Howdy Doody

The Geppetto Project

Chapters 21-22

Chapter Twenty One

For the children in the attic, the overnight sleepover was a complete success. Most were cousins to each other and had been sleeping together since their memories began. Ranging in age from six to 15, there was extremely little they didn't know about each other, and even less they hadn't done together. As one by one the younger ones straggled down the stairs to their parents rooms, the older children began awakening and waited for their bodies to catch up with their minds goal of taking a shower and sitting down to breakfast.

Both Claire and Jill were already awake watching Paulie as the two 15 year olds studied the boys body in the morning light.

"How come boys always wake up with a huge boner?" Jill asked Paulie as he focused his eyes on the beams overhead.

"It ain't a sex hard-on, it's a piss hard-on." Paulie told both girls.

"We always gotta piss in the morning, and the pressure makes our dicks get stiff," he told both girls. Both girls giggled.

"So it's not stiff because you want to fuck?" Claire asked. Paulie shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, I never tried fucking a girl when I first wake up I just gotta take a piss real bad," he replied. More giggles ensued as David now came up to the tent made out of sheets that covered the three in a cloak of invisibility to the outside world.

"Can we come in?" David asked. As the flap of the tent flipped open, David crawled in with Valerie very closely behind him. Both 13 year olds now sat Indian style as Paulie groped around for his underpants.

"You playing or just gotta go?" David asked as he looked at Paulie's erection. Amid giggles now from all three girls, Paulie sat up and put on his underpants.

"Does it look like we're playing?" he told David.

"Uncle Paulie's always got a big boner in the morning." Valerie told the group.

"David did too." Valerie now chirped and David's face got slightly pink.

Once the girls found and put on their pajama's, it was time to go downstairs to the second floor and the showers. Helen was already in the shower as the girls let their baby dolls float to the floor and got into the shower with Christopher who was already up for over an hour. He had wrinkle's on his fingers and toes and wasn't ready to stop playing with Kenny on the shower floor anytime soon. In the meantime, David, along with Paulie and several of the older boys headed for the showers down the hall where more room could be found.

"What time do you think you're going to be leaving today?" Paulie asked David as they washed their hair while seeing which one could get their stream directly down the floor drain.

"I don't know. Uncle Bert's gonna wanna get back to school before dark, so maybe he'll wait until just after lunch." David replied.

"I'll ask Uncle Thomas as soon as he gets up."

"Ask Uncle Thomas what?" Thomas said as he walked into the bathroom.

"What time do you think you're going to leave Tom-Tom?" Paulie now asked.

"Good question, we'll ask Uncle Bert at breakfast. How did your overnight go?" he asked both boys. With both boys grinning at each other, Thomas nodded his head.

"Never mind," he said as he got into the shower.

Jeanette was still asleep when Helen came into her room and picked up Kenny out of her bed for the shower, and the girl now entered the shower as the three year old crawled into her lap and began nursing. The boy was eating and drinking all table foods, but just wasn't ready to completely give up his caretakers breast quite yet as Jeanette's ariola just about disappeared into Kenny's mouth. He now usually nursed upon wake-up, after lunch and at bedtime unless he was upset about something or hurt during during the day, and Jeanette was well aware that she would soon either have to start pumping her extra milk or she would stop producing.

As Kenny lay across her stomach Christopher sat down in front of the two of them and watched the little boy intently.

"Do you think he remembers yesterday?" Helen asked Jeanette as she sat down and began drying Christopher's hair. Waking up from being sedated for his brain scans in the hospital the day before, Jeanette had taken Christopher and breast fed him for comfort. With Christopher being basically non-verbal, it was difficult to tell what he did and did not remember, and exactly what his thought processes were.

"I don't know. He was pretty fogged up from the sedatives, maybe," she said.

"Christopher want milk?" she asked the boy. Christopher looked at Jeanette and then towards Kenny as he brought up his arm and put his finger on Kenny's back.

"Baby," he said.

"Yes, but if you want milk too, you can have some," she responded. Kenny usually nursed with his eyes closed, but they opened now as he continued to suckle but brought his hand up and covered Jeanette's left nipple with his hand. Helen smiled a little.

"I guess Kenny's holding that one in reserve for himself," she said.

"I-ee?" Christopher asked.

Usually interpreting I-ee all depended upon what was going on at the moment with Christopher, it was his way of asking a question, making a statement or attempting to communicate verbally. In this instance, neither girl understood the meaning, and had to wing it with a neutral response.

"Yes, the baby is hungry," Jeanette said. Since Christopher made no further move or comment, Jeanette let the topic drop.

"Come on big fella, let's go see what Uncle Burt is doing." Helen said as she stood up.

"Burd?" Christopher chirped as he always did with every word.

Burt was still on the phone with Sid back in North Carolina when Christopher bounded into the room and leaped on the bed. Scurrying up on all fours, he found Bert's lap as he wrapped his arms around Bert's neck in a choke hold.

"Good morning tiger. Want to say hello to Uncle Sid?" Bert asked as he handed the phone to the boy.

"Hey!" Christopher replied as he backed off and held the phone almost to his ear.

"I-ee? I-ee?" he said into the phone.

"Well good morning to you too Christopher. Have you burned the hospital down yet?" Sid asked the boy.

"Hey!" Christopher replied.

"That's great. Listen when you fly home today, don't be telling the pilot how to fly the plane OK?" Sid said.

"Hey!" Christopher replied once again.

"OK, put Uncle Burt back on the phone," Sid told him.

"Burd?" Christopher answered.

"Yeah, him too." With Burt back on the line, Sid chuckled.

"That boys getting to be a regular talking magpie. Before long he's going to want to take over Jay Leno's job," Sid jested. Bert shook his head.

"And you're bucking for Jerry Lewis's job?" he said to his friend.

"OK. So you'll be home in early afternoon?" Sid said once the conversation returned to business.

"Yes, if we can get off by 10:00 we should be back at school sometime around 2:00," Bert said.

"OK. By then we should be able to find the rest of the overnight campers that went missing Monday," Sid replied.

With a very blue face and blue teeth, Christopher's 5th pancake disappeared from his plate that was swimming in Maple syrup. Dora prided herself on her cooking, and her litmus test was how much someone ate. She never had complaints from anyone in the house and they usually made her very proud. With Christopher, she was ecstatic. For a boy who weighed less than 70 pounds [32 kg] and was barely four feet [1.20 m] tall, he had the appetite of a grown man. He also made frequent trips to the bathroom, especially the urinal as his 3rd glass of chocolate milk sat empty in front of him. One of the dumbest questions you could ever ask Christopher was; "Would you like to eat this?" Just keep your fingers out of his way!

"Me and David were hoping we could do some fishing Uncle Bert, what time is the helicopter coming for you?" Paulie now asked the school Director. The question took Bert by surprise; not so much for it's content, but to the boy referring to him as his "Uncle". It hadn't been done before.

"Well, I was planning on getting off before lunch," Bert replied as he wiped Christopher's face off.

"Before lunch? Dora makes a lot better lunch than the plane does!" Valerie now exclaimed.

"I sure do, and I already made my plans to feed you." Dora replied as she placed another plate of food in front of a latecomer. Bert really wanted to get back home, but at the same time, he didn't want to insult his hosts.

"We can still get home before Dinner if we leave by 2:00." Helen now told Bert.

"Fine, we'll stay for lunch, but Helen will be the lucky one who breaks the news to Sid. I already told your Uncle we were arriving by 2:00" Bert replied.

"Your call!" Bert told the woman. Thomas chuckled as Helen shook her head.

Thomas's night had gone no where near as far as his ward David's did, but still, it was not unfruitful. Knowing David was intending on sleeping up in the attic, Thomas took the opportunity to score points with Jeanette. Bert had explained to him months before that the girl was an incurable romantic, and merely allowing the girl to get in close proximity to his penis wasn't going to cut it as well for him as it did for the boys at school with the younger girls. With an invitation from Thomas to take a stroll on the beach along Gay Head, Jeanette put Kenny down with Christopher in Bert's bed. Since both boys were sound asleep, Kenny would not stir as long as he felt a warm body laying next to him.

Since Thomas had arrived at the school a little over half a year earlier, he had set his sites on Jeanette. She was pretty, she was smart, she was absolutely devoted to her ward Kenny, who as a toddler was one huge handful for any woman, and, she was fun to be around. Thomas also knew through the grapevine that you got one shot at her, if you blew it, you were friends and nothing more.

Thomas had spent years walking the beach along the clay cliffs of the island, he had romped on the Island since he was 10 years old when he first met his "Brother" Marty.

As the two walked, he pointed to this house or that along the shore, many of them housed very easily recognizable names either in politics, the arts, business or sports. There were very few other people on the beach, mainly due to the time of year. Tourist season hadn't started yet, and even if it did, these beaches were private property with only residents allowed to traverse them.

See that cluster of stars over there on the horizon?" Thomas pointed out.

"When the moon rises, that's where it comes up in the East," he told Jeanette as the two walked sipping their wine.

"Will we see it?" she asked.

"I don't know, I'd have to look at the lunar calendar. But when we do get a moon rise, it's pretty impressive," Thomas replied.

Most of the talk between the two was either of Christopher's Scans, or of Kenny, and the other babies back at school. The walk ended back at the estate a little over an hour later with Thomas holding Jeanette's hand, to help her climb back up the cliffs along the fairly steep stairway. Thomas looked over his shoulder for signs of a moon rise, but the damned thing failed to make an appearance that night much to his chagrin. Thomas night ended with a very small goodnight kiss as Jeanette went into Bert's room to retrieve Kenny and go to bed.

In retrospect, Thomas learned weeks later that he had scored major brownie points with Jeanette, but even more when he didn't ask to sleep with her that night. Jeanette thought she probably would have agreed, but it might have been the last. One night stands weren't Jeanette's thing, and Thomas's willingness to continue to court her instead of simply going off to find a faster piece of ass impressed her, moon or no moon.

Now sitting there eating breakfast together, few adults at the table didn't know about the midnight beach walk, and most certainly perceived a friendlier, closer relationship between the two. Thomas's brothers weren't sure what had transpired the evening before, or exactly what the relationship between the two was back at school, they were just happy to see Thomas taking a strong interest in a girl. For the family, eventual marriage and children from each brother was always the original goal for their patriarch's, Marty and Joel, and Thomas appeared to be headed in that direction.

Once breakfast was finished, the younger set stayed on top of the cliff's on the back lawn as the older set picked up fishing poles and clamored down the stairs leading to the beach. Once there, David watched as the other children turned over stones along the beach to find sand worms for bait. The fishing lasted for probably 20 minutes with a fluke, two horseshoe crabs and an ell being hauled in; nothing to mount on a trophy wall. Skimming rocks into the water now became the children's past time as they trekked up the beach with David becoming more and more aware of small water fountains appearing in the sand as they walked.

"That's just piss clams." Paulie reported as David pointed to a stream of water coming out of the ground.

"What's a piss clam?" David asked.

"It's a clam with a long dick on the top of it. When it feels the pressure from somebody walking, it pisses up at you." Richard told David.

"You're kidding." David replied.

"Heck no. Watch." Richard said as he found a hole in the sand and started digging with his hands.

About four inches [10 cm] down, the boy pulled a clam about four inches [10 cm] long out of the sand and washed it off. On one end was a tubular shaped thing that didn't look a whole lot unlike an uncircumcised penis on a healthy but uninterested eight to 10 year old.

"See, this is his dick and if you squeeze him, he pisses." Richard said as the clam squirted water. David examined the clam closer both looking at it and feeling it. David wasn't a Rhode's Scholar, but he knew a dick when he saw and felt one. This was definitely a dick.

"He fucks with that thing?" David asked Paulie. Paulie shrugged his shoulders, "I guess so, but you never see them do it because they only do it underground." Paulie replied.

"Where's the girl clams?" David now wanted to know.

"Under the boys I guess." Richard said with a small smile. A 15 minute dig by everyone failed to find a "Girl" clam. Plenty of boys, but no girls. David had no problem whatsoever believing that these clams were boys with some impressive looking dicks, but he'd have to ask his Uncle Thomas why the girls seemed to have taken a powder.

By 11:00 with pants rolled up to their knee's, the children came climbing back up the stairway with a shirt full of clams. Thomas hadn't had steamers now for several years, he'd eat them but they weren't his favorite clam. He too as a boy knew them as piss clams, maybe somewhere way back in time, it was the very beginnings of penis envy.

While the children were contemplating the anatomy of a bi-valve, the adults back at the house went into deep discussion, chiefly about David and his future. Once again they assembled in the library behind closed doors. Everyone in the family had a stake concerning David. In effect, he was becoming a part of the family and therefore an heir to a sizable piece of their children's pie.

At the same time, he was a student of Green Tree, in the physical custody of The Harvard Institute, and, a by-product of a government medical experiment gone awry that could send to jail and destroy more than a few folks in Washington. To imagine that Uncle Sam was just going to cut David loose waving goodbye would have been a foolish thought as Bert knew very well.

Stuart was Scotch by heritage, and say what you will, a Scots reputation is very well deserved. They're generally thrifty no-nonsense type's who are quite serious, thoughtful and not the warmest individuals to get next to unless there's blood between you and them.

Biologically there was no link between Stuart and any of his brothers, but emotionally the eight brothers, their Uncle Joel and Big Brother Marty were tighter than any family in Glasgow. As the oldest boy adopted by Marty, he was now the head of the family and had full control over both financial as well as family matters. If David was to join them as Thomas's adopted Son, Stuart would have to approve. He was also now aware of the connection of David to The Geppetto Project and the situation he could potentially put his family in that needed no spotlights as to their own origins. Once assured by his brother that Thomas was intending on raising and educating David, Stuart began mapping out the plan that would take at least 12 years to see through to the end with David Graduating Medical School.

"I would have to imagine that since they already know about David's being here and have obviously accepted it, we won't have too much of a problem with them in the future." Stuart said to Bert.

"To date, Alexandria has agreed to allow David to be here and become involved with you because it suits their needs. They want the smoothest trip possible, and if that meant letting David come up here, they had no problem with it," Bert told his host.

"Do you think think they'd balk at future contact? If David is to become a part of this family, he'll obviously have to periodically join us." Stuart replied.

"Right now, no they wouldn't balk because Harry is sitting in Alexandria making those decisions. But we're talking about what might happen years down the road. Suppose Harry drops dead or retires and a real asshole takes his place and tries to lock-down Green Tree?

He won't succeed, but it'll be a mother of a fight!" Bert told Stuart.

"The problem with dealing with Washington is that everybody down there makes up his own rules. Harry's no problem right now, but who knows who's in back of him!"

"So how do we deal with it?" Stuart asked. "Well for one we start fudging David's Geppetto score. Right now he's listed as a 2.5 We need to upgrade that score to a three in order for Alexandria to keep it's blood pressure down about putting him in College and therefore society-at-large," Bert told the group.

"They won't be able to tell that the scale's been fudged?" Michael now asked. Bert shook his head.

"The only way to grade a Geppetto boy is to physically observe him in an informal setting. If the boy knows you're watching him for a specific purpose he can mask his behavior just as fast as little Johnny down the street whom everybody knows never jerked off in his life," Bert told the group. Even Stuart had to chuckle at that comment, he was liking Bert more and more by the hour.

"Since we're the only observers, the grade is never challenged. It's also going to be helpful if his record shows he prefers, and is considered exclusively heterosexual. If he is, they consider him far less likely to get into legal trouble and much less of a risk. A lot of our boys go to College, they're just considered by the straight folk to be gigolo's or highly sexual active. That's not a crime yet, so Alexandria breath's easier."

"Do you think that part of David's record is going to have to be fudged too?" Philip now asked.

"Given normal access to females by his mid teens, no. David's no more gay than any man in this room," Bert replied.

"If that situation did change 4½ or six years from now, we would make sure he had access to the gay community at College, but none of us expect that to be necessary," Bert told Valerie's Father.

Bert was aware that Tradition for the Family was to pay for Medical School for each child from Family funds.

"As far as the expense of Medical School is concerned, if David were my Son and I was a billionaire, I'd still let Uncle Sam pay the freight. In my opinion, they're getting off cheap for what they created," Bert advised.

"Doe's that mean he would still be under their scrutiny?" Stuart asked.

"Uncle Sam's going to be watching from the sidelines with or without their signing the checks just in case he gets into a situation that can land their asses on the other side of the bars. That being the case, let them run up the National Deficit," Bert advised.

One brother not often heard from and who seldom spoke was Cory. Bert had met him the day before, but basically, they were strangers. Stuart was the frugal brother, Cory was security oriented.

"Just how "Indebted" to them are they going to expect us to be if they give us David." he asked Bert.

"Actually, they're taking the bigger risk and they're indebted to you. They want the boys to very quietly go away, and that's what David would be doing. Uncle Sam couldn't care less about trivial legalities just so long as no waves are made against their boat. People in the Witness Protection Program who have a craving for heroin or crack or coke have an instant supplier in Uncle Sam. People who like to hit the sack have a phone book from them that's inches thick. Forgiving a few killings, rapes or arson from a witness who says the right things under oath the next day in Court is no problem whatsoever for them as long as they get their target," Bert told the man.

Cory smiled a little, but he saw nothing funny in the conversation.

"Sleeping with a rattlesnake can be a very unnerving experience," he said to Bert.

"Not if you're a mongoose and the snake knows it. I sleep very well knowing it would be a mutually assured destruction. There's no fucking way in hell Harvard's not going to protect itself to the max becoming involved with Geppetto, and Uncle Sam knows that!

"So it's settled? Michael now asked.

"It is unless David decides he'd rather be an airline pilot," Bert responded.

"Let's not forget, we're talking about Medical School for a boy who's 13 years old. He may decide he wants to be a Lawyer when he's old enough to go to school.

"Heaven forbid!" Stuart replied.

A festive lunch was midway through when the very distinctive sounds of a helicopter's rotors brought the merriment down in a very quick hurry. Nobody including Thomas knew when he would be returning to the Vineyard, and that knowledge had Dora wringing her hands in her ever present apron. This was not a good sign. Bert knew that most of the families children would be summering at the estate and the next time the entire family would join together was for Christmas, some six months away.

"Unless we have an emergency and can't spare him, there's no reason Thomas can't join you for the Holiday's," Bert told the table.

"And David too?" Valerie now quickly asked. David's face got pink one more time.

Thomas and David's departure from the Island following the funeral was a fairly emotional event and as always, her name was Dora. By now, Thomas was use to the woman's tears, they occurred during Birth's, Baptism's, Graduations, Birthdays, Death's, high fevers and teething. David on the other hand was not. Mercifully for David, this departure was a much easier occurrence since Dora knew she would be seeing them both for the Holiday's, and, she still had a house full of children, at least for another day or two. In three weeks all the children would be back and she'd be back to fussing about all the "stolen" cookies. With more than a little begging Valerie, Stephanie, Richard and Blaine, the spunkiest little 9 year old David had come across in a long time accompanied their Uncle's Steven and Paulie on the ride to Boston with the Green Tree group. The original crew who had flown Thomas and David during the funeral was now in the cockpit, and Thomas was extremely happy to see the stewardess with the rule book mentality nowhere to be found. Naturally, Bert wanted to take off two minutes after getting to the airport, but that wasn't about to happen as the estate's children toured the Gulfstream jet from one end to the other. Goodbye's were brief, but still a little sloppy. This was a very tight-knit group and didn't separate gracefully. Valerie's goodbye kiss to David had his cheeks pink once again. While the girl had ceased being a virgin years before, David hadn't known the favors a girl could bestow upon a boy before meeting her and no adult on the plane worried about David's long range orientation.

