The Sandy Jacob's Story - Chapter 4
Charles Well (C) 2018)
The original Kids of Indian Spring (KOIS) story by Jonas Henley can be found here: https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/young-friends/kids-of-indian-spring/
This story is about sex between boys and is therefore a total fantasy. It was written by an adult for the entertainment of other adults. No children or animals were either involved or harmed in the writing of this story. Please leave now if you are not supposed to be here.
A special thanks goes to Mike, Sam, Craig, and Michael for help with ideas, editing and proofreading. Let me know if you are enjoying the story and I will continue writing.
Also consider a donation to Nifty for allowing us to have this resource to share our stories. To donate go here: http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html
Comments or suggestions may be directed to the author.
General background:
There are two categories of kids living in Indian Spring, on the edge of a large city in Ohio. One group is the Mackeys, and those that are part of that extended clan through family and blood connections. They were the original European inhabitants of the region dating back to 1832. As a result of generations of isolation, self reliance, and often living on the wrong side of the law, the family developed many unique traditions and rules that governed the everyday lives of their youngsters. That group includes Sandy Jacobs and his brothers, Kevin Mackey and his brothers, all the deep and very deep Mackeys like Tolley, Seth, or Chris Corbin. The second category is kids that are not part of the Mackey family, but happen to live in Indian Spring. That would be kids like Kelley and Ethan Tucker, the Cormacks, Nathan Carlin, Cal Brewer, Casey Harris etc. They are called "Near Springers" and are generally not bound by regulations affecting Mackey youth, but may find themselves caught up in the "old traditions" in certain circumstances.
In order of appearance, the major characters are:
Sandy Jacobs (13 years, 5 months) (Full name Alexander Corbin Jacobs, which only his mother ever uses). A dirty blond boy who looked like he belonged in a country baseball commercial and was now at the point where you could tell he had once been very cute, was now simply good looking, and moving quite easily toward handsome. Oldest of four brothers in the Jacobs family. Main protagonist in my story (the reason why it's called The Sandy Jacobs Story). Part of the extended Mackey clan.
Kevin Michael Mackey, (13 years, 6 months) Good-looking. He has dark brown hair, as thick as you could make very slightly curly hair yet still have it look dreamily soft. Part of the extended Mackey clan. One of the two Mackey community bottoms selected in the 1994 Choosing Ceremony. He is gay and confident in his sexuality.
Elijah Mackey (51) The bitter and twisted patriarch of the very deep Mackey clan. Since the disappearance of his gold, Elijah Mackey now spends his days planning the destruction and downfall of his enemies and getting back at those that, he perceived, betrayed him. If the bad treatment, or use and abuse of the sons or grandsons of those foes causes distress and anguish, well so much the better.
Andrew Corbin (20) Part of the extended Mackey clan. Away at College. Older brother of Eli Corbin (13) who plans to trick his cousin Mathew Corbin (Matty) (12 Ό) into attending the Choosing this year.
Brad Jacobs (12 years, 1 month) aka Bradley. Dirty blond like his 3 brothers. Part of the extended Mackey clan. On this year's Mackey Choosing List.
Chase (Chass) Colton Jacobs (10) Just turned 10. Brother to Sandy (13), Brad (12) and Stevie (11) Jacobs. Part of the extended Mackey clan.
Ethan Tucker (10 years 7 months) Younger brother of Kelley Tucker (12). Exploring being openly gay for the first time. A non-Mackey from Indian Spring.
Jared Tilton (10) son of Sandra Mackey who married Mark Tilton. He has one sister Belle Tilton (13). Part of the extended Mackey clan.
Oak Mackey (10) Ricky Mackey (10), Vince Mackey (10), Timmy Mackey (10), and Joey Sanders (10) All friends of Chase Jacobs (his gang) and part of the extended Mackey clan.
Bryce Mackey (13) Older brother of Oak Mackey (10), friend of Chass Jacobs. Part of the extended Mackey clan.
Albert (Bert) Mackey (12) Part of the extended Mackey clan. On this year's Choosing List. Bert is the older brother of Vince Mackey (10), friend of Chass Jacobs.
Stephen (Stevie) Jacobs (11) Dirty blond hair like all his brothers Sandy (13), Brad (12), and Chass (10). He has a light sprinkling of freckles across his nose and cheeks. Exploring being openly gay for the first time. Part of the extended Mackey clan.
