Erastes

Different Points of View

Chapters 11-15

I remember having wonderful dreams after I fell asleep that final time and most of them were of a sexual nature. These dreams seemed so real that I almost felt as if I was doing these things with Jared, but the final dream was so vivid that I swear I almost felt myself reaching an orgasmic crescendo. In fact, those vivid images and feelings led me to have one of the strongest nocturnal emissions I had ever experienced, but immediately after this happened, I awoke and quickly discovered it wasn't exactly as it appeared. As I opened my eyes, I became aware of the fact that Jared had taken my penis out of my underwear and had masturbated me to ejaculation, so it wasn't merely a dream.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I asked, while trying to let him know that I was upset, without sounding too gruff.

Startled, he looked up at me, with his mouth agape and his eyes wide open.

"I was just trying to help you, the way you helped me last night," he confessed.

I knew he probably thought he was merely repaying me for my assistance during his bath, but I felt I needed to clarify my position on this issue.

"Jared, you shouldn't be doing anything of this nature with me," I admonished, "especially without talking it over with me first. Do you understand why?"

When he looked up at my face, I could tell I'd hurt his feelings and he was upset, and then he lowered his head, partially in shame, but he didn't respond to my question right away. I didn't say anything more after that, because I figured he understood my message concerning this type of activity, but then he looked up at me and began to protest.

"Dad, I only wanted to make you feel as good as you made me feel last night," he explained.

He was looking up in my direction now, but he was avoiding making eye contact with me.

"While I was sleeping and possibly couldn't appreciate it?" I posed, pointing out a flaw in his argument.

"I thought you'd enjoy waking up this way," he offered, in explanation.

His response was semi-possible, so I decided to cut him some slack.

"I know you meant well, Jared, but this isn't something you can just do without checking with me first," I stated, while looking at him tenderly. "If you truly understand this now and promise you won't let anything like this happen again, then I guess we can let this matter drop and not press the point any further. What do you say?"

"Ok, I promise I won't do anything like this again," he agreed, "but I still don't think it was wrong."

I could tell he was ready to do as I'd asked and would honor my demand, but he hadn't totally given in without letting me know that he wasn't happy about it. This was definitely vintage Jared.

After I cleaned up, we stayed in bed for a while longer and he scooted over next to me again, so he could put his head on my chest. When he did this, I slid my arm under his body, so I could wrap it around his back and place my hand on his side. I had no doubt that he was happy and content now, even though I wasn't able to see his face. It was really nice, but it was also something a father might do with his son and I knew Jared was just eating this up. After a while, I suggested we should go downstairs and have some breakfast, but Jared began to whine a little and asked me if we could just stay like this for a while longer. I relented and told him we could, but I also told him to let me know when he was ready to eat.

As we continued to lie there, Jared ran his hand over my chest and played with my chest hairs, but he would also occasionally tweak one of my nipples. I didn't say anything about what he'd done, since this act wasn't overtly sexual, and then about a half hour later he began to tire of this activity and informed me he was finally getting hungry, so we got up, threw something on and went downstairs.

Now that Jared had decided he was finally hungry, we strolled into the kitchen and I fixed each of us an omelet and toast. I also poured us both a glass of juice and myself a cup of coffee, in addition to everything else.

"Ok, kiddo. What would you like to do today?" I asked.

"Gee, I don't know. Anything we do together will be fine with me," he answered. "I had a great time yesterday."

"I'm glad to hear that," I acknowledged. "How would you like to play miniature golf again? This time it will be just the two of us."

"Yeah, that sounds nice," he confirmed.

His face brightened at first, but then his expression changed and he began to look sad. I wasn't sure what was wrong, so I asked.

"Jared, is there a problem?"

"Not really a problem, but I was just thinking about all of the different things that I never got to do with my dad," he replied.

I figured I'd better guide him away from these thoughts and tried my best to distract him.

"Did you enjoy it, when we played before?" I followed.

"Yeah, it was fun," he informed me.

"So do you want to do it again?" I pressed.

"Yeah, and I'm ok now," he answered, "because I get to do all of these things with my new dad – you."

"I'm glad you feel this way and that I can help out," I responded. "What do you think about finishing breakfast and then going upstairs to get dressed, so we can head over to the miniature golf course?"

"Yeah, let's do it!" he urged.

Jared quickly gobbled down the last of his meal and drank the rest of his juice, and then leaped up from the table. He hurriedly carried his dishes over to the sink and rinsed them off, before placing everything in the dishwasher. I was mildly amazed by his sudden spurt of energy, since I figured we'd finish up at a leisurely pace, so I decided I'd better follow suit. I quickly devoured the last of my meal and then tried to polish off what remained of my coffee, because I could see he was eager for me to join him.

Before I finished the last of my coffee, however, Jared came back to the table and began to carry away my empty dishes, because he knew I would want to take care of the mess first, before I did anything else. I followed him with my cup, as I drained the last drops of coffee from it, and once everything was put away, he raced from the kitchen, bounded up the stairs. He was in my room before I even got to the bottom of the staircase. When I finally entered the master suite a few seconds later, he was completely undressed and trying to decide what he wanted to wear.

"What do you think, Dad? Which pair of shorts should I put on?" he asked, while looking back at me.

"It really doesn't make any difference, but the khaki shorts look nice," I offered, and he smiled at me.

"Then I'll wear those," he agreed.

Jared then slipped on a fresh pair of briefs, the shorts, an appropriate shirt and his athletic shoes, so he was ready to go. I was taking a little longer, so he sat on the side of my bed fidgeting, while he waited for me to finish. When I had completed my preparations, he followed me into the bathroom, where we both brushed our teeth and combed our hair, before heading downstairs. It was almost as if my movements were being shadowed by a hyperactive puppy, as he followed me everywhere I went, from checking out the different areas of the house to getting my car keys. When I was finally sure we were ready to leave, he also followed me out to the Tahoe, as we hopped inside and drove away.

When we arrived at the miniature golf course, we each picked out a putter and grabbed a different colored golf ball, and then we headed toward the first hole. Once we were there, I let Jared go first and watched as he made his initial putt. He was so excited that he whacked the ball way too hard and it hit off of the backboard and bounced a quarter of the way back to where we started. I told him I'd give him a Mulligan and suggested he go get the ball and start again, and he seemed to like that idea. Once he calmed down a little, he got ready to try again, but this time he carefully gauged the amount of strength he would use for this stroke and took the time to line up his shot, before he hit the ball with the face of the club. This putt was much better and he nearly got a hole-in-one. He was just radiant when he turned around, after he realized how close his ball was to the hole.

I went next, but didn't do quite as well as Jared's last attempt, and he managed to sink his second putt, while I needed two more putts to get my ball into the cup. We continued playing, with Jared doing quite well, but before long my game also began to pick up. When we got to each hole, I would try to point out what the obstacles were and then advised him on the best way to approach the shot. Jared would listen carefully and learned from my advice, before he took his turn. When we finally finished the course and added up our scores, we discovered that we had tied, which made Jared nearly as ecstatic as if he had beaten me. It was an enjoyable time and couldn't have ended any better, even if I had tried to plan it this way beforehand.

By this time, we were fast approaching the hottest part of the day, so I told Jared I was going to take him to lunch next, before we did anything else. I suggested we would go home after that, and take a dip in the pool, to help cool us off. He seemed to like that idea, so we went to Pizza Hut and ordered a pizza, along with the salad bar, and chowed down. As soon as we finished, I took Jared home and advised him that we'd wait a while before we went for a swim. He was fine with that, so we decided to watch some television while we waited.

When it was time to go out and relax in the water, Jared had another proposition to make first.

"Dad, can't we go swimming without anything on, just this one time?" he asked. "I just want to see what it's like to do it with you and this is the perfect time, seeing Josh, Dean or my mom aren't here to catch us. Please, can we do that?"

I thought about his request for a few seconds and concluded that he was correct in his assumption. If I was ever going to allow us to do this together, then this was probably the best and safest time. I finally agreed to his request and he nearly blasted into orbit with excitement, since he could hardly believe that not only was I going to let him do this, but I was going to join him. Immediately, he began to discard his clothing and threw his shirt here, his shorts and underwear there and his shoes and socks someplace else. Then, he turned and waited for me to finish disrobing too. I was a little slower than him, because I was placing my clothes neatly on a chair, and when I had finished undressing, I followed him out to the pool.

The trip just getting there was enjoyable, as I watched his little butt cheeks wiggle up and down, as well as jiggle back and forth, as he meandered out to the pool. When he spun to check on me, to make sure I was still following him, I saw his dick swing around with the rest of his body, until it slapped against the leg closest to me. He was just such a gorgeous sight to behold that I started to get hard just walking behind him. When we got to the edge of the pool, he turned toward me again, but this time he noticed my erection and gave me an evil grin.

"Did that happen because of me?" he wanted to know.

Since I wasn't one to generally give in so easily, I decided to give him a wise-ass answer instead.

"Nah, it was the neighbor boy. I saw him standing nude in his bedroom window earlier," I teased.

Seeing I didn't have any neighbors close enough to make that even remotely possible, he caught on immediately and began to rib me about my condition.

"I get it, because I'm the only neighbor boy around right now," he announced, in an authoritarian tone. "I knew you liked me, as much as I like you, but I thought it would get bigger than that."

The little devil was giving it right back and zinging me, as good as I had given it to him. He must have realized that the only thing I'd react to was if he teased me about my size.

"Hey, it's big enough for whatever I decide to do with it, stubby," I quipped.

I'd phrased my comment that way to let him know that he wasn't so big either, but when we made eye contact, we both burst into hysterical laughter. Once we'd regained our composure, we made a few more snide comments about each other, before we hopped in the pool, which seemed to take care of my problem almost immediately. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool, racing, relaxing, playing volleyball and otherwise having a great time, but it also meant that we were more than halfway through our second day together. Luckily, we both knew there were plenty more to come.

The time that I got to spend alone with Jared was absolutely wonderful and refreshing, but it was more than just that. He also made me feel extremely vital and put some meaning back into my otherwise lonely and dreary existence. He obviously needed and loved me, and I couldn't have loved or wanted him in my life any more than I did now, so I guess we had sort of a symbiotic relationship. I specifically chose this term, since it refers to two dissimilar organisms that are living in a mutually beneficial situation, and I believed it was a correct indication of our current relationship. Here we were, a lonely man and a fatherless boy, not totally dissimilar, but with enough differences to make this term appropriate. It's beneficial in that Jared gets a father and someone to love him, while I get a boy I can do things with and love in return. If only life were that simple.

Our relationship heated up even more on the third night he stayed with me. We'd just completed a very busy day and expended a great deal of energy, so I was beat, but Jared had more stamina than I did. We had just finished showering and had gotten into bed, when we decided to watch a little TV before turning in. When a commercial came on, Jared rolled toward me and posed a question.

"Dad, would you teach me about blowjobs?" he asked, while giving me that look again.

I was only mildly shocked he had asked this, because his sexual curiosity has been running on overdrive lately, but I thought I'd better clarify what he was expecting.

"Sure, I can tell you about them, like how to do it and such," I offered.

He gave me a strange look in response.

"No! I don't want you to tell me, because I know what they are and how it's supposed to be done," he clarified. "What I want you to do is to show me how to do it and let me experience what it feels like. If you do it to me, then I'll know how to do it to someone else."

"Jared, I've already given in to you way too much and broken many of the rules I had set for myself," I replied. "You keep pushing for more and more, but I think doing something like this would be taking things a bit too far."

"Why? We love each other and now you're my dad, so why can't we?" he wondered. "Please."

"Jared, what you're suggesting isn't the type of activity a father and son would do together," I explained.

"Well, we'll just think of each other as boyfriends instead," he suggested. "Even if you're my boyfriend, I can still think of you as being like a dad to me too, can't I? So if you're my boyfriend, we can do it now. Right?"

He smiled, figuring he had won another debate.

"Jared, I wish you'd make up your mind what you want me to be for you," I told him. "I liked the idea about being your dad, but I'm not so sure I'll be able to handle the boyfriend idea though, at least not with you being so young."

"Why, I don't mind that you're older than me," he reasoned. "There'll always be the same number of years difference between our ages, so why does it matter if I'm the age I am now or if I were eighteen or twenty instead?"

"Jared, it's not that simple," I answered. "I'd love to have a boyfriend your age, but at the same time it's your age that poses the problem. No matter how much I might want it, you're still below the age of consent and that could get me locked up for a long time."

"But I thought I proved that I am old enough, even if the law says I'm not," he objected.

"In a physical sense, you are old enough, but that still leaves the question of whether you're emotionally ready to handle something like this," I responded. "What if I had to move away or got killed in an accident. Could you handle that?"

"Probably not, but I don't think I could handle that if it happened to a boyfriend my own age either," he pointed out. "And I don't think any adult could handle that either, if it happened to someone they really loved."

"Ok, good point, so maybe I chose a poor example," I relented, "but seeing I'm older, the odds are increased that I'll die before you."

"I don't care if that happens someday, but it's still what I want. I want you, not someone younger," Jared insisted. "I was hoping you'd want me the same way too."

I could almost read the hurt in his eyes, because he was afraid I wasn't totally committed to him. It nearly broke my heart to know he thought this, so I was looking for some way to make him understand that I probably wanted him more than he wanted me. If only I could let him know that, without giving in to him further.

"Please, Dad 3; or Bob or whatever you want me to call you now," he continued, while struggling with this new concept. "Just teach me how to do this, because I want to feel what it's like, but I only want to do it to you."

"Jared 3;" but he didn't let me continue.

"Please. It's something I really want to do, but mostly because it would be with you," he clarified.

"Jared, if I give in to you about this, then next you'll be coming to me wanting to try anal sex," I reasoned. "I just have to draw the line on this, because I can't allow it to go that far."

"Why? No one would find out," he stated, while still trying to convince me. He was looking less hopeful now.

"Jared, that's not true," I explained. "We might get away with the oral sex, but anal sex could leave bruising and possibly even some tearing around your rectum. Any doctor would recognize those signs and report it, whenever you were given a physical."

"How about blow-jobs? Do they leave signs that doctors would know about?" he challenged, not giving an inch.

"Not that I know of," I confirmed, "but I know you and eventually you won't be satisfied to stop at that."

"Well, if a blowjob won't leave any signs that anyone can see, if you'll do it with me, then I promise I won't ask you to do anything in the butt, at least until I'm old enough," he offered, looking for any sign that I might be willing to give in.

"Jared, you've made promises like this to me in the past and you just don't seem able to keep them. If you remember, you said if I let you sleep with me that you wouldn't try anything," I reminded him, as I eyed him suspiciously.

"And I haven't, not when we were in bed," he responded.

"Then what was that hand job you gave me or how about trying to sleep nude?" I pointed out.

"That wasn't pressuring you to do something to me," he suggested, hoping that argument might suffice.

"I think your getting into bed naked was meant for that reason," I asserted, "and then you gave up all pretense when you asked me to masturbate you in the tub, so why should I believe you would keep your word this time?"

"Because I swear I'll keep my promise this time, if you'll do this for me," he reiterated.

"But this is no different than any of those other times, so how can I be sure you'll keep your word this time?" I challenged.

He thought for a minute or two before he answered.

"Because if I don't keep my promise, then you don't have to be my dad any longer and you won't have to let me come visit you either," he offered.

After he made this proposition, I could see the trepidation on his face, because he feared it could possibly come to that, if he didn't keep his promise this time. I was thinking it over very carefully, when I saw a tear sneak out of the inside corner of his right eye and start rolling down his cheek. I knew he was putting everything he held dear into his promise this time, so how could I refuse so valuable an offer?

"God, I'm probably nuts for doing this, but ok," I agreed. "Just remember, if you fail to keep this promise, then I'll be forced to hold you to your word and you'll be the only one to blame for what happens. Remember, you're the one who set the terms and you'll be the only one who can break your promise, even though we will both lose out if you don't keep your word this time."

"I know," he blurted out.

After he'd said that, Jared pushed back the sheet, hopped onto his knees, so he could throw his arms around my neck. I had been propped up against the headboard, with a couple of pillows behind me, and he not only hugged me, but he began planting little kisses all over my face. After about a minute of this activity, it began to feel as if I was getting my face licked by an overly friendly puppy, so I was tempted to begin looking for a newspaper I could roll up and use to swat him on the nose, just to get him to calm down.

"Jared, take it easy," I finally advised him, "before you manage to injure me."

"I wouldn't hurt you. I love you too much to do anything like that, especially now that you're going to teach me even more," he assured me.

Inadvertently, Jared had just explained his priorities, meaning I was safe, as long as I did what he wanted, but he was also literally bouncing on the bed, because he was so excited that I had agreed to do this for him. I was wondering how long he was going to continue this exuberant celebration, when he suddenly stopped, looked at me and then quickly slid his briefs down his legs, before removing them completely. After that he lay back on the bed and gave me a sly grin.

"Ok, I'm ready," he announced, as he spread his legs and offered his goodies to me.

He looked so damned adorable lying there, semi-erect and waiting for me to service him. This was going to be more for my benefit than his, but I would lavish him with the best oral sex that I knew how to give. Slowly, I moved over next to him and crawled between his legs, before I bent forward and began to lick his scrotum. After doing that for a few seconds, I started to suck on his watery marbles, which caused Jared to begin wiggling on the bed, but he was also starting to giggle every now and then while I was doing this. Confused by these actions, I pulled back and asked him what the problem was.

"It's not a problem, but it just tickles a little," he informed me. "Don't stop though, because it feels really good too. I didn't know it would feel so wonderful when you started to do that."

"Oh, it can, but there is much, much more to come," I informed him, before dropping back down into position.

This time, I nipped gently at the skin on his scrotum and playfully tugged on it for a little while, before I took his entire ball sac into my mouth, so I could roll his testicles over my tongue and inside that warm, moist lining. As I did this, he began to squirm wildly beneath me on the bed, but he was no longer giggling. Instead, he was whimpering, almost mewing, so I took this as a good sign and felt it meant that he was enjoying this part of the process. As I mentally prepared to move on to the next stage, I carefully released his nut sac from my mouth and started to lick up the underside of his shaft. I could feel his entire body begin to shiver as I did this, so it must have caused at least a few tiny electrical impulses to course from his penis and radiate throughout his entire body.

His dick continued to swell and got even harder, as I ran my tongue around the head of his penis and let it dart in and around the tiny slit as I did so. After teasing him like this for a few seconds, I lowered my mouth over his helmet and completely enclosed it inside my warm, moist oral cavity. I heard him gasp, as my mouth slid down the shaft, so I knew he must like the feeling. Encouraged, I began to nod up and down on his stiff little mast and used my oral muscle to stimulate the surface of his penis, while I used the suction of my mouth to bring him even greater pleasure. I could hear Jared's breathing, and it was coming in short, raspy breaths, but I couldn't see his face. All I knew for certain was that he was pleased with my efforts.

I was using every piece of knowledge I had even learned about oral sex to pleasure Jared, and I even let my hands and fingers get into the act. I used them to manipulate and rub his scrotum and nipples, while I applied oral stimulation to his penis. It was just about all Jared could handle now, and then I felt his body stiffen slightly, just prior to sensing that he was arching his back. His hands grabbed the back of my head and he drove his penis deep inside of my mouth, so he could release those precious drops of immature boy cum. I'm not sure how much he spewed, but I felt his dick pulse several times. This told me his penis was straining to expel his boy seed and the taste of that sweet nectar was something I shall always remember. It had the consistency of dew and with the sweetness of honey. It was as warm as milk straight from a cow, yet as refreshing as a glass of cold water on a very hot day.

Jared was in sort of a swoon after releasing his load and his eyes were closed, as he lay motionless on the bed and recuperated from that new experience. I rolled off to the side and scooted up on the bed, so I could see his face, and then I watched him closely, as his breathing returned to normal. I was astonished by the glow that seemed to engulf him, as he relished the intense sensations that had washed over his body. Slowly, I saw his eyes begin to open, as he gradually regained his senses, and then he finally spoke to me.

"That was absolutely incredible," he wheezed, in a breathless and raspy voice. "I didn't know it would be that wonderful. Thank you, Dad. I really love you for doing this for me."

I didn't respond verbally to his praise and merely smiled and nodded at him. Then, I stroked the top of his head, to let him know that I was still there for him. He cuddled against me, as he continued to enjoy those warm feelings of afterglow, and then he began his next round of teasing.

"Ok, Dad, can I do that to you now?" he asked.

"Are sure you want to do that NOW?" I challenged. "Don't you want to leave something for another time?"

"No, I want to do it now," he stated, forcefully. "Just tell me what to do."