Bert's return to school had the entire student body anticipating his return impatiently.

Probably the most impatient was Timmy who had not seen Kenny now for very close to a week. Being six months older than Kenny and having been raised almost since birth with his friend, Timmy was not the easiest boy in the world to keep happy in Kenny's absence.

The school always ratcheted up the children's activity schedule whenever either Bert or Sid left on a trip, but with both Jeanette and Kenny gone, Timmy would not be easily placated. Without question, Gloria had her hands full, and only the intervention and extra attention paid to the boy by Sid prevented the tike's ass from getting warmed more than a few times. As Jeanette stepped off the plane with Kenny, Timmy was galloping across the tarmac from the school's van. Sid had ordered Dinner delayed until 7:00 and five minutes before Chef John was ready to cut Sid's dick off, the vans rolled up to the Mess Hall as they were surrounded in a small sea of kids.

"You cut it close buddy, you know that asshole was sharpening his knife right?" Sid kidded his friend as they walked inside.

"Of course I did Sid, I suggested it to him!" Bert replied.

With Bert back, return to normalcy came quickly. The lake temperature had risen enough to allow the hardiest children to swim and the lakefront was now completely back to it's summer configuration of floats, docks, swimming cribs and boats. The dam at the end of the lake had been shut, and the lake was at it's normal summer height. As Bert returned to his Cabin he noticed the ski jump which had been put out.

"I don't remember that jump being quite that steep," he said to Sid as the pair rode past in Sid's golf cart.

"Must be an optical illusion boss," Sid said knowing the jump had gone from an angle of 10 degrees to 15 over the winter. Bert now looked at the high trapeze that had been originally built to teach the boys to "Fly" for their production of Peter Pan the year before.

"That another optical illusion too?" Bert asked his assistant. Sid looked at the trapeze that now rose five feet [1½ m] higher over the water than the previous summer.

"Must be the angle," Sid replied with a straight face.

David spent his first night back with his friends in the mafia. The three Cabins that comprised the group of almost 40 Intermediate boys now lived in Cabins 7,8 and 9 which were contained within a cove along the lake and gave both the feeling and the appearance that they were a "Camp within a camp". Unlike the rest of the Cabins along the lake, these three were all visible to each other and in very close proximity. The beach along the cove was sandy, with rowboats, sailboats and canoe's dotted along the beach sitting upside down. In the center of the cove in the water, a huge boulder, known to the boys as Turtle Rock sat majestically waiting for their return. With a natural bowl shaped top, that rock was one of about five destinations on the lake that afforded the boys the best vantage point for a secluded tan or unhindered extra curricular activity. The cove contained tall old pines trees that kept most of the area around the cabins in shade, and along the waters edge, Birch and Willow trees hung over and even into the water. Arguably, this was the most prized area of the camp for the campers, with the only possible exception being the stable's.

As Tattoo was blowing on the bugle, Adam sat on the front porch with Dan and Kevin as the men watched the boys trek into the Cabin behind David.

"Looks like you got yourself a full house once again," Kevin said as he chuckled. Adam shook his head. Almost 40 boys in a Cabin that could hold 18 very comfortably, was always a squeeze, but one which didn't deter the boys on a regular basis. Adam just wished sometimes he wasn't the middle Cabin in the cove and the one that the boys gravitated to largely due to the fact that their Uncle Sid also lived there.

"It's all Sid's fault. He draws them like a magnet. Anybody want to adopt him?" Adam joked.

"Do we look stupid?" Dan said as he got up from the rocker and went into the kitchen. Returning with three beers, Dan again sat down. As the waterfront director, Dan was a popular with the campers as Adam and Kevin, but competing with Sid's popularity was a foolish endeavor, especially since Sid's summer duties included being the camps stablemaster. Sid decided who rode a horse and with the campers, that made him King.

David's return to the mafia brought his spirits back up to par. The boy hadn't quite realized how fond of Thomas's family he had become, and the return flight had been a very quiet one for the usually very active 13 year old. He wasn't depressed, but he most certainly missed his newfound friends, especially Paulie. Now, once again surrounded by friends he had basically grown up with, he was back to his old self.

What the mafia was most interested about was the Jet, the Helicopter and the other kids. In that order. David had taken ton's of pictures with his camera that Thomas had presented him with at Christmas, but the film was not yet developed. What was available was Thomas's Digital camera that David had also used, and as the images came on the monitor, David explained them. The pictures from the jet and helicopter were a big hit with the boys, but the pictures of the children were a bit disappointing.

"They all got clothes on. Don't they ever get naked?" Sammy asked.

"Sure, they get naked just like us, but their parents don't allow any pictures of them naked to leave the house." David replied.

"Even if they ain't fucking or anything?" Joey asked.

"David shook his head.

"Ya can't take a boys picture if he has a boner, and you can't take anybody's picture if they're playing." David replied.

"But they do play right?" Matty now asked.

"Just like us," David said. The boys now studied the pictures a little harder wanting to know names. Much to both Carla and Jeannie's surprise, the boys seemed to be very interested in both Valerie and Stephanie.

"Do they sleep together like we do?" Sammy asked as he studied Valerie.

"Sure. They have an attic in the house that's really cool and we slept up there." David told the group.

"Do they wear clothes when they go to bed?" Joey asked as more than a few of the boys giggled.

"Don't be silly, of course not." David told him.

"So you get to do it with them too?" Sammy asked.

"I can't say that. It's personal business." David replied.

"But they are just like us right?" Bruce asked. David nodded.

"And the girls are just like Carla and Jeannie?" Chris now asked.

"What do you mean?" David asked.

"They do back pussy right?" Chris asked.

"Their parents don't want that talked about outside their family." David replied.

"They say it's their personal business." David replied.

"Why, they're just fucking right?" Sammy asked somewhat mystified.

"That's their rules," David said.

"Did they ask you what we do together?" Carla now asked.

"No, they're not allowed to do that," David said.

"But they ain't stupid, they know we all fuck." he added. Carla again looked at both girls.

"Do they get their periods yet?" She asked.

"I don't know. I guess so, they're both 13," David said.

"Seems silly. We know they fuck and they know we fuck, but we can't talk about it." Jeannie said getting a little miffed.

"Where they live, they could get into big trouble for fucking, so they can't tell anybody." David told the girl.

"But we ain't anybody. You guys did fuck right?" she pressed.

"Yes." David replied.

"Good, now it's our turn!" Jeannie said as she stood up and walked onto the back porch as Taps began to blow.

For Sid, having Burt back home was a huge relief to the man. He was a good Chief Administrator, but the weight of responsibility was something he didn't relish. He would much rather sleep more soundly, joke around with the children and staff, operate the stables and find a warm body to sleep with. For the past year, that warm body was generally his Chief Assistant at the stables, Patty. Since Bert's departure a week earlier Patty had stayed with Sid in Bert's Cabin, and now, it was either time to return to their regular sleeping arrangements, or decide to stay together. Patty had four girls living with her on the girls campus, two 12 year olds and a 14 and 16 year old.

As the Director of the Intermediate boys, Sid had to remain on that campus. If the two counselors merged, Patty would be the one that would have to move, and she'd need the girls approval to move with her, or they would remain on their own campus. With Bert now back, it was decision time.

"Probably, the best course of action is to get a cabin set-up for you. If Patty's girls opt to stay on Pine Ridge, then we can bring in some Intermediate boys to fill in any gaps, but that in itself may prompt Patty's girls to stay on the hill," Bert advised the couple.

"You know the girls a lot better than I do Patty, but the likelihood of Senior girls being willing to share living quarters with eight to 13 year old boys is minimal. As far as the 12 year olds are concerned, being surrounded in a sea of "Twerps" running around in their Birthday suits most of the time isn't all that much fun unless your names are Carla and Jeannie." he added. Once the smiling was over the conversation continued.

"What might be the best solution is for Adam to take over as Intermediate Boys Director and move your position to Assistant Director of the entire school, and not just the Intermediate Boys." he suggested to Sid.

"That way, we move you up on the hill to a Cabin in Camp Kenny, and Patty's girls would then most probably follow if that's important to you," he said to Patty.

"Let's run it past the mafia tomorrow. The last thing we need is 36 pissed off kids ready to burn the school down," Sid suggested.

"No problem, just don't sell them any lighters!" Bert replied.

The rumble in the cove simmered down somewhere close to 10:00 as the moon began settling down amongst the trees to the West of the Cabin. Adam, Kevin, Dan, and Eitienne sat on the front porch as Sid's cart appeared on the path coming off the hill from Pine Ridge. Sid was still several minutes away from the cove as he wound his way around the lake and then Adam knew that whoever was still awake inside was going to be rallying if they heard Sid. Closing the front door, Adam sat back down.

"Five bucks says he rings the bells," Dan now said.

"I'll kill him," Adam replied but refused the bet as did everybody else. It took Sid about five minutes to say goodnight to the ten or so boys that heard his bells when he pulled up, and once back outside sitting down, he looked at the assemblage of empty beer bottles.

"You boys on duty or having a party?" Sid said as he took a long drink of his beer. Adam shook his head.

"It took a good hour to get them settled down and you fucked it up in a matter of seconds," Adam told his friend. Sid chuckled a bit but was unrepentant.

"We have a meeting tomorrow with Bert and the entire mafia after lunch," Sid said getting serious for a minute.

"About?" Dan asked.

Bert's contemplating moving me up to the hill. If it happens, I become Assistant Director Campus wide," Sid said.

"But you already are the Assistant Director." Eitienne said.

"Yes, but I would cease to be the Intermediate Boys Director," Sid told the group.

"And who would be?" Dan asked. Sid turned to Adam and gave him a Cheshire Cat smile.

"You're fucking kidding me! Why?" Adam asked.

"Because the Director needs to be living with the boys, and I'd be up on the hill," Sid told him.

"So jump in the fucking cart and slum it for awhile!" Adam responded. Sid smiled, but stayed serious.

"When we were 200 or so, we could manage with half a dozen administrator's. Now, the loads too much and we need more. Bert's re-organizing the whole staff structure and the mafia's going to be hit the hardest," he told the group.

"Why?" Eitienne asked.

"Basically, because it's core staff has become too valuable to be left lumped together just sitting on the porch drinking beer all day and night; present company excluded," Sid said.

"Fuck you," Dan replied as Sid took another sip.

"Bert's going to break the mafia up?" Adam now asked. Sid shook his head.

"He's not that stupid. The kids are much to cohesive a group to be separated without major problems. He also has no intentions of moving any of you. The only one moving will be me and I'm only going to Camp Kenny."

Adam had been at Green Tree now for just shy of two years and most of that time he was living with Sid who had become his best friend as well as his Boss. Adam knew exactly what the children would feel the following afternoon; a very keen sense of loss and apprehension. While it was true he was only moving a few thousand yards away, his physical presence would be absent in the middle of the night if a boy awoke with an upset stomach. He wouldn't be there all the time at night on the porch to talk to and to split a few beers and insults with. Sid was missed the past week when he had to fill in for Bert and stayed in the Director's Cabin, but that situation was tempered by it's temporary status. Now, the move would be a permanent one. It was going to be a very interesting meeting.

Once the others returned to their respective Cabins, Sid and Adam were left alone on the porch.

"Off the top of my head, Matty and Chris are going to be your biggest problems. I can keep Joey, Trevor and Sammy together, But those two are joined to you at the hip," Adam told Sid. Sid nodded his head in agreement.

"Bert and I discussed the same exact thing. If push comes to shove, I'll take them up on the hill, but we think the lure of the mafia will bring them back in short order," Sid told his friend.

"Only maybe," Adam said.

Sid smiled.

"That's almost exactly what Bert said too. That's why he wants you taking my place," Adam shook his head.

"Don't get a swelled head Sid, but that's impossible. I'm not a Geppetto boy and I'm not Uncle Sid," Adam replied.

"No, but that's what makes you so valuable to these boys. Having a relationship with another Geppetto boy is easy. But they're not going to be dealing with Geppetto boys all their life and knowing you don't have to be here for them makes you something very special. If there's one Adam out there in that fucked up world, there must be more, and they'll keep on looking until they find them.

"I've loved thousands of boys in my life, but only two grown men. Both of them weren't Geppetto boys," Sid told his friend.

Bert's side trip to the Vineyard was an enjoyable one for him despite the fact that he was frothing at the bit to return to Green Tree. With his final meeting with Sid and Patty over, the man slid into bed next to Helen with Christopher sound asleep and breathing through his mouth on his stomach as he usually did. Probably in a few years, Christopher was going to become a pretty hefty snorer, but for now, a wet pillow was the only drawback to sleeping with the boy who slept like the living dead. Bert gave the boy a kiss on his cheek and another on his forehead before turning himself around and snuggling in with Helen.

"Happy to be home?" Helen asked as Bert wrapped his arms around her waist "It was a very close call," Bert told the woman.

"After watching him being sedated into a zombie I was ready to bolt," Bert replied as his nose rested in the hair on the back of Helen's head.

"You would have stopped the scans?" she asked. Bert thought long and hard about it, it had been on his mind for days.

"Probably. If Christopher had normal brain patterns, the amount of medication would have been known and could be tracked. They were drugging down a kid who could bottom out beyond recovery before they knew he was in trouble. I'm not about to play Russian Roulette with any one of these kids."

"And if he holds the clue to unraveling Geppetto?" Helen asked.

"Then they'll have to find it without endangering his life. I'm not going to stand by and watch what I saw on Sunday with him ever again," Bert replied.

The morning broke in a downpour that had rivers flowing off the window shutters like a waterfall. A quick check of the weather channel showed that the thunderstorm was flowing to the northeast and the sky's would be clearing by mid morning. In the meantime, a few dozen kids were running around on the beach in their Birthday suits. For Adam it was a mixed blessing. There's a whole lot worse to be looking at than naked kids drenched to the bone, but three dozen mud and sand littered bodies can wreck havoc on floors, rugs and shower stalls. Steering the boys back to their respective Cabins, Adam watched as his dozen charges totaled the Cabin on the way up the stairs with bare asses shining. At breakfast a mountain of yellow, green and blue rain ponchos littered the entrance to the Mess Hall as each camper entered and added their contribution.

As Bert usually did, he made the rounds of each table. Christopher followed firmly attached by each hand to Claire and Jill. By the time Christopher reached his table, he had either tried, or had been kissed by better than 75 children and staff. Once let loose, he was climbing on the table towards the fruit with Helen barely holding on to one foot. Christopher was back in full form.

A Day In The Life

To fully understand and appreciate the students of Green Tree, one would have to follow them around for a typical day. While the primary goal is two fold; to educate them and to keep them secure, all work and no play makes Jack (Or in this case, Sammy) a dull boy.

Green Tree boys are anything but dull!

The rain on the roof flowing down the shutters that made a curtain of water had awoken Adam's gaggle of children before reveille blew at 7:00 In mid June, it wasn't the warmest morning of the summer but the lure of the rainwater doesn't often deter eight to 13 year olds, and these kids were no different. Including Sammy, Adam's Cabin consisted of Joey and Trevor, Chris and Matty, Carla and Jeannie, Brian, Spencer and David who was visiting for the day. (David now lived with Thomas in the Doctor's Cabin.)

There was no real discussion between the youngest boys who were now standing on the porch watching the water flow, but it didn't take them long to realize that a few boys from Dan and Kevin's Cabins next door were already on the beach and contributing their warm water to the lake in an effort to raise the temperature. Sammy, Joey and Trevor took off for the front door as screen doors flew open and slammed shut waking the rest of the Cabin up. Once they made their contribution to the lake effort, the only question they had was to see how many minnows they could kick to the shoreline and beach and then throw them back in. The minnows probably weren't overjoyed, but the boys had fun.

With the rain cooler than the lake water, it didn't take long before the boys realized that sitting or laying in their mornings toilet bowl was warmer as the numbers on the beach grew to very close to all three dozen members of the mafia. Being adults, the Cabins staff was too dumb to appreciate the finer qualities of goosebumps, sand in hair and an occasional minnow coming up and taking a bite out your bare ass, so Adam, Sid, Dan, Kevin, Eitienne, Anthony and Greg just watched from a dry distant Cabin drinking coffee and gathering bundle's of towels.

Once sufficient rain had fallen, a quick sprint to their Cabins had the boys now ready for showers, and much more importantly, breakfast. Showers for the boys was an easy affair, but Carla and Jeannie were special kinds of "Boys"; they were actually girls who really didn't care if you called them boys (Yet!). With hair on the long side, getting sand out of heads and ears of boys is relatively easy. Carla and Jeannie type boys were much more difficult, since their hair was approaching their waist's and still growing. While Carla and Jeannie were quite happy just being one of the "Guys" all day long with their bunkmates, the two 11 year olds did have a slight streak of female in them and they both craved and sought out "Special" attention from male staff.

With neither Adam nor Sid making any kind of visible protest, if one's hair needed extra time to be brushed out, put in braids or pony tails, or washed, you received not only special attention, but got to sit on laps as well. On a typical day, Carla and Jeannie wrangled about an hour with preferred staff on a one-to-one basis. Not bad for beginners!

The boys usually took two showers a day, one in the morning, and one before bed. Showers had two purposes; one was to get clean. The other other was to reacquaint yourself with your bunk mates. Green Tree boys aren't all that different from Johnny next door, when he showers, he generally makes sure all his needs are met and he's usually alone. Green Tree boys are rarely alone, but they still make sure their needs are met. As Geppetto boys, that happens about six times a day on average in one form or another.

Following showers getting dressed is a quick affair. Getting dressed and undressed six times a day or more can get boring so the boys generally wear minimal clothing. In the summer, a pair of shorts and maybe a tee shirt would do. Shoes', socks, long pants and underpants generally stayed in like-new condition. For Carla and Jeannie, the same was true and not wearing shirts was also the rule rather than the exception. At 11, there was a small difference between them and the other guys, but who's looking?

Since it was raining, poncho's appeared on the front porch, and once cloaked, the march to breakfast began once the bugler blew Mess Call. Normally, the routine was to assemble at the flag pole and raise the Camp flag. In foal weather that routine was canceled. There were two methods to getting around campus, either walk or ride on a staff's golf cart. Adam wasn't a neat freak, but the thought of six or so wet boys all over the cart didn't excite him and this particular morning, he elected to walk much to Sammy's chagrin.

"Jeez Uncle Adam, we'd help you clean off the golf cart," Sammy told the man.

"Yeah, I know you would Sammy, but that would take years and I'm not ready to retire yet," he told the boy as they walked. With the jingle of Sid's ice cream bells on his cart, Adam and the five or so boys walking with him moved out of the path as Sid went by with his boys waving and yelling.

"Gee, even Uncle Sid don't care about getting wet." Joey remarked as the group resumed walking.

"Joey, your Uncle Sid wallows in horseshit all day long too" Adam reminded the boy.

"That doesn't mean I'm going to." More than a few giggles arose from the boys as they were joined along the path by other campers and staff.

"Anybody know what's for breakfast?" Spencer asked.

"I smell bacon." Trevor replied.

