This isn't a long story and it's not much of a wanking piece, it's a story about my Fourteenth year and a boy named Ronnie. It's more about love and discovery than sex although there's a bit of that in here. It's my first offering here, so if you like it let me know. I can take feedback and as long as it's civil, I'll try to answer back. Robineaux69@gmail.com

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1

1969 was a major year for me. I started the school year with my first real girl friend and ended it with another. The first girl Tammy was too immature emotionally to suit me. She was into dolls and playing house and not much more than hand holding. We couldn't go to dance parties because her dad was a fundamentalist preacher. Charlotte on the other hand was a polar opposite. She liked boys a lot, I had only been seeing her a week when we stopped at the park on the way back from the roller rink Friday evening. She had stashed a blanket in a plastic bag and proceeded to educate me in the fine art of intercourse behind a little copse of trees. I had no idea of what I was doing but she did. I was a big kid at fourteen and she was quite petite. I had done a lot of growing in the year previous and I had nearly reached the six foot mark. I wore size eleven shoes and had a pretty impressive dick apparently. I had no way of knowing since I never saw anybody else with an erection. She was pretty happy for a while. But I didn't drive yet and that was a major thing for her so she started seeing a Junior and then informed me my services were no longer needed. I wasn't entirely surprised and I would have let it go but the guy started to mock me in front of my friends so I felt obligated to kick his ass. He swung first and missed; I didn't miss but in trying to dodge me he got it on the collar bone which broke in two places. A broken collar bone I'm told, hurts like a bitch and you lose all interest in activities like screwing or even jerking off. That ruined Charlotte's fun and she came back and asked if I still wanted to date. She was really surprised when I said no. I had made a discovery in the intervening weeks between her dumping me and trying to rope me in again. There was a boy next door that had become intriguing to me. I spent a lot of my time thinking about him. He had dark blonde hair just this side of brown and he kept it just long enough to get a part. Soulful brown eyes, a cute little nose with freckles and he had pouting reddish lips that I was strangely very interested in tasting.

Once spring came along I liked to sleep in my back yard and I set up my telescope so I could look at the moon and stars. I'd swear I had seen the reflection off of Apollo Ten earlier and I wanted to be in place when Apollo Eleven actually landed. I had half a cargo parachute that served as a light weight tent and every summer my dad helped me set up a ply wood floor and a roll of remaindered carpet from the store over on Holt Avenue. We set it all up behind the garage; I ran an extension out to the tent so I could have a lamp and my radio and my Ampex five inch tape recorder. With the large throws and large pillows and a couple cot mattresses I was set up like a Turkish Pasha. I would listen to my weird music and read and of course jerk off. I still have some of the five inch reels with music I recorded from the records of friends or off the radio. I would listen to Luwana Davis and her show "Music Black and White" and she played blues and funk and zydeco, but also bluegrass and folk; and occasionally English traditional stuff. Between her and the Larmanns on KPFK my musical education was really getting underway. The only problem was that the signal didn't come in where my tent was. At least until I learned a bit more about radio, and put up an antenna. I still recorded the shows but that was because the programming during the week was mostly left wing wacko crap. I was pretty liberal as a kid but these guys were out there. They supported the Panthers and the SLA and stuff like that. The SLA and Patty Hearst came later but it was still the same workers of the world unite crap. But there was a guy on Wednesday nights that played uncensored comedy albums. Monty Python, Redd Foxx, Lenny Bruce and other socially unacceptable comics.

So me and my old Lab Wampus hung out there most of the summer.

2

Ronnie's Dad got stationed at the Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo. I don't know what he did but he was gone a week at a time or more sometimes. I suppose he either had a job with Space Command or SAC which were the two major reasons for the base to be there. I really didn't care at the time. I just knew that they had brought this cute little guy into my life. He was two years younger than me but we hit it off immediately. We both raced slot cars and flew model planes. He and I had repurposed two Reel type lawn mower engines to drive a go kart that went like a scalded dog. After a couple of mishaps I started wearing a helmet and coveralls when I drove it. The thing was confiscated by the cops three times, while we were pulling it to a field behind my bike, where we could run it around. Always the same dick head cop too. It must have pissed him off when my dad would talk to the captain and get it back each time. It was really satisfying when he got fired for trying to screw some under age girl. He told her he would stop ticketing her if she cooperated and she taped his ass and got a lawyer. The other cops never bothered us, as long as we didn't drive it on the street.

