Kombat Kids - 29. Dawns Early Light

When the exercise was secured, the Squaddies returned all of the firearms to the arms room for cleaning, maintenance and removal of the Miles Gear; this would be accomplished the next day. By 00:30, the Squaddies had been sent to bed and the adults were gathered in the first floor lounge area, all had a beer in front of them trying to lower their adrenaline levels before they too hit the rack.

Gunny, after taking another pull on his beer said; “Son of a bitch, for awhile I thought I was back in Baghdad, them little fuckers had an awful lot of shit moving down range. Steve, those Claymores of yours worked pretty fucken good, when they went off, along with the arty simulators, two thirds of the jumpers were taken out and I think just about all of them shit themselves.”

When the laughter died down he went on; “That JJ kid did a good job getting his people set up, as it was, they’d only gone to ground about three minutes before the Jumpers entered the kill zone. It took the kids a few seconds to get their shit together before they started firing, but when they did the rest of the Jumpers were taken out quickly.”

James added, “Tell you what guys, it just wasn’t the Squaddies who had to check their skivvies, I had to ask my self if farts had lumps.” After another few minutes of laughter James continued; “My Miles gear alarmed when the Claymores went off, so I just stood there and watched as my remaining Jumpers were taken out. I know what JJ was thinking when he led his guys over to Doug’s ambush site, but we need to talk to him about leaving a couple guys to make sure all the aggressors are down hard. All it would have taken was one guy to follow them over and pull a counter ambush on them and the whole thing woulda gone south in a hurry.” Turning to Gunny; “Stan, maybe you need to bring that up, as it was, the remainder of Doug’s fire team were able to bring the other group under fire and take them out, I think we would have had the same results as we got whether or not JJ moved his people, it just may have taken longer.”

After discussing the exercise for another hour or so, the adults went to bed to get some sleep so that they could try and keep up with the kids the next day. All but one.

Keener lay on his bed for about a half hour after every one else had turned in, he finally said the hell with it and struggled out of his bed. Dragging on a pair of sweat pants, he crutched his way to the arms room and opened the vault door. Starting with the closest AR15 he began the process of removing the Miles Gear and then plugging it into the battery-charging unit. Then with quick, sure and experienced movements, he disassembled the rifle and began its’ cleaning. By 05:00 he had disassembled, cleaned and re-assembled half of the rifles used the night before. Keener decided it was time for him to get his first caffeine fix of the day so he slowly made his way up to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. Knowing it was next to impossible for him to carry a cup of coffee back down the stairs; he filled a Thermos Bottle and crutched his way back down to the arms room where he continued to work on the rifles. Just before six he was startled by the scrape of a boot tread on the door combing, turning he saw Jap standing there in the prescribed watch gear staring at him.

Before Keener could say anything Jap said softly; “I’m telling.”

Keener smiled at the short redhead; “You do and you’ll never see Wilbur again.”

A look of shear terror crossed Jap’s face and tears started crawling down his cheeks. Keener let his crutches fall to the floor and limped over to Jap, pulling him into a hug; “Aww come on guy, I was just joshing ya, I’d never do that to ya. Suddenly, Keener stood on his tiptoes, a stricken look on his face; “Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccccccccccccck!!!!”

Looking down, little Jap had Keener by the balls, literally, with both hands and very painfully. In a soft childishly sweet voice; “You wouldn’t really mess with Wilbur now would you Sergeant Keener sir?” A little extra squeeze by Jap caused Keener to squeak; “No, no, noooooo, never, I promise, I was just kidding honest.”

Releasing his grip, Jap backed out of reach in case Keener decided to grab him and maybe show his displeasure by twisting his head off. In the same sweet voice he used as he was trying to crack Keener’s nuts; “You better get your shot up ass to bed or I’m going to get the Gunny.” As he talked, Jap’s voice became serious; “You know better than to do this, damn man we could have lost you or you could have been crippled for life. Please Keener, I don’t want you to hurt yourself, and neither does anyone else in the Unit. Please, for us, go to bed. Please.”

