Shadow of my Father - 55. Chapter 55

The TV stayed on even after the concert ended. Chris just sat there thinking how he would have reacted if he and Josh were still together and he was in Cesar’s shoes. There would be no way he could have handled Josh bringing attention on him. On top of that, he knows he would not have sat there as Cesar did when Josh got off the stage and started singing to him as if they were the only two in the stadium.

He knows he is not like Cesar, far from it. Now he can see why Josh and Cesar are suited for each other. Neither of them is weak; they are both strong. They aren’t afraid to show their love, even if that means trouble in the future and most importantly Chris saw they hold each other up. Together they are unbeatable and nothing will ever touch them or hurt them in any way.

The commercial came on, bringing Chris out of his thoughts. Looking around to see if anyone was in the living room with him and when he saw no one was there, he looked over a the clock on the VCR. It is late, but not late enough for him to head to bed just yet. Since it is summer and he is not at home, he does not have to go to bed at ten as he does during the school year. Pretty much, he is able to go to bed whenever he wants.

Because he does not have a bedtime, Chris has started to stay up late, and sleep in. He hasn’t made any friends yet and he does not have money to go to Disney World every day. In fact, since he has been with his foster parent’s family in California, he has only been to Disney World twice and that was the first week.

Mostly he has been spending his summer in front of the television, like tonight. After going through the channels several times, Chris popped in a tape in the VCR; “Terminator 2” for the eleventh time. There is something about the movie has Chris watching it repeatedly. He loves the first movie and could not wait for the second movie to be released on video so he could buy it.

Although he has seen the movie ten times already, he stayed awake through the entire movie for the eleventh time enjoying every action scene in the movie. When the credits started to roll, Chris turned off everything and headed to bed. Once his head hit the pillow, he was gone. He did not wake up again until after ten, and that was early for him.

Dragging himself out of bed, Chris made his way to the bathroom to relieve his aching bladder, splash some cold water on his face, and rinse his mouth. As he started to rejoin the living, he was dressed and headed to the kitchen for breakfast. He found cold pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs on the table with a note near by the plate.

As he stuck his plate in the microwave, Chris read the note. ‘Chris we are at church and will be doing some shopping afterwards. Don’t expect us to get home until this afternoon. We left you breakfast on the table and lunch in the refrigerator. Please get out of the house today and try to meet some of the neighborhood kids. You cannot spend the entire summer locked away from the outside world.’

Chris was about to crumble up the note when he saw on the bottom ps. ‘PS, we left you some money so you can get out of the house. While we are at the stores, I will see if any new movies came out so you can stop watching that action movie so much. You are going to wear out that poor tape. Take the money and have some fun.’

He did not see any money on the table, so he thought that maybe they forgot to leave it. Just as he started to look for it, the microwave went off. Turning around, he popped the door open and went to pull out his plate, but it was too hot. When he grabbed the dish towel from the table that was covering his food, the money went flying to the floor.

Forgetting about his food for a minute, Chris picked up the money from the floor and put it back on the table. Then he grabbed his food from the microwave and sat down at the table. As he ate, he started to think what he wanted to do. He had enough to go to Disney World for the day, but he really is not in the mood to go.

So instead, he decided to save it for another day to use since he was not in the mood to go to the theme park. At the same time, he was tired of staying inside the house. He wants to do more than just watch TV all summer long. By the time he finished his breakfast, he made his mind up to go outside and see if he can make friends with the neighborhood kids or at least explore the neighborhood.

Back in Austin, Josh saw George, Dolly and Kenny off in the morning. All three of them told Josh if he ever wants to go on tour, he is more than welcome to join theirs. He knows he is not obligated to say yes to them, but he did, in a way, by promising if he ever goes down that road they will be the first ones he calls. They made it clear to Josh that they believe in him and they will be there if he ever needs advice or just someone to talk with.

After seeing them off, Josh lazed around the rest of the day. A couple of times he tried to write a song, but could not get his head around it. Brandon saw Josh with his guitar, pen, and paper and was able to put together what he was doing. At first, he did not want to disturb him, but when he saw his brother getting frustrated with himself, he decided to see if he could help. Walking over to Josh, he sat down on the floor next to him.

“Hey can I see what you have so far?” Josh looked up and handed him the notepad. Brandon looked it over several times before putting it down. “You know what I think you are doing wrong? You are trying to write a song that you don’t feel. You need to write a song that you feel here.” Brandon hit his chest several times.

“What do you suggest then? I want to write for Cesar, but I just cannot seem to get the words to rhyme right. You know I love Cesar, so why cannot I get the song to work?”

“Maybe you are putting too much pressure on yourself to have the first song you write to be a love song for Cesar. You should step away from that for now and just write. Write whatever comes out of you. From what I understand from Mr. Strait, a writer writes what he is feeling at the time.”

Although Josh is always feeling love for Cesar, he can see that Brandon is right. Maybe he is putting too much pressure on himself to make the first song he writes a love song for Cesar. He decided to take his brothers advice and stepped back from the song he was trying to write. He just started to write whatever was coming into his mind.

With help from Brandon, they started to piece together a song. The rest of the day, they sat in the corner of the room bouncing ideas off each other on where the song should go. By the time they were called in for dinner, they had a skeleton of a song. It needs a lot more work, but they are well on their way.

After dinner, Josh and Brandon spent a couple more hours working on the song, but when they saw they were locked, they stopped. They joined the others in front of the TV for the rest of the evening. By eleven, everyone was fighting their sleep. They surrendered and headed off to bed at eleven-thirty.

When Josh woke up the next morning, he was ready to start working on his song again, but his brothers had different plans. They wanted to spend the entire day at the pool. Since he was out voted, Josh agreed to go. After breakfast, they headed to their rooms, changed into swim trunks and headed out.

At first, Josh refused to get into the fun, but Cesar was not going to let him get away with it. He went and picked Josh up and held on to him as he jumped in the pool at the deep end. When they hit the water, Cesar let go of Josh so he could swim on his own. When they both got above water, Cesar could see the anger in Josh’s face.

Knowing Josh the way he does, he knew if he let him think about what just happened he would get angrier and angrier. That is not what he wanted to happen so he swam over to him, and pulled him into a kiss. They sunk under the water, but they did not break the kiss. Josh wrapped his arms around Cesar as they played tongue hockey in each other’s mouth.

When they broke their kiss, they had no other choice. They ran out of air and swam back above water as quickly as they could. As they caught their breath, they looked at each other and started laughing and splashing water into each other’s face.

“There is the guy I love!” Cesar said as water went into his mouth. “I knew you were there, I just needed to get you to come out. You need to stop being so serious all the time and be yourself. If you don’t, you are going to go bald and I am going to leave you if that happens.” Cesar started laughing at the face Josh made at him. “I don’t care if you lose all your hair and get wrinkly, you will always be handsome in my eyes.”

Josh stopped splashing the water at Cesar and just starred at him. He could not find words that expressed what he is feeling right now. No matter how hard he tried, he could not so instead of saying it in words, Josh swam over to him and pulled him under the water as before, they started to kiss and held it longer.

