Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2022 18:30:38 +0000 (UTC)
From: ropingtop@aol.com
Subject: Uri's seduction - installment 1 (science fiction/fantasy, authoritarian)

"Mother, Father, I'm home,"  Uriah , whom everyone called Uri, had come
back from work. It was a Thursday, so he knew that both of his parents
would be back from the university where they taught (his mother Beth
taught mathematics, and his father, Eric, was an economist). Thursdays
they both had short days.  There were days where one of them would not
finish teaching until 7:15, and on those days, Uri either prepared his
own dinner, or ate with the one parent who was home.  At 24, he could
handle things like cooking simple dishes. It had been something he had
learned to do in the "children resettlement quarter," which is what the
new regime now called what used to be called orphanages.
There had been many orphaned or "needing to be resettled" children after
the famines of 2207.  Famines caused by the siege imposed by the
Locrians, the party which eventually took control of the entire country.
When food grew scarce parents did what parents do, and gave what rations
they had to their children. When starvation eventually overtook them,
there usually weren't familial adults for the children to stay with. At
first, the Penginians had placed the childen in orphanages. When they
finally surrendered and the Locrians took charge, rather than ending the
famine, they took steps to increase what they called "hunger pressure" on
adults who defied the regime. The result was tens of thousands of
children without parents, and the Locrian system for training them. The
view of the Locrian government was that if they could use food as a
"carrot" rather than a stick, they would have a highly compliant
generation in the next few years.  That mostly turned out to be true. And
when they appealed to their supporters, who included Beth and Eric, to
forego having their own children and to adopt one or more orphans, The
Wallens had agreed. In fact, Beth voluntarily underwent sterilization.
She was an outspoken supporter of the need to inculcate the orphaned
children into the new society and to reduce stress on the issues
confronting the new regime after a long and violent conflict.

Both parents had been drawn to Uriah when they visited their local
resettlement quarter. He was a very pretty young boy: at 4 years old, he
had hair the color of wheat which had not darkened as he matured. His
eyes, almost silver, suggested that there had been someone from an alien
planet in his genetic mix, but they didn't care. The comments of the
supervisor:  "You're interested in HALF BREEDS?"  did not bother them.
Again, both of them were very strong supporters of the new regime, and
felt that everyone had to be included in the new society.

As Uri grew, his parents enchantment with the new regime dulled. One of
the promises of the Locrian regime was that supporters would be at the
front of any promotion lines, would receive bonuses for service to the
state, etc.  The government, as will not surprise most, kept almost none
of these promises. Both Beth and Eric were professors when they adopted
Uri, and they were still professors - albeit with tenure now. Their
stipends had increased, but not to the degree they expected. They got by,
and to many they would seem to be "comfortably well off." Still, there
was the sense between them that they had been sold a false bill of goods.
The only place this had a concrete impact was when they were asked if
they would be willing to adopt a second child. They both wanted to: they
thought that Uri could use a brother or sister: he was such a quiet,
introspective child, but they did not see how they could manage,
financially, with two children. Instead, they doted on Uri.

