Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2019 09:06:15 +0000 (UTC) From: Peter Brown Subject: Queen Mary Bell Boys 128 Queen Mary Bell-boys 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 128 It snowed that night - heavily. To our eyes four inches of fresh snow was something seen maybe once in childhood; to the Kingstonites it was nothing out of the ordinary. Esau was very dismissive. "If it's less than a foot it's no big deal. More than that it gets interesting - no school, for one thing." As it was a Monday school would undoubtedly be open, but as none of them was still at school this was of merely academic interest. Work places however, like school, would be open so Cy, Jakey and Esau, and Abe would have to be up and doing. It would have been most unfriendly if the rest of us stayed in the warm beds vacated by our hosts, so when the Kingstonites had finished in the bathroom we followed suit. Ten minutes later Sarah was presiding at a table with no fewer than ten people eating the mountains of food she'd prepared. She and Rueben smiled happily at each other. "We've never had four English visitors before," she informed Rueben. "Sarah, Sarah," he said, "how many times have I told you, these aren't all English. Charlie is a Scot." "Ach, it's all the same," she said. Charlie said nothing. I knew that he minded a great deal, but at at table so lavishly spread with Sarah's food and love saying nothing was the best thing to do. Javid wasn't going to let it go though. "We're all British," he said, "that's easy to remember." Javid's use of the B-word produced smiles from Esau and Jakey, recollecting Esau's remark from 1936. When they'd finished the Kingstonites went off to work. We four offered to help Sarah clear up, but she would have none of it. "Go to the soda fountain. Harry will be there directly and I expect he'll have your friends with him. You are eating there tonight - we all are - and so we'll see you then." She was adamant that no help was needed. Rueben had remained silent while all this was going on, and as we got up to go he rose too. "Come to the barn," he said. This was odd, but odder still was the means by which we would get there. A small tractor with a snow plough was outside the back door. A path to the barn had been cleared. "That's Cy's job before he goes into town," said Rueben. Just then Tim appeared. "Harry's gone with the other three to open up the soda fountain," said Tim, then his eyes lit upon the tractor. He was intrigued. "My job on Queen Mary is in the engine room," he said, "and this little beauty looks really powerful. Can I have a go?" Rueben smiled. "By all means, Tim, climb on and I'll show you." Tim the Engineer mastered the thing almost as quickly as he'd mastered the elevators when he was 14, and was happily driving all over the place with the plough raised. "Can I plough anywhere useful, Rueben?" I'm happy to tell you that by 1100 quite a lot of the pavements - sidewalks, as we were instructed - within 500 yards of Rueben's front gate had been ploughed - not always as well as he or Cy would have done it, but well enough for a bunch of Brits. All five of us had a go and when we got to within shouting distance of the soda fountain we were joined by three more. Tim, by now The Expert in ploughing, solemnly instructed the others. More of the town was duly ploughed. The eight of us were, if truth were told, like a bunch of 10-year-olds with a new toy: we hadn't had as much fun for years. Well, that's not strictly true, as you know, but let me put it this way. We hadn't had as much fun with our clothes on for years. At 1230 we parked the machine outside the soda fountain. Several of the townsfolk had heard about this British invasion and word had spread that the streets were being ploughed by the invaders. Quite a few people 'just dropped by, Harry' to the soda fountain to satisfy their curiosity, and we were thanked effusively. One man observed that it wasn't right for the white boys and niggers to be ploughing together. "Aw, can it, Joe," said Harry, "the one you're calling a nigger plowed your sidewalk this morning, and you aint never plowed it since I was in diapers. Say thank you to the gentleman." But the old man would not so, but drew his gun. Unwilling to regard Prince with anything other than considerable aversion, Joe turned on his heels and left without a word. "Sorry about that, Prince," said Harry, "it's never loaded. He's a royal pain in the ass, that one." Prince smiled and turned to Graham. "Me too, white boy." Graham, caught in mid swallow of his coffee, laughed frothily onto the counter. Joe was forgotten: harmony reigned. It had been pretty scary for a few moments though. Then Ryan came in. "Where have you been?" asked Javid. But Ryan didn't answer him, instead catching Harry's eye. "Come through to the back, Ryan," he said. The two of them disappeared and