Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 04:01:38 EDT From: Phaedrus57@aol.com Subject: Isle of Refuge 10 (tt,bt,consensual) Young Friends Caveat: This is a story of love and adventure among a group of teenaged boys. It contains scenes of sexual activities between boys. If this offends you, do not read the story. Please go to some other site. If the laws of your country or locality say that it is illegal for you to read this type of story (i.e. that you are too young to have erotic thoughts or sexual questions and your innocent little mind shouldn't entertain such possibilities as are portrayed in this story), you should obey the law. If you read this story nevertheless, don't get caught! Hide your downloads and delete your history. For obvious reasons, the characters in this story do not practice safe sex. Remember that they are fictional products of my fevered imagination, but the dangers of unprotected sex are real. In this respect, I hope that readers will not follow their example. Enjoy the story, which will go on for many chapters. I hope that it will appeal to your minds and hearts. It isn't primarily a sex story, although it has its erotic moments. Comments are welcome and strongly requested. Flames will be ignored. E-mail me at phaedrus57@aol.com. This story is dedicated to the memory of my beloved foster son David, who died of AIDS in 1992, a week before his twenty-ninth birthday. Isle of Refuge By Phaedrus57 Chapter XI: New Arrivals Late in the afternoon Terry watched Joey and Angelo return from the beach and walk across the campsite toward him. Joey had his arm around Angelo's waist and Angelo, a few inches taller, held Joey loosely across the shoulders. When they entered the clearing they were laughing and talking comfortably, completely engrossed in each other. They had had a wonderful, carefree afternoon playing on the beach, sharing jokes and secrets and touching whenever possible. Now they felt ready to face Terry, although they didn't look forward to it. Angelo felt that he could face anything with Joey at his side, and Joey knew that he would not let anyone hurt Angelo ever again. Terry saw their attitudes change as they approached him. Angelo looked frightened and vulnerable. Joey's face lost all expression, but his eyes glittered with anger and defiance. Terry's heart beat fast with apprehension and his stomach churned as Joey and Angelo came closer. Angelo dropped his gaze to the ground and then lifted his eyes to look directly into Terry's. "We're ready to talk now," he said softly. Seeing Terry's questioning look, he added, "Joey and I are together now. We're gonna take care of each other...forever!" Joey looked up at Terry, who was six inches taller and at least forty pounds heavier, and said fiercely, "If you ever try to hurt him again, I'll rip your balls off and shove 'em down your throat!" Two days ago such a statement would have produced uncontrollable giggles and playful grabs and punches. No one laughed now. Terry took a deep breath. His eyes began to tear up and he felt himself trembling. Finally he said, "Look, Angelo, I can't even express how sorry I am. Everything was my fault, and I know I fucked up completely. I...I...never meant to hurt ya. You're the last person in the world I'd wanna hurt. It's just...you're so beautiful and sexy and I wanted you so much...I just lost control of myself...I really, really love ya...Please, please forgive me...I'd do anything...anything..." He put his face in his hands and began to sob, unable to say any more. Angelo, his warm and compassionate heart moved by his friend's anguish, wanted nothing more than to put his arms around Terry and dry his tears, but Joey held him back. "How do we know you won't lose control again? How do we know we're safe with you?" Terry finally regained his voice. "I've lost my two best friends in the world, the best friends I've ever had. I've learned a lot about myself. I'm not gonna make a mistake like that ever again. I'd do anything to have you trust and respect me again. Just give me a chance to show you that I've really changed!" Angelo had heard enough. He broke free of Joey's restraining grip and moved to put his arms around Terry. His dark eyes filled with tears and he said, "It's okay, bro', I forgive ya. I wanna be your friend. But you gotta understand that Joey and I are together now, like Mike and Francois or Richard and Kevin. Things have changed and you've gotta respect that. Is that kewl with you?" "Yeah, of course, if it's what you want...," Terry said. As the implications