Howdy Doody

The Geppetto Project

Chapters 41-42

Chapter Forty One

A Fond Farewell

Mornings on Block Island usually begin with some degree of fog, and it's heaviest in late Spring and early Fall. Even in the summertime it can be a problem for shipping until the morning sun burns it off and as Sid, Barry, Dr. Lester and Matthew walked down the beach at dawn, the only sounds heard were of seagull's laughing at them overhead and the foghorn blowing at the mouth of the harbor by the old Coast Guard station.

In another hour, thousands of tourists would be crawling all over New Harbor and the Marina, but for now, shrouded in a deep grey mist of fog, they may just as well have been on a deserted island somewhere off the coast of Maine.

"How soon do you plan on leaving after the re-burial?" Barry asked his life-long friend.

"Bert wants me back yesterday. Anthony wants to take Spencer back to North Carolina this afternoon, and I'd like to stay here for the rest of my life if I could find a way to move 600 people onto this island without anybody noticing it. In all probability, once I get the go-ahead from Stuart concerning Spencer, we'll be out of here a lot faster than I'd like to be but I really do have to get back home." Sid said.

"Medically, I should think that Spencer could fly anytime unless he's developed some kind of infection." Dr. Lester said. Sid nodded his head.

"As far as I've heard, there has been no problems with the surgery and skin graft's. In fact, he's already been swimming in the Sound." Sid said.

"In all probability, we'll be leaving either Saturday or Sunday."

"The restoration of the house is going to take months, if not years. Barry's here to represent your interests and the crew's from the New Hampshire School can perform all the maintenance services to augment the restoration work being done by the Institute. How involved do you plan to be concerning the work?" Matthew now asked Sid.

Sid smiled somewhat.

"I've never had the feeling before that I wish I was two people.

Green Tree is as much a part of me as New Hampshire is to Barry. At the same time, getting Uncle Kenny's house put back together as it was when we first stepped on this little rock back in 1961 takes high priority and I want to be as involved as being 900 miles [1500 km] away will allow. Both Barry and I want the house put back as it was, and I know that he'll see to it that it's done right. Essentially, the house will be used by Barry and myself as a vacation spot, but we foresee the property being used primarily by the boys at New Hampshire. We want them to know and to have the memories we have of this place if they can avoid all the tourists and the bullshit that comes along with it." Sid said.

"Come October, this island reverts back to what it always was; a sleepy little laid back island where a boy can run and play all day without getting his balls busted for riding his bike or skateboard on someone else's property. I'm sure the place has changed since 1961, but you can bet your fucking ass that on the other half of the island, you know your neighbor and your neighbor knows you. They'll be accepted here because they know the boys are somehow attached to Barry and me. That's really all they need to keep their doors open and unlocked." Sid told the group.

"So you don't plan on coming back?" Barry asked.

"I'll be back as often as I can, but let's keep in mind that when I'm here, there's a shitload of rug rats down in North Carolina who are not very happy campers. Let's face it Barry; do you want to be here or back at school?" Sid asked. Barry smiled somewhat as he skimmed a rock into the dead calm water.

"You made your point. But you do intend to be buried here right?" Barry asked.

"Today we plant Jimmy and Karl alongside Uncle Kenny where they belong. Come's the time, I expect my ass to be laying alongside them!" Sid replied with a small smile.

With the increasing light and a lifting of the fog, the group approached the hazy figure of a boy digging in the rocky sand beach with a pitch fork. Getting close, Sid recognized the boy as the same one who had sold the clams to Stuart days earlier.

"Looking for some more clams Freddie?" Sid asked the 12 year old. The boy looked up a little surprised and looked closely at all four men.

"You know me?" The boy asked as he stuck the pitch folk in the beach and put a foot on top of it.

"You sold us clams at the Marina a few days ago. We were on the Defiance." Sid replied.

"Oh yeah, I remember you and you." The boy said as he pointed to Sid and Barry.

"You guy's now own.………. ." he said with a smile.

"How do you know that?" Matthew now asked the boy.

"It's all over the island. Even my Dad knew your Uncle Kenny when he was a little boy. He's gonna be at your place today." The boy said with a smile.

"Does he remember us?" Sid now asked.

The boy shook his head.

"He was in the Navy when you wus here. When he came back, Kenny wus already gone he told me." Sid nodded his head.

"So what are you digging for?" Barry asked.

"Sand worms. There ain't no clams but piss clams on the beach, all the little necks is out there." Freddie said as he pointed to the water.

