Indiana Summer - 3. Letters and lies

Disclaimer: This story includes sexual and romantic situations between consenting individuals. Any allusion to illicit or illegal activity, sexual or otherwise, is used only for enhancement of the story line and not promotion thereof. Remember AIDS, HIV and other STDs are a very real threat, please always practice safe sex.

I can prove copyright on this story so please don't copy or remove this story for personal use without my permission.
*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Indiana Summer03: Letters and Lies.

"David, you got a letter." Annie said as she sorted the mail.

"A letter? That's weird, no one but my dad and a few friends know I'm here. Besides, I've only been here two days." I said as I walked into the dinning room to retrieve my letter.

"Well the return address is Davis California." She said as she handed me the letter.

"Davis, it’s my Uncle!" I exclaimed looking at the name on the envelope.

"Well he must have sent that out last week for it to have gotten here by now." Annie smiled as she sorted the rest of the mail.

"Yeah, I didn't know he knew I was coming here. I'll read it tonight after dinner." I tucked the envelope into my back pocket.

"David, is that the same shirt you worked in yesterday?" Annie asked; feeling the sweat drenched sleeve of my shirt.

"Yes Ma'am, it is." I answered, puzzled.

"Why didn't you ask Billy if you could borrow a different shirt so I could wash this one?" She asked her hands on her hips.

I had never had anyone fuss over me this much about a shirt before, so to say I was unaccustomed to it would be an understatement. It was cool though, on some strange level I felt like a son being fussed at by his mother.

"I'm sorry Ma'am. I didn't think about it, besides, I wouldn't have felt comfortable asking for another shirt, borrowing things from other people makes me feel like a leech." I wasn’t telling the whole truth but I figured it would work.

It was true that I didn't like to barrow stuff from other people, but most of the reason I didn't ask was because Billy had been extremely short and cold with me ever since I came back from my walk the night before.

When I got back to the room we shared it was as if the same guy I had been working with the entire day had been replaced by a robot, the only emotions he seemed able to express were anger and annoyance. He seemed pissed off by my very presence.

"Oh, all right, well you make sure to bring me that shirt down tonight after your shower so I can have it nice and clean for you in the morning, and this weekend I'll have Billy run you to town to get a few work shirts." Annie was still plucking at the sleeve of my shirt.

"I'll make sure to do that Annie." I smiled and walked back to the dinning room to finish my lunch. Annie had taken some of last nights left over chicken and pulled it off the bone and made chicken salad for us to eat.

"Billy where are you!" The old man's voice rang through the house.

"In the dinning room dad." Billy called with an audible quiver in his voice.

His dad came into the dinning room looking royally pissed-off.

He tossed a dingy white envelope that looked as if it had been stepped on onto Billy's plate, dusting most of his sandwich with dirt.

"You dropped it when you picked up the mail and I stepped on it on the way from the fields. I've told you a thousand times to keep hold of this stuff." The old man lectured while Billy stared at his plate, his expression blank and pale.

I opened my mouth intending on confronting the old dick, but before I could say anything Annie came around to Billy's side snatched the letter, glanced at the address and pushed it into her pocket.

"He didn't pick up the mail, I did and it’s only a letter from the church, probably an invite to the church carnival, nothing important. Just apologize and go back to your crops." She put one hand on Billy’s shoulder and the other on her hip, looking pissed.

Old Man Templeton didn't apologize but he did turn and walked back outside. Neither Billy nor Annie moved till they heard the screen door slam shut.

Billy, followed by his mom, got up and dumped his food in the garbage can in the kitchen. When he turned around Annie took the plate out of his hand then pulled the letter out of her pocket and handed it to him.
She said something to him that I didn't hear; he nodded and went through the back door. I watched him through the dinning room window as he headed back to the barn. Annie stood at the kitchen sink and stared out of the window for a few moments before sitting the plate in the sink and walking back into the living room.

After witnessing the scene I couldn't get it out of my head, the way his dad yelled at him and then didn't even attempt to apologize when he had been proven wrong made me sick. A man who can't admit when he is wrong isn't a man.

Having lost my appetite I got up and dumped my food and went out to the barn to see if I could console Billy in some way.