Daniel Mackey (13) Third child of Holden Mackey (Community bottom 1968) Religious family, but still part of the extended Mackey clan.
Malcolm McEwen (12 years, 3 months) son of Michael McEwen and Tabitha Mackey. Part of the extended Mackey clan, but the real name of his mother is only known by a few older family members. On this year's Mackey Choosing List. Under special protection of the Deep Mackeys.
Judge Mackey (12) son of Phil and Elizabeth Mackey. His mother is very religious, but his father is more likely to follow the Mackey traditions. Judge is on this year's Mackey Choosing List.
The next day, Sandy didn't see Kevin at all. He tried ringing him at home, but was told by Mrs. Mackey that,
"Kevin is not available today. Please call back later in the week."
Sandy guessed she thought he was just another kid looking for a quick fuck from her teenage son. She probably had to deal with that sort of call all the time. He wondered how his own mother might cope. So, he spent the day with Brad, Tolley, and Seth speaking to more of the boys on the Choosing List, learning what they knew, and inviting them to the sleepover. He wished his own two best Mackey friends - Toby Sanders and Kelson Mackey were still in town, but both had gone on vacation. Kelson's family was visiting New York and Toby was staying with some "country cousins." But they would be back next week he knew, in time for the Choosing. No kid (other than the actual participants) wanted to miss that. He wondered what they would think when he was bent over naked with all the 12-year-olds and made a community bottom. Would they sign his back, would they be lining up with all the others for a piece of ass? He guessed they might. There didn't seem to be any prohibition in Mackey society on friends using their unfortunate buddies who had been made bottoms. But how could you maintain any friendship in that situation? More and more he regretted skipping the Choosing Ceremony last year. If he had been there, at least the stress of not knowing his fate would be over by now.
Sandy spoke to his parents about the sleep-over after dinner. They said it was "okay", but didn't have time to discuss any of the details just then. They were rushing out to a meeting of the Indian Spring Redevelopment Committee (ISRC) with Uncle Elijah and the others pushing the Water Park project. Sandy was nominally in charge whenever Mom and Dad went out. However, he knew his brothers would resent any sign of him tossing that authority about and so everyone just got on and did their own thing as normal. Besides, the Corbins were next door and the Havers not far away if any emergency arose . No doubt the Corbin adults would be at the meeting as well, but 20-year-old Andrew Corbin was back from college and was the go-to guy if something happened. But this was Indian Spring. Nothing ever did.
An hour later Sandy and Brad were in their shared room together. Sandy sat on his bed and was slowly making his way through one of the books on his required Summer Reading List for 8th Grade next year. All four of the Jacobs brothers would be attending the same schools. Both Bartlett, where they once lived, and Indian Spring were covered by the Cool Spring School district. And because that region also included the wealthy area of Sweet Water, standards and expectations were high. Sandy actually liked school and was a good student, but he went out of his way to tell any kid who'd listen how boring it was. It just didn't seem cool to be an academic. Still, he got good grades, but even tried to hide those from his friends whenever possible.
Bradley was sitting at his desk playing on his GameBoy. It had been a present from his parents on his 12th birthday last month and had become a constant companion ever since. The Jacobs brothers also had a Super Nintendo Entertainment System set up with an old 21-inch television in the basement that now, everyone in the family, called "the boys' room." The two younger brothers, Stevie and Chass, would no doubt be down there or in the living-room watching television. None of the boys had friends staying over tonight which was a bit of a relief.
Bradley paused his game and looked over to his brother.
"What was it like sucking Kevin's cock? You drank his cum right?"
Sandy closed his book and examined his brother. He didn't see any sign of a put-down. Just curiosity. They had certainly become closer in these last few days and no doubt Sean's warnings about the cocksucking that went on at the Choosing Ceremony were also front and center in Bradley's mind. They were for Sandy and so he said,
"Come over here."
"What, why?" asked a concerned looking Bradley.
"Just do it! This ain't gonna hurt. I promise!" said the older boy.
Sandy put both feet on the floor and was now sitting on the edge of his bed. He called Brad over and made him stand between his legs.
"Closer!" Said the older brother. "Closer!"