"Sand worms is getting a good price at the Bait House and ya can only dig for 'em at low tide." He said.

"We've hired a caterer up at the house to supply our crew with food. Have you been up there to see if he wants to buy any of your catch?" Sid now asked the boy.

"No, they usually get their stuff from the fish markets in New Bedford." The boy replied as he shook his head.

"If you have something you want to sell to him, take a trip up there and ask for Anthony. You can tell Anthony that his Uncle Sid suggested that the caterer might want to buy from you instead." Sid told the boy.

"Thanks Mister!" the boy said with a huge grin on his face as he picked up a box full of sea weed and worms and run up the beach.

"Now if you have to grow up, that's the way to do it!" Sid said as the group turned back for the Marina.

By 8:00 on the Vineyard, the SUVs delivered a small gaggle of children and adults back to Stuart's boat which awaited their return to Block Island. Already running, the 72 foot [22 m] Viking Sport Fisherman's two engines rumbled throughout the Marina in a bass hum that screamed of its power. Captain Jim once again smiled as Spencer approach the boat with his arms packed with charts and electronic gear. While most of the rest of the children headed directly for the Main Salon where a full breakfast awaited, Spencer went up to the Pilot House and spread out his equipment.

On board now were all of the Vineyard children (6) who were over eight years old along with Thomas, Jeanette, little Kenny, Jesse, Spencer and David, and four of Thomas brother's. With the crew of 3, there were now 19 aboard.

"What's the weather?" Stuart asked his Captain.

"There's three foot swell's out there, but the wind isn't expected to pick up until this afternoon. There's a lot of chatter about a fog bank that won't burn off and is sitting between us and Block Island, so we can't open her up until I have at least a half mile [800 m] visibility. I can maintain 25 knots with a look-out on the bow, but any faster and we risk hitting a floating log." Captain Jim told the owner.

"The re-burial is set for 1:00 so you have four hours to play with." Stuart replied.

"Piece of cake, we could crawl there on one engine and make that schedule." Jim said.

"Spencer; Bradley will un-dock and take her out of the harbor. Once we get into Menemsha Bight, your job will be to monitor the radar screens and keep me aware of any craft that approaches us to within a half mile. Go below, fill your stomach and visit the Head before you come back, once we're out on the Sound, your eyes will be glued to the screens and if you have to take a leak, you're going to be standing there in wet pants!" the Captain told Spencer. Spencer smiled at the Captain not really sure if he meant the part about wet pants as he left for the Main Salon with Valerie following very closely behind.

"Dad, it's not really necessary to tell him about my little accident a few years back, right?" The Captains son now asked as Stuart chuckled.

"We'll see Brad." Jim replied.

"What fog? There ain't no fog around." Jesse said as the boys ate.

"There's always fog around here, especially on the water in the nighttime. You can be going along looking at the stars out and wham, you can't see your shoe's!" Jeremy replied as the rest of the Vineyard children all agreed.

"Have you been out in the fog before?" Spencer asked Valerie.

"Sure, lot's a times! It's a little scary especially at night, but Uncle Stuart has tons of radar on the boat and Captain Jim is the best Captain in New England. He would never allow us to get sunk." Valerie said with a dimpled smile.

"Sunk? How could fog sink us?" Jesse asked.

"If we got lost and ran aground or we hit another boat, we could get sunk, but Captain Jim wouldn't let that happen to us." Richard now replied.

"Has anybody ever got sunk before?" Spencer asked.

"Sure, lot's a boat's! Even the Andrea Doria was sunk right off the Vineyard." Jeremy replied.

Spencer would have loved to remain in the Main Salon while some maritime history was retold by the Vineyard children, but seeing the boat pass through the Harbor entrance out into the Sound, he swallowed the last of his milk as he departed for the Head.

"Would the Captain really make me go to the bathroom in my pants if I had to go?" Spencer asked Valerie.

"I never seen it, but according to Uncle Stuart, if you're on Watch and you gotta go, you don't have a choice, you either find a cup to pee in or you piss in your pants. A seaman on Watch can't leave his post even if he has to have a bowel movement." The girl told Spencer.

"What's that?" Spencer asked.

"Number two" Valerie replied.

"Really?" Spencer asked wide-eyed as he opened the door to the Head.