"I,m tired Uncle Adam." Carla now said.

"Tired? Carla, it's just a few hundred feet to the Mess Hall!" Adam replied as he looked down at the girl.

"More like five miles. I'm tired," she replied. With Carla now attached to Adam's poncho, Jeannie was tugging on Anthony's poncho. Spencer shook his head as he watched the girls feet lift up off the ground.

Breakfast was waffle's, with ham, bacon and sausage, hot chocolate and fresh fruit. Food for the campers was never a big deal, it was always good, there was always plenty of it, and you never had to eat anything you didn't like. For most of the campers, prior to coming to Green Tree, food was either scarce, bad, or used as reward or punishment. At Green Tree, those kinds of actions could get staff transferred to a school for Geppetto boys in New Mexico within hours. Like Bert, John the Chef considered food to be a child's irrevocable right. Never to be used as a tool, never to be withheld.

Mealtime's at Green Tree was a social occasion. If there were problems of any kind, they were never brought to the Mess Hall. Like Thumper's Mother told him; "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all." Unless of course you were Uncle Bert talking to Uncle Sid, and then you knew they were going to insult each other; they did it all the time.

As most people who've been around children know, put a few dozen together and you've got loud mayhem. Put 400 together and the din can get deafening. If you had an earache or a headache, you didn't want to be in the Recreation Hall or the Pool area. To keep the Mess Hall from pandemonium, there were Camp rules regarding the noise levels, and special construction to keep the roof from lifting. If the level got too high or an announcement needed to be made, the staff member On Duty would stand at the podium and merely fold his arms. This was the signal for quiet and avoided endless shushing. With Sid standing at the podium, it took a minute or so, but eventually, all campers sat at the tables with their arms folded relatively silent waiting for his announcement.

"Uncle Bert is on his way down, and you guys know how much he hates special attention. When he comes in, just ignore him and pretend he's not there and he'll be very happy," Sid told the assembled. Bert quite naturally walked into a standing ovation determined to get back at his Assistant. The "War" began anew for the 2006 Summer Camp season.

Bert's arrival at Adam's table had most of the boys on the edge of the benches, they knew that Sid and Bert would go at it, plus, Christopher was now headed for the table and the plate of bacon. Climbing over Sammy, his fist grabbed a handful as he then turned himself around and sat in Sammy's lap.

"Hi Christopher," Sammy said as Christopher stuffed his fist in his mouth.

"Hey" Christopher replied as he now headed for Sammy's face and planted a very wet and bacon flavored kiss on Sammy. As most of the boys knew, saying "Hi" to Christopher generally had the boy trying to kiss you. Most of the boys avoided the bath if they could. That wasn't always possible, Christopher kissed, or tried to kiss everything that moved, and some things that didn't. Wiping the bacon off, Sammy let Christopher slide off his lap and head for David.

"I-ee" Christopher chirped as he lifted his bacon up. David picked the boy up and gave him a kiss on the cheek before Christopher could turn his face.

"Good Morning Christopher," David said.

"Rink." was Christopher's only reply as he now looked around the table. David moved his glass of milk closer as Christopher opened his hand and spilled his bacon back on the table and took the glass in both hands. Most of the milk he downed in one movement, what he missed was in his and David's lap. David never flinched, he had been with Christopher now for the past six days.

"Don't look at me Boss, I specifically told everybody not to do that," Sid told Bert as Bert glared at him.

"Ain't that right boys?" he asked the table. With giggles flourishing around him, Bert picked up Christopher and returned him to Jill and Claire's custody.

Ignoring Sid, Bert now addressed Adam.

"Were they told about today's meeting?" he asked the teacher.

"No, not yet," Adam replied.

"Gentlemen, we will have Talk Time for the mafia in Beachview immediately after lunch, then we'll throw Uncle Sid in the lake for desert." he announced. Bert retreated to a round of applause, this one welcome.

The new school schedule was now in effect since February. The students would spend a half day in school, and the afternoons after lunch at activities or play. The boys thought it was a wonderful schedule during the school year, but now that the summer was upon them, they wanted revisions. They now wanted to play all day. In most situations they could wrapped the Director around their little fingers and get him to do what they wanted but not this time.

"We agreed to a half day of schooling year round. If you guys are going to leave here someday knowing enough to take care of yourselves, that's the way it needs to be done," Bert had told a Committee of boys sent to change his mind.

"If you want to go back to the old way of doing things, we can switch back to a full day of school in September." Needless to say, opposition ended.

Sammy and the guys now had three 45 minute classes between breakfast and lunch with 15 minutes between classes to blow off steam (So to speak). Math, Science and English are formally taught the boys, History, Social Studies and Home Ec. are taught informally and "In the field". While they are not "officially" tested, they score higher than their peers in either public or private schools. Unsurprisingly, this fact didn't impress Sammy or his friends one single bit.

In their living situation the boys generally ate, slept and played in Cabin groups. However, in school, they were split up by design. Bert didn't want the boys to exclusively rely on each other, he wanted the entire student body to socially mix to avoid dependency on a particular group or single boy. Sammy's day was spent with Joey and Trevor, but all the other kids in his classes came from outside his Cabin, Beachview. The system worked for Bert in most instances, but Sammy, Joey and Trevor were part of the mafia, a group of 36 boys from three cabins that were very close to impossible to separate chiefly because of their numbers. Classes were a maximum of 20 kids, and for Sammy, that meant that at least eight of the boys were from either Adam's, Kevin's or Dan's cabins.

Conducting classes in individual cabins was quickly becoming the exception rather than the rule because buildings were being renovated into winterized units at an increasing pace now that winter was over. Still, Adam didn't have a classroom to teach Math, and Beachview was a school classroom during the day, and Sammy's home at night.

As with all the teachers at Green Tree, Adam's job was made much simpler than a teacher in a "Normal" educational setting simply because the same rules did not apply to them. There is no Board of Education looking over your shoulder and laying out the curriculum, there were no standardized testing, and they is no State oversight. Adam's job was to prepare the children for an independent life, not teach them things they'd never end up using as adults. Math was taught primarily using money, banking, and budgeting techniques. To teach the students higher math, Adam planned out practical lesson's instead of rote learning methods that could have the boys jerking off out of sheer boredom. Trigonometry for example was taught by having the boys lay out an Official Baseball field. This was a lesson they understood. Sammy and his pals would have been just as happy to throw three pillows down on the ball fields, but did end up understanding how trig could be useful to them some far off distant time in the the future, like if they chose to go on to College. Science and History were taught in the same hands-on manner, and even though the official school day was now only three hours long, in reality, the children's entire day is one long educational setting from sun up to sun down. When Adam first arrived at Green Tree he saw little formal teaching going on and assumed the boys were academically fairly dull. While it is true that the boys can slaughter language using the Kings English, in matters of academics, he found them smarter and better educated than he had remembered himself and his friends to be at their age. Most, but not all the boys considered attending College a foregone conclusion.

By 11:45, the last class ended finding Sammy sprinting back to the Cabin before lunch.

As Adam's last group of student's went galloping down the steps, Sammy was on his way up. His last class was with Sid who taught the boys History, and David had brought the pictures to class he had taken in Boston and especially of "Old Ironsides" which Sid used as the days lesson. Like Adam, Sid taught the boys practical lesson's that usually included hands on teaching methods and the boys rarely came back from school responding "Nothing" when asked what they had learned that day. Listening now to Sammy and Trevor describe what they had learned to the other boys that morning had Adam shaking his head. Sid could make History come alive for the boys, and they rarely stumbled into his class half awake. Fortunately for Adam, he too was a bit of a History buff and could usually keep up with the boys learning.

With Jeannie riding on his shoulders, Sid walked into the cabin.

"What's for lunch Uncle Sid?" David asked the man as Sid lowered Jeannie to the floor.

"Chicken tenders as far as I know unless Chef John changed his mind again," Sid responded as he went to the fridge for some iced tea. Pouring himself a glass, he returned the pitcher to the fridge as Jeannie scooped up the glass and headed for the stairs to the bedroom. Adam smiled as Sid looked for his drink.

"You're welcome!" Sid called after the girl as she disappeared up the stairs. With a new glass, he sat down at the kitchen table.

"I've got almost four dozen boys pestering me for first afternoon ride, so Bert will be conducting the meeting after lunch," Sid told his friend.

"This half day school stuff has chopped my riding schedule time down. In order to get everybody up on a horse at least twice a week, I'm going to have to start riding on Sunday's," he said.

"During Vesper's?" Adam asked.

"Not if I can help it, the boys don't need a real good excuse not to attend services as it is. Watching their friends going trotting off to Look-out Point on a bunch of horses isn't the best incentive for them to go to Church, but it might have to be done." With a slam of the front screen door, Carla now appeared in the kitchen. Throwing some school work on the table she took the glass out of Sid's hand.

"Where's Jeannie?" she asked as she gave Sid a small kiss.

"Upstairs" Adam replied. With a whirl, she was headed for the stairs.

"Keep it!" Sid told the girl as she bounded up the stairs.

"Thanks Uncle Sid!" Carla replied.

"I guess I didn't really want the ice tea anyway," Sid replied as he stood up. Adam giggled a bit "You can always get another one," he told his friend.

"What for, so they can steal it too?" he asked.

Shortly after noon, Mess Call blew and what had been a fairly quiet campus moments before suddenly erupted in the slamming of doors and the stomping of small feet down stairs. The stampede to the golf carts had begun, and Adam sat waiting while the cart groaned under the increasing load. It always took 15 or 20 seconds to figure out who's turn it was to drive the cart and Joey came out on top as he climbed over Adam in order to take control. The path around the lake was now littered with groups of boys either riding or walking to the Mess Hall as Joey waited to join the procession.

Much to the kids delight, chicken tenders and hot dogs were on the menu, and there were very few leftovers to bring back to the Cabin for either Puddles or Cuddles. Both dogs were now fully grown and fairly rotund for Cocker Spaniels. Growing up on a diet of steaks, chops, and roast leftovers had taken it's toll, and the once frisky puppies were now lethargic house pets. They'd run and play occasionally, but as a general rule excelled in sleeping. Once housebroken, even Adam came to appreciate them.

Bert had called the meeting after lunch for the entire mafia, and rather than cram everybody into one Cabin, the boys elected to have their talk time with the Director on the cove's beach. Bert arrived with both Claire and Jill as well as Christopher. Bert elected to keep Christopher dry and away from the water as he told both girls to keep very close tabs on him as he spoke to the boys. Christopher cooperated for at least three minutes before he was naked and in the water.

As fully expected, Sid's impending move went over like a lead balloon. Bert brought up the news of Adam's "Promotion" as permanent Intermediate Boys Director first to soften the blow, but the group was extremely quiet as Bert explained the details of the plan.

"Why can't Uncle Sid just stay down here instead of moving to the hill? We can't do overnight visit's in Camp Kenny" Matty asked.

"That's true, but Uncle Sid's Cabin isn't going to be a part of Camp Kenny, it's going to be separate from them. With Uncle Sid's approval, overnight's wouldn't be against the rules," Bert told the boy.

"So who is he going to be living with?" Chris now asked. When told that Sid would be moving in with Patty and her girls from Pine Ridge, about all that was heard was Christopher's squealing from the water.

"You mean Uncle Sid's going to be moving in with a bunch of GIRLS?"

Spencer now asked. Adam had to smile, but he stifled it as much as he could.

"Spencer, we live with girls don't we?" he asked. Spencer looked towards Carla and Jeannie. They ain't girls, they're our friends, Patty's girls has tits and everything!" Spencer remarked.

A few giggles surfaced, but generally the boys were in full agreement with Spencer.

"Hey! I got tits." Carla now said.

"They ain't tits yet. Tits gots milk in them." Trevor now said. Bert sat back trying to regroup. When did he lose control of this meeting he wondered to himself.

"Why would it matter if Uncle Sid lived with girls with breasts?" he asked the group.

"That's stupid Uncle Bert, we can't have overnights with Senior girls, they don't like us!" Sammy replied to a chorus of "Yeah" from the peanut gallery. Bert looked at Adam.

"What Senior Girl has ever said to any one of you that she didn't like you," Adam asked the boys.

"They don't have to say it Uncle Adam, they giggle to each other when they see us with boners, and they hide their tits from us all the time. They only show the Senior boys their tits!" Brian told the teacher. To another chorus of "Yeah", Adam was out of idea's.

"So what you're saying is that because I live with four Senior girls, you wouldn't come to sleepovers in my Cabin?" Bert asked the group. Just about every boy there turned around and looked at Claire and Jill. The two 15 year olds were playing with Christopher in the water and too far away to hear specifics of the conversation.

"They have Christopher with them all the time Uncle Bert, you got them trained to see him naked so they don't giggle and they get naked with him. They ain't like real girls," Sammy said. Bert now had to smile as he shook his head.

"Well boys, I'm sure after a very few short days, Uncle Sid's girls won't be real girls either, and your problems will be solved," he told the assembled.

"If anybody can make somebody unreal, it's your Uncle Sid!"

Before he returned to the office, Bert made a detour to the stable's to see Sid and let him know about the new task he had.

"No more giggling at boners, and tits are in," Bert told the stablemaster. Now Patty was the one shaking her head.

For the boys, the meeting went generally better than Adam had expected. Everybody stayed glued together, and the afternoon's schedule was a full one for the boys. For Carla, the meeting went OK, but she was a little miffed at not being recognized as the girl with the most attractive chest on campus. While it was true she didn't have a double D cup, she thought she had a pretty good pair going for an 11 year old just starting out. She decided she'd take her concerns that night to the expert on the female anatomy, Uncle Sid.

Second ride occurred at 3:00 each afternoon, and generally lasted until 5:00 or so. With three dozen horses available, and each horse carrying doubles, close to 70 kids were now ready to fan out on the 12,000 acre property. Some opting to go to Look-out Point, some opting to ride to Indiantown Camp with it's streams and woods. By far, horseback riding was the Camps favorite activity, it not only gave the boys control over an extremely large and powerful animal, it afforded them with the opportunity to indulge in a very necessary biological urge. Riding double both bare assed and bareback made that urge quite natural.

Every boy had a particular horse that was his personal favorite, but by far, the most popular horse was one Thomas had bought for David in the Fall. Maria's colt was now old enough for it to walk with his mother on trail rides, and with the huge Belgian leading the way carrying David and two friends, Baron following close by his mothers side as the boys coaxed him on.

Look-out Point was a lean-to encampment with a campfire that overlooked the valley below and another to the North. Towards the South, you could see Interstate 77 winding it's way towards Virginia and Interstate 81. Off to the West, the distant tops of the Blue Ridge mountains were covered in a slight haze as the boys dismounted. It was difficult to tell where the better scenery could be found as Baron headed for the underside of his mothers belly now that the mare was finally standing still long enough for him to take a drink. Almost a dozen horses, were now fanning out looking for some grass as Sammy, along with both Carla and Jeannie headed for their favorite place, a large old maple tree that had huge limbs and was extremely conducive to climbing even if you were all naked. Once near the top, where the ground was invisible and all they saw was the canopy of the woods laid out before them, they were alone in the world, and talk became so much easier.

"Do you think I don't have tits too?" Carla asked the boy. Sammy looked over to his friend. He had spent a great deal of time massaging them once Carla taught him how and where to touch her, and although it was a little boring and not nearly as much fun as playing with one of the other boys penises, it was OK.

"He just said that because they ain't as big yet as the other girls," Sammy replied.

"But they're growing." Carla replied.

"Sure they are, they're bigger than they were at Christmas time," Sammy told her. Carla smiled and looked over to her friend. Jeannie had tits roughly the size of Sammy and they had given no indication yet whatsoever of ever being anything more than a couple of pimples on her chest. Then again, at 11, she wasn't alone in the world.

"When mine start growing, I'm going to live in Camp Kenny and let the babies have my milk like Aunt Jeanette and Aunt Johanna," she said as she looked down on her chest.

Carla now shook her head.

"Not me. One of the Senior girls told me that if you let a baby do that, your tits begin to get huge and they hang down like a balloon," Sammy giggled a little and shook his head.

"Bullshit. Aunt Johanna and Aunt Beth feed their babies and their tits don't hang down," he replied. Jeannie nodded as Carla went into deep thought for a few seconds.

"Do you suppose they feel the same way we do when you suck on them?" Carla asked. Sammy looked puzzled as he thought about the question.

"I don't know, it's just sucking. They ain't doing it to play, they're doing it to feed the baby's," he replied.

"But when you suck on them I can feel it in my pussy." Carla said. This was new news to Sammy.

"What's your tits got to do with your pussy?" he asked. Carla shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe Uncle Sid will know," she replied. Sammy now laughed.

"It would be better if you asked Aunt Patty. I seen Uncle Sid suck on her tits!" Sammy told his friend. Both Carla and Jeannie looked at each other.

"Really?" both girls asked simultaneously.

"Yeah, and he was rubbing her pussy so I know she felt it down there!" Sammy said.

"How did you see that?" Jeannie asked.

"Sometimes they fuck with the door open,. It ain't no secret," Sammy replied. Neither girl spoke, but the wheels were turning.

For Christopher, watching Bert do paperwork or have one of his endless meetings during the day wasn't on his agenda, and he usually ended up at the pool playing with the Camp Kenny children. While physically bigger than they were, he was on a par with the five and six year olds when it came to play. He loved to play in the water, and he loved body painting, the sand box and the large riding toys. Without proper balance, he didn't ride a two wheel bike like most of the older Camp Kenny children, but he had his own electric jeep and tons of trikes available to him. His afternoons were largely spent being closely watched by the Senior girls and woman around the pool. Christopher's arrival that afternoon came as it usually did, with him dressed as he entered, and naked by the time he hit the water. Very few of the children were modest about being naked, with Christopher, the word wasn't in his vocabulary. Once sufficiently drenched, he waddled over to Beth who was there with Johanna and Sidney and climbed up onto her chair while Joshua peacefully slept on her stomach. Once he gave Beth a kiss, he leaned down and kissed Joshua on the cheek and came back up with the usual question "Baby?" he asked.

"Sleeping baby Christopher, let's not wake him up OK?" Beth told the boy.

"Hey." Christopher replied.

The talk of the school was now Sid's impending move up to the hill to set up housekeeping with Patty. With the upper Camp now housing the youngest children of the school, modifications were already appearing. Bike racks around Cabins were being replaced by the swing sets, sand boxes and jungle gyms used by the Camp Kenny children. Security gates were going up around Cabin porches and the stables and corral area's were being toddler proofed. Now, as if he didn't have enough to do already, Dave and his maintenance crew had one more Cabin to transform into living quarters for Patty and her girls. Patty had four Senior girls and everyone expected that Sid's move would bring with it several Intermediate boys to live with him at least temporarily. In anticipation, Sid would be moving into one of the larger Cabins on the hill, and one that was separate from the horseshoe shaped configuration of Cabins that surrounded the ball fields.

All Cabins had names, and Sids new Cabin was the former nature shack known by the boys as Stoneybrook because of the small winding Brook in the back of the cabin that wound down to the lake. Dave had begun renovating it weeks earlier, although no one knew who was going to be living there as yet.

"Have you seen what they're doing in Stoneybrook?" Johanna asked Jeanette as the two watched the children in the wading pool. Jeanette shook her head.

"I haven't had the chance yet. Is it nice?" she asked her friend.