It wasn't hard to dote on their son. He was no trouble at all. Well, he
was CLOSE to no trouble. He was what we would call "a beauty." His looks
actually embarrassed him. Girls, then young women and boys, and then
young men, developed crushes on him. They wanted to be around him, they
wanted him to come to their parties and, when it eventually became clear
that Uri preferred men to women, the men all wanted to sleep with him.
Uri had very little interest: he was studious, but here again, he vexed
his parents. Both were quantitative sorts, and Uri's mind wasn't there.
He did well in his science and math classes, but his heart was in dance,
literature, painting, and other areas that the Locrian state deemed
"non-essential" or "frivolous." For sure, these areas were not banned,
but when Uri finished school, notwithstanding his top grades, he took a
low level job in a government facility dedicated to water purification.
There, he essentially was a glorified administrator who did his job well,
but wasn't interested in putting in the effort to get promotions or to
advance.
The only part of the job that truly interested him was a young scientist
he met at the orientation for new employees.
"I'm Jad. Nice to meet you," was the first thing Jad had ever said to
him. Uri remembered how he had to fight to keep his mouth from dropping
opened. Jad had an exotic look about him with his curly black hair, his
non white skin, his black eyes, and his rosy lips that always seemed to
be smiling.
For one of the few times in his life, Uri was tongue tied as he tried to
introduce himself. Jad laughed: he thought Uri was nervous because a
scientist had approached him. At the facility, scientists had a higher
rank than administrators. Still, there were no bans on associations, and
they started, as we say "hanging out."  Beth and Eric were delighted that
Uri had found someone to spend time with. On a practical level, it meant
that the hours of music - some of it very discordant - that came out of
Uri's room together with the sometimes less than graceful steps as he
practiced dance, were reduced and they could work and/or sleep. Beyond
that, they truly DID want Uri to be happy. Each of them had been on their
own very young, but under the new Locrian system, single people could not
live on their own until they were 27. The goal of that policy had been to
encourage marriages, be they same sex or not. Locrian doctrine stated
that marriage was something that could stabilize a regime. Indeed, Beth
and Eric were an example of it.  Eric posed the question to Beth one
night when Uri was out with Jad.
"Do you think that, maybe... they'll pair up?"  Beth had smiled. "Maybe.
It's Uri's first serious relationship. I think we have to let him
breathe."
Jad and Uri both knew that the law on copulating before marriage was
strict and they had also parsed the law, word by word, to make sure that
anything they did would not put them afoul of the law.  They pushed it
right to the limit. Kissing was certainly permitted, and they did spend
hours in "lip lock." The law had a long list of what was banned, and
anything that involved "penetration" with a penis or non-animate object,
was banned before marriage. They had found nothing to prohibit mutual
masturbation and there was a lot of that too. Beth just smiled when she
cleaned up Uri's room and found the soiled handkerchiefs.  She said
nothing, but just used some of her free spending money to buy more of
them. She put them in Uri's drawer. He noticed and one day came up behind
her, kissed her as he put his hand on her shoulder, and said softly
"Thank you Mother."  She just smiled, and realized that now she
understood why so many people developed crushes on her son.