Satisfied as best he could be that he was ready for duty, Spencer took a seat in front of the radar screens "Right now, the weather is clear and we really don't need to have the radar on, but once we get out past the Elizabeth Island's, we're going to be encountering fog and then our only eye's are going to come from that screen." The Captain told Spencer.

"You keep your eyes on the screen and then verify what the screen is telling you visually while you can until the fog hits. It's important Spencer, that you trust what the radar is telling you without being able to actually see it." the Captain told Spencer.

Technically, the electronics on board the boat would have accomplished the same exact thing Spencer was now about to do manually in faster and better time. However, the Captain's goal was to use the radar as a teaching tool and turned off both the Automatic Heading Indicator as well as the Collision Warning Indicator. Sitting next to Spencer, the Captain could monitor the screens along with the boy, and be reasonably assured that he would not be running into a small freighter that was heading into New York anytime soon. Even in zero visibility, all the Captain needed to do was to maintain his compass heading which he knew by heart having made this same trip probably hundred's of times in the past.

"The screen you're looking at is showing you everything around us for five miles. We're directly in the center, and the top of the screen tells you what course we're on. Your job is to watch the screen and tell me if one of the blips on the screen gets inside the smallest circle away from us. That means the object is one mile [1½ km] away, and we need to watch it closely and make sure we don't collide with it." the Captain told Spencer as he showed him the radar screen.

"But we can just see them with binoculars or our bare eyes." Spencer replied.

"Right now, that's true; but in a very short while, the visibility is going to drop and we might not be able to see something just a few hundred yards away. I want you to watch what's on the screen and then, if you can, verify it visually. Once you get comfortable with what you see on the screen, you won't have to actually see it to know it's there." He told Spencer.

"Why?" Spencer asked.

"Because there are times when you might run at night when you really can't see anything. To a seaman, that screen is simply another pair of eyes that you need to learn to trust as well as the real one's in your head."

For the next ten minutes Spencer's eyes stayed glued to the screen as he watched every little blip that appeared and then picked up his binoculars to verify it. Just off Cuttyhunk Island, the Captain backed down on the throttle's and sent his son forward to the bow with a hand held radio.

"See that blip up in the South West corner of the screen?" the Captain asked Spencer as he pointed.

"Find that blip with the binoculars." He ordered Spencer.

"There's nothing out there." Spencer replied as he scanned the horizon.

"So you think the radar is busted?" Captain Jim asked the boy.

"I don't know." Spencer replied as he continued to search.

"If something's out there, and you can't see it, what does that tell you Spencer?" Spencer pondered the question for awhile.

"It's too far away to see?" he asked.

"Can you see that boat over there?" the Captain asked as he pointed towards the North.

"Yes." Spencer replied as he looked through his binoculars.

"Well, if both boats are about five miles [8 km] away from us according to the radar and you can see one and can't see the other, what's the conclusion?" Captain Jim asked the boy.

"I don't see no fog!" Spencer replied. The Captain now smiled somewhat as he turned on the Heading and Collision Indicators.

"You don't see Block Island yet either. Where did it go?" he asked.

"We can't see the fog because it's blending in with the morning sky, but it's out there and we know that because the radar is seeing things we can't see like that boat. I know that to be a fact, and with practice, you'll come to know that too." he told the boy.

The normally 1 hour trip to Block Island took a little better than 2½ hours after the boat smacked into a fog bank that reduced its speed down to five knots. With a small gaggle of children in life vests and safety harnesses strung out along the bowsprit watching for the Titanic to come racing by, it was an adventure. For Spencer, the trip took an instant or two as the boy became engrossed in his work watching and plotting the course and speed of everything around the boat for 20 miles [30 km] out. Eventually, even the coastline of Block Island came up on the screen, but Spencer didn't see a hint of the Island until the boat came within two miles [3 km] of the shoreline.

As they always are, the marine radio was constantly monitored on the boat, and the closer the boat got to Block Island, the more frequent the "Chatter" was.

"What are they talking about Captain Jim?" Spencer asked the Captain.

"Apparently Spencer, there's a boat out there somewhere that's missing. Until this fog lifts, there's not much of a chance to find it." "Why don't they just radio for help?" Spencer asked.

"Some boats go out without a radio. Possibly, they had one and the batteries went dead, or they're too far away to be heard. Some radio's only travel five miles [8 km] or so." The Captain replied.

"How far does your radio travel?" Spencer asked. The Captain now had to smile given the serious look on the boys face.

"We have a 50 mile [80 km] range, and there's at least a dozen cell phones on this boat that can place a call around the world if need be." He told the boy.

