Pig-Boy and The Insectorator - 8. A Joy of Fishes

Zhiv and David trekked through the dense forest to reach a green plateau above the tree line. The brisk mountain air smelled clean. Distant rocky outcrops were as crisply defined as if seen through a lens. The boys climbed a low rise and paused on the top. Before them lay the floor of an ancient caldera carpeted with grass and alpine flowers. A thread of a stream trickled from a nearby copse of aspen, their leaves trembling in the sunlight.

Zhiv took David’s hand and said, “This is my favorite place. C’mon, we have a thousand friends waiting for us.” He tugged David’s hand, and they trotted down the hill towards the shimmering grove.

The aspens dazzled David. As he and Zhiv strolled through them, a pair of mountain bluebirds flew from branch to branch. The boys emerged from the trees onto bare black rock, warm from the morning sunlight. In front of them, in an enormous bowl scooped from the rock, was the lake. Its tranquil waters reflected the trees around the shoreline like a mirror.

Zhiv led them to the water’s edge and pulled David down to sit beside him. David looked at him, but his companion was gazing at the surface of the lake as if he were in a trance. Though there was no breeze, the water began to shiver. Fish started to jump into the air, more and more of them. Then it seemed that all the fish in the lake were leaping as high as they could. The joy in the air was almost palpable. Then the leaping stopped.

David started to express his awe. Without looking at him, Zhiv placed his hand over David’s mouth. Suddenly the water erupted with a fountain of fish, glistening in the sunlight. An entire school had jumped at once. Then another, hundreds of fish in synchrony, shot from the water. In perfect formations, other glittering showers of fish rose from the lake surface. They flashed in the sun like cascades of jewels. One sparkling shower hardly subsided before another burst from the water.

The lake surface calmed, and David saw that a vast congregation of trout roiled the water near the shore. Zhiv stood up and said, “Let’s swim,” and led David into the cool water.

Trout milled around and touched their legs. David sensed the gentle touches were not accidental bumps. They were purposeful caresses. “They’ve been waiting for you,” said Zhiv, “for a long time.”

When they were waist deep, Zhiv said, “It drops off here so we have to swim.” Aware of the lives close around them, both boys adopted gentle sidestrokes. They idled out into deeper water. There, they duck-dived again and again.

Trout surrounded David and mimicked his every move. If he turned his head to the right, hundreds of shining fish looked right. If he swam to the left, they changed direction at the same instant. It was as if they had attached themselves to him by invisible bonds. Sometimes the school swam so close he felt their gossamer fins brushing over his back or belly. Then he wasn't a boy — he became a fish-thing, a single creature with a boy at its core. His senses extended beyond his body to the edge of the school that enfolded him. Joy beyond words filled David’s heart.

Another school had surrounded Zhiv so densely that David only caught glimpses of an arm or a leg. The boys surfaced, swam to each other, and trod water while they hugged, and their hearts slowed.

Zhiv pointed toward the shore. When they reached the lake’s edge, he rolled over on his back in the shallows and said, “Let them clean us. They like it, and I need it.”

Hundreds of young trout, fry, swarmed around them. David felt their tiny mouths nibbling everywhere on his body. It relaxed him, and he closed his eyes and watched his mind. An image that returned repeatedly was like a thousand dots of light that swelled and faded with delight.

David said, “That was the surprise, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Zhiv said.

“Thank you, Zhiv. I loved it. It was wonderful, the most beautiful thing I ever saw.”

“It's not me, you know,” said Zhiv. “They did it for you. They know something about you, about you and a fish, a long time ago.”

David looked out over the water and saw at the same time the thousand pulsing lights in his mind. He concentrated his euphoria on that image. “They were wonderful.”

Zhiv sat up and looked at him. “Hey, you saw them; you really saw them, inside. And you sent them a message, just now. You’re learning to talk to them, to the mara. This is so good! Oh, David, I’m so happy! You’re truly one of us.” He pulled David into his arms and hugged him tightly.