When I got out to the barn I saw him tossing arm fulls of straw into the horse stall. He didn't seem to notice me so I hung back and watched him; even from the distance I was at I could tell that there were tear streaks on his face.

I was about to walk away and give him some more time to compose himself when the stallion, Elder as Billy called him, looked in my direction and started to snort and neigh.

Billy looked up from the hay he was picking up and saw me standing in the doorway.

The second he saw me his face once again became expressionless, he stood up and tossed the last arm full into Elder's stall then turned to look at me.

For a few minutes neither of us said anything, wanting to break the silence before the old man saw us standing around I spoke up.

"What do we have left to do today?"

Billy looked at me with something like surprise on his face, as if he expected me to ask a different question.

"We've done all the construction we can till the rest of the lumber my dad ordered comes in; which should be tomorrow or Thursday. All there is left to do today are a few of my regular chores. You don't have to help if you don't want to." Billy replied as he walked over to a big stack of hay bales.

He grasped the tie strings in one hand, the ties were spaced far enough apart that he could barely hook the tips of his fingers and thumb under them. Struggling to keep hold of the bale with one hand he attempted to climb a ladder next to the stacks. After nearly dropping the bale twice he managed to get to the top of the ladder and toss the bale over the top of the railings.

He came back down and did it again, this time switching hands, but before he could start up the ladder I came up next to him and took the bale from him. For a second he looked as if he wanted to hit me, but when he saw that I wasn’t backing down his face softened.

"You're going to hurt your hands and possibly more pulling that He-man shit,” I told him and a ghost of a smile crossed his face, “Go up and I'll toss the bales up to you, just make sure to catch them. Your old man will kill us both if one of these things hit the ground and bursts." His face once again took on an expressionless look at the mention of his dad.

He climbed up the ladder and I tossed the bale I was holding up to him, he barely gripped the sides of it before it started to fall again.

After the first few tosses we got into a steady rhythm and it went by pretty quickly. By the time I tossed up the last bale my shoulders and sides were killing me and sweat was dripping off my hair and into my eyes.

Billy came down the ladder as soaked with sweat as I was.

"Thanks," he said wiping sweat off his brow, "It would have taken me all afternoon to get those damn things up there alone."

I know he was thanking me but there was a forced stillness in his voice, as if he was trying to keep any and all emotion from showing.

"No problem. How do you normally get them up there, you didn't look as if you were used to climbing the ladder with them or having someone toss them up to you." I looked around the barn as I spoke for an easier mode of moving the bales.

He pointed to a six foot by six foot square of particle board standing against the wall of the barn.

"Its re-enforced with two by fours on the bottom with holes drilled through the corners. Ropes run through the holes and tie onto a lead rope that feeds through a pulley; normally I would stack a few bales on it, hoist it up, tie it to the rail and unload it that was until the pulley ripped out of the ceiling.” He pointed up to a big chunk missing out of one of the ceiling timbers.

"I bet we get to fix that don't we?" I asked with a smile, enjoying the fact that he was actually talking to me; even if it was in a robotic tone.

"Probably." He said looking at me then over to the barn door.

"You boys look like you could use something cold to drink." I looked around and saw Annie standing in the doorway with two glasses of lemonade.

"Thanks." We said in unison as we reached for our glasses.

"So what do you boys have left to do today?" She asked as she looked around the barn at our meager progress.

"Nothing really. I need to take the horses down to the corral to get some exercise and come back and clean out their stalls." Billy answered between taking big gulps of his lemonade.

"Well that's not too bad. You should really take Elder for a ride before dinner; he hasn't been out for a good trot in a week." She smiled as she looked between us to the horses.

Billy mumbled something I didn't catch as he looked away.

Annie who didn't seem to have heard Billy said that she was going back into the house to get started on dinner and that she would talk to us later.

Billy quickly finished his lemonade then walked back to the horse stalls and fit something on to each of the geldings. It was leather and fit around their muzzles and had pieces that ran up the sides of their muzzles that connect to a leather ring that ran around their head behind their ears.
Once they were buckled in place he attached was looked like a pair of leather dog leashes to a ring on each of them then led them slowly out of their stalls.

“What are those?” I asked curiously after he got them out he walked behind them and opened Elder's stall.