This time when they got above water, they found Josh’s brothers around them. “If you guys are done playing around by yourselves, why don’t you join us at the shallow end to play chicken fights? You two are a team of course. Carlos and I are a team and Brandon and Patrick are the third team.”

Cesar looked at Josh to see what he thought. He nodded his head and that was that. They made their way to the shallow end and got into their teams. Since Josh was lighter, not by much, he got on Cesar’s shoulders, Brandon was on Patrick’s, and Carlos was on Daniel Jr.’s shoulders. Once everyone was settled in, they made their way to the middle of the shallow end of the pool.

The fight was on. Josh and Cesar took the first blow, but were unable to push Brandon off Patrick. Before they were able to get their balance again, Josh and Cesar were hit by Carlos and Daniel, but were able to stay above water, but not the second hit. Josh actually fell back, but Cesar held on and kept Josh on his shoulders.

As Cesar got Josh back up, they started laughing as they jumped right back into the fight. Heading right for Carlos, Josh and his older bother tangled it up on top and Daniel and Cesar were going at it on the bottom. They were laughing as they tried to get each other to fall into the water. Brandon and Patrick sat back at first, but seeing the opportunity, they headed into the fight.

Now all six of them were going at it right there in the middle of the shallow end. Not mean or angry, they were having fun. Laughing and splashing up water as they fought to sink the other. Those that were swimming at the time got out and watched the Lopez boys have fun. Some of them actually took pictures. When Ross saw that, he went over and asked those that pulled out cameras to give him the film and put the camera away.

Finally, after going at it for over ten minutes, Brandon and Patrick were the first to go down. They went charging at Josh, and Cesar just stepped to the side. Brandon put all his weight into the push and ended up pulling himself and his partner face first into the water. They came up, pushing their hair out of their faces laughing.

Now it is just between Josh and his partner and Carlos and his partner. They circled each other, as fighters do in the first round of a fight. After sizing each other up, they met in the middle of the shallow area pushing. Josh and Carlos were once again going at it on top and Cesar and Daniel were going at it on the bottom.

They each got in good hits, almost sinking the other, but at the end it was Josh and Cesar that won out. Somehow both Josh and Cesar pushed Carlos and Daniel at the same time, and they went falling back. Daniel let go of his younger brother’s legs as they went under the water. They came up astonished that they were actually beaten.

Cesar knelt under the water, letting his boyfriend off his shoulders. When he came back up, he joined in with Josh teasing the other four. They jumped back into the water and ganged up on Josh and Cesar splashing waves of water in their face, in return Josh and Cesar returned fire. Even though they lost this battle, they had fun playing.

Meanwhile the Governor was about to receive news that he had no idea was coming. His press security had the roughest press conference he has had since Governor took office. He was hit with question after question about what Josh sang and did at the concert on Saturday. Feeling he was doing a good job answering questions until he was blindsided with a question about the fan that gave an interview after the concert.

“Have you had a chance to talk with the Governor about the comments one fan gave after the concert? He made it clear that if he had a chance he would get rid of all the people like Josh, the Governor’s son. How did the Governor react to hearing about the interview and what did he do, if anything, to keep his son safe?”

“It always has to be you Linda throwing a question like that.” The pressroom cracked up laughing. “Being serious for a moment, the Governor is aware of that interview, but that is all I am going to say on the matter. As you know, I do not answer questions on what the Governor thinks. All of his personal thoughts are just that, personal.”

“Come on, you cannot leave us with that. The Governor is known for jumping the gun when it comes down to his kids being threatened. In this case, it was a threat to his second youngest son. He had to have said something and done something once he heard the news. All we are asking is what did he say and do, not what he thinks.”

As he was being asked the question again, a security agent gave him a note. The press secretary read the note before he commented on the question again. “I know you all saw I was just handed this from security.” The press secretary held up the note. “I was just informed through this note that there were several more men added to Josh’s security detail until the threat is resolved.

At the same time, the Governor handed this matter over to the head of the family security. Governor Lopez felt he was too close to the issue and did not want his personal feelings clouding his judgment. From here on out, all questions concerning this issue, need to be directed to the security wing, not me or my staff. That will be all for today”.

The reporters were not pleased with the answer and they showed it by demanding more information. The press secretary did not even look back once as he walked out of the pressroom. He had an appointment with the Governor and there is no way he is going to be late for it. Always Mondays around here are busy, and this one has been the worse so far.

When he got to the Governor’s office, his secretary told him to go right in, the Governor is waiting for him. Straightening out his tie and jacket, the press secretary knocked on the Governor’s door and then walked in. He found the Governor on the phone, but he did acknowledge him and pointed to the seats in front of his desk.

“I am sorry about that! It was my brother letting me know how everything is going with the house.” The Governor hung up his phone. “I know you have wanted to speak with me in private for several days now, but I was not free until now. What can I do for you?”

“Mr. Governor I wish I was not here about to do what I am about to do. I love working here in Austin and being part of this administration. The minute you jumped into the race, I said to everyone that would listen to me that I wanted to be part of your campaign. I knew you were going to win and make a difference.

When you brought me abroad as your voice of the campaign, I was honored. Then you humbled me even me when you asked me to be your press secretary. That is why this is hard for me to be sitting here telling you that I have to step down as your press secretary for personal reasons.”

The way the conversation was going the Governor knew it was going to be bad news, but not this bad. He is not even past his first year and already has to face losing a top administrator. The press is going to have a field day with this no matter what the reason is that his press secretary is leaving.

“Is there anything I can do to keep you here? I know you said it was personal, not another job offer, but can I do something to help you out to deal with the personal thing and stay on board as my press secretary.” Daniel looked straight into his press secretary’s eyes and knew that was nothing he could do to keep him there.

“I am so sorry Mr. Governor, but I have to go back home to Florida and deal with a family emergency. It is not something that will just pull me away for a couple of weeks or months, it is going to be a long-term situation. As I said, I wish I were able to stay. I tried everything I could to make that happen, but it is all landing on me to do so I have to do it.”

Daniel felt that his press secretary was being very mysterious on exactly what is going on, but he could not push for more information. Reluctantly he accepted his resignation and wished him the best of luck. He added that there would be job here from him if he ever wants to come back. That made the press secretary happy as he thanked the Governor for everything as he left the office.

Daniel. Sr. asked his secretary to have Rich come down to see him as soon as he could. He did not want to lie this at his doorstep, but had no other choice but to do so. Already his plate is over flowing with to many things that he will not get to so there is no way he can take on hiring a new press secretary. Not only that, his chief-of-staff is in charge of the staff.

Back in Lubbock, Texas, Johnny IV was woken up by banging of pots and pans. He looked over to his alarm clock and saw it was six after eight. Kicking the blankets off him as he stretched out his arms and legs, Johnny knew he had to get up. He knew that the noise in the kitchen is his father trying to get around without any help.

Tossing his legs over the side of his single bed, Johnny grabbed his t-shirt he was wearing last night form the floor. He put it in and walked out of his room barefoot. The closer he got to the kitchen he could hear his father not cursing, but not happy talking either on under his breath. Peeking into the kitchen, he saw his father struggling to see the inside of the pan on the stove.

