Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2006 06:16:14 +0100
From: Jonas Henley <jonas_henley@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Kids of Indian Spring, Chapter 10

Kids of Indian Spring
By Jonas Henley

Chapter 10


Wednesday,  14 June  1995
12:25 pm

Caleb ignored the wet feeling in the seat of his pants as best he could and
hurried home. All he had to do was just park his bike and hurry in and
change clothes, before he ran into Rich or any of the other kids that might
be playing around the house. When he pulled up to the house, however, he
saw a strange car parked outside. It was a recent model Chevrolet. He
couldn't imagine who would own such a car or why they would be at his
house. His dad hated Chevrolets. Really hated them, as in everything about
them. So did his grandfather who lived down a side street nearby. For that
matter, he was pretty sure everybody in his extended family had the same
feelings against Chevrolet, though he wasn't always sure why. Caleb himself
harbored a secret interest in Corvettes, not that he would ever admit that
to anybody he was related to.

He shrugged his shoulders and figured whatever the reason this car was
parked there, he could find Rich and ask. First, though, he had to change
clothes, as Joey's cum had completely leaked out and soaked the back of his
shorts, at least that's what it felt like. Still, it was worth it for his
first fuck back there. First? He was already thinking of getting
another. With a broad smile on his face he went on in through the side door
and into the kitchen.

"Dad!!  What are you doing home??"  This was unexpected. His dad was
supposed to be at work. Caleb dropped his hands down to his side as if the
stain of leaked cum could be seen from the side of his knee length cargos,
as well as the back. It was definitely time to be a little scared and a
little paranoid.

"Well, nice to see you, too, son. And where exactly have you been?"

"Oh, uh, sorry Dad. I didn't mean I wasn't glad to, um, see you. I just,
uh, wasn't expecting you to be home. Um, that's all."

Jonathan Parker was more interested in his son's fidgeting nervousness at
the moment and wasn't going to let the avoidance of his question slide.
"Well, Caleb, it's nice to know that at 14 years old you are still glad to
see your old man around. It so happens that I had to get the car repaired,
and I got the rental car outside for the day."

"But it's a Chevrolet." Caleb jumped in with this comment, hoping to keep
the change of subject going.

He should have known better. All it did was raise his dad's suspicions
higher.  "I know it's a Chevrolet, son. It's all the damn dealership
had. Now, I'm only going to ask once more, and then I'm going to take off
this belt and use it on your backside if you try one more time to change
the subject."

"Yes, sir."  Caleb replied meekly and with a small amount of fear.

"Now, where have you been?"

"Um, outside."

"Your answer is - 'um, outside' ? You aren't sure where you've been?"

"I've been outside, sir."

"Playing with Rich?"

"Um, yes sir. I mean, yes sir."

"You haven't been riding your bike around Indian Springs? I seem to
remember you are still grounded."

Caleb had to think about this one. Had his father seen him riding around?
If he had, then he would catch Caleb in a lie, which would be very bad for
Caleb. But if he hadn't seen Caleb, then . . . .

"OK, that's it." Caleb's dad began, obviously tired of his son's stalling
and well aware now that Caleb was hiding something.  "Apparently, I need to
get your attention and remind you that I expect straight answers when I ask
you a question. Bend over the kitchen table."

"Dad! No please!"  Caleb's eyes grew wider as he watched his dad start to
unbuckled his belt and pull it out of the loops in the dress slacks.

"I'm sorry, Caleb, but we tried the question and answer session for long
enough without you getting it right. Now I need to remind you who the
father in this house is."

"Dad, please don't, no . . ."  But Caleb's pleading was falling on
temporarily deaf ears.

"No, son, you'll remember this lesson better this way. I'll do it on the
outside of your pants, and then we'll start all over. If you don't answer
quickly enough or learn your lesson afterward, then we'll drop a layer of
your clothes and add a couple of swipes."

Caleb was torn. He desperately wanted to argue this or plead his case or
slow down the inevitable. But he knew well enough that any of those three
options would very much make things a lot worse for him. Caleb began
shuffling toward the kitchen table beside which stood his father, belt in
hand and waiting. Caleb was trying desperately to not plead or to show his
fear. He was seriously questioning his actions for the day; and some of the
guilt he had had the last time (when he had tried to penetrate himself with
the candle) was coming back to him in full force.

His dad didn't notice the reddening of Caleb's face in time as both were
suddenly distracted by the sound of the screen door. Both turned to the
sound and watched as 10 year old Rich walked in. Rich entered the kitchen
warily, eyeing the belt in his dad's hand and wondering what was up.

"Uh, hey Dad. Whose car is that outside?"

"Never mind about that car," Jonathan Parker stated. He was already in a
bad mood about having to take his own car in for repairs, a worse mood
because they gave him a Chevrolet in exchange, and his mood was getting
worse by the minute. He shook the belt at Rich and said, "You! You tell me
where your brother has been!"

Rich's eyes went wide. Was this a trap? He cared a lot about his
brother. Not to mention that if Caleb got in trouble, he probably would to,
as well, to some extent. It's just the way his dad did things. So it was an
easy decision. "He's been with me. Outside playing."

"Rich . . ." Caleb began, fearing his brother was walking into a trap, but
he was cut off by their dad.

"You hush up!"  Mr. Parker exclaimed, shaking the belt now at Caleb. Then
he turned back to Rich for confirmation of his answer.  "You're telling me
the truth, Rich, son?"

"Yes, dad. Honest."  He didn't like lying to his dad, but he didn't want to
get Caleb, or himself, in trouble, either. He'd just have to ask his older
brother to cool it with going over to Joey and Stevie's (for whatever
reason that was, though he figured it was to spend time with Emily, doing
whatever older boys do) until the grounding period was over.

It turns out, that their dad hadn't seen Caleb ride up on his bike. He was
just sure that his oldest son had been hiding something. Oh well, he
thought, maybe it was just his own nerves.  "Sorry boys," he said, putting
back on his belt, "I've had a rough day. I shouldn't be taking it out on
you two."

Rich just nodded. Caleb just said, "It's cool dad. The rental car does
suck."

He got a tired smile out of his dad. But then was told, "Next time I ask
you a question, you answer it straight out."

"Yes, sir," Caleb said. He, like Rich, was feeling fairly sick inside for
lying directly to their dad. But at the same time they were glad that they
weren't going to get a spanking.

"OK boys, you can go." The boys retreated in some relief. It was then that
Jonathan Parker noticed something.

In his concern for being spanked and caught out in a lie, Caleb had
forgotten one very important feature of the day's events. When he turned to
leave, glad his father was no longer going to spank him, he heard his dad
say, "What's that on your pants?"

Caleb spun around, a new fear in his face. Rich leaned around to see for
himself. Caleb began to stutter an evasion when his dad began taking off
the belt again to remind him that he better have a clear answer. "I don't
know dad, honest. Maybe I sat in something."

That was most likely, even his dad would admit that, but still the boy
seemed like he was hiding something. Jonathan just nodded but said, "Come
here. Turn around and face the table."