By 11:00, the Sport Fisherman was docking at the Marina in New Harbor and Spencer was kind of wishing he could turn the boat around and do it all over again. Pulling up to the dock, Captain Jim realized readily that all was not well.

"The Coast Guard just called Captain Jim. They saw you enter the Harbor and want you to give them a hand. There's a 25 foot [7½ m] cruiser out there somewhere with a family of five on it and they've been reported late returning to Montauk. They think they're out there in the fog running around somewhere lost or maybe they've run out of fuel." The Dockmaster told the Captain.

"There's fog to the East and South of us and they want to use you as a radar platform and start a grid search of every boat out there if they can't be contacted by radio." he told Jim.

"Can I go?" Spencer now asked with his blood pressure rising.

"It's not impossible that they wrecked on the bluff's. We're searching every foot of coastline right now and this thing could get very messy Captain; there are three small children on that cruiser." The Dockmaster now added.

"No Spencer, your Uncle's expect you to be at the Memorial service." The Captain said. Spencer stood on the dock with the rest of the passengers as a large flotilla of boats followed the Viking back out of the harbor leaving the marina all but deserted of every large cruiser. To say the least, Spencer was disappointed he would not be a part of what he viewed as an adventure in the making.

Sid's arrival with Barry at the estate came earlier as the crew from The New Hampshire School was already sitting under a large tent enjoying a breakfast feast that made Sid smile. The caterer had already impressed the crew and workers with his ability to provide food and beverages, and now, Sid too was impressed.

"I think we made the right choice. From what my people are telling me, you've done a hell of a job at keeping the crew happy." Sid told the caterer.

"Are you running out of funds?" he asked.

"No, I have plenty of credit with my suppliers, I'm fine." The man said.

"How long do you want me to provide your people with my services?" he now asked Sid.

"Once the apartments over the garage are ready, the household staff can take care of themselves, but we're going to have probably a dozen or more local contractors out here for the next few weeks. Suppose we commit to the next two weeks and we'll give you a head's up based on our future needs as soon as we know. I know we're going to need a new roof and who the hell knows what else, so I'd figure on a good month if I were you. Give my people a weekly draw figure and we'll keep the bank happy." Sid told the man who instantly agreed.

Sid now turned his attention to the activity going on around him. Two large tents had been erected and one was now filled with people eating breakfast from the New Hampshire School or contract workers. Sid recognized organization when he saw it and was impressed. A buffet of food and drinks was available and four cooks stood ready to grill whatever food was requested.

"You've got some pretty impressive organization going here. Do you do this kind of stuff all the time?" Sid asked. The caterer smiled as he shook his head.

"My usual work is for Weddings, Bar Mitzvah's, Birthday parties; that kind of thing. I haven't done anything like this since the 70s and 80s working for John Scher." The caterer replied.

Both Sid and Barry now looked at each other.

"That explains the pony tail. You thought he was gay" Barry said to Sid as he smiled.

"You worked with Cy Kocis?" Sid asked the man.

"You know him?" the caterer asked. Sid's smile broadened.

"And James, and Randy" Sid replied.

"Were you at the Dead concert in Hartford for Jerry's Birthday in 76?" Barry asked the man.

"Cy gave Jerry a rubber chicken on his plate as a joke." Sid said "Was that the one when they had the trouble with the Hell's Angel's?" the caterer asked. Sid nodded his head.

"The cops had them all lined up so some girl could try to identify which one raped her." He replied.

"Yes, I was there. You were there too?" the caterer asked smiling.

"From age six on, all four of us went from one concert to another with our Uncle. He had a friend who was connected somehow to just about every Rock promoter in the world from Bill Graham on down. We not only went to the concert's, but when we did, we always had "All Area" backstage passes." Sid said.

"From age six on, we spent just about every week-end going to one concert after another.

We even spent a week on tour with Joe Cocker and Leon Russell." Barry recalled fondly.

"Mad Dogs and Englishmen?" the caterer asked. Barry nodded. "Besides Woodstock, it was the nuttiest week of our lives" Sid replied with a grin.

"So how did you know Cy?" the caterer asked.

"He got so use to seeing us backstage, after awhile he put us to work cutting up vegetables and shucking corn and stuff. I'm not sure to this day if he really knew who we were or not." Sid replied. The caterer smiled.

"I doubt it, when Cy cooked, it was all he ever knew until the last steak was put on a plate." he remembered.