Knowing his father, he will get angry if he tries to take over the cooking even though he is only trying to help. Johnny’s dad is a proud man. He has never depended on anyone in his life, and he will not start now, which confuses Johnny. His father is permanently now in that wheelchair and unless technology makes huge advances, he will never get out of it.

His father, Johnny Walker III was in the military, under the current Governor of Texas. He was on Governor Lopez’s staff. Some said he was the Governor’s right hand man, his go to guy so to speak. Johnny the third respected the Governor so much he would follow him anywhere, even to Hell if he were asked to.

When the Governor was pulled out of Iraq, Johnny III stayed with the Governor’s men. They continued on the objectives, but their new commander did not know his ass from his face. He was nothing like the Governor. He did not believe in leading by example. He handed out the orders, and sat back where it was safe as the orders were carried out.

That is why no one respected the new commander. Most of the orders were changed in the field as to how the mission was going to be carried out, because the new commander had no idea what was going on since he hadn’t been out in the field. At first, they carried it out the way he wanted it, and many good men died and the objectives were not completed. Once they changed how the order was going to be carried, everything turned around. Men did not die and the objectives were successfully accomplished.

The new commander found out that the way he asked his orders to be carried was being changed, he was not happy at all about it. He called in his staff and tore their heads off. One of them was Johnny III. He demanded that they are to execute his orders as written and then sent them out with the new mission.

As Johnny III read the way the mission was to be executed, he knew that many good men were going to go home in a wooden box. There was no way he was going to sit by in the back as he sent his men to die so when the mission was on its way, Johnny took the lead with his men behind him.

At first, everything was quiet, but that soon changed. Iraqi troops came out of nowhere and started to attack. Standing their ground, Johnny and his men opened fire, refusing to fall back. He radioed in for tanks, something he would have had in front of his men, but the new General felt it was a waste of a resources.

The operator at the command center dispatched the tanks, but by the time they got to the battle, it was too late. The men were falling back, dragging their commander and several other soldiers on their backs or two soldiers were carrying a wounded soldier.

Unlike the American troops, the Iraqi unit did bring tanks and used them to force Johnny and his men to retreat. Even when he saw the tanks coming over the hill, he refused to order his men to retreat. He hoped and prayed that his tanks were going to get here before the Iraqi tanks did any real damage, but he was wrong. They pinned them right off the bat and once the tanks started firing, Johnny was blown twenty feet in the air.

One of the tank shells hit the ground about five feet away from Johnny, causing him to be thrown into the air. Although it did not hit him, the flying shrapnel of the shell did, right in his chest and back, knocking him out. His second in command ordered the retreat as he and another soldier went over and picked up Johnny III from the ground.

When Johnny III regained consciousness, he was already in a hospital in Germany. The army doctor wasted no time giving him the bad news that several pieces of the shell that exploded in front of him hit his lower spine. As a result, he will never walk again. Johnny III refused to take that as an option, but as the days turned into weeks, and then months, and he could not move his legs at all, he became more and more bitter.

Because of one bad decision made by his commander, he lost his career and his ability to walk. When he returned to the states, he was a shell of the man that left to Iraq. His wife and two children could barely recognize him. Unshaven, hair not cut in a military cut, but long and stringy and the love he had for life was gone from his face.

The only thing that got Johnny III’s blood boiling was whenever he was in front of the television watching the news and seeing them pull apart his old commander or his family. There were times Johnny IV saw his father actually cursing at the TV when they were talking bad about the first family of Texas.

Then one day one of the newscasters was talking about how disappointed, he and his family were with their Governor. It was not the way he was doing his job; it was him having a gay son. The newscaster called for the Governor to send his son away to a place that will make him regular. When Johnny IV saw his dad throwing a fit and almost falling out of his wheel chair yelling at what the newscaster said. He learned something new about his father that day.

Just a couple years earlier, Johnny IV figured out something about himself; he is gay. At first, he thought it was just a phase, but more and more he realized he does not like girls. He only looked at boys in his grade, none of the girls. Several girls in his class this year has asked him out, but he politely turned them down.

He never thought he could tell his father. Just like Josh, his father was gung ho military and thought that he father would not accept him. Then he saw how his father reacted when the newscaster was talking bad about the Governor’s gay son. Now he knows his father will accept, but he does not know how to come out to him.

As he saw his father struggling with the pan on the stove, Johnny IV walked in. “Hey dad, why don’t we ever have our father and son mornings anymore? I loved it when we used to get up in the morning and let mom sleep in as we cooked breakfast. Why don’t we start that up again and make today the first one?”

Johnny IV did not give his father a chance to respond. He lowered the flame on the stove before going to the refrigerator to get the eggs. Once he got everything his father needed to mix he eggs, he handed them to his father and went back to stove and before they knew it, they had breakfast on the table and were eating it.

The only delay was them waiting for Johnny’s sister, Kelly. She seemed to refuse to get out of bed until their father yelled for her. Once she heard his voice echoing through the halls, she jumped out of bed and was in the kitchen in a flash.

After eating and doing the dishes, Johnny IV headed out to cut his neighbor’s yard while it was still cool outside. To make a little money to help his mother out, he cuts neighbor’s yards, pulls their weeds or anything they are willing to hire him to do. There is one neighbor that pays him to come in and straighten up his house, but he thinks the old man is so lonely he just wants someone to talk to.

As he headed out the door, his father yelled out to him. “Make sure you come home after doing the yard. There are things around the house that need doing and it is not fair that your sister has to do it all.” Johnny IV turned to look at his father as he was at the front door and nodded his head.

Back in Austin, the boys had to head back to the mansion because Patrick had to change to go and see his therapist. He tried to get out of it, but Barbara would not allow it. She explained that he would thank her once he sees therapy is actually helping him work through all the stuff life has already thrown at him. The funny thing to that is he is not telling his therapist anything because he does not trust him.

There was really only one person that Patrick trusted and told everything to, Frank. Frank was always there for him when ever his parents got angry and took it out on him. Even before they were an item, Frank was the person he would go to when things seemed to get out of control in his life.

When they were younger and his parents smacked him around, Patrick would sneak out of his bedroom window and run down to Frank’s house with tears rolling from his eyes. Frank would always keep his bedroom window unlocked so Patrick could climb in whenever he needed to get away from his house.

This was, again, before they became boyfriends, and even after they became boyfriends, Frank kept his window unlocked for him. Before being an item, they would just sit on the floor or on the bed and just talk. Frank’s parents knew what was going on so whenever he would crawl through the window, they would come in and make sure that Patrick’s parents hadn’t hurt him.

Whenever Frank’s parents saw that Patrick was bruised up, they would immediately go over to Patrick’s house and have it out with his parents. The agreement ended the same way each time. If they hit their son again, they will be arrested, but they never called the police because Patrick always begged them not to. Reluctantly they agreed each time as long as he would always come to them whenever this happened.

