After All - 1. After All

Mister Tubbs was dead when Jeremy stepped out the front door. Not just dead, but crushed skull, blood and bits splattered all over the front porch dead. A baseball bat, obviously the murder weapon, lay quietly where it had done its reprehensible deed. Jeremy would have vomited at the sight of this. That is, his stomach went through the motions of regurgitation, but since he hadn’t eaten breakfast nothing came up. He stepped over the mess and quickly walked out to the newspaper box to get the morning paper for his father, who was impatiently waiting at the breakfast table. When he turned to go back his eyes immediately went toward the front porch and his stomach again tried to rid itself of the sight of a head smashed in by a baseball bat.

It was clear he couldn’t go back in the front door, so Jeremy had to wait at the back door for his father to answer the bell and unlock the door. He felt like a fool for standing there, but his stomach wasn’t about to let him go back to where Mister Tubbs’ cold body lay on the concrete.

“What’re you doing here?” Father asked.

“Mister Tubbs is on the front porch,” Jeremy said stepping past his father.

“So?”

“He’s dead. Somebody smashed his head with a baseball bat.”

“You’d better call the police. Are you alright? You look a little peaked.”

“If I’d eaten, my breakfast would be on top of Mister Tubbs.”

Jeremy put the paper beside Father’s place at the table then picked up the receiver and dialed 9-1-1. He hoped they’d send someone out right away; otherwise, he’d be late getting to school. He didn’t need that headache so close to the end of the year as he was already on probation for too many unexcused absences. He wondered if making a police report counted as an excused tardy.

The 9-1-1 operator seemed a lot more interested in Jeremy’s report than he expected, but maybe it had been a quiet night and they were looking for something to do. He hung up the phone and went into the kitchen to start their boiled eggs.

Maybe I can get the police officer to take me to school, Jeremy thought as he waited for the egg timer to do its morning magic.

“Remember, you need to go see Uncle Johnny this afternoon,” Father said as Jeremy set the egg cups on the table.

“I went last week,” Jeremy said as he carefully tapped his teaspoon around the egg trying to create a singular crack, while, at the same time, he tried not thinking he was cracking a small skull, even though he did and his stomach began to churn in disgust.

“You should go more often, he might teach you a thing or two.”

“About what? He wasn’t more than a carpenter all his life. I’m going to college.”

“There’s a lot more to life than reading books. I was thinking more about something else.”

Jeremy steeled himself against the coming onslaught. Father wasn’t as bad as Mother, who had her Bible verses memorized and all the insecurities a life dedicated to her god gave her, but Father, a staunch, card carrying secular humanist, wasn’t all that much better. Jeremy was an only child and there weren’t going to be any grandchildren, unless he found Mister Right and they were able to adopt. He’d already had that conversation with Father and it hadn’t gone well at all. Adopted children weren’t the same, something about passing on the family genes, the biological imperative or some shit like that. Father was always coming up with obscure reasons for fathering children, not that he’d done his part all that well, either.

“Oh, that, well, I haven’t seen any reason to tell him,” Jeremy said. “It’s not like I want the whole world to know, right now.”

“He knows.”

“You didn’t tell him, did you?”

“Yeah, something wrong with that?”

“Who else did you tell?”

“No one.”

“Are you sure?”

“I said I didn’t. I’m your father. I don’t go around blabbing about something like that.”

“You did to Uncle Johnny.”

“He asked.”

“Oh.”

Jeremy looked at his empty egg shell and thought of Mister Tubbs lying out on the front porch. He thought he should’ve covered him up with a tarp or something, but maybe the police would want to process the crime scene and a tarp might interfere with the evidence. Then he thought of Uncle Johnny knowing about him being gay. He sort of liked Uncle Johnny, but now everything would be different between them. He wondered how long it’d been since Father spilled the beans.

“Can you write a note for me?” Jeremy asked. “The police might not get here in time and I’ll be late to school.”

“Sure, no problem,” Father said. “And, I’ll pick you up at Uncle Johnny’s. We can go out to dinner.”

“Why?”

“Oh, I don’t know, I just thought we needed to do something special. It’s been a while since we’ve been out together.”

“Yeah, like before I came out to you,” Jeremy said as the front door bell went through its little ditty. “That must be the police. Do you want to talk to them?”

“No, I think you can handle it,” Father said as he put down the paper. “You found him, after all.”

