Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2001 02:25:08 -0500 From: Ritch Christopher Subject: just-beyond-that-hill-12 All rights reserved. Copyright held by the author. If you are underage or are offended by gay fiction, containing graphic sex and explicit language, please exit now. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Why does it always take longer to return some place? Each mile travelled seemed like two. There was so much more to see, but nothing interested more than seeing the anticipated "Welcome to Tennessee, The Volunteer State", sign. It's funny but when I had crossed the Mississippi River when I was leaving Memphis going into Arkansas, I didn't remember a sign telling me to "Hurry Back". This was just a highway oversight I'm sure because people were always urged to stay. It's just a southern automatic to say "Y'all come back, you hear?" I prayed to God that my return was not in vain. What if I arrived only to find that Marie had returned and things were back to the way I had left them? She was my sister, but she was also a pain in my butt, God, what a dumb cunt! She was the one kink in the armor that made me always wonder about Eddie's true feelings for me. In spite of knowing all about her and her faults. he had married her any way. Worse yet, he had chosen her over me. That made me second best to her. The idea was not very flattering. But then, you'd have to know Eddie. He was a man of his word. If he had promised to marry her, he would have done it if he'd found out Marie had warts on her nose under her make-up and rode a broom. Maybe that's why the Highway Patrol couldn't find her. They weren't looking for broom tracks. This was one time, I hoped they didn't do their job. Marie was a missing person long before she actually left. Her brain was missing too. How could a bitch be so stupid to leave the most wonderful guy in all the world?...And his baby, too? Jesus! Was she really a part of our family or had Momma adopted her from some home for the idiots? She had never paid attention to Hal or to me. I kept trying to remember is she had cried at Hal's funeral? If she had, it would have been for show...or maybe someone told her she was suppose to. And Momma...would she stay on the farm and take care of Little Hal or would she be satisfied by my playing the role of "mother" to my nephew, and go back to live with Dad in Oak Ridge. Eddie, Little Hal, Momma, and me...under one small roof. That would create some very cramped complications. Momma would be in her room with the baby and Eddie would share my room while we tried to make silent love every night, not wanting to arouse her suspicion. Yep, it was adding up to a very unpleasant living arrangement...and if Marie HAD returned, we were back to square one. Shit! If she were home, I might as well have stayed with Chad in California or Ed, in Texas and drilled for oil wells! My thoughts returned to Chad...and Kenny and wondered how their first night together had turned out. Did they both find each other? Did Kenny finally get what he'd wanted? I knew I had to call them long distance when I got home. Who knows, if things were bad at home, I might be heading back West? God, I wished I had fixed the radio in the truck...just something to occupy my mind from gloomy thoughts and make the miles go by faster. I hadn't felt as badly about leaving Chad in California, as I had Ed in Texas. Chad had his brother and friends at the beach. After Ed's mother had died, he had no one...not even me. He had his buddies, Bryan and Forrest and he knew all the guys at the diner, but they were no substitute for a family. Heck, if he struck oil, he could buy a family for himself. I had made one rule for the road. No matter who stopped me or how attracted I was to anyone I met, my thoughts would be on Eddie. I would not resort to any form of sex of hanky-panky, not even if I met up with Tab Hunter or Guy Madison and they begged me to let them go down on me. I would just have to say, "Sorry, but that belongs to Eddie in Tennessee and you'll just have to find somebody else.".....Yeah, I could just see myself saying that to Guy Madison...on a bet!! Whew! That WOULD be a dilemma. Who was Guy married to?...Gail Russell?..That'd never last. He was as pretty as she was...and she was gorgeous! I remember her in the movie, "The Uninvited" and that beautiful melody, "Stella by Starlight". She made two movies with John Wayne, too...Let's see..."Wake of the Red Witch" and that western..."Angel and the Badman". Games...songs...anything to pass the time and the miles... I was approaching the New Mexico/Texas border. I had a choice. I could take the northern route and swing by and see Ed again, but that might be too tempting. Or I could take the Southern route and see Houston and drive down to New Orleans...This might be the only chance I would ever get to see Bourbon Street. I would take Plan B. and go south. New Orleans looked like all the pictures I had seen in the library, Big homes and that Spanish moss waving through the breeze. Downtown, most of the buildings looked alike...old..two stories...most of them had a staircase leading up the sides. Looked like lots of bars and saloons...I didn't drink and I wondered if they sold Dr. Pepper? As you walked by, you could hear bands playing