Of course the beatings never stopped. Whenever the beatings resulted into breaking bones, Patrick would not go down to Frank’s house, which got Frank and his parents angry. It was just that Patrick did not want to be one of those kids in foster care. He did not want to be shuffled around from one house to another and never have anything stable. The life of beatings was a lot better than that life of being in a home of people that did not like him. At least that is how Patrick saw it.

The day Frank was taken from him, he not only lost his boyfriend, but he lost the very foundation in his messed up life. He no longer had any one to go to whenever his world was falling apart that would listen and not judge him. Frank was more than his lover and his boyfriend. He was the center of his world in every sense of the word.

Those days, weeks and even months after Frank was killed, Patrick wanted to join him. He could not see life without his Frank. It was Josh, his family and friends that made him see there was more to live for. Yes, it is going to take time to heal, but he knows that those that were there after he lost Frank will always be there for him in the future.

That’s what he wanted to tell to Josh, at least, is why he came down to him and his family when things exploded at his house this time. When he was brought home by his father, the first place he went running to was Frank’s house. When he got there, he found the window locked and that is when it hit him that Frank was gone.

The only other person he could think of that he trusted enough was Josh so he caught the first plane to Austin and showed up at Josh’s front door like a little lost puppy. They took him in without a second thought. Every day since, he has wanted to tell Josh and his father everything, but each time he thought he thought he gathered enough nerve to do so, he would chicken out. Frank would pop in his mind and he felt that he was betraying him if he would let anyone else in as he did Frank.

After he changed, Patrick and Barbara left, leaving Josh, his brothers and Cesar at the mansion. Rose was off getting her hair done and Daniel Sr. was at work. Neither Daniel Sr. nor Barbara wanted Patrick to go alone to the therapist, at least his first couple of months. Once he gets used to going, then he will be going alone.

While Patrick was gone, Josh and Brandon went to Brandon’s room to pick up where they left off yesterday with the song they were working on. By the time Patrick got back, they pretty much had most of the song written. All there is left is putting music to the words they wrote, which Josh hopes it is a lot easier than writing the lyrics.

Usually when Patrick returns from his therapist office, he goes and to his room and hides away from everyone. He does not want them to ask him any questions, on how it went which they never do when he comes out. Today was no different. When he returned, instead of going to his room, he found Josh and them in the back yard. They immediately invited him to join in to what they were doing, not asking one question about his session.

The rest of the day was gone in a flash before they knew it. It was time they were getting ready for bed. Josh and Cesar started playing around while they were in the shower and continued it once they got back into their room. They did not bother to put on any clothes because they knew they would be ripping them off each other anyway.

Before making it to the bed, Josh had ripped off Cesar’s towel around his waist. Cesar’s dick sprang out leaking a steady stream of pre-cum. Josh fell to his knees and took his dick full depth in his mouth before he could object. As he went down on him, Cesar tried to grab a hold of Josh’s hair, but could not because he always keeps it too short.

Just as he felt he was about to peak, Cesar pulled Josh up from his knees. “I love you so much! I don’t want just a quickie. I want to make real love to you as if there is no tomorrow.” Cesar reached between their waists and pulled off Josh’s towel. Josh’s cock sprang up just as Cesar has had only moments before.

“Let’s make love to each other as it supposed to be done”; Cesar whispered into Josh’s ear as his had clasped both their wet, slick cocks together and stroked them firmly. Josh put his hand between them, cupped, and massaged their meshed sacks adding to the intensity for both.

As if guided by radar, the pair’s lips found the others and they swapped tongues. They have unwittingly devised a system where each tongue gets equal time doing the probing of the other’s mouth.

Gently Cesar pushed Josh onto their bed. Walking between Josh’s legs, he started to kiss up and down his chest. Cesar made sure he kissed every inch of Josh’s chest, stomach as he made his way back up to his nipples. He kissed, nibbled, and sucked each nipple just as he knew Josh likes it the most. The entire time Josh moaned, feeling as if he and Cesar were in an alternate reality all by themselves.

Cesar began the trip back down Josh’s torso with his tongue. As he got about half way down, he dropped to his knees beside the bed giving him better access to his mouth’s destination; Josh’s moist and steely hard cock. Stopping for a moment to lavish some attention on Josh’s navel, he probed deeply sending a different sensation of delight through Josh. Cesar could feel Josh’s entire package pressing into his chest so he moved further down tracing Josh’s happy trail with his tongue until he reached the prize. He realized Josh is already getting close enough that if he is not careful, it is going to be over before it really gets going!

Cesar grasped Josh’s cock and held it so that he could lick and nibble long the shaft. He knows that the spot just behind the head on the bottom is a real hot spot for his lover so he would concentrate on licking and nibbling the tender flesh. At the same time Cesar had a hand cupping and massaging Josh’s sack along with its’ tender contents.

For just a moment, Cesar took Josh’s cockhead into his mouth, tongued the head, and probed the slit. He knew better than to take his lover’s cock all the way in because he is too close to going over the edge. Cesar does not want this to be over for a while yet. Sucking just the head and tonguing the slit will keep the passion up, but if he goes all the way down on Josh, it will be too much. Cesar was content with sucking and tonguing the tip and milking the sweet pre-cum which Josh was pumping in a steady stream.

Keeping his milking hand still on Josh’s cock, Cesar pulled his mouth off the sweet cockhead and he moved down to Josh’s sack. As Josh felt the hot breath on his sack, he pulled his legs up, bending his knees, placing his feet on the edge of the bed. He spread wide to give Cesar easy access to everything he might want to get to. Cesar sensed the invitation and started licking and sucking on the sweet spot just behind Josh’s sack and working back further. As he was working toward Josh’s most private place, Josh reached down putting his hands behind his knees and pulled his legs upward confirming his invitation. As he pulled his legs up, the treasure spot came into full view and Cesar’s hunger peaked. With a hand on each side of Josh’s butt, he pulled the globes apart and without hesitation, dived in to start rimming Josh with total passion and intent.

Josh growled in pleasure as Cesar’s tongue hit the target and began to lick and probe the rosebud. Cesar put a finger on each side of the pucker and gently pulled, prying the orifice wider open. Josh naturally relaxed and opened up for Cesar’s tongue to get deeply inside him. The texture of Cesar’s tongue on the tender flesh was heightening Josh’s desire for what was next on the agenda! Josh felt the fingers probing and opening him wider. He concentrated on relaxing and giving full access to Cesar.

When Josh knew he was fully primed and ready, he gently dropped his legs a bit. Cesar got the signal and retrieved the KY from the bedside table drawer. Josh moved back to the center of the bed and decided that he wanted to have Cesar behind him this time. He rolled over and got on his knees with them planted in a wide stance. Cesar placed a generous amount of KY on Josh’s love opening and worked it inside to ensure that there would be no undue friction. He then liberally coated his cock and climbed onto the bed behind Josh.

“Baby, give me all you’ve got. I want to feel you inside me with all the power you have!” Josh toned to Cesar. Cesar, wanting to please, placed his cock tip at the opening, which was seen to be open and ready. Cesar pushed in with determination and slid in to full depth without a pause. Josh was getting what he wanted indicated by the way he pushed back helping Cesar to penetrate to full depth!