“Good morning, I’m Officer Charles,” the cop said after Jeremy opened the front door. “You reported the dead cat?”

“Yeah, his name is Mister Tubbs,” Jeremy said as he tried to focus on Officer Charles and not on the bloody splatter on the porch. The officer was a little taller and a lot more muscular than Jeremy, but didn’t seem that much older. His face was clean shaven and had a gaunt, chiseled look as if there wasn’t a lot of body fat under the skin. From what Jeremy could see under the man’s hat, his hair was sandy brown and neatly trimmed, but not too short like someone too militaristic.

“Is he your cat?” Officer Charles asked as he took out a notepad and started writing.

“No, he belongs to the next door neighbor,” Jeremy said as he noticed Officer Charles’ dark eyes which were slightly bloodshot. “He comes over here a lot when they’re not home. They’re in Mexico this week.”

“When did you discover the cat?”

“When I went out to get the morning paper,” Jeremy said, aware that his eyes were focused on a specific spot on Officer Charles’ slacks, a slight bulge that may have been caused by something massive at little above where the zipper ended. “I didn’t cover him up because I didn’t want to disturb the evidence.”

“It’s just a cat and it’s obvious what killed him,” Officer Charles said as he bent over and picked up the baseball bat.

“Aren’t you going to dust it for fingerprints?”

“Nah, it’s just a cat. Killing a cat is way down on the list of serious crimes. We don’t get many calls for cats that’ve had their heads smashed by baseball bats. Do you have any idea who might have done this?”

“No, our neighborhood is pretty quiet.”

“Well, let your neighbors know when they get back from, where did you say, Mexico? If they want, we’ll have someone look into it, but I can tell you right now there won’t be a lot of effort expended on the investigation.”

“What should I do with Mister Tubbs?” Jeremy asked as Officer Charles walked down the steps carrying the baseball bat like he was hunting another cat to kill.

“Put it in a plastic bag so it won’t stink up your garbage can. We don’t want to get a bunch of calls saying you’ve got a pack of possums hanging around here making a mess.”

“Shouldn’t I call the Humane Society or something?”

“What? Like on Animal Planet, or something? Hey, kid, this isn’t New York City. We don’t even have an animal control officer in this burg.”

Light rain was falling when Jeremy climbed the front steps of the College Flyer that would take him down to the university where he could catch a local up to Capitol Hill. He paid his fare and asked for a transfer, making sure the driver punched the intercity box so he wouldn’t have to pay full fare on the next bus. The drivers usually did that anyway, but enough didn’t, so Jeremy learned to ask if he noticed if the box wasn’t punched. There wasn’t anything more aggravating than having to pay double for a ride to Seattle.

The bus was only half full of students from the tech college, the Flyer’s first stop, so Jeremy didn’t have much trouble finding a seat. He took one of the side facing seats anyway, since he was getting out at the university and didn’t want to have to ask someone to move. The bus would fill up at North Park College and those students tended to be snobbier, or at least denser, than the ones from the tech college. Once, a girl wouldn’t even move when he asked and he missed his stop. When she finally stopped talking to her friend and heard Jeremy’s request, the bus was nearly a mile past the transfer stop. By the time Jeremy was able to convince the bus driver of his predicament and make an unscheduled stop, then walk back to the nearest stop for the local, he had to wait nearly an hour for the next bus and Uncle Johnny had been pissed, thinking Jeremy was late on purpose.

Since he had homework—having homework this late in the year made little sense to him considering graduation was only two months away—Jeremy took out the novel he was reading for what he hoped was his last book report, but knowing Mrs. Jorgenson was a traditionalist, there’d probably be one due the day before graduation. Bob Dylan was whispering in his earphones when the bus pulled into the front quad at North Park College. Jeremy stared at Larry McMurtry’s dry words, but nothing was getting through. College students noisily got on the bus and one sat down next to him. He glanced over and saw that it was a boy, causing him to involuntarily swallow as a queasy warm feeling swept through his gut, not quite unlike the feeling he had earlier when he found Mister Tubbs on the front porch.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, the odor of the boy slithered into Jeremy’s nostrils. He stared out the window across the aisle as he felt the queasiness settle lower in his abdomen as a definite tingling sensation. He knew he was breathing too hard, too fast, but he couldn’t stop himself. He was warm all over, nearly breaking into a sweat. He brushed the moisture off his upper lip with back of his forefinger. He glanced down to his right and saw the boy’s slender left thigh and an image of smooth lightly tanned skin under blue denim flashed into his mind.

