows you're safe and happy, right?" "Um, yeah, I guess." Shortly after that, he began to snore. I fell asleep and about an hour later, he stirred and woke me up. I could feel something firm against my belly, and I'm sure he knew I needed to pee also. We got up, took our showers and got our day started. The week went by and I took Terry out to Lazer Tag, and Indian curry place and the local pizza joint and arcade. We also spent time in the pool, and Terry tried to tan. I kept an eye on the time he spent in the sun, and when he didn't get darker, he blamed me for not giving him enough minutes. He wanted to ask Sam over to swim again, and I told him Sam could come over anytime his dad said it was okay. I guess he wheedled and begged Dan to bring him over around 9 in the morning on Saturday so they could have a whole day of it. Sam was carrying a pair of shorts and had swimmers on and a tee shirt and flip flops on his feet. I greased Terry up with sunscreen, but Sam refused. He told me he didn't burn. As soon as his father left, the boys were in the pool. I sat under the umbrella at the table on the corner of the pool deck to keep an eye on things, while I did some banking on my tablet. I left to get a cold beer and some sodas for the boys. When I came back out of the house, two pairs of shorts were on the pool deck, and I could tell Sam and Terry were skinny dipping. I let the boys know about the sodas on the table, and half expected them to retrieve their shorts before coming over to get them. I was mistaken... Sam swam over to the steps and got out and strutted over to me and picked up his soda. I had been correct in my hunch. Sam's penis was identical to little Adrian's, only slightly larger. There were no signs of puberty, his body hairless below his eyebrows, his testicles the size of small grapes. "Sam, can I ask you something?" "Sure, Mister Wells...AAAAAH!" he screamed, as Terry came up behind Sam and pressed his cold can of soda between Sam's shoulder blades. "Guess what, Dad!! Sam's a nudist!" Wow, what? Did he call me... Dad? "Yes, I can see that he is...you too, by the looks of it. Sam is your dad okay with this?" Sam spun around and looked at Terry and I could see the look on his face when saw Terry's goods. He looked back at me and replied. "Uh huh. I'm always naked at home. Um, what did you want to ask me?" I had forgotten. "It's...it's not important, Sam." I began grilling burgers for lunch and neither boy bothered getting dressed to eat, sitting at the table dripping and wolfing down their food. When they had finished eating, Terry got up and dove back in the pool. Sam got up and stood next to my chair. "Is he really only eleven?" he asked in a very quiet voice so as not to be overheard. "Yes, he really is." I replied. I could see the wheels turning in his head. "Anytime you want to ask about anything, it's cool, Sam." Sam nodded and smiled. Terry surfaced in the pool started calling Sam back in. Sam made a running dive back into the pool. A few hours later, the boys got out and laid out in the sun with their shorts covering their eyes. That is how Dan found them when he arrived to pick Sam up. I was somewhat apprehensive of his reaction to seeing his son and a friend naked, but he just snickered and said, "He can't keep his clothes on anywhere. I'm surprised the school hasn't called me. I'm sorry about this, really." "Oh, no, don't be. Terry was asking me if he could skinny dip a couple days ago, I think he just needed some encouragement. Hey, you want a beer? I do want to ask you something." "Um, yeah, I could use one." He replied as he followed me inside where the boys wouldn't hear. "Dan, does Sam know that he is different? Last time he was here, Terry saw him undressed and asked me about it, and I suspected hypospadias, but didn't know until today. I told him not to say anything to Sam, and I don't want to say the wrong thing either." Dan sighed and nodded. "I appreciate your thoughtfulness toward Sam very much. Yeah, he knows. I was born with it too, so we had that talk a long time ago. He won't mind if Terry is curious about it." "Thanks, I'll let him know." "Now I'm curious, how do you know about hypospadias? It's not terribly common." "One of my placements was a boy with it. He spent three years with me." "How old?" "He was seven, and left when he was ten." "Hmmm...I was hoping you could give me some advice for when puberty comes knocking" he laughed. "You should ask Terry!" I joked. Dan began to laugh, then looked at me "You're serious? He's only eleven...like Sam." "You didn't get a good look at him, then." Dan looked out the sliding door glass at the pool deck, where the boys were standing on the edge of the pool throwing a quarter in and taking turns diving for it. "Holy Jeeezus...that hang belongs on a teenager! What do you feed him?" he said watching Terry dive off the side. "Canned spinach!" I joked. We both had a good laugh at my joke. I wondered if Sam and Terry knew who Popeye the sailor man is... "Seriously, it's not that tough a job. I had the facts of life talk with nine other boys in Terry's position. They really just want you to love them, assure them that their problems aren't that unique and listen to them. The rest of it all works out in the long run. You know what actually threw me a bit today?" Dan shook his head. "Terry called me Dad. He's only been here three weeks." "Does he know his father?" "I don't think he's ever met him. He was raised by his grandfather who passed." "I guess you're doing some things right, then." Dan replied. Just then, the sliding door slid open a crack, and a naked and dripping Terry stuck his head inside. "What's up?" I asked. "Um, is it okay if Sam spends the night, since we don't have school tomorrow? I want him to see our bats." I looked at Dan and said, "It's fine with me, where else would Sam get to see Terry's prize herd of bats, right?" We both cracked up laughing and Dan replied. "I guess I can't deny my favorite