That ear-to-ear grin had now spread across his face once again. I nodded my approval and he sprang to his knees, as he watched me lower my underwear, eventually removing them completely. Now, I was completely exposed, and he had full access to my member, and I realized I must be absolutely nuts for allowing this to happen.

"Ok, kiddo. Do you remember how I started?" I inquired.

"You mean when you licked my nuts, tugged on the sac a little with your teeth and then took everything into your mouth?" he wondered.

"Yes, that's what I meant," I confirmed. "Do you think you want to do that?"

His smile never dimmed.

"Oh, yeah. Big time," he agreed.

I spread my legs for him and he hopped between them. After he was in position, he bent forward, so he could use his tongue to stimulate that part of my body and then proceeded to attack it, like a kitten with a bowl of cream. Eventually, he began tugging on my scrotum with his teeth and I had to tell him to be a little gentler. Since he was now worried that he had hurt me, he stopped doing that and took one of my testicles into his mouth instead and began to close his lips around it.

"Hey, champ, easy with those teeth and don't suck too hard," I warned. "Extend your lips forward, so they go past your teeth, and then you won't bite anything off."

He began to giggle now, so he spit my ball back out of his mouth, which relieved me greatly.

"I wouldn't do that 3; well not on purpose," he added.

"I know, but it's the mistakes that scare me," I countered, while making a face at him, which got him laughing even harder.

After we had that settled and he had regained his composure, he decided to get back to business. He started to do the same thing to me again, but this time he kept his teeth away from my family jewels. He continued on like this for a few minutes and then he sat back up, looked at me and spoke again.

"What should I do next?" he wanted to know.

"You can lick up the shaft and around the head next," I instructed, "and when you think you're ready, you can take it into your mouth. Don't try to take too much, because if you do it might cause you to gag."

He acknowledged my advice, before he went back to his business and did what I had told him. When he eventually got ready to swallow my dick, he took just the head into his mouth, but when he began to bob up and down on it, he went too far at one point and began to choke. He pulled up and waited a few seconds, until his gag reflex had subsided, and then he looked at me and gave me his 'yeah, I forgot your advice' look, before he resumed his actions.

When he went back to nodding up and down on my knob with his mouth again, he wasn't able to take much more than the crown and the top inch or so at any time. He was doing well at keeping his teeth back, but I needed a little more stimulation, so I suggested that he use his hand on the lower part of my shaft, where his mouth wasn't reaching. I told him to keep his hand in sync with the movements of his mouth and follow in the same direction, as his head raised and lowered on my erection. He immediately did as I'd suggested and was now like a greedy little puppy on a bone, which meant he was giving me his best effort.

Soon, all of this stimulation was beginning to get to me and I felt the pressure building in my groin, which let me know that I was about ready to erupt. I wasn't certain if Jared wanted to swallow my spunk, so I told him I was about ready to blow and he'd better pull off, if he didn't want to drown in my juices. The little bugger didn't even slow down after I told him this, so I tried to warn him again. Unfortunately, I was just too far gone by that point and it was only a couple of seconds later that hot ropes of my cum were blasting from my dick and filling Jared's throat.

He didn't try to swallow it, but he couldn't hold it all in his mouth either, so much of it dripped back out between his lips and onto my body. When I looked up at him, he had cum at various spots all around his mouth, as well as running down his chin, and well 3; he looked positively adorable. Of course, he was still wearing that monstrous grin of his at the same time, which only improved the image.

"Thank you, kiddo," I told him. "You did a very nice job and I really enjoyed it."

His grin broadened.

"Not as much as I did," he assured me. "That was neat."

After that, we discussed what we had just done in a little more depth and then I made another suggestion to him.

"Hey, why don't we take a shower and get cleaned up?" I offered. "We're both covered in my semen and I think we should wash it off before we go to sleep."

"Yeah, but can we shower together this time?" Jared asked, his eyes pleading with me.

"Hey, after everything we just did, I don't see why not," I answered.

He started to bounce up and down on the bed, since he'd just been given a positive response to his question, and he seemed pleased this was something else we were now going to do together. After I got him to calm down a little, we went into my bathroom, and since we were both naked already, I turned on the water and adjusted the spray to a comfortable temperature. Once that was accomplished, we both stepped in and then I began to wash Jared off, starting with his face. He was thrilled that I was allowing him to shower with me, but he was even happier when he realized that I was going to wash him too. I cleaned him carefully and made sure to bathe every inch of his body. When I had finished scrubbing him, he looked up at me again.

"Can I wash you now?" he wanted to know.

"May I wash you now?" I corrected, but he looked confused.

"But you already did," he responded, still not getting my drift.

"No, Jared. You have to ask 'may I', not can I" I repeated, and after I'd told him this way, he began to understand.

"Ok, daddy teacher. MAY I wash you now?" he quipped.

"It's Daddy, writer," I corrected, and then I merely smiled and nodded my head.

That's all the approval Jared needed, so he grabbed the washcloth, lathered it up with soap and began to gently clean me off. He also made sure he hit every inch of my body and seemed happy that I was allowing him to do this. No matter how much time I spent with him, this young man continues to amaze me each and every minute we're together.

When he finished washing me, we rinsed off, dried and headed back into the bedroom. As we started to get back into bed, Jared just hopped in, without bothering to put anything on. I was about to protest, when I thought that after everything else we had done, what harm would this do? I bit my tongue and didn't say a word, as I slipped into bed without putting anything on either. Jared recognized this fact at once and lit up. After we were both in our proper positions, he snuggled up against me and we quickly fell asleep.

Here we were, not even halfway through Jared's stay with me, and already I had broken most of my own rules. The only one still in place was my sanction against anal intercourse and I truly believed I'd left that in place for my own protection, rather than Jared's. I knew that if I had anal sex with him it could leave bruising, and possibly even some tearing, and those were signs that could be discovered later, even long after the act itself had actually been done. At least by only giving in to him on the masturbation and oral sex, there was no way the authorities could find out about this later, unless Jared told them or my place was being bugged. Therefore, I felt I was reasonably safe, at least in that regard.

I woke up before Jared did the next morning, so I stayed in bed and watched him sleep next to me. He was so cute and I could see his morning erection straining against the sheet. I don't know how long I had been staring at him like that, before he opened his eyes and spoke to me.

"What's wrong? Is something the matter?" he wondered.

"No, nothing is wrong," I confirmed. "I was just enjoying how beautiful you look."

His face lit up and he propped himself up on one elbow.

"You really do love me, don't you?" he asked, through that huge grin of his.

"Absolutely, and with all my heart and soul," I confessed. "I love you more than life itself."

He began to giggle.

"How could I be so lucky," I continued, "to have such a wonderful young man fall in love with me?"

"It's easy. You're good-looking, fun to be with and a really great guy," he answered.

"And that's all it takes?" I teased.

"I guess so," he replied. "I think I fell in love with you right after we first met. I just came down to ask if you had any work I could do, but when I went home, I knew that I wanted to spend a lot of time with you, so I could get to know you better. That night. I even dreamed we had sex together."

"Wow, you didn't waste any time, did you?" I stated, amazed. "Is that why you kept pushing me in that direction?"

He gave me an evil grin.

"Mostly. I got so worked up that night that I shot that stuff in my underwear while I was sleeping, so my jockeys were all hard and crusty when I woke up the next morning," he admitted. "I tried to rinse them out in the sink, so mom wouldn't know what happened, but I think she kinda figured it out, cuz she gave me a sex book to read a couple days later. It had a piece of paper marking the part about wet dreams."

His complexion was now quite red, as he relived his embarrassment from that day.

"Damn, it's kinda weird to have your mother know those things are happening to you," he added.

"Yes, I'm sure it is," I agreed, "and most boys don't like talking to their mothers about sexual issues,"

Jared was nodding his head in agreement after I'd said this.

"Chicks don't understand dicks," he told me bluntly, which kind of surprised me. "She yells at my brother and me when we touch or adjust our dicks through our pants, but she also makes comments about it, if she notices them pushing out our underwear or pajamas when they're hard. Then, she goes and gives me a book to read when it goes off at night."

"I'm sure she doesn't mean anything by it," I advised him, but then I thought about what he had just said. "She really makes comments about your morning erections?"

"Oh, yeah, and when she sees us like that she'll say, 'Either go to the toilet or put a robe on and cover that up.' It's not like we're doing it for her or anyone else to notice," he confessed.

"Oh, so you boys run around like that in the morning, when she can see it?" I asked, although I probably shouldn't have said that out loud.

"No, she says those things when she comes in to wake us up in the morning," he told me. "A lot of times we don't have any covers on when she comes in, especially during the summer when it's so hot out, and even Josh gets boners in the morning."

He said this like he didn't think that was supposed to happen to younger boys.

"Well, maybe you should be more careful around her," I suggested.

"But there are times when you have to adjust or scratch it," he stated, "and she always seems to see us when we do that. And I can't help it if it's always hard in the morning. Maybe she should just holler at us from the doorway or knock, instead of coming into our rooms from now on."

"Maybe you should suggest that to her," I offered. "Just tell her you're getting older and would like a little more privacy. I think she will be able to understand that."

"Ok, I'll try it," Jared agreed.

He then gave me a look that seemed to say, 'thank you for that idea.'

"So, kiddo, what would you like to do today?" I wanted to know.

Suddenly, another evil grin appeared on his face.

"Can we suck each other off again?" he asked, without hesitation.

I merely gave him one of those fatherly looks, that was meant to tell him that we couldn't do this all the time, but he countered with that pathetic, pleading look of his, the one that always seemed to make me feel sorry for him.

"Ok, but we're not going to spend all of our time doing this," I answered.

As soon as I replied, I could see his face breaking into another huge smile.

"Ok, Dad, but I want to do it at least one more time today," he explained. "It was so neat and felt so good that I just want to try it again. Ok?"

"Why don't we go empty our bladders and eat breakfast first," I suggested, "and then we can do something after that, if you still want to."

"Oh, I'll want to, so let's hurry and do that other stuff quickly," he urged.

Jared then raced off for the guest bathroom, while I went to urinate in mine, and then I met up with him again, when he came into my room to slip something on. Once we were both decent, we went downstairs and headed toward the kitchen, ready to start the new day.

Chapter 12
The Joys of Being Alone

I asked Jared what he wanted for breakfast this morning and he said just cereal, so I told him to pick out a box from the pantry and get the milk out of the fridge, so he could get started. I decided to have an egg sandwich, but I also fixed Jared some toast to go along with his cereal. We both had a glass of juice, but I also had my coffee, and all the time I was eating, Jared kept asking me the same question.

"Dad, how soon are we going to go back upstairs?" he persisted.

"In due time, son, and there's no need to rush," I assured him. "Take your time eating and what you are so anxious to do will be just as enjoyable in fifteen or twenty minutes, as it would be five minutes from now."

He gave me a dirty look, but he got the message and stopped whining.

After we cleaned up the breakfast dishes, I finally agreed that we could go back to my bedroom, if he wanted. He was so excited that we were finally going to do this that he grabbed my hand and began pulling me toward the stairs. He was in such a hurry that I thought he was going to pull my arm out of its socket, as he tried to entice me to move faster. I did quicken my pace slightly and followed him upstairs, but it was apparent that Jared didn't find this to be quick enough. He kept tugging on my arm, to encourage me to go even faster, but I didn't give in. When we eventually got there, he looked both relieved and satisfied, but then he wanted to know who was going to go first this time.

"Why don't we do each other at the same time?" I suggested.

"What do you mean? How can we do that?" he wondered, looking confused.

"Well, there's a position called a sixty-nine, where we can do each other at the same time," I explained. "Do you want me to show you how?"

He nodded and we both took off our underwear again. I had him lie on his back, but not as high upon the mattress as he would to sleep, and then I straddled him, with my head over his groin, and my groin over his head. He immediately saw what I was doing, and began to suck on my penis. I wasn't even hard yet, but it didn't take him long to get me that way, with his energetic attention to my penis. As he continued to suck me, almost like a calf sucking on its mother's teat, I began to run my tongue all over his pubic region. I licked his scrotum, his pubic triangle and then up and down the length of his throbbing pole.

After I finished doing that, I left his penis alone for a while and put my head between his legs instead. I then took his ball sac into my mouth and was gently nibbling on those watery orbs, as I rolled them over my tongue. Once I had him squirming from this stimulation, I began to hum, with his ball sac still in my mouth, and let the vibrations ripple through his testicles and radiate throughout his body. He stopped sucking on me momentarily when I started doing this, because he got lost in the wonderful sensations he was now experiencing. After doing this for many seconds, I stopped humming and he went back to work on my penis, but he also tried to increase his suction, in order to make up for the lost time.

When I took his penis into my mouth again, he was so excited that he began thrusting his hips into my face and ramming his pole in and out of my throat. He must have been feeling the need to get off as quickly as possible, because he was really machine-gunning his dick in and out of my mouth, and I could barely do more than apply a little suction or run my tongue along the side of his shaft. Before long he arched his back, drove his cock as far into my oral cavity as it would go and then I felt him tense up, before the first string of his precious juice erupted onto the back of my tongue. I continued to suck on his magical wand and teased each burst of that sweet nectar from its home, while Jared completely forgot about my penis and let it fall from his mouth, as he enjoyed his orgasm.

Finally, he let me know I could stop sucking on him, because he said his penis was getting a little tender, and then he began to attack my cock with the same urgency that he had attacked my face. After analyzing the current situation, I talked him into stopping briefly, so we could switch positions and he would be on top. You see, after considering the idea of him being underneath me, I suddenly became concerned that if I ejaculated while he was on the bottom, he might end up choking on my juices, since my cum wouldn't be able to seep out of his mouth, as it had when we'd done this previously.

After we had switched places, he immediately began attacking my groin again, with his small hand assisting, almost as if he were starving for the treat at the end. I didn't think I was anywhere near being close to shooting, but his hungry mouth and young man's eagerness soon had me realizing it wouldn't be long before I'd be enjoying my own release. His head was nodding up and down on my dick very quickly, as rapidly as if he were bobbing for apples in a tub of hot water, while I turned my attention elsewhere.

While he was working so hard to finish me off, I spread the cheeks of his ass and began to run my tongue up and down his crack. Occasionally, I would let the tip of my oral muscle dart into his opening and he would instinctively stiffen whenever I did this. Eventually, however, he must have decided that there was no reason to be concerned, since I wasn't trying to penetrate him completely, but he might have even thought that it felt good, so he began to relax. I merely wanted him to know there were other things we might be able to do in the future, but not until he had reached the age of consent. I was determined we wouldn't do anything that might leave any physical signs of our lovemaking, because I didn't want there to be any evidence that could be used against us at a later date to indicate what we had been doing.

By this time, the juices in my nut sac were coming to a boil and I could feel them starting to rise up the tubes of my penis. Before long, that hot lava would be spraying into Jared's mouth, coating the smooth interior lining and oozing down his throat. I attempted to warn him, since he'd had so much difficulty handling the quantity the last time and I didn't want him to choke on my juices as they flooded his throat, but I was unable to find my tongue. When the floodgates opened, Jared tried to swallow some of it this time, since he was more prepared for when it shot into his mouth, but a little still escaped from his lips and dribbled down his chin. Once we were both satisfied and exhausted, we sprawled out on the bed, but Jared swung around first, so he could rest his head upon my chest and shoulder.

We continued to lie like this for several more minutes, before I suggested that we get up, shower and get ready to do something else. Without any protest, Jared agreed. Of course, he wanted us to take our shower together again and I saw no problem with doing this either, but it didn't take us as long to finish up this time. After we dried off and got dressed, we tried to decide what we might do today. I wanted to try something different each day, if possible, and seeing this was only our fourth day together, out of nine – make that ten, since he had spent Thursday with me too, it shouldn't be a problem.

I was already beginning to regret that this was going to have to end at some point, although we would still be spending time together even after his mother returned, but somehow I knew his visits would never be the same as they once were. After everything we had done thus far, I certainly couldn't see us stopping now, but I wasn't about to complain, although we would have to be careful. During this time together we had reached another level in our relationship and I could only wonder how many more levels we still had to reach.

Seeing it was Sunday, I drove us down to the walking trail, so we could walk the four-mile [6 km] loop. I wasn't sure if Jared would enjoy doing this, but he was eager to try it and happily led me on one of the briskest walks I have ever undertaken.

"Jared, this isn't a race," I complained, hoping it might slow him down a little.

"I'm not running or racing, but you have to keep up the pace, if you want to get any benefit from it," he replied. "You did say you wanted the exercise, didn't you?"

"Exercise, yes. Heart attack, no!" I stated, while giving him an exasperated look.

"Come on. You aren't that old, so just keep up with me," he begged. "I'm really enjoying this and don't want to slow down."

"So you enjoy seeing me suffer?" I asked, for clarification.

"You aren't suffering," was his retort. "Just remember the saying, no pain, no gain."

"Well, there's plenty of pain, so I hope there's an equal amount of gain to go along with it," I quipped.

I'll admit, I was merely playing the role of drama queen and wasn't in as much distress as I was indicating, but I wasn't about to let Jared know that. I wanted him to believe he was giving me one hell of a workout, because he was trying to get back at me for taking so long before I gave into him about having any sexual contact.

"Let's sprint to the finish line," Jared challenged, as we approached the area where we'd parked the Tahoe.

"Only if I have a sprint car for me to do it in," I responded, while making a face.

"Dang, are you that out of shape?" he wondered.

"I thought I was in pretty good shape, with all the swimming we've been doing, but I wasn't ready to run a marathon," I teased.

"This isn't a marathon," Jared corrected. "That's 26 miles [41 km] and this was only four [6 km], but I'll do that with you, if you want."

"The only marathon I want is in bed," I answered, which caused Jared to give me that 'Did you really say that' look.

"To sleep, so get your mind out of the gutter," I corrected, after realizing what he was thinking.

"We could do the other stuff too," he suggested, with a mischievous grin.

"Damn. You really ARE trying to kill me," I whined.

"Never," was Jared's immediate reply. "I want you around forever, so we can always be together."

"I'm not immortal, like Duncan MacLeod," I jeered, not realizing that he wouldn't catch my meaning.

"Who's that?" he wondered.

"Didn't you ever see the Highlander movies or TV series," I asked, someone amazed.

"I think I saw the movie once, but I don't remember much about it or the characters' names," he answered.

This revelation made me conclude that we'd have to correct this educational gap in the very near future.

"Well, Duncan MacLeod was an immortal who could only die if you chopped off his head, but I don't have that luxury," I explained.

"That you'd die if someone chopped off your head?" he shot back.

"No, that would surely cause my death, but what I meant was that I don't have the luxury of being immortal and living forever," I explained.

"We won't run then, if you don't think you can handle it, because I don't want anything to happen to you," Jared offered, although I think he might have still been trying to shame me into racing him to the end.

"Thank you, your majesty," I teased. "I'm glad you took pity on your poor subject."

"Only until we get back to your place and then I'll give you a different kind of workout," Jared shot back.

"Damn, I've created Mr. Hyde," I joked. "He came to me as Dr. Jekyll, a sweet kid who does chores and is nice to me, but he's since turned into Mr. Hyde, a little sex fiend who never tires or gets his fill."

I whispered that last part, so no one else would overhear us, although we didn't see anyone else in the immediate vicinity.

Once we got back to the house, we showered together, again, and then we had some lunch. As we ate, Jared continued to tease me about our little walk and we talked about what other things he might want to do during the days ahead.

After we rinsed off the dishes and placed them in the dishwasher, Jared teased me about going upstairs with him and participating in another round of oral sex. I could still remember what it was like being a horny teenager, although I'm long past that point and wasn't sure if I was up for another go around.

"Jared, this isn't something we're going to be able to do every time we're together or so many times in one day," I clarified. "You'll have to learn to pace yourself and be satisfied with what we do."

"Okay, so how about if we just do it when we first get up in the morning, then again after lunch, while we're waiting to swim, and then one final time before we go to bed?" he suggested.

"That's your idea of taking it easy?" I challenged.

"Yeah, because I'd want to do it more than that, if you were willing," he responded.

"Damn, you're going to wear me out," I sighed.

Although I was making it sound as if this were a bad thing, I was actually thinking, 'what a way to go!'

"Come on," he whined. "Three times a day isn't so much."

"Not for someone your age, but I'll try to keep up," I offered. "Once in a while though, I might choose to just do you and give my dick a little break."

"Only once in a while, but not too often," Jared agreed. "I like doing it to you almost as much as I like you doing it to me, so I don't want that to change."

I guess I'll just have to suck it up and do this for 'God and Country,' I thought, as Queen Victoria might have said.