"Yeah, the carpet is in and they're almost done with the kitchen," she replied.

"Bert must be expecting a bunch of boys to be moving with him, the place is pretty big," she told her Director. Jeanette nodded her head.

"Best bets are on Matty and Chris. Some people think even Spencer might revolt if Matty and Chris do," she told her friend.

"What about Patty's girls?" Johanna asked.

Jeanette smiled a little.

"That's going to be real interesting. I don't think the girls are going to be too upset about living with Spencer, but Matty and Chris are going to be another story. They might break and run back to Pine Ridge," she concluded.

"Why?" Beth now asked. Now both Jeanette and Johanna smiled.

"Chris and Matty are a pretty spunky pair when you put them together. Spencer is very low key, but those two will start a boogie on the kitchen table if they feel the urge." Johanna told the girl.

"And that's not even considering Uncle Sid!" Jeanette added.

"When it comes to sex, Uncle Sid can make most of these boys look silly. Patty's going to one very tired little girl!" she said.

"But he wouldn't touch one of the Senior girls would he?" Beth asked.

"Not at 15 or 16, but they might want to keep a low profile once they approach 18. I was 17 when I took my first canoe ride with him," Jeanette replied.

"I was 19." Johanna added.

"Canoe ride?" Beth asked.

"If you want to get laid, get one of the guys to take you out for a canoe ride. It works every time!" Johanna replied with a grin.

"Really?" Beth asked.

"As far as the men here are concerned, if you accept a canoe ride, you may just as well leave your underpants in the drawer," she was told.

It was now Beth's turn to smile. She had been a resident of the all girls school in Montana since age 14. She didn't arrive as a virgin, but she also hadn't had any male contact now for more than four years. It was getting very boring meeting her own needs, and she figured those nights were about to be altered, especially since more than a few of the younger males around Camp were far from dogs.

The pool complex was very close to the stable area, and with horses full of children now returning from the trails, it signaled the end of the afternoon and time to prepare for dinner. As the carts loaded up to return the little one's to Camp Kenny, the Intermediate's drifted past on their way down the hill. Several hours earlier, both Carla and Jeannie's hair was neat brushed out and in pig tails, now, it hung down in clumps peppered with grass, leaves and straw.

"That's another problem," Jeanette now told her friends.

"When Sid moves up here, Adam's going to have double duty in the hairdressing department," she said.

"Serves him right, he's the one that spoiled them." Johanna replied with a grin.

The three women watched as more than a dozen boys trotted down the path with both girls alongside them. From the rear, it was tough to tell them apart except for the girls waist length hair. Red from being rubbed on the horses blankets, bare bottoms with no tan lines testified to the preference the Intermediate Campers had concerning clothing as they chatted away like formally dressed magpies.

Bert arrived climbing the hill in his cart to pick up Christopher and the girls just as the bugler blew Return to Quarters. After a full description of Christopher's afternoon, it was Christopher's turn to drive and try to find as many bushes and trees as he could on the way back off the hill.

Helen had spent the Afternoon in town doing some shopping. Picking up some things for the girls, her main purpose of the trip was to try to find an old rocking horse for Christopher. The newer one's that had large springs on them were nice, but as a general rule, were produced for children of three to five years of age and less than 40 pounds [18 kg]. Christopher was 12 going on 6, weighed almost 70 pounds [32 kg], and was no toddler. Still, in the Vineyards, Thomas's family had antique rocking horses for the children of the estate, and it was one of Christopher's favorite toys.

Luckily for the woman, North Carolina is full of "Antique" shops where the tourists came during the summer to buy valuable antique's from the local rubes who were "unaware' of their true value and they could be bought for pennies by very wise shoppers.

It had probably taken the "Rube" a few days to manufacture the "Antique" that he now showed Helen very proudly, and at "Only" $350.00 the 150 year old treasure was Helen's to take home as the store owner placed another one in the window that he brought up from the cellar.

"I hope you don't think this thing is 150 years old," Bert said as Christopher mounted the horse and began rocking back and forth with his nose almost touching the floor on the forward swing.

"What? Are you telling me they didn't make plastic back in 1856?" Helen said as she pointed to the horses feet.

"I bought it because the commercial one's would be too small for him. This things lucky if it's a year old, but it's very strong and sturdy," she told the Director. Bert shook his head and smiled as Christopher now changed tactics. As the boy had discovered in the Vineyards, a rocking horse not only rocked, it could bounce straight up and down as well. On the upstroke Christopher's ass was about three inches [7½ cm] off the bottom of the horse and he was re-planted on the way down in the saddle.

"Sure do hope you don't miscalculate and land on the wrong spot," Bert said to the boy as he watched him.

"Hey" Christopher agreed.

"You got that right little fella!" Bert replied as he went to wash for dinner.

Adam had spent the afternoon with Kevin practicing for the Camps production of "Oklahoma" that was now about six weeks away. Returning to the Cabin just before the gang began appearing off the hill, Adam studied the kids as they neared. He knew damned well the girls weren't going to be in the same condition they left in, but when horseback riding, the disaster was always much more pronounced.

"We've got a little less than a half hour before Mess Call, let's see if we can't get a little of Uncle Sid's horse shit off of you two!" Adam told both girls as they passed on the porch.

"Oh Uncle Adam, you always say that but we don;t got no shit on us." Jeannie told the counselor.

"Then what's that smell?" he asked as he stood up. To a chorus of giggles, Adam followed the troop upstairs and into the bathroom. Getting the boys ready for dinner was a snap. While they concentrated on their bodies, Adam washed hair. In 15 minutes, almost a dozen boys were headed for the bedrooms for shorts and a shirt. Once stuffed into a pair of underpants, both girls came out on the porch with their brushes and a box of ribbons that had now become practically routine for both girls.

"Where's Uncle Sid?" Jeannie asked as Carla climbed up into Adam's lap and laid herself back.

"Probably held up at the stables putting the horses to bed. Did you guys have fun today?" he asked.

"Yeah." both girls said together. Anthony now came out on the porch as Jeannie handed the counselor her brush. Sitting down Anthony had the little girl in his lap before he sat back.

"I'll brush out your hair, but if you want braids, Uncle Adam's the only one who knows how." Anthony told the girl.

"And Uncle Sid." Jeannie quickly corrected the counselor.

With handfuls of cookies, the boys began now assembling on the front porch waiting for the bugle to sound Assembly at the flag pole. Once Carla was in pig tails and ribbons, she slid off Adam's lap and was immediately replaced by Jeannie.

"Chose your poison," Adam said to the girl.

"French twist" Jeannie replied after a little thought.

"Jeannie, I can't do a French twist right now, your hair is still too wet," Adam told the girl.

"A pony tail then," she replied as she handed Adam a large red ribbon.

"Jeez Uncle Adam, you're like Bugs Bunny when he does the Tasmanian Devil's hair!" Sammy now said as he and a few of the boys giggled. Adam smiled at the thought of the cartoon. He also had a knack for imitating the Looney Tunes characters, especially Bugs and Daffy. For the next few minutes, he entertained the boys of his Cabin along with a growing number of the rest of the mafia once they realized what was transpiring.

Sid's cart appeared off the hill just as Assembly blew and with Sid racing for the Cabin and the shower, he dodged the mob now streaming off porches headed for the flagpole.

Carla decided she was about to have talk time with the counselor as Adam slid onto his cart with Jeannie and Sammy discussing who the evenings driver was going to be. With a fast game of "Odds or Evens" Jeannie won the honors.

For Sid having talk time with Carla, or any other camper for that matter, was nothing new, but as a general rule, the 50 year old was usually dressed. Now, as he entered the Cabin and prepared to take a quick shower, Carla showed no signs of retreating anytime soon. As a Geppetto boy himself Sid had no problems concerning boys, and most certainly would take any willing mature girl to his bed, but he was not into little girls concerning sex. He thought they were all very cute and very attractive, but wasn't about to start deflowering them anytime soon.

"Want to wait for me downstairs on the porch and we can talk on the way to the Mess Hall?" Sid asked as he sat down on the bed and took off his boots.

"No, that's OK. I seen you naked before Uncle Sid." Carla answered matter of factly.

"Lucky you," Sid said as he peeled off his shirt.

"OK, so you talk and I listen," Sid said as his pants fell to the floor and he entered the shower. Carla lowered the toilet cover and sat down.

"Uncle Sid, you seen a lotta girls tits, do you think mine are OK?" she asked the man.

"OK? Of course they're OK Carla. Why do you ask?" he questioned.

"They ain't very big yet!" Carla replied.

"Sammy says they're OK, but he don't know how they make a girls pussy feel funny," she told the man quite seriously.

"Well first of all Carla, They're not very big yet because they just started growing. It will take years for them to reach their full size, and that's perfectly normal for any little girl." he counseled.

"As far as Sammy's comment, you can't expect another person to know what you're feeling unless you tell them. Some people feel very sexual if you touch their ears or their nose, or their neck. Different people react to touch in different ways. Not everybody has sensitive breasts, regardless of whether or not you're a boy or a girl," he told the girl.

"That's silly Uncle Sid, boys don't got breasts." Carla replied. Sid now smiled to himself. He also made a mental note to have a talk with her Englisg teacher.

"It may be quite true that boys don't have lactating breasts, but they most certainly have breasts. Boys don't generally have the same hormones that girls do that make their breasts enlarge, but believe me, all boys have breasts," Sid counseled.

"If everybody gots tits, how come the boys make such a big deal out of them. I don't mean the guys in our Cabin, but the Senior boys and the Senior girls." Carla now asked.

"Because as boys get older, the difference between them and girls becomes much more important. The most obvious differences are breasts and vagina's," Sid responded.

"That's why they gots pictures of pussies and tits all over their Cabins?" Carla asked.

"And you saw that when?" Sid asked.

"When we went to the Senior boys campus with Jesse to get some games he was giving us." Carla said.

"The answer to your question is yes, and you should not have been brought to the Senior Boys campus without Uncle Bert's or my approval," Sid told the girl.

"Oh, Sorry" Carla replied. Sid made another mental note to himself as he put on some socks and his sneakers.

Now once again fully dressed, Sid was ready to go to Dinner.

"Come on pumpkin, let's do chow," he told the little girl. Neither Carla nor Jeannie usually requested to be picked up, they merely raised their arms when the urge struck and Sid was now looking at two hands sticking up in the air. Picking her up off the toilet, she molded herself onto his hip.

Sid was well aware that both Carla and Jeannie were going to be turning heads in a few short years. Now looking at Carla, he kind of envied the boys in the Cabin. Slice 40 years off his age, and he would have been quite happy to forego dinner. Instead, he gave her a very gentle kiss on her forehead.

"What's that for?" she asked.

"For having a very nice set of small tits," Sid said.

"Keep them that way for as long as you can they're just the right size." Carla once again giggled.

"The last time I saw you, you had on ribbon's of straw. Why did you exchange them for those things?" He asked the girl as he looked at the yellow ribbons on her pig tails. Carla felt the ribbon. "Uncle Adam did it," she replied.

"Yeah, and I'll bet you were kicking and screaming all the time!" Sid suggested. Once again the girl giggled as the two headed for Sid's golf cart.

Sid's arrival in the Mess Hall with dinner already started created no special upheaval, but several people did notice the girl who had once again found Sid's hip preferable to walking. The sight was becoming increasingly common since Easter, and most staff knew puppy love when they saw it, especially the women. Stopping at more than a few table's before winding his way to the mafia's area, Carla made damned sure she wasn't put on the floor by keeping her legs firmly wrapped around Sid's waist in a scissor hold.

Like Sammy had done with Adam and David had done with Thomas, Carla was staking out her claim, and the message was lost to only the youngest of the campers.

Sid had been in contact with most of the mafia during the afternoon, either when the boys went on their trail ride or after they got off of other activities, but for the most part, the rest of the Intermediate boys had only learned of Sid's impending move during Flagpole. The news was also announced to the Seniors at that time, and Sid's dinner went cold a few times before it was finished. For Sid, his most interesting congratulations came from Patty's girls who very much liked the man as the Assistant Director and Stablemaster, but they were now expected to actually live with the guy in the same house, and, the dude was going to be sleeping with their counselor in the same bed!

Girls have a knack for pouring on the charm, and girls have a knack for being as warm as a walk in freezer. Sid was feeling more of the latter.

As fully anticipated, the news concerning Sid's arrival into their lives was greeted with luck warm snow flurries. The news that it might come to pass that a few Intermediate boys might accompany the man for a short time was met with a blizzard. It was left to Patty, Bert and Dave to produce a Spring thaw.

"Stonybrook is a very large cabin, and Uncle Dave can make two completely separate sleeping area's," Bert told the girls that afternoon.

"And bathrooms? Everybody knows the boys all piss in the showers. We're not going to be taking showers with them!" A very bold 14 year old named Athena told the Executive Director.

"You don't have to take showers with them, you can take showers before or after them. Besides, we don't even know if there will be any Intermediate boys yet," Bert responded hopefully.

"Uncle Bert, you don't expect us to take showers in a shower that's been pissed in do you?" the girl persisted.

"Heaven forbid," Bert replied as he looked at Dave. Dave closed his eyes knowing what was now about to transpire.

"The only way I can make two upstairs bathrooms is to reduce the size of the bedrooms. But if it's going to be done, it needs to be decided now and not when the walls are already up," he told his Director.

"We might be jumping the gun. We don't even know if there are going to be any boys yet." he counseled.

"Why don't you just order the boys to stop peeing in the showers?" 12 year old Gail now said.

"Gail, I'm the Executive Director of this school, I'm not a miracle worker. Boys piss in the shower because they're boys and that's the end of that," Bert told the girl. Patty shook her head.

"Smooth Bert, real smooth!" she replied.

Dave now ate his dinner planning out two showers for Stonybrook upstairs. Just in case, he also completely separated the upstairs bedrooms by putting in two sets of stairs on opposite sides of the cabin.

"This is a little stupid. No matter how separated they are, those showers are still going to have the same drain pipes attached to them. Like it or not the girls are still going to be standing in little boys piss!" he muttered to himself. Adam chuckled as Dave drew on.

"I don't want to be the one who bust's these girls bubbles, but we better hope they never ask themselves why the boys never excuse themselves to urinate when they're in the pool or lake." Dave said.

From the boys perspective, they were at a loss to explain the girls dilemma. Who cares if you pee in the shower or not? What's the big deal? Girls pee'd in the shower too, Carla and Jeannie did it as regularly as they did didn't they? But the mafia's biggest question was still to be left unanswered; What boys were going to be peeing in the girls shower?

"Who are they talking about Uncle Adam? Uncle Bert didn't say nothing about any boys moving too!" Sammy asked his counselor as desert hit the table. Adam looked at Sid.

"Be my guest," he said to his friend.

"Uncle Bert just wants to plan ahead Sammy. At some point in the future, some boys might move in, but that's in the future," Sid replied.

Sammy shook his head.

"Those girls are making a big stink about nothing?" he questioned.

"Girls is funny creatures Sammy, they just don't know how to take a proper shower," Sid replied.

"Except of course for Carla and Jeannie here!" he quickly added.

Luckily for Sid, the Senior girls didn't understand what was so humorous in the Intermediate boys section during dinner that night.

The time following dinner until Return to Quarters was usually a period when the boys "Wound down" from a full day of activities. Unless some boys were on an over night trail ride, the stable's where quiet and the horses sent out to pasture, the go-cart track was closed, and probably the most active section of Camp were the ball fields on the upper campus. In mid June, there's about two hours of light between dinner and bedtime, and if you weren't playing ball, you were probably on the lake boating. On this particular day, the Red Sox from Adam's Cabin weren't scheduled, so Adam watched from the porch as his group began assembling around Turtle Rock about 15 minutes after dinner ended.

As it did most nights, Adam's porch became the central meeting place for the mafia's staff, and usually had more than a few visiting staff drop by for a cold beer or a friendly chat. As the boys littered the rock in the cove like seals on a Pismo Beach dock, the "Quiet" time began as Sid put some music on the stereo and restocked the cooler. Sitting down, Sid watched as Carla sailed into the cove with Trevor. Capsizing the Sunfish on purpose, both now headed for the rock and their friends as Sid shook his head.

"She's going to be a pistol when she grows up!" Sid said as he sipped his beer.

"She reminds me a lot of Johanna when she first arrived." Dave replied. Sid smiled thinking back.

"She kind of does, doesn't she?" he asked somewhat nostalgically. Adam hadn't been there that long, but as he looked at the 11 year old, he couldn't quite get the resemblance between the two. Johanna was a young woman, kind of reserved, but with a good sense of humor.

Carla was a firecracker ready to go off on a whim.

"Somehow, I can't envision Johanna going off on a trail ride with a bunch of boys," Adam said.

"Maybe not a bunch, but she knows horses," Sid replied.

"But that don't mean she was easy, one Senior boy thought he had found an easy night and ended up with a black eye after going a little too fast for her!" Sid recalled. Dave and Eitienne now laughed.

"Where the fuck is he?" Eitienne asked.

"Going for his Master's at Rutgers," Sid replied.

By 8:00, the group on the porch had grown to about 16 adults including Bert and his group. Christopher was now wet and naked for the 4th time that day, and was showing no signs of slowing down as he crawled over Turtle Rock for the first time in his life. The rock amused him for a few minutes, but he was hell bent for a water filled canoe which the Senior girls were only too happy to put him in; it meant they didn't have to pull him off the bottom of the lake again.

"So, when is Dan going to be teaching him how to swim?" Sid asked as Christopher used the canoe as a bathtub.

"Dan's a very busy man Sid and thinks the job is a little too easy for him. He's recommended I assign you to the task," Bert replied.

"Fuck him!" Sid replied without missing a beat.

"Actually, Dan has designed a vest collar for him to wear when he's around the water. He doesn't think he'll learn to swim unless he gets a lot more buoyant, and maybe even develop some fear of the water," Bert said.

"Fear it?" Adam asked.

"It beats drowning," Bert replied.

"So how the hell does one make someone "More buoyant?" Sid asked.

"Beats me. All we know is that he sinks like a stone when he hits the water and doesn't come up," Bert told the group.

"Dan thinks he's too full of water and not enough fat."

"Boss, maybe you ain't looked lately, but that kids anything but skinny!" Sid told him.

"Yes, he does resemble you a lot, but Dan thinks it's water which we know doesn't float," Bert said. As a bull horn sounded at the Boat House calling the boats in, the laughter died down long enough on the porch for Adam to get up and ring the Cabins Bell.

Friday night meant the boys could stay up an extra half hour, and once they were warmed back up from a very quick shower and stuffed themselves into underpants, the cabin mellowed as the boys dragged out telescopes to look at the moon and stars, or watched Shreck for the 200th time while plowing their way through milk and cookies.

As much as Sid enjoyed Shreck, he also dabbled in Astronomy and now joined the group as Adam told the boys which Constellation they were looking at. For Sammy, the only one he saw that made a little sense was The Waterbearer. For the boys as well as Sid, chasing the moon across the sky with their telescopes was much more entertaining. Very few of the children could conceive of the moon moving, and now, they had to constantly keep moving their telescope's to keep up with it.

Taps on the upper camp came from the flagpole area. On the lower camp, it rebounded off the trees across the lake and swept along in a lilting echo of sound that seemed to come in stereo from several directions deep in the woods across the lake from the cove.

