Get Into James Shorts - 51. The Cedar Grove

Warning: boys being boys

 

The Cedar Grove

Mississippi

April 1976

It was a beautiful day, and as soon as the 3:00 bell rang, I was ready to go. I put on my backpack and made a beeline for the bike racks. I was off before the buses began to roll out.

Robbie's bike was in bike racks on the high school side of the school. Our spot was high on the second ridge, providing a nice field of view to prevent surprises, and with a cedar grove, plenty of bushy cover to hide in.

The cedar grove, a picturesque spot, was perched on a high spot a quarter mile down the track and at the top of a steep rise. Its lush greenery and the sweet scent of cedar always made it a delightful place to hang out.

Arriving at the cedar grove, I was winded. I carefully laid my bike down and sat on a bank of pine straw. Rummaging in my pack, I retrieved a canteen and some army surplus “Repellant, Insect.” The mosquitoes were particularly bothersome on the trails, thanks to the spring rains filling the bogs between the ridges.

I figured I’d wait fifteen or twenty minutes and then head southeast towards home. It was warm and sunny, so I removed my shirt, trying to get rid of my winter no-tan. As I was very fair-skinned, I’m sure I glowed. I burned easily, but if I took it in small doses, I’d eventually tan.

As I sat waiting, I really wanted Robbie to appear. We had met here a few times after school and had a lot of fun. The anticipation of fun made my bits tingle. I didn’t know his mom had him come straight home with his older brother Jerry to do a big yard chore.

Robbie was a horny fifteen-year-old and the older brother of a friend my age. In my simplistic thirteen-year-old brain, I loved him. I had no illusions about him loving me back. Robbie was sweet, treated me well, and that was all that mattered.

Who I saw coming was a big surprise. TJ was an eighth grader—a black eighth grader who I liked. He ran track and was jogging the trail home, shirtless wearing a backpack. He was taller than me but very skinny, on the track team running distance events. I liked him because he was funny, good-natured, and easy on the eyes.

Dad had kicked my ass for being gay. He’d kill me if he knew what I’d like to do with TJ. I was already thinking randy thoughts, and TJ looked great. Dad had made it clear I wasn’t supposed to hang around with those people. The way he thought, I was one of those people I shouldn’t be hanging around with.

It was 1976, but Mississippi was still backward that way. Integration of schools started in 1969. The surprising thing was the adults may have bitched and bickered about it, but the kids got along just fine. It was only ever a big deal in some people's minds. We did school work, did recess, and played sports. That’s it. It didn’t trigger riots, the apocalypse, or cause fights.

I sat on my cushion of pine straw and watched as TJ got closer. He couldn’t see me and wasn’t looking for anyone. I’d cut this trail to make riding my bike to school feasible. This was the first time someone other than myself had figured it out.

Almost laughing, I noticed TJ’s gym shorts had a very meaty dangle.

When he passed, I said, “Hi, TJ.”

Surprised, TJ hopped up in the air about four inches and turned to see me. I saw instant recognition in his eyes, and he smiled. He ran to a nearby cedar tree, faced it, and pissed all over it. He must have been saving up because it went on for a while. I was trying not to laugh and failing at it.

He finished and turned around, grinning, and said, “You scared the piss out of me, Jimmy! How did I miss you? You’re practically glowing. What are you doing here, anyway?”

Laughing, I said, “Come have a seat. You’ll see.”

TJ joined me on the pine straw and looked around. “I do see. It’s nice up here. It smells good and you can see everywhere.”

I said, “I cut this trail and marked it. You’re the first person I’ve seen on it other than a few friends I’ve shown. I bet you found the markers near Parkers Pond.”

“Yeah, I did. Me and my little brother KJ fish there.”

I grinned, “TJ and KJ?”

“Don’t start. We get enough lip from my cousins.”

“How old is KJ.”

“I call him Squirt. He’s just thirteen and discovered...” TJ made a jacking motion. “There’s never toilet paper in our bathroom anymore.”

I laughed and said, “Everybody loves their shiny new toy and wants to play with it all the time.”

TJ covered his face, laughing, and said, “Ain’t that the truth.”