When Bradley was just inches away, Sandy unsnapped the button on his brother's jeans and slowly began pulling them down. He then looked up, and the eyes of the two boys met. Brad looked like he was about to have a panic attack any second, but the coolly-confident gaze of the older boy and the mouthed-words, "It's okay," rapidly reduced the tension in the air. The tightie-whitie underwear were the next to be pulled lower. First at the back revealing a snowy-white bubble-butt and only then, oppressively slowly at the front, as the evident package there gradually expanded. Suddenly a hard yank, and the encased penis was pulled down and immediately thrust upwards to reveal itself in full hard glory.
It was a very nice penis thought Sandy to himself. He had seen it before, of course, and had never paid much attention. But he guessed all his recent boy on boy sex was definitely changing him. In these past few weeks he had started noticing the fronts and rears of other kids and was even passing judgment on both seen and unseen private parts assessing, whether the cock was suckable or the ass was fuckable. And he liked what he now saw. His kid-brother's cock was about 4 inches long, but still very thin. About the thickness of his thumb he assumed. He was circumcised like all the Jacobs boys, but there was no pubic hair anywhere in sight. And the balls had not dropped yet, but had obviously been growing rapidly of late, and were a respectable set of nuts that any newly minted 12-year-old would be proud of. A lot like Kevin's equipment, the older boy thought - slightly smaller and more compact, but nice. He even wondered if he would be getting a little drink this time as he had yesterday afternoon. Then there was that plump alabaster ass. Sandy couldn't resist spinning the kid a full 360 degrees to take in the entire view. Surely it was a bit weird to be looking lustfully at your own kid-brother's bottom, but it was definitely a cute one. Unfortunately, Sandy became quickly appalled at the irony of the situation. This perfect specimen of male rear end might only be saved from the dreaded Mackey fate by his own poor ass. `Oh well', he thought. `Can't do anything about that now.'
Sandy leaned forward and, without any further by-your-leave, sucked in the first two inches of his brother's cock and swirled it around in his mouth several times. There was a momentary taste of piss, but it was not overwhelming and gone in seconds. He had not tasted that with Kevin yesterday, but as this was only the second penis he had ever sucked, Sandy guessed a fair percentage of guys were probably less than scrupulous about shaking properly after taking a pee. He took more of the organ into his opening and before long had the entire 4 inches encased in the warm, moist, enveloping mouth. Sandy sensed the younger brother about to collapse from the ecstasy of this unique experience so he grabbed his brother's right hand and placed it on his shoulder and his left behind his neck. Bradley didn't need a second invitation and soon had both hands at the back of the older boy's head and was forcing his penis down the open throat. Soon it was unclear who was taking charge. The rapid head bobbing and the forceful thrusts lost meaning to either boy. But in less than 3 minutes Sandy felt the muscles of his brother tense and the climax came fast and furious. There was a definite taste of something salty, but it was gone before the older boy's brain could certify its presence. Bradley collapsed onto the bed breathing hard, with a huge smile of contentment plastered across his face.
Sandy allowed his brother a few minutes to recover, then pulled down his own shorts and underpants and guided the younger boy onto his knees and between his legs. There was resistance at first, but Sandy raised his brother's head and their eyes met once again. He nodded his head "yes", and mouthed, "It's okay" for the second time. Then said out loud,
"From what we've heard, we're both gonna need to do this at the Choosing. May as well practice, so we know what to expect."
After that, much of the uncertainty evaporated and the younger boy allowed himself to be guided to the kneeling position between his brother's legs. Not that he was any expert, but Sandy understood this novice cocksucker would need a lot of guidance. He had only done it once himself, but Kevin had blown him 6 or 7 times by now and he had some understanding of the art involved. So, he gave directions,
"Take hold of my cock and play with it. Wank it slowly. Mine's already stiff. But with some guys you might need to get them boned. Now start licking the knob. Up and down the full length. Don't ignore the underside. Good! Breathe some hot breath on it. Now start playing with my balls. Not too rough! Good. With your other hand play with my ass. Now take your left hand off my ass and wet your index finger. That one. Use saliva from your mouth. Just stick it in your mouth and wet your finger. Okay now stick it into my hole, slowly. Again, some guys will like this and others won't. Kevin does it to me. Good. Slow. In and out. A gentle finger fucking."
"Now take in my dick. That's right."