“The bits on their head’s are called halters, the leashes are technically called lead shanks but I just call them leashes.” Billy answered tonelessly as Elder trotted out of his stall.

"Shouldn't you put a halter on him too?" I asked as he started to lead them towards the barn door.

"Elder knows better than to run off when he is with me. He'll follow me to the corral and keep the others from running if they happen to get away from me." Billy replied as he led the geldings by the leashes past me to the door.

"You may want to back up some, Elder won't pass you if you're too close." He said and at that exact moment Elder stalled and started to snort at me.

I quickly backed up against the wall to let Elder pass but he didn’t move. Normally I'm not afraid of animals but Elder seemed to REALLY dislike me.

"Come on Elder, come to me. He's not going to bother you." Billy called to him but Elder didn't listen. Instead of going to Billy he stayed in place; neighing in my direction and pawing the ground with his hooves.

Billy was quick to react, he left the other two standing alone and slowly approached Elder.

"Come on boy, its me, Billy, calm down big guy. That guy won't hurt you I won't let him, come to me." He crooned to the horse.

He edged closer to Elder till he was close enough to rub the stallion between his eyes, this seemed to calm him down as he relaxed and followed Billy past me and out of the barn with the others.

I let them get several feet away then followed the small troupe. Billy led the horses down the length of the corn field till we reached an empty field. At the edge of which was a large circle sectioned off with ropes and poles. On one end of the circle there were two long troughs, one filled with water and the other with what looked like hay. That confused me, if they easy hay then why was it used into the stalls?

He untied two of the ropes and unfastened the gelding’s halters and ushered them into the corral with a slap on the hind quarters. Elder galloped past Billy and into the corral with his brothers.

"I'm sorry I spooked Elder." I caused Billy to jump as I spoke.

"You didn't spook him, if you had spooked him he would have charged you. No, he doesn’t trust you that’s why he acted like that; he was trying to intimidate you." Billy gave a small smile as he leaned against the ropes.

"Why doesn’t he trust me?" I made sure to only move a few steps closer considering Elder wasn't too far away from Billy.

"He doesn’t trust anyone but me. I raised him from a foal, nursed him through colic and everything else nature decided to throw at him. No one can approach him without me being with them." Billy voice was full of pride as he looked at his horse.

"Well he should be happy then. His intimidation tactics worked better than yours." I attempted a joke but it failed.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" He asked defensively.

"In the barn when I took the hay bale from you. You tried to intimidate me by looking like you wanted to hit me, when it didn't work you backed off." Yea there went my arrogance, just a little too much.

"I wasn’t trying to intimidate you; I really did want to hit you." He replied angrily before walking away.

I watched him walk back to the barn feeling utterly bewildered.

"What the hell is his problem?" I asked out loud and as if in defense Elder came to the edge of the corral and snorted at me.

"Yeah he doesn’t trust me either." I said before walking away.

                                                                *      *      *

I got back to the barn and grabbed the pitch fork that was leaning against one of the stalls and set to cleaning them out. After I lifted the wet and soiled straw out and into a wheel barrow I turned the rest of straw; tossing it against the wall to get the large pieces of manure to fall to the floor. I picked it out with the fork and moved to the next stall.

Once I was done I pushed the wheel barrow over to the opening of the barn; I would take it behind the house and mix it into the compost pile after dinner.

I glanced at my watch and realized it was only a little past one and I was already done with my chores and the construction work I needed to do in the barn so I climbed the ladder up to the hay loft and re-stacked the bales; trying like hell not to think about David.

I let my guard down after we moved the hay, I shouldn't have talked to him as long as I had; it was just so damn hard not to when he was around. There was something about him that just made you want to open up to him, something that made it so easy.

I made sure to keep the bales of hay and straw separate as I worked, hay on one side of the loft and straw on the other. I had a hard time with that when I was a kid, I’d always mix them up; until Seth helped me out.

‘Hay is for horses and straw is for sleeping.’ Seth taught him the line so he’d remember what was what.

I finished stacking the bales and sat down on one of them and leaned against the stack.