"So now you cook for little David Steinberg?" Sid asked. The caterer smiled.

"When I'm not being gay and cooking for two old roadies." the caterer quickly added.

"Touché! I told Sid you didn't have that Provincetown look about you." Barry replied.

"You lying sack of shit!" Sid said to his friend.

"I see that we're all ready for the Services to begin. Have you two been to confession yet?" Matthew asked as the Director of The New Hampshire School approached with Anthony, Dr. Lester and his 15 year old Grandson.

"I just came back. Barry still needs to go and then he's going to be fitted for his Alter Boys dress. Do you think he looks better in white or pink?" Sid asked as the chuckles followed.

"Anthony, have you seen anything of that boy who sold us the clams the other day?" Sid now asked.

"No Uncle Sid, why?" Anthony asked.

"We bumped into him on the beach this morning. I told him to stop by to see you. His name is Freddie and he's a local boy.

As long as it's fresh, if he has any clams, fish or seafood that you can use, buy it from him and pay him in cash daily." Sid instructed Anthony and the caterer who nodded.

By 10:00 the attendee's began arriving and by 11:00 the caterer had switched from a breakfast mode to a brunch mode as the boys from The New Hampshire School stood by mainly watching Barry and Matthew as closely as Sid would soon be watched by Spencer, David, Jesse and Jeanette. The seriousness of the event was masked by the cordial and almost festive atmosphere as probably for the last time, this particular group of people would all gather at one time together.

At dawn, the crew from The New Hampshire School had removed the coffins from the van of the two men who were about to be re-buried and placed in their Uncle Kenny's Family Cemetery and now they sat on two catafalque's draped in The New Hampshire School's flags.

"I don't know about Jimmy, but I think if Karl were standing next to us right now he'd want to know why the fuck the bar ain't open." Sid said as he and Barry looked down at the two coffins.

"Seems to me he did say that at Jimmy's funeral and you asked that same question at Karl's!" Barry replied.

"And you can bet your ass that that's what I'm going to be screaming into your ear if I happen to get planted first!" Sid responded.

Sid would have much preferred a beer, but his first drink of that day was a Bloody Mary that wasn't quite up to the caliber of drink that Ronny made on Stewart's boat, but could nevertheless probably raise up Jimmy and Karl if taken internally.

"I know its got some tomato juice in it because it's red." Sid said as he looked at Matthew and Barry as the three drank a sip.

Word of the search at sea now going on for the family on the cruiser had reached the estate just before a call came from the Marina.

"My family has no problem staying at the Marina and doing the "Tourist" thing with the kid's if you'd like." Thomas now told Sid.

"From what I'm being told, there are about 15 or 20 of the people who want to be here out on those boats looking. Barry and I would like to have them here if at all possible, so we've put the re-burial on hold. There's plenty of room up here for them to run and play, if your family doesn't object, just bring them all up here." Sid told Thomas.

For the next few hours, what began as a re-burial ceremony evolved into a low key lawn party. Dr. Lester for one was a little afraid that the scene was getting to be a little too jolly with all the kids running around like they were at a 4th of July picnic.

"Relax Doc. Knowing Jimmy and Karl as well as we did, they're looking down on this scene having a grand old time. Our lives were spent surrounded in this kind of mayhem, if it were any other way; we'd all consider it a real drag. When I go, I want to be surrounded in a Circus too; just skip the fucking clowns!" Sid told the man. Matthew closed his eyes and shook his head as Ronny took another blush.

Electing to stay on board, Stuart sent his children with Thomas to the estate with all the rest of the group. Once the boat cleared the Great Salt Pond, she turned East and then South along the coast of Block Island. With a flotilla of two dozen cruisers, the Coast Guard assigned Captain Jim to take the boat to a point ten miles [15 km] South of the bluff's and use its radar to guide those boats without it to any blip that did not respond to a radio call.

With three Coast Guard Cutters, "Eagle", "Tahoma" and "Senaca" now on station ringing the island, the painstaking job of identifying each and every object surrounding the island from Montauk Point to Martha's Vineyard began. Once the fog lifted, the job would be made easier by fixed wing aircraft and helicopters, but for now, it was basically an object by object hunt in pea soup fog that refused to lift Once Captain Jim reached his assigned station, he had probably three dozen blips to now identify and rule out as the missing cruiser.