As Sandy slid into Bradley's warm, somewhat willing mouth, it felt better than any he remembered. Was that the power trip of making his own kid-brother do this? Maybe, he guessed.
For Bradley the experience was somewhat less electric. At first he envisaged a vile flavor of piss and underwear, as he placed another boy's dick into his mouth for the first time. But in reality it had less taste than his finger had. Of course, even the fattest digit on his hand was not 5 inches long (13 cm), or had a circumference of 3 inches. (8 cm around)
Sandy pushed his first three inches inward and then wrapped his fingers through the hair and around the head of the younger kid and slowly began to mouth fuck the boy, taking control of the blowjob.
It was a move that Bradley wasn't expecting, but there wasn't much he could do to argue; he was just trying to adjust to the length and width of Sandy's penis and didn't have time to consider the fear and embarrassment of an older boy taking full opportunity with his oral cavity. Needing physical balance he put his hands back on Sandy's ass. He didn't think he could resume the finger fucking just then. He was struggling to keep up with the changing fullness of the cock moving deep and deeper into his mouth.
"Cover your teeth with your lips," accompanied by a mild slap across the back of the head was all Sandy said for the next several minutes.
Bradley felt the increasing quiver of the active ass-cheeks, and was forced to hold on tighter for the ride. Sandy was now pushing in and out, face fucking the boy in earnest. Several times Brad felt his gag reflex kick in, but each time his brother sensed the problem and allowed some breathing time. But Bradley didn't have to endure Sandy's cock for much longer. Plunging even deeper within the moist hotness, Sandy knew this welcoming cave would very soon be flooded with the essence of a boy. He briefly thought of warning his brother, but quickly dismissed the notion. He remembered Sean's description of the Choosing Ceremony and how any kid with a check-mark was forced to suck guys who were cummers. "Lots of cum" was how he put it. He would be doing Bradley a favor in getting him used to that.
Brad felt the flexing cheeks spasm hard under his squeezing fingers before he even felt the last jolts of dick deep inside. Then came spurt after spurt as semi-mature sperm was fired into his mouth. Bradley wanted to gag, to spit it out, or to throw up. Any of the three alternatives would have worked for the boy at that time. However, Sandy held his head in place and kept repeating.
"Swallow, swallow it all. Drink my cum you little cock sucker," said Sandy giving full vent to the dark side of his nature.
With the vice-like grip on his head, Brad had no alternative but to comply, or drown in 13-year-old cum. So, swallow he did. One, two, three, four times. Even then the taste lingered.
Sandy backed out of the red-faced, now coughing 12-year-old's mouth and was well satisfied. It certainly wasn't the best blow job he had ever had, but the boy would learn. Sandy decided he would make sure of that personally.
Both boys collapsed back onto the bed, but Bradley pushed his brother away from him.
"You're a real prick Sandy. Too rough! I'm not your whore you know! I didn't do that to you," exclaimed a very angry younger boy.
Sandy now did feel guilt about what he had done. He always did after he got carried away with sex. Regret and shame invariably followed those intense orgasms. But before he could apologize, he noticed 10-year-old Chass watching them from the doorway of the connecting bathroom that all the boys shared.
"Shit, Chass. What are you doing there?" demanded a startled Sandy.
"Watching you guys suck each other's peckers, I mean cocks. You guys do it real good. I want you to do me now."
"Piss-off," shouted Brad now pulling on his tightie-whities.
"If you don't, I'll tell Mom and Dad what you guys were doing."
"You little shit!" said Sandy. "Are you trying to blackmail us?"
Chass only had the vaguest idea of what blackmail was and so he answered, "I'm just saying what I'm gonna do if you don't suck me."
"You little fucker! So how do you know about cocksucking anyway? You're too young." Sandy knew that the best way to control Chass was to change the subject and hope the kid followed down some new path.
"Well you mean apart from seeing you guys doing it just now. Or Stevie and that Tucker kid sucking on each other's cocks all night yesterday."
"Stevie and Ethan Tucker?" questioned Sandy in amazement.
"Yep, they're boyfriends together. And I got them to blow me last night," explained the 10-year-old. "Besides," he continued, "We get Jared to suck our peckers every day at our fort."