of the new situation dawned on him, he felt afraid and alone. Things had changed. Relieved as he was by Angelo's forgiveness, he wasn't sure how to cope with this new relationship. He noticed that Joey was smiling and holding out his right hand. "If Angelo's okay with it, I am too," Joey said, shaking Terry's hand. His smile faded and he added, "Don't forget what I said, though!" "Don't worry about that!" Terry replied solemnly. At that moment, Tommy and Miguel, followed by the other boys, strode into the campsite. Seeing Terry, Angelo, and Joey standing close together, Tommy bounded over to them. He had been deeply troubled by the conflict of the past two days. Anger and disunity among his big brothers scared him. "Did you guys make up? Are ya friends again?" he asked eagerly. Angelo smiled at him. "Yeah, we worked things out," he said. "Wow! That's great!" Tommy shouted. "Are ya gonna come back to sleep with us in the treehouse, Terry?" "That's up to you guys, but if you want me there, I will," Terry said, smiling for the first time that day. Tommy leapt up and threw his arms around Terry's neck, almost knocking him down. He kissed Terry's cheek and said softly into his ear, "I sure wancha there, big bro'!" Terry held the little boy close. "Thanks, Tommy, I really love ya!" he said with great feeling. Meanwhile the other boys had gathered around. Richard said, "We need to talk with Angelo and Joey alone, okay? Let's go up to the treehouse, guys. Terry, could you wait for us down here please?" Terry watched as the other boys climbed into the treehouse. He was relieved to be reconciled with Angelo, anxious about the verdict of the rest of the group, and bewildered about his place in the community now that his two playmates were lovers. A few minutes later, he heard Kevin call, "Terry, could you come up here now?" He found all of the other boys sitting in the large open space at the top of the ladder. They were arranged in pairs: Tommy in Miguel's lap, Richard and Kevin side by side, Mike and Francois with their arms over each other's shoulders, and Joey and Angelo holding each other tightly. Terry was clearly the odd man out. He felt very strange. Richard said, "Angelo is convinced that you're truly sorry and that he will be safe with you up here. Joey says that he has already made his feelings clear to you. We'd all like you to come back and live with us here in the treehouse. But Joey and Angelo want to sleep alone together from now on. They say you will understand why. Okay?" Terry hung his head. "Yeah, I understand," he said. Then he grinned and raised his eyes. "Thanks, guys! I'll make this up to ya, you'll see." Everyone except Joey and Angelo laughed and cheered. Joey and Angelo looked into each other's eyes, embraced passionately, and enjoyed a long, deep kiss. Many brotherly hugs and pats on the back momentarily lifted Terry's spirits, but his feelings of loneliness and confusion soon returned. After dinner, Miguel and Tommy approached him. "We'd like you to sleep with us, Terry," Miguel said shyly. "We've got the biggest sleeping area, even with Kevin and Richard there." "Have you asked them?" Terry queried. "Richard...sorta suggested it," Miguel confessed. Tommy threw his arms around Terry's neck and said, "We really want you sleepin' with us too!" Terry smiled and said, "So this idea is kewl with everybody, right?" "Yeah!" Tommy and Miguel said almost together. "Well, it's really kewl with me. In fact, I love it!" Terry said happily. As the boys settled down to sleep after their evening ablutions in the pool, Tommy snuggled up to Miguel as usual. He reached out and pulled Terry over close to them. The little boy had an almost infinite capacity for receiving and giving affection, a need that Miguel sensed instinctively and met unstintingly. The thought of having two big brothers to hold him and protect him while he slept seemed like heaven to him, and Terry was even bigger and stronger than his wise, beautiful, loving Miguel. Tommy was positively blissful as he felt the warmth of Terry's body against his back. Terry stretched his arm protectively over Tommy. His hand touched Miguel's. The two hands clasped and held each other. Tommy thought his heart would burst with happiness. Tommy gave a deep sigh of contentment. "I love ya, Terry! I love ya, Miguel!" he said, kissing them each in turn. "It's so-o-o-o nice sleepin between ya! G'night..." He yawned and fell asleep in seconds. "G'night, Tommy," they both replied, kissing and caressing him. In the darkness they could just see each other smiling