"Montauk Coast Guard, this is Defiance on station. Can you give me the last known fog co-ordinates? I've got a few dozen blips going out 30 miles [50 km] and I don't want to be chasing blips that aircraft have already identified." He radioed.

"Defiance, this is Montauk Coast Guard. We have reports that there is heavy fog going out 40 miles [65 km] to the South of Block Island and 15 miles [25 km] to the East. We have radio contact with multiple craft that should be heading directly North. Any craft not heading North, or not responding to your radio call in your quadrant needs to be visually identified. We have a white hulled, 25 foot [7½ m] Pacemaker, ship's name "Proud Lady" on the stern missing with five people on board, two adults, three minor children."

"What's her extreme range?" the Captain now asked.

"She carry's 200 gallons [750 l] of gasoline normally, but we don't know if her tanks were full or not when she embarked. We believe she's inside a 50 mile [80 km] radius of Block Island, most probably lost in fog." The Coast Guard reported.Captain Jim watched his screens and shook his head.

"We're looking for a needle in a haystack. She may have even hit something and sunk." Captain Jim told Stuart as he began to track and identify every blip on the radar screen and send out boats to identify those who didn't respond.

By 1:00 in the afternoon, every blip on the screen was accounted for and nothing more could be done until the wind came up and the fog lifted.

"If she went down and they're in life vests or even a life raft, they might not appear on radar. We could have five people a quarter of a mile [400 m] away from us, and not know it!" Jim told Stuart as all eyes stayed glued to the screens that continually swept around and around.

A little after 2:00 in the afternoon, a freighter bound for New York found the Pacemaker drifting out of the fog bank. She had left Montauk with 75 gallons [300 l] of fuel on board and someone had placed a flashlight alongside the compass of the boat. The owner was heading South towards Bermuda and wide open water when he believed he was heading Northeast, towards Block Island. Once he ran out of fuel, he ran his batteries dead trying to radio for help which was beyond the range of his radio; he was already 40 miles [65 km] out at sea.

For the Captain's 16 year old nephew, the search was a disappointment.

"Luckily, everything came out all right in the end and that's all that really counts Ronny. They would have been found eventually, but pure luck saved that family from disaster. If that freighter had been a half mile [800 m] closer to them and also in fog, they could very easily be dead right now and the freighter might not have known it hit anything." The Captain told the boy as the flotilla made its way back to the island.

Arriving back at the Marina, both the Captain and Stuart smiled as a small flotilla of boats rafted out in the Great Salt Pond. Manned almost exclusively by boys ranging in age from ten to about 16, this pack of "Warf rats", as the local fisherman knew them as, had been assigned specific coastline area's to patrol all morning long looking for the lost cruiser. Among the most notable in the group to Stuart and Captain Jim was the 12 year old local boy named Freddie. Spying the Defiance re-entering the Harbor, Freddie headed directly for the boat.

Freddie knew only one speed on the water, and that was full throttle. Even if he went 500 feet on the water, he was doing it as fast as the boat would travel, notwithstanding the five mile [8 km] an hour No Wake Zone that the Harbor police liked everybody to observe.

With his sandy blonde long hair now flowing in the breeze, Freddie expertly pulled his 16 foot [5 m] Boston Whaler up alongside the Sport Fisherman in a 40 mile [65 km] an hour loop that normally would have had Stuart's blood pressure soaring.

"Enough excitement around here for you this morning?" Captain Jim asked the boy.

"We wus all hoping that your group found her Captain Jim. We wus listening to you on the radio." The boy said as he casually flipped two bumpers overboard and the Whaler ever so gently pulled up alongside the slowly moving Viking.

"Where were you?" Stuart asked.

"The Coast Guard had me off the bluff's looking along the rocks and beach under the lighthouse. We were all hoping we didn't find them." Freddie replied as he stood in a pair of cut off jeans and a tan that declared that he rarely hid from the summer sun. The four people on the Viking all nodded their heads. If the Wharf rats did find them, they would most probably be recovering bodies.

"My Dad's going to go up to your friend's house Doc. I met them on the beach this morning and they told me to go up there and try to sell them my catch. Do you think I should do that today, or wait until tomorrow?" Freddie now asked.

"I can call them if you want, but if they said go up there, I'd just do it." Stuart replied. A grin came upon the boys face that only they can produce.

"Thanks!" the boy said as he pushed the throttle all the way forward and took off.

"You have to wonder how many tickets he gets every year." Brad wondered to no one in particular on the Viking.