"What!" exclaimed Sandy now even more surprised. "You mean Jared Tilton?" He knew the kid. One of the big group of boys that Chass played with on a regular basis. Chass had known them all from school when they lived back in Bartlett, but seemed much happier now having all his friends on his doorstep. Jared was a diminutive 10-year-old with bright blue eyes and longish blond hair. He certainly wouldn't stand up to Chass, or any of his other buddies, Sandy thought.
"Do you suck him back?"
Chass hooted with laughter as if it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard.
"Of course not."
"So why does Jared do it?"
"Cause we let him hang with us when he does."
Who's us?" asked Brad.
"My gang. Me, Oak, Ricky, Vince, Timmy, and Joey Sanders."
"He blows you all every day?" asked an incredulous Sandy.
"Well not everyone, every day, but most days, I guess."
"That's not right Chass. You're using the kid," said Sandy not sure what else to say and very much aware that the term `using' might equally be leveled against him and his dalliances with the Mackey community bottoms.
"He likes it. Well at first, he didn't, much. He cried. But now he likes it. He wants to be our friend. So, we let him do it."
"How do you even know about cock-sucking? I only heard about it last year," asked Brad.
"Oak's brother Bryce told us. He was in the show last year. Me and my gang are gonna go to this one. Vince's brother Bert is in it just like you Brad. We wanna watch."
"Don't be stupid Chass. They don't let 10-year-olds go to the Choosing Ceremony," stated Sandy firmly.
"They do too! Bryce went when he was 10. We gotta get our butts whooped with a strap thing by the council guy, but then we get to watch."
Sandy looked at Brad and both shrugged at the same time. This couldn't be true, could it?
"Bryce wanted us to suck his pecker too, but I said no way! But he makes Oak do it, like all the time."
"Shit," thought Sandy to himself. I will certainly need to have a few harsh words with Bryce Mackey. I don't give a fuck what he does with his own kid-brother, but I won't let him push Chass into doing something he doesn't want. And I'm probably gonna have to rescue poor Jared Tilton. How the hell do I do that diplomatically? Then Chass and I will need to have a long chat about sex and all the stuff going on around here in Indian Spring. If I don't, the kid is gonna get himself into real trouble. Like me! Fuck it!
And what's all this shit about Stevie having a boyfriend. He had suspected for some time that his third brother might grow up to be gay. Even Sandy had noticed the way the kid looked at his friend, Toby Sanders. And it wasn't just Toby, Stevie had a wandering eye for almost any of the more handsome early and mid-teen boys around town. And just last semester, Sandy had to pound a 6th grader on the swim team when the kid had called Stevie "a fag" in the locker-room. He nearly got into big trouble for that, but seeing all four Jacobs brothers lined up against him, the kid wisely told the coach he had slipped in the shower. But Sandy knew Stevie had been hanging out a lot with Ethan Tucker recently. And he guessed that kid was probably gay as well. But surely they were too young? Then again maybe not. Sandy guessed that, until this recent Bradley Choosing List thing, his own parents had probably thought he was too young. But Sandy knew, in his heart of hearts, he would have started fucking Kevin Mackey at least two years ago now, given the opportunity. He was discovering that it wasn't easy to be a decent big brother.
"So, what else do you know about the Choosing?" asked Brad, bringing Sandy's mind back to the present.
"I know lots, but none of us have been to one yet. That's why we're gonna go this year. But what's the problem? Everyone does it. You know Stevie is doing stuff with Ethan all the time, right?"
Sandy didn't know that.
"It's true!" said Chass when his two older brothers looked dubious. "Oak and me spied on them. They sucked each other's peckers at the same time and Ethan wants to find a boy to fuck him, but says he has to wait a few weeks and Stevie said he would do it. And Ethan said okay, but he needs a bigger kid to do it too. And I know you fucked Tim Hardin on that bench thing in The Tucker Wood. Next time, can you let me and my friends watch?"
"Whoa!" exclaimed Sandy turning two shades brighter red and looking sheepishly at Brad. He couldn't make eye contact with Chass at all. Fortunately, the youngest boy seemed totally blasι about the whole thing as if he was asking his brother to show him some new basketball move.
"How do you know?"
"Oh, Carter and Michael Mackey are telling everyone who'll listen. Carter reckons you're a real devil-fucker and says he wants to see you do some of the new bottoms at the Choosing. They're going I mean Carter and Michael, but because they're 11, they don't need to get a butt-whopping this year and they get to vote as well."