I had seen what could happen when you did that and I decided I wanted to live past my teens.

Almost as soon as they moved in Ronnie's mom Gwen was at our house asking if I would mind babysitting for Ronnie. I told her sure but it would have to be at our house because I had a lot of stuff going on. Actually I just hated being in a strange house. You just never know what's off limits and it's hard to get comfortable.

She worked the same three to eleven shift as my Mom did but at a different hospital. I had an extra bed in my room and rarely had anyone stay over. My true best friend had moved away when I was eleven just as we were starting to take an interest in our bodies and there just wasn't anybody else I felt comfortable with. Guys would come over and listen to my stereo and spend the night but my taste in music was too out there for them. I had the best stereo of anyone I knew including adults. I had an old Harman Kardon Tuner that I repaired and a Motorola pre-amplifier and amp the doubled as my guitar amp. It had wonderful sound and great fidelity. When my brother sent me an Akai model 9 reel to reel four track tape machine I was in heaven. He bought it on his R&R to Japan from his tour in Viet Nam. To say thank you I rebuilt his VW from a 1600cc to an 1850cc with Empi exhaust and Weber carbs. His girl friend had blown up the original 1600cc engine just before he went to Viet Nam and then she took off with some hippy asshole. Of course I had to upgrade to a transporter transaxle and bigger brakes also from a transporter. Having done that I put wider tires on it and Dad and I took it out for a little run. It took off like a striped ass ape. At one point while we were on the San Bernardino freeway near Pomona Dad looked down and the eighty mile an hour speedo was pegged. It scared him a bit so he turned around and we headed home. This was two months before my brother showed up at one in the morning after walking all the way from the bus terminal because the cab drivers wouldn't carry him with his Russian SKS war trophy. Ordinarily the SKS's they encountered in Viet Nam had Chinese markings. This one was Russian and it's worth a lot of money because of where it came from. Ed was very happy when I showed him what I had done to his car while keeping it looking respectable.

I mentioned this because it was one of the things that made me want to have Ronnie at our house so I could work on the car. He dug it too, he just pitched in and started helping me and occasionally made a good suggestion. We turned out to be very compatible and the difference in age all but disappeared. He even liked my weird ass music.

They had moved here in April a month before I turned fourteen and we started hanging out. He was two years and a month younger than me and I would never have guessed that I would get along with a kid that young.

The first time I sat for him he had tears in his eyes. He was mortified that his Mom had gotten a sitter. So I suggested he look at it as two guys hanging out. I wasn't into bossing anybody around and as long as he did his homework and kept his parents happy we could hang out. I didn't really need the money because I would sell an amplifier every couple months because the big home entertainment centers were going out of style in favor of component stereos. They just didn't sound as good as the tube type amps. I was always salvaging the electronics from the consoles and turning them into cash for me. Most of my customers were people I wouldn't hang out with on a bet. Peasant shirts and corduroys with sandals John Lennon wannabe's. I was a blue jeans and t-shirt kid all the way. They were always trying to pay with weed which I had no use for. I was way too busy to smoke that crap. Ronnie took my cue and avoided it too, at least after he tried it once. He couldn't get past how bad it smelled. He said he'd rather be trapped in a phone booth with a guy that only drank beer and ate hard boiled eggs. Yuck!