We did what Jared wanted and then we went out for a swim. When we came back indoors, Jared agreed to give me some time to write, since I couldn't afford to stop being productive for such a long time. He actually watched me for a while and tried to read over my shoulder, but I told him I couldn't work that way. I did agree to tell him about the story later, but for the most part, I wanted to keep this a secret, so he could read it and be surprised after it was published.

After dinner, I used my Netflix account to pull up a couple of the old episodes of the Highlander TV series, so Jared would have a better understanding of what I'd meant by my comment earlier. To my mild surprise, he really enjoyed the show and wanted to watch more, but I told him we'd do that some other time, but now it was time to go to bed. He didn't argue, because he was anxious for his next round of oral sex, so I followed him, as he flew up the stairs.

On Monday, Jared let me write for a while after breakfast, and then in the afternoon I took him bowling. Although he didn't start out doing so well, he listened to my suggestions and began to improve. When this happened, Jared tried his best to beat me, but he didn't come close, because once again this was something I'd done before. I used to bowl in a league and at one time was fairly good, and even though I was more than a little rusty, Jared still wasn't close to my level of ability. I let him know he shouldn't get discouraged, since it had taken me a long time to get this good, so he smiled and said some day he'd whip my butt. I wasn't sure if he was talking about the bowling or if he was referring to an S & M urge he was having, but I didn't have long to consider this. The better he did, the more he enjoyed it and more competitive he got, so I suspected this was an activity that we would end up doing again.

After dinner that evening, Jared told me that he wanted to watch a couple more episodes of the Highlander, so I agreed that would be fine. Contented, he curled up against me on the sofa and cuddled against my chest as we watched heads roll. Of course, we also managed to complete our third round of oral sex before we went to sleep, because he definitely wasn't getting bored with this activity at all.

On Tuesday, he gave me the morning to write again, and then after lunch we drove to a nearby city, so I could take him to play laser tag. This was something else Jared had never done before, and I had only done it a couple of times, but that last time I tried this was a few years ago. I knew he'd enjoy this, even though there weren't that many people around at the time, but I knew he'd get the most fun out of trying to shoot me.

Since we were playing teams, Jared and I made sure we were on opposite sides. It was a fun course, with plenty of places to hide, advantageous spots to shoot from and plenty of opportunities to score points. The group we got hooked up with was far more experienced than we were, so after they killed us the first couple of times, they let us concentrate on each other, while they tried to destroy the other guys instead. We had a lot of fun, tired ourselves out and were ready to go back home after a couple of hours. It had been another fun day and another new activity for Jared.

We stopped for dinner on the way back and then took another quick dip in the pool after arriving home. Once we got out of the pool, Jared wanted to watch a couple more episode of the TV version of the Highlander, so we got comfortable on the sofa and settled in to see which immortal would die this time.

After the second episode ended, I turned off the TV and we went up to bed. After going through our normal preparations, we engaged in another wonderful session of oral sex, and I was amazed at how good Jared was getting at doing this. Even though I probably didn't 'need' to ejaculate again, at least not with the same sense of urgency that he did, I found myself rapidly approaching my climax and thoroughly enjoying the encounter. After experiencing such a long drought before this week began, I started to wonder how I was going to survive once our time together ended.

After we'd cleaned up, we slept together naked again, with me spooned up behind Jared. Since I'd already climaxed three times today, I knew I wouldn't have to worry about an erection, so I merely cuddled with him and enjoyed the closeness. I was positive that he was enjoying this too.

When we awoke on Wednesday morning, I had to come up with a new activity we could do, once we'd performed oral sex on each other again and had breakfast. Since I knew it was probably too early to do what I'd come up with, we went swimming first, had lunch, more sex and then I took him to a nearby roller-rink, where Jared got to go skating for the very first time. He caught on fairly quickly, after being involved in a few falls and accumulating a fair share of bruises, but once he began to improve, he wanted to race me. As I've come to learn, Jared has a real competitive streak that comes out during times like this.

Since I didn't think this was a good idea, I very patiently explained to him that we could only do this to a limited extent, because the place tried to discourage such reckless behavior. I then added that since it wasn't very busy at the time, they would probably give us more leeway than they otherwise might have, so I agreed to some short races.

I beat Jared in every one of these races, since I had skated many times before, but I made sure to let him stay close to me, so he didn't get too discouraged. I also made certain that I didn't give it my all, so we didn't get into trouble or were asked to leave, but I did go fast enough to make Jared believe I was doing my best. Since I made sure he was just barely losing to me each time, it gave Jared something to strive for and a reason to improve his skills. He didn't seem to mind coming in second so many times, but he did threaten that I'd be sorry later, once he became good at this.

That night we watched the first Highlander movie together, so he could compare it to the television show. He definitely found the TV MacLeod better looking, but he seemed to enjoy both equally well. Now, I might have to find something else for tomorrow evening, since he might not want to spend another evening watching this particular genre again.

When the movie ended, we went up to bed. Of course, Jared insisted that we couldn't go to sleep until we'd had oral sex, so I gave in to him and asked how he wanted to proceed. Without hesitation, he said he wanted us to do it at the same time, using the sixty-nine position. I had no problem with doing it this way, so we got into position on the bed, but this time we did it with us both lying on our sides.

Jared was satisfied, once we'd both gotten off, so we cleaned up quickly and jumped back into bed. Tonight, he wanted to spoon up behind me, so I let him. I didn't care how we did this, because it just felt good being close to him. Needless to say, I slept very well and awoke very refreshed the following morning.

By the time we finished breakfast on Thursday, I was beginning to run out of ideas for something new we could do together. After thinking about this problem and checking online, I discovered another new activity we could try, but we'd have to do more traveling to get there. This wasn't something that was available in the local community or even the city we'd gone to when we played laser tag, and this time we would have to drive about an hour just to reach this new destination. This time, I was taking Jared to an indoor go-kart center.

I timed it so we arrived in the area around noontime and then took Jared to a pizza place to chow down first, before we headed over there. He was happy with the idea of having pizza for lunch, although he kept bugging me for more information about what we were going to do, but I told him he'd find that out soon enough. He wasn't happy with having to wait again, but he stopped pestering me about giving him any more details.

When we arrived at the go-kart center, I quickly found out that this wasn't like the old go-kart track my father had taken me to as a boy and the karts weren't the stripped down frame with a motor. These go-karts looked like miniature racing cars, plus there was a state of the art safety barrier surrounding the track, instead of the bales of hay and stacks of old tires that lined the courses I'd ridden on.

This place had three different tracks you could choose from, so we started on the shortest, and possibly easiest, of the three. I let Jared take his time getting used to the cart and driving around the track first, but once he was ready, his competitive streak emerged and he wanted to race. That's when I concluded that I might have to find a way to do something about his innate competitive nature.

These were more like Grand-Prix tracks that meandered about with numerous twists and turns, as opposed to a standard NASCAR track, which was merely an oval. Instead of going around and around, while making only left turns, this course was filled with numerous twists and turns, including a couple of hairpin turns, so he'd have to adjust to turning both to the left and the right. Anyway, once he was ready we began to race and I beat him the first time around. During the rematch, however, I let him think he'd cut me off of the inside on the next to last turn, while I'd actually allowed it to happen, so he ended up winning the second race.

"Ha, Dad. I beat you this time," he bragged, with his chest puffed out.

"Yes, you did," I agreed, "so let's go try the next track."

I let him take the first spin at his own pace again, so he could familiarize himself with this new course, but then he wanted to race again. I was hesitant to continue feeding his competitive nature, but it seemed important to him, so I gave in. Once again, we raced twice, with each of us winning once, so neither of us had bragging rights.

When we finished the second race, we went to the last of the three tracks, which was longer and had many more twists and turns than the other two. Once again, we took a spin around this track, just to familiarize ourselves with its layout first, and then Jared began teasing me to race him again. I tried to talk him into taking another spin around it first, but he didn't want to do that, so I reluctantly got ready to race him.

He was doing quite well, until just over halfway through the course, but then he ran into one of the protective barriers, so I ended up winning. I hadn't exactly seen what had happened, because he was behind me at the time, so I quizzed him about it, once we stopped.

"What happened back there," I asked.

"I had a bad angle coming into the turn and couldn't correct it in time," he admitted. "That caused me to slam into the barrier, so I lost all kinds of time."

After that, I tried to talk him out of racing a second time, because I was afraid he might get hurt this time, but he was insistent. Therefore, I gave in, but I didn't push myself and let him win this bout. He wanted to go once more after we'd finished the last race, because he wanted there to be an overall winner, but I told him we'd done this enough and we'd end with it being a tie. He wasn't happy and argued momentarily, but when I put my foot down this time, he finally gave in.

Since we were so far from home and it was getting late, I took him out to a restaurant to eat before heading home. We had a nice, leisurely meal, which was another treat for Jared, and we both had a wonderful time. Throughout the meal, Jared couldn't stop talking about what we had done today, while also giving me a blow-by-blow recap on how he had enjoyed everything we'd done so far. I was thrilled that he'd been having such a good time, but now this put me in another bind, because I would have to come up with something new for tomorrow. I wasn't sure what I was going to do now, so I thought about this situation from that point on.

I took my time driving back, because it had started raining, so it was getting late by the time I pulled into the driveway. Since I didn't think we'd have time to watch the second Highlander movie, I talked Jared into just seeing what was on TV and watching one of the shows instead. After he selected a program, he cuddled up against me on the couch and got comfortable. I actually thought he had fallen asleep, so I was about ready to slip out from beside him and lower him down, so I could carry him upstairs. However, when I moved, he asked me where I was going.

"I thought you were sleeping," I stated, after hearing him speak.

"I dozed off for a while, but I'm awake now," he informed me. "So where were you going?"

"I was getting ready to carry you upstairs to bed, but since you're awake, you can walk up," I explained.

"You can still carry me. I think that might be fun," he replied, while giving me a hopeful look.

"Are you getting lazy or something?" I prodded.

"No, but I'd really enjoy my daddy carrying me up to bed," he offered, with a pleading look.

"Well, I guess if I have to carry you upstairs like a small child, then you obviously aren't old enough to have sex," I pointed out.

"Ok, I'll walk then, because I'm not going to give that up just to have you carry me to your bedroom," he snarled, unhappy with my position on this matter.

I followed him up the stairs, but when he reached the landing at the top, I scooped him up, into my arms, carried him into the bedroom and threw him onto the bed.

"There, are you satisfied," I teased.

"Not entirely," he countered. "I liked you carrying me, but then you threw me on the bed, like you were tossing away a bag of garbage."

"Oh, it wasn't anything like that," I objected. "I was merely tossing off one of my burdens."

After saying this, I gave him a sly grin and a wink, to let him know I'd just zinged him.

"So you think I'm a burden?" he wondered.

"Only when you want me to do everything for you," I teased. "Next, you'll start asking me to wipe your butt."

When I saw he was about to say something, I cut him off.

"No way, no how!" I objected, figuring he was going to say he liked that idea. "I'll shove a stick up there first and plug it up, before I'll do that – well unless you really unable to do it for yourself, but I hope that never happens."

"I know you'd do it for me if I was paralyzed or something like that happened," he confirmed, "so I won't ask you to do it before then. I will ask you to suck me off again though."

He winked and smiled after saying this, to make sure I understood this wasn't a joke, however, I'd already seen this coming – or should I say cumming?

"Let's shower first," I suggested, "because I don't want to have to lap up all the dried up sweat from earlier."

He was more than willing to agree to this, as long as we showered together. After I told him that would be acceptable, we both stripped and headed into the master bath. We basically just washed up, fairly quickly, since Jared was in a hurry to get back into my room, so we could suck each other off. This was pretty much like our previous sessions and nothing new was attempted, but it definitely calmed Jared down, so he was finally ready to sleep.

Friday morning we got up, dressed and had a quick breakfast, before I jumped online to check out a possibility for today. After checking out a handful of options, I finally settled on one and told Jared we were going on another trip. Although he pestered me to find out where we were going, I didn't tell him, which drove him absolutely crazy. Even after we were in the Tahoe and on our way, he spent the next half-hour trying to get me to tell him where we were heading, but to no avail. Finally, he gave up and remained quite for the next hour, until we finally arrived at our destination.

"We're going to spend the day at the State Park?" he asked, as I drove past the sign by the entrance.

"We are and there are a bunch of different things we can do here," I advised him, as we parked and got out of the vehicle.

From there, I led him over to a building near the lake and Jared immediately noticed the sign. After reading it, he began to question me once again.

"You're going to rent a boat?" he wondered, with a quizzical expression on his face.

"Actually, I'm going to rent a canoe, unless you'd prefer a rowboat," I replied. "If we get the canoe, it may not be quite as steady as a rowboat, but in a canoe we can both get some exercise paddling. It's up to you though, so what do you say?"

"I've never been in either one, but I guess a canoe will be fine," he agreed. "It sounds like fun, but you'll have to teach me what to do."

"It will be a blast and I'll be happy to show you how to do this," I offered, with him smiling in response.

Besides renting the canoe and paddles, we took two life preservers too, one of which I helped Jared put on. Even though he's a capable swimmer, I thought this precaution wise, because there is always a chance, although slim, he could be knocked unconscious or temporarily incapacitated.

Before we did anything else, I gave Jared a demonstration about how to use the paddle. Although we were still on land, I showed him how to grip it, explained how he would use it to help propel us forward, while shifting from one side of the canoe to the other. I then told him that I would watch what he was doing and paddle on the opposite side, so we didn't end up going around in a circle. I then let him practice for a few minutes, although he was only paddling air, but it gave him a good idea of what he was going to be required to do.

Once I felt he was ready, I carried the canoe down to the lake and placed it in the water. Then, I instructed Jared to grab his paddle, step into the canoe, walk to the seat in the front and get comfortable. Once he was settled, I pushed the canoe a little farther into the water, stepped in myself and got settled on the rear seat. Now that we were both ready, I pushed off using my paddle and then we began to make our way up the lake, although we never ventured more than fifty yards from shore.

"I feel like an Indian or early explorer," Jared yelled back to me, about ten minutes later.

"I think the correct term would be Native American, rather than Indian," I corrected, "but you are correct. Famed explorers, like Lewis and Clark, would have spent quite a bit of time in a canoe, while looking for the famed 'Northwest Passage.' The Native Americans and early frontiersman, like Daniel Boone, would have also used canoes to travel over the various rivers and lakes."

"I'm glad you thought about doing this," Jared offered next, as we continued to make our way around the lake.

We eventually made our way back to where we had started, satisfied with our progress. During our little trip, I had also used my paddle as a rudder, besides using it to propel the canoe forward, to help make the necessary course corrections so we didn't run ashore. After hopping out of the canoe, we carried everything back to the rental shop and I recouped my initial deposit, after the required fee had been deducted.

"Dang, my arms are killing me," Jared stated, while rubbing his biceps vigorously.

"Yes, I'm sure your muscles got a good workout during our time on the lake," I stated, as I watched him trying to work the knots out of his overworked muscles.

"What are we going to do next," Jared asked, while looking at me skeptically.

"I figured we'd head over to the snack bar next and grab a bite to eat, unless you're not hungry," I suggested.

"No, let's do that and it will give my arms a chance to recuperate," he responded, while still rubbing his sore muscles.

Once we finished eating, we decided to walk around for a while, to see the other areas of the park next, because this would also give us a chance to exercise our leg muscles, which were sort of ignored while we were canoeing. We had only ventured a few hundred yards when Jared's attention was caught by another activity and he began moving in that direction and I merely followed him. He was walking toward one of the volleyball pits, which had a nice base of sand and where a group of people was engaged in a game. It was a multi-generational assortment of people, which might have been a community group or just several families that were friends, but they looked as if they were having a good time.

We watched them for a while, and when their game ended, they asked if we wanted to join them. They indicated this was an extended family group, which had gathered for a reunion that would be held the following day, and they were the early arrivals. I looked at Jared before responding, to see if he was interested in doing this, but I thought he would be, since he always seemed to enjoy playing volleyball in the pool. He quickly nodded in my direction, which indicated that he wanted to play, so I gave them our answer and thanked them for their gracious offer. They were also kind enough to split up their current teams, so Jared and I could play on the same side, which seemed to please him.

We ended up playing three games with them, winning two and losing the last, and then we decided to stop, while we were still ahead. After we told them we were going to move on, we also informed them that we'd had a great time and thanked them again for letting us play. Then, we made our way away from that area, while looking for something else to do.

From there, we hiked around the area for a while and came to a large open field, which was located at the end of a trail through a small woodland area. As we emerged into this open area, we noticed a father and his son flying a remote control plane. We stopped and watched them for a while, when the kid suddenly noticed us. He smiled and waved, so we thought he'd probably mistaken us for someone else, but then he kept waving for us to come over, so we moved in his direction to see what he wanted.

"Do you like flying airplanes like this," he asked Jared, when we got closer.

"It's fun to watch, but I've never done anything like this before," Jared admitted, as the boy's father was controlling the plane.

"My name's Evan and that's my dad," he said, pointing toward his father. "Would you like to try it then, because I'm sure my dad will let you."

"Sure, if he doesn't mind," Jared agreed, after looking at me and getting my nod of approval. "I'm Jared and this is my dad."

The two boys shook hands, and then Evan led us over to where his father was still controlling the plane.

"Dad, Jared would like to try flying the plane," Evan stated. "Would that be ok with you?"

"Have you done this before, Jared?" Evan's father followed.

"No, so I understand if you don't want to let me try," Jared responded.

"No, you're welcome to try," Evan's father stated. "Just come here and I'll help you for a while, until you get the hang of it, if that's all right with your dad."

He glanced over at me and I nodded my approval, so Jared raced over and let the other man show him how to work the controls. Once Jared had seen how this was done, the man helped him for a little while longer, before he let Jared take over. The man never moved more than a foot away from Jared during this time, in case Jared ran into trouble, and then he took over from Jared again, after Jared had done it for a short time.

While they were doing that, I was chatting with Evan.

"Do you do this often?" I asked.

"Yeah, my dad and me come here a lot on the weekends, as long as the weather is nice," Evan answered. "It something we do together and it's a lot of fun."

"Yes, it would appear that it is," I agreed.

"You should start doing it with your son," he suggested. "It looks like he's interested in it too."

"It does and maybe we will," I answered.

"If you come here, then we can do it together," he offered.

"Yes, that is a possibility, but we could only do that once in a while," I replied. "We had to travel about an hour and a half to get here, so we wouldn't be able to come here every weekend."

"Yeah, that is quite a ways," he agreed, while looking slightly disappointed. "But I'd love to see you again, if you decide to do it some time when me and my dad are here."

"It sounds like a plan," I agreed, as Jared came back to join us.

After thanking Evan and his father for Jared's 'flying' lesson, we told them we were glad to meet them and started to leave. Before we got very far though, Evan called for us to wait, while he got a pen from his father. He then used it to wrote his phone number on the back of Jared's hand, so we could call and let him know if we were coming here again. After Jared promised to do that, he and I headed back to the Tahoe and began the drive home.

It was quite late by the time we got to the area where we lived, so we stopped at a restaurant along the way. By the time we reached the house, we decided to take a quick dip in the pool next, to cool off after a long day. We didn't do much, mostly floated and swam a little, but it felt good after everything else we'd done. Once we'd dried off, we agreed to watch TV for a little while, before heading up to bed. It had been a long day and we were both more than a little tired.

After going upstairs and taking a quick shower, we went into the bedroom and got ready for bed.

"We've still got to do something before we go to sleep," Jared announced, as he was pulling back the bedding. "I already missed doing it after lunch."

"Jared, just because I've allowed you to do it that often while you've been staying here, it doesn't man you HAVE to do it that much," I pointed out.

"Maybe not, but can't we do it again?" he whined.

"If you want, but remember that once your mother and brother are back, we won't be able to do it this frequently," I reminded him. "Then, when school starts up again, it will be nearly impossible for us to do it at all."

"I know, but I don't want to think about that yet," Jared shot back. "Let's just do it as much as we can, both now and later. Ok?"

"We'll have to be careful though, once you're no longer staying here with me," I observed.

"I know, but promise me we'll try," Jared urged.

"Ok, I promise," I relented.

Once we had reached that agreement, we hopped into bed and got in another sixty-nine position. Jared had discovered that he liked doing it this way, because he thought it was neat that we both got off at the same time. He also admitted that he thought it took him longer to shoot, so he got to enjoy it longer, when we did it this way, because he wasn't thinking about it so much and didn't get overly excited. I'm not sure how accurate this particular observation was, but if this was what he wanted, then I had no problem with doing it this way.

Once we had both ejaculated, we got up and cleaned off next, since some of our sperm had found it's way onto our bodies. Then, we hopped into bed, still naked, cuddled up, with me spooned behind Jared, and fell asleep. Our ten days together was nearly over, since this was our final weekend together, so I was trying to make sure that we enjoyed these final, fleeting moments as much as possible.

