Confluence - 2. Chapter 2

On Saturday Layne paid another visit to his neighbor, who was straining to place a newly-delivered display case.

“Mr. Owen, that looks awfully heavy for one man to wrangle.”

“Oh, Doctor Layne. Yes, I suppose it is.”

“Allow me to assist.” Layne moved to one end of the case and together the men shifted it into position. “There, that’s better.”

Owen clutched his stomach and grimaced.

“Paulie! What’s wrong?”

“Oh -- my stomach hurts sometimes. It’s probably nothing.”

“How about if you let a doctor decide that? Come, now, let me take a look.”

“Here?”

“No, let’s go over to my office. Mrs. Ogilvy works a half-day for me on Saturday; she’ll be gone by now. There won’t be anyone to bother us. Looks like a storm brewing. Let’s hurry.”

***********

The sky had darkened and a few raindrops were striking the windowpanes in Dr. Layne’s office. Owen sat on the examination table holding a tumbler of bubbly liquid.

“Now, Mr. Owen, you drink that down.”

“What’s in it?”

“Bicarbonate of soda. Should help your stomach.”

Owen drank the concoction in one gulp.

“Now undo your shirt and lie back and let me take a look.” Dr. Layne tentatively probed the taut abdomen, looking over the wiry musculature.

“How long have you been having these stomach pains?”

“About a year.”

“Any big changes in your life in that time?”

“Pa died two years ago, so it wouldn’t be that. There’s trying to open the store, of course. And -- Ellie and I got engaged a year ago.”

“I’m going to press over your liver now.”

Layne pressed his hand into Owen’s right side. Owen’s hips bucked and he gasped.

“Did that hurt?”

“No, it’s just a little - ticklish, I suppose.”

“I’m going to listen to you breathe for a moment. Sit up.” Owen leaned forward. Layne pulled the thin shirt up, pressed a stethoscope to the slender back, and listened to Owen inhale and exhale.

“What is that device?”

“It’s called a stethoscope. Been around almost twenty years in this form. Now I’m going to listen to your heart for a bit.” With the stethoscope at his chest, Owen began to tremble. “Is this too chilly for you?”

“No.” Owen gulped. “Your hands are warm.”

“Heartbeat’s a little fast, but that’s easily explained. I don’t feel anything untoward.” Layne put away the stethoscope. ”I think you’ve been under a strain. You have this enormous task of opening a shop, and you’ve been working too hard, and you’ve been drinking far too much coffee. I recommend that you switch to tea and get some more help with the store. I think all the pressure has your stomach tied up in knots.”

Owen looked down, crossed his arms, drew in on himself.

Layne searched Owen’s face. “What? You think it’s something else? Is there something you haven’t told me about?”

“I thought it might be --”

Layne waited patiently. “Thought it might be what?”

“I thought it might be because I -- bring myself to release.”

Layne’s own pulse quickened. “You mean, sexual release?”

“Yes, I was always told it was bad for one’s health. That it would damage the nerves or the innards.”

“I can assure you that’s not true. Trust me, as a doctor, I know that it does no harm at all. You’re a young man in good health and sexual urges arise naturally. There would be more cause for concern if they didn’t.” The terrible secret, Layne thought, the terrible universal secret shared by almost everyone past childhood. “Of course one aims for a sense of proportion. How often have you been -- achieving release?”

“Three or four times a day.”

“I see.” Ah, youth, he thought, though he himself was only thirty-two. “I think that can be considered within normal range. Is any of this with Ellie?”

Owen looked shocked. “No! We’re not married.”

“Still, there are ways for you to--”

“No! She would never!”

Layne tilted his head in perplexity. “But she’s your fiancée. Surely you two embrace affectionately, kiss...”

Owen turned his head away. “We’ve never kissed.”

“Never kissed? Why not?”

“She gets impatient because I’m awkward. When I try, I feel clumsy and foolish. I don’t know how.”

Layne placed his hand on Owen’s. “It’s not difficult, not something you have to go to college to study. The important thing is to take your time and enjoy it. Go easy. Start slow and gentle.”

After glancing at Layne’s hand on his own, Owen held the doctor’s gaze and they were both silent for a moment. “Show me.” His breath was shallow and fast. He sat very still.