3

Once the end of school rolled around Ronnie stopped going home when his mom came home from work. He started sleeping in the tent with me. I always slept in sleeping shorts. They were basically button fly boxers made of cotton and something else, it made them flexible. Ronnie wore the standard briefs of the day. I had caught him looking at me when we stood next to each other at the toilet before heading outside. One night I woke up to a pleasant sensation only to find that Ronnie had both hands around my dick and his face was only a couple inches away from it. He looked like he was hypnotized just staring at it like the Hope diamond or something. Then I coughed and he saw I was awake. Immediately he started pleading not to tell anyone or hurt him. He didn't mean anything bad he was just curious. It took almost an hour to calm him down and he had trouble facing me for a couple days. It made me come to grips with my feelings about him. So the next time we were alone in the tent I went straight to the point. I've always been like that. Some people don't appreciate directness but Ronnie didn't seem to be one of those. The best way I could think of to put him at ease was to ask if I could check out his dick since he had checked mine. I wasn't sure what I was doing but I sat by his bed roll and he slid his briefs down revealing a healthy looking dick. I didn't measure it and I'm only guessing but it looked like about three inches maybe a bit more. It was as long as the width of my right hand, which I wrapped around it and felt it strain against my grip. I changed my hold on it and ran my thumb down the underside and he inhaled sharply. I thought it was because my thumb was too rough from working on the car. So I stuck my thumb in my mouth not even thinking what it had just been touching. Then I ran my thumb along the underside again and he whimpered. I asked him if it hurt and he said no it felt really good and even better with my thumb wet. It only took a few more of those before his butt was rising off the mattress and he shot his load in an arc that caught him in the chin, with a few more weak squirts hitting his belly and groin.

He stared at me glassy eyed and asked how I knew to do that. I had to tell him I was playing by ear and I had no idea what I was doing. He asked about wetting my thumb and I told him I thought my dry thumb might be painful. But I misread his reaction which was actually intense pleasure that only got better once I licked my thumb. He told me that I licked my thumb three times after I had been touching his dick which was almost the same as licking his dick. I asked him what the big deal was, it's just skin. This got his attention. He looked puzzled but he let it slide and asked if he could do the same for me. I said he could if he wanted but he didn't have to I just wanted to make him feel comfortable with me again. I really didn't like it when he was scared of me and it kind of hurt my feelings for him to think I'd harm him over something like that. I guess it wasn't the attitude he was expecting because he reached out and wrapped both arms around my neck and sobbed for a couple minutes. When he calmed down he told me he had weird feelings about me and he wanted to do stuff with me that was sick and dirty. I asked if he meant like what I had just done and he said yes and he wanted to do a lot more. We pulled our mattresses together and I lay down next to him and put my hand on his chest. I could feel his heart racing and I asked if he was okay. He said he was just a little scared about what might happen. I guess my true feelings must have emerged at that point because I leaned in and gave him a kiss on the lips. It surprised us both and he kissed me back but it was a longer more passionate kiss. The third kiss included tongues. It felt so much better than when I was with Charlotte I was having trouble getting a handle on it. I decided for now I didn't need a handle and I just kissed him for all I was worth. After quite a while lip to lip he got up and shifted position and started tugging at my sleeping shorts. I hoisted my butt off the mattress so he could slide them off. He took them all the way down and over my feet and then slid his own briefs down his legs and kicked them off as well. I felt him seize me in his warm hand and slowly stroke me from tip to base and back again. His face was fixed in a near grimace of concentration as he manipulated my dick. Then he did something that shocked me, he leaned forward and licked the length of my dick on the underside from base to tip and then slid his mouth over the end and consumed the first third of my pulsing dick. The sensation was ecstasy and it strained against his tongue which darted all around it trying to find an opening or drill through it. I began to be aware that his hand was busy with my balls as he gently rolled them in his fingers. My orgasm arrived suddenly and caught us both off guard, I tried to pull out while I uttered a warning but he responded by trying to swallow as much of me as humanly possible. I felt my essence leaving my body in great long heaves, throbbing and pulsing as they went. It was the most intense orgasm I had ever experienced. I grabbed my own head to fight off the urge to shove in as deep as I could. Wave after wave of orgasmic pulsing rose from deep inside and finally collapsed and left me nearly lifeless. I quite literally could not move I was so used up. It took five minutes before I could reach out and stroke his hair. He had laid down next to me in the interim and cuddled up pulling a sheet around the two of us. We lay there cuddling as I regained my senses and when I could move I kissed him as passionately as I could manage. He was no longer that cute kid from next door he was my lover and I was his. When I could move again I rolled on top of him supported by my arms. I kissed his entire face and then his neck, I inched my way down his body licking and kissing everything that presented itself I spent a fair amount of time on his navel because I enjoyed all the ticklish squirming that accompanied licking it. He sighed and then moaned in disappointment when I neared and then avoided his trembling cock. It dribbled gently and the smell of him was intoxicating. I licked the tops of his legs and behind his balls until everything but his cock had a coating of my drying saliva on it. Finally I relented and slid my lips over the end of his beautiful bouncing fleshy wand. He wailed in delight and locked his heels behind my back to prevent me from fleeing until he was satisfied. I was able to get his entire cock in my mouth and lick his balls at the same time. He began to whimper rhythmically and I could feel his cock swelling against my tongue. The underside was bulging and his whole groin was twitching when he cried out "oh no, not yet!" and I felt his cum coursing through his beautiful cock in a sweet torrent. It spilled over my tongue and raced down my throat. It tasted wonderful, creamy and sweet, it was ambrosia to me. He finally begged me to stop when the sensations became nearly painful. I let him slip from my mouth and plop between his legs as it retracted to its' normal state. I moved up and planted a kiss on his mouth and realized he had passed out. It was more than he could endure and remain conscious. I lay beside him and pulled him up against me and covered us with the sheet once more. I buried my nose in his hair and drifted off to sleep. When I woke again the moon was high overhead and very bright. Ronny was still tucked up against me. I disentangled myself so I could go out and pee. Wampus accompanied me to he trees in the corner of the yard where I let loose a shaft of gold in the moonlight. It sparkled as it splashed on the rocks and my pale dick glowed. Ronnie stirred from his slumber and joined me. His pale little bottom glowed in the bright light of the moon and his arc caught the light in the same way mine had. It seemed beautiful to me. That should have been a clue that I was completely crazy about him. We returned to the relative privacy my tent afforded and cuddled back together. I wrapped my arms around him and he put his hands over mine. I kissed his ear and asked how he felt. "Perfect" was his one word reply. As I held him my dick started to plump up and he began to grind his butt against me in response. I freed one of my hands and rubbed along his belly to his groin where I found his already erect cock waiting for attention. By then my cock was poking his little back door and every time it throbbed he moaned softly. "My cousin Eddie poked me back there once, but he was rough and it hurt. I read how you're supposed to do it slow and use some lotion or Vaseline. Maybe we could try that sometime, but I like the feeling its' giving me now."

