This is a work of fiction. Names of characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously; any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Dennis Milholland – All rights reserved. Other than for private, not-for-profit use, no part of this work may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in any form or by any means, other than that intended by the author, without written permission from the copyright holder.
Careful! This is a work of fiction containing graphic descriptions of sex between males and critiques of religion and governments. And last but not least, Nifty would like your donations.
Farewell, Uncle Ho
by Dennis Milholland
questions and comments are welcome. www.milholland.eu / dennis@milholland.eu
Chapter 65 (Sat., Mar. 25, Sun., Mar. 26)
Lunch at the Haymarket was slightly better than mediocre and slightly less expensive than prohibitive. The most depressing part was that we had a table, which looked out onto the gaping wound of where Penn Station had once stood. My suggestion of going to Mamma Leone's up on 48th had been met with everyone's approval except for Bat's. Admittedly, it would have been quite a trek, but his objection was that the lunchtime crowd was so large that it would be next to impossible to get served in less than an hour and a half. So, Haymarket, it was.
After lunch, Marv thought it would be a good idea for Bat and him to have a look at Gordon's house, since he saw it as his duty as the attorney in the deal. Bat only glanced at Marv then grinned slightly lecherously.
When it was obvious that Bat was headed for South Ferry, Gordon reminded him that his car was parked in front of Marv's house. Then Marv brought up the huge construction site in lower Manhattan, our initial reason for using the main Post Office in Midtown. So, with only one insignificant explicative, Bat changed course for the Williamsburg Bridge.
Once safely back in Gordon's Wagoneer, Gerry spoke up for really the first time since before lunch. "Would you mind, Ben, if we didn't have sex with Bat and Marv?"
Gordon let out a snort. "What makes you think that they want to have sex with us."
"Marv was very touchy-feely during lunch. And I don't think that their wish to see the house is their real reason for making the journey to Staten Island." He wasn't laughing, so I was taking his pleading seriously. "Anyway we'll be back in barracks tomorrow, and I would like to spend tonight alone with Ben."
"Not a problem, mein Schatz." I reassured him by giving him a kiss on the back of his neck.
Gordon continued after a short pause. "Would either of you mind if I made a play for them? I'm feeling a little lonely." I gave Gerry a what-should-we-do kind of look.
"You promised me, Ben, that we'll never again take in a stray puppy," His whisper was barely audible. "no matter how helpless he is."
At first, I laughed but then became saddened. And when Gordon asked me what was funny, I related the story of Moffett, Gerry and me having had sex at the Hotel President the night before Gordon and Ju-Long had stayed with us. And as a result, Gerry made me promise no more sex involving others.
"But last night was okay?" Gordon asked Gerry.
"You were watching, not participating." Gerry offered Gordon and me a cigarette. "Other than the partial blowjob." Gerry patted Gordon's hand benevolently and flicked the lighter with his thumb.
"Wow, I never met an exclusive Queer couple, before." Gordon explained while taking a light from Gerry. "But I have also never met two men who were such a part of each other, before either, like you guys are."
***
Gordon stopped at a grocery store, not far from the house to get some supplies for tonight's dinner and tomorrow's breakfast, before we left for Philadelphia airport. He gave me a weird look as I handed him twenty dollars for the food. "I lied." I snickered, referring to what I'd told him earlier in the day about having to watch resources.
As soon as Gordon had gone into the store, I turned to Gerry. "We're under no obligation to fuck with other people. Cuddling's okay, but fucking's a different matter. And letting someone horn in on our relationship, like Alvin was trying, is totally out of the question."
"It's odd, you know?" He wiped his nose with his handkerchief. "The closer we get, and the more stable our friendship becomes, the larger my panic is that I'll lose you."
I nodded. "Yeah, I know the feelings." I offered him a cigarette. He lit them. "It should be the absolute opposite. The anxiety of losing each other should be less the more stable our relationship grows."
"I think it has something to do with being in the Army." Before he could get the sentence out completely, Bat knocked on the window.
I rolled down the glass pane. "Hey."
Bat seemed a little nervous. "What's Gordon doing?"
"Getting some food for tonight and for breakfast, since we have to leave fairly early for Philadelphia." I registered disappointment on Bat's face.
"You're leaving tomorrow morning?" Bat turned to Marv, who was approaching from around Bat's car. "They're leaving tomorrow."
"So, I heard." Marv closed his eyes and held his head back, as if to take in some rays from the early springtime sun. Then he wiped his eyes. "Was hoping to get to know Gerry a little better."
I wasn't meaning to be so utterly blunt, but things up to now had taught me that being subtle didn't usually work with horny, middle-aged men. "Gerry isn't up for grabs." I was firm and not loud. I was assertive and not aggressive. I was stating a fact, not intending to be offensive. And I wanted to be absolutely clear as to where Gerry and I stood.
But to judge by Marv's and Bat's reaction, you would have thought that I'd fired a gun at them. I had obviously shocked them. Of course, they remembered the pliable, easily influenced, young man I had once been. Now, they'd met the assertive soldier. Maybe, this military bullshit did have an upside.
"Don't you think that Gerry can make up his own mind?" Marv snapped.
Gerry overcame his natural shyness, as he did in his capacity as a squad leader on a daily basis during basic. "Ben's right. He's my partner and we're exclusive."
"You do know," Bat's voice became conspiratorial. "that Marv has good connections inside the Army, which could make your time in the military a lot easier."