"Probably none. Did you notice there was not one tiny little scratch on that boat?" Brad's father asked.

"A bloody miracle!" Stuart replied as he looked over the railing of his own multi million dollar yacht.

The original plans had called for the reburial of Sid and Barry's two friends at 1:00 that afternoon. The sea search had destroyed those plans along with the caterer's schedule of feeding those in attendance. Now re-scheduled for 4:30, the caterer was scrambling to adjust as close to a hundred people had milled around, drank and snacked for the better part of the day.

"It's a re-burial Sid, not a party." Matthew advised the man.

"Nobody expects a sit down dinner." he said.

"Most of these people have been milling around drinking Long Island Ice Tea and Screwdriver's for the past five or six hours. By the time they leave, half of them are going to be bombed if we don't put something in their stomachs." Sid replied.

"Like what?" Barry asked. Sid looked at the caterer.

"A full blown cooked meal is out, we don't have time. A barbeque doesn't fit the occasion, I think the only recourse we have is a cold plate buffet with salad's.

I could make hot food for the kid's, and a French Dip to go with the cold roast beef ."

he replied after some thought.

"By 5:00?" Sid asked. The caterer nodded.

Dickens Point sits on the Southwest corner of Block Island. The beach below the cliffs is as forbidding as any along Maine's coastline. Huge boulders sit at the base of the cliffs where only the sea gull's rule. Now, Jimmy and Karl would be re-buried and some day,

Sid and Barry would join them in the Family Cemetery.

Jimmy had been dead now for almost eight years after a commercial fishing accident off the Flemish Cap. Karl had died in an auto accident five years later. Neither Sid nor Barry felt able to officiate at the formal re-burial, and the chore fell to Matthew who knew all four men as the Director of The New Hampshire School.

Weighing most heavily on the mind's of both Sid and Barry was the fact that of the 200 original members of the group of orphan's or State Ward's that were made available for the experiments linked to the second round of experiment's for The Geppetto Project, they were now the only known remaining survivors.

Given the fact that both men were only 50 years old, the odds of a long and happy life were not all that great. Almost half of the original boys whose cause of death was known was due to one form or another of cancer. 20% had committed suicide.

As Sid stood next to his friend and brother Barry listening to Matthew recount a very sanitized version of the lives of both Jimmy and Karl, he smiled occasionally. For the most part, the people now attending the service were clueless about Geppetto and that fact would remain that way. The Islander's knew all four boys as the adopted son's of a very well respected Island Family, and very little else.

Their stay on the Island was brief, one long winter in 1961 when the boys were six years old. The Islander's knew the boys had been taken secretly to Block Island by Kenny, and that they had been taken to prevent the boys from being either lobotomized or castrated by the State. This knowledge neither shocked nor surprised them, after all, hadn't the same fate befallen Rosemary Kennedy when she had the audacity to lift her skirt one too many times for her father to permit?

From October, 1960 to April, 1961, these people now standing around Sid and Barry had kept the secret of their existence, even knowing that basically, the boys had been "Kidnapped". Now surrounded by the people who had hidden them from public view as children, Sid's emotions were more influenced by the Islander's than by the re-burial. Being watched like a hawk by Jeanette and all three Green Tree boys who had arrived from the Vineyard, Sid was now tapped on the shoulder by the girl as she very un-ceremoniously handed three year old Kenny over to the man.

"Am I looking too bored?' Sid asked the girl as little Kenny gave Sid a dimpled smile and gave him a soggy kiss.

"An idle mind can sometimes play tricks on us." Jeanette whispered into Sid's ear as she gave the man a kiss on the cheek.

Matthew's eulogy was about 20 minutes long, and once over, Both coffins were lifted by crane and placed in the vaults that were already in the ground. Re-covered in The New Hampshire School's flag's, the boys from the school who knew both men best, now placed their Chrysanthemum flowers on top of the caskets. Close to 100 flowers apiece later, the crane once again came to life as the cement lids were now lowered into place as a school bugler blew taps. Jeanette crossed her fingers as little Kenny played "Eye's, nose and mouth" with Sid.

"I think we have some kind of a record going here. Kenny's been in my arms for almost a half hour and he hasn't pissed on me yet!" Sid said as he walked towards Jeanette and the group from Green Tree. Jeanette smiled as a few of the islander's chuckled.

"I put him in double diapers Uncle Sid. He's probably wet, but you just haven't felt it yet." She said as she took the child back.