Oh, god! I’m getting an erection, Jeremy thought to himself, which caused him to pick up his backpack and put it on his lap. He opened one of the zippers and began rifling through the papers so as not to appear too obvious. He started thinking about watching Father put Mister Tubbs in a plastic bag before leaving for the office. He had to think of anything other than the boy next to him who he now imagined was practically naked. He glanced to his right to see the boy staring back at him with shiny green eyes almost the color of peridot, his birthstone.

“Hi! I’m Jason,” the boy said as a smile broke across his narrow face. “I’ve seen you on the bus before. You get off at my stop on the hill.”

“Huh?” Jeremy mumbled, unsure of what to say. He turned off the iPod just as Arlo Guthrie started singing about a doomed train.

“Summit and Pine. Do you live up there?”

“No, my father’s great-uncle lives in a retirement home over on First Hill,” Jeremy said, wondering why he was volunteering so much information to a complete stranger. “It’s easier to walk a few blocks than make two transfers at the junction and downtown.”

“A lot of people live up on the hill,” Jason said. He was still smiling, as if it came natural, or he’d had training. “Do you have a name?”

“Sorry, it’s Jeremy. And, yeah, I know a lot of guys live up there.”

“It’s not just guys, there’s a lot of girls, and families, too. It’s not the ghetto a lot of people think it is.”

“I know that,” Jeremy said, suddenly feeling embarrassed where their conversation seemed to be heading. He’d heard stories about all the gays in Seattle living up on Capitol Hill, but knew that couldn’t be true; and, yet, there was the gay community medical clinic the bus passed, a bunch, some might say too many, gay bars, the bookstore he’d gone into one day before realizing what kind of books were being sold, and the men and boys who were so blatant with their stereotypical exhibitionism. They were so obvious, anyone could see their sexuality, as they practically paraded themselves along the sidewalks.

“Do you go to the tech college?” Jason asked.

“No, I’m a senior a North Park High. I’ve been admitted to the U for fall quarter.”

“Didn’t want to go to North Park College?”

“No, Father’s an alumnus. Family tradition, you know.”

“Oh, yeah, that got me into North Park College. I wanted to go to Berkeley, but tradition was a free ride. Mom said I could go to Berkeley for my master’s if I wanted. I told her I wanted to go for my bachelor’s. Then she did her pout and didn’t talk to me for three days. I gave in because I’m not that good of a cook and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches just aren’t the same as meat and potatoes.”

Jeremy watched Jason closely as he was talking, focusing on his face which was long and narrow. The eyes seemed too close together. The nose was long, too, yet ended abruptly as if whoever made it ran out of inspiration and simply added two small nostrils above a wide upper lip. The lips were full and Jeremy felt himself being drawn to them as if they were meant to be kissed, which he had to admit was a dangerous thought considering he had no idea where Jason stood on the sexual playing field.

Jeremy added appropriate comments, but allowed Jason to dominate the conversation. It was so easy and he felt so weirdly comfortable allowing Jason to determine their verbal path. Then Jeremy simply followed Jason out of the bus at the University stop and stood close beside him waiting for the bus up the hill. It was almost as if they’d known each other for years as words moved between them adding bits of insight into each others’ personality.

When the bus came to a stop at Summit and Pine Jeremy followed Jason a little ways down the street before halting to cross at the half-block crosswalk. Jason had gone on a few more steps, but quickly recovered. He turned and exclaimed, “Hey! What’re you stopping for?”

“I cross here so I don’t have to wait for two lights,” Jeremy said as he waited for a break in the traffic. He kind of wanted to hang with Jason a little more, maybe stop for a coffee down at the corner, but Uncle Johnny wasn’t to be kept waiting.

“Oh, okay,” Jason said as he walked back to where Jeremy stood. “But if you’re going this way, it’s easier to cut up past the school then you only have two blocks to the retirement homes.”

“Thanks, I’ll try that,” Jeremy said. “Which way do you usually go?”

“Down to the corner for a latte, then if there’s no one I know, I’ll head home, but I could follow you.”

“Okay,” Jeremy said. He wanted to sound more enthused, but he was becoming strangely uncomfortable with Jason’s curiosity toward him. Although a latte sounded good, he knew the coffee place on the corner catered mostly to gays. He’d been in there once, but quickly left because everyone was giving him that look. He began to suspect Jason might be gay, but his comment about people on the hill not being all gay didn’t quite support that supposition. Yet, there was something about Jason that was out of the ordinary.