Dixieland from every open door. I could hear a singer blurting out, "That's What I Like About the South"...reminded me of Phil Harris on the Jack Benny Show. Jack was married to Alice Faye...a real looker and sang well, too. On the corner was a shoe shine stand which seemed kinda strange with a white boy standing there with a rag hanging out of his back pocket. "Wanna shine?" he asked. "How much?" "Ten cents." "I think I can afford that." "Have a seat." My old shoes weren't good enough to shine, but what the heck, the boy would give me someone to talk to. He was just about my age, I don't know why I thought of him as a boy? "You live in New Orleans?" "Nah, Tennessee." "Visitin'?" "Just travellin' thru." He didn't use a cloth to apply the brown wax. He used his bare fingers. Must've been brown and black wax an inch thick under his fingernails. "Do you go to school?" I asked him. "Next year. I graduated from high school and I'm taking a year off, so I can go to college." "Where you going?" "Tulane...The tuition is free but you gotta have money to buy books and stuff." "What you gonna study? What you wanted do when you get out of college?" "I'm thinking about becoming a lawyer and getting into politics." "You wanna be President some day." "I wanna be in an office where I can fight injustice and discrimination." "That sounds like something big...What kind of injustice are you talking about." "The way Whites treat Negroes...It ain't right!...They're human too and deserve equal rights." "They treat 'em badly here in New Orleans?" "Yeah, here and all over the south. How are they treated up in Tennessee," "Can't say I notice them being treated any differently. People are just people where I come from...don't make any difference what color you are,,,as long as you ain't Catholic." "Catholics are welcome in Tennessee?" "Oh they're welcome as long as they don't start crossing themselves or praying to Mary or wearing those little medals around their necks." "That's funny...Most people I know here in Orleans is Catholic...I am." "You don't look Catholic." He looked at me and then we both broke into laughter. "Where's a good place to get something to eat around here?" I asked. "Depends on what you're hungry for.." "Where do you go to eat?" "Home," "You live near by?" "Just up those stairs there." He said, pointing to the next building, "Look, it's almost time I broke for supper...you wanna come up and eat a bite with me. I got plenty." That was the thing about the south, No matter how much or little you had to eat, there was always enough to share with someone. "Well, if you don't mind and you're sure I won't be in the way." "Heck no. I live alone and eat by myself every night. It'd be nice to have some company." He spit on my shoes and gave them one last buff, They did look newer when he had finished, I reached in my pocket for a quarter, "No, no, that one is on the house." "Let me pay you something at least." "You can pay me by being my guest for supper." "Well OK, but I thing you're being short changed in the deal." His name was Francois (or Frank, as he preferred). He had raven black hair and dark eyes and brows...and had smooth olive skin. He said his mother and father were born in southern France and had come to New Orleans during WWII. Having little or no money, they had settled in a poorer housing district inhabited mostly by black families. The only kids that Frank had to play with were black. Then one day, his father was hit by a bus and killed instantly. His mother became the breadwinner and use to go up and down rich white neighborhoods and took in their dirty clothes to wash and iron. Frank collected pop bottles and returned them to the store two for a penny to earn his keep. He studied hard and had graduated in the upper ten percent of his high school class. One night, his mother didn't come home. No one knew what happened to her. She just didn't come home. Frank was seventeen at the time and he found an apartment for $11.00 a month including water and electricity. He worked odd jobs but liked shining shoes because it was close to home. On a good week, counting tips, he could pay for his whole month's rent and still have money left to buy groceries. The pay from the other three weeks, he put in a bank to further his education. In spite of all handicaps and obstacles, Frank had turned out all right. He was honest and had learned to be a good American. "I gotta wash up before I fix supper." Frank said while taking off his shirt and using it to wipe his sweaty arm pits. He leaned over the small kitchen sink and washed the best he could although no amount of soap and water could get the shoe paste off his fingers and nails. "Why don't you go over to that rack of records over there and pick out some music while I start deveining some shrimp I got in the ice box?" There was a wooden case crammed full of 78's. I was careful, not wanting to crack one, which might have been his favorite. He had a mixture of everything. Perry Como, Vic Damone, Edith Piaf (which had been his Dad's favorite in the old country), Louis Armstrong, the Dukes of Dixieland (of course), Billie Holiday and Bessie Smith. I stacked up a few on his automatic turntable and provided the evening's entertainment. Soon we were listening to the strains of "Black Coffee". Frank stayed