The thought intrigued me. I thought of Charlotte and how she was always in a hurry for me to get it over with, like the meter was running or something. The more I tried to be soft and tender the more she urged me to get on with it. But here, in this beautiful boy I had found the tenderness I craved. I wasn't sure where this left me. Was I queer? Was I some kind of sick pervert? Thing is, it was 1969 and the gay pride movement had not made its' way to Ontario California just yet.

3

It was my Dad who first picked up on our relationship. He noticed the way I was looking at Ronnie and continued to notice the gentle touches I gave him. One night when Ronnie was home with his Dad, Mine sat down next to me at the table and closed the book I was reading, causing me to look at him. I wasn't really reading though, just the same stupid paragraph over and over. I was thinking of Ronnie and how much I loved him. I was in a very vulnerable and troubled state. Dad put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Whatever it is, it's okay." I just collapsed into him and poured out my heart, I apologized for being so disgusting and that made him shake me a little. He said, "Get this straight, you're my little boy, you are not disgusting so get that out of your head. I love you and whatever you might think, I could never hate you because you love Ronnie." He held me for quite a while until I was calm enough to talk again. He told me we should have discussed this earlier but it seemed like I had made my selection although he didn't actually like Charlotte that much. He thought she was a hooker in training. I had to laugh at that. Then he told me that most boys have some experience with other boys. Some more, some less but it's how we learn about ourselves and that boys my age were very vulnerable emotionally. He also told me it might be something I would want to keep to myself because society is pretty intolerant of anything it doesn't understand. But we were safe in our home. He would talk to Mom but he figured that she was probably already aware of the situation. He said Mom's just know and didn't elaborate, and he was right.

Usually on Saturday Ronnie's Mom tracked me down to pay me for sitting. About the third week I told her I really couldn't take her money. I told her I would be hanging out with him anyway and it didn't feel right to take money for it. "That's so sweet," she said "he sure is crazy about you, all we ever hear is Robby this and Robby that. You boys have become quite close haven't you?" I told her he was pretty cool and we liked the same stuff and I really didn't notice the difference in our ages. "I think it goes deeper than that but I won't pry, he hasn't been this happy in ages."