They didn’t talk as they crossed Pine and headed up the hill. Jeremy wanted the conversation to get going, but couldn’t think of anything to say so he concentrated on not tripping over a multitude of cracks in the sidewalk and not looking at Jason who looked to be a couple inches taller, but still under six feet. His slender body was hidden under loose jeans, a gray and Kelly green windbreaker, and huge red and black umbrella that also did a very good job of hiding his face.

At the crest of the hill, Jeremy turned right, but Jason continued across Seneca. Jeremy stopped and watched for a moment before breaking into a jog in Jason’s direction. He caught up with him in front of one of the few old historic mansions remaining on the hill. Jason turned in at the driveway and Jeremy stopped, again. The house was in the classic Italianate style with painted brick, a broad front porch, and big windows that at one time looked out on other large homes in the area, but now the views were more communal with city block sized apartments and condominiums reaching up to capture views of Puget Sound and the surrounding lakes.

“Come on,” Jason said. “I want to get rid of my backpack.”

“You live here?” Jeremy asked as Jason put a key in the back door deadbolt.

“Yes.”

Jeremy followed Jason into the house, depositing his umbrella in the rack by the door and slipping off his wet shoes. The mudroom had a three-foot bench along one wall to sit on and a row of coat pegs at varying heights on the opposite wall. There was a white lavatory where someone might wash their hands after being out in the garden. Jeremy’s eyes wandered around the room until they settled on Jason who looked very impatient.

“We’re rich, okay?”

“This is the Peterson House.”

“And that makes me a Peterson, except Mom is a Peterson and I’m an Allen, and not an important Allen at that.”

“I came here in middle school on a field trip.”

“Yeah, we do that. Great grandfather started that way back in the Thirties as a way to show the proletariat we just like them or some such liberal shit. Great grandfather would’ve been a Wobbly if he hadn’t owned half the sawmills between Bellingham and Portland and great grandmother hadn’t been much more of a Bourbon. You could tell she was rich from a couple blocks away. Come on, let’s go up to my room.”

Jeremy followed Jason up the back stairs, which he didn’t remember, onto the third floor, which was roped off during the tour. The bedroom’s plain furniture reminded Jeremy of a hotel suite, rather than a boy’s bedroom. It was the two posters, though, that caught most of his attention. Most of his attention, though, was on the one with the cowboy standing in a corral without a shirt and a prominent bulge in his jeans that couldn’t have been anything other than the obvious. He simply stared at it and felt himself getting hard. He swallowed and shut his eyes when felt Jason’s hand on his shoulder. He waited for the other hand to be placed somewhere he wasn’t too certain he was ready to be touched, but that wasn’t going to happen.

“Kind of gets to you,” Jason said quietly. “I wasn’t quite certain about you, but since you’re not running back downstairs and out of the house, I guess my assumptions are correct.”

“I’ve never,” Jeremy stammered, “I don’t know, I haven’t, I’m, it’s, oh, god, I’ve got to go.”

“No, please, stay,” Jason said. “I’m sorry, I should’ve done this differently. Come on, let’s go in here.”

Jeremy stood for a moment uncertain whether he should flee or follow Jason through the door. Jason turned and beckoned with a smile and Jeremy went toward him. He hoped he wasn’t going further into something dangerous, but Jason didn’t seem to be dangerous. Curiosity was tempting as it’d never done before. They were in a short, dark hallway with three closed doors and an open one that led to a small study. Bookshelves covered all the walls. A traditional polished teak desk was on the far end of the the room. A PC was on a worktable to the right. An overstuffed sofa with a bright red cover was in front of the desk. Jason flopped down on one end. Jeremy sat down at the opposite end, but didn’t look at Jason.

“I don’t have a lot of friends,” Jason said. “Living in a historic residence doesn’t lend itself to having kids over and I was sent to school back east so I didn’t get to keep the few friendships I made back there. Being gay doesn’t help a lot either. I’ve been beaten to a pulp enough times to be careful. I took a chance with you only because I’ve seen you on the bus so many times. You impressed me as possibly being gay. Gaydar I guess. I don’t know what it was. I just thought you might be gay and, well, I think you’re incredibly cute. I had to know. I’m sorry if I offended you.”