Keener nodded and turned to pick up his crutches, before he could complete his turn, Jap rushed past him and picked them up for him, after handing them to him he said: “I know you wouldn’t have hurt Wilbur.” Once again Keener nodded and turned and left the arms room, Jap followed him out and closed and locked the door then followed him to his room. Once in his room, he struggled to get his sweat pants off; once again Jap came to his aid and helped him. When Keener was in bed, the little redhead covered him with the blankets and then, to Keener’s surprise, kissed him on the forehead and said; “You need anything, page me over the 1MC and I’ll be right here. Good night sir.” Jap left the bedroom, closing the door gently. Keener laid there for a second, feeling like he was ten years old again, wondering how he was so lucky to be surrounded by so many fine people. Within minutes he was asleep.

Reveille went at 07:00 accompanied by the moans of complaint from 60 some teenagers and several adults. The morning parade of wood to the showers and the head began shortly there after to catcalls of envy and wishful thinking and in some cases, anticipation. The twins, Shane, Mitch and Jap, just off their watch, clumped into the shower room for their morning shower, they were exhausted. Shane and Justin helped Mitch remove his prosthesis and then moved him into the shower and seated him on his shower chair; “Damn, I got to talk to dad about getting me a leg that I can shower with, this shit about having to be helped in and out is a real bitch.”

As Mitch was making this statement, Justin Tannonligua and Tyler English entered the shower. Tyler smiled at him and said; “Bitch, bitch, bitch, you sound like three dogs in heat.” The ten or twelve boys, including Mitch, all burst out laughing.

Mitch shot Tyler the bird, and then started to wash himself, sitting in the chair made it difficult to wash his ass but he was able to struggle through. After finishing their showers and then returning to their rooms to dress, the boys headed to the dining facility for breakfast. Just as the five boys sat down, Tyler and Justin joined them. “Hey guys what happened last night, your fire team took some serious casualties during the ambush?”

Jap shook his head before answering; “We got to the ambush site about 30 seconds before Connor Beck and his jumpers did, before we could get set up, the arty simulators went off at the other location and the Jumpers and us just stood there for about ten seconds before Doug opened up on them. He got hits on two of them before the rest could responded, but then it seemed like the remaining Jumpers all fired at Doug at once, and took him out. The rest of us finally fired and it turned into a real shitfest, we weren’t in a really good defensive position and they were able to take most of us out. Clint and the James boys were able to withdraw without taking a hit and waited till the Jumpers moved forward and then followed them until Tyler took them under fire with his 60 and then Clint and the James Brothers started to back shoot them.”

A chorus of Whoo Ahs, Ooo Rahs and Burrrips were heard at the table eliciting laughter from the boys at the other tables in the dining facility. After breakfast, the boys brushed their teeth, took a dump or a quick leak and headed for the Cavern.

The entire membership of the Unit, including adults gathered in the Cavern for the exercise debriefing (no, they didn’t take off their skivvies), James called the meeting to order and turned it over to the Gunny. Gunny’s first words made everyone sit up straight in shock; “That really was a clusterfuck wasn’t it guys?” He then listed all the things that the Squaddies had done wrong, both the aggressors and the defenders. When he finished his analysis of the exercise he said; “Yeah, it was a real clusterfuck, but no worse than any first attempt by a new team usually is. Don’t let yourself get big heads now, but for a first time, it was a better than average clusterfuck.” The boys looked at each other and then back to the Gunny, not knowing what to say, they just waited for him to continue. He turned to JJ; “JJ. You did good getting your people on site quickly, but you failed to have them spread out to minimize the effects of incoming fire. I know we talked about this, and I know talking and doing are two different things. You Squaddies need to remember to keep low, space yourselves out and when you shoot, shoot for effect not just to make noise.