In my living room I said "I think your Mom knows about us Ronnie." His face went a bit pale. "Did she say something?" I told him about our conversation and that she didn't seem mad or anything. She was just happy that he was happy. "I don't think she cares why Ronnie, but I'm pretty sure she knows you like me." "I don't" he said, and I got a chill. "I love you" and he looked me right in the eye when he said it. He was the first to actually say it. I could barely focus on his face because of the tears but I managed to say "I love you too. I should have said it sooner." He leaned forward and kissed me just as my Dad walked in. "Hi guys, don't mind me, I just need my glasses." And he was gone. Ronnie smiled up at me, "He Knows?" I nodded and continued kissing him. We made our way out to the tent and decided to skip the Saturday night TV programming. He asked if I wanted to try the other thing as he referred to it. I told him I didn't want to hurt him like Eddie did. He showed me a small tube of KY jelly that he had bought at the Rexall while his Mom was at the cleaners. "I just told her I was going over to look at comic books. So I bought a Batman." "You hate Batman" I said.

"Yeah but it was only fifteen cents because they mark down the ones that don't sell." We both laughed, Batman stinks on ice we said together.

We listened to music for a while and then went outside and looked at the sky but there were high clouds and they obscured a lot of the planets and stars. When the moon started to rise everything went hazy. But we did see a Moon dog which is a halo around the moon.

Around eleven we called it a night and stripped and cuddled up together. "Um how do we start this?" I asked. "Well let's just start regular and then you can do it to me." he said. "What about you?" I asked. "I'll try doing it to you another time." So we proceeded as usual and I got him to cum in my mouth the first time. He sucked on me for a while and then said, "I think I'm ready to try." He handed me the KY and told me to rub his hole with it and put a finger inside. Having an RN for a Mom paid off because I had my nails clipped and filed smooth as she directed. I started with my index finger and then he said I should use my thumb. Then he said I needed to put in two fingers which really made him moan. "Does it hurt?" I asked him worriedly. "A little but it mostly feels good, I think I'm ready just go slow." "I'm afraid I'll hurt you." I said. He told me even when Eddie did it to him it hurt but it felt good too. I lined up and made contact and pushed gently. His hole yielded a bit and then a bit more. When he said stop I stopped. He would absorb the sensation and then tell me to keep going. Eventually I was all the way against his butt and he cooed at me, "that feels so good; you can start moving in and out now." The feeling was intense, it was nothing like with a girl, he was so hot inside and the tightness was overwhelming there was a lump I kept hitting as I slid slowly in and out and he squirmed every time I went over it. "Does that hurt?" I asked. "No the pain is gone, just fuck me please." It was the first time I had ever heard Ronnie swear. I plunged into him with vigor and after only fifteen or so strokes I felt my orgasm building rapidly. I flipped us over so I was on my back and continued to pump while I seized his rock hard cock. I told him to brace himself and I gave one last hard thrust and went deeper than before and he squealed. I felt his hole clench up around the base of my cock and I began to pump everything I had into him. I grabbed his balls with my free hand and he began to squirt wildly. What a torrent, for a young guy he could really produce. It felt like our climaxes lasted for a long time. We lay there locked together and I leaned up and kissed his hair and neck and shoulder. I put my hand on his belly which was slick with his cum. I brought my fingers up to my mouth and licked them. He grabbed my hand and licked my palm which made my cock flex again and he moaned with joy. My cock began to shrivel as we lay there and eventually it slid out making a funny noise that made us both laugh. He rose up just enough to turn over and face me. We lay there and kissed for quite a while until I became aware that he was erect again. I had him slide up my body so I could take him in my mouth, then I took him by the hips and moved him in and out until he got the idea. I hammered him with my tongue and fingered his hole and balls and he came very hard and collapsed into a dream like state. He made little whimpering noises but I figured out that it was happiness and not pain. I pulled him tightly to me and covered us with a sheet. Around two or three he began to play with my cock and eventually guided it back into him, I didn't fully wake up until I was almost cumming. We put on some shorts so he could go in the house and empty out. He lost a little on the way. We bumped into my Dad in the hallway and his cock was standing tall and wet. He had a bottle of something in his hand and just grinned sheepishly at me and went back to their bedroom. I heard my Mom's voice and whatever Dad was doing, she approved. It was the first time I ever heard my Mom say "Fuck", it was a night of firsts. We went to my bathroom and after Ronnie was done we took a quick shower. We were woken around five by Wampus's alert whine. Someone was coming that wasn't family. It was Ronnie's Dad, I had just managed to get the sheet over us again when he poked his head in. "Well isn't this a cute thing to see." He said. He squatted down and pulled on Ronnie's leg to wake him. "Hey honeyboy, I have to go to an exercise but I wanted to see you before I go. You don't need to get up; I just didn't want you to think I took off without thinking of you, okay little man?" He got down on one knee and bent forward to kiss Ronnie goodbye. He kissed my cheek as well and stood up and straightened his uniform. "See you soon boys." And he walked off. Ronnie was shivering, he was frightened and confused. We got dressed and went to his house and found his Mom in the kitchen. "I think Daddy knows about us Mommy" Ronnie said. "Of course he does Darlin', I can't keep that kind of secret from him, it wouldn't be right. But you have nothing to be worried about. He said most boys do that at some point and anyway there's nothing to do about it anyway." Ronnie and I were both stunned. It was a pretty enlightened attitude for the time, but both of us had parents that were above average intelligence and very loving to boot. I guess we were pretty lucky kids. We certainly worried less about it after that. We kept it from other kids even though it didn't seem right that we should have to, but who wants to fight their way through the school day.