“I had my first nut when I was ten. Getting big early runs in our family for boys.”

TJ said, “You’re really just a 7^th grader?”

“Yep. Just thirteen. I’m not like that Farmer twit who got put back twice.”

“I was there when you knocked his ass out. Me and my friends were clapping.”

“I remember. He was just such a dickhead.”

“You’ve earned a lot of respect,” TJ said. “When they figured out how big a prick he was to everybody, they made him change schools.”

“The kid he tripped, Foster, is in some of my classes. He’s such a nice little guy, when Farmer did that in front of me, I just saw red.”

TJ turned and sat facing me, a little grin on his face. With his shorts on, I could easily see his balls. He paused a minute and said, “There are a lot of stories about you. Just between us, you want to set it straight?”

“Just between us?”

TJ nodded.

I shrugged and said, “When I was in fifth and sixth grade, I was the biggest kid in class. A bunch of my friends were curious and wanted to look and touch and… stuff. Mr. Happy likes to be touched… a lot. They knew it was over when he got mad, turned purple, and spit at them.”

TJ was rolling in the pine straw, laughing. When he recovered, he said, “I can see that. Was that all you did?”

“My friends and I have known each other since we were little. Then, all of a sudden, I start getting bigger. One is older than me, and the other is just a few months younger.” I grabbed TJ in a wrestling hold and said, “We wrestled.”

TJ and I wrestled; I let him feel my strength, and then I let him pin me with his knees on my shoulders.

TJ figured it out and said, “They were little, but you let them win.”

I rolled him off me, pinned him, started tickling him, and said, “I let them think they won, then I tickle them until they said uncle.”

Lying there laughing, TJ was so cute. There was just so much joy in that smile.

He rolled on his side and said, “It doesn’t sound like you do anything other boys aren’t doing.”

Shrugging, I said, “We didn’t know what we were doing. One of my friends put Mr. Happy in his mouth, and he got really happy. We thought we had invented something.”

Laughing, TJ said, “Yeah, my Mr. Happy likes that, too. You sure ain’t weird for liking blow jobs. Just between us, KJ has a buddy who likes to give blow jobs. He sleeps over as often as we can arrange it.”

“I’ll bet! Seriously, what made it different for me was our scoutmaster was a religious nutcase and went crazy. He told all the parents in the troop, and that is how all the stories started.”

TJ shook his head and said, “Damn. I’d run away if that happened.”

“I thought about it. I try my best to stay out of the dog house. Do you guys ever camp out? There are plenty of places for it out here.”

“We built a tree house in the woods near Parkers Pond,” TJ slapped and said, “Damn skeeters.”

That gave me an idea. I had Vietnam surplus “Repellant, Insect” in my pack, Dad got by the dozen for a quarter a piece at an Army Surplus store. I said, “I’ve got some stuff that’ll make the skeeters leave you alone. Turn around, and I’ll hook you up.”

“Cool! Is that why you look like you have suntan oil on?”

“Yep. It’s odorless cuz you don’t want to bungle in the jungle with a bunch of people who want to kill you and smell like weird chemicals.”

I applied the oily substance to TJ’s back, spending more time than necessary rubbing it in. I had him stand, and I did the back of his legs. He returned the favor and did my back. We both had pitched tents.

Salaciously, I said, “So, would you like me to do your front?”

TJ’s eyebrows rose, and he exclaimed, “Hell yeah!”

By the time I had applied the stuff to his arms, chest, abs, and legs, his boner was pulsing in his shorts.

He gave me a look with a cocked brow and whispered a husky challenge, “I’ll wrassle you for a blow job.”

Suddenly, we were rolling around on the pine straw, giggling, and TJ whispered in my ear, “Don’t you dare let me win.” Then he kissed me!

Neither of us left the cedar grove until almost dark. We would both get yelled at, but that was fine. It was worth it.

It was no longer Robbie and my spot. The cedar grove belonged to me and TJ.

TJ, his little brother KJ, and I all had our reasons for keeping our little secret. If it got out, we would all catch hell from everybody. I wasn’t an enthusiastic fisherman until I met Terrell and Kendrick, but I learned to love fishing and them.