The Apple Tree - 8. Chapter 8

For the next few days, I was privileged to hear a special guitar concert by Tony, he was remarkably good. And best of all he sang only to me.”Where did you learn to play the guitar? You really are good.”

“My grandfather taught me. Every day after I came home from school, we’d spend time playing. For me, it was the best time of the day. I liked playing and spending the time with him.”

I noticed Tony’s eyes were becoming moist, “You miss them don’t you?” Tony just wiped his eyes and nodded his head. I pulled him into my arms and held him till he composed himself. When he looked at me, I kissed his eyes and then his lips. It was a kiss of love and understanding.

Not every kiss has to be a kiss of passion. Sometimes it’s just to confirm your love and understanding. I think Tony understood that when he hugged me. In a way, I could sympathize with Tony and yet I couldn’t. I still had my grandparents but I knew how I’d feel if I lost them. Because of them, I have a home and indirectly I met Tony.

“Jim, do you think we could go to Edgemont and bring back the rest of my things on Sunday?”

“Sure. Maybe I can ask my dad to bring his truck and make this the last trip. We’ll take everything you want. Then you can put Edgemont behind you.”

That evening we headed to my (or should I say our) grandparents to tell them we were planning on going to Edgemont on Sunday. Walking hand in hand, Tony was singing, he was very happy, we met grandfather heading toward us.

“Grandfather, we were just heading to your place.”

“That’s funny because I was heading to your place to tell you to come down for dinner. Your grandmother just made a big pot of chicken noodle soup and she has baked some bread to go with it.”

“That sounds great. We were going to tell you that we wanted to go to Edgemont to get the rest of Tony’s things. We wonder if you and grandmother wanted to come.”

“Sure, we’d be glad to go for the ride.”

Dinner was good as always. We took leftovers back to the shack as usual. "This'll be good tomorrow for dinner. By the way, we need to make out a grocery list. We can drive grandfather's car tomorrow so we'll have room to bring everything home."

That evening while we cuddled in bed, Tony must have felt very amorous. We played for several hours before falling asleep. I think we both were sexually exhausted. The next morning we were glad we didn't share the shack with anyone but us. The smell from last night's sexual exploits still hung in the air.

We drove to work in my grandfather's car. "Jim, I think we should buy a car or small truck. It's too cold to cycle in the winter. On our day off, we could go places and I even might want to go back to school, then I'd need transportation."

"That's a good idea but you can't receive your trust until your 21 and I don't have the money. Maybe I can arrange to buy grandfather's car from him on a payment plan."

"That would be great. This is a nice car. Yes, the more I think about it the better it sounds. Do you think he'll sell it to us?"

"Yes, I think he will but I think he'll ask us to drive him wherever he wants to go. I do that now, so it wouldn't be a big deal."

Arriving at the store at 7:15, Tony took an empty cart and began to shop. By 7:30 he was almost finished. "Leave the cart in the other cashier's slot and then when we finish we can get the perishables. I also want to get a few chickens for grandmother."

At lunchtime, Anna was glad to see us, at least judging by the smile. "Tony have you thought about my proposal?

"Yes, I'd love to do it but I need to clear it with Mr. Thomas. He'd have to agree to a schedule that would permit me to have the time."

I was perplexed since Tony didn't tell me about any proposal from Anna. I gave Tony a puzzled look. He started laughing, "I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you Anna wants me to sing and play for my dinner. I need to see what evenings we can get off."

"We? I can't play or sing."

"You can be my inspiration."

When we returned to the store, Tony went to talk to Mr. Thomas when I relieved him at the cash register. Tony passed me when he went back to work giving me the OK sign. I just smiled at him.

About ½ hour before quitting time, Tony finished shopping. Mr. Thomas took over the cash register while I packed the food. I put the chicken in a different bag so I could drop it off at my grandparents when I return the car. I also wanted to talk to grandfather about buying his car.

On the way home, Tony told me that Mr. Thomas said we could work from 7:30 till 5 on Monday. "There's a catch. Monday most of the shipments come in so you'll have to help me unload and stack the shipments."

I just smiled and shook my head, "Anything for you Tony."

We drove home, directly to the shack. Once we unloaded the car, putting the perishables in the refrigerator, we drove back to my grandparents. Tony took the chickens to grandmother and got a kiss on the cheek for it. While they were in the kitchen, I spoke to grandfather about the car. "Jim, you can have the car. I hardly use it. I only drive into town and you could do that for me."

"I can't accept the car without paying something. As for doing errands, I'd do that anyway."

"All right you can buy the car for $500."

"What are you guys talking about?"

"Grandfather agreed to sell us the car for 500 dollars."

"The car is worth more than that."

"He wanted to give it to us, but I insisted we had to buy it. So I agreed to the 500 dollars and we'll still do the errands."

"Did you remind him about going to Edgemont this Sunday?"

"No, but I'll do it now. Grandfather, don't forget Tony and I will be going to Edgemont on Sunday to collect the rest of his belongings. You and grandmother are coming with us.

"Well, I'll remind your grandmother."

Tony and I said goodbye and walked to the shack, hand in hand. When we got home, I called dad and asked him to meet us at Mr. Dante's house with the truck so we could get the rest of Tony's things.

"Tony tomorrow is going to be another long day. We should get to bed early. I'm going to take a shower before bed, want to join me?" as I made goofy eyes at him. I didn't get a verbal answer but the fact he was taking off his clothes was enough of an answer for me.

I think that was the longest shower I ever took. It certainly was the hottest, although the water was turning cold, I was still sweating. We had to stand apart to cool down. I was amazed at what we could do in the shower besides kissing.

That night in bed was a guarantee that we'd be late to work. It seemed we just couldn't get enough of each other. There was no question that we both wanted more.