Turning to Jordan Littlelk, “Your Jumpers didn’t respond very well, instead of seeking cover, or withdrawing, they just stood there and tried to pull a John Wayne. Remember guys, if you walk into an ambush; the only way to break it is to charge into it, if you have the manpower. If you stand still, or take cover, all you’re going to do is make it last longer. The Jumpers lost two thirds of their troops to the Claymores, in a situation like that you should have tried to make a fighting withdrawal, breaking contact until you could regroup.

Once again turning to JJ, “When the jumpers stopped firing you took your remaining troops and ran to help Doug. Good thinking, but once again you left yourselves open. You should have left two of your troops to make sure the bad guys were in fact ALL down. What would have happened if one or two of the bad guys suddenly came back to life and came up behind you and your fire team? The whole thing would have gone south on you.

Turning to Doug' “I know you’ve heard this before, but it’s very important to remember, ‘No plan ever survives contact with the enemy’. When you got into place you only had a few seconds to get ready, from what I got from your Observer, when the firing started you guys were bunched up and a few of your team even stood up to fire, exposing themselves to return fire. Bart your second, did good, after you were rendered ineffective, along with about half the team, he withdrew and reorganized. Unfortunately he was taken out during the withdrawal and it took Clint a few seconds to get control and start after the Jumpers. Between the remaining troops from both fire teams and the fire support from the LAV, you guys were able to win.

The Gunny turned to Justin and Tyler; “Taking a chance that I’ll give you two a swelled head, you guys responded the best of any of the teams. I especially liked the fact that Justin didn’t fire and concentrated on his area of responsibility. He would have been able to fire up the bad guys quickly and effectively if any had tried to flank Tyler’s LAV, Tyler, you had great trigger control and maintained accurate and sustained fire.”

On and on the de-briefing continued, all the adults gave their observations as they saw them. At 11:00, the Unit was released from the critique and sent to lunch. Doug, JJ, Tyler, the James Brothers, the twins, Phil and David sat at a table scarfing down lunch, in between bites they discussed what they got out of the de-briefing. Doug felt a little guilty about his part in the exercise but knew he would do better in the future. After lunch and a short time for the boys to relax James called everyone together in the Cavern.

“OK guys here’s the deal, we are scheduled for our first exercise with a Recon Team this coming weekend. Matt and I thought it would be nice to have some fun with this, so we had the Goodwill people at the Adults With Disability Center make us up costumes for everyone.” James pointed to a stranger standing along side him. The man was about 6’1”, 6’2” with a well-defined body, blonde hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a white silk shirt, light blue stonewashed designer jeans and had gold hoop earrings in both ears, a heavy-duty flamer. “I have Thompson Gettrick from Gettrick’s Fashions in Moreland with us today to make any alterations to the costumes that are needed. So, everyone needs to form a line and we’ll start passing them out. Once you get your costume, you need to strip down to your skivvies and try them on. The boy’s all started talking at once; soon the Cavern was filled with the sounds of laughing and shouting teenagers. The Gunny let out a piercing whistle that got everyone’s attention, “Hold it down guys, we have a lot to get done yet and we need to be able to hear.” As the costumes were handed out, the boys stripped to their skivvies and put them on, the costumes consisted of wide leg pans with elastic at the bottom, a long sleeve shirt, a below the knee robe and a headdress like the Arab sheiks wore. All of the clothing was made from lightweight cotton, dyed a medium tan and had the MarCam pattern on it. Some of the Squadies looked kind of funny, like Jap, being as short as he was; his robe dragged on the floor and threatened to trip him as he walked. Jap decided to see if the tailor, Mr. Gettrick could do something about it.

Walking over to where Mr. Gettrick had set up his portable sewing machine, Jap asked; “Sir? Excuse me sir, can you do something about the length of this robe?”