"Oh fuck!" thought Sandy to himself. Everyone in Indian Spring must know what I did. Well every kid, but maybe some adults too. That made him turn another even brighter shade of red. How long would it be before his parents found out? And what are they all gonna think when he's bent over at Old Knot in a bit over a week's time. When the devil-fucker gets himself fucked?
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" he thought.
"I want to join the Boy Scouts," Chass suddenly announced completely out of the blue. His youngest brother, although not exactly ADHD, did have difficulty keeping his mind on one topic for too long. What was that about, thought Sandy. Chass had never mentioned scouting before. But there were bigger issues facing the oldest Jacobs child just then. At least he had temporarily diverted the idea of blackmail for a blow-job. However, Sandy knew with absolute certainty that the kid would renew the demand in a few days' time. That was how his kid-brother's brain operated, but he could worry about that later.
In the meantime, Sandy had an overwhelming sense of dread rapidly pervading every part of his life. His only ally, Brad, was justifiably pissed with him. He didn't blame the kid and guessed he got a little carried away before. And worse still, he was about to become a Mackey community bottom for the next two or three years. He still couldn't entertain that notion with any understanding of the reality. Just 24 hours before he was wondering how life could be so good. How had the wind-mills of the gods raised him up so high just to dump him so hard? He knew he couldn't do much about the Mackey thing, but he would work on repairing the relationship with his brothers.
***
Sandy spoke to Stevie later that night and was surprised when the younger boy openly admitted his gay relationship with Ethan Tucker.
"So are you gay too?" asked Stevie.
"What! Exclaimed Sandy. "Of course not! What makes you even think that?"
"Well, a lot of the Mackey kids are always telling me about you and Kevin and some of the other Mackey bottoms."
"Yeah, well that's different..."
"Right!" Said Stevie sarcastically. Sandy looked into his younger brother's eyes. Like every kid, this one understood when he was being bull-shitted. So Sandy said,
"Sorry Stevie. I don't mean to bull-shit you. I mean it's okay for you to be gay if you want. We'll always be brothers. Nothing's ever gonna change that. No matter what. And as my brother, I'll always try to protect you. It's just I don't know what I feel these days. I don't think I'm gay. Mostly, I don't look at other boys and think I'd like to suck that guy's cock. But I've been doing more and more sex stuff with Kevin. I sucked him off today. I didn't have to, but I did. I like him and we have fun together. But then at night in bed, I still think of girls. Problem is I get horny all the time and just want sex. I guess you get like that too? Right?
"Yeah, a lot."
"Don't worry. All guys go through it. That's why we have the bottoms in Indian Spring. But you need to be real careful about being fucked in the ass around here. You done that yet?"
"No, but Ethan reckons we should. I want to try."
"Yeah, it's maybe okay for you two, but don't let any of the older boys you know, guys that can cum, fuck you just yet. There are all sorts of Mackey rules about that. I don't understand most of it myself."
"Yeah, Ethan told me. He wants to get owned by Daniel Mackey. You know Luke's brother."
"Uncle Holden's kid?"
"Yep!" Ethan says I can't own him because I can't cum yet, but he reckons Daniel can and he's a good guy."
"Yeah, well I guess. But how come Ethan Tucker wants to get himself involved in all this Mackey crap about guys owning other guys? He's a Near Springer. He's not even part of the family. I didn't think that rule applied to non-Mackeys.
"Ethan says his Dad wants him and Kelley to follow the Mackey traditions just now. Even though they don't have to. It's got something to do with his Dad's business the land thing. But it's a different land thing to our Dad. Well maybe. I'm not sure. Anyway, it's about Indian Spring and the land around here."
"Hum," said Sandy pensively.
"And Stevie, you will tell me if some bigger kid, even a friend of mine like Toby or Kelson, ever forced you to do stuff, right?"
"They're good guys Sandy. They'd never do that" replied Stevie.
"Glad to hear it."
The point had been made thought Sandy. But he'd need to follow up with Chass and Stevie again in the few days when things settled down.
***
A half hour later found Sandy on his bed once again. No one else was about. The others were all downstairs watching some horror movie. So he took the opportunity of time alone, to stare up at the ceiling. It always seemed to help him think. The third book on his summer reading list, S. E. Hinton's, The Outsiders, was more than half read, and lay next to him.