There was usually only one bugler, but it almost sounded as if there were two or even three Senior boys playing. Sammy and the boys and girls in his cabin wouldn't be falling off to sleep for another half hour or so, well after they enjoyed each other for the last time of the day, but now laying there on the back porch next to Carla and Joey, Sammy looked out as he listened to the bugle. Tomorrow would bring another day waking up and joining Adam in bed, but for now, there were some underpants to get out of the way.

Chapter Twenty Two

Sid Plays House

It had taken almost a month for Dave's Maintenance and Grounds crew to renovate Sid's new Cabin on the upper campus, but move-in day was at hand just before the 4th of July Holiday. To put it mildly, the renovations to the former Nature Shack were extensive. The large, one room log cabin building was now a two story, four bedroom house that most summer visitor's escaping the heat and humidity of Florida would have drooled over.

Sid would be moving in with Patty, his Assistant at the stable's who was the Girl's Riding Instructor, and her four girls from Pine Ridge. Patty had almost a month to convince the girls they weren't being led to slaughter, and the girls themselves had made enough demands on renovations to add a week to the renovating schedule.

There was still the very real possibility that these four girls, ages 12, 12, 14 and 16 would have to be enduring the humiliating prospect of actually having to live with some boys, and to add insult to injury, those twerps had the reputation of pissing in the showers and walking around with boners! Walls could not be thick enough, and separate bathrooms were absolutely mandatory.

Bert and his Staff had assumed that the girls most likely tormenters were going to be two 11 year olds from Adam's Cabin, Chris and Matty. Both boys were best friends, and both boys were extremely attached to Sid, who up until this point, had lived in Adam's Cabin with both boys going on two years now. Sid, Adam and all the staff worked in unison to encourage the boys to remain housed on the lower campus with their peers, but if push came to shove, the boys would be moving their pillows up on the hill. It wasn't very often that this team was blindsided, but in this instance, they were watching and encouraging the wrong boys.

Moving day was set for Monday afternoon and lunch went routinely right up until Sid sat down and began pouring an ice tea for himself.

"Are we all set to start rolling after lunch?" Adam asked his friend. Sid nodded.

"Dave and the Senior boys will have the trucks and cart's at Patty's at 1:00 are you coming up?" he asked. Adam now nodded.

"Us too?" Sammy asked.

"Why sure good buddy, you guys can help if you want to, but be careful of those girls, we don't want them packing you guys off to Siberia!" Sid told the table. Once the giggling died down, Spencer put his fork on his plate and shoved it away. Still half full, Sid looked over to him.

"Full?" he asked the boy.

"I'm going with you." Spencer announced. Sid now smiled hoping the tone he heard meant nothing.

"That's great Pal, we can use all the help we can get," he told the boy.

"No, Uncle Sid, I'm going with you to Stonybrook," he replied. Lunch was now at a complete and total standstill as everybody at the table stopped eating.

Spencer's 12th Birthday was around the corner, and the boy would, in all likelihood, be transferred to the Senior Boys campus in the Fall. At least that was the Staff's hope, but the plan had several crinkle's in it, not the least of which was Spencer's attachment to Anthony, a 20 year old counselor that Spencer had been living with for the past six years.

Spencer now lived with Anthony in Adam's Cabin, in very large part because that's where Sid also lived. In the boys mind, it was a toss up as to which man was more important to him.

Among the boys, Spencer was extremely unique. For one, he sang like a bird with the voice of an Angel. He also had very strong homosexual tendencies. Spencer wasn't swish, he was one of the most athletically inclined boys in the school who could play ball, swim, or play sports probably better than 95% of his peers. But chiefly due to infantile abuse, both feared and avoided women except for the women who had raised him at Green Tree since age 5. This was a bombshell of an announcement, and one which would have to be discouraged if at all possible.

"Stonybrook? Spencer, you're going to be moving to the Senior Boys compound at the end of Camp. Why would you want to make two moves?" Sid asked in desperation.

"Come on Anthony, we gotta pack." Spencer said ignoring Sid and standing up.

"Spencer, let's talk about this," Sid told the boy.

"I want to have Talk Time," he said.

"No Uncle Sid, I'm going with you," he told the Assistant Director as he turned from the table. With Anthony now rising from the bench, Sid looked to Adam.

"Did he give you any clue?" Sid asked. Adam shook his head. Sid now looked to Anthony.

"You?" he asked. Anthony looked down at Sid shaking his head.

"He's been quiet lately, but sometimes he gets like that. He didn't say anything about this until just now." Anthony told his boss.

"How the fuck could we miss this bullshit?" Sid asked no one in particular.

Sid instructed Adam to report Spencer's request to Bert and followed Anthony out of the Mess Hall. With Spencer's defection now being passed from table to table around the Mess Hall, the noise level dropped dramatically as Adam approached Bert's table. Bert was stonefaced as Adam relayed the news.

"He couldn't have picked a worse time in his development to make such a move," Bert replied as he thought about the decision.

"We can just tell him it's a very bad idea and forbid it can't we?" Helen asked. Bert shook his head.

"Spencer's done his homework. If we had declared that Sid and Patty would be moving into Camp Kenny, it would have precluded him from moving down a level. But since Spencer's been told that Sid's Cabin isn't a part of Camp Kenny, the only way it could be stopped is if it were detrimental to him, or unsafe," Bert advised the woman.

"Well it would be detrimental to him!" Helen replied.

"Only to the extent of his sexual preference. Spencer and the boys have been taught that homosexuality doesn't carry negative connotations. Now we turn around and tell him it's bad?" Bert asked.

"Why would his moving in with Sid be any different than where he lives right now? He's been living with Sid for years." Thomas asked Bert.

"Sid has nothing to do with it. We've got a kid who's sitting on the sexual fence and could go either way. Now we plunk him down in a gaggle of girls? Maybe it would be quicker if we put him in a dress!" Bert replied.

With Spencer packing, Sid talked for a good hour to convince the boy it was not the right decision. Anthony spoke to him as did Adam when he returned. Sammy, Joey and Trevor had lived and grown up with the boy for the better part of six years.

"Now we're really dead," Sammy said very dejectedly.

"First we lose Jesse and then David, now we lose Spencer. How the hell are we gonna win any baseball games now?" he lamented.

News of Spencer's decision reached Patty's table about four minutes after Spencer spoke. For the girls, having the twerps moving in with them was a humiliating blow. Now, people were talking about Spencer! This was no twerp. At 11, he had the physique of a Roman Boy God, sandy blond longish hair with large curls that hung down his neck and forehead and green eyes that sparkled. He sang like a bird, he was extremely shy, but very polite, and he smelled of baby powder and baby oil not horseshit, and sweat. He swam like a fish, and when he did, he never bothered with trivial things like shorts or bathing suits. Patty's girls had seen some pretty nasty looking packages on some of these boys as far as they were concerned, but Spencer wasn't one of them. If you needed a male model, Spencer would have been the boy to call in their book. Lunch began for Patty's girls fairly bleak, things were picking up fast! Like the rest of the Staff, Patty saw it slightly differently and joined Bert's table.

"Doe's this mean, we'll have four boys from Adam's Cabin?" she asked. Bert shrugged his shoulders.

"It just might mean we have 6!" he told Patty.

"Spencer isn't nearly as close to Chris and Matty as he is to Joey and Trevor. Spencers leaving puts those two into play now. And as if that's not bad enough, what's Sammy going to do if all five of his closest friends split?" Bert asked hypothetically.

"This shit's getting out of hand. There ain't a way in hell that Cabins accepting the whole fucking neighborhood. Rules or no rules, you're going to have to put the breaks on this stuff!" Dave told his boss.

"Talk Time!" Bert said to Adam as he got up from his lunch.

"Beachview in five minutes," he said as Christopher climbed into his lap.

Bert wanted to talk with the boys from Beachview alone, but as the Executive Director, he didn't always get his way. With 36 boys and another 15 staff members in attendance, talk time began as the boys sat on the lawn in front of the Cabin while Bert sat on the top of the front porch stairs. Once Sid had told him talking Spencer out of his decision was out of the question, the meeting began.

"You all know by now that Spencer has decided to move in with Uncle Sid at Stonybrook. I do not think its a good decision, but I won't prevent the move," Bert began.

"I want you all to keep in mind that Stonybrook isn't like most of our Cabins that can hold dozens and dozens of boys in them, it was made into a home by Uncle Dave and it is very limited in how many people it can hold. With Uncle Sid and Aunt Patty, her four girls and now Spencer and Anthony, Stonybrook is maxed out for space. Let's keep in mind that Uncle Sid isn't being moved across the Country, he's moving yards away from where we are right now, and he'll be just as assessable tomorrow for you as he is today," Bert told the group.

"Keeping you guys safe and happy is the most important thing we do for you, so if anybody has any problems, the doors are always open to sit down and talk about it." he concluded. Sammy's hand now rose into the air as he sat next to Carla and Trevor.

"What about the Red Sox Uncle Bert? Is Spencer still on our team?" the little boy asked. More out of relief that baseball was the most pressing concern so far, Bert smiled.

"To tell you the truth Sammy, we haven't discussed that yet, I'll let Uncle Adam decide the issue since he's our Baseball Commissioner," Bert told the boy. Adam now felt a few dozen eyes staring at him.

"We'll talk," he replied not knowing exactly how he was going to resolve the issue.

The rest of the afternoon was spent moving the new resident's into Stonybrook Cabin.

Gone were the long faces from the girls who now deeply regretted demanding separate quarters. In fact, they wanted Dave to open a door between the two bedrooms.

"In your dreams girls!" he told them as Patty slightly smiled.

The original plan was to put two people in each of the four bedrooms in the Cabin, but that was when everyone thought that Matty and Chris were going to defect. Now that Spencer had made the move taking Anthony with him, conventional wisdom told the staff that Sid was going to need extra room, at least on a temporary basis, for overnight visitors. The likelihood of other boys to request overnights was considered fairly certain, at least until the boys realized that Sid wasn't being moved to Siberia. To make room for them, Patty's four girls would be bunked in one single upstairs bedroom, while Spencer and Anthony took the other. The bedrooms were both very large, but still, Patty's older girls were about as happy as a chicken in Ethiopia upon hearing the news. They proposed every possible scenario to alter the bedroom arrangements including moving one or both of them in with Spencer. Needless to say, Patty didn't buy it.

"Once things settle down with the Intermediate boys we'll be able to expand, but for now the downstairs bedroom needs to be left empty for visitors.

" she told both girls.

"For how long?" 14 year old Athena asked.

"let's give it a month." Patty suggested with a smile.

"One month. If Gail and Susan (The 12 year olds) are still in our room after that, we're going back to Pine Ridge," she told her counselor as she stalked off.

"Now I know why I never got married," Sid said to David as they unpacked Sid's belongings. David giggled as Patty glared at him.

"Just kidding Dear," Sid replied.

The Summer Of 2006

Following Dinner, it was decision time for Adam concerning Spencer's remaining on the team. Adam was in deep conflict, because as the School's Commissioner of Baseball, if he decided to leave Spencer on the Red Sox, they had a better than average chance of again winning first place. The year before, with Jesse, Brian, David and Spencer on the Red Sox, they smashed any opposition and handily won their games. Now, Jesse was housed in the Senior Boys compound. If Spencer was lost to the team, they would be hard pressed to come in first. Camp rules were that the team had to be from the same Cabin. Both David and Spencer were no longer living in Beachview, therefore, no longer members of the Red Sox. At least that's how every other Cabin in Camp interpreted the Rules!

"If I decide to leave both David and Spencer on the Red Sox, these boys are going to want to cut my balls off. I think I should recuse myself, and let you make the decision," Adam suggested to Bert.

"Either that, or I'm allowed to resign as Commissioner and become their Coach again. That way, there is no conflict of interest, I'll have to abide by whatever the new Commissioner decides concerning David and Spencer," he told the Director. The matter wasn't life or death, but both Sid and Bert knew that the boys took this shit damned seriously. Bert thought for awhile, then looked to his second in command.

"What's your take on this?" he asked Sid.

"Well, as I recall the decision to keep team members from the same Cabins came about because we didn't want to stack decks with Senior boys coming in as ringers against the little one's. Once the boys moved to the Senior boys compound, or to another Cabin of boys, they were on the new team to avoid intra-cabin fighting amongst each other. Neither David nor Spencer are in that situation. David lives alone with Thomas, and Spencer's the only boy in my Cabin. If we applied this rule to them, they'd be denied the right to play Baseball anywhere," Sid concluded.

"So you'd make an exception?" Bert asked.

"In this case, yes. It would be different if we were making an exception for Jesse and allowing him to play with the Intermediate boys. He's clearly now living in the Senior Boys compound and has to play with them. I think the boys will understand the difference in this case," Sid suggested.

"And Adam's suggestion of resigning?" Bert asked.

"Not acceptable. His resignation would be telling the boys it's OK to duck out of responsibility for making tough decisions. He makes a decision, he explains why he made the decision, and stands by it," Sid replied.

"If he gets his balls cut off, we put him in the Choir."

"Tell you what pal, I'll explain my decision and let them know it came only after close consultation with the Assistant Director of Student Affairs," Adam told Sid as Helen's turn came to giggle.

It wasn't the most favored decision Adam had made as Commissioner, but the boys did understand the logic. While none of them wanted to face David or Spencer on the field, they didn't want to see them sidelined either. With the Red Sox facing the Brave's that very evening, Sid smiled to himself as Spencer approached the Batters Box as the boys in the outfield began retreating backwards towards the woods. Every boy in Camp knew Spencer to be shy, introverted, extremely possessive when it came to Anthony, and "Different" from them, but when you faced him in sports or in anger, he was a force to be reckoned with very, very carefully.

The 4th of July came on a Tuesday last year, and the celebration was always accompanied by a Beach Picnic, Field Day and Baseball games. Probably the only thing different about the day from any other community was the absence of a parade and flags flying. Green Tree Staff isn't the most religious of groups, and are much less patriotically inclined to put it extremely kindly. It was a day for fun, food and fireworks and nothing more. Sid had dabbled in previous years with attempts to coordinate the fireworks with music but it never really seemed to work out as well as everyone had hoped. The boys didn't really care, as long as they got a few boxes of sparklers, a few gross of bottle rockets, and were out on the lake in a boat when the big rockets were lit by the Senior Boys and Girls, they were happy.

Since this was Christopher's very first 4th of July, for him it was a non-stop party with a "Guard" of a Senior boy and a Senior girl keeping tabs on him in shifts every hour. Since the day was centered at lakeside, he wore his new swim vest from wake-up to bedtime,

and for the major part of the day, that's about all he wore. This did not mean that Christopher stood out in the crowd. Very few Camp Kenny children wore bathing suits,

and the Intermediates weren't all that far behind. Adam had never been to a nudist colony before, but he was sure if he had gone, it would have looked just about the same. The year earlier, he watched as some of the more adventurous Senior girls discarded tops during the day, but now, they had been at Green Tree for over a year, and once the Senior boys appeared naked on the beach, shaved beaver was the rule rather than the exception. Adam didn't think all that much of it until Jeanette hit the beach with Kenny in tow. More than a few of the mafia wondered if Uncle Adam needed to go pee as he allowed his mind and eyes to wander. Cropping up was the singular most important reason he had never considered becoming a nudist in his earlier years.

"Gosh good buddy, I didn't know you felt that way about me," Sid kidded his friend as he sat down on Adam's blanket after playing a game of frisbee with a bunch of boys.

"Fuck you Sid," Adam replied as he handed Sid a beer from the cooler.

"Now see, that's exactly what I meant," Sid replied. Adam shook his head knowing he was never going to get ahead of the man when it came to comeback's and quips as Sid turned and looked towards Jeanette.

"Yeah, that'll do it, but you don't want to be standing in front of her with your flag waving. She'll tolerate the big willy staring at her from Kenny, but she's a mite picky about seeing the knob on a fella unless she's in the mood and ready to rumble," Sid advised.

"Well maybe that's why I'm sitting here listening to an old fool ramble," Adam replied.

"Cold water buddy. Take a dip in the lake or drop some beer on your johnson. It works for me every time," Sid told his friend.

"It also helps a lot if you think about Kate Smith. Unless of course you're into that kind of stuff!" Sid said. With Kevin and Eitienne now rolling around the blanket, Sid stood up.

"I'll explain to Jeanette you're in a family way, she'll understand," Sid said as he turned and left towards the water.

As Sid approached the water, Carla, who was swimming along the shore with the boys saw the man. With nobody already in his arms or on his shoulders, Carla skipped over to him, "Want to go for a ride?" Sid asked as the girl held her arms up. Turning Carla around, Sid lifted the girl over his head and sat her down on his shoulders. Adam watched as the little girl wrapped her hands around his head and clasped her hands on Sid's forehead. With a wet but plump butt dripping water down Sid's back, the two found a boat as Jeannie and Matty came up to join them in the row boat. The Camp has probably close to 150 boats in all including canoe's, sailboats and rowboats. It also has a ski boat and several jet ski's used by the Camps Life Guard's. As expected, just about everyone of them were out on the lake, even if more than half were full of water and campers. Even the Cocker Spaniels were out on the water sitting on top of Turtle Rock as the boys climbed up on the rock and leaped back into the water. Along the shore, the tall willow trees that hung over the water were rigged with swings and ropes with boys dropping like stones into the water with arms and legs flying. Sid's entrance into the cove started a roar that could be heard all the way back to the beach where Adam and the rest of the campus played.

There was no formal time to start dinner, the food was almost non-stop all afternoon. Close to 7:00 Adam finally got up the courage to venture over towards the women who were pretty much gathered in groups that varied depending upon the children's ages. Pretty much in the center of things were Jeanette, Johanna, Gloria, Beth and Sarah, who combined, cared for the youngest children attending the school from nine month old Joshua, to six year old Caleb, who had gone from a super dependent toddler of four to one of the spunkiest Camp Kenny children known to the women.

Now dressed in a pair of shorts, Adam offered to get Jeanette some food as five year old Caroline saw the opportunity and was in the man's arms. As one of Sarah's charges, the girl had long since attached herself to Caleb. Both children were buddies and now fairly inseparable. Once Caleb found out girls had "Cooties" sometime around age eight or 9, that situation the staff knew might change, but for now, at five and 6, Caleb forgave the girl for losing her "Peter" somewhere along the way. With Caleb now wanting a pick-up too, Adam shifted the girl onto his shoulders and picked up Caleb who had long since mastered the art of riding on a hip.

The trek for the three to the food tables wound through a beach and lawn full of people, which added a great deal of time to Adam's load. Eventually, with lemonade pouring down Caroline's and Caleb's throats and chests, Adam's return trek was just a tad shorter.

It was no secret among the women that Jeanette was being courted, even three year old Kenny kept a close eye on Adam and stayed in very close proximity to his caretaker as the two conducted "Small talk".

At 3, Kenny was getting more independent and was spending more of his day with his crib mate Timmy than with Jeanette, but still, especially when thirsty, the boy wasn't ready to kiss Jeanette goodbye anytime soon. As the boy watched Adam carefully, he made damned sure he parted the two with his body whenever Adam got a little too close to his milk supply. Jeanette was "His" and he wasn't about to share her with anybody!