David melted into Zhiv’s fresh skin, cool on the surface, but radiating warmth from within. His stomach rumbled.

“Zhiv?”

“Yes?”

“I’m starving.”

“Me too. I hope there’s food in the pack, or I’ll have to eat the pack.”

~~~

Jude rolled off the bed. “C’mon, let’s go raid the fridge.”

River bent over to pick up his T-shirt, and Jude said, “Let’s go nude. Whenever I have the house to myself like this, I always walk around nude. It’s great!”

“You’re sure nobody’s gonna come?”

“Yeah, nobody’s here except you and me. They won’t be back for hours.” Jude grabbed River’s hand and pulled him into the hallway.

River felt weird and excited. It was sexy to walk around naked in somebody’s house. They strolled through the living room toward the kitchen. River waved his penis at the TV. Jude opened the freezer and pulled out a box of pizza-pops and some apple turnovers.

“I’ll nuke a couple of these,” he said. “You get some cola from that other fridge.”

Ten minutes later, they were munching their lunch at the kitchen table. The kitchen chairs were plastic-covered. River enjoyed how his bum felt on the slick plastic, and the sticky noise it made when he lifted up.

Jude fingered his penis until it was hard. “Sometimes, I even jerk off while I’m eating, when I’m alone in the house.”

“You’re really a pervert,” said River. “A gen-u-ine pervert.”

“Yeah,” said Jude. “I love sex. You want another pizza-pop?”

“Okay, my pervy friend. They’re good. All we been eating lately is pig balls.” River’s eyes followed his friend to the microwave, watching his erection bounce as he walked. His own penis rose in his lap.

“You mean, like testicles?”

“Yeah, we always castrate the little pigs, and that means there’s a lot of testicles. The old man dips ‘em in batter and deep-fries ’em. They’re pretty good, but you get tired of ’em after eating ’em every day.”

“I guess,” said Jude, “but I bet they’re one of the best things to eat if you want a lot of jizz. I mean, balls are for making jizz, aren’t they? That’s probably why you shoot a lot, even though your dick is still kinda small. I bet when you get older, it’s gonna be humongous.”

“You think?”

“Yeah, it stands to reason, don’t it? All that concentrated ball juice you’re getting? I’d like to try some of them balls.”

“I’ll bring some to school tomorrow,” said River. “We got a million of ’em. They look like chicken nuggets the way the old man fries ’em up.”

They polished off the pizza pops and turnovers.

“C’mon,” said Jude, heading back up the stairs. He led River into another bedroom. The furnishings indicated it belonged to one of his sisters. “I’ve jerked off in every room of this house,” he said. “It’s great! When my sisters or the old man are bad-mouthing me, I just look at them and think to myself, ‘I jerked off on your bed, motherfucker.’ Then I don’t care what they say.

“Sometimes, I jerk off onto their toothbrushes. Then I wash the jizz off, so they don’t know, but I don’t wash it all away. I make sure I leave a little around the base of the bristles. Then when I hear them brushing, I know they’re getting a little of my jerk-off juice in their mouth.”

“I gotta do that, Jude. My brothers and my old man are always getting on my case.”

River was amazed at the way Jude’s mind worked. He felt pumped up from being naked in a girl’s room, and Jude’s crazy ideas were getting him excited.

Jude opened a drawer in a dresser and extracted a filmy garment. “Sometimes, I even put on some of the girls’ clothes and jerk off, so I can think about that when they’re being smart-ass on me. They think they're so hot, but they’re wearing clothes I jerked off in. It’s also really sexy. It makes me totally horny.” He pulled another flimsy transparent pajama top from the drawer and handed it to River. “Here, you put that one on, and I’ll put this one on, and we can pretend to be two girls.”