That high school split by two factions, the Socs and the Greasers, reads as if it might be about his own home town, he thought. Joplin Middle School was like that. Super rich kids and poor kids. Sandy could identify with fourteen-year-old Ponyboy Curtis, a `greaser' who was judged a hooligan because of his clothes and hair, but who in fact got good grades at school and loved books and films. Sandy didn't have the hair or the clothes, but he felt just like an outsider sometimes. All these other people were judging him and making decisions about his life without consulting him. The Mackey Junior Council were gonna make him a bottom for two or three years and he hadn't done all that much. Okay, maybe he did go a little too far with Tim Hardin when he fucked him on the bench in Tucker Wood, but the kid was fourteen, like Ponyboy, and ought to be able to take a little joke from a younger guy. And there were so many other things going on in this community that he didn't know enough about. His own parents were out tonight at a meeting at Uncle Elijah's. That was about land, and the stuff Stevie spoke about before. He suddenly realized that his parents and Ethan Tucker's parents must be on different sides in that argument. Did they hate each other like the Socs and the Greasers? Who were the outsiders there? He guessed the water park was a crazy idea, but maybe it would be cool if they actually build it. He liked swimming and was good at it. And unlike Bartlett, there was no public pool in Indian Spring. But we have the swimming hole here, he supposed, and in almost every way that was far better. No adult supervision, the rope swing, and skinny-dipping whenever the mood struck. You certainly couldn't do that in Bartlett. And sex if you got horny. He had dragged Kevin off into the bushes a couple times from there already.
"Shit!" he realized. Will guys be doing that to me after they make me a bottom? Of course they would. "Fuck!" he thought. Like Ponyboy, his life really sucked at present. Was everybody's life always so fucked up? Maybe the fucked-upness of each person's life was a matter of degree? Perhaps Ponyboy and David Mackey were at the extreme end of the scale. Them and that other kid he met today with Tolley Malcolm McEwen.
They went to Malcolm's house in the afternoon. When no one answered the door, Tolley said it was okay to go in. So they did, only to find Mr. Michael McEwen passed out on the floor. Sandy at first thought the man was dead, but Tolley didn't seem surprised. He went up to the man and lightly put his hand over the nose and mouth.
"Still breathing. Just drunk. He's always like this at this time of the year. But no Malcolm!"
And Tolley turned around and just walked out the door as if it was the most normal thing in the world to find a passed-out drunken adult in the middle of the floor in his living-room.
"Shouldn't we do something?" asked Sandy.
"Like what?" Tolley shot back.
They made their way down a track back to the main part of Indian Spring, and ran straight into Malcolm before the older boy could think of anything.
It was clear from the beginning this kid was weird.
But Tolley carried on regardless. He introduced Sandy, told Malcolm about the sleep-over, and said he would come by and pick him up on Sunday at 4:00 PM. He didn't ask if the kid even wanted to come.
"I'll bring an extra sleeping bag for you."
Then Tolley grabbed Sandy by the arm and walked him off back down the track.
It was an amazing encounter. Malcolm never said a word, but looked like a deer in headlights the entire time.
"So, is he coming?" asked the older boy.
"Maybe, I reckon he'll try and hide first, but I'll track him down. I know his secret places. Then Seth and me will drag him to your place.
And laying on his bed now, Sandy knew that whole event was pretty screwed-up.
"Was "fucked-upness" even a word?" Sandy wondered? He knew that Malcolm McEwen was at an extreme end on that scale. Still, there had been a glimmer of hope in there somewhere. Sandy had sensed that, and he made a mental note to go out of his way to welcome the kid, if he did turn up. He would tell his brothers too. So that glimmer of hope put Malcolm slightly more towards the middle on the fucked-upness scale than David. There had not even been a flicker of anything approaching optimism there.
And what about the other kid they had visited? They met Judge Mackey outside in front of his house. But he refused to speak to them until he had approval from his mother. So he rushed inside and came out a minute later accompanied by a large middle-aged woman carrying a thick leather bound edition of the bible. Sandy wondered whether she thought the book would protect her. Did she think the boys were going to rob the place?
Sandy decided to take charge this time. He could generally charm most adults when he put his mind to it.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Mackey. My name is Sandy Jacobs and I guess you know my parents Sam and Karla Jacobs. We used to live in Bartlett, but we moved back to the old Jacobs house on Lower Spring Drive. And I assume you know Tolley here?"