As soon as Thompson Gettrick had entered the Cavern, he immediately got a hardon, it seemed that there was nothing but a veritable sea of beautiful boys for as far as the eye could see. He thanked all the gods in heaven that he had worn a jock strap; otherwise he’d be walking around pointing at everyone with his crotch. Seated behind a portable table, he looked up when he heard Jap’s first words. From there, it was all down hill. Standing in front of him was this diminutive redheaded child, if anything his dick hardened as he gazed at Jap while the boy tried to explain his problem; “Well can you sir, I mean can you help me?”

Shaking his head to try and clear his lust filled thoughts; “Wha... What did you say little boy?”

Thompson’s question pissed off Jap; “Who you calling a boy, shit, you can’t call anyone with a bucket full of balls and a twelve inch dick a boy.”

Standing to the side on his crutches, Keener overheard both sides of the conversation and decided to jump in before it got out of hand; “At ease Jap, what’s the problem?”

Jap, still looking pissed said; “This guy called me a little boy and it pissed me off.”

Thompson looked at the large hunk of USDA choice beef talking to Jap and almost had an orgasm. Before he could say anything the beautiful man turned to him and spoke first; “Mr. Gettrick, while Jap here is still a boy, he like others in the Unit sometimes take exception when an outsider calls them that. To forestall any problems in the future, I would appreciate it if you call the boys ‘Squadie,’ or, by their name if you know it.” Turning back to Jap; “You my boy, while being the best shot in the Unit, do not have a twelve inch crank, nor a bucket full of balls, while I don’t care if you talk shit, you need to talk shit to only the guys who know you. Alright?”

Jap looked at Keener, then at Thompson and then back to Keener; “Yes sir, I will comply.”

Keener smiled at Jap, winked at him with the eye Thompson couldn’t see and said; “Thank you Jap, now carry on.”

Thompson watched as Keener crutched away and sighed, Jap’s voice broke into his reverie, “Forget it Mr. Gettrick, he’s taken.”

Startled by the adult tone of voice coming from the redhead, he spoke before thinking; “Why whatever do you mean youn... I mean Squadie Jap?”

Jap shook his head and chuckled; “Listen guy, you’re as gay as the rest of us and I know that you’d like to get in his pants, just like the rest of us. Don’t try, he belongs with some one that we all respect, like and admire, and if you try to fuck with him you could get hurt, and I don’t mean just your feelings either.”

Thompson swallowed and tried to laugh, all that came out was a croak. Not being able to speak, he looked into Jap’s eyes and nodded his head yes, wondering how this kid could intimidate him so easily. When he was able he started over. Looking Jap in the eye he said; “Please accept my apologies, I’ll remember what both you and that wonderful looking man said. Now, how may I help you Jap?”

Jap smiled and explained his problem, in just a few minutes, Thompson had rectified it and Jap happily ran across the cavern floor to the stairwell, looking like nothing less than a pintsize replica of ‘Lawrence of Arabia.’

During a break, Thompson rode the elevator to the garage level and walked outside for a cigarette or three. After lighting up, he leaned against the wall to the side of the garage door and thought about what Jap had told him. The next thing he knew he heard the snarling of a loud muffler moving towards him from the inside of the garage. Jap pulled up along side of him and smiled; “Howdy Mr. Gettrick, how they hangin?” Jap then burst out laughing at the shocked expression on Thompson’s face. “You’re really gonna have to get over being surprised anytime one of us talks to you sir.”

He nodded his head, not knowing what else to do; “Jump in sir, I’ll give you a quick tour of the place.” As if in a dream, Thompson nodded again and climbed into the passenger seat.

Before moving, Jap said; “Sir, you need to strap in really good, the FAV rides awful rough.”

After he had the seatbelt and the safety harness secured he turned to Jap and asked; “FAV?”

“Oh yeah, sorry about that, FAV stands for Fast Attack Vehicle. Actually it’s nothing but a dune buggy with a big engine, tires and a 60 mounted on it.”