The doctor shifted position. “I’ll be happy to. Now, the lips are very sensitive, which is why they can give such pleasure. See, when I touch your cheek with my finger, you feel it, but now, when I run my finger along your upper lip, you feel it much more acutely.”

Owen leaned forward at Layne’s touch. “Yes, I see.”

Layne bent closer. “And when I kiss you on the cheek, like this, you feel it, of course, but now when I kiss you on the lips--”

Their lips grazed each other; then Layne softly kissed Owen’s mouth. He pulled back a few inches and they looked in each other’s eyes. Owen lunged forward and pressed his lips hard against the doctor’s.

Layne broke off. “Easy, Paulie, easy. Press lightly at first.” Owen closed his eyes as Layne placed a brief kiss, then a longer one. “That’s better. Now relax your jaw and let your tongue have a say in this.”

Owen’ eyes went wide as the doctor kissed him again, easing his tongue in. They did not break contact for some time as the doctor held his patient’s face, then wrapped his arms around him.

They were both breathing hard as they drew apart. Layne raised an eyebrow. “I think you’re a natural at this, Paulie.”

Owen took a deep breath. “I feel the need of release.”

“Well,” the doctor said, “maybe I should watch how you’re doing it, just to make sure it’s not leading to some kind of muscular strain.”

“I’ve never done it in front of someone else. I couldn’t. It’s too embarrassing.”

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s the most natural thing in the world. If it will set your mind at ease, I’ll do it with you.”

“You -- you would do that for me?”

“It will be my pleasure. Now let’s get these trousers out of the way.”

*********************

An unseasonably warm thunderstorm had begun. The sound of a cloudburst on the street below filled the bedroom in the doctor’s apartment above his office. Owen lay back on the bed as Layne knelt over him. With a shout and a last rapid flurry of movement Owen brought himself to orgasm, shooting great gouts of white fluid onto his stomach and chest.

“Bliss!” Layne said, stroking his cock with one hand as he felt Owen’s semen with the other. “There’s the Pemigewasset, and here comes the Winnipesaukee.” With a few hard breaths he felt his seed gush onto Owen’s. “And together they’re the Merrimack.”

They both laughed. Then Owen grew serious and said, “Can we kiss some more?”

Layne answered without words.

**********************

An hour later, they sat in a large chair, Owen’s back to Layne’s chest, Layne’s arms tight around him.

“Win, I have to go. My mother, you know.”

“I could hold you like this for hours, Paulie.” He made no move to release him. “My little polliwog.”

“Bigger than you where it counts!”

“Don’t I know it! It’s a medical marvel how much of your youthful growth spurt was diverted to your tackle.”

“Truly, Win, I’ve got to --” Owen stood abruptly. “I don’t know how to think about this. I’ve wanted to touch a man, to be with a man like this. I thought it would be dark and dirty and shameful.”

“I can make it more sordid next time if you prefer.”

“Don’t make fun of me, Win. It’s not any of those things. It’s -- it’s wondrous. It’s strange. It’s such a weight off, you’ve lifted such a burden. You’ve been so -- kind --”

“Oh, I get something out of it, too.”

“What am I going to tell my mother? What am I going to tell Ellie?”

“Nothing for the moment, I hope.” Layne stood and held Owen again. “There’s nothing wrong with this. But most people think there is. You can’t go telling the world. The consequences would be severe.”

“I know that. Of course I know that. I’m not a child.”

“Indeed you’re not. You’re quite fully grown.” Layne’s hand strayed below Owen’s waist. “It’s one of the things I like about you.” He nuzzled Owen’s neck. “I could fall in love with you so easily.”

Owen snorted. “A man can’t fall in love with a man.”

“Are you absolutely sure about that?”

Layne’s heart melted at the lost look that crossed Owen’s face. “I don’t understand what we just did. I don’t understand what’s happening here.”

“I’ll help you, Paulie. I want to do this again. And more.”

“I have to go.”

“Not until you promise you’ll come back.”

“Well,” Owen mumbled, “I probably will need a follow-up appointment.”

“Consider it booked. Now you may go.”

Owen hesitated at the door and turned. “Which church do you attend?”

“I don’t attend any church.”

“Oh! That won’t do. You must come to my church tomorrow. First Baptist, on Church Street, just south of Central Street. Ten o’clock. It’s the best church in town.”

“As long as you’re there, I’ll look forward to it.”

Owen smiled, returned for one long kiss, and left.