“How many other guys have you led to your web of horrors?” Jeremy asked. He was staring at a black and white photograph of a family in their Sunday finest. Jason looked about twelve in the picture. The long, narrow face was definitely a family trait, as the in-laws stood out like freaks in a sideshow.

“It’s not that bad, I hope. Actually, you’re the first and hopefully the last. I just got the posters last week. Just for you, as a matter of fact. I’m not very good at this either. I don’t belong to any gay clubs at college and I certainly wasn’t going to join the one at school. Green Court was very, very heterosexual. I remember one boy who had been branded as queer simply because he lisped. The jocks beat him senseless so many times his first term he didn’t come back after Christmas break. No, I may be gay, but I’m not stupid. Well, not as stupid as I thought.”

“You’re not stupid,” Jeremy said as he turned to look at Jason. “It’s just that I’m only out to my father and I don’t know any other guys who are gay. I’m still not too certain what all of this means and I haven’t tried to find anyone like me. But, I’m late getting to Uncle Johnny’s. He’s going to be pissed and then Father’ll be pissed; and, damn it all, I don’t understand why I think I like you.”

“Well, then, let’s get over to your Uncle Johnny’s,” Jason said as he stood up. He reached out and offered his hand. “Come on, Jeremy, let’s go.”

“You’re coming with me?” Jeremy asked as he let Jason pull him into a tight embrace. He closed his eyes as their lips met and began to feel more relaxed than he could ever remember. Suddenly all this seemed okay. His fingers tingled as they felt the bony prominences of Jason’s spine; and, then, they were apart separated by inches of electrically charged air.

“Of course, how else am I going to keep track of you?” Jason said.

“You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”

“I said I thought you’re cute. I’m not letting you out of my sight until we get to know each other a little better. Okay?”

“Yeah, sure, I guess.”

The rainy drizzle stopped as they waited for the light at Boren Avenue, though the clouds still hung close encasing the city’s tallest buildings in a gray gloom. It was spring, after all. Jeremy wanted to feel good about what was happening, but taking a stranger with him to see Uncle Johnny never seemed to work out for the best; and, Jason seemed to be a little stranger than anyone he knew. Jeremy couldn’t figure out why Jason was so interested in him. He’d never met anyone so adamant about getting to know him.

“Uncle Johnny will sound pissed,” Jeremy said as they approached the door to retirement home. “He’s ninety-two and not very happy about living so long, especially since he can’t get around as well as he used to.”

“I have a grandfather in the same boat,” Jason said. “He lives over on Vashon Island, but I haven’t seen him in years. He’s a bastard.”

“Yeah, well Uncle Johnny will come across as one, too,” Jeremy said. He pushed the door to the stairs open and held it for Jason. “Since he’s blind, there isn’t much need for him to be on one of the higher floors. Besides, I need the exercise.”

“You don’t play any sports?” Jason asked.

“No, I used to be on the swim team, but I’m not good enough to get a scholarship, so why bother. I run a little. Do a couple 10Ks when I feel like it, but I not much into team sports. Oh, if he talks nasty, try to blow it off. Okay?”

“Sure.”

“Good, come on in,” Jeremy said as he opened the door, knocking on it at the same time.

“Jeremy, is that you?” Uncle Johnny asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Where you been? You were supposed to be here an hour ago. You think I got all day to sit around for you to show up?”

“I met someone,” Jeremy said as he sat down on the sofa next to Uncle Johnny. “We had to stop at his house, first.”

“His?”

“This is Jason Allen,” Jeremy said. “Jason, this is John Randle, my father’s great-uncle.”

“I’m very pleased to meet you, sir,” Jason said. “Jeremy has told me quite a bit about you.”

“Bullshit! And, don’t you shake hands, boy?”

“Sorry sir, I’m never certain how introductions work,” Jason said when he walked to where Uncle Johnny was sitting and held out his hand. He waited for a moment then looked at Jeremy with a questioning expression.

“Uncle Johnny, Jason is waiting,” Jeremy said.

Uncle Johnny held out his hand and Jason took it and winced a little at the old man’s firm grip.

“You need to firm up your grip,” Uncle Johnny said. “Shake hands like that too often and men are going to think you’re queer or something. Took me a couple years to get Jeremy’s dead fish turned into a grip a man wouldn’t be scared of.”