Thompson looking unsure of what Jap had said and zeroed in on one thing; “60? What’s a 60?”

Jap was driving out to the confidence course now and didn’t take his eyes off the dirt road as he answered; “It’s a light machine gun, it mounts on the roll bar behind you and is operated by a guy in the back seat.”

Thompson looked at the small boy/man driving the FAV to see if he was pulling his leg. Deciding he wasn’t he turned to see where they were going and saw the tower and the various obstacles located in the shallow arroyo, not understanding what exactly he was seeing, but not willing to ask Jap for an explanation, he remained quiet.

Jap stopped the FAV and launched in to a detailed description on the various structures and obstacles. After he asked Thompson if he had any questions and Thompson said he had none, Jap started the FAV and drove to the rifle range. When he pulled to a stop in the parking area, Thompson saw several of the Squaddies wearing their Arab outfits firing long black rifles, Jap reached into the back of the vehicle and handed him a set of shooting glasses and hearing protection, donning a set of his own. The two got up and walked over to medium sized man in an unusual style of camouflage that had the same pattern as the costumes, when the man turned to the two, Jap saluted him and received a salute in return; “Afternoon Gunny, I’m showing Mr. Gettrick around and thought I’d give him a chance to pop a few caps.”

Gunny looked at the tailor and smiled, then held out his hand; “Afternoon sir.” Turning to Jap he instructed; “OK Jap, if he wants to, go ahead and take him inside and give him a safety briefing.”

Jap saluted and urged Thompson to follow him into the range building. Once inside, he picked up a rifle, making sure the muzzle was pointed in a safe direction and then checked to make sure it was empty. Jap spent the next ten minutes going over the rifle and how it worked then told him about how to handle it safely. Thompson still in a daze, followed Jap back out side to where the Gunny was standing. When the Gunny saw them coming, he yelled out; “Cease Fire, Cease Fire, actions open, safeties on, lay all firearms down with the actions open and facing up.” As he watched, the five Squaddies followed the orders just given by the Gunny and moved away from the rifles. The Gunny yelled out once again; “The range is cold, the range is cold, and you may go forward and check your targets. Hey Bart, take this one out and mount it at ‘6’ for me.” The Squaddie took a target that the Gunny handed him and ran forward.

Never having fired a gun in his life, Thompson stood next to Jap with a sense of fear and anticipation. When the Squaddies came back the Gunny said; “OK guys, take a break, we’re going to let Mr. Gettrick fire a few rounds, you remember your first time so keep the noise and any comments down. Turning to Thompson the Gunny said; “For your first time, I think it would be best if you shot from the prone position, Jap get into firing position to show him what it looks like.” Jap went down on his belly at an angle to the targets with his legs spread and his booted feet flat on the ground. Thompson couldn’t help but admire the way his cloth covered butt looked, thankful once again for his jock strap.

Jap got up and gestured for Thompson to take his place, when he was lying on his stomach, the Gunny took his left foot and pulled it farther to the side. When he was properly positioned, Jap placed an AR15 in his hands; “Mr. Gettrick, you remember how to load it?” Thompson nodded his head and took the magazine Jap handed him and shoved it in the magazine well of the rifle as Jap had demonstrated.

Jap gestured to him, “Ok now sir, check to make sure the safety is on, then go ahead and hit the bolt release button on the left side of the action to chamber your first round.”

It took Thompson a few seconds to locate the button, when he pushed it the bolt slid forward and clunked with authority. He looked up at the Gunny and Jap and nodded his head.

The Gunny started the century old litany of the range officer; Ready on the right? Ready on the left?’ Just in time Thompson remembered to say; “Ready.” The Gunny continued; “All ready on the firing line?” Once again Thompson replied, “Ready.”

The Gunny then said; “You may release your safety and commence firing.”