I pulled off my shirt and carefully peeled the bandages off my chest, a thick red streak across the bandage told me it had bled again while I worked. Considering how much I had moved and stretched my chest it didn't surprise me.
I hadn't cut very deep but it had still bled pretty heavily, more so than most of my other cuts. I ran my finger along the diagonal slash, it was dry and had partially scabbed over; I was a fast healer so it never took long for my cuts to heal.

I fixed my bandages and put my shirt back on and pulled the letter mom had given me out of my pocket. I looked over the hand writing on the envelope and with a jolt of excitement I realized it was my brother Seth's hand-writing.

I tore open the envelope and pulled out two folded sheets of paper one with my name on it and the other with the word MOM written across it. I put moms back in the envelope and opened mine.

‘”Hey little Bro;

I know it has been a few months or so since we talked. I've picked up the phone a hundred times to call you and mom but after her telling me the last time we talked that if dad found out he might punish you, I decided to find a different way of reaching you and since you don't have a computer sending this letter was the only thing I could think of.

First off I want to apologize for leaving you there to deal with dad's bad temper alone. I had to get away from there, I couldn't handle dad anymore. He didn't want me to go to college, he wanted me to stay at home and learn how to farm. He doesn’t understand though that I don't have the skill with plants that him or mom have and no amount of his constant lecturing would have changed that.

I'm doing well here in Colorado, Marisa's dad loaned me the money to start my own ranch here and it’s going beautifully. The ranch isn't the only good news, I wanted to tell you and mom this in person but there is no way I can do that so this letter will have to suffice.
Marisa is pregnant and we have decided that if it is a boy we are going to name him Billy after you and if it's a girl Andrea after her aunt. We also want you to be their godfather. I know there are six years between us but you are and always will be my best friend. That’s one reason Marisa and I eloped, I couldn't stand the thought of having a big church wedding without you being my best man.

I've not got a lot of time right now so I am going to leave this here and go, but before I do I need to tell you this. After you get out of school there is a job and a bed waiting for you on my ranch. If you decide to come here every cent you make is for school, you're one of the most intelligent guys I know and I know you'll go far if you're given the chance. Just keep it in mind. And if you ever need anything you call me, both mine and Marisa's cell numbers and the house number are at the bottom of the letter.

I want you to reply to this as soon as you can; I want to hear about everything that has been going on with you.

Love Seth.”’

I read the letter through two more times to make sure I understood it correctly, my brother was going to be a dad; I was going to be an uncle and a godfather. I was so happy that it completely drove any thought of David, my dad, or my cutting issues out of my head; all I could think of was my future niece or nephew.

                                                          *      *      *

"David, can I talk to you for a minute?" Annie asked as soon as I walked in the kitchen door.

"Of course, is there anything wrong?" I asked cautiously, noticing the distressed look on her face.

"Well that depends on you." She replied as she sat down at the kitchen table and offered me the seat across from her.

"Um, OK." Was all I could come up with.

"I need to talk to you about what happened in the barn between you and Elder." She said and I sighed with relief, so long as it wasn't important.

"He just backed me down is all. Billy said he was trying to intimidate me." I said before moving to get up, but apparently we weren't done as Annie reached across the table and pulled me back down, looking if possible even more distraught than before.

"I was afraid of that, you can't tell Mr. Templeton. If he found out that Elder did it again he would shoot him on the spot." Annie clasped her hands together nervously as she spoke.

"I hadn't planned on saying anything to Mr. Templeton, but now that you mention it can I ask why?” I asked curiously.

She took a few minutes to think it over before she answered me.

"It really is a private matter between Billy and his father. I can only tell you that Elder is the reason William has that scar on his arm, the rest you have to learn from Billy." Was all she told me before leaving the table.

I stayed sitting, confused as hell and trying to create the scenario in which the old man got his scar. Billy had said that Elder wouldn't let anyone get close to him unless he was with them; maybe the old man tried something without Billy being there.

Deciding I would leave this puzzle till later I decided to go out to the barn to see if there was anything Billy needed help with. I may not have been in the best mood when it came to him but I was still bored.

I got out to the barn and Billy was no where in sight. I walked the length of the place looking for him; I know he had been there cause the horse stalls had been cleaned out. I was getting ready to go back to the house when I heard rustling coming from the hay loft, so I quietly climbed the ladder and sure enough Billy was lying propped against some hay bales with his hands behind his head and his eyes closed.