The following night I asked Ronnie if he wanted to try doing it to me. He wasn't sure he could make me feel anything but he would try if I wanted him to. I told him he should feel how I felt the night before. His dick was considerably smaller than mine even though he was big for a twelve year old. I was large for my age but then my Dad was over six feet and as we saw in the hallway the night before big dicks run in the family.

We knew he couldn't reach me the same way I had done him but we figured out if I pulled my knees up he had a straight shot at my hole. After the same sort of preliminaries he was ready to try and I was ready to let him. Just as he got the head of his cock in he lost traction with his knees and fell forward ramming his dick in all the way. It was a little uncomfortable but I recovered quickly. Ronnie apologized about slipping but I told him it was okay and he could start moving. It was pleasant having him slide in and out but he wasn't long enough to hit my prostate which was the lump I kept sliding over inside him. I checked my Mom's anatomy books to figure it out. But Ronnie's tight sweaty little belly was rubbing against my cock and it was doing the trick for me. Having him inside really enhanced my orgasm; it was more massive than with Charlotte's best efforts. But then Ronnie turned me on more than her. We managed to cum about the same time and the best feeling was his hot cum squirting into me. I sprayed his belly and chest and the more he slid around in it the more I came. Ultimately Ronny enjoyed being the receiving end and I enjoyed fucking his tight little ass. Sometimes he rode my cock like a rodeo star and sometimes we went face to face but he really liked the rear entry position. It put the maximum contact on his prostate and made him cum like a wild man.

4

We didn't spend all our time having sex though, okay most nights that we were together but not always. Some nights we just cuddled up and talked and snoozed. He was often the instigator when it came to sex. He would get a certain impish look on his face that meant one thing. But during the day we did all sorts of stuff. I taught him to rock climb and he taught me how to identify the rocks we were climbing on. I kept him on belay the first few times until he insisted he was ready to free climb like me. He was a natural. He scampered up the practice face we used in the quarry. I watched him become more muscular and toned. Not bulky just strong. He could work through an injury too; you don't climb rocks without getting scraped or losing a finger nail occasionally. He surprised a rattler one day and when I heard the scream I braced and he slid down fifteen feet. I stopped him but we were both a little banged up. We decided it was closer to the top so we continued around the snake and made it to the top where our bikes were parked. I also taught him to fight, I figured it might be a good idea if someone ever found out we were queer he'd need to be ready to defend himself. My Dad had taught me the physics of punching and how to get my whole body weight into a punch without becoming unstable. He was stationed in Okinawa for a while and took lessons in one of the better Dojos near the base. He was a Marine MP and nobody messed with him ever. But he was the nicest person you'd ever want to meet; as long as you weren't a jerk. When I was in sixth grade I was puny and bullies had my number. I would fight back but I didn't really know what I was doing and got beat up a couple times. So Dad hung a heavy bag on the back patio and taught me punching, lunging and how to deflect a punch. He also taught me how to deal with kickers. We practiced until it became reflex and when they came for me they bled. There was a trail by the flood control channel where they would lay in wait for smaller kids. Dad also taught me the psychology of fighting bullies as he had learned from his MP training. Always go straight at the leader and don't cut him any slack until he runs away or stays down. Rusty was the leader of this pack of bullies but Darry was the yapping Chihuahua of the group. Darry tried to snatch a language class form from my pocket and I trapped his arm and threw him towards the other assholes. Other kids were gathering behind me now and Rusty figured he better assert his dominance and kick my ass. The first thing he did after running his mouth for five minutes was try a lazy kick at my balls. The trick my Dad taught me worked great and Rusty was on his face eating gravel. Rusty got up and swung at my head which my Dad told me to avoid because I could break my hand doing it. I dodged it and caught him hard in the gut and followed up with a shot to his liver. Getting hit in the diaphragm hurts like hell and that's where I tagged him next. That took all the fight out of him. It stuns the muscles and you can't breathe for a few seconds.