Chapter 13
The Discovery

So far, Jared's stay with me has been absolutely phenomenal and we've really enjoyed our time together. Although I've been very firm on my anal sex restriction, it certainly hasn't meant that we've been celibate. During our days together, we have participated in mutual masturbation and oral sex, including more than a few sixty-nine sessions. This activity seems to have become Jared's particular favorite, because he likes to give me satisfaction, while at the same time enjoying his own orgasmic delights.

The sex, however, isn't the only thing we've done while we've been together. I've also taken time out to do some writing and Jared has completed some odd jobs around the house, but we've also engaged in a bunch of other activities as well. All in all, we've enjoyed this limited opportunity to be alone and have grown even closer.

Jared has also shown some interest in what I do for a living, so I've taken him through the process that I follow when I write a story. First, I demonstrated how I make an outline and list the different characters and their physical descriptions, as well as delineate their relationships to one another. Then I explained how I write out the various events and subplots that I want to include and try to put all of these things in a logical sequence. Once I finished doing this, I described how I break down the outline even further and put the material into a collection of chapter synopses, as I spread out the various actions I plan to include over the course of the story. I told him this helps me to remember to include these events and details in those chapters later.

I then told him that once I've completed this process, I write a rough draft of the first chapter and then proofread it at least twice, so I can polish up the grammar and correct any problems I discover as I go along. Once I'm satisfied with what I've written, I send the chapter off to my agent for his suggestions, while I begin working on the next chapter. Once I've heard back from him and have addressed the issues he raised, I then send the corrected chapter to my editor, so she can give me her ideas. When I get it back from her, I take time to incorporate her suggestions into my final copy and then resubmit the chapter to both my agent and editor, to see if either has any additional comments about it. By that time, I have usually managed to finish the next chapter, so if they don't have any other changes they want me to make to the previous chapter, I then send my agent the next chapter and the process starts over.

During my explanation, Jared learned that writing is a long, drawn out process and not just a quick 'sit down and dash something off' type of job, such as he had first envisioned. I believe that after I explained all of this information to him, he began to appreciate how much work went into writing one of my stories and better appreciated what I did. He then asked me if every author went through this same process and I told him I wasn't sure, but I sincerely doubted it, since everyone has his own style and method of attacking the creative process.

Since I had copies of some of my earlier works in a bookcase in the guest room, Jared asked if he could read one of them and I agreed. He raced upstairs and read each of the titles first, before he picked one out and sat down to read a few chapters. When he'd finished doing that, he came over to discuss those chapters with me. He was very curious and wanted to find out why I had chosen the specific events I had used, instead of selecting something else, when I wrote it. I was glad to see that he was enjoying my work and interested enough that he wanted to learn more about the types of decisions I had made when putting it together.

As our time with each other began to draw to a close, we were both beginning to regret that it had to eventually come to an end. Although neither of us was looking forward to going back to the way things were before we got to be alone like this, I promised Jared that we would manage to find opportunities where we could spend quality time together again. This meant that we would set aside time when we could do the other things he was interested in, which included oral sex.

We would have to be very careful when we engaged in those activities though and I warned him that he could never talk to anyone about any of our sexual exploits, no matter how much he might want to share this information with another person. That would be very dangerous and could result in ending our being together and participating in any of those activities in the future. I hated to continually emphasize the negative aspects of our relationship, but I accepted that I HAD to do this, in order to protect myself and prevent him from being placed in a very awkward situation.

Now that our final Saturday together had arrived, I could see Jared starting to get a little depressed, because he realized his mother and brother would be coming back the following day. This meant he would be going back home, and although it wasn't that he no longer loved them or didn't enjoy being with them any longer, it was just that he enjoyed what we had together now. He liked being able to spend all of his time with me and being able to relish the sexual aspects of our relationship, but he also enjoyed having a father that doted on him, like I had been doing.

He had been so delighted during his short stay with me that he didn't want to think about it ending and not being able to do these things whenever he wanted again. Even though I tried to reassure him that we wouldn't let what we had together end, my promise to him just didn't seem to be enough to make him feel better, but what else could I do?

Seeing he was depressed, Jared didn't want to do much, so we didn't go anywhere and just spent time with each other. During the morning, we were out in the pool and then we talked about the rest of my story he had read. After lunch, Jared elected to watch the second Highlander movie, so I went in and cuddled with him on the couch. Once the movie ended, I went out to the kitchen to start dinner, and while I was getting things ready, Jared began begging me to go upstairs for another round of oral sex.

I wasn't sure if he was asking for an additional session or if he meant for this to replace what we would normally do before bedtime, but it really didn't matter. Since I had been eager to find a way to lift his spirits, I told him we could do this one extra time today, because I wasn't sure what time his mother and brother would be returning tomorrow and might miss a session or two. That seemed to help cheer him up, until I told him we'd have to wait until after dinner, because I had already put it in the oven and didn't want to stop and then have to restart it again later.

Jared reluctantly agreed, but he acted more than a little antsy while we ate and I knew his mind wasn't on the BBQ chicken or other dishes I had fixed for him. Not only did he gobble everything down as quickly as he dared, he also raced through helping me clean off the table afterward, so I concluded the little shit must be really horny. This was hard to imagine, since we had done this shortly after we woke up and then again after lunch, but he is a horny teenager.

Once everything had been cleaned off and put away, he grabbed my hand and began dragging me up the stairs to my bedroom. I didn't resist his efforts, seeing I had promised him we could do this, but I didn't rush either, which seemed to frustrate him a bit.

"Come, on, Dad. Can't you go any faster?" he pleaded.

"What's the rush? We have all day," I reminded him.

"But I've been thinking about this ever since you told me we could do it again," he confessed, "and well 3; I kinda need this really bad."

He looked at me with such lustful eyes and the expression on his face told me all I needed to know. If that wasn't enough, then the bulge in his shorts added emphasis to his comments.

"Well, we'll take care of that soon enough, but there's no need to run," I explained.

By the time I finished telling him this, we were in my room and Jared began to take off what few items of clothing he was wearing. His shorts, shirt and briefs all hit the wall or floor, as he nearly tore them off and threw them behind himself. Then, he came over and began to pull down my shorts, because I hadn't yet finished taking off my shirt yet. I guess he really was in desperate need, because he was anxiously pointing toward the bed without using either hand.

Once my clothes were discarded, I went over to lie on the bed and then let Jared position himself over me. He immediately started thrusting his dick at my mouth, and not too subtly either, I might add, and he refused to touch my penis until I began working on his. I decided to tease him a bit before I did that though, so I licked his scrotum and took his testicles into my mouth first. After doing this for a while, his antics let me know that he desperately needed some relief, so I released his sac from between my lips and began licking up his shaft.

When I finally ran my tongue over the head of his cock and eventually worked it into my mouth, Jared began to pump his hips vigorously into my face and was literally screwing my mouth. He was so absorbed in humping my face that he forgot all about doing anything in return, but that didn't bother me at all. I was content to help him out and his actions spoke volumes, which let me know he was appreciating my efforts.

I tried to use my tongue and lips as much as possible, to increase his satisfaction, and then I tried to add a little more suction to the process, but his bucking was so furious that I wasn't really able to do much else to help him. It obviously didn't matter what I did, however, and he soon erupted into my mouth, so I drank his sweet nectar and accepted the offering from my young god. As I sucked the last drops from his fleshy straw, he began to work on my own organ again, which indicated that his stamina was improving and he wasn't as wiped out after shooting his load. However, it might have also meant that I hadn't done as good a job as I had in the past, which I sincerely hoped was not the case. Whatever the reason, he was attacking my tool now, like a nursing child, suckling at his mother's breast.

He was now using the same frantic pace on my rod and imitating that same machine gun pace that he had used to attack my mouth, and his youthful eagerness and enthusiasm brought my juices to a rapid boil. I was now beginning to feel the tension building in my loins and radiating outward, until every portion of my body was tingling and my skin began to feel as if it were on fire. I tried to hold my orgasm back for as long as I could, to prolong this delicious feeling, but it quickly became apparent that I could no longer delay the inevitable. Finally giving in, I let my body relax and released my load with sufficient force to blow off the back of Jared's head. Fortunately, that didn't happen, but the intensity of my release did cause him to choke a bit and my juices were gushing out of his mouth and coating my entire midsection again.

Even though I was in the throes of sexual bliss, I was concerned about Jared, because he didn't seem to be able to catch his breath. I sat up quickly and began to pat him forcefully on the back, hoping to get his airway open again. After a few very terrifying seconds, he inhaled deeply, coughed and gasped a bit more, and then turned toward me and smiled.

"Sorry about that," he choked out, "but it was more than usual and the amount surprised me. That's why it kind of went down the wrong pipe and caused me to gag."

"Hey, kiddo, as long as you're ok now," I replied. "You got me worked up so fast that when my dam burst, it had the same force as the mighty Mississippi breaking through a levee during the spring thaw."

"Yeah, but I'm fine now, and I really enjoyed that. Thanks, Dad," he confirmed.

"You're welcome, kiddo, but you came so quickly, did you have time to really enjoy it?" I wondered.

"I guess, because it did feel pretty good," he replied.

"Well, I'm willing to do it for you again, it you want to see what a nice, long, slow session feels like," I offered.

A huge grin suddenly spread across his face.

"Yeah, I'd like that a lot," he confessed, although it came as no surprise to me.

Since young boys seem to recover so quickly, I began to work on him again, but I used a very indirect approach and took my time getting started. I started by sucking on his nipples and working my way down his chest first, and then I lifted his legs and began to rim him next, which he seemed to enjoy. I made certain to be very careful when doing this and only teased his opening, but didn't try to penetrate him completely with my tongue. Once I finished doing this to him, I used every trick in the book that I was aware of to bring him the maximum pleasure, which meant working up his perineum and scrotum next, before I finally reached his fleshy appendage.

What I didn't realize at the time was that while I was working on Jared, there was an uninvited visitor watching what the two of us were doing. I don't know how long he'd been standing there or how much he'd seen, but he remained quiet and stood away from the doorway the entire time, so neither Jared nor I knew he was there. In fact, I didn't even learn about what had taken place until a couple of months later, because the perpetrator never said anything to either of us about what he witnessed.

What I later discovered was this. Josh and his mother had decided to cut their visit to his grandparents short and came back on Saturday, instead of on Sunday. When they got home, Josh hopped on his bike and came down to my house, so he could let Jared know they were back. Due to our haste in heading up to the bedroom to quench Jared's desires, I failed to make sure the front door was locked and the house was secure. After all, I didn't expect anyone to show up today, but to our total surprise, that was not how it worked out.

After Josh had rushed down to my place and burst into the house, he merely looked for his brother and me, but didn't call out and wasn't able to find us anywhere. First, he checked the entire downstairs, and then he ran out to see if we were in the pool or in the backyard, but we weren't there either. After checking the garage and finding my vehicles there, he figured we must be upstairs, so he came up to look for us. I don't think he was being particularly quiet, but Jared and I were making our own share of noise and never heard him moving about the house. We also hadn't bothered to close the door to my bedroom, so after he discovered where we were, Josh merely stood against the opposite wall in the hallway and peered through my doorway. This allowed him to see just about everything Jared and I were doing.

Seeing we never realized he was there, we continued doing our thing and we must have put on quite a show for Josh, without even realizing it. After watching us for a while, although I'm not sure for how long, he slipped back down the stairs and went back to his house. He told his mother we weren't there and said he'd go back down later to check again, so Sherry figured we'd just stepped out for a while. She did ask him what had taken him so long though, so he told her that he looked all over for us and she seemed to accept his response. She didn't think there was anything to be concerned about, since we didn't expect them to come home until tomorrow, so she suspected we were probably just out somewhere having fun. If only she knew.

About an hour later, Josh showed up again, but this time he rang the doorbell when he got there, instead of merely letting himself in. By then we were dressed and downstairs, so Jared went to answer the door. We were startled when we heard the doorbell ring and realized someone was there, since we weren't expecting anyone today, but we were even more surprised to discover it was Josh. After getting over his mild shock, Jared invited him in and then he flashed me a look that said, 'Wow, that was close,' once Josh was facing away from him. That's when Josh began telling us about his trip and why they had come home early.

He said the first few days of his stay had gone fairly well, but then he confronted his grandparents about why they had treated Jared the way they did. After listening to a few of their feeble excuses, he told them that he knew Jared had a different father, but then he reminded them that his dad had adopted Jared, so even though Jared wasn't his biological son, it shouldn't have made a difference. He also emphasized the fact that the adoption made Jared their grandson too, so he couldn't understand why they treated him the way they had.

After listening to a few more of his grandparent's pitiful explanations as to why they preferred to not have a great deal to do with Jared, Josh announced that Jared was his brother and if they didn't want anything to do with Jared, then he didn't want anything more to do with them. He then told us that he refused to speak to them or cooperate from that moment forward, so when his mother called to check up on him, he told her he wanted to go home immediately. Since she didn't know what the problem was, she drove directly over to his grandparents' house and picked him up. Once they were in the car, Josh explained to his mother about what had happened and she agreed to return home, a full day ahead of schedule.

After telling us his story and gaining Jared's admiration for standing up for him, he failed to mention that he had been here earlier and had witnessed us doing things with each other. He didn't act in a way that would make us suspect anything either, so we were totally in the dark that he was aware of our sexual relationship.

Once he finished relaying his story, Josh wanted to know what we had been up to during those same few days, so Jared eagerly filled him in on nearly everything we had done, except for our sexual escapades. Josh seemed to be sincerely interested in this information, even though his expressions did puzzle us a bit. We had a feeling that he was digging for more, although we had no idea about what or why, but we later wrote it off to our overactive imaginations jumping to conclusions. Once we finished catching up with each other, I had Jared go upstairs and gather up his things, and then we loaded his gear, both bicycles and the two boys into the Tahoe and I drove them home.

Sherry came out to greet us when we pulled into her driveway, and she thanked me for taking care of Jared while they were gone. Then, she asked Jared if he had had a good time and he enthusiastically told her he had, which caused Josh to make a face, although only I had seen him do this, and then she invited me in for a minute. Rather than accept, I told her that they should use the time to get unpacked and rest for a bit, since they had just finished a rather long trip. I then told Jared that he should spend tomorrow with his mother and I'd see them all in the afternoon, when I picked them up to go out for dinner. We'd have plenty of time to talk then. I also asked them to dress up for this outing, since I'd be taking them to a fairly nice place to eat.

After thinking about it and after some mild protests, he finally agreed to do as I'd asked. Sherry thanked me once again for letting Jared stay with me while they were gone and for taking such good care of him. I then had Jared and Josh help me unload everything from my SUV, before I said a final goodbye and headed home.

When I entered my place, I made a quick call to the restaurant and made a reservation. I hadn't done this previously, since I wasn't sure what time they'd be back, but the rest of the night seemed really strange and I was more than a little lonely. Even though I had known this time would come, I wasn't expecting it to happen tonight and was looking forward to cuddling with Jared one final time. Yes, the old saying was definitely very true. Paraphrasing a quote from Robert Burns, 'The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.'

After a very restless night's sleep, I got up the next morning and began to write for a while, but I wasn't totally with it and wasn't as productive as I would have liked to be. Somehow, I did manage to type out a little of the next chapter, which is better than having nothing to show for the time I'd spent on the computer.

After lunch, I took a nap, since I was still tired from not sleeping very well by myself. That did help and I felt better when I awoke, so I went out and took a quick dip in the pool, before heading upstairs to shave, shower and change. I hurried through the process, but made sure I looked nice, and then I jumped into the Tahoe and drove up the road, so I could pick the rest of them up.

Jared, Josh and their mother were ready when I knocked on the door, so we loaded into my vehicle and I drove to one of my favorite places to eat. Sherry sat in the front passenger seat and the boys got in back, but I could tell that Jared missed occupying his regular seat next to me. As we drove along, I could see that Josh was continually staring at me, because I noticed him doing this whenever I glanced into my rearview mirror, but I couldn't read what his expression meant. He didn't seem to be upset or angry, and he also didn't appear to be bewildered or confused, but he also didn't seem to be eager, excited or have that expectant look about him either. He was just sort of studying me, possibly in an attempt to figure out why I was doing so much for his family. I wasn't sure what was up with him, but I refused to worry about it just now.

When we got to the restaurant, my three guests were sort of in awe of where we were. From the expressions on their faces, I assumed they had never been here, or a similar establishment, before. Therefore, they weren't prepared for what this was going to be like, until we'd actually walked inside. They had all dressed up for this occasion, as I'd asked, and I was very impressed and proud of how good they all looked.

The hostess led us to our table and I pulled Sherry's chair out for her, which kind of surprised her. I'm not sure if she'd ever had a guy do this for her before, since it's sort of an outdated tradition in this day and age. The boys then took the seat on either side of her, which meant I was seated across from Sherry. As soon as we were all sitting down, the boys began to comment about the establishment, and it was very apparent that they were both excited about how fancy it was and impressed by some of the decorations. However, that was nothing compared to their surprise when they opened their menus and saw the selections 3; and their prices.

Almost in unison, they began to protest and say that this was far too expensive a place for us to eat, but I remained insistent that we were going to dine here. I also told them they were to order whatever they wanted and not worry about the prices, before I added that I was going to have the Surf and Turf. I suggested that they might want to order the same thing, since it was so good, but no one was quick to respond to my offer. At first I thought it was merely because of the cost, but then I realized that none of them had ever tasted lobster before, so they weren't sure if they'd enjoy it.

After trying to describe what it tasted like, I finally informed them that unless they had an allergy to seafood, that's what they should have. Once they agreed to try it, especially since they'd still have the steak if they didn't care for the lobster, we then discussed how they wanted their steaks to be prepared. I told them I liked mine medium-rare, which meant it was pink inside, but I could tell by their reactions that they considered that way undercooked. With that in mind, I suggested they have their steaks medium, and if that wasn't done enough for them when they checked it, then we could send it back to be cooked some more. After thinking about it for a few moments, they accepted my suggestion, so we were nearly ready to order.

The cocktail waitress came about that same time and asked if we'd care for drinks, so I looked at Sherry and asked her what she would like. At first she refused to have anything, but I told her if she didn't order a drink, then I'd order one for her, so she said she'd have a Pina Colada. After she made up her mind, I turned to the boys, to see what they wanted and they both said they'd have a soda, so we ordered two sodas and two Pina Coladas. After the cocktail waitress left, I told them to decide what type of potato they would like with their dinner, either baked, mashed or fries, and then I told them to decide whether they wanted the soup or salad to go with it. By the time our drinks were delivered, we had made our decisions, so we began to sip our drinks, as the waitress took our orders.

The soup and salad were delivered within minutes, along with a basket of rolls, and the boys began to devour their soup, while Sherry and I took a more leisurely approach to our salads. It was a very nice start to the meal and the boys ate two rolls apiece, until I suggested they save room for the main course. When the entrees came, I recommended they cut their steaks in half, to see if they were done enough for them, and everyone except Josh was satisfied with the way their steak looked. We sent Josh's steak back to the kitchen, to be cooked a little more, which only took another minute or so.

After we all had our meals, I showed them how to eat their lobster tail. First, I demonstrated how to remove the meat from the shell, so they could cut off small pieces and then use the cocktail fork to pick it up. I then told them they should dip it in the melted butter next, before they put it into their mouth. They all seemed more than satisfied with the sweet taste of the lobster and seemed eager to take a second bite of it, before they decided to sample the other items on their plates.

The boys had each ordered fries with their meal, while Sherry had the mashed potatoes and I had the baked. Jared asked if he could try a bite of mine, after he had seen me add the butter and sour cream, so I cut him off a piece and set it on his plate. I looked over and saw the look on Josh's face at that point and concluded he was too shy to make the same request, so I cut off another piece for him and placed it on his plate as well. He just smiled and said 'thank you' when I did that, but I knew he was grateful that I had done the same thing for him. Both boys seemed to like their sample and told me next time they might have that, instead of fries, so it was nice to see them expanding their options.

The meal was excellent and everyone commented on how stuffed they were when they had finished, because we would each be taking a doggy bag home with us too. However, I wasn't done yet and told them I hoped they had left enough room for dessert. They all looked at me as if I were nuts, and maybe I was, but I passed the dessert menu around and asked them to make their selections. Both of the boys decided to have sundaes, with Jared preferring hot fudge, while Josh chose strawberry. Sherry opted to have the cheesecake, topped with cherries, and I decided to order a slice of pecan pie for myself. After we were finished with our desserts, I paid the bill, left the tip, and then we all waddled out to my SUV.