across Tommy's slumbering body. They were still holding each other's hands when they, too, fell asleep. Terry had dreaded hearing Angelo and Joey making love (which they did passionately in the next cubicle), but he didn't hear a thing! The next day began with the usual morning routine: trips to the latrine, baths in the pool or showers under the waterfall, and a fresh fruit breakfast shared at the campsite. As they finished breakfast, Mike said, "Francois and I think that his leg has healed. I'm gonna take off his splints this morning and take a closer look. Dr. Richard, will you give us a second opinion?" "Why certainly, Dr. Mike, I'd be happy to," Richard answered, grinning. After the remains of breakfast were disposed of, Mike sat Francois on a blanket at the foot of the tree and began to unwrap the cloth strip bandages holding the splints on Francois' leg. This was a task he had done almost every day since the boys had arrived on the island so that his lover's bandages were always clean. Although he had enjoyed his role as nurse and caregiver, Mike hoped that today Francois would be able to walk on his own. He had planned numerous excursions and adventures to help Francois make up for the times he had been left behind while the other boys explored. After he had removed the bandages and splints, Mike ran his hand slowly and carefully down Francois' lower leg, trying to remember where he had felt the break in the bone before. He could feel nothing. Richard knelt beside Mike and examined Francois' leg with equal care. "I think it's healed," Mike said, smiling delightedly at his boyfriend. "What do you think, Dr. Richard?" "I concur, Dr. Mike," Richard said, very professionally. "Francois, why don't you try walking without your crutches?" Mike and Richard helped Francois up, and he took several experimental steps. "How does it feel?" Mike asked anxiously. "Great! A little shaky, though. I'll have to get used to using those muscles again," Francois replied. "I've got lots of long walks planned. You'll be back in shape in no time!" Mike said, and threw his arms around his boyfriend, hugging him close. "I can hardly wait, Doc!" Francois said, reciprocating Mike's hug and kissing him passionately. The other boys cheered and applauded. Terry was feeling lonely and isolated. Several of the other boys tried to reach out to him and include him in their activities and projects. But the private world that he, Joey, and Angelo had created was gone and he hadn't found a new world to replace it. To keep himself occupied, he volunteered eagerly for any task that needed to be done. He felt a great need to prove his worthiness in the eyes of the other boys. He had high standards and ideals for himself, and he had not lived up to them. His image of himself had been drastically altered by the events of the last few days, and he was struggling to come to terms with parts of his character that he had not recognized before. Terry's mother had brought him to America from Cape Verde when he was a little boy. He barely remembered his father, who had left when Terry was a year old to find work in Portugal. His mother had struggled to make her way in the strange new land. She had help from cousins who had emigrated earlier. Her scant knowledge of English limited her employment to menial, low-wage jobs. Her determination to provide her son with better opportunities carried her through all of these hardships. Terry had tried hard to be a good son and to live up to her hopes. He had been her translator and, as he grew older, her guide through the various bureaucratic mazes of America's education and immigration systems. They had shared the triumph of gaining United States citizenship only a year ago when Terry was twelve. Then a few weeks later, his mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In three months she was dead, leaving Terry in the care of one of her cousins. Terry missed his mother deeply. He wondered what she would think if she could see him now. He dreamed of doing some great heroic deed by which he could redeem himself. He needed to prove that despite his wayward passions and disordered lusts, he was still the shining golden boy his mother had believed him to be. By midafternoon dark clouds were gathering on the western horizon, and well before sunset the sky grew dark. The boys could hear the surf pounding hard on the beach and feel the wind rising until it whistled through the trees. They spent the rest of the daylight hours securing everything stored around the campsite. Just as they finished a hasty