As I guess is always the case, the centerpiece of attention were the youngest children, Joshua and Sidney. At 10 months, Sidney was now a butterball who mastered in eating and sleeping. When awake he could fly around a Cabin on his hands and knee's, but basically wasn't standing on his own yet. Then again, even if he wanted to, it would have been difficult. Rarely did those around him leave him on the floor. Like Kenny and Timmy before him, he was usually in someone's arms. That concerned Johanna at first, but after discussing it with Gloria and Jeanette, she relaxed, at least until Christopher came close to him. The youngest child was Joshua, and at 9 months, he wasn't as rotund as Sidney but as his half-brother he was a carbon copy. Other than a pound or two, the only difference between the two was the fact that Joshua had a Bris while Sidney still held onto everything he was born with. Beth being Jewish wanted the boy raised as a Jew, and so his winky was whacked. Twenty or thirty years earlier, Joshua's penis would have fit right in, but in today's climate, it was a rarity with the boys of Green Tree, and now sitting on his blanket, his "New style" still drew the attention of many of the other boys.

Joshua didn't seem to mind, he could still take a mighty good piss.

Bert's arrival on the beach created the usual stir among the Camp Kenny children. As a "Hand's on" Administrator, the children as well as the staff were drawn to the man who usually walked around with at least one child in his arms if not two. With Christopher being towed around in an inner tube with a Senior girl, he was free to roam around and as he neared, Timmy was the first boy to start climbing up his side. Picking him up, Bert gave the boy a peck on the cheek.

"Let me guess, watermelon and barbecue sauce," Bert said as he looked down at Gloria. She smiled.

"He's been looking for you all afternoon to take him out on the lake. You're going to do that for him right Uncle Bert?" she asked.

Timmy's ears perked up.

"Please Uncle Bert!" he asked as he turned Bert's face with his hands.

"What's that, ketchup?" Bert asked as Timmy withdrew his hands.

"No, jelly!" Gloria responded with a small smile. Bert shook his head as he looked around for a Senior boy to find him a boat to use. Locating one, Bert found himself rowing around six kids for the next 10 minutes wondering once again how he had lost control. Once back ashore Bert plunked a four year old in Gloria's lap who had been out in the boat with him.

"Cheryl has to go poopey and I assured her that Aunt Gloria would be happy to help her and wipe her bummy for her," Bert told the girl.

"Wouldn't you rather have big strong Uncle Bert do that instead?" Gloria asked the little girl. With a grin and a giggle the little girl shook her head.

"Uncle Bert told you to say that didn't he?" she asked. Again, Cheryl giggled as Gloria got up with a gaggle of kids now following her up the beach.

"That'll teach her to set me up!" Bert said as he popped a beer and laid back on the blanket.

Towards dusk boats began accumulating along the beach and few could miss the small armada that was now coming out of the cove in front of the mafia's Cabins. Once Sid returned to the beach, the bon fire was started which always signaled the beginning of camp songs being sung while kids roasted marshmallows on the bonfire. Green Tree had a repertoire of about 20 songs which the campers all knew by heart and with faces turned against the heat from the fire and marshmallow's getting as black as coal, the singing began.

Christopher had no way of joining in the singing, but he did love to watch the other kids and adults as he tried his damnedest, but came out with no intelligible words. Still, he'd intently watch people's mouth move and try to mimic them, opening and closing his mouth. The smaller campers found it amusing but few adults saw any humor in it. On what was a very happy day, most could only speculate on Christopher's inner feelings of frustration. It was the only sour note on what was a picture perfect day. Bert vowed to press himself and the staff even harder towards improving Christopher's communications skills to his maximum potential.

As a graduate of Harvard with a Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education, Bert was greatly frustrated by his lack of expertise in the field of mental retardation, but had a very strong gut feeling that in Christopher's case, the boy was somehow mis-diagnosed as an infant, and allowed to founder merely because he lacked the ability to speak. In Christopher, Bert saw a spark, an intuitiveness, a sense of compassion and a long term memory capability that told him that Christopher was anything but a moron or an imbecile. Yet, that was what he was diagnosed as depending upon the test. Make him comfortable, make him happy, expect nothing from him, because there was nothing available. Bert didn't buy it.

By a little after nine, the fireworks began from a raft in the middle of the lake, and Sid's Voice of the Theaters pushed by 1,500 Watts of amplification had Sidney and Joshua's full attention from a very sound nap. The babies could sleep through Junior Swim at the pool with 100 toddlers screaming away, but usually, the din didn't come with Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio espagnol adding to the mood. Sid wanted appropriate background music and wanted to avoid like the plague anything that even hinted at Yankee Doodle Dandy or John Phillips Sousa. Probably more than anything, the flashing fireworks kept the babies attention, but within 15 or 20 minutes, it was back to the breast and back to sleep for the both of them as their peers danced along the waters edge like pixies with sparkler's waving around in circle's of light.

Dawn broke over the Camp in a misty haze as the last of the bonfire's smoke drifted across the lake towards the northeast. Few of the campers reached their Cabins before 11:00 and the morning broke as a "Lazy Day" according to Bert's instructions. This meant no bugle's would blow reveille, and breakfast would be served from seven to 10 when people arrived in the Mess Hall. Breakfast would be chiefly continental with minimal hot food served except for special requests from Camp Kenny counselors and staff for the youngest of children. Not only were the campers tired, so was the kitchen staff.

Sammy awoke sometime around 8:00 as he picked his way from underneath arms, legs, and torso's on the back porch where he and probably another 16 or so close friends finally crashed sometime closer to midnight. With the porch screen about 20 feet [6 m] closer than the shower, Sammy stood in front of the screen and pissed as Carla now struggled to her feet.

Deeply annoyed that she lacked the same ability as the boys, she drifted into the bathroom and found an empty toilet.

"Did ya go by Uncle Adam's room?" Trevor asked the girl as she dropped her underpants to the bathroom floor.

"No why?" she asked.

"Guess who's got a girlfriend!" the boy asked as he shampooed his hair.

"Uncle Adam?" Carla asked as she turned and looked at the boy. Trevor smiled.

"Aunt Jeanette's in with him right now!" he exclaimed with a small grin.

"Really? Are they doing it?" she asked.

"No, they're both asleep, but I betcha they did it last night!" he said. As a proper young lady, Carla usually wiped, but this news was a bit too interesting and required immediate investigation.

Getting off the toilet, she briefly debated putting on her underpants, but decided against it since after all, she was going to be in the shower shortly anyway. Signaling Sammy who was now rooting around the back porch for his underpants, she beat feet for Adam's room. Since the door was wide open, and therefore, non private by Green Tree rules, she skipped into the bedroom and promptly hopped up on the bed plunking herself down next to Adam.

"Hi Uncle Adam. Whatcha doin?" she asked as Adam tried to focus his eyes on the face peering at him from about two feet [60 cm] away.

"I thought I was sleeping. What time is it?" Adam asked as Sammy now crawled towards him from the bottom of the bed on all fours.

"I don't know but the sun's up," she replied.

"Imagine that!" Adam said as he turned and looked towards Jeanette who was now awakening herself. On the other side of the woman, the sheets moved as a head of hair began emerging from alongside the girl.

"Kenny's visiting too?" Carla asked as Kenny tried to figure out where he was and who was doing all the talking. Once Kenny looked at both Carla and Sammy and had decided they were no threat, he now looked at Adam. Bringing the sheet down off Jeanette's chest with his foot, Kenny now reached over and covered his caretakers left nipple in his hand as he rooted for the right one and found it while still keeping a close eye on this man laying next to his milk supply. With one eye firmly focused on Adam, warm breakfast was on it's way.

"He thinks you're gonna take his milk." Carla said as she watched the boy suckle. With Jeanette now picking the sheet back up covering her left breast, she looked down at Kenny and smiled at the boy.

"Kenny knows that all my milk belongs to him," she said as she kissed the little boy on the forehead.

"Didn't Uncle Bert declare today a lazy day so that we could sleep as long as we wanted?" Adam now asked the two children.

"Sure Uncle Adam, but we're already awake, so lazy day is over!" Sammy replied with a grin.

"Did you spend all night long with Aunt Jeanette?" the boy now asked.

"Did ya do it?" Carla quickly added. Adam shook his head knowing there really was little sense of privacy known to these children and even less modesty.

"When your Aunt Jeanette and I decide to publish the news in the newspaper, we'll give you advance warning," Adam told the girl.

"Uncle Adam don't talk about fucking, he just does it," Sammy told the girl.

"Seems to me that your Uncle Bert has certain rules about what words Intermediates can use in front of Camp Kenny children!" Jeanette now admonished the two.

"Sorry Aunt Jeanette, I forgot he was here, but I wasn't talken to him, I was talkin to Carla," Sammy told the woman.

"But he does have ears!" Jeanette scolded.

"Sorry Aunt Jeanette," Sammy replied.

"And your Uncle Adam has a nose, and something tells me we haven't taken showers yet," Adam now said as he pulled Sammy up to give the boy a kiss. With Sammy now scooting himself back down the bed, Adam drew Carla on top of him and kissed the girl good morning. Adam expected the girl to wiggle herself free and follow Sammy, but instead she wiggled down to just below his chin and laid her head back down on Adam's chest as she watched Kenny nurse.

"How come only boys like to drink so much milk?" she now asked.

"That's not true, girls nurse also," Jeanette told the girl.

"Only when they're tiny babies. We got's girls as old as Timmy and Kenny, but they don't drink from tits anymore." Carla replied.

"You mean breasts," Jeanette answered.

"Tits are breasts Aunt Jeanette. Look, even I got tits." Carla replied as she lifted herself up.

"Even Uncle Bert and Uncle Sid calls them tits," she said. Jeanette shook her head as she looked at Adam.

"Thanks guys," she said as Adam shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe around the barnyard they're tits, but around Camp Kenny boys, they're called breasts. And we know the proper names of other parts of our bodies too. Don't we?" she asked the girl.

"Yes Aunt Jeanette." Carla replied receiving the message.

"So how come?" Carla persisted.

"There are a few reasons, but basically, boys drink longer than girls because boys are more attached to their Mothers than girls are. Little girls want attention from their Father's or from a strong Male in their life. Little boys want attention and to be close to their Mother's or the person that takes care of them," Jeanette told the girl as she stroked Kenny's back. Kenny now let go of the girls right breast and scooted his body on top of Jeanette as he pulled himself over to her left breast and took it in both hands and buried his face back down.

"Kenny gots teeth. Ain't you afraid he'll bite you?" Carla asked. Jeanette smiled as she resumed stroking the little boys back as he drew deeply enough for her to feel her milk flowing.

"Kenny knows that if he bites me he won't be seeing my breast's for awhile," she told the girl.

"Don't you Kenny?" she asked the boy. Kenny giggled a little but never gave up breakfast.

"How long's he gonna drink from your ti 3;breast's." Carla now asked. Jeanette again smiled shaking her head.

"I don't know. I guess until either my body stops producing milk for him or until he doesn't want it anymore," she told the girl. Rarely did Carla run out of questions.

"Did you drink from your Mother too Uncle Adam?" she asked.

"I don't really know Carla, I never asked and I don't remember doing it if I did," he replied. Hearing the boys in the shower with Jeannie, Carla's attention was now drawn elsewhere.

"Time for a shower Uncle Adam. You gonna take a shower with us?" she asked as she now scooted herself down the bed.

"I'll be in in a little while to wash your hair. Tell everybody to stick around until I get there," he told the girl who now went skipping out the door. With her stomach getting extremely warm in Kenny's diaper area, she knew the dam had broken and it was a small matter of time before leaks began developing. Kenny had a strong knack for filling his diaper to capacity and then some, especially in the mornings.

"You could save a little tinkles for the potty," she said in the boys ear. Kenny giggled, but put no brakes on the fountain which told Jeanette she was out of time. Now looking over to Adam she smiled at the man who had done a very impressive job the evening before while Kenny slept on soundly.

"Happy?" she asked the man.

"Only if I get to do it again," Adam replied meaning every word. Jeanette smiled as she got up cradling Kenny.

"Me too," she replied.

With Jeanette taking Kenny to the other bathroom which wasn't quite as crowded as Adam's, Adam began the morning routine of shampooing heads. He concentrated on getting the children's heads clean, but couldn't help but see the look of curiosity in each child's eyes. They all wanted the gory details, but knew they weren't going to get them.

In one hour shifts the previous day, Christopher had worn out 15 pairs of Senior boys and girls who had the task of keeping close tabs on him. A little after 10:00 at night, Christopher finally dropped to a blanket on the beach and his 4th of July was history. At 7:00 a.m. The sun shined on his face, and Christopher was wide awake instantly. There weren't many days that Christopher awoke before Bert, but today was one of them Neither Bert nor Helen had gone to bed before 1:00 in the morning, and as Christopher climbed over both adults heading for the toilet, he came really close to it before a two foot [60 cm] arch had him playing Calvin again. Helen's eyes opened as Christopher sat down to pee as he always did like a good little boy. Problem was, he never had been taught to hold his penis down, and with a bladder erection, the water in the bowl was staying fresh as the arch now drifted down to the floor in front of him. With a deep sigh, Helen closed her eyes as she nudged Bert.

Christopher was a morning boy as well as afternoon boy. Almost like clockwork unless he was sick, he had a bowel movement upon awakening and just before or after dinner. That fact made his being trained to sit down while urinating extremely important in the mornings. While he had little skills at aiming, since he was seated, the other part was almost automatically in the proper place.. But then again, even that had a slight wrinkle to it, Christopher had never been trained to wipe himself, and by the chronological age of 12, it was highly unlikely he was ever going to be.

"Your turn!" Helen said to Bert as Christopher grunted for about the third time. Slightly bleary eyed, Bert stood by with a small handful of toilet paper as Christopher now finished and bent forward touching both hands on the floor ready to be cleaned. Once he mopped the floor, Bert joined Christopher and a few dozen water toys in the shower.

"Don't they make some kind of an external catheter or something we can put on him at night?" Helen asked as she handed Bert a cup of coffee.

"Yes, but it won't do any good. He'll take them off as fast as he takes huggies off. He's use to sleeping naked. He isn't going to have a hose attached to his dick and just leave it sitting there," Bert told the woman.

"Are you buddy?" he now asked Christopher.

"Hey." Christopher replied.

"Well then you're going to have to figure something else out. It's one thing having a cute cuddly little boy walking around with golden arches, it isn't going to be cute and cuddly when he gets a few years older." Helen advised.

Once cleaned up and dried, Christopher was ready to continue his day as he was handed off to Jill and Claire. The two Senior girls had the previous day off from caring for Christopher, and now, their duties returned. Watching over Christopher was a full time job. If a problem could be found, Christopher could find it faster than anyone on the planet. Now riding to breakfast with Christopher at the wheel of the golf cart, it was time to see how many trees, bushes, and people he could run over. With the kitchen help basically getting the morning off, it was an abbreviated breakfast of cold cereals, hard and soft boiled eggs, toast, buns, and donuts. At 8:00, the Mess Hall was still basically deserted except for the smallest of the Camp Kenny children, and even they were few and far between. After two glasses of orange juice, a cup of sliced fruit, three glasses of milk, two half eaten bowls of cereal, and three jelly donuts, Christopher's breakfast was both in and on him. His morning would be spent with the two girls visiting the girls campus, and then going to the pool for swim.

Bert returned to his office for what would now be a full day of Administering a School/Camp of close to 600 people. His first order of Business was a phone call to Martha's Vineyard as Thomas now entered the office. The phone call was going to Thomas's family in the Vineyards, and the main topic of conversation would be Christopher and the results of his scans weeks earlier. Like Thomas, his brothers were almost all Doctor's and two of them were now doing diagnostics concerning the boy.

"The scans themselves came out OK, probably 80% of them are readable." Stuart said over the speaker phone.

"They're being studied now by the radiologists, but it's basically the dna and Gene material that will probably hold the key, and I'm being told that with current knowledge and technology in the field, we still don't know what we're looking at," he said.

"Hell, they aren't really sure what they're looking for, for that matter!" Bert shook his head.

"So where are we?" he asked.

"We need to keep in mind that this stuff we're delving into is basically in it's infancy. Hell, five years ago, nobody ever heard of Barry Shecht, or dna let alone understood what the hell he was doing. Sooner or later, this whole Geppetto thing is going to be unraveled by science, but it isn't at that point yet."

Stuart told Bert.

"Maybe in six months, a year, five years we'll all have our answers, but not with today's level of understanding this thing and how it ticks," he said.

"And in the meantime?" Bert asked.

"In the meantime, keep them alive, keep them happy, and keep them out of trouble just like you're doing now." Stuart said.

"How's Alexandria reacting to this whole thing?" Thomas's other brother Michael now asked.

"First of all, we all know they're in on this conversation," Bert advised the callers.

"Basically, they're hanging in there hoping we find a solution before the shit hits the fan, but they see the fucking numbers going bullshit out there and are a little more than nervous about the whole thing.

If they lose the National Security and Homeland Security cloak we've got, I wouldn't be writing these kids an insurance policy if I was John Hancock," Bert cautioned.

"So if the Democrat's take over that's the ball game?" Michael asked.

"Not necessarily. Geppetto is an equal opportunity employer. Politician's aren't' running this thing, the military is," Bert replied.

"Ain't that right Harry?"

"Sorry Bert, I didn't hear you. What did you say?" the voice on the phone said.

"Nothin Harry," Bert replied.

"Thomas is sitting here. Let's switch gears while you keep the pressure on up there," Bert now said.

"David's been writing back and forth to Paulie and the rest of the kids up there. They want David to spend a few weeks on the Vineyard this summer. I've got no problems with it, where do you guys stand?" Bert asked.

"From our standpoint, David could join us permanently tomorrow." Stuart replied.

"That would mean I'd have to start searching for another Doctor and I'm not going to do that. How's about two weeks in August Harry?" Bert asked.

"Alone?" Harry asked.

"Only if there's an emergency down here and Thomas needs to come back to Camp," Bert replied. There was about 10 seconds of silence before the voice answered.

"Bon voyage." it said.

"OK, how does the second and third week sound?" Bert asked.

"Works for us!" Michael replied.

The end of the call came shortly thereafter as Thomas sat back in his chair.

"Bert, you don't really think the government would harm these kids do you?" he asked the Director.

Bert looked up from his paperwork and took off his reading glasses. It took probably eight to 10 seconds for him to find the words to answer the question, mainly because he didn't want to create paranoia where it wasn't necessary.

"Twenty or thirty years ago, I probably would have suggested you were a lunatic for asking such a question, but that was before Ruby Ridge and Waco. The kids at Kent State never expected their government to kill them, but they're pretty fucking dead. Self preservation is a very powerful force, and if it comes to these kids and those guys freedom, these kids will be toast long before they see a jail cell," Bert told the Doctor.

"But the good news is that if they did that, the whole fucking Project would be exposed because it contains a built in poison pill that they know will take them down. I sleep quite well knowing that they're out there busting their fucking balls day and night to make sure nobody ever knows who we are and what they've done!" Bert said.

"You and Harry, you're friends?" Thomas asked. Bert shook his head.

"Never met the guy in my life, probably won't and we wouldn't know each other if we fell on each other."

Bert replied.

"I keep the lid on the school, he keeps the lid on the boys on K Street.

We know we've both got the football that can blow each other up, and nobody gets stupid and pulls the trigger. Harry's also smart enough to know that if it starts raining he's the first one getting wet in the fallout. It's simply the military way," Bert said.