busy in the kitchen cutting, slicing, beating, stirring, boiling, sifting and shaking until the entire apartment reeked of fish and pepper odors. The only thing he allowed me to do was set the table. He had a set of blue plates and tall ice tea tumblers with colored rings at the top. "Soup's on." He announced. "Sit." He brought a big cast iron pot to the table and dished a big helping of some conglomeration with rice. "Jambalaya! Hope it's not too hot for you." "No, I'm use to eating long green peppers out of the garden." I said as I took my first bite. Two seconds later, I thought I had unleashed all the fires of hell in my mouth. I was coughing so hard I couldn't swallow. Frank started laughing. "I better warn you. It burns at both ends. The dish that keeps on giving. First it burns your tongue...then it gives you heartburn...and when you shit, flames come out of your ass...How do you like it?" In between coughs, I managed, "It's delicious." "It'll make hair grow where no hair has grown before...but it's an authentic recipe. Got if from an old Cajun woman, She ate it all her life and I think she was 95 when she died." "How old was she when you got the recipe?" " 'bout 90. She said this would clean out all the poisons in your system and you'd live to be a ripe old age if you could eat this three meals a day. Don't chase it with your ice tea...it'll only make it hotter. Put some bread in your mouth and it'll cool things off." After seven or eight bites, my mouth was so numb, that I began to enjoy the dish and his company, "What do you do for fun, at night?" I asked. "Read...Listen to records...Anything that doesn't cost money." "Do you have friends that come to visit or that you go out with?" "No. The only real people I see now, are my customers." "Don't you get lonely." "No...maybe some time...maybe...all the time." His voice broke when he said that. I have delved too far, I had to change the subject, "By the way...you're a good cook." "Thanks...You don't have to try hard when all you have to cook for is yourself." "Frank, can I ask you something?" "Sure." "Are you gay?" "No one has ever asked me that before...Why you and why now? Do I look effeminate or something?" "No...I just had a hunch." "Are you a queer hater?" "No, I'm not." "Would it make any difference if I admitted that I was?" "None." "Then the answer to your question is 'yes'." "Thank you." "How about yourself...are you gay?" "You mean, 'It takes one to know one' sorta thing?" "Sorta." "Then, yes, I am too." "Well now that we've dropped out drawers and shown each other out private details...whaddya want to do about it if anything?" "Frank, I don't know if it's the music or the mood or the food or the atmosphere or maybe because I drove all day crossing Texas but while we were eating, I kept watching you...and the more I looked at you...the more I wanted to hold you in my arms and kiss you." "I've looked at you the same way, ever since I shined your shoes...It was some kind of chemistry or voodoo magic...I can't exactly describe what I felt...That's why I invited you to supper." "I'm glad you did." "Well...are you gonna make the first move or are you leaving that up to me?" "I was the one who asked you first...so I'll make the first move." I slid my chair back and walked toward his. I put out my hands and cupped each of his cheeks and leaned down and very innocently kissed him on the lips. When I pulled my head back, I was convinced he hadn't even closed his eyes. "That was nice," he whispered, "very nice...Do you want to stay the night?" "Yes." "Then let me go put some clean sheets on the bed." "Why bother? We'll only mess up the new ones." "That's what I had in mind." He got up and took my hand and led me into the bedroom. But first, he took time to turn the stack of records over on the phono. "Anything you want to add to the jukebox?" "No, but you might wanna take out that Dukes of Dixieland. It's awfully hard to make love listening to 'Muskat Ramble'." "Why don't we replace it with some Sinatra or Doris Day?" "Do you have 'Hey There'?" "One of my favorites." Once the music was picked, we entered the bedroom. The first record was "Street of Dreams" by Ray Anthony. Frank lifted my left arm with his right. "You wanna dance?" This was a first. I'd never danced with anyone except a girl at school. This was a new area of romanticism for me. I placed my right hand around his waist and we danced in the dark with our eyes closed. As the tune approached the last eight bars we had made our way over to his bed, We just sorta 'sat down', our lips pressed together, but this time his tongue was trying to unlock our seal. I felt embarrassed for having driven all day in the heat and hadn't had a chance to bathe. I felt my aroma must be rank. He didn't seem to notice as he started nibbling down my neck to my shoulder. He lifted my left arm and kissed me square in the arm pit. If it was going to bother him...now would be the time for him to stop. Instead he began licking my arm pit of my sweaty juices. All the while, I felt his left hand trying to feel for the tab on my jeans zipper. Once he had succeeded in opening my fly. he probed with his hand until he had clutched all of my crotch in the palm of his hand, He squeezed twice, quickly and then gave a tiny tug, I reached my hands down