evening meal, they felt large drops of cold rain hit their naked skins. After quick trips to the latrine, they scurried up into the treehouse and closed the shutters. Now warm and dry, they huddled close together in a circle in the great room as the wind roared and the rain beat down on the roof and sides of their shelter. The violence of the tempest outside made them all feel vulnerable and a bit fearful, but at the same time grateful for the closeness of their friends and the solid tightness of the treehouse. They joked and laughed to relieve the tension. They prevailed upon Francois to tell one of his Haitian grandmother's ghost stories, which he did with great dramatic flare. They played word games and mental games for several hours until everyone was sleepy. Except for Joey and Angelo, still enthralled with the delights of each other's bodies, they forbore their usual lovemaking. Instead, friends and lovers pulled each other especially close. A few minutes after they had crawled to their usual areas, all of the boys were sound asleep. Tommy was the first to hear the new sound, a high-pitched, sputtering whine penetrating the roar of the storm. It was still dark inside the treehouse and no light penetrated the tiny spaces between the boards. "Miguel! Miguel! Wake up!" Tommy half-whispered, half-shouted, pulling on his friend's arm that was wrapped around him. "Wha-a-at?" Miguel moaned sleepily, not opening his eyes. "Listen! D'ya hear that? What is it?" Tommy said anxiously. Terry was now wide awake and Richard and Kevin had raised their heads in alarm, just in time to hear the whine end in a loud metallic crash. "I think it came from the top of the mountain," Kevin said. "It sounded like a car crash." "Or a plane!" Terry said excitedly. Richard said, "If anyone was trying to fly over the ocean in this weather, they could have lost their bearings and run into the mountain by mistake. Some of us should go up and investigate as soon as it's light! People might be hurt." "I could climb up beside the waterfall now and be on top by the time it's light," Terry said eagerly. "No, Terry! It won't help anyone for you to get hurt or lost. The rocks will be slippery and the wind is still too strong. We'll wait until we can go up there safely. It'll be light soon and then we can go as a group. One person with no equipment won't be any help to anyone." Everyone was now awake, and gripped by curiosity and excitement. No one could think of going back to sleep, and there was much speculative discussion about what could have caused the mysterious sounds. The rain tapered off and the wind abated. Pale light could be seen around the edges of the shutters. Mike opened one of them. Fog seemed to rise from the ground into the gray dawn. Branches and palm leaves littered the wet ground. The pool gradually became visible through the mist. The tools and supplies hastily secured the previous afternoon seemed to have survived the storm. The boys could hear the birds announcing the new day and the low roar of the waterfall to which they were accustomed. Mike and Francois were the first to reach the ground. Ignoring the mud beneath their feet, they began to assemble rope, shovels, and first-aid supplies for the expedition to the mountaintop. Soon all the others had joined them, eager to get started. "Hey! This time I can go too!" Francois said to Mike. "D'ya think your leg's strong enough, babe?" Mike asked. "Yeah! The exercise will do it good," Francois replied. "I'll make sure ya don't fall," Mike said, grinning. "I know ya will," Francois said, smiling radiantly in return. He and Mike exchanged a quick kiss. Terry led the way. He had tied a rope around his waist, the end of which trailed about twenty feet behind him. Each of the others clung onto the rope with one hand as they clambered over the slippery rocks. By the time the reached the top of the waterfall the warm sun had dispersed most of the mist and the landscape looked fresh and green. As Terry emerged onto the plateau where Kevin's Brook and Tommy's Falls had their origins, he stopped abruptly and shaded his eyes with his hand. "Look! LOOK!" he shouted excitedly as he pointed with his other hand toward the summit about half a mile away. "It was a plane!" Tommy exclaimed as he and the others caught up with Terry. "It crashed into the mountain in the storm." "Can you see any people? Is anything moving?" Richard asked, squinting his eyes. "It's too far way to be sure," Mike replied. "We'll have to go on over there to find out." The single-engine plane rested on it nose, with its tail sticking up at a 30 degree angle. The front of the fuselage was crumpled almost back to the cockpit. There was no way to tell how many passengers it had carried or if anyone could have survived. After a few minutes rest beside the pond, the expedition resumed its progress. The boys walked so fast in their eagerness that Francois couldn't keep up and he and Mike fell behind. Terry, Tommy, and Miguel led the way. As they got close enough to see details, most of the plane's wrecked fuselage was obscured by the rock outcropping of the summit. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ "Eddie! Eddie! Wake up! Someone's coming!" Jaime said urgently into his younger brother's ear. He and Eduardo had huddled shivering and exhausted for hours beneath the wreckage of their father's plane. They were still dressed in their soaked shorts and tee shirts, but their sandals had disappeared in the confusion of the wild night after the crash. Jaime didn't know where he and Eddie were. After they recovered consciousness, they had seen the slopes of what appeared to be a mountain illuminated by the lightning flashes. They had been firmly strapped in the two rear seats of the four-passenger plane. They had complained when papa insisted that they fasten their safety harnesses and stay in the back as soon as they found themselves caught in the fast-moving storm. Then the engine had started to sputter and the little aircraft began to lose altitude. Jaime remembered papa's desperate attempts to bring the nose up, then the terrifying noise of the crash, then blackness. He had no idea how long he and Eddie had been unconscious, but they both came to at about the same time. They had realized that they were both uninjured and had tried to rouse papa, but he didn't respond. The lightning flashes made it look as if his head was resting at an impossible angle on his chest. He had told them that under circumstances such as these they should get out of the plane as quickly as possible. They had opened the hatch and tumbled to the ground. Not knowing what else to do, they had taken advantage of what little shelter the plane could provide while they waited for daylight and calmer weather. When the approaching voices awoke him, he felt the sun's warmth and realized that he ached everywhere. A wave of panic seized him. He shook Eddie's shoulder and then pulled him closer. Eddie's eyes popped open. Suddenly they saw a tall young man with light brown skin and African features striding around the nearby rock outcropping. Except for the rope tied around his waist, he was naked. His look of surprise was followed by a wide, cheerful smile. "Hey! Look who's here!" he called back over his shoulder. Two more naked boys appeared, one who looked younger than Eddie, with light skin and straight black hair and another brown-skinned boy perhaps Jaime's own age, broad-shouldered and strongly built. Suddenly the little boy grinned delightedly and ran toward them. "Welcome to Venture Island! Are you guys okay?" he shouted with an unmistakable American accent as he knelt down beside them. Despite their physical discomfort, Jaime and Eddie began to laugh with relief. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Terry walked rapidly along the last few yards of the upward slope. Tommy and Miguel had trouble keeping up with his long strides. As he walked around the stone outcropping, Terry was startled to see two small forms huddled together beneath the belly of the wrecked plane. At first he thought they were young children because they were so small and slender. They were dressed identically in torn, dirty, wet blue shorts with elastic waistbands and white tee shirts. Their complexions were a bit browner than his own. They had almond shaped eyes and straight black hair, neatly cut but now disheveled. As he looked more closely, he concluded that they were young adolescents, one a bit smaller than the other. They looked up at him in terror. In the few seconds it took Terry to make this quick appraisal, Tommy and Miguel caught up with him. Without a moment's hesitation, Tommy dashed forward to greet them. His obvious good will soon had the two boys laughing. Tommy knelt down on the ground facing them, talking all the while. "Welcome to Venture Island! Are you guys okay? I'm Tommy. I'm twelve, and that's Terry and Miguel. All the other guys are right behind 'em. Who are you? D'ya speak English? How old are ya? Where did ya come from?" The two boys gradually stopped laughing. "Whoa, dude, slow down. I can't keep up!" the taller boy