Caleb was way too afraid at this point of his father's anger and of the
belt in his hand to even try and disagree. He just hoped it didn't look as
bad as it had felt, or maybe it had sufficiently dried. But maybe that
would be worse? He walked up to the kitchen table, which came up to his
waist, and rested his hands on it in front of him, blushing considerably
and hoping his father's inspection would be quick. To add to his
embarrassment, though, Rich had walked around to watch the proceedings from
an advantage behind Caleb.

"Did you have an accident in your shorts?"

Then feeling of his dad's hand on his left buttcheek had sufficiently
jarred him so that he couldn't think to lie. He should have just said yes;
after all, the cum stain was directly below where his hole would
be. Instead he just blurted out the truth, "No sir!"

Mr. Parker put his finger on the wet spot and pulled it away. It had the
slightest stickiness to it. He smelled it and smelled a very slight vaguely
familiar odor to it, but the light smell of butt overpowered it so that he
couldn't place it. Still, his curiosity was piqued.

"Bend over, Caleb," he told his son.

"But dad . . . "

"BEND OVER!"

Caleb did so immediately. His elbows now rested on the kitchen table and he
was trying desperately to think of something else and not get an erection
as he felt his father's fingers feel around for the snap to the khaki cargo
shorts and then when pulling down the zipper. He turned three more shades
of red as he felt the shorts fall to the floor. There was a pause as he
felt a tug behind on the outside of his briefs. Then another horror hit him
as he felt the hands at his waistband and the briefs slowly tugged down -
right there in the kitchen!! And right in front of Rich!!

Rich was no longer thinking about his lie or about whether he would get in
trouble. All thoughts of such had left his head as he stared at the show
going on before him. It had actually been awhile since he had seen his
brother naked, and here it was on display before him. It was only the
backside, but Rich was still fascinated. He had, actually, for sometime
been trying to get up the nerve to ask Stevie or Ian or some other boy to
play doctor, or something of the like. He had been developing a growing
interest in what other boys must look like as his own body began developing
slowly. For now he just watched on in eager interest, an interest that was
not to be disappointed.

Caleb felt his underwear being pulled all the way down and heard his dad
say:

"Spread your legs, Caleb, as best you can."

Caleb did as he was asked, just agreeing out of basic fear now. He heard a
slightly whispered 'Cool' that unknowingly had escaped from Rich's
mouth. Rich wasn't even conscious of it. It just came out as he saw the
slight spread in the ass and the roundness of the tightened scrotum hanging
underneath.

Their father ignored Rich's comment, as he was intent on other things. He
reached both his hands down and grabbed hold of a buttcheek on each side
and spread open his oldest boy's ass, revealing the hole to both himself
and his youngest son watching on in earnest. This time he also heard the
barely audible gasp coming from Rich, but he ignored this too, as something
else had his attention.

"Daaad," Caleb finally began to protest as he felt his asscheeks being
spread and everything put on display for his dad and his younger brother
Rich.

"Shut up." His dad just simply and curtly said, and Caleb did. What
Jonathan Parker saw within the crack of his young teenage son's full,
squeezable ass, was simply an anus, though very slightly puffy, and very
slightly red, with the traces of something greasy. It was enough to tell
him what had happened. There was only one thing that could have occurred
here and caused that stain, and Jonathan Parker knew what it was.

Caleb, meanwhile, was very much afraid of what his father could or could
not figure out just from looking back there.

"Stand up." He heard his father say. "Step out of your shorts."

Caleb complied, almost shaking in fear. Mr. Parker bent down and picked up
the shorts and fished through the pockets, pulling out a small tin of
medicated Vaseline. Everything fit now. He just couldn't figure out for the
life of him how this had happened. Or why. He made Caleb turn around and
face forward. Caleb tried to hide his semi-hard dick and balls but had his
hands slapped away.

Mr. Parker held the Vaseline in one hand and the belt in the other and said
to his son, "Every hesitation, two licks with the belt, understand?"

A very red Caleb just nodded, afraid to take more than a fleeting glance at
his brother.

"Any lie, and you'll get twenty for each one. Hard licks to - on your bare
ass."

Caleb nodded his understanding, and accepted that there was no way out of
this. He was just too guilty, too embarrassed, and too scared to lie.

"What was this for?" He indicated the small tin of Vaseline.

Caleb looked only briefly again at his wide-eyed brother Rich and then to
the ground.  "For sex," he said very quietly and meekly.

"OK. Look up when you answer me. If you answer quiet or look down, three
swats."

Caleb looked up, trying not to cry of both shame and embarrassment. There
was no way to stop any of this from coming out.

"Did you let someone fuck you?"

"Yes sir."

"You let someone put his penis in you?"

"Yes sir."  He was fighting the urge to look down, fighting the urge not to
mumble or speak softly, and given up on fighting turning red.

"A boy or a man?"

"Boy."

"You let this happen, or were forced?"

"Let it."

Rich was wide-eyed. He at first didn't understand what the first question
could mean. After all, his brother was not a girl, how could anyone fuck
him? But he was putting it together now. And he couldn't believe it. The
thought of what this meant, of what had actually happened was
incredible. Unbelievable, really. And a more than a little bit fascinating.

Their dad continued. "Explain to me, you let it happen, or you went looking
for it? Does this have something to do with why your underwear was wet
yesterday?"

Caleb wasn't sure which question to answer first.

"Answer me!!"

"Yes, sir! I mean, uh, I, uh, sorta went looking for it, um, sort of. I
was, uh, there yesterday, too."  His embarrassment at being exposed so
naked like that was keeping a semi on his dick, a semi that only started to
get more full as he thought about what he had 'sort of' gone looking for
and found.

"Did you know about this, Rich?"  Their dad now turned his attention to his
youngest son.

Rich, however, was now preoccupied with looking at the big dick floating up
before him. He didn't know his brother was that big. It really had been a
while since he had seen him naked down there. He was therefore shocked at
hearing his name all of a sudden.  "Huh?"

"Don't 'huh' me, boy, answer my question, did you know about this?"

Poor Rich just thought his father meant did he know that Caleb had gone off
the day before on his bike, and he nodded an affirmative.

Mr. Parker thought that meant that Rich knew Caleb was giving his ass away
and that Rich was deliberately covering for him with lies.

"Who did this? Who's been fucking you?"

"Dad, please . . . ."

"Damn it, Caleb, I'm not going to ask again. It's obvious that stain in
your shorts and underwear is cum that has leaked out of your ass. I want to
know who's cum that is. Now!"

"Joey's."  Caleb said meekly, barely even glancing over at Rich's
astonished face.

Mr. Parker let this one meek answer pass.  "Joey Vargas?"

"Yes sir."

"That boy can cum already? I don't believe it. He wouldn't do something
like this anyway. He's barely older than Rich here."

Rich just nodded again, still blown away by this revelation.

"It's his dad," Caleb said, weary of what he had been put through.  "It's
Joey's cum, OK. I'm sorry, but it's his. I let him do me."

" 'Do you'???  Geez you sound like some cheap whore."

"Dad . . . "

"Shut up. And get dressed. Why did you let him?"

"I wanted to try it. See what it felt like."  Again meekly.