Rusty was big but he wasn't strong and nobody had ever challenged him before. His buddies abandoned him and ran off like the little cowards they were. Three punches and Rusty was down and staying there. What happened next was what made me the talk of the school. I reached down and offered Rusty my hand and helped him to his feet. I told him "No more of this shit o.k.? I don't want to have to do this again so you leave everybody alone and we'll get along just fine. I was hoping that this could be the end of it, but the following Friday there was a large crowd at the same spot. Everyone was looking at me and as I got close Rusty was sitting there with an even bigger Redhead who looked at me grimly. "Is this him Rusty? The big kid demanded. Rusty nodded and the guy stood up. It was Billy, Rusty's older Brother. He was taller and leaner and had a much nicer look on his face. "So you're the one that kicked Rusty's butt huh? Are you the king shit now? Do you keep all the other kids in line?" He asked. As he spoke Rusty looked like he was trying to disappear. "I did what I had to and I only hit him three times and he quit so I stopped." I answered. "I don't push anyone around, it isn't right." I said. He stared at me a minute and said "So are you ready to kick my ass?" he asked. "If you force me to, I'll fight you but I don't like hurting people." I said. "Well don't worry about it, I'm here because my Dad broke his leg and couldn't be here himself. I'm sorry Rusty was being such a pain. We didn't know he was doing this until someone at my school told me about him getting reamed here. When I tell Dad what he was doing and that a kid your size straightened him out he'll be grounded all summer." Billy stuck his hand out and said "You're okay kid. I shook his hand and then he grabbed Rusty by the shirt and told him to apologize to everyone there. When he finished telling us he was sorry, Billy dragged him off down the path. After that Rusty always took the long way home and stayed off the path by the flood channel. After that I only had a couple run-ins with new kids that thought they could push everyone around but standing up to them was all it took.

5

One afternoon we came back to the house from another climbing session and there were two cars in Ronnie's driveway. We went to my room and dumped our gear and discovered my folks weren't home. Both cars were there so they must be at Ronnie's. We rinsed off together and headed for Ronnie's expecting an impromptu Barbeque party. My Mom and Dad and Ronnie's parents were sitting and talking to two young guys with military haircuts. We were introduced to Brett and Mike and after a while our Moms had things to do in the kitchen and the Dads went out to tend the coals. Mike spoke first. "Don't be scared guys; we're here to talk to you about being gay." He just said it like it was the Jehovah's Witness's at the door wanting to talk about god. Both of us were red as beets and I managed to say "are you guys like shrinks or something?" They both laughed and Mike continued, we're gay and your folks thought you might like to talk to us about how you feel about each other. It's nothing bad and you aren't in trouble and I gotta say you are the luckiest boys on the face of the earth. Your parents really love and support you." "It's not always that way Brett chimed in, usually it's the opposite." I absorbed what they were saying for a moment and asked, "I never heard it called Gay before, we thought we were just, well queers." I said flatly. "Well that is what the growing community of homosexual men are calling themselves. We're not here to discuss actual sex stuff with you but we thought you might have questions about being gay in the straight world." Ronnie asked "How did my Dad know you were um gay?" Brett smiled and said, "He walked in on us kissing in the warehouse where we were assigned and told us to knock it off because the Colonel was ten steps behind him. He never treated us any different after that either. He scolded us a little later about what it could mean if we were caught messing around on the base. We could be in lock up or discharged right now if he was the kind of guy who hates gays. So we settled down and listened to them talk about life as a gay man and how it's tough but it can be great if you watch your ass. They gave us their phone number and told us to call if we needed to talk. They were good guys and both of them were transferred to a wing that was rotating to Viet Nam. They wrote to us and sent pictures and told us about Thailand. Wow. They were both in the electronics end of the Air Force and I told them about my amplifier business and Brett said he'd send me a couple resonance circuits that would make cheaper speakers sound really good. Ultimately I opened a car stereo shop just in time for the whole Cassette and CB radio boom and I had Ampex auto decks and later on I was the first guy around to sell Pioneer's am/fm cassette dash radio. I started installing amps in the trunk for audiophiles. Then I sold the business to a chain and used the money to get my degree in electronic engineering and ended up at Cal-Tech with all the other budding computer nerds. But that was later.