said, grinning at Tommy. "Take it easy, Tommy! They've just survived a plane crash," Terry said as he bent down. "Let 'em catch their breath!" "Sorry, dudes, we've never had anybody drop in on us like this before," Tommy said, unable to resist giggling at his little joke. The two boys on the ground started to giggle along with him. Recovering his breath, the taller boy said, "I'm Jaime and this is my brother Eduardo. Everybody calls him Eddie. I'm fourteen and he's thirteen. We're from the Philippines. We were flying home from Australia when we crashed. Our papa was flying the plane. He hasn't woken up yet." Terry looked up at the plane's cockpit. He saw a still, crumpled figure slumped over the wheel. "I have a feeling he isn't gonna wake up," Terry thought to himself. He said aloud, "We should climb up and take look at him." By this time Richard, Kevin, Joey, Angelo, and finally Mike and Francois were gathered around the new arrivals. Jaime and Eddie looked up in amazement at the nine naked American teenaged boys. They all looked so big and strong, and they seemed so friendly and nice. They touched each other a lot. They seemed completely unselfconscious about their nudity and about their variety of skin colors, now somewhat muted by the white boys' all-over tans. This wasn't what Jaime and Eddie had been taught to expect of Americans. "We've been living here since our boat was wrecked in a storm about three months ago," Richard explained. "Now, are you guys hurt? You look cold and miserable. You should get out of those wet clothes and warm up in the sunshine. Let me take a look at you." Hands reached out to help the two boys stand up and help them out of their clothes. Jaime and Eddie looked embarrassed at first, since they weren't used to being naked in front of others. Both boys were slender and delicate-looking. Except for a tiny wreath at the base of Jaime's penis, neither boy had any body hair growing from his fine-grained brown skin. Both boys' penises were uncut, but their genitals showed that they were well into puberty. They looked very attractive and seemed very vulnerable. Richard and Mike gently but carefully examined the bruises and abrasions the two Filipino boys had sustained in the course of their misadventures. "Nothing too serious here," Richard said reassuringly. The boys had brought antiseptic and topical antibiotic cream with them in the first aid kit, and Richard and Mike applied it to the most severe abrasions. "Those should heal up in a few days. These bruises may be sore for a little longer, though," Richard said. The emotional stress of the last twelve hours suddenly caught up, and Eddie's eyes began to tear up. Mike encircled his small body with his muscular arms, and soon Eddie was sobbing on Mike's shoulder. Mike rubbed his back and whispered reassurances while Francois massaged his neck and shoulders. Jaime struggled to hold back his own tears until Richard put his arms around him and said, "It's okay to cry. We all do sometimes and you've been through a lot." Jaime threw his arms around Richard's neck and began to sob as well. Tommy put his arms around Jaime from behind and kissed him on the neck. "Everything's gonna be good, bro. We'll take care of ya!" Jaime became aware that care and concern surrounded him. The feeling of the warm bodies against his stomach, chest, and back and the strong arms that encircled him made him recognize suddenly that he belonged here. He knew that Tommy was right. Meanwhile, Terry and Kevin had climbed up into the plane's cockpit. It didn't take them long to ascertain that the figure slumped over the instrument panel was a corpse. They looked at each other grimly and prepared to climb back down to tell Jaime and Eddie that their father was dead. Back on the ground, they found Jaime and Eddie still in the comforting arms of Richard and Mike. Kevin tapped Richard on the shoulder and said in a low voice, "Can I talk to you for a minute-alone?" "Sure. Miguel, take my place here," Richard answered. Miguel, his warm heart moved by the Filipino boys' pain and grief, eagerly did so, and Kevin and Richard moved a few feet away, talking quietly. Richard walked back and knelt beside Jaime, who was now clinging to Miguel. He put his hand on Jaime's shoulder and said, "Jaime, your father is dead." Jaime, his eyes again filling with tears, turned to look at Richard and said, "I...I...I know, but I couldn't tell Eddie." "Do your want to tell him now, or shall I? He's got to know," Richard said. "I'll tell him," Jaime said, struggling for self-control. He