"I can't believe you like this. You like having your ass stuffed? By other
boy's dicks??"  Their dad was angry now. His voice rising.

Caleb knew it wasn't a question to be answered and just kept getting
redressed red-faced.

"You like having cum shot up your ass?"

"Dad, please . . ."

"Did you fuck that kid too?"

"No, dad, honest."

"So you just like it one way?"

Poor Caleb couldn't win.

His dad then rounded on Rich.  "And I can't believe you helped him in this!
Thought it was something cool did you? Something worth lying about?"

"Dad! I didn't . . ."  Rich began, finally coming to his senses now that
his brother was dressed again. He tried to protest his innocence, but it
was too late. His dad cut him off.

"Probably want to try it yourself!"

"No, dad . . ."

"Have you done this before, Rich?"

"No!! Dad, I didn't . . . ."

"Shut up! Both of you! Go to your rooms!! We aren't finished talking about
this, but for right now we are. I can't believe this. I tried to prevent
something like this. I guess I can't. Go to your rooms. We'll talk about
this later."

Both boys went to their rooms; both too embarrassed to talk to each other.

Jonathan Parker didn't know what to think now. Or what exactly to do. But
one reality really bugged him.





2:35 pm

Meanwhile over at Chase Havard's house (Tyler's friend in Sweetwater) a
bunch of boys were diving, swimming, frolicking and otherwise having fun
within and around the pool. In addition to Tyler and Blaine, Kelley and his
little brother Ethan, Ben Brewer, and Nathan, there were several friends of
Chase's, one of his cousins, his little brother with his friend from next
door, and three other boys from the neighborhood: Andrew, Bobby, and
Paul. The pool was full, but the boys were involved in a multitude of
smaller group conversations and games. Ethan and Ben made friends with
Charley Havard, age 10 like them, and the next door neighbor Anthony, who
had just turned 11 the last week.

Tyler was challenging a series of boys to various dives off the board, but
Chase's cousin was proving hard to scare-off or out-perform. The craziness
of the dives and the complexities of the dares was slowly increasing, a
situation where Tyler tended to thrive.

Chase and Kelley hung out with another of Chase's friends, Mark. They never
noticed Blaine sneak off next door, with a young boy's attempt to woo the
older sister of Anthony, Bethany. At 14, she was a year older, but two
grades higher than Blaine. That can be a big difference at that age, but
summer is the time when most rules are off. Besides, Blaine had been
feeling a bit randy all day that day. Ever since yesterday, actually, when
he watched Kelley wolf down a PB&J sandwich covered in his cum, as well as
the cum of a few others. It had kept him hard and embarrassed for the last
day. A girl was what he needed, if only to talk to one. Where was his
cousin Leslie Anne Horton now?

So Blaine had gone off and the rest of the boys enjoyed the pool, except
for Nathan; he was much more enjoying the other boys in the pool. Three
boys in particular. And one of those more than the other two.

The three boys were neighbors of the Havards; at least they all lived
within two blocks of each other. They were pretty good friends, one of
those few threesomes that actually works, and all born within two months of
each other. Andrew was the tallest of the three, and always had been. He
was a fairly conscientious kid with the air of a peacemaker. He had a slim
stomach with a clear tan line that could be seen just as he was pulling
himself up out of the water. The tan slim back broke into a startling white
rim of flesh just barely above the space where the back ends and the flare
of the buttocks begin. The tantalizing view however was always quickly put
to an end as he reached back and tugged the black-waisted red swim trunks
back up from where the water had pulled them down. Andrew was not much of a
sports enthusiast but he still spent a lot of time outdoors, including
frequent afternoons in his next-door neighbor's pool. His black hair was a
very nice compliment to his elongating face that showed the unmistakable
beginnings of puberty. His underarms showed this as well, but he generally
kept his arms tucked down. At this moment where we rejoin the boys, he is
standing out of the pool beside Paul, who is sitting in one of the deck
chairs with his knees pulled up.

Paul looks more like you would expect of any 12 year old, and the youngest
of the three. He had light brown hair cut shorter than Andrew's. Paul wore
his glasses continuously now. He initially only needed them to read with
when he was 8; but now, he needed them most of the time. This particular
pair was specifically designed for outdoor activity. They had custom
wrap-arounds and special plastic lenses. He would take them off when he
dove into the pool, but always kept them on when on the side. His green
eyes twinkled behind the lenses, his perpetual smile half open as though he
suddenly stopped speaking in mid-sentence. His freckles were so light they
were only really noticed up close; the sun made them darker, but he didn't
venture frequently into the sun. In fact the only time he ever went outside
was with one or both of either Andrew or Bobby. Paul was much more of a
reader.

Now Bobby was the instigator of the bunch, though Andrew was certainly
known to spur him on, just out of fun. Paul might be the one to put a
half-formed question or curiosity out there, but it was Bobby that would
supply the energy in exploring it. Bobby was about the same height as Paul,
with about 5 more pounds on him and a darker brown mop of hair. He too had
a twinkle in his eye, but often for a very different reason. A very
outgoing and gregarious boy, yet at the same time fiercely loyal to the
friendship the three boys had, Bobby was the one now chatting with Nathan
in the pool. And chatting pretty close at this point.

Nathan had met, and instantly liked, all three boys that afternoon. The
Havard pool certainly had no shortage of eye-candy, but Nathan's attention
had been drawn more often that not to these three, perhaps because of the
ease with which they hung out, though all three seemed to be a little
different from each other as different could be. The other two boys had
been hard to get to know, but he and Bobby had hit it off pretty
good. Nathan had talked one-on-one with each during the 3 hours they had
been at the Havard's house, but he had talked to Bobby the
longest. Initially when they had talked they maintained the distance that
two boys who barely knew each other would normally maintain, in public or
otherwise. But now, the boy was practically right on top of him, on the
side just out from under the diving board. Nobody's attention was on them,
and despite what he thought, no-one noticed the hard-on in Nathan's swim
shorts. Besides the fact that no one was paying attention, he just wasn't
that big and most of his body was underwater. Still he felt certain anybody
could see, and goodness knows Bobby was almost close enough to feel it.

Bobby's wet mop-head was arranged in all directions, more flat than
anything, as he had pushed it out of his eyes and off his forehead the last
time he surfaced. That was about 10 minutes ago, just shortly before he
joined Nathan at the wall for a third, and much closer, time for that day.

Bobby had a sense that Nathan was interested in boys. He had watched Nathan
stare at practically every boy in the pool, including that pretty good
looking boy he came with. Now Bobby was not interested in boys per se, but
he had to admit to himself that Kelley was a definite looker. Nathan looked
nice too, and Bobby tried out his theory about the boy by getting as close
as possible without anybody else noticing, which as it turns out was pretty
close. The only people who did notice were Ethan, out of casual interest;
Kelley, out of genuine concern, after all these were Sweetwater boys - guys
they would be going to school with for the next 6 years; and Paul and
Andrew, who were uneasily privy already to Bobby's suspicions and attempts.