River felt this was gay, but his erection was so big, it was like it was bursting. It seemed queer, but Jude wasn’t queer, so it must be okay, just fooling around. He pulled the baby-doll pajama top over his head. It covered him down to his navel. It was so silky and transparent, it was like he wasn’t wearing anything, except he could feel it on his skin.

Jude’s was equally flimsy and feminine. He grinned at River. “C’mon, let’s go to bed.” He dragged River into the hall.

The next bedroom they entered was Jude’s parents’ room. Jude pulled River down onto the bed, embraced him, and said, “Oh, Daddy, you’re my big man and I just love you to bits!” He laughed a high laugh, kissed River’s neck, and fondled him.

River grabbed Jude’s bum and pulled Jude closer. “Yes Baby,” he said in a gruff voice. “Just c’mere and let me fuck you proper, now.”

“Oh, Daddy, I’m just a little girl, and you’re too big.”

River forced his erection between Jude’s legs and said, “I don’t care. I’m horny, and I'm gonna ram it home.”

“Ooooh,” squealed Jude as he jumped off the bed. “You’ll have to catch me first!” He ran from the room, and River chased him. He caught Jude when he went into his bedroom. They grappled and crashed onto Jude’s bed.

Jude wrapped his arms around River. River reached around Jude and pulled him closer. It felt natural to do that. It was just part of the game they were playing. Jude kissed his neck. Then he sat up, and said in a hokey computer voice, “You-are-my-slave. You-have-to-do-what-ever-I-say. Okay?”

“Yes-Master, Mastur-bater,” said River in the same kind of mechanical voice.

Jude laughed and moved to kneel beside him. “Roll-on-to-your-side-slave.”

“Yes-Mastur-bater,” droned River.

Jude lay on his side in the opposite direction from River. He stared at River’s erection. His erection was throbbing against River’s nose. “You-will-take-that-pecker-and-put-it-in-your-mouth-slave-and-suck-it,” he intoned.

“Yes-Mastur-bater,” said River. He felt his own erection enveloped in warmth and looked down to see it in Jude’s mouth. A second later, he had engulfed as much of Jude’s erection as he could. It was nice, not as nice as Jeremy’s, but it was still good to have a hot, hard penis in his mouth. River realized that when he had a penis in his mouth, he didn’t think about anything else. He didn’t think. He was just happy. To be getting his own sucked at the same time was a bonus. He could tell he wasn’t going to last long. He explored Jude’s penis with his tongue and licked the tender head. This was so much fun.

Jude’s penis began squirting in River’s mouth, and he started to come at the same time. River swallowed and suckled to get the last drops out. His come was long and beautiful, but having Jude spurt in his mouth was so sweet, he hardly noticed his own orgasm. They sucked and licked each other clean, then lay in each other’s arms without speaking. Both of them drowsed, but woke up together an hour later.

“That was fun,” said Jude. “I’m glad you came over today. We should hang out more. Maybe have a sleepover.”

“Yeah, that’d be great.”

“You ever do that before? Suck a guy’s cock?”

“No.” River lied without thinking. Jeremy was special. “You?”

“No,” said Jude. “But it was really good. Getting sucked, I mean. I can see why queers like getting sucked. It feels real good.”

“Yeah, it was great. Getting sucked, I mean.”

They adjusted themselves but still lay skin to skin. River could feel that Jude was stiff again, and he knew without looking that he was too. Jude laid his hand on River’s chest, then twiddled one of his nipples. Then he flicked the other one, so both were hard.

Jude said, “Yeah, it was great. You wanna go again?”

“Yeah, let’s,” said River.

“It was too fast, last time. Let’s make it last a long time. See if you can get my whole dick in your mouth and suck slow and hard. Okay?”

“Yeah. You too.”

Jude flipped around, and they both began sucking, just two pals helping each other out.