6

We carried on about the same for almost two years and managed to stay under the radar as far as being outed. I got home late from school late one day and found Ronnie in my room waiting. He kissed me hello and said he needed to talk. My first thought was that his Dad had transferred and they would be moving. That wasn't the case. Ronnie trembled as he told me he met a girl and had developed feelings for her. He really liked this girl and she seemed to like him as well. "So does this mean we're done?" I asked. "I don't want it to," he said, but it doesn't seem right to do stuff with you and her; and she can't make me feel the way you do but I don't know; I'm really confused." I let it soak in for a moment. "My dad said this might happen, that we would outgrow our relationship, I just wasn't ready I guess." I told him. I sat down next to him on the bed, "Is she nice, what's her name? Tell me about her. He showed me a photo that she had given him, Jessy was a pretty girl and on her way to being a beautiful woman. "Do I get to meet her?" He grinned at me and hugged me as tight as he could. "I thought you'd be mad or hurt or something." He said. "It was my turn to confess, "I've been noticing some of the girls too, Karen Parmenter keeps making eyes at me and she appointed herself my lab partner in Chem. Maybe this is the time to change our lives, but I will always love you because you're a wonderful guy." He looked at me through clouded eyes, "Me too" he said. We talked about the girls for a while, and I discovered he hadn't made any moves on Jessy yet. I told him that I would let Karen win me over as long as it didn't interfere with my plans and activities. He told me that Karen has been mooning over me for months and that she and Jessy were friends. After an hour of general talking Ronnie got that impish look and said, "You know, until she actually does let me do it with her, we can still have fun. But let's agree that once we start doing it with girls we'll have one last session together to mark the end of our sex life together?" I agreed and we went on as usual but it was obvious we were tapering off. Ronnie had grown to the point that he could hit my prostate and I was going to miss that. But after three weeks we were both in love and in lust with Jessy and Karen respectively. And it wasn't just holding hands. Ronnie and I had our last fling while Dr. Demento played silly songs in the background. I found a box of Trojans on my night stand one day with a note from my Dad. "I'm too young to be a Grampa, use these."

Epilogue

Karen and I lasted all the way through my studies at Cal-Tech but she balked when I wanted to join the Marines and be an officer. Her Dad was a Marine and not the good kind either. He was a past glory Marine my Dad called guys like that. When my Dad mentioned his time in the Corps he talked about the people he served with and some of the goofy stuff they pulled. He had a couple medals but never mentioned them. I felt pretty strongly about it so I joined up and made it through my O.C.S. and made it to Major before I ruined my back in a Helicopter crash. I married a bit late; my oldest boy is just now thirteen the youngest is five. I have to smile as I see them passing through the same stages I went through. Ronnie graduated Valedictorian and went to M.I.T. and then worked for JPL. His kidneys kept him out of the Air Force and eventually they quit on him completely. He was on Dialysis for years but he never got a transplant. I offered one of mine but they weren't compatible. He passed in 93' and Jessy two years later. His boys still call me Uncle Rob and I watch his grandkids now and then.

All this time and I still love him.