Seizing my chance to check him out without being noticed I took in his physique. The jeans he wore were dark blue and frayed around the bottom and faded at the knee and pockets, they also seemed to be a bit too small for him as they stretched at his calves and they were tight enough in the seat that you could see the slight curves of his butt. The white shirt he wore was big enough to hide the definition of his chest and stomach but it stretched slightly at the shoulders and was tight around his biceps. I swear I would kill to see him naked.

"So sleeping beauty, what do we do now that our work is finished for the day?" I asked loudly, causing him to jump in surprise.

"What the hell are you doing there?" He asked angrily

"Other than being appalled at your manners, I was wondering what we do now that the work is done?" I asked not really caring about his manners.

For a fraction of a second Billy actually looked as if he was upset over what I had said, but the look quickly faded back into what was becoming his signature look of annoyed indifference.

"I don't know. Normally I wouldn't be done with my chores till later in the day, you being here made things go faster," At this his expression seemed to soften a little so I took that as a sign that it was a good thing. With Billy it seemed as if everything that should be good or funny wasn't, "Unless dad comes up with anything else for us, the rest of the day is ours to do what we want with."

I was about to make another stab at conversation when the old man walked up to the barn doors and called for Billy.

I barely had time to get down the ladder before Billy shot down it, two rungs at a time.

"Yes Sir." He said walking up to his dad, his demeanor changing in an instant.

One second he had been indifferent boarding on annoyed but the second William walked in he went into whipping boy mode.

"What are you doing in here boy, I don't know how many times I have told you not to leave that damn horse of yours out there alone, you know the other two will follow him if he decides to run off." He said half yelling at Billy.

Now I have only been here for a few days but normally when his dad came down on him like this Billy would just bow his head a little lower and answer in a low voice. Not this time though, Billy looked his dad straight in the eye and in that annoyed tone he’d been using with me came right back at him.

"You know Elder won't run away, to do so he would have to jump the ropes which I trained him not to do. Besides, I needed to leave them down there alone so I could come and clean out the stalls." He pointed back past me to the empty horse stalls as he spoke.

The old man's hands curled into fists and his arms tightened as if he was about to hit Billy. Instead of striking him though he just responded in a lower, more menacing voice.

"Alright smart mouth, then why where you two boys hanging around the hayloft?"

I could tell Billy didn't have an answer to this so I stepped up and formulated a quick story.

"He was getting ready to put more hay in the stalls, so instead of him trying to carry them down the ladder or tossing them to the floor and risking them bursting I climbed up the ladder to tell him to toss the bales down to me."

Both Billy and the old man turned toward me, Billy's expression was hard to place, it was some sort of mix of happiness and disbelief, the old man just looked pissed but he bought the story.

He turned back to Billy and in the same low voice told him to get it done and get the damn horses back in the stalls, where they belonged. Then stalked back toward the corn field.

Billy turned back to me and opened his mouth to speak but he appeared to be at a loss for words. After a second of him looking like an opened mouth fish I told him to get up to the hayloft so we could get it done before his dad came back.

“It’s straw by the way, not hay. Hay is for horses, straw is for sleeping.” Billy said as he climbed up the ladder to the loft.

“That makes sense.” I said quietly and I heard Billy chuckle.

After he tossed down three bales he cut the strings on two of them and told me to make sure to spread it evenly around the floor of the stalls.

We finished the first two stalls at about the same time and we both reached for the last bale without noticing the other was doing it. Either coincidence or design we reached for the same line and my hand landed on top of his. Our heads snapped up and our eyes locked and for a few moments we both forgot what we were doing. We just stood there hunched over the bale, looking into each others eyes.

Something changed in Billy's eyes in those few moments, the cold, hard essence they had maintained since I had met him melted into what I can only describe as fear.

I squeezed his hand slightly and he jerked it from under mine then quickly cut the ties and walked away.

I was still standing hunched over the bale at a complete loss as he walked out of the barn toward the horse corral.

"What the hell just happened?" I asked myself as I started tossing the straw haphazardly into the stall.

I mused silently about the situation as I finished my work and walked back to the house.