So this is all by way of background for the events we're about to write
about.  The evening that Uri arrived home, his father called to him from
the kitchen. Their kitchen was also their "family room." They did eat in
a dining room, but conferences, important matters, etc, all happened in
the kitchen.
"Uri, can you come to the kitchen please?  We need to talk to you."
"Certainly father.  I'll just change out of my tunic first." The job at
the filtration plant required a uniform that really didn't look like a
uniform until you saw 500 young men and women wearing it: it was a
spotless white collarless shirt, worn with a pair of pale blue trousers.
The combination was unique to the water treatment plant, and such was the
case with every government agency. The clothes a person wore revealed
what he or she did. Jad wore the same uniform. When Uri and Jad walked
together, there was usually someone who remarked on how two young men
could dress the same, and look so different. And anyone who did NOT have
a crush on Uri, had a crush on Jad.  Then there were some who fantasized
about the two of them, especially when they would walk in one of the more
liberal areas of the city and hold hands.
Normally, Uri would change out of his spotless whites and put on
something darker and less formal for dinner, in case he spilled
something, which was usually the case. Stained uniforms were not
acceptable, and unless the stain was the result of an accident at the
plant, the worker was responsible for replacing stained clothing. Uri did
not wish to stress the family budget with an unnecessary expense.
"We won't be eating yet, son. But please come and talk with us. This
concerns your future, and it's important."  Eric didn't exaggerate
things, so Uri was concerned.  He stopped changing his clothes, and
hurried into the kitchen. To his surprise, his parents did not seem
worried, but they were serious.  His mother spoke first.
"Uri, I know that you've studied the Locrian rules about ..." she cleared
her throat  "Intimacy."
Now Uri was confused.  He HAD looked at some of them and yes, he and Jad
had come close to the line but they had never crossed it.  He knew it.
"Yes Mother, I have. Did someone report Jad and I?"
She looked at Eric and then at her son.
"Would they have reason to?"
"NO!  Of course not, mother.  I know the rules and the consequences.
There is nothing that you need to know."  She breathed a sigh.
"Good.  Because, well.. that would factor into what we wanted to talk
about."
"Mother, Father, with all due respect, you're being very allusive. What
happened."
Now, his father sighed. "Uri, when you looked at the rules, did you read
the one about intergenerational relationships?"
"Uh, no.  Jad and I are the same age."  His father smiled. "Yes, I know.
But the rule - and bear with me - states that there is a formula for
determining what relationships are 'appropriate' based on age.  There was
an old earth rule, just a slogan that became law: take your age, divide
it in two, and add six. That is the youngest person you're allowed to
date.  So.. I'm 44, Uri, and if your mother were under 28, I could not
date her."
"Unless ..." now his mother spoke. "There was permission from an older
relative to court the younger person."
"Mom, Dad, I'm still confused."  Eric sighed again.
"We received a letter today, Uri.  A very pleasant, well written one,
asking for permission to court you."  Uri wasn't very good at math, so it
took him a minute to do the calculations.
"So... someone who is over 36 is interested in ... DATING me?" Uri's eyes
widened.
"In fact, he's 42, son.  He is a senior government official, who works in
the department of diplomacy.  I have the letter and photos.  Let me show
you."
Uri scanned through them. His father was right:  it was a very well
written letter, very polite, explaining that he had seen Uri when he had
been a part of an official government delegation to the water treatment
plant.  The letter talked about Uri's "bell like" laugh ("well, he got
that right. Jad says it's a cow bell but, ok..."  Uri thought), and how
Uri reminded the writer of a young fawn.  The letter went on to state
that, of course, if Uri and his family decided in the negative, that was
that, but he hoped they'd consider.
Uri couldn't remember the man, but if the photos were accurate, he was
very attractive for his age: a moustache (almost never seen amongst
Locrians), a full head of salt and pepper hair and a body that was
obscured by his more formal clothing (diplomats wore traditional Earth
suit and ties), but seemed to be kept up.
"Mom, Dad, I'm not sure why we're sitting here like this. I mean, could
it be clearer that... as soon as we can, I plan to marry Jad?"   They
looked at each other.
"Uri dear, of course.  Of course. We just wanted to include you. We'll
send a response immediately. And of course you can see it.  We just
thought..."
"Thought what? I'm still not clear on this."
His mother spoke. "One of the rules on this sort of courtship, Uri, is
that the seeker -that would be Mr. Peters - pays a dowry to the family of
the younger person if the relationship proceeds to marriage."
"MARRIAGE???? ARE YOU FOLKS CRAZY?  HAVE YOU BEEN INHALING TOO MUCH CHALK
DUST?"  Then Uri settled down.  "I apologize mother, father. That was
uncalled for."
"No, it was not Uri, absolutely not. You're an adult and you make your
own decisions. " He sighed. "I wish he could have spoken to you directly
and all of this could have been avoided."  He looked down.  Uri knew that
when his father looked down, he wasn't finished speaking.
"I WOULD like you to maybe do us a favor, Uri."
"Well, what's that?"
"As you know, your mother and I had wished to do better by you."
"I have no complaints, father."
"Son, please let me finish."
"I'm sorry. I'm being too emotional."
"There is something very different about an out and out rejection, and
one that is given after a meeting :  dinner, coffee, something like that.
Given our positions, and also yours, would you consider just... maybe...
a coffee date with Mr. Peters before you turn him down?"
Uri laughed.  "Sort of taking one for the team" the way they used to
say.  He smiled. "Politics are so confusing. But of course. I'd like to
participate in writing the letter, and I think I need to explain what's
happening to Jad."
"Yes of course, Uri, of course," his mother answered.  "Let's write the
letter after dinner."