Bobby hung on the side of the pool half-facing Nathan, who was doing the
same, their bodies almost touching, to the point that the water between
them was more or less captured and warming to their body
temperatures. Bobby had that mischievous smile, those twinkling eyes, and
the challenge on his face that almost dared people to talk to him and to
like him. He had small dark nipples, hard still from the breeze when he had
pulled himself out of the water, deliberately putting his round plump
pubescent butt right before the face of Nathan. Now he looked directly into
Nathan's eyes and could see the nervousness, the frightful interest; he
didn't have to check the boy's crotch to know this kid had it bad for other
boys. Bobby had an uncle that supposedly was gay (was gay, but tried to
hide it from his family, and they tried to hide the fact that they already
knew), so he was a little wise to the world in terms of the options-open
lifestyle.

But not too wise. He still didn't understand all the mechanics, but he knew
that some guys got off on other guys and had hooked this understanding to
the phenomenon of jerking off that he and his two friends had discovered a
year or more ago when they were all as bald as Paul still was.

But how that all started for those three boys is another story (Chapter
10b). For right now, Bobby had Nathan hooked and he knew it. For that
matter, both boys knew it, though Nathan was very reluctant at admitting it
because of Kelley's warning to him about getting close, in either a
physical or sexual way, with the boys in Sweetwater. At this point he
looked over and saw Kelley looking at him. Kelley had read the body
language of the two boys and knew what was up. He shook his head no at
Nathan. Nathan went back into conversation with Bobby, after he put a
little bit of guilty distance in between them.

Bobby wasn't sure how to interpret this and looked back at his own
friends. Andrew just rolled his eyes and Paul closed his, lying back in the
chair. Bobby turned back to Nathan no longer sure he had all this figured
out just right.

"So, uh, Nate, you want to get together with me and Andrew and Paul and
just hang out some time? Before school. Soon, I mean." Crap, Bobby was
thinking to himself, what was he sounding like?

Nathan just smiled, inwardly because his insides were turning over just
being close to this hunky growing boy, and outwardly because he noticed
what to his still-naive ears sounded like a desperate interest. Was he
right? Was he wrong? Was Kelley right for that matter? Probably so; he
usually was. So Nathan just answered, "Uh, yeah, I want to, but I gotta get
back to you on that. Is that cool?"

"Yeah, totally."

At this moment, Ethan walked over and said to Nathan, "Hey, Nate, Blaine
and Tyler are going. Kelley didn't say if he was or not, but me and Ben are
going with them. Are you going to stay here?"

"Uhhhh, no, I guess I'll go with you guys. Um, see ya around Bobby."  He
pulled himself up out of the pool and waved goodbye to Andrew (Paul still
had his eyes closed) and walked over to one of the towels to dry off.

Bobby was pretty sure of his gut feeling, although he had certainly made
poor decisions before (and recently, though he had yet to find that
out). In fact, many of his gambles weren't the best; he was a bit surer of
this one. He pulled himself up out of the pool and ran into the kitchen of
Chase's house and got a pen off the counter. By the time he got back out,
Nathan was pretty well dry. Nathan was leaning up against a cedar wood
drink table between two of the chaise-lounge watching the other boys still
in the pool. The rest of his group was still drying off and saying their
good-byes. Bobby walked up to him and said quietly, "Hey, just in case you
decide soon, I'm going to give you my number."

Without another word, Bobby walked around behind Nathan and slipped his
hand into the boy's drying swimsuit and across the smooth damp
cheek. Nathan caught his breath sharply as he felt the suit pulled down and
away from his left buttcheek. He then felt the pen press against the skin
of his ass as Bobby wrote his phone number on his bottom. You could say
Bobby was pretty cheeky.

When he finished, Bobby let the swim suit slip back up into place and faced
the astonished Nathan with a naughty smile, "If that rubs off, Nate, my
dad's name is Oscar Chambers, and we're in the book. Talk to you
soon. Don't worry; I don't think your friend Kelley saw anything."

Nathan looked at him with a different surprised expression this time and
Bobby answered, "Oh, I saw the looks he was giving you. I won't tell if you
call. See you, Nate."

"Um, bye."  Nathan said quietly to Bobby's back as the boy walked away. He
let his eye's travel down the tan back to where the wet suit clung tightly,
independently identifying each half of the rounded 12 year old ass. Nathan
got worried as he felt himself getting hard as a rock again that everything
would show in this suit. He quickly took the shirt he had been holding, and
instead of putting it on just tucked it into the front of his suit. It
looked a bit odd, but it did the trick, mostly. When they went out to their
bikes he got a brief odd look from Chase as he passed, but a longer look
and a shake of the head from Tyler. Kelley just sighed and ignored him.

The six boys got on their bikes and headed off. Ethan and Ben said they
were going on back to Indian Spring and sprinted ahead on their own.

"Remember what I said before, Ethan!"  Kelley yelled after his little
brother.

"I do. Don't worry!!"

Tyler and Kelley were up in front of the remaining four, and they all
headed on toward Tyler's house. Blaine rode alongside Nathan and looked
over at him with the shirt hanging down in front of him, threatening to get
tangled up in his bike. Blaine just simply said to him, "Nate, put your
shirt on right. You look fucking stupid."

Nathan was about to respond that he was hot and wanted it like that, but
instead he just slowed his bike to a stop to put his shirt on right. He was
thinking he could just hang back behind the others until his erection
subsided, but Blaine slowed down with him. Fortunately this actually had
the effect of shrinking his dick a bit faster.

Nathan pulled his shirt on over his head and heard Blaine say to him,
"Nate, buddy, you can't go around getting hard in front of guys you go to
school with."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm talking about you. There's only so much we can do to stick up for you
if it gets around you like dick."

Nathan opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Blaine went on, "No, Tucker didn't say anything to me and Tyler. But we all
know. It's cool with us, but you know it won't be with the guys in
Sweetwater, which is everybody else you'll be going to school with. I don't
know how it goes in Indian Spring, you guys are all so fucking tight there,
but up here it'll get the shit beat out of you. You know that right?"

Nathan just looked ahead quietly and then nodded to show Blaine he was
listening and understood.

"And I'll beat the shit out of anybody that touches you - if I can. But
that still might be after something bad happens to you. Nate, buddy, you
just can't let anybody know. You gotta be real careful with what you do
with the boys around here."

Nathan nodded again. He thought he could feel the impression of that number
in his ass. Maybe it was better that it probably would get rubbed off by
the time he made it back home. He looked back over at Blaine, though still
somewhat shamefaced, and said, "I know. I understand."

"We're cool then, bud?"  Blaine reached his hand out to his friend. Nathan
took it and said, "Yeah, we're always cool, Blaine."

"Good," Blaine said and then leaned in a little and gave Nathan a friendly
slap on the back.

"Hey, Blaine," Nathan said.

"Yeah, what?"

"What if I'm not like that? What if I'm not what you and Tucker seem to
think I am?"

Blaine laughed a little, and said, "OK, maybe later on you won't be, who
knows? But right now, you're so fucking into dick you better do something
about not letting it show."

Nathan had to smile at this.  "All right. Well maybe you can help me act
right then."