“Someone killed a cat on our front porch last night,” Jeremy said trying to get the conversation moved in a more comfortable direction. He watched Jason move across the room and sit in the side chair beside the bed.

“What?” Uncle Johnny asked.

“Someone killed our next door neighbor’s cat on our front porch last night. Its head was smashed with a baseball bat.”

“Eww!” Jason exclaimed.

“Yeah, I almost puked.”

“Well, I certainly would’ve,” Jason said.

“I hadn’t eaten anything, so there wasn’t anything to come up. My stomach certainly tried to vomit, though. It was pretty gross.”

“Who did it?” Uncle Johnny asked.

“We don’t know and the police aren’t going to investigate unless the neighbors ask. They said they don’t do a lot of investigating for murdered cats.”

“That makes sense, I guess,” Jason said. “It’s not like someone killed the neighbor on your front porch.”

“You know, a lot of serial killers start out by killing pets,” Uncle Johnny said. “There was a television program talking about that a couple weeks ago. You could have a novice killer in your neighborhood, some little kid who’s going to grow up and smash people in the head with baseball bats.”

“You can’t watch television,” Jeremy said.

“Who said I was watching it,” Uncle Johnny said. “I’ve still got ears that work! But I’d check around your neighborhood and see if other people have found dead cats on their front porches. You could have a crime spree going on and you wouldn’t even know about it.”

“Yeah, Jeremy, you should do that,” Jason said.

“I’ll talk to Father and see what he says.”

“Your father? Now there’s a dead end if there ever was one,” Uncle Johnny said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jeremy asked.

“Your father is a loser, always has been. That’s what I mean.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Do you know he told me to talk to you about being a queer?” Uncle Johnny asked.

“Yeah, he told me this morning,” Jeremy said. He looked at Jason who shrugged and shook his head. “He said you asked.”

“The hell I did. He thinks I can talk some sense into you because he thinks I’m queer. Hell, I’m ninety-two fucking years old. The last time I was close to a gay bar was twenty fucking years ago and I only went there because we’d just buried old Bill Larson. AIDS got him, like damned near everyone else I knew.”

“I didn’t know, but how does Father know?” Jeremy asked.

“Because everyone in the family thought they knew, that’s why,” Uncle Johnny said. “I didn’t make a secret of it, but I didn’t tell everyone, either. You know how people are with secrets. You gotta fucking tell someone. You gotta, so it just got out and then I wasn’t a part of the family until everyone was dead, except me. You know I’m the youngest of seven, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah, I guess. Seven?”

“Arthur, Louise, Beatrice, the twins Gabriel and Gladys, Harold, and me. Seven. Four boys and three girls. Or, as Arthur said it, ‘three boys, three girls, and a split decision.’ Arthur was a bastard, so I guess your father comes by his stupidity naturally. Why don’t you two get the hell out of here, I’m getting tired.”

“Are you sure?” Jeremy asked.

“Hell yes I’m sure. Nice to meet you Jason. If I wasn’t blind, I’d be able to tell Jeremy if he was making a good choice in being your friend, but I don’t have that luxury anymore, so I guess we’ll have to hope the boy isn’t anything like his father. And, Jason?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Don’t worry about coming anymore. I’m planning on dying in a couple days. You’re a good kid and I hope Jeremy is everything you’re looking for because I’m not too certain of that myself.”

“That’s not a very nice thing to say,” Jeremy said. He stood up and headed toward the door. “I’m trying to be nice to you.”

“You’re a kid, you don’t know how to be nice,” Uncle Johnny said. He stood up and walked over to his bed where he sat down, his empty eyes staring at only his memories. “Just remember one thing, being blind and incontinent isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. If I’d have known being old was going to be this much fun, I’d have checked out early.”

The boys walked out into the hall and shut the door. Jeremy let out an audible sigh and leaned against the wall. He looked into Jason’s eyes and wanted very much to kiss him.

“Well, now you’ve met Uncle Johnny,” Jeremy said. “Aren’t you glad you came?”

“Yes, actually, I am,” Jason said. “I got to be with you. He’s not so bad, just horribly old and I suppose he’s right, being blind and incontinent isn't something to look forward to if you live as long as he has. When did he go blind?”

“When he was almost seventy, macular degeneration or something like that. Father told me once. It really hit him hard, but you know, he’s always saying he’s going to die in a couple days and, next week, I’ll be back here and he’ll be bitching about something else. Do you know what I’d like right now?”