separated himself from Miguel and moved over to put his arms around Eddie. "Papa's dead, Eddie," Jaime said, trying not to start crying again. "NOOOOOOO!" Eddie howled in anguish, trying to break free of Mike's enfolding arms. He wailed and pounded his fists on Mike's back, but Mike only held him more closely. Jaime gave up his attempt at stoicism and was soon sobbing again as well. The two Filipino boys felt themselves surrounded by strong but gentle arms as the Venture boys instinctively gathered around them. After a few minutes Jaime and Eddie began to recover. Richard took a handful of water from one of the canteens and helped Jaime wash the tears from his face, and Mike did the same for Eddie. Richard said to the two Filipino boys, "We're going to take you back to our campsite and show you our treehouse where we all live. You need some food and rest. Then you can decide whether to leave your father's body here or where you would like to bury him. We had to bury one of our friends when we first arrived, and we could bury your father next to him if that's what you want. Are you Catholic?" "Yes," Jaime replied. "I'm not, but several of us are. No one lives on this island except us, so there isn't any priest, but we can give your father a decent funeral," Richard said. "O-o-k-k-ay," Jaime sniffed, trying to stop his tears. Eddie nodded his head in assent. Richard said to the other boys, "Let's go!" Jaime and Eddie looked up at their father's body in the plane's cockpit, and Jaime took Eddie's hand. They hugged each other and Jaime said, "We're ready." Terry squatted down in front of Jaime and said, "Climb on my back. This is the first and only time you get to ride down this mountain!" Jaime smiled through his tears and followed Terry's instructions. Grasping Eddie under his arms, Mike said, "Put your legs around me and hang on!" Thus Jaime and Eddie rode in state to the top of Tommy's falls, while the boys of the Venture pointed out significant landmarks as they passed them. After pausing to cool off in the pond, everyone began the tortuous descent to the campsite. Eddie and Jaime were frightened by the height as they looked down over the waterfall, but they soon found themselves being passed from hand to hand, partly carried and partly led down over the precipice. Despite their grief at the death of their father and their confusion at the sudden change in their circumstances, the two brothers somehow felt safe and cared for. Early in the afternoon, the Venture boys and the new arrivals reached the campsite. Even though they were now unutterably weary, the two Filipino boys looked around in astonishment at the neatly stowed piles of tools and equipment, the stone fireplace encircled by rustic log benches, the beautiful pool and waterfall, and the palatial treehouse. "You guys built all this?" Jaime asked in disbelief. "Yeah, we did," Kevin replied proudly. "Wow!" Jaime and Eddie said at the same time. Terry, Tommy, and Miguel showed the new boys where the latrine was and how to use it. They then led Jaime and Eddie to the pool and helped them clean off the grime and sweat of the last twelve terrible hours. Jaime was surprised at how uninhibited the boys were about touching his and his brother's bodies everywhere. For that matter, they seemed to have no self-consciousness about touching each other affectionately or about the fact that they were all naked. Jaime and Eddie's conservative, upper class, Catholic upbringing had not prepared them for this situation, but they were too tired to worry about it now. By the time their bath was finished, Jaime and Eddie were yawning and fighting to keep their eyes open. They were dimly aware that Tommy and Miguel were handing them up toward the treehouse door, from which Terry was reaching down to pull them the rest of the way in. They were led to a large partitioned cubicle and helped to lie down next to each other on blankets that Tommy and Miguel unfolded. The afternoon sunlight poured in through the treehouse windows. As Jaime and Eddie snuggled together, Tommy and Miguel sat down on the floor beside them. "I'm real sorry about your dad," Tommy said to them, "but I'm glad ya can live here with us." He leaned over and kissed each brother on the cheek. "We like backrubs a lot when we're tired or sore. Would'ja like one now?" Too tired to be surprised by this display of care and affection, Jaime and Eddie both mumbled "Mmmmm..." With Tommy and Miguel gently rubbing their backs, Jaime and Eddie were soon deeply asleep. NEXT: Chapter 12-"Welcome to Venture Island!"