One in all the way, Cesar pulled back until the crown of his cock head showed and then plunged in again to full depth. He then began long stroking at a medium pace. As soon as he felt Josh synch into his rhythm, he added speed and intensity. Within a minute he was giving Josh exactly what he wanted just how he wanted it; passionate and intense!

Josh came up off his elbows a bit which changed the angle and made it so that Cesar’s cockhead was firmly hitting his hot spot on both in and out strokes. This sent waves of pleasure through Josh’s entire body; sensations that caused him to tense up and his muscles to clamp down on Cesar’s cock. The combination intensified the experience for both lovers and brought them to the peak. Cesar was not quite ready to let this end, so he slowed the pace a bit, keeping them both close, but still not over the edge.

“Oh, man! FUCK! Cesar, let me CUM!” Josh called out with desperate edge to his voice. Cesar took the cue and went back to full throttle. Josh was still intensely clamped down on Cesar’s cock. As the peak was approached once again, Josh could feel Cesar cockhead swell signaling the drop over the edge was very close. Josh put all his efforts into assisting in the making it intense and clamped down even tighter.

That did it for both guys. Cesar’s head snapped back as a he emitted a low, rumbling growl as he power-shot his hot cum into Josh’s love channel. As the first volley of Cesar’s hot cum hit, Josh’s insides that triggered him and his cock started shooting blast after blast of his own cum all over the bed.

The mutual orgasms went on and on! Cesar was still humping deeply until the last shot of his cum was pumped. Totally spent, with perfect timing, both lovers fell forward onto the bed. Cesar was still buried to the hilt in Josh. When he started to withdraw, Josh said; “Babe, don’t…push back in and stay there. Let me just feel you inside me. Stay with me as long as you can.” Cesar gladly complied as he pushed in deeper and stayed there. Like Josh, he was relishing the feelings of their bodies being joined.

After a few minutes, both boys rolled in unison off to the side, Cesar’s cock still inside Josh. Cesar wrapped his arm over Josh and held him tight. There was nothing said; nothing needed to be said. What had just happened said it all. Words would have been less than worthless. Even though Cesar was still inside Josh, they had both come back to the fringe edge of reality but were clinging to the alternate reality of lovers.

Finally nature had its’ way; Cesar’s cock softened and Josh’s body gently pushed him out. The moment of separation was when reality once again had control. As Josh’s cum cooled, it make them both uncomfortable enough to want to get cleaned up and move toward sleep. Cesar was the first to speak; “Well, I guess we’d better get cleaned up before these sheets become permanently glued on us. Would you join me for a nice warm shower lover?

Josh replied slowly; “Yes, if we must, and we’d better make a change of sheets or the shower will be a wasted effort.”

This time the shower was longer and there was plenty of touching and kissing under the warm water, but it was just warm and sensual and not geared toward more sex.

Both boys, still naked slipped into bed and snuggled up to each other. Without so much as a kiss, both feel into that deep, wonderful sleep that follows perfect lovemaking.

The next morning was pretty much a rerun as the day before. The boys went swimming and then went home at the same time so Patrick could go and see his therapist. Josh and Brandon locked themselves up in Brandon’s room to work on the song. Nothing changed or came up until the mail came in.

Barbara knocked on Brandon’s door asking Bandon if he knew where Josh was. He opened the door and pointed to the floor where Josh was sitting with his guitar. She thanked Brandon, walked over to Josh, and handed him a letter he got in the mail. Josh looked up at his stepmother with a confused look on his face.

“I know I had the same reaction you are having now. I am pretty sure it safe for you to open it.” She tapped on the envelope. “Who do you know from Lubbock? Is one of your friends from school vacationing there over the summer?”

“Not that I am aware of. I know for sure Chris is in California and Eric, well I forget where he is, but it is not Lubbock. Bernice and the others had no plans to leave El Paso at during the summer. So I don’t have the foggiest idea who is writing me from there.”

Josh held the envelope in front of him and just looked at it. “You don’t have x-ray vision; at least I don’t think you do. The only way you are going to find out who wrote you is by opening the letter.” Josh nodded his head as he giggles about the x-ray vision punch his stepmother threw at him.

Carefully he opened the letter and unfolded it. At first glance at it, Josh was able to figure out that it was written by a young kid, the handwriting gave it away. He started to read the letter fast, but had to stop and start over again and go slower. The letter was a personal letter asking for help, which surprised Josh.

He got up from the floor, laid down his guitar against the wall and walked over to his room to be alone. It is not that he does not trust his younger brother. He is not sure what is written in the letter yet. If the writer of this letter asks him to keep the content of the letter between them, he will like to be able to be truthful with the person that he did if he’ ever asked or he writes the person back.

Dear Josh,

You do not know me, but I know a lot about you. I think everyone that is alive today and either has a TV or is able to read, knows who you are. You are a person that many of us younger boys struggling with who they are look up to. Thanks to you, things for the kids coming up after you will have things a lot easier.

Look at me, I am getting ahead of myself here, let me start over. My name is Johnny Walker IV. I know that is weird that there are four of us with the same name, but I kind of like it. I am thirteen years old and finally got used to the fact that I am gay.

Because of what you have done, I am now ready to come out to my family. I do not know exactly how they will take it, but I have a feeling that they will take it good after seeing what I have been seeing lately. The only problem I am having is how to come out to my family. Should I just blurt it out at the dinner table, like ripping off a band-aid or should I take each of my parents to the side and tell them. What do you think I should do?

The other reason I am writing you is about my father. Just like you, my father was in military. In fact, my father knows your father. They came up together. My father was under your father in Iraq and on his staff when they were in the military. The only difference between your father and mine was that your father had a happier ending coming out of the military.

What I mean by that is that my father stayed in Iraq after your father was pulled back home. He got hurt and lost the use of his legs. That day pretty much ended my father’s life. He is now a ghost of a man than he was before he left.

I can see that he is struggling everyday being in that wheelchair. He does not want to be the person he is now. I am so afraid that one day he is just going to give up and do something bad. I love my father very much and I don’t want to lose him. I also don’t want to see him hurting the way he is hurting.

I am writing you for your help Josh. I know you don’t know me and I don’t even know if you will get this letter. Simply I am out of ideas on how to help my father. He really looks up to your dad. Whenever people say something negative about him, you, or your family, he gets very angry. There are times I think he is going get so angry that he might break something or have a heart attack yelling at the table.

Please I am begging you to see if you can help me out here. My father is a proud man and will not take handouts, but he will follow your father to Hell and back if asked. I know it is asking a lot of you, but you and your father are my last hope to help my dad. Help me please save my father, I am begging you.

Always in your debt,

Johnny Walker IV

Josh has tears rolling down his face by the time he finished reading the letter. He started to pace around his room trying to figure out what he could do to help out this young kid, but he could not come up with anything. The only thing that kept popping up I his mind is his father. He knows the best person that can help in this area, and maybe the only person that can, is his father.

Josh folded back up the letter, slid it in his back pocket, and walked back to Brandon’s room. He tried to pick up where he had left off at before getting the letter, but could not. His mind kept wandering back to the letter he got. All he wanted to do is help this poor kid, but he could not figure out how without the help of his father.