“What?”

“I wish you could put your arms around me and tell me everything is going to be okay.”

Jason wrapped his arms around Jeremy and held him against his body. After a moment, he put a hand on the back of Jeremy’s head and whispered into his ear, “Let’s go back to my place. You can have supper with us.”

“I have to go with Father,” Jeremy said, wishing he didn’t because it would only be uncomfortable. Everything was uncomfortable since coming out to his father.

“Call him on your cell and tell him you’ve been invited to my house,” Jason said. “I bet he’ll let you if you ask him.”

“You haven’t met Father, yet. But, I’ll do it for you.”

“Now, aren’t you glad you came here instead of going to dinner with your father?” Jason asked.

They were in the study, on the sofa, sitting next to each other, so close arms and legs were in a tangled, uncomfortable mess.

“Your mother is nice,” Jeremy said. “Letting us be up here alone and me being so much younger than you.”

“I’m, what, a year older? And, what’s all this innocence shit?”

“You’re the one who set me up with that cowboy poster.”

“Do you want to go in and lie on the bed?”

“And, let you get me naked? No way! I’m not letting you do nasty things to my body on the first date.”

“We can get naked in here,” Jason said. He reached over and undid the top button on Jeremy’s shirt. His hand went down to the next button where he lingered a moment. “When do you have to go home?”

“I should leave by eight so I can get a transfer at the junction,” Jeremy said. “You’ve got ten minutes.”

“The hell with that, I’m taking you home in the Mercedes,” Jason said as he undid the next button.

“If I ask you, will you stop,” Jeremy said. “I’m not sure I’m ready to go any further than we’ve done, so far.”

“What do you want?”

“You, just you close to me. Maybe, I don’t know, I’ve never done anything with another boy. I don’t know what to do and we’re in a hurry. I’d like to take my time. What do you want?”

“Just you,” Jason said.

Their lips met, again, and they slowly got to know each other a little better. Jeremy felt Jason’s hands moving over his body and he let his hands explore a little, too, even though he was definitely uncertain about what was happening. Yet, Jeremy felt a lot more relaxed seeing he didn’t have to go too far and regret everything that happened if Jason didn’t call him later. Jason was older, after all, and Jeremy didn’t expect anything to come of what happened since meeting Jason only a few hours earlier. After a few minutes they came up for air and Jason began nibbling at Jeremy’s ear.

“Why are you trying so hard to make all this possible?” Jeremy asked. Jason laid his head on Jeremy’s shoulder and began playing with one of the buttons he’d undone earlier.

“I’ll tell you something, I’ve always been a fool for blondes,” Jason said. He brushed back a bang of Jeremy’s hair that had fallen over his eyes. “And, the way yours hangs down to your shoulders is absolutely stunning. I love it almost as much as I love your steel blue eyes, your luscious lips, and the taste of your earlobes. You’re the most beautiful boy I’ve ever met and I’m going to have a blast falling in love with you.”

“Ah, you college guys know all the right words.”

“How many college guys do you know?”

“One and he’s the best a boy could want.”

Later, as Jeremy lay in his bed feeling his cock beg for attention as his mind wandered over the last few hours, his cell chirped.

“Hello?”

“What are you doing?”

“Thinking of you.”

“Are you naked?”

“Yes.”

“I’m rubbing my cock, imagining it’s your hand doing its magic.”

“I was going to do that, too, but I was waiting for your call.”

“How did you know I’d call?”

“You’re totally infatuated with me.”

“I can’t wait for you. Fuck, I can’t wait to see you again.”

“Not for a long time.”

“What?”

“Fuck.”

“Are you sure?”

“Uh huh.”

“When?”

“A long time. I want it to be special. Besides, I haven’t even seen you naked yet.”

“When?”

“Soon.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Your bed?”

“Okay. Oh, anymore dead cats on the front porch?”

“No, but they caught the kid who did it.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No, seems he’s done it a couple times before. Father called the police to complain about the officer not doing anything. It’s all a big to do now. The kid’s not from our neighborhood, either. I guess he’s not quite right in the head.”

“You’d have to be off to do that to cats.”

“Yeah.”

“Love you.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Jeremy said as he turned off his cell and placed it on his nightstand. He smiled at the thought of being with Jason tomorrow and wondered if it would be as he imagined. After all he’d never kissed another boy until today.

THE END

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