"It's not acting 'right' like you're doing something wrong, Nate. It's
acting right in, like, knowing who's around - who can be like one way or
another. It's just all about you not getting hurt."

Nathan realized just how good a friend Blaine was. He already knew that
Blaine was the type that would put his ass on the line for a friend, and
woe be it to anybody that crossed him wrong. That could include someone who
might otherwise be a friend, but it all followed some strange strict code
of life that the boy seemed to have brewed within his psyche. Nathan looked
at him with admiring eyes, but then said, "So then if I can be myself
around you, then can I see your dick?"  Nathan smiled as he said this.

"Geez, you fucking faggot," Blaine said playfully with a smile, and almost
a laugh, on his lips, "What? Right now?"

"No, just sometime."

Blaine regarded his friend, smiled wide and shook his head.  "Yeah, I guess
you can see it."

"Hard."

"Geez."  Blaine looked off ahead of them and saw that Kelley and Tyler had
doubled back and were headed toward them.  "Yeah, I'll show it to you hard
if you wanna see it that bad. But you can't play with it or nothing. And
you have to be a lot more careful around the Sweetwater boys."

"All right, deal."

By this time Tyler and Kelley had stopped just in front of them. Kelley
still wouldn't look at Nathan, looking off into the distance instead. It
was Tyler who asked, "What's going on with you guys? Why did you stop?"

"Just telling Young Nathan, here," Blaine started, much to Nathan's
surprise, "that he's gotta keep his dick under control and in his pants
when he's in Sweetwater, and keep the Sweetwater dicks out of his pants."

"Totally."  Tyler said to the now blushing boy.

Kelley still wouldn't look at Nathan but added, "You're going to get hurt
Nate. And bad. And I probably can't protect you a whole lot."

Now Nathan felt bad for his pool indiscretions, realizing just how fully
his three friends cared about him. Even the consistently aloof Tyler had
serious concerns for his friend. Nathan rubbed his nose which felt a bit
runny and said, "Sorry guys, I wont do anything like that. I'll be real
careful. I'll keep it in Indian Spring."

Tyler and Blaine nodded. They weren't totally sure what all that meant, but
the keeping it out of Sweetwater part they understood and approved of. Then
Blaine asked something he wanted to know.  "Nate, have you and Tucker done
stuff together? Sex stuff?"

Kelley was still staring off to his left, not looking at any of them. He
didn't react to the question or even give any indication that he had even
heard it. He decided quietly to let Nathan field this question on his own.

Nathan's reaction was quick, though, choosing between the protection of his
oldest friend and honesty amongst the friendship the four had developed
together.  "What? No. No way. All Kelley's done is just told me he knows
about me and for me to be careful."

Blaine nodded, indicating that he would accept at face value what Nathan
said, but not entirely convinced that something strange wasn't going on. He
noticed Kelley finally look over at Nathan and caught his eyes, but the
expressions of both boys were blank.

Tyler then broke the silence, "The real question is, Blaine, what were you
and Nate talking about doing back here?"

Before Blaine could respond, Nathan jumped in, "Blaine said I could see his
dick sometime. And hard," he added with a smile to Kelley.

"Seen it," Kelley smirked back, "and you're right, it is thick, not
probably as much as like older guys, but for us it sure is."

"When did you see it?"

"Oh, uuuh, yesterday we went skinny dipping when we couldn't find you."

"How did you see it hard?"

"Geez, Nathan, it just was," Kelley was quickly becoming annoyed at the
questions as they were getting to close to the truth of what actually
happened, at least they were provoking memories of what happened in
Kelley's mind. So far the only sure way he had of being able to handle what
was happening was to not speak about it. So he snapped at his friend
Nathan, the one person he could talk with the most. It wasn't a part of
Kelley that even Kelley liked.

"All right, sorry. I won't ask. Gee."

Tyler, however, was back to thinking it all a grand joke, after all, he
wasn't the one who had had to eat all that cum.  "Tell him what you had to
do after."

WHOPP! Blaine leaned forward and knocked Tyler upside the head such that he
nearly flew off his bike.

"Hey! What the fuck you do that for??"

"You can be such an insensitive prick!!"

"What?" Tyler demanded, incensed, "It's just Nathan! Besides you did it,
too."

Blaine began to let in to his friend, "Tyler, you stupid ass . . ."

"No."  Kelley, who was already turning red, cut him off, "It's OK,
Blaine. We were jerking off, Nate."

"That's all? Well, that'd be real cool. I want to do it some time."

"Oh yeah?"  Tyler began intrigued.

"Tyler," Blaine growled, and the blond prankster boy backed off and started
to realize that he put Kelley in a bad spot. He knew for sure that he
wouldn't want to be in it, but then he didn't lose. He almost slapped
himself when he realized he was slipping back into the insensitive mode.

Tyler decided to cut the damage and told Nathan, "Anyway, that was it. We
just jerked off and the end."

"Well, I don't see why it's such a big deal."  Nathan said.

"It's not," Blaine added.  "Tyler's just an idiot."

"Yeah, I am," he freely admitted.

"Well, . . . " Nathan began.

"There's more Nate," Kelley said, looking into his friend's eyes.

Blaine tried to cut him off, but Kelley just shook his head and continued,
still looking in Nathan's eyes, his friend for so long, "We had a
contest. Who could jerk off the fastest onto this sandwich. The loser had
to . . . "  at this point Kelley's voice began to crack, and he looked down
at the ground and continued after clearing his throat, "The loser, whoever
shot their wad last, had to eat the sandwich."  Kelley took a deep breath
and continued, "and everybody's stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Their sperm, Nate."

"Everybody's?"  Nathan asked wide eyed and in an almost stupefied hush.

"Yeah. Mine."  He looked up at Blaine briefly, who looked down and couldn't
meet his eyes, "Blaine's" ; he then nodded back to Tyler, also looking a
bit sheepish, "Tyler's, and" he took a deep breath and let it out and
finished his confession, "and Casey Harris' too."

"You ate all their . . . uh, cum?"

Kelley nodded, unable to look at his friend.

"Even Blaine's and Tyler's?"

"Well, it's not like he . . ."  began Blaine.

"Shut up!"  Nathan said forcefully. He surprised all of them enough that
they all looked up at him. Nathan looked at the eyes of his childhood
friend and realized for the first time in two days, the sparkle was
gone. The lively boy sparkle that had always been in them. He had noticed a
bit of it today at the pool, but it was almost as though it had been forced
somewhat. His eyes roamed down from the piercing hazel eyes of Kelley, his
clear tan skin framed by his curling medium brown hair, down that soft
neck, the broadening shoulders that were just barely beginning to lose
their roundness, down the firm and muscular, but full chest and belly of a
boy who wasn't skinny, but had no fat on him to pinch, either. Nathan
stopped his roaming eyes before they took in too much of that pouch of
boyhood accentuated by his swim trunks and the way he was sitting astride
his bike. He moved his eyes back up to the face that seemed to be eagerly
looking for some help, some sign that its owner was still OK. How many days
ago was it that he had sampled that growing boyhood in Kelley shorts? It
felt like months suddenly. Kelley had the most perfect body of any boy he
had seen in his last year or two of passively being on the lookout, and he
doubted he would ever find a better example of prime 12 year old boyhood in
his life quite like Kelley displayed.