Finally, Josh gave up trying to work on the song. His mind was just not in it. He stopped for the day and put everything away. Brandon went down looking or his brothers, but Josh stayed up in his room. He knew he was not going to be any fun to hang around with right now since he mind is on the letter. So he did not get asked a hundred times what is wrong, he decided to just stay up in his room.

Right before Barbara called the boys to dinner, Cesar went up to see why Josh did not come out to join them in the backyard. They needed all the help they could muster to finish building their tree house. They know they are a little to old to have a tree house, but they wanted somewhere to go beside the stuffy rooms in the mansion to be alone.

The minute Cesar walked into the room, Josh knew what was up. He put on a fake smile and pulled Cesar into a kiss. Cesar could feel that Josh was forcing it, so he broke the kiss and asked him what was up. Josh lied to his boyfriend by telling him he wanted to be alone in order to work on the song he and Brandon are writing. However, he did not spend one minute on the song once he called it quits with his younger brother.

Cesar knew when Josh was lying or not telling the truth. His face wrinkles up when he lies, which gives him away. Not to embarrass him, Cesar let it go. He pulled Josh into a hug and gave him a couple of pecks on the lips when they heard Barbara calling them down for dinner.

All through dinner, Josh kept looking over to his father, hoping that he did not have any meetings to go to tonight. The sooner he talks with his father, the sooner they can come up with a solution to the problem the young kid is presenting to them.

As soon as dinner was over, Josh helped clear the table and do the dishes. He tried to hurry, but by the time he was finished and returned to the dinning room, his father had already left. Josh quickly walked over to the green room, but did not find him there. Then he looked in the den, but again he was not there. Leaving only one other place for him to be at this time of the evening, his office.

Josh walked over to the office and leaned against the door to see if his father was talking with someone. At first, he did not hear anything, but then he heard his father’s voice. Since there were no other voices in the room, Josh figured that his father was on the phone. Just as he was about to knock, Barbara saw him at the door.

“Your father is on a conference call with several other Governors. Why don’t you wait for him to finish up that call in den with your brothers?” Barbara walked over to Josh and saw that he looked worried. “Sweetie, I promise you if you don’t catch him before going to bed, I will let him know you need to talk with him. I promise that he will see you before the night is over, okay?”

Josh smiled at his stepmother as he nodded his head. “Thanks Barbara and please don’t tell him I was leaning against his door. I was not spying on him or anything like that. So I don’t want him to be angry with me for being outside his door while he was on the phone.”

“I know you were not spying on your father sweetie, so I will not tell him you were here. You never have to worry about me jumping to conclusions. If I think you, your brothers, Cesar or Patrick are doing something wrong; I will talk with you guys first. I will not go running to your father. But if I find out you guys were doing something wrong, I do need to let your father know so he can deal with it.”

Josh understood where Barbara was coming from and agreed with her. After thanking her one more time, he headed to the den to watch TV. Every so often, he would look up at the clock to see what time it was. When it was time for them to go to bed, Josh felt bad that he did not have a chance to talk with his father.

He walked to his room with Cesar, but unlike the night before when he and Cesar got into bed, he was not happy. All that he could think about is the damn letter he got in the mail, causing him to toss and turn, not able to fall asleep. About an hour after getting into bed, Josh heard a light tapping on his door and then it opened.

“Josh are you still awake son?” Daniel Sr. whispered as he popped his head in.

Quickly Josh leaned up in his bed, rubbing his eyes. “Yes dad I am still awake!” Not whispering, talking at his normal level as he answered his father. He crawled out of bed and walked over to his father. So they did not disturb Cesar anymore than they already have, they walked out into the hall.

“Barbara told me you were looking for me because you needed to talk.” Josh realized he did not have the letter. He ran back in his room, pulled the letter out of his jeans, and rejoined his father out in the hall. “Son we need to talk in whisper so we don’t wake anyone else up.

As he handed his father the letter, Josh asked him to read it. Daniel looked down at the paper and looked up with a worried look on his face. His son did not say anything else but ‘read it’. Therefore, he unfolded the letter and started to skim through it. Just like his son earlier, he stopped skimming the letter and started over reading every word.

When he was done, Daniel just looked down at the floor. He had forgotten about his old friend, which he now regrets. Although he came home safe, he heard rumors about his men and how many of them were coming home either in a pine box, or like his friend in the letter, broken, unable to come to terms with how their life has changed.

“I am no longer his commander per se, but I am still in the military and still a four star general. If what Johnny’s son wrote here is true, I will be having words with this guy that he will not like getting from me.” Daniel looked at the letter once more before handing it back to his son. “As far as Johnny’s dad, I will do whatever I can to make sure he gets what he needs. Knowing the guy the way I do, I will have to figure out a way to do it without it looking like I feel bad, which I do.”

“Dad by the sounds of the letter, I think if you would offer him to work with you, he would jump at it. That alone I think will be best medicine anyone could give him. No one can help him walk again, but rebuilding his confidence, you can do that.”

“When did you get so smart Josh?” Daniel smiled at his son as he brushed his hand across the top of his head. “I will look to see if there are any open positions in my administration that fits his background. If so, I will then go down and present the position to him, but not in the normal way. I will present it as if I need a favor from him. We military guys, maybe even women, don’t like hand outs and will not take them.”

Josh understood where his father was coming from. He simply asked his father once more to see what he could do to help the guy he once served with before heading back into his room to bed. Daniel stood there in the hall watching as his son closed the door to his room, thinking to himself what he can do for his old friend.

Johnny Walker III is more to Daniel than just a guy he served with. They became very good friends over the years and in return, he is willing to do what he can to help him. The only problem he is seeing right now is what can he do to help his old friend a friend that saved him several times on the battlefield!

As soon as Josh’s head hit the pillow, he was out. When he woke up the next morning, he felt refreshed and good about his talk he had with his father the night before. He knows when his father gives his word he will deliver on it. He can actually sit down and write Johnny back with good news.

He wrote his letter back to Johnny after breakfast, but when he looked for the return address on the envelope, there was not one. Josh flipped the envelope over to see if maybe the return address was written on the back, but it was not. Josh skimmed over the letter several times in hopes he would find the address, but he did not.

Angry with himself for not checking for the return address before writing the letter, Josh folded his letter and stuck it with the letter from Johnny in his sock drawer. He quickly changed into his swim trunks and headed over to the pool to join his brothers. He had skipped going with his brothers to write the letter, but if he had known that he did not have a return address, he would have gone with his brothers.

The rest of the week flew by fast. Before everyone knew it, they were in front of the television watching “TGIF”, something they started to do as a family when their mother and father divorced. Whenever Daniel Sr. was able to join the family, he would, but nothing broke this new tradition if they could help it.

The weekend went even faster than the week did. The boys found themselves falling into a routine the second week after the concert. They loved going to the pool, and so they spent most of their days there. It did not cost them anything and they had fun doing it.

When they got home on Monday afternoon, Josh was asked to join his father in the living room after he changed. As he changed his clothes, he thought the talk he was going to have with his father is going to be about the letter he showed his father almost a week ago, but when he walked in, he knew it was not that.