"Yes, I know him, and I know the Jacobs. Always a godless lot. So why are you here boys?" said the woman condescendingly.
Sandy was ready to take offence. It was true that the Jacobs weren't always the first in the queue when it came to attending church, but he was old enough to know an insult when he heard one. But the better angels took control and he pretended he didn't understand.
"Ma' am?" But it was clear she wouldn't apologize. So, eventually he continued,
"I am here to invite Judge to a sleep-over my brother Bradley is having on Sunday night at 5:00 PM. All the boys on the Choosing List are invited as a sort of mutual support thing. Give the guys a chance to talk things over. I guess like my brother, Judge must be pretty worried about the 15th?
"My son is not concerned. The Lord will protect him from the odious cloud of the sin of Sodom that hangs over this community."
"Err, sorry Ma'am. What?"
"Mom I want to go," piped-up Judge, speaking for the first time.
"We'll speak to your father about this," she said and marched back into the house.
Making sure his mother was inside, Judge turned to Tolley and said,
"Sorry about Mom. She's a little weird about religion sometimes. She's a Deacon at the Church you know. But my Dad's okay. He'll let me go. So are you guys gonna talk about sex at the sleep-over?"
Sandy sensed a level of excitement from the kid, as if he had never spoken about that subject before. But that hardly seemed possible.
"I guess it will come up," answered Tolley evasively.
"Good, I want to learn about it. But you know it's a sin, right?"
"What?" asked Sandy. "Just talking about sex is a sin?"
"Of course! Thou shalt not covert thy neighbor's wife."
"Don't worry Judge, there'll be no neighbor's wives there. Just guys. So what about when you jerk-off. Is that a sin too?"
"Jerk what?" asked Judge uncertainly.
But a few seconds later the penny dropped and he turned an alarming shade of red.
"Oh, I don't do that, of course. That's definitely a sin too."
"The neighbor's wife again?" asked Sandy teasingly.
But the deep color the boy had turned revealed the truth behind his denial.
Thinking back to his own position on the fucked-upness scale, Sandy realized he wasn't as badly off as David, or even Malcolm or Judge. The Mackeys were about to make him a community bottom, but he still had two parents that loved him. That was rare enough these days he knew. They could be a bit strict at times, but mostly okay. And they weren't religious crazies or drunks. Plus, he had his three brothers and some good friends. He recognized he shouldn't take any of that for granted. One of his teachers had said that relationships were things you needed to work on if you wanted them to remain in good health. That made perfect sense.
He couldn't believe that Hinton was only sixteen when she wrote the Outsiders book. Amazing! Sandy thought he should write about Indian Spring. It was a more cockamamie place than even the East Side and West-side in Ponyboy's town. But he couldn't think any more about that tonight. Still, there was one more task he needed to do. The rest could wait for now.
At around 11:00 PM that night Sandy got up and slipped into his brother's bed. He knew the kid wasn't asleep. With the Choosing Ceremony about a week away, he doubted whether many 12-year-olds in Indian Spring got a good night's sleep. And maybe some 13-year-olds as well he thought sardonically.
"What the fuck! What are you doing?" demanded a very irate Bradley trying to push the older boy out of his bed.
"I wanted to say sorry for holding you down before. You are right. It was a prick of a thing to do. So I'm gonna give you a free blow-job. No obligation for you to do anything back in return. A free blow-job for accepting my apology. I don't want us to fight. Is it a deal?"
Sandy sensed the indecision of the other boy as he turned over the offer in his head. At least he had stopped trying to push him out of the bed.
"I want two," replied a firm sounding Bradley after several seconds of thought. "One now and one tomorrow whenever I want it. And you have to do them the way I say. No argument!" he added as if pressing home his advantage.
"Okay," answered the older boy. "How do you want me?"
Even in the darkened room Sandy knew his brother was smiling as he stood up and walked to the center of the room.
"Here slave. Strip naked and get on your knees in front of me." Sandy did as he was told.
"Now start sucking my big man cock, and do a good job, or I'll whoop your butt."
At this, both boys started giggling and all the tension that had existed earlier vanished in a flash. Within seconds both boys were rolling around on the floor wrestling playfully. But Sandy was as good as his word and gave Bradley the blow-job he promised.