I walked around to the swing on the back porch and sat back to think. I had been watching Billy and checking him out since I arrived, I mean, what horny teenage queer wouldn't check out that fucking hunk of farm boy? And yea I had caught him watching me a few times but I figured it was just the normal "comparing the goods" sort of thing.

But what if it was something more. What if he was a closet, or denial case?

"It would certainly explain his hot, cold behavior." I said out loud forgetting where I was.

"Who's hot, cold behavior would that be?”

I looked up and saw Annie standing in the doorway.

"Oh umm, no one important, I was just thinking out loud about my friend in California, she is...having some trouble with her boyfriend." I figured up the worst lie in history, but if he was a closet case I couldn't tell his mom about it.

"Oh I see,” she said and I couldn't tell if she believed me or not, “Where's Billy at?”

"We finished putting straw in the stalls so he went to bring the horses up." I said as she came out and leaned back against the porch rails.

"Well it’s only two o'clock, what are you boys going to do now?" She asked crossing her arms over her chest.

"I don't know what Billy has planned, I figured I would just walk around some more or listen to my mp3 player up in the room." I replied dully, I was really going to have to figure out a way to keep myself occupied in my spare time.

"Well if either I would prefer that you do the second. According to what your father told us he wanted a strict eye kept on you and I am sure that William will follow that to a T, at least for a little while." She said worriedly.

"So then I take it he doesn’t know that I went for a walk after dinner last night?" I asked curiously.

"If he does he hasn't said anything, so you shouldn't either. My husband is nothing if not strict," she said in an oddly defiant tone, "Perhaps a little too strict at times." She added under her breath.

"Great." I said leaning back further in the swing; could this place get any better?

"Don't look so miserable, the worst he can do is make sure that you will not leave the farm without Billy." She said cheerfully as she walked away.

"Great, chaperoned around by a possible closet case, a potentially violent closet case at that.” I mumbled to myself.

I leaned my head back against the cushioned head rest of the swing and closed my eyes. At first all I saw was blackness; then the darkness slowly dissolved into a myriad of bright colors. They swam around behind my eyelids forming pictures, the golden like color the ocean changed at sunset, the faces of all my friends back in California laughing as they sat around a fire at the beach making jokes about my imprisonment on a farm for the whole summer.

"Excuse me but who are you and what are you doing here?" A high feminine voice cut through the picture in my mind.

I opened my eyes and looked around. Standing on the porch steps leaning against the support pole was a beautiful girl dressed in tight faded blue jeans, a red shirt and a light denim jacket. She was slim and curvy in all the right places, with fiery red hair and soft blue eyes, but an oddly pale complexion.

"Who are you?" She asked again.

I stood up and brushed the dust and dirt off my hands before answering.

"David Baily, I'm staying with the Templeton's for the summer." I extended my hand, but like the old man on my first day she made no attempt to accept it.

"Why?" She asked completely ignoring my hand.

Figuring since everyone I met wanted to be rude I decided to drop my politeness.

"I fail to see how that is any of your business; you just need to know that I am." I dropped my hand and my nice guy demeanor.

"I thought gentlemen were supposed to be proper with ladies." She was cocky, part of me liked that.

"I'm far from a gentleman, and I am sure you’re far from a lady." I replied placing a delicate stress on the last word.

"You're definitely not from around here; no boy around here would have the guts to talk to me like that." She said sliding her hands into her pockets and looking me up and down.

"You're right; I'm not, now why don't you tell me why you're interrogating me." I hooked my thumbs in my belt loops as I spoke.

"I'm looking for Billy, where is he?" She asked looking around the porch.

"Last time I saw him he was heading for the horse corral at the edge of the field." I replied pointing back towards the corn stalks.

Without a word she turned and walked down the steps and started in the direction of the corn field.

I watched her walk for a few minutes before sitting back down in the swing.

"I wonder if I should consider dropping the handshake while I'm here." I thought as I closed my eyes once again.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter; I will have more to you soon. As always I love to get your thoughts and opinions so feel free to email me at allenarcane88@yahoo.com, drop me a PM, write me a review or visit the discussion forum.

I read and respond to everything.

Discussion forum link
http://www.gayauthors.org/forums/topic/26094-indiana-summer/