“Josh, please take a seat.” Daniel looked at his son at the doorway. “You know everyone here. They came down to let us know how much money was made from the concert and how you plan to give it to Habitat for Humanity”

Josh has been wondering since the day after the concert how much money was raised. He figured that once they got the total, they would let him know. The only thing they did that surprised him is that they are informing him in person. He thought the most he was going to get is a letter in the mail.

“Well Josh as we were telling your father, we have finally gotten the grand total of what was raised during the concert. First, there is the proceeds from ticket sales the concert brought in. Every seat was sold out including those we put down on the field. The concert almost beat the record, but did not quite make it. You all sold one thousand, one hundred four tickets, which brought you a grand total in those sales to three million, five hundred fifty thousand two hundred and ninety five dollars.”

Josh was stunned hearing that number. He knew they sold out the stadium, but he had no idea they brought in that amount in ticket sales. The majority of the tickets were only fifteen dollars, but the closer you got to the field, those tickets were a lot more.

“Now that is not all Josh. The vendors made a killing in sales on that day as well. In the agreement you made with them, they have given additional one million, eight hundred, sixty six thousand, four hundred and twenty two dollars. That money has been paid to us already and is in the account for you to give to Habitat for Humanity.

The eight hundred numbers brought in another one million, nine hundred, seventy-nine thousand, and three hundred and forty two dollars. If I understand correctly that money, you intend to donate to the national office. Am I right about that?”

“Um yes, whatever was raised with the eight hundred numbers goes to national, but I did not think we would raise the amount of money!” Josh looked at his father for support. “Maybe what we should do is donate a good percentage of the money from the concert tickets and vendors to the Texas offices, but some as well to national. That way a lot more people can be helped by the kindness the people of Texas showed that night.”

“Since you already made it clear where this money was going, you need do it that way. More than likely, those that bought the tickets and the items at the stadium will not mind you doing what you are thinking, since it is essentially going to the same place, but there are those few that will raise a stink. Always it is those few people seem to hear. If you want the same result, if not better, next year, you will need to do as you promised.”

“My son just was throwing out an idea, an idea that will never leave this room. He is not the expert in these matters, you people are. You gave your opinion and he will follow it. Since he already said where each part of the money is going, it is going to go there. Now how do we go about getting it done? Do you issue out the two checks or what?”

“We will transfer the funds into the two accounts and make them account for every penny they spend. They must spend the money on what the concert was all for. Now we will not go into detail here about that. In fact, we will not ever talk about that because that something we will do behind the scenes that you two do not need to be part.

The only question we have is how much you want the public to know. We can release a statement on how much money was raised, but as well have a ceremony of Josh and those that came in and sang free give a huge check to Habitat for Humanity. And what I mean by huge check is not just the amount of money; it will be a big check.”

The one in charge of distributing the funds to the right places stretched out his arms showing what he meant by huge. “You know like the checks you see when ever someone wins a huge jackpot and they televise it. It is a fake, but it is done to show the public that the money is being donated where it was promised to go.”

Josh, his dad and the ones they put in charge of making sure the funds are accounted for talked for a few more minutes. They decided on how they are going to have a ceremony, but the only question was when since they need to talk with George, Dolly, and Kenny. However, in the mean time, they are going to release a statement informing the public how much was raised.

As soon as the meeting broke, Daniel senior headed back to his office. Rich was sitting in Daniel’s office when he walked in. Not surprised to see him there he greeted Rich as he walked over to his and sat down. Neither of them said a word after their greetings.

“How can I help you Rich?” Daniel looked over to his chief-of-staff.

“Well sir I have been working on the thing we talked about last Wednesday. There is not any open position at this time to put Mr. Walker in, except one.” The way Rich said it, grabbed the Governor’s attention. “As you know we put the assistant press secretary in the position of press secretary, but she cannot handle it. She has already exploded twice with the press, and that we cannot have. Besides there’s the ton of other mistakes she’s made.”

“Does not it take time to adjust to that position? Heck I would not want that job going out every day to the press to be torn apart. It could be that she needs a little more time to adjust to actually being the press secretary.”

“I am willing to give her that, but she came into my office this morning after the briefing and asked to go back to her original position. She made it clear to it will not matter how much time we give her, she does not have the patience for the job. So instead of getting fired from a job she never wanted, she’d rather stay in the job she likes and is good at.”

Daniel did not like the news, but how no other choice but to accept it. If she does not want the promotion, he nor Rich can force it on her. That though leaves them in a bad spot because now they do have to go out and find a new press secretary. The Governor prides himself on promoting from within.

“So that brings us back to what I was first talking about; Mr. Walker. Do you think he would be good at the job, and if so, will he accept the job? As you said, neither you nor I want to talk with the press everyday like the person in that position does. They get beaten up on things that they did not even do.”

The Governor thought about what Rich was telling him. One thing is for sure, Johnny can handle the press. Whenever things needed to be released to the press while they were deployed, Johnny was the man who talked to them. The only time Johnny was not the face of his unit was whenever he went out and gave briefing to the press, which was rare.

“I really do believe Governor that Mr. Walker can be a very good press secretary, even being in a wheelchair. With his background in the military talking with the press and knowing you, well it is a perfect fit. He can basically come in and pick up the reins and start running things in the press office.”

“Funny that you mentioned his experience in the military, I was just thinking about that. If you are okay with him in that position, I will get him to come onboard. You are the one in charge of the staff. I do not want you to hire someone because he was an old military friend of mine. I want you to hire the right person for each job no matter what.”

“Trust me Mr. Governor, I will never hire someone because he was or is a friend of yours. Not only I am responsible for the staff and helping you run things here in Austin, I have to make sure your image is protected. It would not look good if we fill all the positions up here with your old friends so that will never happen. Mr. Walker has the experience in this field and that is why I would like him in the position.”

The Governor agreed with Rich before talking about who will offer him the position. They concluded it should be the Governor since he knows how to present the job to Mr. Walker in a way he will take it. At the end of the day, they do need him and the Governor speaks ‘military’, which makes it a lot easier to get a person like Mr. Walker onboard.

After doing several yards, Johnny IV made his way home. He was dead on his feet, but he knew his day was not over yet. There are still chores to do at home and help his father cook dinner, since his mother caught another shift at work.

As he walked home, pulling his lawnmower behind him, Johnny could not help worry not only about his father, but his mother as well. She never worked before until his father was unable to go back to work. At first, they tried to make it on the VA check, but it was not enough to support a family of four so his mother had no other choice but to go into the work force for the first time in her life.

From the moment she left high school, she was married and had kids. Johnny’s dad brought in enough money being in the military to live comfortably. That allowed Johnny’s mother to stay home and pretty much be a homemaker, something that has gone away since the forties and fifties.

Once again, all that changed when his father got hurt. His mother went out looking for a job, but had to settle for several minimum wage jobs cleaning because that is all she knew being a homemaker with no work experience. To make up the difference between the money Mr. Walker made in the military and his disability pension, she worked long days, and most of the time with no days off, making everything at the house even harder to run.