As this was his first time, the bullet hit the dirt of the backstop six feet above the target. Thompson heard giggling behind him, but refused to look at the boys. He also heard the Gunny growl at the boys and the giggling stopped. Jap leaned over and told him what he had done wrong and how to do better, his next round hit the paper just beyond the outer ring of the target. Listening to what Jap instructed, he began hitting the target in the black more and more. When the bolt locked back on the empty magazine, Jap handed him a full magazine, then reminded him how to remove the empty magazine. Inserting the full mag, he worked the bolt release, released the safety and continued firing. When the magazine was empty, he heard the Gunny yell; Cease fire, cease fire, safeties on, actions open, place the rifle down, action open and up, now cease fire.” After following the Gunny’s orders, he stood up and moved back from the firing line.

Gunny yelled again; “The range is cold, the range is cold! Jap, run down there and bring Mr. Gettrick’s target back please.” Jap ran to the target, removed it from its’ mount and ran back to the firing line handing it to the Gunny.

The Gunny studied the target for a moment before speaking; “Not bad for a first time, if you’d practice, you could be quite good.” The Gunny handed him the target, the Squaddies who had been watching gathered around and looked at the target. Then to his surprise, he felt them patting him on the back, and in one case the ass, congratulating him.

Jap said: “Come on sir, we need to get back.” Turning to the Gunny, Jap thanked him.

Thompson turned to the Gunny and stuck out his hand to be shaken, but was ready to be rebuffed by the grizzled Marine. Much to his surprise, the Gunny shook his hand and said; “Come back any time, I’ll have Jap give you lessons.”

When they arrived in the Cavern, Thompson started making alterations again, still in a daze, still wondering about the men and boys of the Unit. Before he knew it, it was 8:30 PM and he was finishing the last set of costumes. Standing up he stretched until he heard his joints pop, he decided to go up and talk to the Bateman Brothers before moving his equipment to the garage. Thompson had been in the Bateman home on several previous occasions for parties, but this was the first time he had been down on the Cavern level. Reaching the first floor, he heard voice coming from the game room. When he entered the room he saw Matt and Mr. USDA Choice sitting side by side on a sofa, James, another large man he hadn’t been introduced to yet and the older man who ran the shooting range each sat in a lazy boy style recliner. James introduced him to Keener, George and Stan, after shaking hands and before he could sit down, three teenagers entered the room from the kitchen. Two of the boys resembled the man introduced as George Babcock, but the third one was Mexican and Thompson had no idea what his story was. James saw him looking at the boys and said; Thom I’d like you to meet Shane and Mitch Babcock and Justin Tannonligua. Mitch and Shane are George’s boys and Justin is our foster son. Thompson shook hands with the boys and they all agreed that it was nice to meet each other. Matt offered him a beer and when he said yes he could use one, Justin jumped up and ran to the kitchen returning quickly with a bottle of MGD.

Matt chuckled before speaking; “Keener here tells us you got into a pissing contest with our youngest member this afternoon, I hope he wasn’t too hard on you (authors Note: no pun intended). Thompson had to laugh; “He is rather intimidating for such a young man, there for a second, I thought he was going to whip my ass.”

It was Keener’s turn to chuckle; “Naw, he might have taken a shot at you with Wilbur, but you really would have had to piss him off for him to punch you out.”

Thompson looked puzzled; “Wilbur, who’s Wilbur?”

The entire room burst into laughter, the boy Mitch was the first to speak; “Wilbur is his rifle, Jap’s our ‘Alpha’ sniper, we have one other, his boyfriend Jacky Hoffman who’s almost as good a shot.”

Thompson looked at James; “That boy is your sniper, I thought a sniper had to be big and strong?”

James looked at his high school friend; “That boy has been totting a thirty five pound rifle all over this property for the last eight months. If things go right, we’re sending him, his father and the Gunny to the National Long Distance Rifle Shoot held at Camp Perry, Ohio later this summer. We heard from one of Stan’s friends over at Whidbey Island that one of the Marines that knew him won over two grand by betting on him when they were at the base firing range. Don’t let his size fool you.”