to help him by unbuttoning the button on my jeans to give his hand better access. When he felt the first hint of my arousal he lowered my upper body on the bed and he stood up. He took off my loafers one by one...and then my white socks. He tugged at the bottom of each leg of my jeans at the same time. I lifted my hips so that they would give into the tug and he slipped them off my legs. I started to pull my polo shirt over me head, but he stopped me..."No, no, let me." I was bare except for my briefs. Since Frank seemed to be in charge of everything, I hesitated in helping him disrobe. I didn't want to spoil his plan, since this was going to be HIS night. The room was pitch black. Over the phrases of "You Stepped Out of a Dream". I could hear him taking off his shoes and clothes. He lay down beside me, still wearing his briefs, also, as I soon discovered. He moved to lay on top of me. He was grinding his covered crotch into mine as he kept smothering me with his kisses.,,His hands were underneath my back and he pulled my torso into his. Next, he did a peculiar thing, but I found it exciting. He reached down at the fly opening of his briefs and pulled out his cock and then he found the opening in my briefs and inserted himself into them. He was actually fucking my briefs. The way my penis was responding, I knew my shorts couldn't hold two dicks. The harder he fucked, the deeper he pushed into my scrotum. He was running his hands up and down my sides. Then I felt a warm pool forming inside my pouch. He had climaxed inside my shorts and covered my dick, my balls, and my pubic hair with his French concoction, My glans was tight against the elastic in my waistband. The friction caused by his movements had led me to a climax and I decided to mix my fluids with his. The sheets had been protected but my Fruit of the Looms were saturated. "Wow, I was hornier than I thought, Judd. You really turned me on." "That was a new experience for me, too." "Would you care for some dessert to go with your meal?" "As long as it's hot and sweet." "I'd better hurry before it gets cold." He pulled down the front of my briefs and started licking and gobbling as much sperm as his mouth could hold. He returned back to my face and shared his creme-de-la-cock with me. We kissed and swallowed at the same time, ending with several lip pecks. "Let me go change the records and I'll be back for more." As he left, in my mind I could hear Vivien Leigh in "Streetcar" saying quietly, "Voulez vous coucher avec moi?"...and I had my own private laugh. Just like in the books, I had a French lover and at last I knew the true meaning of French kisses. We continued our games until about 3:00 AM. I had to get at least five hours sleep if I were going to cross over Alabama and Georgia tomorrow. The following day I drove incessantly only stopping for gas and to pee. My goal was to see a sign, "Highway 58" before the next daybreak. From Atlanta I went north to Chattanooga. There, I went down a main thoroughfare called Chamberlain Avenue until it intersected with Glass Street. I turned right onto Glass St, and saw it was just another name for "HWY 58". I was nineteen miles from home. I would get there in time to smell the buttermilk in Momma's hot biscuits in the oven and a fresh brew of coffee...strong enough to pour itself. The radiator in my truck began spouting steam. but I didn't care. I was so close to being on the right side of the hill where my dreams would finally come true. Just two mile to go. You don't realize sometimes that a state can have its own odor...but it does. Texas didn't smell like California, no more than New Mexico smelled like Louisiana. Tennessee had its own particular fragrance given off from the mountains and the lakes and the fields. God, home was beautiful. You don't see it until you go away and come back. That's when you know how lucky you really are. Up ahead I could see out old dirt road. The sun was just coming up and between the dawn and my headlights I could see all the way to the farmhouse. I could see Eddie's car and that looked like my Dad's car. Wonder what he's doing home. We were gonna have a house fuller than I had expected. What the hell? It was my homecoming...the more the merrier! I circled the drive and it was then as my headlights beamed across the front of the house, that I saw a wreath on the door. My heart sank. Who was the wreath for? Dad? Marie? The baby? Eddie?...Oh please dear God, let Eddie be all right. I couldn't live without him now. I didn't even bother to shut the truck door as I ran toward the porch. The lights were all out. I tried the knob and the door opened. It was quiet and dark except the glow of a small light on the left side of the living room. The light drew my attention to a long shiny silver colored casket. The lid was down. Quietly I forced myself to follow the light and approached the coffin. My hands shook as I reached to raise the lid...not knowing who or what I would find. There was just enough spill from the light to see my Momma's body. I heard someone behind me. "Judd? Is that you?" It was Eddie's voice. I turned and ran into his arms and released a floodgate of tears and emotions. My words were smothered in his chest as I asked. "Eddie...How?...Why?...When?" "Day before yesterday, Judd. It was her heart. She