The ride home was very quiet, since we were all a little sedate and even mildly drowsy after such a big meal. When I pulled in front of their house, I was expecting to merely drop them off and then head home, but Jared had another plan in mind.

"Mom, can I stay with Bob again tonight? I got cut short a night, because you came home early yesterday, so can't I make that up by staying with him tonight?" he whined.

"I know you did, dear, but I think Bob probably could use a break from you by now," she stated, but only partially as a joke. "He's put up with you for quite a few days already, so why don't you give him some time to himself."

"No, he doesn't mind. Do you, Bob?" Jared insisted.

"I don't, but maybe your mother would like to spend the time with you instead, seeing she's been gone for so long," I suggested, since I didn't wish to offend Sherry.

"Actually, I'm beat and have to work tomorrow, so I was planning to just get my things ready and then go straight to bed," she clarified.

"In that case," I responded, "I wouldn't mind if Jared stayed one more night with me," I agreed.

Jared looked at his mother now and the expression on his face seemed to be pleading with her, so he didn't have to say a word.

"Oh, ok then. Just go grab enough things for tonight then," she agreed.

"Can I go too?" Josh chimed in.

"Sure," I told him. "We'll give your mother a little peace and quiet, so she can get a good night's rest." I agreed.

Jared stopped dead in his tracks and shot me a very upset and disappointed look. Belatedly, I realized that he most likely had planned on having one last sex session with me, before I went and messed things up for him. He also knew this meant he'd have to sleep in the other bedroom tonight, so Josh wouldn't get suspicious. I felt badly, but it was too late to correct my faux pas.

While the boys went inside to collect a few things, I talked to Sherry and she thanked me several more times for watching Jared and for taking them out to dinner, as well as for just being there for her boys. I told her it was my pleasure, but I knew there was no way she could know how much pleasure I'd received from Jared while he'd stayed with me.

Jared came flying back outside first, since he just grabbed one of the bags he'd brought down earlier, so he got into the front passenger seat as soon as his mother got out, but he did take a moment to give her a hug and kiss first. She then told Jared to behave, and I knew she'd repeat the same advice to Josh, before he came out to join us. We watched as Sherry walked to her front door and went inside, while we continued waiting for Josh.

As soon as we were alone in the Tahoe, Jared gave me an earful and let me know that he wasn't happy with my blunder.

"Why did ya have to go and let Josh come too?" he griped. "I wanted us to be able to do things one more time."

"I'm sorry, kiddo, but I didn't even think about that, until I saw the expression on your face," I apologized. "I thought you'd be all worn out after our last session, since I did you twice, and didn't think you'd be up for more. Besides, Josh kind of ruined his trip by sticking up for you, so I thought we kind of owed him."

I gave him a wink and a shrug of my shoulders after saying this.

"Yeah, maybe you're right and I do owe Josh," he conceded, "but there's no way I'm tired out. I'm ready to do it at least two more times with you."

"Wow, you are a horny little bugger. Aren't you?" I shot back.

Jared agreed he was and then we both had a good laugh over that, before Josh came out the front door to join us. He merely got into the backseat of the SUV, without saying a word, and I drove down to my place, with one semi-excited and one very disappointed young man with me.

When we entered the house, I asked the boys if they wanted to share a room or if they each wanted their own room, and Josh responded first.

"Oh, you mean Jared can sleep with me?" he asked.

"If you want, and if Jared does too?" I replied.

Josh still looked a little confused.

"How about it, Jared?" Josh asked him. "Can we sleep together? I missed you and I did tell grandma and grandpa that I didn't like the way they were treating you."

Jared looked like a cornered animal, since he understood he'd either have to fight or submit, so he decided to give in and tell his brother that he was fine with sleeping with him. I think Jared figured that this was one way he could pay Josh back for standing up to his grandparents that way, so he agreed to make this concession. I had them both go up and put their things in the room across the hall from mine, by telling Jared he could use the same room he had been staying in, and he responded as if he knew that all along. After they did as I asked, they came back down to rejoin me.

As soon as we were all together again, I asked them what they wanted to do and Josh suggested that he wanted to go for a swim, but I told him he'd have to wait a little longer, seeing we had just finished a very big meal. I think he knew that before he asked, but had decided to give it a try just the same, because he didn't fight me about it when I gave him my answer. Instead, he asked if we could watch the next Harry Potter movie, so I told him we could, so we watched The Order of the Phoenix to pass the time until we could go for a swim.

Even though it was getting late when the movie ended, I told them we could still go upstairs and put our swimsuits on, if they wanted to swim for a little while. They did and raced upstairs. I was surprised to see them both undressing right there in the hallway as I reached the top landing. Josh didn't even bother to try to turn away from either of us again, so his time away hadn't changed him again and Jared and I were both able to see him completely naked.

Once we had changed, we went downstairs and hopped in the pool, and of course the boys wanted to race first, while I was still fresh and had the strength. After I limbered up a bit, I agreed, but I was still lethargic after the meal, so needless to say they both beat the crap out of me and won by at least a full body length each. After that we just horsed around for a bit and started batting a beach ball around like we would a volleyball, and then we decided to use it to play monkey in the middle.

By the time we were ready to get out of the pool, we were all pretty exhausted, so I suggested both boys go up and shower, so they could get the chlorine off their bodies before they went to bed. They agreed to this, without giving me an argument first, and they also decided to shower together, which was another surprise for me, and I think for Jared as well. While the boys showered in the guest bathroom, I went to shower in the master bath, and when I came back out, both boys were drying off, without having put anything on first. It didn't shock me that Jared was doing this, but Josh? Man, this kid had really loosened up.

Beside remaining nude, it seemed as if Josh was going out of his way to give me a free show tonight, with his little dick bouncing around, as he dragged his towel back and forth across his back or when he wiped off his arms and legs. He even bent over and let his little pucker wink at me too, but even though he'd been getting more comfortable with this, tonight seemed to be a new level in exhibitionism. I think Jared was just as shocked by it as I was, but neither of us said a word, and instead merely enjoyed Josh's new openness.

Once the boys had dried and dressed, we went back downstairs, and they decided they wanted to watch another movie, and since we didn't have to get up early tomorrow, I agreed to do this. This time they wanted to watch one of the Spiderman flicks. It's a good thing I have a Netflix account, which I use rather than go to the theater, because I always worried about the temptation of running into a bunch of good-looking boys and possibly taking advantage of one. Once the movie started, I sat down on the sofa, with Jared on one side of me, while Josh settled in on the other. Before long, I had two heads leaning against my shoulders, so after sitting like that for a few minutes, I lifted both of my arms and wrapped one around each boy, as they leaned their heads against my chest.

After a few seconds, both boys looked up at me and smiled, to let me know they were both ok with what we were doing, and that's the way we sat and enjoyed the rest of the movie. When it was over, I could tell they were getting tired, so I suggested we all go to bed. Once again, they didn't argue about my suggestion, so I went into their room with them, so I could tuck them in. They both said goodnight to me and Jared gave me a 'Goodnight, Dad,' while Josh added, 'Goodnight, Bob.'

After leaving the guest room, I went to my room and slipped between the sheets. It didn't take me long before I fell asleep, especially since I hadn't been able to sleep alone in my bed last night. The big meal and the workout in the pool helped too. Sometime during the middle of the night, I felt someone getting into bed with me, so I figured Jared was taking a big chance by doing this. Thinking I should confront him about this, I turned on the lamp on my nightstand to give him hell. As I turned back, that's when I discovered it was Josh, not Jared, who was in bed with me.

"What's up?" I asked, mildly concerned.

"I just got up to go to the toilet, but then I decided to come in here to sleep, cuz Jared's been moaning and keeping me awake," he explained.

I thought this odd, because in all the time I'd slept with Jared I'd never noticed anything like that before, but I let it slide. For whatever reason, Josh seemed to want to be in with me right now, so I let him. Maybe he was homesick and just didn't want to admit it, or possibly he just needed an adult's reassurance right now. I didn't know what his reason was, but I decided not to worry about this for the time being, so I went back to sleep. Before long, however, I was awakened again.

"Dad, Josh is gone!" Jared told me, in a loud whisper.

He sounded scared, so I turned on the light, and showed him the lump under the sheet next to me.

"No, he's not. He came in here about an hour ago, saying you were keeping him awake with your moaning," I offered.

"I was moaning?" he asked, surprised.

"That's what he said," I confirmed.

"Well, can I sleep with you too, then?" he asked, while not quite pleading with me about it.

"Sure, why not," I agreed.

"Ok, but let me go to the toilet first," he added.

While he was using my bathroom, I slid Josh over a bit, and then I let Jared crawl in on the other side of me, but I whispered some advice to him after he turned off the lamp.

"No funny business with your brother in here," I offered.

"I know," he whispered back.

I think he sounded slightly irritated by the fact that I thought I needed to tell him this bit of information, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. We then went back to sleep, and by the time I woke up later that morning, I was squeezed tightly between two young, adorable bodies. I thought I must have died and gone to heaven, but I knew this was only a temporary situation.

At this point, I tried to get up without waking them, but I soon discovered that would be impossible, so before long they were both awake and getting up with me. Josh didn't seem surprised to discover Jared in bed with us, but he never made any comments about it either. As long as we were all up, I suggested we get dressed and I'd take them out for breakfast, since I didn't really feel like cooking this morning. The boys began to protest about me spending more money on them, but I soon squashed their opposition to my idea and urged them to get dressed. Once they were ready, I shooed them into the Tahoe, and as soon as they were both buckled in, I took off for my favorite breakfast spot, IHOP, or the International House of Pancakes, for the uninitiated.

This was also something new for the boys, so I quickly explained some of the items they didn't know about. We finally decided to order three separate breakfasts, but then share them with each other, so they could try a little of everything. Jared ordered a Belgian waffle, while Josh selected the French toast and I ordered the cheese blintz, covered with strawberries. I added side orders of sausage links and bacon strips, and got a carafe of orange juice for us to drink, plus a carafe of coffee for me. When the food came, we gave each of the others a third of what we had ordered, and soon we were digging into a delightful array of breakfast treats.

I also divided up the sausages and bacon, and we split the hash browns that came with two of the three meals. I then poured each of us a glass of juice, but I only took half a glass, because I had the coffee as well, which I was constantly refilling. I decided it would be best to let the boys have the rest of the juice, since growing boys could always use the extra vitamins. I did finish up the little bit that was left at the end of our meal, since neither of the boys wanted any more, and I certainly could use the extra vitamin C too.

Now that we were done, I left a tip, took the check up to the cashier, paid the bill and then took the boys back to my place. All the way home, they were thanking me and telling me how much they enjoyed their breakfast, and then they each told me which things they liked the most. I was still amazed at how different Josh was since he came back from his trip, so I began to think that maybe it had something to do with his cutting his ties with his grandparents, but then again he might have also cut his ties with his father as well. If he had, possibly he decided he needed a father figure now too and chose me to fill that role for him as well.

As soon as we got to the house, I asked the boys what they wanted to do next, and they said they'd stay with me until dinnertime, since their mother was at work. They said they would watch a movie, if I wanted to do some work, so I set them up watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, while I sat down at the computer to write. I was glad that they'd decided to do this, because I needed to get this done before Dick called and gave me hell.

Once the movie ended, the boys wanted to swim next, so I relented and followed them upstairs to change. It was another delightful show of young boy flesh, as they paraded around in front of me, and then we put on our swimsuits and headed to the pool.

We played volleyball for a while and then just swam and floated for a bit, before the boys got out to spend some time on the lounges. While they were doing that, I went back inside to write, until they were ready to go back into the water. I took one more dip with them before lunch, and then we came back inside and they watched another movie, while I did some more work.

Once that movie ended, we spent some more time in the pool and stayed there until it was nearly time for them to go home for dinner. Then we went upstairs, dried off and changed back into our clothes, before I drove them home, since they didn't have their bikes. Sherry was already there when we came through the door, so she greeted us with a big smile and she asked the boys if they'd had a good time. They assured her that they had and began to bombard her with stories about our trip to IHOP. Sherry gave me one of those sly, motherly smiles and an 'I can't believe you spent more money on them' look, while she listened to her sons as they explained what they ate and which items they liked best.

She made appropriate comments about everything they told her, so the boys were satisfied with her responses and all went well. Once that was concluded, I excused myself and told them that I had to get back to my writing, which was just a polite way to leave them alone. They all thanked me once more and the boys said they'd come back down later, once they finished eating and their mom went back to work.

When they returned in an hour, Josh told us more about his trip, while we were waiting to go swimming again, but this time he told us about the first few days, before he had the blow-up with his grandparents. Once he finished doing that, it was time for us to go back upstairs to change, and then we spent the rest of the evening in the pool.

When it was time for the boys to go home again, we changed quickly and they told me they'd see me again tomorrow. As we were saying goodbye, I suggested they wait until 10:00 before they showed up, which they agreed to do, before they left.

Once I was alone again, I began to reflect upon all of the changes taking place with Josh. Seeing I didn't know that he had seen Jared and I in action the previous day, I firmly believed he was doing this because he had such a rough time at his grandparents' house. I felt bad for him and realized how hard it must have been to stand up to them and defend his brother the way he had, but that only made me admire him even more. That took a lot of guts for a little guy to do and I'm sure he must have shed more than a few tears afterward, knowing that he just gave up a portion of his family, not to mention a very lucrative pipeline for himself.

As I sat at my computer and got ready to get back to my book, I put those thoughts behind me, after concluding that I had probably hit upon the reason for Josh's sudden change. However, I did appreciate the idea of being so close with each of them now, even though there would be absolutely no sex with Josh.

Chapter 14
The Party

After our few days together, Jared continued to be content spending the majority of his day at my place. It was still mostly under the pretext that he was working for me, so Josh didn't tag along during the times he thought Jared would be working, but Josh did like to join us on the weekends, when he thought we'd play more than work. Jared and I did get a lot of the work done that I had wanted to accomplish, such as painting the trim on the house and washing the exterior windows, and we even began to repaint some of the rooms inside the house too. One day while we were working, I asked Jared to go down to the mailbox and collect my mail, because I was expecting something important to arrive, so he hurried down and brought back the contents. As he handed it to me, he looked at me strangely and posed a question.

"Your last name is Cox?" he asked, amazed.

"Yes, with an 'x'. I thought you knew that," I confirmed.

"No, I didn't, because your books all say your name is Bob White," he pointed out.

"Yes, but that was strictly my publisher's idea. He thought I should use a 'nom de plume' or a pen name, since I was writing for children and young adults," I admitted. "He felt that my surname might create some problems, as well as a rash of jokes, so he asked me to choose a name that was less likely to evoke that type of response. After thinking about it, I ended up choosing the same name as the bird, Bob White, not Robert White, although its name is written as a single word."

"Yes, it probably was for the best that you changed it," Jared agreed, "because your name is kind of a funny and I could see the kids at my school making jokes about it."

He tittered after saying this.

"Why? Don't you like my name?" I questioned.

"Me? Of course I do. I've never met any Cox I didn't like, especially yours," he joked.

After saying this, he burst out laughing, because he thought he had just made that joke up. If only he knew how many times I had heard it, or another similar joke about my last name, while I was growing up.

"So you've got two Cox then?" he asked next, smirking. "One in your pants and another for your name?"

He began to laugh again.

"Yeah, and if I got married, I could have a bunch of little Cox too."

After hearing my comment, Jared was nearly rolling around on the floor in hysterics, so I thought it would be best to get through all of these jokes as quickly as possible.

"I attend all the Cox reunions, and when I get there I find big Cox, little Cox, old Cox and young Cox. We have skinny Cox and fat Cox; smart Cox and dumb Cox, and I think we even have a blind Cox. If anyone in my family starts drinking, then that Cox might end up half in the bag. We have Cox that smoke, but there are non-smoking Cox as well. We have rich Cox and poor Cox, and some Cox are supported by other Cox. We have athletic Cox, couch potato Cox, dancing Cox, singing Cox and artistic Cox. Some Cox prefer to stay at home while other Cox enjoy hanging out."

"I know my cock prefers to hang out around you," he choked out.

After saying this, Jared was nearly hysterical and could hardly breathe, let alone say anything else, so I gave him time to work his way through all I had just thrown at him. By the time he calmed down again, I thought we had probably eliminated most of the future jokes about my surname, unless Josh, or even Dean, learn about it and also found it humorous. Once he had finally calmed down, I continued and added one final thought.

"Now do you see why my publisher thought it might be best for me to use a pen name? Any more questions?"

He didn't have any. After this little session with Jared, I didn't hear any more references to my last name again, so I was glad I overdid it at that time and we got through this all in one session.

Jared's birthday was just around the corner now and he'd be turning fifteen soon. His birthday was on July third, so I figured we could really do up the holiday weekend with a big party for him one day and then celebrate the Fourth on the next. When I got in touch with his mother to inform her about what I wanted to do, I discovered that she didn't have both of those days off from work. Unfortunately, she would have to work on Thursday, but she'd have Friday off for the holiday, since the diner would be closed and she was taking the night off at the bar.

After learning this, I figured I could make some minor adjustments to my plans, so she would be off for the party too, and then I asked her if there were any other young men Jared might wish to invite. She said she couldn't think of anyone, but she'd ask Josh, to see if he knew if Jared had any special friends. If Josh didn't know of anyone either, then she'd ask Jared directly, without letting him know why she wanted to know. She would be very discrete, since she didn't want to ruin the surprise that I was going to be holding a birthday party for him. I thought her suggestion would solve my problem nicely, so I thanked her for her help.

Even though I continued working out the details for his party, Jared kept coming down to my house as usual, which meant I had to be really sly in order to pull everything together without him catching on. I had to put away all of my notes and anything else that might tip him off before he showed up, because I wanted this to be a total surprise. With any luck, none of the others would give this away either and we'd all have a great time.

The following Saturday, Jared and Josh came down to swim again, so once we finished working out in the pool, the boys decided they wanted to watch a movie and insisted that I watch it with them. I had no problem with doing this and let them choose what they wanted to see. They selected an older film, Homeward Bound – The Incredible Journey, which is about two dogs and a cat that crossed the Sierra Mountains to return to their home. It had plenty of exciting moments, great scenery and some clever wisecracks between the animals, since we could hear everything they were saying to each other.

We all enjoyed the movie, even though I had seen it several times before, and when it was over Jared told me that someday he wanted to have a dog too. He said he knew his mother couldn't afford to buy the food and other things it would need right now, but he hoped eventually they could afford it, because he really thought he'd have a lot of fun with a dog of his own.

Once the movie ended, I asked the boys what they wanted to do next, and Jared said he'd like to play miniature golf again, if that wasn't asking too much. I told him it wasn't and asked Josh if he wanted to play too, and he said he'd love to. I thought this was an ideal activity and something we could all do together, so when we got there, we each picked up a golf ball and putter. We let Jared go first, followed by Josh.

Josh did fairly well when it was his turn, but I could see he was more independent and less likely to accept advice than his brother, so I gave him only as much assistance as he seemed to be interested in accepting. Due to his independent streak and stubbornness, he struggled at various times, but both boys seemed to enjoy themselves. I had the lowest score this time, with Jared coming in second, but we didn't want Josh to feel badly that he'd come in last. Therefore, Jared and I both made sure to emphasize to him that we had more experience at this than he did, but he'd still done fairly well.

It was approaching dinnertime when we finished, so I dropped them both off at their house. That way they would be there when their mother came home to have dinner with them and neither boy had a problem with this. They did, however, ask if they could come down to my house after their mother went back to work, and I told them that would be fine. After we had settled that issue, they thanked me for taking them miniature golfing and reminded me that they'd see me later, before they went into their house.

I got a call shortly after I got back and it was from Sherry. First, she thanked me for taking the boys out earlier, but then she had some information for me. She told me there were two boys that Jared was friendly with at school, but there was also another boy, who was also Josh's friend, that Jared also hung around with at times. I thought she might be referring to Dean, but it turned out to be another boy, so she gave me each of their names and phone numbers and left it up to me if I thought they should be invited. I told her I would take care of it and thanked her for her help. I now had a good idea of what I was going to do for Jared, so now I just had to get it all of this organized and set my plan into motion.

It just happened that Jared's birthday was on Thursday this year, but Sherry had to work on that day, as usual, so I talked to her about waiting and holding his party on Friday instead. She would have that day off, because of the holiday, but she didn't want to put his party off until then. She was concerned that the other boys wouldn't be able to attend on that day, especially if their parents had family plans for the Fourth, so she thought holding it on his birthday would be best. I then offered to hold it the Sunday before his birthday, since that was her normal day off, but she didn't seem to like that idea either, so I reluctantly agreed to hold it on Thursday. I had decided, however, that I would figure out a way to work her into this celebration, since I didn't want her to be left out.