Keener looking sheepish said; “I guess he didn’t mention me working on the rifles this morning to any one, did he?” After everyone shook their heads no, Keener related how Jap put him to bed after he found him working in the arms room that morning. When they all stopped laughing, Keener spoke again; “The little shit made me think for a change, all I had in my mind was that I was letting the Unit down, after he jumped in my shit, I realized that I was causing everyone a lot of worry because I wanted to show everyone that I was a ‘Manly Man’.”

Matt leaned in to him and hugged him, then surprising only Thompson, kissed Keener on the check.

Matt looked kind of irritated; “I’m gonna have to talk to that little redheaded son o... I mean that young man. If he would of hurt Keener’s nuts, I’d have to beat him severely.”

“So guys, how does someone join the Unit, and could I dye my uniform a nice chartreuse?” Thompson wondered.

Gunny laughed; “Oh yeah, that would go over like a turd in the punch at a Mormon Church party.” Gunny looked at Thompson a minute or so before speaking; “Thom if you expected to spin up anyone in this room, forget it. I’m just wondering why you’re putting on the flaming queen act?”

Thompson sighed, all of a sudden the swishy facade he had worn like a robe slipped away; “How’d you guess Stan, I mean I thought I had my act down pat?”

The gunny chuckled; “Next time, keep your shirt sleeve rolled down when you’re working, that U Dub Rose Bowl Husky tattoo isn’t worn by too many people. In fact the only ones I know of are the members of the 94 UW football team.”

James and Matt laughed at Thompson; “Looks like your secret’s out Thom, oh well someone was bound to let it slip sooner or later.”

Thompson hung his head; “Shit, oh well I made ten years, I guess that’s a pretty good run.”

Keener looked puzzled, the boys looked confused, Thompson just looked unhappy while the Gunny, George and the Bateman Brothers laughed at all of them. James finally explained; “Thompson here was the quarterback for the University of Washington’s football team that went to the ‘94 Rose Bowl and won. How many TD’s did you pass for, three wasn’t it?”

Thompson sighed; “No, it was four. I was hoping everyone would have forgotten by now, but noooo, no such luck.”

Thompson tried to explain; “When I was at the Dub, I majored in art, with a minor in computer science. I found that I had a good eye for clothing design and I really liked doing it. Unfortunately, I was on a football scholarship and had to keep the fact that I was gay and that I wanted to be a fashion designer a secret or the team wouldn’t listen to me on the field, or for that matter anyplace else. When I graduated that year, I went to Southern California and got a job as an apprentice designer at one of the big clothing design houses on Rodeo Drive. I worked there until three years ago and came back here because I was fed up with the way people were used and abused by the industry down there. When I came home I met up with James and Matt again down at Chaney’s. We spent the night getting drunk and finally wound up back here, I ended up in one of the spare bedrooms and when I woke up the next morning, I didn’t know what happened or where I was until Matt came in and told me breakfast was ready and to get my fat ass out of bed. One thing lead to another and James and Matt helped me get my design house going, and the rest is history.”

Keener still looked confused; “That’s all fine and dandy, but why the flaming act, why would you want to advertise that you’re gay?”

Thompson chuckled; “Tell me Keener, you ever heard of or seen a straight clothes designer? Not fucking hardly, everything I saw in LA pointed to the fact that the swishier a guy was, the better he did in the industry. People don’t trust a guy who acts straight, they figure he lacks creativity, talk about reverse discrimination, sheesh.”

As if a light bulb came on, Keener said: “OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH, I get it, well shit, now I got to take back all those things I thought about you, damn.”

James laughed along with everyone else, then he looked at the boys and shouted; “Hey Gar cons, parlay voo beer?”

Justin, being the quickest on the uptake said; “Huh?”

James looked at him and said; “Watch my lips, MORE BEER!!!”

The three boys laughed as they headed to the kitchen to fill their leader's request.