fretted so, over Marie and the baby kept her up day and night...and she was excited about your coming home, and I guess, it just all got the best of her. She died in her sleep. I found her the next morning when I heard the baby crying. She usually gets up and feeds it or changes it...but when Little Hal kept crying and crying, I got up to see what was wrong. That's when I found her." "God, Eddie, if I had known..." "Nobody had any idea. Your Dad said she's been taking pills for angina for years...and apparently she never let any of us know. We knew that you were on the way, home and your Dad insisted on holding your Momma out until you got here. He's planning on having the funeral, day after tomorrow" "Marie?...Is she here? Did she come home?" "Haven't seen hide nor hair of her since she got up and left." "I'm sorry, Eddie, but I actually hate her." "I know. I've been so glad she's gone...and now, more than ever." "How's Dad taking all this?" "I called him in Oak Ridge as soon as I found your Momma and he drove down here as fast as he could...He's not doing very well, Judd. He looks like an old, old man. I think he sorta blames himself for making your Momma come live with him." "It's not his fault. She was where she should've been...with him." "I tried to tell him that, but he just won't listen...That's the Irish in him, I guess." "And Little Hal?" "You wanna see him?" "Of course I do." We went into my bedroom, the one Eddie was using and there was a small wooden basinette. From the early sun streaming from the window, you could see two tiny arms flailing up from the crib. Eddie went over and picked him up. "Judd, I want you to meet your son...Little Hal, I want you to meet your other Daddy." This was the moment I had dreamt all my life...but why under these circumstances? It seemed like every time I was about to receive an ounce of happiness, I had a ton of tragedy thrown on me first. Whoever said "Life is hard", must've been me in a former life. I held the infant in my arms and kissed his forehead feeling that he was actually mine. Hal, my big brother, Hal, had been reborn and he was here in my arms next to the new love of my life, Eddie. It should have been a perfect picture except for the reminder there was a coffin in the living room. I stood there and wept. Eddie put his arm around my shoulder and asked, "You want some breakfast?" "No, baby, I am so tired from driving and depressed by Momma, I think I should get a couple of hours sleep before I have to face Dad." "Lie down on the bed and put Little Hal between us and let me hold my family. Judd...my whole family." "God, I've missed you." "My life has been hell without you. I can't wait until you're rested and can tell me everything." "Some things I may not want to tell you...Some things you may not want to hear about." "As long as you didn't do anything to get the law after you, it won't matter. I'm so glad to have you back with me, You hole Little Hal while I go warm a bottle for him. He's due for his morning hunger scream any minute." Cradling Hal in my arm almost embarrassed me. This was the first baby I had ever held...and the picture of me, looked like a mother who had just given birth. Little Hal and I had both fallen asleep by the time Eddie returned. <><><><><><><><> The funeral was held at the Sycamore Baptist Church, They had to bring in extra folding chairs to accommodate the overflow of the crowd. There were sprays and wreaths of every kind of flower imaginable. Daddy bought a big blanket of white mums and crepe myrtle to put on the casket. The church took of the aroma of tuberose and honeysuckle. Bertha Timmons sang Momma's favorite, "Beyond The Sunset. There were sounds of sniffing and nose blowing coming from every pew. Charlie Danforth got up and read Momma's favorite Bible passage, Psalm 121,"I will lift mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help...Reverend Mooney talked long about the good life Momma had led and how much she had helped the community. He said a prayer and the choir sang, "In the Sweet Bye and Bye" and the service exited to the grave site where we put Momma to rest. As true to Southern customs, there were about fifty covered dishes at the house...everything from fried Chicken to country ham. We wouldn't have to cook for a week. When all the well-wishers had left, there was only me, my dad, Eddie, and Little Hal in the living room. For the first time in days, the house seemed quiet...and emptier. "Judd, son, sit down. I want to talk to you." quivered the voice of my dad."As you know, for the past five or so years and due to unstable finances, I've had to work in Oak Ridge...and I've made my home there. This farm was really your Momma's. Her folks left it to her and this was HER home. Now that she's gone, I plan to live out my years in Oak Ridge. It was her wish that you should get the farm when she died. Through all of our hardships, she managed to pay the premium on her insurance policies. Her funeral and burial is all paid for. She also had some life insurance policies that were to be used to pay off the farm, free and clear of debt. There's also money to make any repairs and buy any equipment, fertilizer, seed, whatever it takes to keep the place running. I don't really understand Marie's actions but she makes me ashamed. I