During the period in between, I concentrated all my efforts into figuring out how to resolve this dilemma, when suddenly an idea came to me. It seemed simple enough, yet it had been extremely difficult to recognize at first, but isn't that the way it is with most problems? Putting my plan into motion, I called the diner where Sherry worked and spoke to the owner, so I could ask if he would be flexible with Sherry's dinner break that day and let her take it after we'd showed up. I told him that if he would do that for us, then I'd make a reservation to have Jared's party at his establishment. That way his mother could join us for her son's celebration, but her boss would also be earning our business. He said he'd be happy to do that for us, although I assumed he was probably happier to know that I'd be paying for several meals that he might not have otherwise sold. Regardless of his reason, I had a partial solution to my problem.

I also called the phone numbers Sherry had given me and talked to the parents of the boys, so I could explain what I wanted to do. I not only asked if they'd allow their son to join us, but I also gave them the details about what we'd be doing and that we would be gone for most of the day. For many of them this wasn't a problem, but one parent informed me her son wouldn't be able to attend, because they had already made plans for that day. It seemed that they were going away for the holiday weekend and were leaving around noon on Thursday, so she thanked me for inviting her son, as she offered her regrets. I had arranged for the other boys to be dropped off to meet up with Josh at his house, and then they would walk down to my place, because I was planning to have Jared come down earlier, to help me with one of my projects.

As Jared's birthday approached, I merely asked him to come down that day, because I had a chore I needed his assistance with. Although I could see a little disappointment registered on his face when I asked him to do this for me, since he thought I had forgotten it was his birthday, he agreed to help me, nonetheless. His reaction also helped to convince me that he was totally unaware of my real intentions for him. His brother had more of an idea that I had something planned for Jared, because I had him contact each of the boys to give them specific instructions for attending, which he was happy to do. He was aware of some parts of my plans, but only a small portion of them, so most of this would be a surprise to him as well.

That morning, Jared obediently pedaled down to my house and we immediately set about doing a small job I had dreamed up to distract him. Once we had completed that minor chore, which had gotten us both dirty, I suggested that he go upstairs to shower and change into one of the outfits I had purchased for him, after explaining that I needed to run to the store. I told him while he was doing that, I would be doing the same thing in my bathroom and then we'd run to town and pick up a few supplies. He agreed, but he also wanted to mess around a bit first, hinting that it was his birthday and it could be my gift to him. I countered that I was pressed for time right now, but suggested we might be able to do something later. Of course, he wasn't exactly pleased with my response.

Regardless of his disappointment, he responded like a good little trooper and did exactly what I'd asked. I followed him upstairs and sped through my shower, so I would be downstairs to greet the others when they arrived. This way, I would have everything set up and ready to go before Jared came back down to join me.

Shortly after I got downstairs, Josh and the other three boys showed up and I explained what I had planned to happen when Jared came down and joined us. A couple of minutes after that, I heard the shower turn off, but then I had an unsettling thought. I hoped Jared got dressed before he came downstairs and didn't come down naked, in an effort to entice me into a little midday action. It was definitely too late to worry about that now, without spoiling this surprise for him, so I just held my breath and waited for him to appear. Fortunately, when he started down the stairs he was completely dressed, even though he appeared more than a little forlorn when I first spotted him, but that was only until we all screamed 'Happy Birthday!' Once we did that, he looked down and noticed us waiting for him in the foyer.

Initially, he had been startled when we shouted out and jumped slightly, before that special grin of his began to spread across his face. Soon, he was beaming, because he now realized that I had arranged this little surprise for him, and then he came bounding down the remaining stairs to greet the others. The four boys surrounded him and wished him another round of 'happy birthday,' and then Jared looked at me and smiled broadly.

"You're sneaky," he blurted out. "I thought you had forgotten all about my birthday. How did you set this up without me finding out about any of it?"

"Oh, I had a little help," I confessed, as I pointed at his brother.

"Josh knew about this and was able to keep it a secret?" Jared asked, somewhat startled. "Josh is never able to keep a secret and always gives it away before the time comes. He even does it when we plan something nice for Mom and always manages to tell her beforehand, so it's never a surprise."

"Well, I kept this secret, didn't I?" Josh responded, mildly indignant.

It was quite apparent that he was annoyed that Jared had spilled the beans about his less than admirable trait, especially in front of the rest of us. Instead of making a scene over it though, he used it to turn things back on Jared.

"I guess I showed you that I can keep a secret," he stated, defiantly, "even if it was for a brother who doesn't really appreciate what I do for him."

Jared was now the one feeling badly about what he had said, so he went over and placed his arm around Josh's shoulder, as his way of letting him know that he meant no harm by his comments.

"Hey, I did the same thing when I was your age," Jared confessed, in hope that it would make Josh feel better. "I didn't mean anything by what I said, but I was just amazed, that's all."

"I know, but I made sure I kept this secret, so I could surprise my big brother," Josh announced, while smiling at Jared.

I could see this comment touched Jared deeply and Josh's recent actions and comments had gone a long way to bringing the boys closer and more appreciative of each other. That's when I decided to step in and bail them out, before they embarrassed themselves in front of the other guests.

"Ok, let's go out and load up in the Tahoe," I suggested. "I've got some plans made for today, so we need to get going."

As we headed out to get into my SUV, all of the boys wanted to know what I had in store for them, but I wasn't about to tell them. I wanted this to be a surprise and there were multiple parts to my little scheme. Once they were all buckled in, I drove off toward town, with Jared and Josh immediately recognizing where I was going.

"Hey, we're going to the miniature golf course, aren't we?" Jared wanted to know.

"Oh, could be," I replied, without committing myself totally.

Suddenly I could hear the boys whispering, as they made plans to pair up and play against each other. It was going to be Jared and his friend, Austin, against Josh and Dean, which meant I got to pair up with Jared's other friend, Steve.

"What do the winners get?" Jared asked, showing his competitive nature again.

"How about the winners won't have to pay?" I offered, in jest.

"We have to pay?" Austin asked, mildly concerned.

"No, he's just teasing," Jared explained. "He's just trying to make it so he doesn't have to come up with a prize."

The boys all laughed.

"Ok, so how about I buy the winners a meal," I offered, knowing I was going to do that for all of them anyway.

Jared eyes searched my face, as if he were trying to read if I was being serious.

"You don't have to do anything like that," he countered, while looking as if he thought he had backed me into a corner.

"It's not a problem and I really don't mind," I assured him.

"Then it will only be at McDonalds or someplace like that and not at that fancy restaurant again," he stated, adamantly.

"Oh, it won't be at the restaurant," I agreed.

"We don't have to do this and have winners," Jared offered, one final time.

"No, I don't mind at all," I confirmed. "In fact, if you boys hadn't thought about doing that, then I probably would have suggested it anyway, just to make things more interesting for you."

After I'd told him this, Jared smiled and took a deep breath.

"Ok, if you're sure, Dad," he replied.

He was smiling at me and I didn't know if he realized the slip he'd just made in front of the others, or even if they had picked up on it. Both of his friends and Dean knew I wasn't really his father, but no one made a big deal about what he'd said, so I thought possibly they hadn't noticed his faux pas, as I had done.

We arrived at the miniature golf course in short order and the boys seemed excited about competing against one another. After we had picked up our putters, golf balls and a scorecard, the boys began trash talking with each other, in hopes of intimidating their opponents before they took their turn. This didn't bother me, however, since it was all being done in a friendly manner, so I didn't try to stop this from going on.

The teams played pretty evenly over the first several holes, but on the very difficult eighth hole, Jared made an extraordinary putt and got a hole-in-one. The others weren't as fortunate and encountered various problems with their putts, and I had my share of problems too. This catapulted Jared's team into the lead, but that didn't last very long. On the tenth hole, Dean got a hole-in-one and brought his team within one stroke of Jared and Austin, but my team wasn't doing so well. It must have been the first time Steve had ever played, so he was having a rough time, although he still seemed to be enjoying himself.

The pressure was on for the remainder of the contest between the other two teams and things were going nip and tuck as we came down the homestretch. The lead was going back and forth, but more than half of the time the two teams were tied. We were now approaching the final two holes and I could see how hard each team wanted to win this competition. Josh and Dean were up by one stroke at this point and it was easy to tell that Jared was pushing hard to take the lead back. However, he wasn't the one that helped his team get into a position to win, because his putt was errant and left him in an awkward position to sink his second putt. Fortunately for him though, his brother did almost the identical thing, but then Austin made his second putt, while Dean missed his. Jared and Josh each scored a three, which deadlocked the overall score once again, as we came up to the final hole.

Luckily, this wasn't one of those courses that had a final hole meant merely to collect your golf balls. This course had a final hole that the boys could actually play, which gave them a chance to break the tie. The tension was so thick you could have cut it, as each boy stepped up to putt. You could see the determination on each of their faces as they took their turn, because each one hoped to get the ball close enough to the hole so they would be able to sink the second putt, but there was also a chance that they might even get lucky in the process and make a hole-in-one. The problem was, things don't always go as planned.

Austin had honors, so he putted first. He didn't make a bad putt, but it wasn't all that good either, because he still had a long putt to score a two. They let Dean go next and he did only slightly better than Austin, because he also left himself a lengthy putt for a two. Jared followed with a pretty good putt and left himself only about a two-foot [60 cm] putt for a two, but Josh did even better and his ball ended up only a little over a foot away from the hole. Steve and I opted to wait until the other two pairs had finished, so we wouldn't inadvertently interfere.

The two who were farthest from the hole putted first and they both missed their next putts, but then put it in the hole for three. This meant either Josh or Jared would wind up determining which team won. Jared was the next to go and made a shaky putt, because the ball was heading slightly off target and only caught the edge of the cup. It looked as if it might stay on the putting surface, but then it fell into the cup, which put the pressure on Josh. I thought this was going to be a very easy putt for him to make, so the teams would end up tied, but surprisingly his putt went slightly to the left of the hole, with his ball ending up about an inch from dropping in the cup.

As Jared and Austin celebrated their victory and started spouting trash to their opponents, I began to wonder if Josh just made a bad shot or whether he might have actually missed his putt intentionally, so his brother would win. I wasn't able to tell by the expression on his face. I had seen him make other putts more difficult than that one, but this putt had much more pressure and he didn't appear distraught about losing.

Steve and I quickly finished the hole next, and then as we were turning our putters and golf balls in, Jared, Dean, Austin and Steve each said that they had to use the restroom. I told them to go ahead, so they ran off and left Josh and me standing alone.

"Hey, I thought you were going to make that last putt and it was tough luck that you missed," I told him, giving him an opening.

"Oh, well. Crap happens," he said, grinning at me. "I guess Jared can consider that as one of my birthday presents to him."

After he said this, he winked and confirmed my suspicion.

"That was pretty nice of you," I told him.

"Well, it is his birthday, and I could see how much he wanted to beat us," Josh admitted.

"Just the same, I'm proud of you," I told him. "Not every brother would have been so nice."

At that point Josh and I decided to use the restroom too and we entered just as the other four were finishing up. After we had completed our business, we got back into my SUV and set off once again, but this time, I took them over to Wendy's for a quick lunch. Jared thought this was his winner's prize, except everyone got fed.

Once we finished up there, we headed to our next destination, but this time the boys weren't able to guess where we were heading, at least until we eventually got there. I'm not sure if Jared recognized where we were going either, since he was the only one who had been here before, at least that I knew. He had been too busy talking to the others while I was driving and didn't realize where we were until someone made a comment, but that worked out well. Even though I had to drive for an hour just to bring them here, it was worth the trip, because I had made arrangements for us to go to the karting center and have the longest track to ourselves for an hour.

This was going to cost more than if I had just brought the boys here and paid for us to get in, but I didn't know how good some of them would be at this and didn't want to have them trying to compete, while also watching out for people we didn't know. This way, the boys could take their time getting used to the karts and the track without any pressure and still have a good time. You see, I didn't want them to worry if they weren't very good at this, because even though I knew Jared had done it before, I figured this was probably the first time for the others, since this wasn't really close to where we lived. As I would later discover, this turned out to be a correct assumption.

When we got there, we had to wait about ten minutes until those currently on the track finished their runs, so during the wait, one of the attendants explained to everyone how to operate the go-karts. We then waited for the other attendant to get the final three people off the track and then we had it to ourselves for the next sixty minutes.

I don't know if they usually allowed private parties to reserve the track, but I had offered to pay the equivalent of two-dozen customers during that period of time, in order to entice them and make sure they weren't losing any money. I think this was far more than their average hourly attendance for this time of day, so calculating the profit they were going to make from this situation, the owner jumped at the chance to make some extra cash. I think that overrode any concern he might have about upsetting any other potential customers, and besides, they could always go ride on one of the other two tracks.

When the final straggler had gone, the attendants had six go-karts lined up and waiting for us to use. I could see the boys were ready to get started and very eager to try their hand at driving these miniature racecars, but I suggested they take a couple of easy spins around the track first. I wanted them to get familiar with the layout and also get a feel for how the go-karts operated, before they begging me to let them race. I also suggested that once they were comfortable driving the karts, then we could discuss what they wanted to do next. The boys all seemed to think this was a good idea, so we started out somewhat slowly, as we made our first lap around the track and navigated through the myriad of twists and turns. After one additional lap, the boys began to build up their confidence, as well as the speed they were driving at, so before long they felt they were ready to begin racing.

I suggested we race in pairs first, so there were fewer vehicles on the track to cause problems, and this would also allow them to concentrate on what they were doing with only one other driver to have to worry about. Jared and I went first, with Jared winning that race. Ok, maybe I didn't try my hardest. Josh and Dean went next, with Dean barely nosing Josh out at the finish line, but only because he managed to get the inside position on the final turn. Then Jared's two friends raced, but I don't think anyone was paying attention to who won that race, except for the two of them.

After that Josh and Jared raced, with Jared winning again, and then Dean raced Austin and I raced Steve. Dean lost this time and I won, but now the boys all had more confidence with handling the karts and were ready to take on a bigger challenge, so I agreed to let them race three at a time.

The first of these races was between Jared and his two friends and Jared managed to win once again. Then I raced against Josh and Dean, and since Dean had already beaten Josh, and Josh had been nice enough to let Jared win at miniature golf, I kind of fixed this race. Once Josh broke into the lead, I cut Dean off and kept him from passing me, so Josh won the race. He was thrilled and I was glad that I had been able to do that for him.

Since our time at the track was winding down, everyone wanted to race together and I reluctantly agreed. I was worried about one of them having an accident, but since there were plenty of safety precautions, I didn't feel anyone would get injured, even if an accident happened. Luckily, that's exactly what happened, as the crowded track caused more than one run in with one of the safety barriers, but no one got hurt. I'm not sure if the boys actually let Jared win the first group race, but that's how it worked out. Since I had started in the back that time, as a handicap to even out my driving experience advantage, I got boxed in and was never able to challenge him, so Jared crossed the finish line first.

About the same time that everything had calmed down after that race, the operators told us we had time for one more spin around the track, so we all went again. This time, they put Jared and me in the front, and I tried my hardest to beat him, but about halfway through, he was able to cut me off, just as we were going into one of the hairpin turns. I was never able to get ahead of him again after that and Jared was thrilled. In fact, he was so excited about having won this time that he was pumping his fists into the air after he crossed the finish line and was all smiles as he removed his helmet. Everyone was busy congratulating him, after we had pulled the karts off to the side.

Actually, this was working out great and I couldn't have planned it any better, because Jared had managed to win each of his races, as well as being on the winning team at miniature golf. I could tell he was having a great birthday so far, which pleased me tremendously, but it wasn't over yet.

From there, I took the boys over to a nearby bowling alley and we bowled two games. Of course, I had the high score each time, but Jared had done quite well too. The thing that I was really happy to see was that Steve, who had done so poorly when playing miniature golf and only so-so on the go-karts, did very well bowling. This made him feel a lot better and raised his status amongst the others. He confided in me later that he often went bowling with his family, so I was glad we had accidentally chosen something he was good at.

During the ride back, the boys all seemed to be having a really good time recalling all of the things that had taken place at the track, bowling alley and miniature golf course, and I think they assumed we were heading to my place next. They all seemed kind of surprised when I pulled into the diner instead, but I think they merely suspected we were stopping to check in with Jared's mother. When I told them to hop out and come inside with me, they all seemed puzzled, but they did as I instructed. Shortly after we entered the diner, we were led to the back, where they had placed a collection of tables together for us to use. I think the owner figured we would be less likely to disturb the other diners from this spot, in case we wanted to let loose and the boys got a bit rowdy while celebrating Jared's birthday.

Sherry came by after we were seated and told me I was very sneaky to have set this up with her boss without telling her first. This statement confused her sons, especially when she informed them that she'd be joining us in a few minutes, after the last of her current customers had finished up. As she was walking away, another waitress came over to take care of us. She gave us each a menu, filled our water glasses and asked what else we wanted to drink. I told the boys to get whatever they wanted, while I ordered a coffee for myself, and then we looked at the menus, while we waited for Sherry to join us. The drinks were brought to the table before Sherry got back, but once she returned, we were all ready to order. Once our waitress had written down what we wanted, the boys began to fill Sherry in about everything they had done before we arrived here.

Sherry smiled and gave me that motherly 'you've certainly outdone yourself again' look, once she learned about our exploits. I could tell that she was actually pleased for her sons, especially Jared, as she listened intently to every detail the boys told her. She laughed when they told her how Jared had won the last group race and guessed that I lagged behind on purpose, but that wasn't the case, because it was the one time that I had actually tried to beat him. By the time the food came, the boys had told her pretty much everything that had happened, so we talked about other topics while we ate.

Once we finished our meals, the waitress came over to clear the table and I whispered to her as she took my plate away. Everyone began to question me about what I had said to her, but I played dumb, which wasn't very hard. They were still trying to get the information out of me when she returned, carrying a birthday cake with fifteen lighted candles on top. I think they now had their answer about what I had told her, as they focused on Jared and the cake that had been place in front of him. I had ordered this through the manager, when I made the initial reservation, and now I suggested that we sing 'Happy Birthday' to Jared, so he could make his wish and blow out the candles.

After a very loud and raucous chorus of the song, Sherry told Jared to make his wish. Instead of doing so, he turned to her and spoke.

"I don't have to," he replied. "I already have my wish. I've got a really special Dad now."

He looked over at me after he said this and I think Sherry and I almost burst into tears, because we both knew what he meant by that comment. We did somehow manage to maintain our composure though, as his two friends began to catch on to the depth of our special relationship.

After making this pronouncement, Jared blew out the candles and we had him cut the cake. The waitress had already returned with a serving tray with dessert plates to place the pieces of cake on, but she also had a bowl of ice cream for each of us. Each bowl had two scoops of vanilla ice cream in it, but she also placed a pitcher of chocolate syrup and two other bowls on the table, one with strawberry topping and the other with pineapple topping in it. This way the boys could make their own sundae and select whatever flavor or combination of flavors they might wish to have.

When we finished our desserts, I slipped away to pay the check and tip the waitress, since I didn't want to take the chance of any of the others seeing the bill. I knew Sherry could probably find out how much it was later, if she really wanted to, but I hoped she wouldn't go to that extreme. Now, it was time for us to say good-bye to her, because she still had to finish her shift, and I took the boys to my house.

I had made sure that Josh had informed all of the boys to either bring their swimsuits with them or wear them under their clothes, and they all did the latter, except for Josh and Jared. Although we'd have to wait for a little while before I'd let them go in the pool, I let our three guests watch TV while Josh, Jared and I went upstairs to change.

"I think you'd better put on your trunks this time, instead of one of the Speedos," I suggested, and both boys nodded their agreement.

After I changed, I grabbed a bunch of towels to take down with me, so they'd be there for the boys to use to dry off when we were done. Once we came back downstairs, we joined the others watching the show they had settled on, until I felt it was ok to get in the pool. When we did, we played volleyball as teams, with Josh and Jared being on my team for the first game. Once that one ended, Dean and Steve were on my team, and by the time that game was over, I figured it was time to take everyone home.

I gave each boy a towel to dry off, and then the three friends slipped their clothes on over their swimsuits, while Josh, Jared and I went upstairs to change. When we came back down afterward, I led everyone out to the Tahoe and had each boy give me directions to his house, so I could drop him off. As I pulled up in front of each residence, that boy would thank us for inviting him and tell us what a great time he'd had, before he wished Jared 'happy birthday' again. Each one also told us how glad he was that he'd been included, so I decided that if they weren't Jared's close friends before, it looked as if they were now.

As soon as we'd watched the last boy enter his house, Jared turned to me and spoke.