a girl of about 16 came out and took her place at the counter. "What are those two up to?" said Javid, "he was very quiet last night when we got back to the Perkinses." "He'll tell us if he wants to," said Charlie, ever the diplomat. It was clear that he and Harry, and possibly Harry's parents, had something important to discuss, and we weren't a part of it. It was half an hour before Harry and Ryan reappeared, and by that time we eight had grown hungry. There was evidently someone behind the scenes to do the cooking because when the girl came across she asked us what we wanted to eat. Knowing that we would be feasting with the Perkinses that evening we limited ourselves to an 'All-American Breakfast' each. "That won't be too big," said Nigel. How wrong he was! Years later when Charlie and I visited the United States we remembered how innocent we had all been in the matter of portion sizes, not least at breakfast. We should have guessed that a meal branded as breakfast bus served for lunch might have been a bit more than two rashers of bacon and a fried egg. The two of them appeared shortly after we'd demolished as much as we could of the mountain of food which had appeared. "All set?" said Ryan. "We haven't paid," I said, looking hopefully at Ryan as none of us had any money. Ryan peeled off enough notes and Harry grinned. "That's more than enough. Thanks." Ryan led us to the bus - where would he be taking us? When we got there he sat us all at the back and joined us. "I expect you've all been wondering what all the cloak-and-dagger stuff's been about," he said. Nods all round. "Well, this goes no further, and unless Harry or his parents bring it up you lot keep quiet. OK?" Nods all round. "Harry, Cy and Abe are all planning to join the US Army. They've signed up and are waiting to be sent for." "We know," said Tim, "Sadie Perkins told us." "Well, there's more to it than Sadie knew when she told you. When the three of them went to Albany to sign up there was a great crowd of young men from all over New York. Cy and Abe got talking to some other Jewish boys - they didn't know them, but they liked the look of them, so went to talk. These other boys were hoping to be able to keep together. 'They have units with just Jews', said one of them. His friend said, 'and there's just niggers too in some units'. Cy and Abe weren't surprised, but when the first boy said, jokingly, 'I bet there's units with just fags' Cy and Abe were worried. Were they - just 'fags' -" he saw blank faces looking at him "- oh, 'fags' is what they call queers here. Cy and Abe didn't like the sound of what they were hearing. If the Jews, themselves used to being singled out as different, thought queers were bad news then Cy and Abe - and Harry too - were in for a hard time of it. Fighting the Japs was one thing, but if your comrades regarded you as being inferior what was the point? The three of them were wondering how to deal with this when we showed up out of the blue." "I don't see where we come into it," said Graham. "OK, we're queer and we all know but it doesn't make any difference." "Not on Queen Mary perhaps," said Ryan, "but you're all fairly discreet about it. There's plenty of the crew queer as well, but we don't flaunt it. The ones who aren't queer aren't threatened, and if they choose not to know, that's fine by us." "I agree," I said, and the rest were nodding, "go on." "Well, when four of your turned up in the soda fountain Harry couldn't wait to let Cy and Abe know. The three of them has a quick talk and they agreed that Harry should talk to me, and see whether I could give them any advice." "And did you?" asked Javid, pleased that his question of some hours ago was about to be answered." "Oh yes. I told him that the best course of action was to be open and honest with his parents about his sexuality, and that Cy and Abe should do the same. Without the support of their parents they would be in a dangerous place all on their own. None of them was happy about telling their parents, but I think I persuaded them. If their parents loved them as sons willing to fight the Japs they would be very funny parents if they turned their backs on those sons merely because they were queer. That's where they are at present. As far as I know none of them has told anyone yet, but Harry told me they've agreed to do it today." "What difference will that make to their joining the Army?" asked Sam, "do they take queers?" Ryan said he had no idea, but if a willing recruit told the recruiting officer that he was queer then at least no-one was sailing under false colours. "Maybe they serve in the USA. There must be thousands of service personnel doing jobs that don't involve fighting." Prince was outraged. "What bloody difference does it make. I'm queer and I don't fucking care who knows, and if I get the chance to fight I'm all for it. Queers aren't scared, Ryan." Ryan