Nathan knew his friend wasn't like him, but they had done stuff together,
and then Kelley, so desperate to be happy in the Sweetwater schools, so
desperate for the money that could make that happen, went that same day to
blow those two Mexican kids and swallowed his first and second loads of cum
in his life. And for what? Nothing. He didn't get a job, he only got agony,
and an irrevocable memory of himself. And now this, forced to eat the cum
of their two closest friends in Sweetwater, as well as some dork who lived
in Indian Spring and had the only exciting trait of being able to tag along
with guys that didn't really want him around. What were they all doing to
poor Kelley? For what reason was his best friend suddenly being broken down
and crushed? Nathan was becoming angry. Very angry, and feeling quite a bit
hostile.

"Look Nathan," Blaine began.

"I said shut up!"  Nathan almost yelled.  "What are all of you trying to do
to him anyway?"

All of you? Blaine's surprise at being yelled at by Nathan didn't stop him
from picking up on this subtlety of the accusation. He added it to the
peculiarities he had been picking up on over the last few days.

Nathan wasn't finished.  "Who's fucking stupid idea was this anyway?"

Blaine and Kelley both looked over at Tyler without thinking. Nathan saw
this and interpreted it as solely Tyler's idea and launched off his bike
reaching for the boy. Kelley and Blaine were both surprised but reacted
quickly and caught the boy before he managed to get a hold of Tyler
proper. Tyler backed off amazed, and Blaine told Nathan to cool it, that
Kelley made the same deal as everybody and that nobody had forced
him. Nathan looked around at the three of them, still disgusted, but no
longer sure who to be angry at. He simply huffed that it was still a stupid
idea, picked up his bike and left them, biking back through Sweetwater
toward Indian Spring.

"Uh look, I better go with him, you know, maybe it's the heat. . ."

"Forget it, Tucker," Blaine said, sure now that there was a bigger story he
still didn't have, "Go on, nothing happened, not here, not yesterday at the
creek. OK?"

Kelley nodded and turned started to bike off, but Tyler, who had gotten off
his bike by this point, grabbed his arm to stop him and sincerely said,
"I'm sorry."

Kelley just nodded again and took off for Nathan. If he had looked back
again, he would have seen Blaine walk his bike forward, reach out, and
again pop Tyler up side the head.

Nathan had really sprinted, pouring his anger into his bike. It was enough
that the 30 second delay between his and Kelley's starting, and Kelley's
slow introspection in the first couple minutes of his riding, put quite a
distance between them. By the time Kelley was starting down the winding
hill that lead into Indian Spring State Park, Nathan was already at the
bottom of the hill. There was nothing but grass along this section and
Kelley could see in the distance that instead of turning left onto Spring
Drive at the crossroads, Nathan kept going straight.

Now, turning left would have taken the boy down Spring Dr. And back to the
Carlin home, a long ways down, but only the third right. Going straight
left several options. It was possible to go to Kelley's house either way,
1) left on to Spring, a right at the Allen's house onto Bypass Road, and
then after crossing the creek, another left onto the spur which contained
the Tucker's house and the decaying shells of some former Cormack homes or
2) go straight and then curve left onto the road that eventually petered
out into the spur that was the Tuckers'. Just before you reached the spur,
though, a road off the right lead to Coolspring; it was the same road that
Nathan and Kelley had taken Monday.

Another option was to turn right before the curve, which would take you
onto the access road of the outer highway loop of the city. The last
option, and the one that Kelley believed Nathan had taken, was to go
straight through the intersection with Spring Drive and take the first
left, which wasn't the left curve that led to Kelley's house. Instead, the
first left was the short road that lead to the actual underground spring,
the start of the entire creek. Though the spring was fed by a series of
underground artesian wells along its length, thus allowing it to be deep
enough for summer swims in practically any year, the very first spring, the
point where the Indian Maiden had cried over her Brave, was right here, not
very far from Kelley's house. It was the only part of the park that most
people ever saw as it was the most easily accessible from the highway
access road.

This part of the park was well maintained and had picnic tables and grills
and could be quite tranquil if there was no one, or at least few people,
around. In fact, quite a few of the Spring families used it to grill out
and socialize some summer nights. This was probably where he would find
Nathan. Kelley coasted through the intersection, a perhaps dangerous but
common practice that so far hadn't caused any Indian Spring injuries for
the kids. Things would be different if the State put through those
development plans. Hopefully his father and the rest of the CIA (Community
Integrity Association) would think of something tomorrow night at the
meeting at the Turner's house.

Kelley drifted on his bike through the dense trees surrounding the pleasant
road and turned left at the sign pointing to the Indian Spring picnic
area. The trees opened considerably to allow for many tables and grills, as
well as parking, but it was all still well disguised. Things would be very
crowded here in a few weeks on the Fourth of July; but it would be all
non-locals. No residents would be here, and the police blocked off access
to the rest of Indian Springs because of vandalism and break-ins in the
past. But for now, the middle of Wednesday in the middle of June (it may
have been Flag Day, but the few picnickers that usually came for this
holiday, wouldn't be here for a few more hours), the place was practically
deserted.

Practically deserted, except for one young boy of about 12 years of
age. Sitting on his own, still catching his breath from the bike ride and
the emotional upheaval of how much to blame he may be for the changes in
his best friend's life. Suddenly the radical departure in both their lives
caught up with the boy, and he sat there dazed, hardly registering the
other boy who walked up to the picnic table and sat down next to him. He
gradually became aware of the warmth of the silent boy and looked over to
see the boyish but head-turning profile of Kelley Tucker, boy
extraordinaire, at least as far as Nathan had been concerned all of his
life.

"Sorry." Nathan said simply.

"For what?" Kelley asked in his sometimes husky voice that marked his place
in puberty. Nathan loved the sound of that voice. It never failed in some
part to turn him on.

"For back there. For everything." He offered only this as an explanation,
suddenly feeling comforted by the sound of Kelley's voice.

Kelley looked at his friend critically for a moment, thinking about what
happened a few minutes ago, and about Nathan in general. He smiled and
reached his right arm around Nathan's shoulders. Nathan smiled at the
comfort of the moment. Two good friends.  "You're my best friend, Nate. I'm
going to be OK. And I ain't sorry for what we did; it doesn't have anything
to do with all the stuff that's happened. You've always been my best
friend, and I guess we always will be."

Nate so much wanted to tell Kelley that he loved him, but all that came out
was, "Don't say ain't."

Kelley laughed and pulled his arm back. Nathan broke out in laughter too,
and the moment of tenderness between two true friends, as well as the
tenseness of their recent lives, was all gone away. Right now they were two
boys laughing. They continued so for a bit and settled down to enjoy the
peace of the spring gurgling close-by, protected in its first 75 feet by a
low brick wall.

But despite the momentary lift, life had not changed in the last ten
minutes for either. Both had started down paths that would change the very
essence of their being. Kelley began to bring them back to that reality.