"Thank you for everything, Dad. This was the best birthday ever," he gushed.

"Thank your brother too, because he was the one who helped me find out about your friends, got them lined up to come and passed my messages on to them," I informed him.

After hearing me say that, Jared turned in his seat and faced his brother, who was sitting in the back.

"Thanks, Josh, and I hope I can help to make your birthday as great as this one was," he announced.

I was watching Josh through the rearview mirror and saw the he was beaming at his brother's acknowledgment.

"You're welcome, but I had a really great time too," he shot back.

Sherry had already agreed to let the boys spend the night at my place, seeing we had plans to get together again the following day, to celebrate the Fourth of July. I was going to take them to the local park in the late afternoon, where we'd have a picnic and do many other things while we were there, including watching the fireworks display that would be held, once it got dark. I couldn't remember if Sherry had invited me to join in her family's outing or if I had managed to barge my way in, but I was going to try to make sure they all had a wonderful time.

When we got back to my place again, both boys thanked me one final time for the fun day, but then Jared whispered a little something extra in my ear. He did that to let me know that he'd pay me back later for the great time and then reiterated, in his normal voice, that this was the best birthday he'd ever had. After Jared made that comment, I looked at Josh and told him we'd do something special for his birthday in November too, and he smiled when he heard me say that. It let him know that I wasn't about to only give Jared such special treatment and I think it made him feel even better. In fact, Josh and I seemed to be growing closer every day as well and I was glad he wasn't feeling left out or slighted.

It was now time for me to give Jared his present, so I grabbed a bag off the end table, pulled out the package inside and handed it to him. When he opened it, he discovered a box set of the Hunger Games Trilogy, which I had wrapped the night before. He then thanked me for the gift and then I excused myself and left the room briefly. When I returned, I was holding a chocolate lab puppy and Jared leaped up from his seat when he saw me holding this wiggling little bundle of energy.

"You got me a dog too?" he asked, rhetorically.

That's when I explained that he could leave the puppy at my place and care for it here, so it wouldn't become a burden for his mother. I would supply the food, toys and anything else the puppy needed, plus I would pay all vet bills, as required. This way, he could enjoy the puppy when he was with me and his mother wouldn't wind up being strapped with any responsibility or financial burden for the dog.

I had also purchased a cage for it to stay in whenever we were away and that's where the puppy had been while we were gone for the day. The cage had lots of room for it to move around in for now, but it was also large enough to accommodate it later, since I knew that it would grow to be a good size. Jared fell in love with the puppy right away and soon he and Josh had come up with a name for it. They had decided to call him Boo-Boo, although I had no idea why. They weren't ready to explain why they had selected that particular name, but I was sure there was some sort of a story behind it, possibly even a slightly naughty tale. I merely smiled, as I watched the two boys frolic with their new playmate.

After tiring each other out and taking the puppy outside to relieve itself, the boys decided they wanted to watch the Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl movie next, so I found it on Netflix and got it started. Then, we sat together on the sofa and I had a boy cuddled up against me on each side, with the puppy curled up on Jared's lap. At one point, we paused the movie so Josh could go to the toilet, so Jared and I took that opportunity to take the puppy outside again, since it wasn't housebroken yet.

While we were out there, I inform Jared that we might not be able to do anything later, with Josh being here too and he stated he knew that, but figured he could slip away for at least a few minutes during the night, without Josh being any the wiser about what might be going on. I told him we'd have to be very careful if he did that, because I didn't want anything to happen that might jeopardize what we presently had, and he said he'd be careful. He also said that he didn't think Josh would even mind, seeing he was feeling close to me now too, but I told him there was no way I wanted Josh to get involved in these activities, if he thought he was missing out on something. Shortly after that, we went back into the house and Josh was waiting for us. Before long, I had my arms wrapped around both boys again, as we watched the remainder of the movie.

When it ended, I suggested we all head to bed and both boys were more than ready to turn in for the night. It had been a long day and I think we were all exhausted, so no one objected. I had them take the puppy outside one final time to do its business and then I told them they could either take a shower tonight or do it in the morning. The boys opted for the morning, and I didn't mind whichever choice they made, because I could see how they might think a shower would somehow perk them back up and not allow them to readily fall asleep afterward. The boys went to their room, the one across the hall from mine, hopped into bed and placed the puppy between them. After I went in to check on them and kissed them both on the forehead, I went in and crawled into my bed alone. I was pretty sure I wouldn't be that way for the entire night, but I just hoped that Jared was cautious if he decided to come in and join me for a while.

Around 2:00 a.m. I awoke, when I felt someone crawl into my bed. It was Jared and almost immediately he gave me a huge, wet kiss. I eagerly joined in and slipped him my tongue, but I also allowed him to gently suck on it, before I returned the favor. I could already feel his hand beginning to work its way down my chest, until he was able to massage my genitals and had me in a highly aroused state within a matter of minutes. Knowing we should probably be quick about this, if we were going to do anything at all, I began to run my palm over his penis too.

Sensing the urgency of the situation, Jared swung around and placed his midsection above my head, and I began to slip off his underwear, to get at my prize. He proceeded to do the same thing to me, and soon we were in a frantic sixty-nine position, slurping eagerly at each other's fleshy straw. Jared must have been highly aroused, probably from thinking about this moment all evening long, and soon he was filling my mouth with his watery boy cream. Even though there was a momentary pause in the attention he was giving to me, as he enjoyed his own orgasm, he soon continued his ministrations and redoubled his efforts to get me off as well.

When the time came, my ejaculation exploded from my tiny slit and sent several volleys of hot cum down Jared's throat, but he never let up or missed a beat in the process. Silently he drained me of all my juices, devouring most of it, and once the forcefulness of my climax began to subside, he teased the final few drops from my penis. Once I was completely drained, he swung back around and cuddled up against me for a while, but we both knew this couldn't last for very long. We only stayed this way for a few more minutes, before he got up and headed toward the toilet, on his way back to the other room. After that, he took the puppy outside one final time and then we both went to sleep, very contented, after having enjoyed Jared's special day to the max.

Chapter 15
The Summer

The morning of the Fourth of July, I got both boys up and sent them into the shower, while I went to my room and did the same. After we had all cleaned up and dressed, we went downstairs and I fixed us all some breakfast, while they took the puppy outside to do its business. When they came inside, I had Jared put some puppy chow in the dog dish and asked him to make sure there was plenty of water in the other bowl, and then we sat down to eat.

The boys began talking about the previous day again and went over many of the things that made the day stand out for them. They were not only thrilled about what we had done, but they were also happy that their friends had been included and they'd all had such a great time. I felt good just hearing them say all of these things and began thinking about other activities I might be able to do with them.

Once we finished our meal and rinsed off the dishes, I asked them what they wanted to do until it was time for us to go to the park. They decided that they wanted to watch the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Dead Man's Chest, so I agreed to do it with them. It was a repeat of the previous evening, in that they sat on either side and cuddled against me, with my arms wrapped around them again, but this time the puppy kept crawling across our laps, since it didn't want to stay in one place.

When the movie ended, the boys decided to take Boo-Boo outside and play with him for a while, hoping that way he'd be ready to settle down later, while we were away. I got a kick out of watching them run around the yard, with Boo-Boo chasing after them, and they kept at it for several hours, while I sat down to write. I didn't see them again until I called them in for lunch.

When the boys came into the kitchen, the puppy was following right behind and he lay down at Jared's feet when he sat down at the table. The dog didn't whine or beg and merely lay with his head on one of Jared's shoes, which made me realize that the boy and his dog were already bonding.

When the boys finished eating, they went back outside with Boo-Boo and I sat down to write again. About an hour later, they came back inside and wanted to know if they could swim until it was time to go. When I told them they could, they raced upstairs to change, but Boo-Boo was having difficulty getting up the stairs. When Jared noticed this, he came back down, picked the puppy up and carried him to the guest room with him. The boys quickly put on their Speedos and then came back downstairs, with Boo-Boo snuggly wrapped in Jared's arms.

When the boys saw I hadn't changed too, they wanted to know why, so I told them I was going to spend the time working instead. They didn't care for that idea, since they had given me a few hours to write already, while they had been playing with the dog. They were insistent that I join them, so I finally gave in and told them I'd do that, but before I did, I explained they could go in the pool without me and then I'd join them in a few minutes.

Once I'd put on my swimsuit and gone outside, I discovered another surprise. The boys had Boo-Boo in the pool with them and the puppy was happily doggy paddling beside them.

"I hope you know that having the dog in the pool with you is going to play havoc with my filter," I announced, when I saw what they had done.

"Why?" Jared wanted to know.

"Because of his fur," I answered. "Enough is going to come off while he's in there with you to clog up the filter."

"I didn't know that. Sorry," Jared apologized. "Do you want me to take him out then?"

"Since he's already in there with you, I don't think he will stay out now, unless we put him in his cage," I advised him.

"But we didn't bring him in with us," Jared announced. "He just jumped in when he saw us in the pool."

Goes to figure, since labs seem to love water.

We swam for a while, until I felt it was time to get ready to go, and then we all climbed out of the pool and dried off, before we went upstairs to change for the park, with Boo-Boo in tow. Once we were dressed, I had Jared call his mother, to see if she was ready to leave.

Before he asked her about that, he told her about the puppy, and I wondered what her reaction was going to be. He didn't bother to tell her that I planned to keep the puppy down here, so she wouldn't have to worry about it, especially after the boys went back to school. At that time, the puppy would have been left alone at home all day, but seeing I work from home, the puppy would seldom end up being left by itself. To avoid any ill feelings, I figured I'd just share all of these details with her as we made our way to the park.

A few seconds later, Jared came back and told me his mother would be ready to leave in about twenty minutes, since she was just packing our picnic lunch in the cooler. Even though I had told her she didn't have to do this, she insisted on fixing everything, which she stated would be her contribution to the day. She wouldn't take 'no' for an answer or let me do any of this, because she said that I had already spent way too much money on Jared's party the previous day, so she wasn't about to let me spend more on the food. Since I didn't wish to hurt her feelings or make her feel unimportant, I agreed to her demand.

Now that I heard she was nearly ready, I asked the boys to give me a hand outside. I had them help me drag my old rowboat out of the garage and place it on top of the SUV, and then they helped me strap it down. When they asked why I was bringing this with me, I told them that I was planning to take them all out on the lake for a little boat ride. This was something they hadn't expected, but now they seemed excited about this new prospect, so I asked them to put the oars inside the Tahoe, while I went back into the house to get everything else.

I had prepared a cooler filled with soda, both diet and regular, to take with us, plus I'd added some bottles of water in there too. After that, I went to the coat closet to fetch the harness and leash I had purchased for the puppy, so we could take him along.

"Are we going to take Boo-Boo with us too?" Jared asked. "I thought maybe we'd have to leave him here."

"That's what I'd originally planned, but I've since change my mind and decided to bring him along," I confirmed. "I've concluded that there's no reason why he can't come with us and it will give your mother a chance to meet him as well."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Jared agreed.

"We'll need to bring a roll of paper towels, a couple of plastic bags and his dishes with us too, along with some of his puppy chow," I suggested. "If you two will get all of that and put it in the back with you, then we'll be just about ready to leave. I think he'll have a good time playing with you guys in the park. The only thing I'm concerned about is that the noise of the fireworks may scare him or hurt his ears, so you may have to cover his head with your hands to help protect him. The paper towels and plastic bags are to clean up after him, in case he poops while we're there, because we can't leave it so someone else will step in it. Other than that, he should be fine."

The boys both seemed excited that we were going to bring the puppy along, plus Sherry would be able to meet him and I'd be able to explain that I planned to keep the dog at my place. A few minutes later, after the last of those items were loaded into the SUV, I had the boys go back inside and get Boo-Boo. When they came back out with him, the pair hopped into the Tahoe and buckled up in the back seat, with Boo-Boo on the seat between them, and then we left to go pick up their mother.

Sherry was finished with her final preparations and waiting for us, when the boys went racing inside with the puppy, because they were anxious for her to see him. She looked at the dog and petted it, and then she looked up at me and gave me a look that said, 'You know, you're spoiling them.' I just smiled, shrugged my shoulders and then tried to relieve whatever concerns she might have.

"I told Jared he could leave the puppy at my place and take care of him there," I explained. "The puppy will have more room to run around that way and will very seldom have to be left alone. I wouldn't have presumed to have Jared bring the dog here without asking you first, but I also plan on buying all of the food and anything else it might need."

She gave me a semi-disgusted look at that point.

"You don't have to do all of that," she stated, with her hands on her hips. "It was nice enough for you to get him the dog, so you don't have to be saddled with it too."

"Oh, I don't look at it that way," I replied. "It can keep me company when the boys aren't there, but they can bring him here too, if that's all right with you. It's just that by having the puppy spend most of its time at my house, it will also mean that he won't be alone when the boys are at school in the fall. I'll still purchase all its food and other necessities, so you won't be burdened with the extra expense, even if you allow the dog to stay here part of the time too."

She merely smiled now, as she gave me her silent consent to this arrangement.

Since that had been cleared up, I had the boys help me load everything she had prepared into the Tahoe, and once it was all in place, we all got into the SUV too. It didn't take very long to get to the park, maybe twenty or twenty-five minutes, but it gave us some time to have a little fun along the way. I started us off by singing, Yankee Doodle, and soon everyone else joined in, and when we finished, Sherry started in on My Country 'Tis of Thee. We followed that up with America the Beautiful and finished up with a rousing rendition of God Bless America. I'm sure all of the other cars we passed must have thought us a bit strange, since they could see we were all singing, but with the air conditioning on and the windows rolled up, we weren't that much of a disturbance. Sherry and the boys seemed to enjoy our little impromptu sing-along, and by the time we finished, we were at the gates of the park.

I found a parking spot fairly close to the lake, which was away from where the majority of the people chose to park, but this way we wouldn't have to lug the boat very far. After we got out, we agreed to take a walk first, so Jared put Boo-Boo's harness on him and then hooked the leash to it, so the puppy could run along beside us, and then we set off for a walk along the lake.

The puppy was extremely curious and had to investigate everything we encountered, plus he also felt obliged to leave his mark every few paces. Since we had planned for this to be a leisurely stroll anyway, it wasn't much of a bother, so we continued to walk and talk about the scenery. When we reached the far end of lake, we decided to turn around and head back, but Boo-Boo wasn't cooperating. After trying to tug him into joining us, Jared finally bent down, picked him up and carried him part of the way back. When Jared began to tire from lugging that small bundle around, he put the dog back down again and Boo-Boo happily trotted along beside us once more.

When we got back to the Tahoe, I had the boys help me get the rowboat off the rack next and we put it in the water. Then, I took everyone out for a ride on the lake, but I warned the boys they should keep a good hold on Boo-Boo, because I felt he might decide to jump out of the boat and into the water. After I'd rowed for a while, Jared asked if he could try his hand at rowing, so I offered to let him sit on my lap and give it a try. This way, I could teach him how to do it and get him to keep equal pressure on both oars, unless he was trying to turn. We could row for a while together this way, until I felt he had the hang of it and by then I should have a pretty good idea if he had enough strength to move the boat by himself, with all of us inside it. If not, we would continue doing this together, so he wouldn't embarrass himself in front of his mother and brother.

Before he joined me to do the rowing, Jared handed the puppy off to Josh and then we rowed together for the next fifteen or twenty minutes. After exerting all of the energy needed to propel us around the lake, he began to tire of the novelty of the situation and soon decided he'd had enough. At this point, Josh wanted to give it a try, so he handed the puppy back to Jared and then came over and sat on my lap next.

Sherry didn't say much during this whole time, and instead merely chose to watch how her boys interacted with me. She got a chuckle out of the few times I let each boy try to row the boat alone, because they strained to move all of our combined weight even a little bit, but I could see her smile as she watched us work together as a team and saw how much the boys trusted and relied on me. I think she was having a better time watching her boys have fun, than worrying about having a good time herself.

We stayed out on the lake for quite some time, and when we came in, we put the rowboat back on the roof rack of the Tahoe and strapped it back down. As soon as we finished doing that, Jared turned to me and whispered.

"That sure was a lot harder than paddling the canoe!"

"Well, that's probably because two of us were paddling then and there weren't as many people or so much weight in the canoe," I reasoned.

As we were walking back to rejoin Sherry and the puppy, a group of people approached and asked if we'd like to take part in a softball game with them, just for fun. It seemed that some of these families had come with the hopes of finding enough others to have a decent game, but they hadn't yet found enough players to pull this off. When they saw us coming back in from our time on the lake, they decided to ask us to join them. As soon as they finished making their pitch, I explained that we didn't have any gloves to use, so they told us we could borrow gloves when it was our turn to take the field. They also said there was a large variety of bats to choose from, when it was our turn to hit. The boys seemed eager to do this, so we agreed and followed them over to the baseball diamond.

The game wasn't anything special, but it turned out to be a great deal of fun and we all had a really good time playing, even Sherry. Yes, there were women and girls playing too, and some of them were better than the guys. I thought this was good for the boys to discover now, along with the fact that their mother was a pretty fair player herself. We later learned that she had played on organized teams in school and continued until just before Jared was born. She also played some while the boys were little, but they just didn't remember that. Unfortunately, she didn't have the time to do this any longer, now that they were on their own. By participating in this game, it had allowed the boys to discover another side of their mother, one that they hadn't previously known about.

After the game ended, we decided it was time to eat, because by now it was early evening. It was a good thing we had all devoured a decent breakfast and lunch, because that had held us over, since we were eating later than we normally would have. To get ready to do this, we pulled a blanket out of the Tahoe and spread it out on the ground, and then Jared grabbed Boo-Boo's dishes and food out of the SUV and brought all of it with him. After Jared fed his puppy, each of us sat on a corner of the blanket, with the cooler located between us, and Sherry quickly organized the food, while we selected our beverages. She then handed each of us a paper plate, which we quickly filled with a variety of interesting items. She had prepared a selection of sandwiches, which would appeal to all tastes, and included ham and cheese, egg salad, tuna fish, and even some peanut butter and jelly. She had also prepared potato and macaroni salads, as well as a cabbage salad with pineapple. There were also bags of chips and pretzels to select from, to round things out.

It was a wonderful picnic meal and we were soon stuffed, so we placed the leftovers back in the coolers and loaded everything back into the SUV. We then decided to take another brief walk, but this stroll was designed to help us work off some of the calories we had just consumed, while we also scouted out a good spot to watch the fireworks. As we roamed over the grounds, the boys pointed out a small hill, which we soon discovered had a large flat rock on top of it that would serve as a nice seat. They quickly determined this would be an ideal location to view the aerial display, so Sherry and I agreed to hold the spot while the boys went back to the Tahoe to get each of us a drink. They also brought back one of Boo-Boo's dishes and a bottle of water for him, and once they returned, we took a quick sip of our drinks, but saved the rest for later. The boys then began to play around with the puppy again, as a distraction while waiting for the fireworks to begin.

Sherry and I watched the boys run around, as they attempted to get the puppy to chase after them. They did this by dragging his leash behind them, and once Boo-Boo got the hang of what they wanted him to do, he would run after them and try to grab a hold of the leash, so he could pull on it, as if he were playing tug-of-war. This activity soon attracted a small group of other children that came over to admire the puppy, and soon they wanted to play with Boo-Boo too.

Sherry and I both watched to see how the boys were going to react to these intruders, but we needn't have been concerned. The boys didn't object to the others showing up and eagerly let those children join in on the fun, possibly because they were beginning to tire from doing all of the running themselves. These kids were also some of the children we had played softball with earlier, so the boys were already familiar with many of them. Jared and Josh might have also decided to let them do this, as their way of repaying them for their kindness earlier, when they invited us to join their game. Whatever the reason, Sherry and I were both proud of how they handled themselves during this situation, just as two parents should be.

While we had been watching the kids play with Boo-Boo, Sherry took the opportunity to thank me for giving Jared the dog and for everything else I had done for her sons. She also told me that Josh had confided in her that Jared had been calling me Dad when we were alone, even prior to hearing his comment at the birthday party. I wondered if she might be upset about that fact, but instead she told me how pleased she was that Jared was allowing me to fill that void in his life. She then went on to tell me how different Jared had been acting since he began spending time with me and stated that he now seemed so much happier, had become more outgoing, grown closer to his brother and he even looked forward to getting up each morning, so he could come down and spend a part of his day with me.

I explained that some of my efforts might be selfish, because I enjoyed Jared's help and company as much, if not more, than her son did mine. I also explained that life could be very lonely when you do everything by yourself at home, so we discussed my job for a short time after that. It was at this point when Sherry suggested that I should find a good woman to keep me company, but then she recanted her suggestion, after she realized I probably wouldn't want Jared around as much if that were the case. If only she knew that the idea of a female companion didn't appeal to me in the slightest and I doubted that anyone beside her son, or possibly another boy, could ever have a chance to relieve my boring existence.