smiled. "Calm down, Prince, I'm on your side. I'm telling you what the US Army might think, and what the three here fear. Now, when we go to the Perkinses it may be that Harry's told them, or he may not. If any of them asks questions be completely honest. Well, be honest about yourselves and your boyfriends. I don't think they need to know about your pre-war professional lives. Patrick, you can make sure they all toe the line." I said that we saw the picture clearly. "Trust us, Ryan." The evening was going to be rather different from how we had expected it to be - and how Harry's parents had expected it to be - 24 hours ago. Ryan added the last little twist in the tale. "The Fishbein boys and Abe will be there tonight as well." ***** In fact they weren't the only last-minute guests at the Perkins table that night. Rueben and Sarah accompanied their three sons, and Abe's mother (a widow, we learned) was there too. Luckily Jethro had warning that there would be more round the table than had been anticipated; luckily Sadie seemed able to conjure supplies from nowhere. When we finally sat down to eat there were 19 of us. And 'finally' was the right word. The nine of us went to Harry's house at 4.30. It was getting dark by then, and bitterly cold. We found a tense atmosphere. Cy, Jakey and Esau were there with Rueben and Sarah. I got the impression they had been waiting for us to arrive. Jethro looked at Rueben and nodded. Rueben cleared his throat. "We've been hearing a lot of unpleasant news today, and it takes time to come to terms with it. Jethro and I were pretty sure you boys and ours were fooling around back when you were last here, but we thought it was just a passing thing. No harm done. But it seems it wasn't a passing thing at all. Now that's not what fathers - parents - want to hear, but sometimes you have to hear what you don't want to hear, and accept it. It takes time though. Cy tells me that you boys - men, I suppose I must call you what with the War and all - are ... dammit, what word should I use?" I knew it had to be me. "Rueben, the word doesn't matter. Queer, fag, they're just words. What matters is they needn't be hate words. Joe called Prince a nigger today, and he used it as a hate word. You don't hate us, so what you call us doesn't matter. Why not settle for `queer'? It's what we call ourselves." Rueben gave a wintry smile. It would take time. "OK. Cy says you're all queers. Did you make our sons queer?" "Oh, Pa," said Cy, "it doesn't work like that. I've been queer as long as I've known, and so have the twins. No-one made us that way, not these guys, not you or Ma. It's just the way we are. We're still your sons and we still need you to love us." Rueben said nothing. "Rueben, I think there's something you should know," I said. "The eight of us from Queen Mary aren't just eight queer boys. We're four long-term stable loving couples. Charlie and I met a few days after we joined Queen Mary in 1936 when I was 14 and he was 16." I glanced at Charlie. "I love him, Rueben, I've loved him from the moment I decided to seduce him. Yes, a 14-year-old with such designs! But neither of us has regretted our relationship for one moment." Charlie smiled and said, "every word is true, .Rueben, and if we're put on this earth to find true happiness Patrick and I are doing our best." "So are Tim and I," said Sam. "And Javid and I." "And Graham and I. None of us thought for a moment anything like this would happen," went on Prince, "but living with these guys it was obvious that if you felt strongly about one of them it was crazy not to accept it. Queen Mary's a little world of its own, and maybe queers are more accepted in a little world, but this nigger has never felt as at home as he does being a queer living with the man he loves." Sarah and Sadie had said nothing while all this was going on. Sarah sighed. "Oh Cy, I so wanted grandchildren. But an old woman doesn't always get what she wants." Cy had the wit to get up and put his arms round his mother. "You've got three sons who love you, Ma, and three sons who need to hear that you love them," and he held his mother while she composed herself. No-one moved. Then Sarah sighed again. "Well Cy, and well Jakey and Esau. Your father and I have always known that love is what matters, and if love comes to my door in fancy clothes I hope I'll still make him welcome. Has love come knocking on your door, Cy?" Cy was right on the spot. It took him all of three seconds to seize the opportunity Sarah had given him. "Yes, Ma. Abe and I have been boyfriends since before these Brits came here." Rueben solemnly handed Jethro a $5 bill. Sarah was aghast. "You haven't been betting our son's a ..." "You can say the word, Ma. Just so long as it isn't said with hate," said Esau unexpectedly. "I can't say the word, Esau. Give me time. I love you all just as much as I did yesterday, but