Tonight is no exception to the change that has occurred over the last couple of months. Johnny’s mother will not be home until late, leaving him to help preparing dinner and cleaning up the house. His father tries to do what his mother did, but he is very limited due to being in the chair. In return, it all falls on Johnny to pick up the slack since his sister is only eight; way too young to do much of anything.

As soon as Johnny got to his house, he put his lawnmower, rake, and the other stuff he uses to do the yards in his back shed before going into the house. After locking the shed, he walked into the house, leaving his shoes at the back door so he did not track in dirt and grass from the yards he just did plus he does not want to clean it up.

After cleaning his hands, Johnny started to pull out dinner that his mother cooked last night for them to eat this evening. As he pulled the bowls out of the refrigerator, he heard a loud bang come from his parent’s room and then his father yelling out every curse word in the book. He closed the door to the refrigerator, and went running to see what was going on with his father.

At first, he debated to knock on the door, but hearing his father screaming, he just walked in. Following his father’s screams. He found him on his side by the toilet bowl, with his pants to his knees and the wheel chairs on its side. His dad looked up from the floor with a look of defeat and embarrassment in his eyes.

“Don’t move anymore dad, I don’t want you to hurt yourself trying to get up.” Johnny walked over to his father and helped him move from his side to his butt. Once his father was sitting down, he was able to help get him off the floor. Little Johnny pulled his father up with all his strength and some how got him on the toilet.

Not saying a word to his dad, Johnny picked up his father’s wheelchair and rolled it over to him so when he was done using the bathroom, so he could get in the chair on his own. As little Johnny walked out of the bathroom, his father mumbled a ‘thank you’ under his breath as he gathered himself from the embarrassment of his son seeing him on the floor with his pants down at his ankles.

He sat there on the toilet beating himself up for letting his son see him so defenseless. Then his anger turned to the VA for not installing the things that he needs to move around his own home without depending on people. He knows once the VA gets his house handicap equipped, he will be independent once again.

TO BE CONTINUED………………….

WRITER’S CORNER:

Welcome back to “Shadow of My Father everyone. You just had another chapter full of twists and turns. Something you know that I like to do to keep you all on your toes plus it brings flavor to the story.

In this chapter, we learned a lot more about Johnny Walker IV and his family. In the last chapter, I threw in there at the beginning a little bit about him, and then I left it alone for the concert and never went back to it. In this chapter, you learned more, and what might be in store for them in the chapters to come.

First, we learned a lot more about his father, and what happened to him. What a small world this is when you know the person that is writing your son like the Governor knows Johnny’s father. He not only knows him, they came up together in the military. His dad was pretty much the Governor’s second in command and dealt with the press for him.

Therefore, it would be fitting the Governor to offer Johnny’s dad the press secretary position that came open. I’d say that good timing. I am glad the Governor left it up to Rich to make the decision though. That was the only way it would look right to the voters hiring an old friend like Mr. Walker is to the Governor.

We also learned about Mrs. Walker keeping her family all together. It is a life-changing event when the breadwinner of the home all of a sudden can no longer be the breadwinner. Someone had to step up to bring in the money and the only one that could be that person was Mrs. Walker. Even though she could only be hired in the cleaning field, she did not complain or refuse to take the job, as some people would have.

Now we know what the letter is all about that was mailed in the last chapter. The letter was sent to Josh and I really like seeing how Josh handled it. Man, he has grown up a lot and I cannot wait to see him as a man. He would be a perfect father and a perfect life-mate to Cesar. I really hope that is what happens as he gets out of high school and college.

The boys like to go swimming. It seems they like to spend more time in the water than above water. I wonder if they are part fish or something. We got to see Josh once again being playful, like he should be at his age. He, his brothers, Cesar and Patrick played chicken fights in the water and just had fun acting their age.

We learned something new about Patrick in this chapter. Ever since Frank was taken away, we have been getting to learn a lot more about Patrick. In this chapter we got to see what held him together trough the years of abuse was Frank. It was Frank that was there for him, and when Frank was killed, Patrick lost his only person that held him up. I am glad that Patrick did not go through with joining Frank. This world is a lesser place when a person takes his or her own life, even in this fictional world where Patrick lives.

Barbara showed once again what type of person she is and will be as the boys’ stepmother. She is going to be there, but when they screw up, she will allow Daniel Sr. to handle the punishment, which is as it should be. I really hope Josh told his brothers that their stepmother told him, just to put their minds at rest if they had any lingering doubts about her. After all, she is going to split her time between Austin and El Paso when the boys go back to school.

The song writing seems to be moving along. What I like seeing here is the relationship between Josh and Brandon. These two are really close and can work on anything without getting into a fight. With help from Brandon, Josh almost has his first song written. All he has to do is put the music to the lyrics. I don’t know about you but I cannot wait to see what they came up with.

So much happened in this chapter, I am sure I forgot to talk about something here in this corner. If I did, I hope Rick catches it and covers it in his corner. I know there is a sex scene in this chapter, but I did not cover it because it is not written yet so Rick will take care of that also in his corner since he is the one that is writing the sex scenes.

I could stay here all day long, with all the open plots already in this story, but I will not. I warn you though! Do not skip a chapter, or you will be lost. There is a so much to answer in the chapters to come. Keep reading the future chapters, and enjoy! Please email me and let me know how I am doing at jacob@jacobmillertex.com , Thanks!}

EDITOR’S CORNER:

Chris made an appearance in this chapter. It would appear that the example Josh embodies is making an impact on him. He is beginning to see that standing up without apology, as his own man is not going to bring disaster upon him. He has also seen the light as far as how incompatible he and Josh were as a couple. They were an oil and water mix. He clearly sees the rightness of Josh and Cesar as a couple.

It seems the concert was a smashing success no matter what measure you apply to it. Tons of money was raised for a very good and noble cause. I cannot wait to see how the HFH folks thank Josh for his efforts on their organization’s behalf. I am sure that the organization has never seen the likes of the single fundraising event that raised so much pure cash! I am sure that in-kind donations are up there too, but now the national and local offices have some serious cash resources to further their work.

The stars left Josh with invitations to join each of them on their respective tours at any time. I hope that Josh will take a slight detour in his life and at least give that a shot. I cannot see him just ignoring such a chance. One thing I would suggest to him would be that he has his first album of music together before he goes out on tour. That would be a true measure of his popularity with the public.

The two Johnny Walkers are going to bring some interest to the story! Josh getting the letter from Johnny IV was interesting and then the Governor realizing whom the man was the letter talked about was a treasured friend and compatriot from his military days. Johnny IV showed incredible love and devotion toward his father, taking up his cause. He had no idea if his letter would reach Josh or that he would act on it. His was a leap of pure faith.

It was a blow to the Governor and Rich when the Press Secretary abruptly resigned. They were faced with case of being handed lemons and needing to make them into lemonade. I hope that Johnny III will clean up his act, get his head on straight, and accept the job he is going to be offered.

By the way, JPG where did that plot line about the reasons for the Press Secretary come from. Sounds incredibly like a yarn I heard woven in real life somewhere.

Until next time,

“Daddy” Rick