~~~

Pete and Doreen parted at the mall entrance with a plan to meet at the Food Court for lunch. Several of the restaurants there had vegan menu options. Pete headed for E-Wheels, a retailer specializing in electric transportation. When he entered the dealership, he was boggled. He knew the laws governing electric bicycles. He’d seen people on single wheel things, but he’d never imagined electric scooters or skateboards.

A salesman attached himself to Pete and answered all his questions. They walked around the shop and looked at e-bikes and other machines. Pete left the store with a bunch of pamphlets. A few boutiques further along he saw a shoe store. A sign in the window caught his attention. It advertised a sale on vegan shoes to celebrate World Rainforest Day.

“What the hell,” said Pete to himself. He went inside and sat down. “You got any of those vegan shoes that’d fit me?” he asked the young salesgirl.

She had him take off his shoe so she could measure his foot, and asked him if he was looking for a particular style or color. He said he was mostly interested in black. She went over to the display area and returned with three pairs of shoes. Pete saw immediately that two of them were wrong. He’d never be able to wear them in public, but the third pair, black half-boots, could be an acceptable part of his uniform.

He tried them on and walked around the shop. They were a perfect fit, and they looked like normal shoes. He left the shop with the shoebox under his arm and a smile on his face. He tried to think how he could let David find out that he had bought some vegan shoes, without telling him. Bragging about his purchase would be stupid. He wanted to let the kid by discover it by himself, make him sit back and think about his old dad.

He decided to leave the empty shoebox someplace where the kid would see it. On his workbench in the garage would be a good place, near where David parked and charged his bike. The box had, ‘NO Cow! Vegan Shoes’ in bold letters on every side. On the end of the box, it said ‘Men’s Size 10½,’ so if David looked at the box, he’d know the shoes were Pete’s and not Doreen’s. Pete chuckled. It was fun to plan sneaky things like this!

Over lunch, Doreen admired the shoes. “Hey, those are nice, and David’ll be so happy.”

“Don’t tell him,” said Pete. “It’ll make him think I’m trying to suck up to him, or I’m showing off, or something. I mean, if he asks you, you can tell him, but otherwise just leave it; don’t say anything. Okay?”

When they got home, he took the shoes out of the box and put them beside his and Doreen’s bed. Then he took the box into the garage and put it on the workbench near David’s e-bike charger. He adjusted it so the end that said ‘Men’s Size 10½’ was facing outward. He stood back and looked at it.