know she wants no part of this farm. She's always been embarrassed by it. It wasn't good enough for her and that's why no money was left to her or you personally. It was left to the farm." Dad stopped long enough to blow his nose, cough and spit in his handkerchief and then he continued. "You're like your Momma. This place is YOUR home like it was hers. We discussed it, she and I, several months ago, and I went down to the courthouse and signed the deed and all properties in your name. The place belongs to you now...with no strings attached. That's the way she wanted it and I won't do anything to go against her wishes...Now, the next thing. I don't know if Eddie wants to stay on with you here. It's up to him. I don't know if two young men can run a farm and raise a baby on your own, but it'd be easier if you both stayed and worked together...Eddie, you have any problem with that notion?" "No sir." "Good. Judd's Momma told me how close you, two, had become and I'm real glad that you've got each other. There may come a time, down the road, when you may want to get married again, or maybe Judd will find that girl he's kept hidden from us, all these years. But for now, you, two, have each other and the baby and that should be more than enough for now...and if things happen to change that in the future, well, you can figure that out then." "When are you planning on leaving, Dad?" I asked. "Tonight, I can make it in about three and a half hours and still be home in time to get a good night's sleep...Do either of you have any questions?" "No sir." as Eddie and I answered in unison. "Good, now let's go see what wonders the neighbors brought and eat a bite." It was around 6:30 when Dad left. He would be home by 10:00. As his car made its way down the dirt road in search of old Highway 41, Eddie, the baby, and I sat in the swing on the porch watching the sun lower itself and hide behind the hill in the horizon. "Eddie, what do you think about the way things turned out?" "Your Dad planned our future without his knowing about it." "We've got everything we want...the farm, the baby, each other." "It's about time that things started working out for the best...Judd, can I ask you something?" "You know you can." "Are you sure you want me to be a part of all this?" "Who else would there be?" "Want me to make a list?...There was some kid in Arkansas and and oil man in Texas and a lifeguard in California...and a..." "I don't know what the hell you're talking about." "Okay, but if you ever want to trade me in on one of those newer and richer models, let me know." "You know, since I've been back home, there's one thing I haven't found out." "What's that?" "You were referring to yourself as being an older model...are all your parts still in working condition." "Wanna take 'em for a test drive?" "Sure do...Let's go inside and make love and spend the whole night together in our new home." Little Hal was asleep as we undressed each other and began to re-familiarize ourselves with each other's body. The more I explored, the more I was sure that he was everything and everyone all wrapped up into one. I felt like the heat of our bodies and melted and we meshed together becoming one single being. I lay on my back and spread my legs, aching for him to enter me. This would be our wedding night and I would give myself to him in such a way, he would never have to look further than me. He was all in the world that I wanted and I desired him to feel the same way. I gasped and cried when he plowed me with his erection, I pushed hard against him, so that all of him would be inside me. As he started his hip lunge, he was showering me with passion in our lip lock. He blasted my bowels in spastic spurts of liquid love. I locked my legs around his buttocks, making it impossible for him to pull out. But he was stronger than I he was able to free himself as he lowered his head beneath my waist, and took me in his mouth. God, I had forgotten how well Eddie could do this. I was his first and apparently the only one he wanted. He didn't take a breath until I came, filling his oral cavity with all the love and sperm I had been saving for him for weeks. He swallowed all of me and returned to give me more kisses. Little Hal. only a few feet away, had slept through the whole thing...or if he were awake, he didn't want to create a disturbance while his daddies made love. We lay in each other's arms. The window was up and the breeze was blowing the yellow brocaded curtains. We could hear all the sounds of the night. Crickets were chirping,,,frogs, rivetting...owls, hooting...a dog or a wolf was howling. The peaceful echoes were hypnotizing as we started to fall asleep. We were lying naked on top of the covers. It was hot. I concentrated on Eddie's breathing trying to match mine with his...and the rhythm of our hearts beating synchronized. Neither one of us had heard the front door open...nor had we heard footsteps in the living room and coming down the hall. My head was resting on Eddie's chest. My eyes were half open when I saw an image in the doorway surveying us. I opened my eyes wider and then I recognized the image. "Marie? Is that you?" "You bet your ass it's me and i want to know what the hell you're doing in the bed with my husband?!!!" <><><><><><><><><><><><> (to be continued)