boy an opportunity like that!" Sam had appeared at the door crack and chimed in "I'm your only boy...and kid, Dad" "Thank God for tender mercies" Dan muttered. "I heard that, Dad unit" Sam teased. So it was that Dan and Sam stayed for BBQ chicken and sides grilled on the pool deck, and Dan left around eight. I turned the pool lights on and Sam enjoyed the bat pool airspace patrol as much as Terry did his first time. Later, when it was time to go in, Sam went to take a shower first and I took Terry aside. We revisited our earlier discussion, and I explained a bit more about Sam. I also thanked him for what he said on the pool deck, and we hugged. Terry nodded, and went to take his shower. I heard some giggling and talking, so Terry must have jumped in the shower with Sam. The next morning, neither boy dressed until it was time to take Sam home. It was obvious that they stayed up pretty late. One night several months later, Terry woke me in the middle of the night. He said he thought he had wet the bed. I was pretty sure that wasn't the case, and after seeing his sheets we had the talk about wet dreams, and what that meant. He said he wasn't sexually active other than mutual masturbation and oral with Sam. I said if that begins to include anal penetration, we needed to talk. He said that was gross, but did promise to tell me. I know it was ungodly early in the morning and he was probably half asleep, but he asked "Do you love me?" "Yes" I replied without hesitation. I hugged him tight and he asked "Really?" "There are some things I won't joke about, and that's one of them. Okay? Cool?" He buried his face in my chest and nodded. I felt and heard him gasp a couple times, and then he grabbed me tight. We sat there on the edge of his bed in an embrace for a long time and his face was red and wet with tears when he told me he was tired and ready to sleep. I stood up and tucked him in. I kissed his forehead and wondered if anyone had ever done that for him before. I'm not sure he got any sleep that night. Over the next two years, Sam slept over many times at my house, and Terry spent nights at Dan's as well. I thought Terry would end up hung like a porn star after such a precocious beginning, but nature blessed him just shy of six inches and an average girth when it stopped growing at twelve and a half. Sam began puberty at thirteen much to his relief. He was no longer the little boy compared to Terry, and ended up a bit taller than Terry after a growth spurt that year. Terry was fifteen when the county took him back to live with his mother. He begged me to keep him, and I did ask Miss Sharon what my options were which is something I had never done in the past. I told Terry that he was always welcome in the home we had shared and when he began driving, he could come see me. Sam would drop by when Terry came to visit, and it was like old times again. The boys started double dating when Terry could borrow his mom's car or mine, and tried their best to become sexually active with girls. A lot had changed since I was a teenager, when you used whatever condom was on the shelf at the drugstore or the gas station. They were all one size, usually too tight and never comfortable. I didn't want the boys to get so frustrated that they would risk not using them, so Dan sat by red-faced as I gave a condom lesson with a cucumber and gave one to each boy to try on for size. "Come on, Sam...You can fluff me!" Terry teased as they went into the bedroom for some privacy. I could hear them joking. "Profo- what?" Terry protested. "Prophylactic" Sam replied. "I can't even friggin' spell that and I got one on my dick!" Dan and I laughed and shook our heads. Terry said the condom fit okay on him, but Sam complained that his was much too tight. That didn't surprise us, as Sam's penis is a bit shorter than Terry's but has a thicker shaft and wider glans which isn't unusual with hypospadias. "Dan, I guess you'll have break out some of your Magnums for Sam!" I said, which set off a bit of good-natured ribbing on Terry. The boys "almost" lost their virginity together later that year on a double date at a drive-in theatre with a pair of girls. I teased Sam about it the next time I saw him. He blushed and admitted it could have gone better. "We didn't know what the hell we were doing, that back seat was really cramped and we were afraid we'd get caught...I came before it was even in. She was pissed." Terry said that he had been so nervous that he couldn't climax and lost his erection after several minutes and his date asked him to stop after it was clear that it wasn't going to happen. They took the girls home after the movie, and masturbated each other to conclusion on the way to my house. Subsequent attempts at intercourse went much better for both of them and the girls, according to sources... Terry and Sam graduated from high school with honors and received scholarships to a nearby state college engineering program. They roomed together for two years until they declared majors in their chosen specialties, Terry went into Aerospace, and Sam studied Chemical Engineering. Sam had to transfer to a different institution for his program, but they kept in touch. They were both in serious relationships, and got married soon after graduating. I attended both weddings, and see Sam and his wife and son when they come home for Christmases with Dan. Did Sebastian inherit Sam's penchant for naturism, and his unique anatomy? Let's just say "like father, like son." Terry and his wife and children visit me at Christmas, and I go see them in Moses Lake, Washington where they live and work, to escape the desert heat on the 4th of July. I continued to foster kids after my time with Terry that needed a safe and happy home, and each one of them was a gift that their families did not or could not appreciate at the time for whatever reasons. Terry was special in my heart among all of them, and it was his story that I chose to share with you.