"Nate, I need that job in Coolspring. "

Nathan's countenance grew dim again. "No you don't, Kelley."

Kelley noticed the change in the use of his name, but went on.  "I do, and
you know it. I'm going up there today and ask for it."

"No Kelley, don't".

"Stop Nathan, you know we have to have some money next year. Blaine and
Tyler can't pay for us to hang out with them, and it would just get too
weird and awkward otherwise. Besides, we'll never meet any girls." Kelley
stopped and corrected himself. "Uh, I mean, um, well sorry Nate, you know
what I mean."

Nathan nodded. It had after all, been him that started all of this. But
now, especially since he was restricted in part to living out more of his
private life in Indian Spring, it wasn't at this point as important. But
Kelley disagreed.

"You will too, Nate. Maybe I can get you on at the Mexican's work after
they see I'm a real good worker. You won't have to do anything for it."

"What about you?"

"You know what about me. I'm going to go up there this afternoon and find
that Carlos kid. And he and that other guy are going to bend me over and
take turns fucking me. And that's it. After that, I'll have a job."

Nathan was vigorously shaking his head no, but Kelley wouldn't let him
protest.

"Stop it Nate, there ain't no other way to it."  Both boys were lost in the
seriousness of the situation to notice Kelley's grammatical slip.  "Now I'm
going up there, and I'm taking two Mexican dicks up the ass, and that's
that. And then it will be over."

Nathan stopped his protest and just nodded once in resigned
acceptance. "I'm not letting you go up there alone. I'm going with you, but
I don't want to watch."

It was Kelley's turn to nod this time, and he answered his friend, "Thanks,
Nate. I was hoping you would come with me. I don't think I can do it by
myself. And I don't want you to watch, either. I don't want you to see them
do it, but I want you there."

"OK."

They sat in silence for a while before Nathan, trying to comfort Kelley's
fears, "You know, when Duncan put his dick in me, it didn't really hurt so
much."

"I already know what it will feel like, Nate."

"How?" Nathan was a little worried to hear what this might be.

Kelley took a big breath. "Yesterday . . . .at the creek."

Nathan waited for his friend to go on, but he seemed stuck. "What
happened?"

"Um" Again another pause as Kelley stared straight ahead. Nathan waited it
out. He already knew he wasn't going to like it, but he readied
himself. Finally Kelley turned to his friend and just let it out.
"Yesterday, after Blaine and Tyler left, so they don't know anything about
this."

Nathan nodded, signaling that this was only between the two of them. Kelley
continued;

"Well after they left, I stayed behind with Casey, and um, I, I let him
fuck me."

Nathan's mouth fell open, but he didn't say anything. What could he say?
This was impossible, though it explained much more of the pain he saw in
Kelley's eyes, or, rather the pain he felt when he looked in Kelley's eyes
earlier.

"It hurt, a lot, well more after he was done, I mean he really fucked me
hard. Real hard. It's still sore."

Nathan looked his friend in the eyes and tried to ask him, but he couldn't.

Kelley figured out the question, nonetheless, and answered it, "I don't
know. I really don't, Nate. I just did. I knew what he wanted, and I didn't
even try to stop him. Hell, I even took my pants off. Well my swim
trunks. And I just stood there, and let him."

Nathan still didn't say anything.

Kelley stood up and was almost begging, "Please, Nate. Don't hate me."

Nathan stood up too and hugged Kelley.  "I don't hate you," he
whispered. "But I don't like what's happened to you."  Nathan squeezed
tight and felt the solid flesh, the growing muscles that made the most
beautiful form in all of Indian Spring and Sweetwater and Coolspring and
beyond. If he thought more about it he would have been extremely jealous of
Casey, not for the fucking, but the proximity. Right now he just felt
sadness at the direction Kelley's life had taken, a life totally unfit for
him. Still he knew where Kelley's mind was made up, and he was going to
stand by him and make sure this was over soon. He had to quit feeling sorry
for himself and brace himself for where they were going.

Nathan pulled away, as much as he wished he could hold that body forever
and said, "All right, so when do we head up to Coolspring and see these
damn Mexicans? Let's get this all over with soon."

"Yeah I agree. But don't call them Mexicans. Who knows, maybe some white
guys would have been even worse."

Nathan just shrugged.  "Well, whatever. Let's just go get you fucked so you
can get your job already."

Kelley rolled his eyes.  "Yeah, thanks for the support, Nate. First we have
to stop by Casey's house."

"I'm not waiting with you if you let him do anything."

"No, I'm not. But I promised I would stop by. It'll be easier with you
there, well not right there, but kind of there, to tell him everything was
a mistake, even though now I'm glad I let him. It's going to make this next
part a lot easier."

"If you say so." Nathan still obviously wasn't happy at all with any of
this, but he was going to support his friend. He was more than half wishing
for both the old Kelley and the old Nathan back. It was a lot easier when
school was just ending and they had a lazy childhood summer stretched
before them. That seemed so very long ago and impossible to find again.

The boys got on their bikes and rode back out to the juncture to turn right
on Spring Dr. and start heading into the Indian Spring community. The first
left off of Spring Dr. would take them into Casey's neighborhood. On their
way in they saw little Johnny Seidel struggling to get a toy back from
Malcolm McEwen. Malcolm was older than Johnny by more than four years, but
there were probably no limits to his bullying. He would even bully boys his
age or slightly older unless they stood up to him. Even if they did, he was
still always snide and looking for some way to criticize or poke fun at
other boys. When his cousin Scott was visiting it made him even more
formidable, as Scott was also something of a bully, just more the quiet
type of bully, though just as arrogant. Some of the older kids didn't
bother to intervene, in part because they didn't want to attract either the
sneaky underhand methods of the boy, or any bothersome side comments. Many
had probably figured that beating up the boy would stop either, but
abandoning their little brothers to him and ignoring him would save them
hassle and trouble. Plus, and probably mostly, there was Malcolm's strange
connection to the Deep Mackeys that no one wanted to test out. It was an
even stronger connection when his cousin Scott was around.

Malcolm had straight reddish-brown hair and tended more toward the skinny
side, though this was more evident only when he hung out with his cousin
Scott, who was husky, taller, and just bigger to the eye in general. Scott
had slightly longer and fuller hair than Malcolm, with only a slight
reddish tint to it in the sunlight.

Kelley was three months younger than Malcolm, but he was one of those few
who had no problem standing up to Malcolm; but Kelley as well enjoyed some
protection from the Deep Mackeys, owing to the fact that his father had
helped them save very large acreage from being absorbed by the state. And
protection and friendship there counted for a lot. People had disappeared
back in Deep Mackey lands. That's all there is to say about that.

Aside from this, Kelley was just a strong kid on his own. Malcolm kept
personal space between himself and Kelley, and even toned down any taunts
or comments toward Nathan, whether or not Kelley was even around. Malcolm
had about an inch of height over on Kelley, and maybe ten or twelve more
underarm hairs, but he didn't have Kelley's resolve, his sense of
self-worth, and he could always count on Kelley going for the underdog. For
this reason, as soon as he saw Kelley approaching, Malcolm handed the ball
back to Johnny and told the boy to beat it. He then pretended like nothing
was going on.