"Yeah," I chuckled with sarcasm. "and so far his grand plan of how to stay out of the front lines as a legal clerk has resulted in my US citizenship having been revoked and has gotten Gerry and me on assignment to the SJA in downtown Saigon."
"What?" Marv's disbelief was comical.
"Yeah," I chuckled along with Gerry. "our little scheme backfired when they found out that I'd voted in a French presidential election." Our need for humor increased, "And as a 'thank you' for signing up for four years, the State Department revoked my American nationality. So, when I get out, I'll need a visa to visit you here in my hometown. So much for being a dual national, Bubeleh."
Then trying to subdue our outright hilarity, Gerry blurted: "But he did get an almost perfect score on the Albanian language test. Our future in Tirana looks rosy." At that, he and I went limp from laughing.
***
Gerry and I were cuddling, while in the room next to where Gordon had spent his childhood, Bat and Marv were doing things to him, that must have been raunchy in nature, at least from the sound of things. We, on the other hand, were enjoying just being together, contemplating that, which was to come.
"What do you think Fort Knox will be like?" I whispered into Gerry's ear.
He was cradling my head in his left hand, as he would a baby's. "Probably like it was in the movie, Goldfinger."
"Didn't see it." I admitted, and I felt my own facial warmth increase from embarrassment.
"Nothing to be ashamed of." He kissed my forehead. "It's a lot like Reception Center at Fort Dix, two-storey, wooden barracks from World War II."
"Sounds luxurious." I snickered.
"And smack-dab in the middle of a dry county, y'all." He informed me. "Steve, the company clerk during basic, was from Hardin County, Kentucky. And he told me, when he heard that we were going to Fort Knox." Apprehension caused me to shiver slightly, but I said nothing. And we fell asleep, holding each other tightly at the thought of not being able to go for a drink off post.
***
Sunday morning breakfast was extraordinarily good. Bat took it upon himself to make his fantastic pancakes, one of my childhood favorites, while Gordon looked on, hoping to learn a thing or two. Marv made his special coffee, which he made without a percolator, making it stronger and a lot more aromatic, and Gerry and I set the table.
The conversation started out as just chit-chat. However, during our light discourse, I saw that Marv was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. His squirming built up, until his glare became so intense that it seemed to penetrate anyone he looked at. "So, when exactly are you going off to war?"
"Don't know." I said with a full mouth. I chewed thoroughly and swallowed. "Let's see; there will be about four weeks of AIT at Clerk-Typist School at Fort Knox. Then we report to Fort Benjamin Harrison for Legal-Clerk School, which takes ten weeks, after each of which we have three week's leave, and then on to Oakland for out processing to Nam." I took another bite of pancakes. "So, it'll be somewhere around the last week of July, when we'll have to report to the overseas replacement station."
"You want me to look into going to Canada for the both of you?" Marv's voice was stern and his intention blunt. He lowered his voice to civil. "Look, it isn't your war. You're both foreigners, for Fuck's sake. You were coerced into joining, and the government has shit all over you."
I looked at Gerry and Gordon, both of whom seemed to have been caught doing something of which people wouldn't have approved. I raised my questioning eyebrows at Gerry, but Gordon answered. "We've been discussing the possibility. Do you have any connections up there?"
"I got an' old chum from law school, who practices in Toronto." Marv seemed to settle down a little. "I can give him a shout."
"But no details over the phone." Gordon urged him. "Please."
"Okay." Marv turned his attention to Gerry and me. "So, how do you plan to negotiate the border."
"Whoa!" Gordon glared at Marv as he would at a stupid trainee. "Stop right there! The less you know, the better. I only said that we had been talking about it, not that we were going to do it."
"And does that include yourself?" Marv's smile seemed suspicious.
"Let's just say that who, what, when, where and how are not gonna be any of your concern." Gordon's glare was still as intense as it had been. "If you can line us up with a good lawyer in Toronto, we'd appreciate it. But the rest of it is gonna have to remain a mystery until after it happens."
"I can live with that." Marv replied without thinking. "I'll get in touch with Bernie, tomorrow. But I'm sure, he'll be willing to help. He used to be an American, himself, and left before they could draft him."
***
The drive to Philadelphia airport was going without a hitch. There was hardly any traffic, being that it was Easter Sunday, and the majority of the population was practicing their superstition of choice.
"How well do you know Marv and Bat?" Gordon asked me with a neutral tone.
"Let's see." I gave the question some thought. "I've known Bat virtually all my life. And I knew Marv as Bat's next-door neighbor until a week or so before I went into the Army in January. That's when the big block of property was sold in Brooklyn, and I got to know him mainly as Bat's lawyer. Why?"
"Dunno, just wondering how well he keeps secrets." Gordon answered, again with a neutral tone.
"Yeah," Gerry opened up with his thoughts. "he seemed very eager to find out about how we were going to get to Canada."
"So, you noticed it, too?" Gordon wondered.
"Come to mention it," I added and instantly felt worried. "he was asking a lot of questions that would normally not be of any interest to him, unless he was going to turn us in."
Gordon lit a cigarette and cracked his window a little. "That's what I was wondering about. Didn't you tell me that he's a field-grade officer in the reserves?" Gordon took a drag and let the smoke drift through his next statement. "The more I think of it, the better it seems to use the Mohawk reservation as the crossing point and to keep the idea absolutely secret."