All three were surprised by the appetites they had, and after Uri and his
father cleared and did the dishes (Beth had cooked that night), they were
back at the table writing the letter. Striking the right tone was
difficult, but eventually, they settled on a letter that thanked Mr.
Peters for his note, and how Uri was very moved by his remembering Uri's
laugh and his flattering comments about how he moved.  The letter went on
to say that Uri would be pleased to meet for coffee at Mr. Peters'
convenience, as long as Mr. Peters understood that this was simply
exploratory, on both of their parts, and that he should not read anything
into the acceptance.  Then the three of them signed the letter, even
though Peters had only written to the parents.

Peters' reply came back quickly.  He wrote how delighted he was that they
even considered his request, and he understood and agreed with everything
they wrote. He then proposed a time and place for he and Uri to meet for
their coffee.  It was convenient, and Uri accepted.
Jad did NOT take things well when Uri told him.
"I don't understand. I mean, I'll be able to provide for you, you know
that. And... you pretty much promised me that one day, we'd settle down
together."
"And we WILL Jad, we will."  Uri smiled at him. He moved closer to kiss
him and whispered  "Do you know how much I want the day to come when I'm
not holding your penis but feel it inside me?"
"MMMMM.  You're very persuasive Uri. Very persuasive.  I'll try to think
of it as Supervisor Winnick taking you out for a birthday lunch or
something like that."
"Thank you Jad. If you had said no, I really would have declined things.
I would have pretended to be sick or something."
"Do not tempt me Uri." Jad put his hand on the back of Uri's neck.  "I
can't believe that the prettiest boy in town likes me. I can't lose you."
"You won't, Jad. You won't." He squeezed Jad's hand and kissed him again.

A week later, Uri, Beth and Eric sat in the living room of their house,
not speaking.  All three were nervous. Uri had changed outfits three
times, and had finally settled on a pale yellow collarless shirt and
casual slacks that were very close to being jeans.  He had a bright red
sweater too, that Jad was very fond of. He didn't know why he had dressed
so carefully for someone in whom he had no interest.
The doorbell rang and Uri jumped.
"I'll let him in. Sit Uri,"  Eric said gruffly, assuming the attitude he
thought a father should have when a date comes to pick up his child.  He
opened the door to a man who was just a little shorter than he was, with
bright blue eyes, curly black and white hair, the moustache and with a
big smile.
"Professor Shore, good evening." He held out his hand. "I'm Damian
Peters."
"Nice to meet you Mr. Peters"
"Please.  Call me Damian."
"Then you must call me Eric because there's another Professor Shore
here."
"OH.  You must be Beth Peters.  Please don't get up."  Damian walked over
to Beth. "I'm so pleased to meet you, Beth. You know, we hire interns all
the time and the ones who do best at quantitative skills:  ALL of them
took your classes."  Beth grinned and blushed.
"You flatter me unnecessarily Damian. Here's the man you want to see."
Peters turned around. Uri had stood up and as his parents remarked to
each other later, they couldn't remember the last time Uri had stood so
straight, or seemed so shy.
"Uri.  Thank you for giving up time to spend with me. " He held out his
hand and when Uri took it, he surrounded Uri's hand with his other one.
His gaze was so strong, Uri looked away for a minute.  He felt a stirring
that he couldn't explain.
"I'm sure it will be my pleasure.... should I call you Mr. Peters."
"Not yet," Damian thought to himself. "No, Damian is fine, Uri. " He
looked at his watch.
"Please don't make me rush anyone, but I'd like to have you back before
curfew falls and my auto is right outside."
"Have fun boys!" Beth called out and then blushed. Damian looked at her
and smiled. "Thank you. " Then he turned to Uri
"You're safe with me Uri. It's just a cup of coffee and maybe some
cake."
A voice deep inside Uri said "too bad," as Damian led him to his car.