Bert's discussion didn't go a long way in making Thomas feel secure.

"David is a Scale three right? He could fit in with Paulie at Andover if we gave him specific instructions on how he could behave at school and not interact with the other students?" he asked.

Bert smiled.

"Thomas, right now the safest place for David is right here with you and with us. He's in no danger, and if I thought he was, I'd tell you. I'll also tell you that if i started moving him around, that would raise flags, and we don't need that bullshit right now. They like to see calm and quiet, and that's what's here," Bert told him.

"What makes you feel so sure that the locals aren't going to start asking questions?" Thomas asked.

"Oh, they already have! And they're also aware that america has more people in jail than any other country on earth. With almost three million in prison, being told that these are the kids of those people doesn't raise an eyebrow with them. They're just happy that these kids are kept separate from the "Honest" people around here!" Bert told the Doctor.

"As long as these good old boys maintain their "Lock em up and throw away the key." attitude, ain't none of them ready to storm the gates and "Free" the kids anytime soon."

Bert concluded.

"Did you see any one of those neighbors or firefighters in Waco rushing in to save those kids when they were being burned to death? Our good neighbors believe these kids are in the Witness Protection Program, and to them, that makes these kids scum just like the little rodents in Waco were scum. I like that attitude, it keeps them away from me and my kids!" Bert said.

Thomas had a very thoughtful afternoon, he remembered the images of the Waco fire. He also remembered the firefighters standing by their trucks thousands of yards from the burning buildings as they joked with the FBI and ATF men. As Thomas picked up David at the stables after feeding his mare and her new colt Sid saw the distressed look.

"It's something you just have to put into a small coner of your brain and keep it there," Sid counseled the Doctor after Thomas explained the long face.

"Everybody here went through the same questions in their minds when they first came, but the bottom line is;

even if you knew the exact date and time they were coming for the kids, would you abandon the kids and cut and run?" Sid asked. Thomas shook his head.

"So fuck it!" Sid told him. The discussion was over.

David usually got to ride Maria at least once a day, even if it was only for a few minutes, and this afternoon he followed Thomas down to the lower campus with Baron the colt trotting alongside his Mother. Once at the cove, David slid off the huge Belgian's back as she drifted into the lake to get cool. Baron didn't go immediately into the water, but as his Mother showed no sign of getting tired of standing in belly deep water, the colt joined her as the mafia now headed back into the lake. Watching from the porch, Adam and Thomas sat down.

"It's going to be tough when the time comes to send the colt back to New Hampshire," Adam said as the two men studied the scene playing out before them. Thomas nodded his head.

"I remind David often of the commitment to return the colt to the farmer. So far there's been no sign of a problem." Thomas told Adam. Adam nodded.

"Let's hope that holds next summer when the colt is loaded into a trailer. Has the farmer been asked if he'd sell the colt?" Adam asked.

"Yes. I offered to double the price I paid for Maria, but he say's he needs the colt for breeding purposes. Apparently, these guys have papers going back generations, and there's a string of yearlings waiting for him to breed with that are going to be shipped over from Belgium." Thomas told Adam.

"I don't know how it's done in the horse business, but in the cattle business, they just artificially inseminate the cows. Why not do the same in this case?" Adam asked.

"I agree, and I asked the same thing. Apparently, these guys are old country breeders and believe that doing it the old fashioned way make for a bigger, stronger and healthier offspring," Thomas replied. Adam shook his head.

"I don't know about you, but having a two to three thousand pound [1,400 kg] stud coming crashing down on my back would make me a little nervous if I was one of those fillies waiting for Baron to do his thing," Adam said with a small smile.

Sid's cart came off the hill which signaled to Adam that Assembly was about to blow within minutes. Ringing the ships bell on the Cabin, the cove began emptying of swimmers as a mad dash was now on for the boys respective cabins to take a very quick shower and to put some shorts on. As Sid pulled up in front of the cabin two Senior boys with him got out and headed for Maria and her colt.

"The boys will take her back up the hill or she'll spend days down here grazing," Sid told Thomas and David as both boys now mounted the Chestnut Mare.

"Do you think she even knows they're there?" Adam asked as the huge horse walked up to the cart path.

"If she does, she just thinks they're back scratchers or something, she'll pull a thousand pound [450 kg] skid across bare ground without working up a sweat," Sid replied as he went into the cabin.

"And Baron?" Thomas asked.

"In three years, he'll pull two ton!" Sid replied. Adam watched the colt who was still pretty much all legs, but with a belly and chest that was quickly filling up.

Probably because of the still chilly water, the colt was feeling frisky and was both prancing and dancing alongside his Mother. It was difficult to imagine the behemoth he was destined to become.

Assembly blew halfway through showers and most of the boys had their shorts on before they lined up by Cabins for the lowering of the camp flag. Christopher was rarely one of those boys, and this particular day was no exception as the flag was lowered and he chased it around the bottom of the flagpole as it neared the ground. He had become the camps semi-official "Flag catcher" who would hand the flag to two other boys who would then fold it. The flag was roughly 8x12 feet [2½ x 3½ m] and most days it covered Christopher as it approached the ground who invariably ended up on the ground entangled in it. For Christopher it was a great game and for the boys, it gave them a little extra time to finish dressing for Dinner which was a fairly regularly enforced rule, at least as far as the Intermediates and Seniors were concerned. Most Camp Kenny children began their meals dressed, but it was crap shoot as to whether or not they'd walk out that way or not.

Now, roughly five weeks into the Camp schedule, a pattern was beginning to develop that wasn't really recognized until it had taken root with the three to five year olds. As near as staff could recall, it began with Timmy and Cynthia who had a toddlers aversion to clothing in the first place. The warmer the weather became, the fewer the clothing. Now, a week into July, it was a full time job chasing around after them with a pair of underpants.

The mornings staff meeting had the question presented to Bert by Dave.

"The laundry people have asked me if there's been a shift in policy concerning being dressed in the Mess Hall." Dave asked. Bert shook his head.

"None that I'm aware of why?" he asked.

"Well because a month ago, they were collecting two bins of clothing from the Mess Hall after meals. Now it's up to five bins." Dave replied.

"Where's it coming from?" Bert asked.

Mostly Camp Kenny, but there are a lot of Intermediate tee shirts and Senior sweaters and jackets accumulating, especially at lunch. What's most surprising to them is the amount of underpants and shorts coming in, and a lot of it hasn't been soiled or anything, it's still wearable." Dave told the Director. Bert looked to Jeanette.

"I haven't seen any more bottoms than usual leaving the Mess Hall lately, but I haven't been looking either," Jeanette reported.

"Me neither" Bert replied.

"Is it a problem for them?" Bert asked Dave.

"No it's not a problem, in fact it's a lot easier relocating clothing in the buildings rather than from the woods or off the trails. They just wondered if the rules have been changed." he responded. Bert shook his head.

"The rules haven't changed. I don't really care if the little ones end up walking around in their Birthday suits, but if the Intermediates picked up the habit, the senior girls will be dancing on my head. Let's just reinforce the policy of keeping dinks under cover in public buildings," Bert instructed his staff.

"And the pool?" A counselor from the senior girls campus asked. Bert shook his head.

"If I made the boys wear suits swimming, they'd be the ones dancing on my head. The pool is a free zone just like the lake," Bert replied.

Now at Dinner, curiosity had most staff paying much more attention. Bert didn't see any bottoms shining coming into the Mess Hall, but more than a few on the way out. The little ones had discovered that a long tee shirt made their being "Nakey" kind of invisible unless you were studying the matter very closely, and when they got to the lake after Dinner, a quick flip of the shirt had them fully prepared for a dip.

"Clever little dudes ain't they?" Bert said to Jeanette as a group of about eight Camp Kenny children waddled into the water.

"Want it stopped?" Jeanette asked the Director. Bert shook his head.

"We've been telling them all their lives that there's no shame in their bodies. Reinforce the need for decorum, but it can't be forbidden or we'd look like hypocrite's." he instructed.

Sid resolved the dilemma of the boys riding schedule by now allowing horseback overnight's seven nights a week. This put every camper who wanted to be on a horse at least four times a week. With the new half day school session, it was the best solution Sid could come up with to keep the boys happy. It also meant that the horses would need shelter and a corral built both at Look-Out Point and Indiantown.

Immediately following Dinner, Sammy and the rest of the mafia were re-assembled at the stable as the horses had their halters put on. Normally, the boys went on overnights unaccompanied by staff. They would have some senior boys with them in case of a problem with the horses, but basically, they were "On their own". David had invited Thomas to come along, knowing the man had spent his own youth in the woods with Marty and his Uncle Joel, and to David's great delight Thomas had accepted the invitation. As the Camps Doctor, he would have to go by cart in case he needed to return to camp for an emergency, but still, David was quite happy.

Now with Thomas going with David, Sammy's little wheels began turning. By the time they stopped, Adam, Kevin, Eitienne and Greg were packing up coolers wondering how hard the ground was going to be and if it would rain. Of the four staff, Kevin was the least impressed with the idea, but the invitation from Michael was one that couldn't be refused, the boy would have seen that as a rejection by his counselor/teacher, and Kevin wasn't about to risk that possibility. Michael had come miles from where he was emotionally when he first arrived at Green Tree with Kevin almost two years earlier.

Now, as the carts were loaded up with food and supplies to sustain the boys for the trip,

the excitement built. Once they were all mounted, Sammy watched the gate for it to open.

"Why are we just sitting here Uncle Sid?" he asked.

"We have one more Senior boy going to chaperone," Sid responded as he pointed to an empty horse. Less than a minute later a cart appeared on the path coming up from the lower camp.

"Hey, it's Jesse!" David exclaimed. Sid smiled as he looked to Adam and a roar went up from the boys.

"I kind of figured they'd like that," Sid told Adam.

The boys had chosen Indiantown for their overnight spot. Camp legend was that Indiantown was so named because the Indians use to encamp there in times of old. In reality, Dave would have been shocked if any Indian had ever slept there, he had only built the place 12 years earlier. The encampment is a cluster of large lean-to's situated along the banks of a small creek. Dave had dug out a small swimming hole that could hold a few dozen boys if it had to, and several out buildings that house camping supplies and feed for the horses. The camp grounds were set in a large strand of birch trees that stood straight and tall, along with willow trees that he had originally planted as saplings along the stream. Now, 12 years later with a constant water supply, the willows were 30 feet [9 m] tall and still growing. In July, the place is very nice. In the Spring it's beautiful and in the Fall, it's what people pay millions to possess. Adam had been there before, but never tired of seeing it.

The encampment is a short distance as the crow flies from the main camp, but far enough to be out of hearing, even from bugle's. In earlier years, Sammy and his friends were under the impression that the encampment was hundreds of miles away from their camp, they were way, way, in the deep woods where the Indians use to live. That illusion was by design. On horseback, you could reach the camp in 30 minutes if you knew the way. If you followed the trail laid out, it took you two hours. The group arrived at Indiantown just before dark with the supply carts already there and gone.

Thomas had already been at the encampment for about an hour, and he had used the time to look around while he waited for the boys arrival. Once the senior boys with the supplies retreated, he was alone. As a boy himself, Thomas had spent endless hours in the woods of Vermont with his big brother Marty and Uncle Joel, and except for the absence of large oak and maple trees, this place reminded him of New England, his youth, and the two men who had basically raised him up from an impoverished boy to a Physician.

Thomas had long since given up praying, but he spent a great deal of time "Talking" to both men as he waited. Thinking back, he remembered cavorting through the woods dressed as an Indian in a loin cloth, sometimes wearing nothing but a crude bow he had made from a maple sapling. Marty had given him the nick-name "Tom-tom" as a 10 year old, and his brothers still knew him by that name.

Thomas heard the boys coming long before he saw them as he watched a doe and her two fawns who were drinking from the stream go sprinting into the woods with a white tail bobbing. With boys sliding down the sides of horses that could be smelled before they were seen, David slid off Maria with Brian and Trevor quickly following.

"How do you like it Uncle Thomas, ain't it neat?" The boy asked as he approached.

"I think it's spectacular David. You just missed seeing three deer," he told the boy as David gave him a hug.

"Where?" four boys now asked the Doctor. As Thomas pointed, close to a dozen boys took off into the woods.

"That doe is going to be in Virginia in 15 minutes still listening to the stampede!" Adam chuckled as he sat down next to Thomas. Thomas smiled as he handed Adam a cold beer.

"How was the trip?" he asked Adam.

"Well, the boys are convinced they're either in Virginia or Tennessee, so I guess it was a success," Adam replied as he took a long sip. Thomas laughed.

With the boys galloping through the woods looking for deer that had moved to another county, Adam and the men distributed sleeping bags and bedding to the lean-to's knowing the boys would ignore essentials until the last possible second. As darkness was taking over, Adam for one was getting a little nervous as the senior boys built a larger and larger fire.

"Should we be going out there looking for them?" Adam finally asked as he listened for any sign of the boys.

"No, that's OK Uncle Adam. Once it gets completely dark, this fire can be seen through the trees for miles. They know how to get back here. Even if they can't see it, they know how to find the smoke and smell their way back here," the boy said.

"But the smokes going straight up" Thomas told the boy.

"They ain't smelling for the fire Uncle Thomas, they're smelling for the horses," the boy replied. Adam, Thomas and Kevin looked at each other.

"You're kidding?" Adam asked.

"No, Uncle Sid taught us all that trick," he replied. Adam shook his head as he finished his beer.

"The fucking guy is like Rasputin," he said as Kevin chuckled.

With the bonfire now illuminating the trees around it, the boys came trudging through the woods about a half hour later.

"You sure you saw three deer Uncle Thomas? We didn't see one." Matty asked.

"Imagine that," Thomas replied.

"Yes, there was a Mother and her two fawns," he said.

"You were gone a good long time. Did you guys get lost?" he asked.

"That's silly Uncle Thomas, we were in the woods."

Having a bonfire and not cooking on it is rather foolish if you're between eight and 13 year's old, and these boys fell into that category. Kevin had never seen a marshmallow skewered onto the end of a hot dog before, and couldn't even imagine how it tasted as he watched.

By about 10:30 or so, enough hot dogs, marshmallow's and bug juice had been absorbed, and pair by pair, the boys drifted off to their lean-to's. Adam shook his head as the largest contingent followed Jesse to bed. He had been gone from the mafia now for roughly five months and the likelihood that he was going to be getting to actually get to sleep before 1 or two in the morning was very slim. Sammy slipped into Adam's sleeping bag sometime around three a.m. As he snuggled his body against Adam's chest and stomach, Adam could feel the damp cold cheeks of the boys buttocks warming against his body as the boy reached backwards and pulled Adam's arm over his waist and cupped the man's hand in his two hands against his stomach. No words were necessary. Adam kissed the back of the boys head and drifted off to sleep.

A grinding crunching sound awoke Adam as a snort from a horse who was grazing inches from Adam's head brought the man back to reality. Several boys had opted during the night to sleep out on the open ground by the campfire, and now, horses were grazing inches away from them as they slept. Adam slipped out of the bag and saw several Senior boys who were boiling some water for tea.

"They won't step on them Uncle Adam, we sleep in their stalls all the time and they don't step on anybody unless they get spooked."

a senior boy told Adam. Hoping nothing spooked the horses, Adam took a piss and went back to Sammy who was still curled up inside the sleeping bag.

As Adam slid himself down, Sammy began stirring which usually began with him stretching himself as straight as a board with feet pointed down and arms over his head. In a deep yawn, he finally opened his eyes Adam kissed the very tip of the boys nose.

"Good morning pookey," Adam said to the boy. Sammy said nothing, but brought his arms back down and wrapped them around Adam's chest as he found the spot on Adam's chest and abdomen that molded perfectly to his body. As the boy laid his head back down on Adam's sternum, he once again yawned. Adam ran his fingertips up and down the boys spine slowly as the telltale sign of a bladder erection flexing reminded Adam that Sammy had yet to urinate and if he wasn't really careful, his dry night was soon to end. With no electricity or hot water, the stream would then be his next stop, and Adam wasn't all that keen about taking a skinny dip into a 60 degree mountain stream without some serious sun shining down on him.

"Is it time for a pee, or are you just making sure your winky's still there?" Adam asked. Sammy now giggled as he once again applied pressure on his penis.

"It's still there, it's trying to tell you its full and needs to go," Sammy replied.

"Oh, sorry. I speak English and a little bit of Latin, but I never learned to speak penis," Adam replied. Sammy's giggling now had several boys arriving in front of the lean-to.

"You guys ready to come out? We're gonna go up to the ridge Sammy, you wanna go?" Chris asked his bunkmate. Normally Sammy wouldn't leave Adam in the morning until the two had made love. Adam was a little surprised when Sammy now opted to go with his friends rather than play.

"There must be something pretty special up on the ridge in order for Sammy to forego a romp," Adam said as he sat with the men and a few senior boys dipping his cup into a large pot of hot tea.

"The Ridge is just an open field on the top of this hill Uncle Adam, it's got real tall wheat field's that are really neat to do it in. Sammy ain't foregoing nothing, he's doing it up there." A senior boy told the counselor. Adam looked at the other men.

"Oh good, for a minute there, I thought I was losing my touch," Adam said as he sipped his tea.

Breakfast on an overnight was greatly reduced in variety as far as the food was concerned, but still, it was one of the boys favorite meals. While Adam and Thomas cooked pounds of bacon, sausage and ham, Kevin and Greg cut up onions, peppers, tomato's and mushrooms for what the campers knew as "Trail eggs" which was scrambled eggs cooked with the vegetables. Hot and cold chocolate milk provided the drink along with orange juice. Once again, Adam wondered if they should send someone to retrieve the boys from the Ridge.

"You don't have to do that Uncle Adam, they'll come back down as soon as they smell the food." One of Sid's stableboys told him.

If the straw in Carla and Jeanette's hair was any indication of the success of the trip to the ridge, it was a fruitful trip for all involved. As the boys and girls came down off the hill, Carla made a bee-line for Adam as he stood by the trays of meat ready to dish it out.

"You ever been up on the Ridge Uncle Adam?" the girl asked as she held out a plate.

"No sweetheart, is it nice?" he asked the girl.

"Sure is! Wanna go with me?" she asked. Adam smiled.

"Well, maybe we'll do that one of these days, but first, we have breakfast and then get back to Camp," Adam replied.

"Wanna know what we did up there?" she asked.

"No, what you did or didn't do is your own personal business, but I also know that Aunt Helen wouldn't be too happy if she found out you went too far," Adam said to the girl.

"Don't be silly Uncle Adam, I still got my cherry," she replied with an innocent smile.

"Marvelous! Want some eggs?" Adam asked.

The return trip to the Camp took the same route as the evening before. While Jesse now knew the secret, neither he nor any senior boy would tell an Intermediate boy that they were traversing a maze of trails to give the illusion that the encampment was a great distance away from the main campus. By 11:00, the group entered the corral and the stable area, and spent the next hour washing down the horses.

Lunch went well, and great plans were made for the afternoon. Adam had once again left the Cart at the Cabin preferring to walk to the Mess Hall, and on the return walk after lunch, Carla once again had her arms up in the air. The walk back to the cove was probably a five minute affair, and Adam chatted away with the boys surrounding him as they walked.

"Are you going to be going to practice with Uncle Kevin for the play too?" Adam asked Carla as they walked.