Everything was good, but how would he know if the kid even noticed it? A minute later, he extracted a piece of chalk from the odds and ends drawer in the workbench. Then he marked faint lines on the bench where corners of the shoe box rested. If David picked the box up, the chances were one in a million that he would put it back in the same place. If it had been moved, Pete would know the boy knew he had bought vegan shoes.

~~~

When they were hiking back from the lake, Zhiv asked David about his family. David told him about his mother and father and that they loved him. He shared his worry that they might be too curious about him spending so much time up the mountain.

“So, I knew my mom used to be a birdwatcher. I said I was interested in that so they can think I’m coming up here to do bird watching. Maybe when we get to the cave, you can help me with that. I want to take some pictures of birds with my phone, so I can talk to my parents about them. I want to learn about them too.”

When they were close to Zhiv’s cave, a starling fluttered down and landed on Zhiv’s shoulder. He reached up and caressed the feathers on the bird’s back. “David,” he said. “This is a dear old friend, Lilili.”

The starling flew over and landed on David’s shoulder. He reached up and preened the bird’s feathers.

“He tells me we have some visitors at the cave,” Zhiv said, and laughed. “Some birds!”

When they arrived at the cave, their bird visitors proved to be a half-dozen red hens and a single red rooster. The rooster was strutting back and forth in front of Erg. Sometimes he would stop and stare into the puma’s eyes and crow, then he would resume his pacing. Erg lay immobile.

It was a long walk from the lake to the cave, and Zhiv and David were happy to relax on their rock looking out over the valley. The chickens came over immediately and settled in beside the boys. Zhiv petted and preened one and looked at David with raised eyebrows.

“They deserve some petting,” said Zhiv. “They’ve come a long way. They asked Lilili to bring them here because they wanted to be in the mara. He’s been guiding them since yesterday. Chickens don’t fly much, and they walked most of the way from a farm down in the valley.”

David petted the hens that had settled beside him.

When all had been petted and caressed, they drifted away, pecking and scratching in the soil for seeds.

“What kind of birds do you want for your pictures?” asked Zhiv.

“Any kind of wild ones.” David retrieved his phone from his pack. He opened the camera app, then put a boulder on their rock seat in front of them. “If you can get them to sit on that rock…”

Within minutes, a dozen different wild songbirds had landed beside Zhiv. One by one, they posed on the rock while David snapped their pictures. Last to come were hummingbirds. Three of them buzzed in from different directions and perched together on one of Zhiv’s feet, on his toes. David could not resist photographing a close-up of this. Then the hummingbirds posed singly. Iridescent colors flashing in the sunlight, each hovered in the air in front of David.

“This is great, Zhiv. I can get my mom to help me identify all these birds when I get home.”

“We could get more,” said Zhiv. “I didn’t ask any of the hawks, or eagles or water birds to come.”

“No, thank you. From now on, I can just photograph a few each time I’m up here, so I have something to talk about when I get home. Zhiv, I can only stay for about half an hour more.”

“Let’s hug,” said Zhiv.

“Yeah, that’s what I want to do too.”

They lay wrapped in each other’s arms. David closed his eyes and lost himself in Zhiv’s warmth. Birdsong and the rustling of a breeze mixed with a hundred voices in his head. A parade of images passed through his mind. He found he could distinguish between his own memories and images that were coming to him from the mara. The mara images were faint, except Zhiv’s signature image. It was clearer and lasted longer every time he saw it. He discovered how to hold it and look at it, by calming his mind and letting it rest there.

When David was able to hold Zhiv’s image steadily, he became aware of a delicious sensation in his lower belly. It swelled and spread out through his body, an almost unbearable sweetness. It arose from focusing on the image of Zhiv seated on a rock in the void. The Zhiv in the image turned to look into David’s eyes, and they began to merge into each other. He felt Zhiv’s lips on his. He writhed in an exquisite sensation. Then he lost the image, and the sweetness faded into a milder pleasure that permeated his body.

He opened his eyes and stared in Zhiv’s.

Zhiv said, “Did you feel that?”

“Yeah,” said David. “The best feeling ever!”

“What was that? Was that sex?”

“I don’t think so,” said David. “I think with sex you have to put your thing into someone, a girl or something.”

“Or something?” Zhiv giggled.

David caught the giggles and gasped, “Yeah, something, like a watermelon, or a baseball glove…”

“An avocado sandwich!”

“A jar of peanut butter!”

The giggles subsided. Zhiv said, “Sometimes when I’m really deep in the mara, I’m not aware of the outside world at all. Then I feel a bit like that, but not so strong, not so sweet as that. I think it was you, David. It’s you made me feel that way.”

“No,” said David, as he buried his face in Zhiv’s hair and hugged him with all his strength. “It’s not me or you. It’s us.”

~~~

Later that afternoon, David returned to his house. When he had plugged his bike into its charger, he noticed the shoebox on the end of the workbench. He saw the word vegan, stepped over and picked the box up. It was a box for vegan shoes, in his father’s size. He felt a rush of affection. He was happy that his father and he were no longer at war. He put the box back down. Then he stopped moving for a minute.

Why was the shoebox on the workbench? It was odd. Most boxes went straight into the cardboard recycling bin in the laundry room. This one had found its way into the garage. He lifted the box again and noticed the faint marks on the workbench. He put the box down so its corners fitted against the chalk lines. It was an exact match. He nodded and smiled. Then he nudged the box until it was again precisely aligned with the chalk marks, as if he had never moved it.