We continued to talk and watch the boys for quite some time, and then we decided it was time to stand up and stretch our legs for a bit, so we walked around the area, but never ventured too far away from the rock. We were afraid someone else would try to claim our prime piece of real estate, because we realized that this would be an ideal spot from which to watch the fireworks. When Jared and Josh returned with Boo-Boo a little later, they all took a quick drink, including the puppy, and then we settled in and waited for the show to begin.

As we sat there, the boys wanted to tell us all about their time with the Boo-Boo and the other children, even though Sherry and I had observed nearly everything that went on. We could tell that this seemed to be very important to them, so we let them carry on and listened to them very carefully. As the darkness began to envelop us, the first of the fireworks were set off, so now we spent the better part of the next hour watching lights burst forth from the sky. Not only could we see them, but we could also definitely hear them too, as well as feel the vibrations from those explosions slamming into our bodies.

As I suspected, the puppy wasn't very fond of this show, especially the loud booms and shockwaves that followed, so it began to register its complaints by whining and trying to run from the area. Reacting to Boo-Boo's distress, Jared slipped the puppy under his shirt, wrapped his arms around it and placed his hands over Boo-Boo's ears, in an attempt to alleviate some of the discomfort his pet was now feeling. That did seem to help some, and once the dog realized Jared was trying to protect it, Boo-Boo eventually calmed down enough so Jared could enjoy the rest of the show with us.

When the last of the fireworks had faded into the darkness, we all walked back to my vehicle, taking our drink containers and the dog's water dish with us. Soon, we were getting into the Tahoe, buckling in and fighting with the traffic exiting the park so we could make the trip home. As I dropped them off at their house, they all thanked me for the great time and Jared wanted to know if he could come back down and spend the rest of the night with me. I suggested, that since this was his mother's day off, he should spend the rest of the evening with her and that he could come down and spend other nights with me. He then asked if Boo-Boo could stay with him, so after getting Sherry's consent, I had him get out the puppy's bowls and the bag of Puppy Chow to keep with him for the night. He was only mildly happy about the situation, since the dog was going to stay with him, and shortly after that I was driving back down to my place alone.

The rest of July seemed to fly by, although Jared and I still had many opportunities to do things together. We not only worked and played, but we also found time to take care of Jared's sexual urges too, and I also became closer to his mother and brother. Josh now liked to come down even more often, sometimes to Jared's extreme dismay, because it prevented us from doing some of the things Jared wanted to do. Since he was coming down more often, Josh also began to help with some of the tasks we were trying to accomplish, even though he wasn't as good a worker as Jared, but his help was still greatly appreciated. All in all, he was becoming more of an asset, as he learned each task.

We also began to include Sherry in some of the other things we did as well, especially on Sunday and Tuesday night, when she was off from work. The boys would make sure all the work at home was done in advance, so she had nothing to keep her from joining us, and we took her to the movies, miniature golfing, bowling, boating, picnicking, fishing and swimming in the pool with us. The boys thought it was great that we were doing all of these things like a family and Sherry seemed to be enjoying these special times with her sons as well.

We had some really wonderful outings, including a fishing trip I took them on, and Sherry was a very good sport about that one. She wasn't into fishing, even though the boys were both anxious to try it, but she was attentive as I instructed all of them about what they would have to do. I had a variety of old fishing rods at home, some of which I hadn't used since I was a boy, so I let Jared and Josh take those poles to fish with, while Sherry and I took advantage of a couple of the others. I decided to have everyone use worms as bait the first time, so I showed them how to secure the worms on their hooks, and then I explained how to watch the bobber and feel the line, so they would know when they had a strike. Whenever they got a hit, I talked them through the process of giving the fish some line and how to play it a bit, before starting to reel it in. Then, I told them I would scoop their fish into the net when they got it close enough to the boat. I would then put the fish in a cooler of water, to keep it alive for a little while longer.

The boys caught on quite quickly and were soon reeling in their first fish. After they worked with it for a little while, they slowly brought it closer and closer to the boat, and once I had secured it in the net, I dumped the fish into one of the two large, pickle jars that I had in the cooler. These jars were partially filled with water and were just for their first catch. After I secured the lid on the jar, I wrote the boy's name on the top with a magic marker. Then, I placed the jar back into the cooler, which was also partially filled with water.

When we finished up and came back to shore, I wanted to be able to take a picture of each of them with their first catch, since it was an accomplishment worth remembering. The remaining fish they caught would merely be placed in the cooler, between those two jars, and we soon had more than enough fish for one day.

Sherry also did her best, but it was clear that she was having trouble from the very start. First, it was with baiting her own hook, so one of the boys had to do this for her. She also wasn't having as much luck as her sons, although she did manage to land one fish, but it was so small that we had to toss it back. However, she did stay with us the entire time and cheered the boys on when they hooked something, but she had more fun watching her sons than actually participating.

When we got back to shore after finishing up for the day, I had each of the boys hold up their first catch, so I could snap a couple of pictures of them separately, to record this proud and memorable moment forever. After that, we displayed the remaining catch on a large strip of freezer paper I had placed on the ground, so the fish would be more visible. I then had both boys kneel behind it, still holding the jar with their first catch, and I snapped a few more shots.

Once we got back, I would pick out the best picture of each boy individually, and then choose the best shot of them together, kneeling behind all of the fish they had caught. I planned to make four large copies of each of those pictures and then have the copies framed. One copy of each picture would be for me to hang on my wall, an additional copy of each one for Sherry and then I'd give each of the boys a copy of each picture, so every one of us would always have something to remember this wonderful moment.

Once the photos were taken, we got back to the task at hand, and this was where Sherry began to shine. In fact, after I cleaned and boned the fish the boys had caught, Sherry was kind enough to fry them up on my small portable grill, so the boys could sample their catch. I had also packed other ingredients for this purpose, since I was originally planning to do the cooking, but Sherry eagerly volunteered and did a wonderful job with the fish, even better than I would have. When we combined the fish with the other food we had brought with us, it made a marvelous meal and we enjoyed it even more, since we knew the boys had provided the main course.

On another of our outings, Sherry was absolutely amazed at how well her boys played miniature golf. We had gone for a ride and didn't plan to do this, but then decided to stop and give it a try when we spotted the sign for this place. Even though we had never played on this course before, the old pros were still able to give their mother tips on how to attack each hole and even demonstrated the technique for her, before she putted. In the end, they scored far better than she did, even though they tried to take it easy on her. There were a couple of humorous moments as well, as we watched Sherry try her hand at this activity for the first time in ages.

There was one particular hole with a small water obstacle, which was something that usually didn't come into play for most participants, but somehow Sherry managed to lift her putt into the air slightly, which caused her ball to bounce right into the water. Since she didn't want to take a penalty stroke, even though we told her we wouldn't make her take one, she said she'd play it where it was. I told her to slowly push it out with her putter, insisting that we would only count that as one stroke, but she gave it a powerful whack instead and splashed herself, and us, in the process. However, this attempt only moved the water, because the ball stayed settled under the surface, so this caused her to make another attempt to get it out. After a couple of tries to do this, Jared reached down, pulled the ball out of the water and placed it in front of the obstacle, thus allowing her to putt from there.

On another hole, we had to putt through a small building on the course. There were three openings to putt through, with one opening taking the ball to the right, another taking it to the left and the final opening allowing the ball to go straight toward the hole. Seeing Sherry had the highest score on the last hole, she had to putt last. After the rest of us had taken our turn, Sherry placed her ball down and hit it. When we went to the other side of the building to finish up the hole, we couldn't find Sherry's golf ball and it turned out that it got stuck under the building, so she had to go back to the front again, to push it through with her putter. She did this as if she were striking a pool ball with a cue stick, because she used the shaft of her putter to knock the ball out, but it turned out better than when she used the club correctly, because the ball went straight into the cup and gave her a two on that hole. It wasn't the typical way to do it, but it worked for her, so we were happy to let her get away with it.

Even though Sherry came in last and finished with the highest score, we could all tell that she had enjoyed herself in the process and the boys certainly had a good time trying to help their mother, even though they also got to laugh at her mistakes. They were all enjoying the humor of the situation, rather than making fun of her inability to perform the task at hand, so there were no hard feelings later, once the moment was over. If only others could learn this distinction, then maybe there would be less friction among people and there wouldn't be this underlying need for people to revel in another's suffering and misery.

On another occasion, I took everyone bowling, which is becoming a lost sport in recent years. Although I had done this with the boys before, neither of them were very good at it, but I had seen them make some improvement since our first outing. Sherry had only done this a few times when she was younger, but hadn't bowled in years, so I was the only one who had once been an avid kegler. My other outings doing this with the boys had helped me to limber up and gave me a chance to recall what I was supposed to do. Seeing I was more experienced at this then they were, I gave the others a few brief pointers, if they wanted some help, and after Sherry's quick refresher, we began to compete for earnest.

The first few frames were nothing to brag about and we had more than a few chuckles along the way. At one point, when Josh went to take his final step, his foot stuck, instead of sliding as he expected, so this caused him to take a few extra steps down the lane. The problem was, once he crossed the foul line, he got into the oil and this caused his feet to slip out from under him and he went down, with a thud, on his butt. Even though his backside was a little sore and his ego was bruised, he survived. He was a little embarrassed about what had just taken place, because the people on the other lanes had also witnessed what had happened to him, to his complete dismay.

Josh, however, wasn't the only one who had a problem during those first few frames. Unfortunately, Jared had selected a ball with finger holes that were slightly too tight on his hand, and even though I had suggested he go back and look for another ball, he like the ball's color and decided to keep it. When it was his turn to bowl, he took his four steps to the foul line and went to release the ball, but his fingers stuck in the holes and didn't come out like they were supposed to. Instead, the ball clung to his hand for a second or two longer than normal, which sent the ball soaring into the air, rather than rolling down the lane toward the pins. When the ball came crashing down again, the sight of this happening, plus the loud noise it made when it hit the lane, made everyone close to us stop and focus on what had just happened. After that, Jared hurriedly raced off to find another bowling ball, but this time he made sure it fit properly. Since this took him a while, the people on the adjoining lanes had lost interest in his little accident and were no longer staring at us when he returned.

Sherry didn't make any dramatic miscues, such as had happened to her sons, but she did manage to collect more than her share of gutter balls, and one of those was humorous in itself. She was aiming at a six pin, which sits on the right side of the lane, but not quite on the very edge of the alley. After she released her bowling ball to make this spare, it was clear she was going to miss the pin by a mile and her ball went into the channel. The funny thing was, it happened so far ahead of the pin and was thrown hard enough that the ball popped back out of the gutter, careened onto the lane and picked up her spare. Even though I knew this shouldn't count, I gave her the spare anyway, because the boys didn't know the rules of the game or how to score, and Sherry had obviously forgotten some of the rules as well.

As far as my game was concerned, it started out a little rough, but it didn't take long for me to get into a rhythm again and I managed to string together a few strikes in the process. The boys thought doing this made me a pro, although I quickly explained I was far from someone of that caliber, but they were impressed, just the same. We ended up bowling three games each and Sherry and the boys did quite well for not doing this very often, so they agreed that they wouldn't mind doing this with me again sometime.

Before we left the bowling alley though, Sherry thanked me for doing all of these different things with them and explained that I had helped to remove them from their boring routine as well. She admitted that it was giving each of them something to look forward to on the weekends and helped her bond even more closely with her sons. I thanked her for her kind comments and then explained that my reasons were more selfish than that, since it gave me something to look forward to as well. She smiled, but didn't try to contradict me, and then we went outside and got into the Tahoe.

On many Tuesday evenings, and even one Sunday afternoon, the three of them would just come down to my house and spend the time in my pool, relaxing, competing or just having a good time. The first time Sherry came down to join us, the boys wore their trunks, but the next time, they put on their Speedos instead. This surprised me and I'm not sure if they had merely done this unconsciously, because I thought the boys had decided the Speedos would expose too much in front of their mother. Sherry was absolutely shocked when she saw them in those skimpy outfits, but mostly because she was able to notice how much Jared had matured since she had last bathed him, some years before. I quickly explained that the boys had picked these swimsuits out, as well as the boxer-type suits, but that they seemed to prefer the freedom they enjoyed when wearing the Speedos. She said that was fine, as long as it had been their decision, but she was just shocked when she'd discovered how much they had developed.

Although Sherry would only stay half as long as her sons, she did seem to enjoy spending time with them like this, as well as getting some exercise and sun for herself. She wasn't by any means unattractive, even though she had quite a rough life and worked very hard, and I think many men probably would have found her to be quite a catch. Unfortunately, I'm also fairly certain that having two sons had scared away more than a few of those would-be suitors. In some ways, I envied her, but in other ways, I pitied her. I envied her for having these two boys, but pitied her for having so little time to actually spend with them. Not only that, but I knew she only had a few more years before her sons would be striking out on their own, and leaving her basically alone at that point.

I wish she didn't have such a rough life or was required to work so hard just to make ends meet, only to face the prospect of living those final years of her life alone. Of course, the boys would come back to visit and possibly bring their families from time to time, but unless she found a significant other to share her later years with, it could be a very lonely existence – and I knew all about that. Even though I was alone most of the time myself, I had made the choice, out of necessity, although even I would prefer the company of a cute young man to relieve my boredom. That's why I was relishing every second of every day these two young men choose to share with me, because I realized that this time would soon pass as well.

Just before the end of July, I asked Sherry if she would mind if I took the boys camping for a few days, before school started. To my surprise, she said she thought it would be a wonderful idea, because she felt the boys would love to do it and it was something they wouldn't otherwise get a chance to experience. Since she had given me her approval, I decided to talk to the boys about it, to see if this was something they would actually like to try.

"I want to run something by you," I told Jared and Josh when they came down the next morning. "I was thinking we could go on a camping trip, if you are interested."

"Oh, yeah. That sounds fantastic!" Jared exclaimed, almost as soon as the words were out of my mouth. "When are we going to do this and how long will we be gone? Did you tell mom about this yet?"

"I've never been camping before, but it sounds like fun," Josh agreed, although he wasn't quite as enthusiastic about it as Jared was.

"Ok, let me try to answer your questions," I began. "I asked your mother already and she has given me permission to take you, if you are interested. If you want to do this, then we'll go the second week of August, before school starts up again. I think you'll also enjoy this, but it won't be all fun and games. There will be some work that will have to be done, but I'm not going to make this a survivalist training session. Since I really don't want to spend my time cooking and cleaning up, we'll go out to eat our meals, but there will still be some other things you'll need to help me with. Are you still interested, knowing this?"

Jared was positively up for it, and although Josh wasn't quite as enthusiastic, he was still interested. They did have some questions to ask me first though.

"Will Boo-Boo be able to go with us too?" Jared wanted to know.

"Yes, I don't see any reason why he can't join us," I replied. "We'll take his cage with us too, so we can leave him in it when we go somewhere he isn't allowed, but I think he'll be able to sleep in the tent with us at night and do almost everything else."

"Good, because I didn't want to leave him behind," Jared told me.

"Do you think Dean might be able to come with us too?" Josh asked next. "I'm sure he'd also like to do this."

"Actually, I was going to have you invite him and I thought Jared could invite Austin and Steve, since they seemed to have such a good time with us at his birthday party. That's only if you boys want to ask them to join us though," I suggested.

I saw that Jared wasn't too sure about this, but Josh certainly was.

"Can I call Dean and ask him?" Josh wanted to know.

"Sure. You can use my phone, so why don't you go do that now," I offered.

Once he was gone, I decided to clarify this with Jared.

"Look, I know you were probably looking forward to having time to do other stuff too, but even with just Josh around, with all of us being in the same tent, I don't think that would be a good idea," I explained. "Besides, there will be other campers around as well, so it would just be too big of a risk to try something like that. If you want to invite your friends though, then you might find you'd enjoy having them around just as much."

"Ok, and that's probably a good idea," he relented. "I'll call them after Josh gets done.

When Josh came back, he said Dean was going to ask his parents and then call us back in a few minutes. I figured his parents would probably want to talk to me about this first, before they agreed to anything, so his answer made sense. I merely told Josh that would be fine, but I also had some other things to discuss with them first.

"Seeing this is your first time camping, I figured we'll try to make it fairly simple," I added. "I know a campground where we can go and stay in a tent, but they do have a building with both toilet and shower facilities we can use, so you won't have to go through anything more drastic, like using an outhouse or pooping in the woods."

"What do you mean?" Josh wanted to know, although Jared seemed to catch my drift.

"Well, if we went out in the wilderness, peeing would be no problem for you, since we're all guys, but the other would be a little trickier," I stated. "Although some campers don't mind leaving their bowel movements on the ground and will even use leaves and other vegetation to wipe with, I wouldn't go quite that drastic, because I have a thing about not fouling nature any more than necessary. Therefore, we'd either have to dig a pit to do this in or we could take a bucket, along with some toilet paper and some plastic bags. You could either poop in the hole and then we'd cover it up, or we would put the plastic bag in the bucket, do your thing and then tie the bag up and place it in a larger trash bag we'd take to use for our other refuse. It's not pretty, but it does leave the places we visit no worse off than when we got there."

They both made a face after I'd explained this.

"Yeah, I'm glad we don't have to do that and they have toilets at this place," Josh added.

"Yes, it's not something everyone is comfortable doing," I agreed, "and that's why I decided to pick someplace less primitive for our first time out. This place also has a small lake where we can go swimming and do other things, so I suggest you boys take your trunks, instead of the Speedos. That's not something you'd usually see on a camping trip and there probably will be other people around, so you might wish to be more modest."

Jared laughed, but they both agreed with this suggestion, so I also suggested what other types of things they should pack. I also asked if they had sleeping bags, which they didn't, and since I only had a two-man mountain tent and two sleeping bags, I'd have to get something bigger for this trip and another sleeping bag, depending on how many of the other boys went with us and what they already had.

"I might have to go shopping and pick up a few things," I informed them next, "but let's see who is going to join us first."

Jared then went to call his two friends, since I already had their phone numbers, and he asked them if they wanted to join us. Over the next couple of hours, I spoke with each set of parents and talked to them in length about what I was planning and where we were going. In the end, all three sets of parents agreed to let their sons go with us. In fact, I even got a little surprise, when Austin's father said he often took the family camping and offered to let us borrow whatever camping gear we needed. He said they had a family-size tent that slept up to six, or even eight, if most of them were children, but they also had four sleeping bags and various pots, pans, utensils, a cooking stove and lanterns. I thanked him for his generous offer and told him I'd let him know what we could use, since I had some of those items myself.

"I guess we're just about set then," I told the boys when I got off the phone. "He has a large tent and four sleeping bags, so with my two, there will be enough for everyone. Since I'm going to take us out to eat, because there are several diners and other eating establishments nearby, we'll go out for a big breakfast in the morning and then have a large dinner later. I'll take plenty of snacks along too, just in case you guys get hungry in between, so how does that sound?"

They both seemed to like this idea, so we started to finalize our plans.

"Do you boys want to go with me to pick out the snacks, or would you rather stay home?" I asked.

Both of them said they'd like to go with me, but I made sure I could get a reservation at the campground first. Once that was taken care of and I'd given them my credit card number for the deposit fee, I could focus on getting what few supplies we would need. We'd also take a couple of cases of bottled water with us, so the boys and Boo-Boo would be able to stay hydrated, but no soda. They could order that with their dinner, if they wanted, but there would be no way to keep it cold for them.

I then drove over to the grocery store and we started shopping for the snacks, although I put three cases of water in the cart first. Then the boys helped me pick out what they thought everyone would like. We ended up with various quantities of chips, crackers and cookies, as well as several bags of Chex Mix, in various flavors, and different flavors of Pop Tarts. Then we took everything up front, paid for it and loaded it into the Tahoe.

Once we had all of this packed into the SUV, we went back to my place and took everything out and placed it in the garage until we were ready to leave. What we'd purchased wouldn't spoil, so that was a big task out of the way.

After we went inside, I began making a list, to be certain that we would have everything we would need for our trip, because I didn't want to forget anything. As I said earlier, this isn't going to be a very rugged trip, since we'd be eating out, instead of fixing our food. I just wanted the boys to get out in the woods, have some fun and possibly learn some skills. We could do the frontiersman camping trip some other time, if they wanted.

After we finished taking care of all of these things, the boys wanted to take a dip in the pool and cool off, so I sent them upstairs to put on their swimsuits and I did the same. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool, but we also talked a great deal more about the upcoming camping trip with their friends.

NEXT PART