He nodded cautiously to Kelley as the boy and Nathan approached on their
bikes. But Kelley, especially today, could not resist sticking up for the
kid, even if it was after the fact. It was Kelley's nature; some people
always look out for the lost or hungry puppies. These people are often more
likely to stand up to the bullies. So Kelley slowed his bike down and
stopped in front of Malcolm, ignoring the quiet muttered protests of
Nathan.

"S'up Tuck?" Malcolm said nonchalantly, but a little on edge inside,
waiting for what Kelley would say. It's the problem with false bravado; it
knows its true enemies and has difficulty holding itself together in the
face of them. Such was the case always with Malcolm when he faced
Kelley. He was a bit daunted as well by Ian Cormack, though not with either
Connor or Duncan. There were a couple of other kids he avoided, as well,
including Kyle, Ryan's little brother, but that was different. Even Kelley
was wary of that kid, despite Kelley being older, and despite Kyle's
irregular outwardly small effort at congeniality.

Right now, though, Kelley was tempted to tell Malcolm not to address him in
any way overly friendly or chummy, but he let it pass and instead simply
said, "Why are you messing with Johnny?"

Just as Kelley couldn't fight his nature, the beast within Malcolm wanted
satisfaction. And against any logical thinking, Malcolm sneered back at
Kelley, "It's none of your fuckin' business, Tucker. Do you live around
here? Last I heard you were living in that overgrown shack by all the other
rundown shit that the Cormacks couldn't afford to keep."

The neighborhood in which Casey Harris lived, the one Kelley and Nathan
were in at the moment, and the one on the edge of which Malcolm lived, was
the more well-to-do of all of Indian Spring - although there were always
rumors of the secret hidden wealth and/or treasures of the Deep Mackeys.

Kelley let the snide remark pass, or at least he tried to. Normally, any
remarks concerning his family's relative poverty would have just gone right
past him, like smoke in a wind tunnel; but with the turmoil and trauma of
the last few days, it was more like the smoke got caught in his throat and
tried to choke him. But still he tried to let it pass.

"It doesn't matter what part of Indian Spring anybody lives in, everybody
looks out for each other here. And you aren't doing your part, picking on
kids as young as Johnny.

"Awww, your gonna make me cry, Tucker. As for bein' part of Indian Spring,
I don't bring in outsiders that ain't family. Where were you today?
Sweetwater rich kids more your type? What is it you do for them, Tucker?
You give'em good head, Tucker?"  Malcolm could see he was getting to
Kelley. He didn't believe Kelley would ever let a boy mess with him in
anyway, though to Malcolm it was just the standard schoolyard trash
talk. What he could see, for what ever reason, was that unbelievably he was
really getting to Kelley. Despite the imminent danger his body was in, this
was a rare, and heretofore unrealized, treat. Malcolm couldn't stop
himself. For some reason, part of him thought that this time Kelley was
his.

"Shut up, Malcolm."

That did it, he was breaking Kelley Tucker. He was on a roll without
thinking.  "I even saw your brother ride by with his boyfriend little Ben;
they gettin' it good with the Sweetwater pricks, too?"

Kelley got off his bike. In a split second the countenance of Malcolm went
from cocksure to panic. Malcolm took off running for the wooded lot behind
the Gilmore house. He couldn't have explained exactly why he was running,
but his old fear/respect for Kelley kicked in and kicked out the smartass
Malcolm. All that was working now was the scared Malcolm. He didn't get far
before Kelley slammed into his back and brought him down. Mentioning Ethan
was just too much; there was just too much going on in his life to let this
pass.

"Great." Nathan said flatly as he watched Kelley take off. Even though he
was a bit peeved at this interruption into a side trip, a trip he didn't
want to take to start with, he couldn't help but admire the running form of
Kelley Tucker. The boy was like a panther, and Malcolm was just some
awkward goofy deer. Although at this moment an awkward deer flat on the
ground with one arm painfully pulled up behind his back. Malcolm was
pleading with Kelley to let him go.

Kelley spied a fortuitous circumstance two feet over. Someone's dog had
just been there recently. And it was a well fed dog. Or at least it had
been recently. Kelley seemingly effortlessly hoisted the almost crying
Malcolm up and over to the dogpile, slamming him back to the ground so that
his face was only an inch and a half above the dogpile.

"No Tucker, DON'T, PLEASE!!"

"I thought you were a little smarter than that, Malcolm! You keep your
skinny ass and fat mouth away from my brother. And let me tell you what you
can do with that talented mouth of yours."

"What? What? Anything, just don't do this."

"You keep your mouth away from my brother, away from his name, away from
anybody he's playing with - just shut up in general. Or you can use your
mouth to eat this pile of dog crap."

"OK! OK! OK!I wont say anything about your brother again."

"About who?"

"Nobody, about nobody!!"

Kelley let up and moved away, and Malcolm scurried away from both the pile
of crap and from Kelley.

"You're gonna be sorry, Tucker."

"What from your cousin? He won't do nothing to me." Kelley looked down at
the kid on the ground, who was a little older than him, but a lot sadder
and more pathetic. He felt a little sorry for Malcolm, who for his part was
thinking Kelley may be right. Scott probably wouldn't want to do anything
to Kelley. Malcolm would put it before Scott anyway.

Kelley was feeling a little bad about how he had reacted. He was so tense
in some ways. "Look, Malcolm," Kelley began, looking for some neutral
ground.

"Fuck off, Tucker." Malcolm cut him off. It looked like he was fighting
tears. "You're big stuff. Just leave me alone."

Kelley sighed. He didn't think there was a way to win with Malcolm; there
seemed only to be the option of temporarily beating him -
constantly. Kelley shook his head and went back to his bike. Malcolm
usually avoided him, and had seemed to try to today. Was Kelley just taking
out his inability to deal with the last few days on an easy target? Was he
like Malcolm? No, he didn't think he was. His anger at Tripp was certainly
justified, and Malcolm was a bully to the younger kids and always resented
Kelley and a few others who could easily make him back down. But justified
or not, Kelley was realizing that he was wound tight and more testy than he
had been before this week started. So was Nathan for that matter. They
needed a vacation from what they each seemed to have put themselves into.

Malcolm, on the other hand, fought successfully with himself to keep his
comments quiet while he watched the two other boys leave. He didn't know
whether he felt more angry or more embarrassed. In the end he felt neither,
because the way to survive as a bully is to not remember how you've been
beaten. He walked back to the road and began walking toward his home,
taking the same route the other two had gone on their bikes.



This is the end of the first part of chapter 10. The second part will
actually not pick up where this leaves off (you have to wait for chapter 11
for that), but it will give a little background on a few of the boys at the
pool. Things are not getting smoother on this end for a little while, so
the chapters will probably come slower; but I will continue writing because
of the wonderful turnout of readers letting me know that I am writing to a
larger audience than I was beginning to wonder about, and a seemingly very
appreciate audience. Thanks to the Yanks - good to hear from that quiet
corner.

And Canada, too!

Thank you,

Jonas