"Uncle Adam, Carla's been asleep since we left the Mess Hall," Sammy told the counselor. Once Carla was placed on the bed a few boys joined her for a brief rest. The great afternoon plans evaporated about five minutes later, as Adam closed the door on a Cabin full of sleeping children.

"Yeah, they don't function too well on five or six hours sleep. This usually happens," Sid said as Adam visited the man at the stable's.

While the greater majority of the mafia was catching up on some much needed sleep, the rest of the camp was in full swing. As a boy Adam had spent hours at the stable's at his camp, and now, he stuck around to help out putting halters on horses who were headed right back out to the trails with a fresh set of Intermediate's on their backs. With Sid now in his new Cabin, Adam greatly missed the man's company, especially at night on the porch just before bedtime. It had become their talk time, and now, it was basically gone.

"I think the trip was just the thing Jesse needed, he had a great time," Sid said as he adjusted the girth on a horse.

"Bert wasn't sure it was a good idea, but I figured that Jesse needed to touch base with his friends, and it wouldn't hurt at all for him to get his ego stroked for being a senior boy now."

"Ego?" Adam asked.

"Damned right! Being a Senior boy to Intermediates is pretty hot shit. You get to run the machinery, you get to stay up late, you get to go to the Sugar Shack at night. As far as they're concerned, you've got the world by the balls!" Sid said with a smile.

"Hearing that kind of stuff from your friends kind of validates your decision to leave a mighty warm and comfortable place for the big bad world out there," Adam smiled and shook his head once more.

"Speaking of the big bad world, it's almost time to push Brian out of the nest. There's talk of sending him back to his parents now that his age is beginning to catch up with his body," Sid advised Adam.

"Within a year, two at the most, Brian won't be considered a freak out there in society and keeping him here in this environment will be a negative rather than a positive for him," Sid said.

"Doe's Brian know that?" Adam asked.

"Up to this point, no, but we can't just pack his bags and wave goodbye to him, it's going to be a long process to wean him from Green Tree. This is the only place he's ever been happy in his life."

"Where would you even begin?" Adam asked.

"Well, luckily, we think we've found the perfect solution, and Bert's beginning to formulate the details now. If it works out the way we hope, the transition should be almost seamless," Sid told his friend.

As a boy with precocious puberty, Brian was as normal a child as little Johnny down the block. The only difference was that Brian had begun ejaculating at two years of age and by four had the genitalia of a fully grown adult. Needless to say, Brian stood out on the playground like Sammy Davis Junior at a KKK rally. He was brought to Boston Children's Hospital by his Mother for testing, and was fortunate enough to be examined by Doctor's familiar with Geppetto. For Brian and his parents it was a perfect solution to their problems, he would be admitted to Green Tree, a school for children diagnosed with Precocious Puberty, or at least so they were told. They were never advised about the Geppetto Project, and know nothing about it to this day. For the Project's overseer's it was also a perfect solution. As far as the public is concerned, there are no Geppetto boys, only children diagnosed with "Precocious Puberty" and along with about a dozen other boys at Green Tree, Brian was proof positive of this subterfuge.

"Our biggest problem isn't going to be getting Brian reintegrated into society, it's going to be getting Alexandria to agree to let him go," Sid told Adam.

"Why? As long as it's a successful transition, it relieves them of one less boy," Adam responded.

"Brian to them is worth more than platinum. You have no idea how many times Brian's medical records have been dragged out of the files to satisfy a curious Senator or Congressman who's gotten a little too nosey about different Geppetto schools around the country," Sid said.

"We've been through this stuff before so we know how to get them to let the boy go, but it's going to take a lot of whining and crying from them before they allow it."

As Adam and Sid led four horses out of the barn, Adam was deep in thought.

"So where do we go from here?" He asked Sid as the two were surrounded by the boys ready to mount their horses.

"Bert will put the plan to paper and we'll meet probably within a few days. Until then, we figure out what we're gonna do to Bert for his Birthday," Sid said with a smile. The boys knew nothing of the talk about Geppetto, but they knew that Sid's last comment meant a great deal of fun was just ahead, but for now, the fun was just about to begin.

Adam smiled as he stood by waiting for two boys to drop their shorts. One by one, Adam lifted the boys on a horse and when all four horses had two boys apiece, Adam slapped the rump of one of the horses and it began walking out of the corral.

"I must be getting old, a year ago I would have had a tough time standing up straight watching that." he commented as the boys turned for the trail. Sid smiled.

"Maybe I shouldn't have told you about Kate Smith," Sid said walking back into the barn.

Bert's morning had been a quiet one. Once Christopher was galloping down the stairs with his two chaperone's trying to catch up with him, several meetings at the office followed. For months and months the most important meetings were with Dave involving on-going winterization of the rest of the campus, and that activity was beginning to wind-down with the second pool almost finished. More to keep the older Senior girls happy than for any other reason, the new pool was to be used by the Camp Kenny children and by what was now being referred to as the "Textile swimmers". The old pool would be designated for the Intermediate boys and girls, and was officially designated as clothing optional. While the textile swimmers couldn't complain about the little ones running around in the buff, they weren't subject to the humiliation of having to stare at little boys who seemed to be forever holding themselves, or worse, pissing in the pool!

The last of the major projects was building a separate boiler room that would be supplying the heat for both pools and the horse stable's. Seeing the plan of the plant that was now almost complete, Bert was extremely impressed.

"You've done a hell of a job. You're happy with steam heat?" he asked Dave.

"Around a barn, it's the safest way to heat the place, either electric or open fire has no business around hundreds of bales of hay." Dave told his boss.

"These are some mighty impressive drawings," Bert said as he studied the plans.

"Beyond my capabilities, some folks up in M.I.T. drew them up for me." Dave said.

"I didn't know you knew anybody at M.I.T," Bert now said.

"I don't. Sid had Matthew in New Hampshire make a few phone calls, and the next thing I knew, these were sitting on my desk." Dave replied.

Bert's last staff meeting was with Jeanette concerning the Camp Kenny children. Since the birth's of both Sidney and Joshua almost a year earlier, meetings between the two had gone from several times a week to daily. Even with the doubling of the student population, Bert insisted on knowing and being entirely "In the loop" concerning every single one of them, even the older Senior girls who could be one huge pain in the ass when they wanted to be. Bert's solution to this situation was to assign each and every one of them to a Camp Kenny boy or girl, and sometimes both. In the case of both Sidney and Joshua, they had two girls to tend to them in addition to Johanna and Beth, the babies surrogate Mother's.

As far as the Senior girls were concerned, they balked at first because they felt that they were being turned into "Mother's in Training". Naturally Bert denied that there was any such intent, but marveled at how accurate their intuition was.

"It's ridiculous for them to believe that they should be taught how to take care of children. Doing something like that would be against the nature of females," Bert told Gloria when she told the Director of the Senior girls suspicions.

"Any girl who would rather be in the woods chopping trees, or washing dishes, or doing laundry just needs to let us know and we'll be happy to find them a different chore," Bert told Gloria. There were no takers.

Johanna was an old hand at taking care of children, she had been doing it since age 14 at Green Tree. While she had never cared for a newborn before, Sidney Bertram was an "Easy" baby and she, along with her two Senior girls rarely needed to call Thomas in for a Doctor's visit. On the other hand, Beth had taken care of older girls before, but never an infant, and never a boy. Joshua, unlike his half brother was anything but "Easy" and Thomas began appearing at Beth's Cabin daily, if not two or three times a day. By about the 5th or 6th month, Beth was comfortable enough to leave the phone on the hook whenever Joshua spit up or burped. By mid July, she was ready to take on triplet's.

The process at Green Tree was always the same; the campus Directors spoke to the staff,

and to the children and took down notes. During meetings, any problems, concerns or requests were then discussed with Bert. Many times, Bert had already been informed of the situation by the people involved, but this system made sure everyone was receiving the care and attention they needed. It was a time consuming process, but it kept Bert fully informed.

On this particular day, Caleb was at the top of Jeanette's agenda as she saved discussing him and his Mother for last.

"Caleb is thriving with Sarah, he's fully involved with the rest of the Cabin, and is doing well in his academics," Jeanette began.

"Nobody sees any problems. He has no medical problems, has a good appetite and has no sleep difficulties," she concluded as Bert took notes.

"He's due to transfer to the Intermediates next Fall, and the only anticipated glitch to that could be his attachment to Caroline, but we're talking about 14 or 15 months from now, and by then, Caroline may have developed "Cooties" for all we know," Bert smiled at the mention of cooties which somehow most girls seem to develop as far as six to eight year old boys are concerned.

"As for his Mother, I keep no notes on her, that's Thomas's department, but there has been talk about forming a new cabin and even talk about Stephanie heading it. Is that on the drawing board?" she asked her Director. Bert now put down his pen and sat back as he nodded his head.

"Since we have the room now, the ideal is to keep a ratio of 1 staff to four children. With at least 1 if not two Senior girls assisting, it keeps each unit a small family type affair rather than a dorm like atmosphere, especially for the little ones. Ideally, I'd like to see no more than five Camp Kenny children in a single unit," Bert advised Jeanette.

"As far as Stephanie is concerned, I did speak with Sid, Thomas and Gloria concerning her. She's come a long way in a very short time," Jeanette nodded her head.

"Yes, she has. Doe's that mean there's a possibility that Caleb could be moved in with her?" Jeanette asked. Bert smiled and looked at the ships clock on the mantle of the fireplace in his office. "It's almost lunch time and I'm a miserable dancer," Bert said.

It was now time for Jeanette to smile.

"That's true, some people should never dance, and you're one of them!" she said.

"If Caleb's going to be moved, Sarah's going to need one hell of a lot of support to go along with it," she told Bert. Bert nodded his head.

"She's heard vague rumors and she's getting upset?" Bert asked.

"She's heard vague rumors and she's panicking. She'd be about as happy to see Caleb moved right now as I would be about moving Kenny," Jeanette replied. Bert once again sat back in his chair.

"The possibility of moving Caleb was discussed. That's all it was, a discussion. If the matter came up for a vote and Sarah threw a blackball into the hat, it ends the discussion," Bert told the girl.

"Sarah knows that. She also knows she'd be stopping the move for purely personal reason's and not what's necessarily best for Caleb. She doesn't want to be put into that situation," Jeanette told Bert. Bert smiled once again.

"That's a luxury not one of us has. We all have to make decisions concerning these kids on a daily basis and some of them are personally painful. If it came to a vote, I think Sarah would vote her conscience and make the best choice. But it's a moot point; Caleb's not being moved anywhere, there isn't going to be a vote," he said as the bugle blew Mess Call. Bert's idea of moving Caleb in with his Mother ended there and then.

Following lunch, Bert spent his afternoon traveling primarily around Camp Kenny and the Senior girls campus on Pine Ridge, and by 4:00 he was back down on the lower campus making his rounds of the Intermediate boys campus as he drove up to the boat house.

"Seems awfully quiet down here. Where is everybody?" Bert asked Dan as the man was stepping a mast and rigging a Sailfish for three campers.

"Adam came by a while ago and told me that the mafia is dead to the world for the afternoon. He's gone up to the stable's the last time I heard," Dan told his boss. Bert looked out at the lake which had plenty of boats on it, but not nearly as many as could be expected on a normal summer day. Looking towards the cove, a few canoe's and sailboats drifted around, but nothing like the frenzy usually associated with Turtle Rock.

The sound of an outboard motor caught his ear and he looked to see a boy on water ski's enter and go over a ski jump.

"That's the same jump we used last year?" Bert now asked his Waterfront Director.

"Same one boss. Don't you remember those blue and white boards?" Dan asked. Bert looked again at the ramp. The color scheme was as he remembered, but he didn't remember the boys who went over it going quite so high and for that long a distance.

"Maybe he just went off at a faster speed!" Dan suggested.

"Yeah, maybe so. Let's slow the boats down a little," Bert told Dan.

"Will do," Dan replied. As Bert said goodbye and turned towards the Infirmary, one of Dan's Senior boys approached the counselor.

"It's just a matter of time before he figures out the pitch has been changed on the ramp Uncle Dan," he told the man.

"Yeah, but by then, the boys will be doing daffy's and helicopter spins off of it!"

Seeing Bert walk into the Infirmary was not unusual, especially if a camper was on the ward. What was unusual was the greeting he received that late afternoon by Sarah who was one of Thomas's nurses. As Bert entered she greeted the man with a kiss that was more than the usual casual greeting always exchanged between the man and the core Green Tree girls of which she was a part, but less than something that suggested a sexual connectation. It had a lot more to do with the embrace than the kiss, and no words were needed or exchanged between the two as both Martha and Stephanie looked on.

Thomas's Infirmary staff consisted of Sarah, Martha, Beth and now Stephanie since the woman first arrived five months earlier. They also had Senior girls who volunteered as "Candy strippers" when necessary, and David, who was quite literally now Thomas shadow whenever the Doctor was doing his rounds. The grand plan is for David to become a Physician when he grows up, and from all indications so far, he was beginning to like the idea. He wasn't nutty about an additional eight years of schooling, but the thought of joining Thomas in his profession as well as joining Thomas's extended family, spurred him on. With a basic crew of six and all the volunteers they could entertain, the Infirmary was now running like a well oiled machine. Occasional cuts, scrapes and bruises were seen, but chiefly, they were dealing with sunburned body parts, colds from swimming too early in the Spring or too late in the Fall, and the number one complaint coming from the camp Kenny toddlers, retrieving objects from places they had no business being. A large 5 gallon [20 l] water cooler bottle sat in the corner of the Infirmary. It held crayon's, pencil's, marble's lolly pops, arms and legs detached from small dolls, toy soldiers, keys, a salt shaker, magic markers and just about anything that was long and smooth. Perishable items retrieved were immediately discarded or the collection bottle would probably have to be emptied weekly.

With Martha sitting on the examining table holding a four year old named Randy on her lap with his legs being held up, Thomas was sitting on a stool with a pair of forceps in his hand. "Randy, you burying more treasure again?" Bert asked the boy. More than a little uncomfortable, Randy gave Bert a small smile, but not much.

"What's up Doc?" Bert asked as Thomas tried to re-align the toy.

"Don't know yet, Randy's not sure if it's a Bishop or a Knight; I'm kind of hoping for a Pawn," Thomas replied as he withdrew his finger.

"You know the drill Randy, push down like you need to go poop." Thomas told the boy.

"Yeah it figures," Thomas said as he withdrew a figurine of a Knight after a great deal of pushing, crying and pulling with the forceps. Handing the chess piece to Sarah who washed it and added it to the collection, Thomas cleaned up Randy and applied some Preparation H to an extremely red and very sore anus. Randy's crying had slowed to a trickle, and very little comforting was taking place.

"By now Randy, you probably know by heart what I'm going to tell you, and I'm going to tell you it the next time too," Thomas said semi sternly.

"Putting things up your bottom is not smart, and it can be very painful if you do it. You have toys available that won't get stuck inside you, use them, or you're going to be back here crying again. Understand?" Thomas asked.

Once underpants were put on the boy he was handed over to his caretaker who now got the first opportunity to comfort the boy since he first arrived in the Infirmary.

"Thanks guy's" she said as she kissed Randy on the head as the boy buried his face into her neck.

Once Thomas was washed up, Martha went to the file and noted the event on Randy's history.

"So who won?" Beth asked.

"Karen in Pine Ridge, she guessed six days, 15 hours." Martha replied.

"How much did she win?" Bert asked.

"$195.00" Martha replied after looking at the envelope.

"Put me down for five days, 11 hours," Bert said as he handed the woman $5.00 for the next pool.

"You guys are heartless." Stephanie said as she took the instruments to be sterilized.

"Heartless my ass, that kid's cost me 35 bucks so far!" Bert said.

"He's the heartless one."

Stephanie shook her head and giggled a bit. As she went through the door to the supply room. Following behind her Bert sat down as the woman worked. The difference between the woman standing there now and the woman he first laid eyes on five months earlier was dramatic. She still carried the scars from a suicide attempt on her wrist's and she was still about 10 pounds [4½ kg] away from her weight when she originally sent Caleb, her Son to Boston to attend a Special School, but she was standing straight and erect, she was happy and smiling, and she was a fine L.P.N.

The children liked her, she worked well with staff and got along very well, and she was off suicide watch now for the better part of three months.

"I received a call yesterday afternoon, and both the Institute and I think that it's the very best possible news we could have gotten," Bert began.

"The divorce is final and he's given up all parental rights to Caleb. From a legal standpoint, he can't come anywhere near him without your permission," Bert said. Had Bert been in Stephanie's shoe's the man was convinced he would have gone out and celebrated the news. He also knew Stephanie was highly unlikely to do that. Knowing the fragility of the woman, he concentrated on the one thing the woman still had to look forward to.

"In all likelihood, Caleb is going to be transferred to the Intermediates next Fall. If you want, we can establish you in a Cabin now with a group of children, and when he transfers down here, he may move in with you if you'd like," Bert told the woman who now stopped her work and turned around.

"Live with me? You'd allow that?" she asked. Bert nodded his head.

"It's going to present us with a shitload of problems with the other kids, but we've got 14 months to figure out how to deal with them and work things out. We also have the problem of your going for your R.N., but Sid thinks that can be done mostly on-line. Your most important consideration is going to be living with a Geppetto boy who's also your son. It's one thing dealing with children from a clinical aspect and something totally different when dealing with your own flesh and blood. Mommy or no mommy, Caleb's a Geppetto boy," Bert advised the woman.

Bert fully expected tears and they now flowed as Stephanie sat down on a stool and buried her face in her hands. It wasn't easy for Bert to watch, as he wrapped the woman in his arms.

"The dirt bags gone and you've got a new life to make for yourself. You've got all the help and support you need at your fingertips and a little boy who's going to need a very strong, very loving Mother to support him. There's not a single staff member here who won't support you all the way." he concluded. It took a few minutes for Stephanie to compose herself, but when she did, she was determined to make a new life for herself and Caleb. This would be day one.

Bert's last stop before Dinner was at the mafia's lair in the cove. Pulling up to Beachview, Bert honked his horn which had a few dozen boys diving off Turtle Rock and swimming to the beach. Bert recognized two or three as mafia members. Where are the rest of the guys?" Bert asked Andy.

"Still asleep Uncle Bert," the boy said as he gave the man a kiss. Once Bert greeted all the boys he retreated up the stairs to Adam's Cabin.

"Gentlemen, you still alive?" he called up the stairs as a small stampede of bare feet now began building.

"If you guys sleep a little longer, you're going to be missing Dinner," he told the mob as they now came thundering down the stairs. With Call to Quarters now reverberating across the lake, Kids began scattering as they made their way back to their own Cabins. They had about a half hour before Assembly blew for Flag Pole and then Dinner. With Adam and Anthony know organizing the shower routine, Bert gave his greetings to the last of the mafia as they scooted back up the stairs with bare asses shining. Carla had been in the man's arms for the last few minutes and showed no sign of wanting to be released anytime soon.

"Tonight, I'll eat with you. OK Uncle Bert?" the little girl asked. As a general rule, Carla usually got what she wanted. Adam waved goodbye to the spunky little brat as Bert juggled some underpants, shorts and a tee shirt for the girl when she finally decided to put herself back under wraps. Bert assumed he was having dinner with the little girl. Adam knew he'd see her again in a day or two, she had that very familiar twinkle in her eye.

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