words take longer to learn than loving. It's Rueben I'm worried about. How could you?" Rueben, having drawn his wife's ire, relaxed. "The bet was not that Cy's ... queer, but that his boyfriend's Abe. If he'd been Harry I'd have won." Harry hadn't said a word until then. "I don't have a boyfriend, but like the rest of them I'm queer too. Must be something in the water." His mother threw him a dirty look. "Until now everyone's been very honest and serious. These are difficult things for parents to get their heads round. How can you joke?" "Ma, how can I not joke?" said Harry. "We all know that the whole of Kingston is going to love the scandal of the Fishbein boys and the Perkins boy being faggots. That's why you all have to know so that the rest of the town doesn't. And if they find out, how quickly the scandal will die down if the parents just shrug and say `yes, so what'?" Ryan, the hidden hand behind all this, said that Harry had hit the nail on the head. "The boys have kept their feelings hidden pretty well from the people who know them best for several years. Now that they don't need to keep secrets any longer they will be a lot happier. Cy, Harry and Abe are all joining up. If they're able to be truthful when they get called and say they're homosexual the Army will be a lot happier to use them in the USA. They'll be a lot safer that way, and they'll still be serving Uncle Sam." Rueben stood up, crossed to Ryan and shook his hand. "If you're behind this outbreak of honesty and you saved my sons from being killed in the Pacific then I'm deeply in your debt." Jethro did the same, and Ryan blushed deeply. The two women exchanged glances of weary it's-always-the-mothers-who-have-to-keep-going-ness. Sadie Perkins rose to her feet. "With all this excitement you'll all need fed," she said and disappeared into the kitchen. Sarah got up to follow, but Rueben put his hand on her arm. "Harry, you go," he said. At that moment there was a knock at the door. Jethro answered and in came Abe and his mother Rachel. She was a feisty woman, although I didn't know the word then - she was the very embodiment of feistiness. From the look on her face Abe had enlightened her too. "Rueben Fishbein, I gather we're to be related," she said without any preamble, "so we'd better just accept the fact. Abe, Cy, come here." They stood before her like two scared 7-year-olds. "If either of you ever hurts the other I will be very cross. You say you love each other - good. That's what the Good Lord wants us all to do. You've chosen a damn funny way of doing it, but you're not the first, and I don't suppose you'll be the last." Rueben couldn't contain his amusement any longer. "Rachel, Rachel, I've always said you are the wisest women I'm not married to. I'll tell you a secret," and he whispered something in her ear. "What! All of them?" It was immediately clear what he must have said, so Charlie and I stood up. I reached out for his hand. "I'm Patrick, and this is Charlie, Rachel. We're all from Queen Mary." The other three couples introduced themselves, and Rachel (and everyone else) was confronted with ten young mem smiling happily, hand-in-hand with their boyfriends. Then we finally sat down to eat - all 19 of us. Naturally boyfriends sat next to each other, as did married couples. It was all very cosy. So was what 13 of us got up to in the barn afterwards. Only Ryan was absent. He was in a long huddle with five worried American parents. When we finally broke up, again just in time for curfew, the eight of us embraced each of the Kingstonites and held him close. Would they all make it through safely? Would we ever see any of them again? =============================================================================== The fun continues in Chapter 129 as we leave Boston and head south. Queen Mary did act as a troopship in 1940 and 1941 and made several trips to Australia and elsewhere. After Pearl Harbor she came under US control carrying American troops to the war in the Pacific. Later she returned to Atlantic crossings, carrying GIs and Canadians to the European theatre of war. Whether any passengers from 1936 were on board is not known, but it doesn't seem beyond the bounds of possibility. I have been economical with the truth in some details. She was originally fitted out (in Australia, not New York) to carry around 5,000 troops. In early 1942 she was refitted in Boston to increase her capacity to 8,500 and to give her the armament equivalent of a light cruiser. Later still her capacity reached 15,000. The photographs in Queen Mary 2 are real. I saw them while making a transatlantic crossing in 2017, and the boy I describe as "me" is really cute. I'm sure he had adventures ... Drop me a line at badboi666@btinternet.com - that is after you've dropped nifty a few quid. ===============================================================================