"David, I've been standing around now for almost an hour without a beer and I don't see one in your hand waiting for me." Sid said to the boy as he lifted Jesse up and gave the boy a kiss on his cheek and a hug. With David now running for a drink, Sid kissed Jesse on the ear as he stroked the boys back.

"I'm fine except for that great big frown on the face of a boy who doesn't look all that happy. If he wanted to cheer me up, he'd show me some dimple's that I remember he can create." Sid whispered into Jesse's ear.

At 13, Jesse was no small boy. Now lifted off the ground by just six inches [15 cm] or so and being held in a hug by a fully grown adult male, it might have been a strange sight to some at the ceremony, but if it was, there were no comments made or eyebrows lifted.

While the Block Islander's didn't appear all that openly demonstrative in their affections towards their children, such was not the case of the visitor's from North Carolina, New Hampshire, or the Vineyard. To the contrary; rarely did these people not greet each other with very open displays of love and affection for each other regardless of age or sex.

"You two have to be very proud of yourselves. We've been around these kid's now for two days and not once have we seen or heard one single bad word or any sign of disagreement amongst themselves. Are they just on their very best behavior or have you threatened to disown them once you get back home?" Muriel asked.

Sid smiled.

"We've developed a rare and seldom used technique for raising children:

We treat them with love and respect and we value their existence. Somehow, it rubs off on them and makes life a whole lot easier for everybody." Sid replied.

"Well something's working. Muriel and I don't permit children in the Main Dining Room for Dinner. Most of them have the manners of goats, the behavior's of thugs and the looks of a gang banger." Abigail replied.

"I wouldn't have any problem having any one of these children in our restaurant." She said.

"How do you keep children out?" Jeanette asked.

"Dress Code. If it's a boy, he's wearing a jacket, tie and real shoe's. If it's a girl, she's wearing a dress. We've actually had parent's tell us that their girls have never worn a dress in their life." Muriel replied.

"And what's your response to that?" Barry asked.

"That there's a very nice Diner right in the heart of Saratoga. It even has a bus station right next door to take them back home." Abigail replied. Sid chuckled.

"Speaking of busses, Uncle Kenny's parents put all of his belongings in storage after we left, and yesterday we sent a crew to Providence to pack it up and ship it back here. That box over there belongs to you two." Sid said as he pointed to a large box.

"Us?" Abigail asked.

"Yes, we seem to recall you won it or something." Barry replied with a small smile on his face.

With a small crowd of people now watching, Jesse and David brought the box over.

"Refresh my memory Sid; did any of the other kid's on the island ever learn about our little arrangement?" Abigail asked very quietly as both women now looked down on a Red Flyer child's wagon.

"I can't speak for you two and who you might have gone and bragged to, but as for us, the only one's in the world who ever knew about the trade of your underpants for the wagon was the four of us boys and Jimmy and Karl ain't talking!" Sid replied with a chuckle.

"Bragged? What the hell was there to brag about? The both of you only had two inches [5 cm] and half of that was all skin!" the woman replied.

"Ya see that Kenny? You give them all you got and it still ain't enough!" Sid said to little Kenny who was completely clueless.

Within sight of the Hall of Springs in Saratoga, NY a large red child's wagon sits in the parlor of a fairly large old Victorian house. It's all that remains of a 45 year old trade of a boys wagon for two little size six girl's underpants, one pink, one blue, and the availability of the treasures they once contained within.

By 6:30, a decision needed to be made by Stuart regarding a return to the Vineyard or not. No one did not know what Dora expected, and if things had gone as expected, there would be no discussion; the Vineyard children would be returned to the Island and sleep under her roof. However, with the search for the missing cruiser intervening, that schedule was now in shambles. Already, dinner was blown unless it was held extremely late. With a promise to bring the children back by lunchtime, Stuart notified his Captain to secure the Viking for the night.

For Jeanette and Matthew, the resultant scramble to secure overnight sleeping arrangements for the children was a welcome distraction for Sid and Barry which kept their minds far from inactive. three suites at the Marina became 6, and with a hot buffet on the Restaurant's deck, a miniature reception of sorts was spent until well past 10:00 when the children began to wither and start choosing their sleeping arrangements.

"Spencer and David are planning to sleep with Uncle Paulie tonight Aunt Jeanette. Should I stay with Uncle Sid?" Jesse asked the girl as she sat on the balcony overlooking the Marina. Jeanette smiled somewhat knowing which choice the boy would prefer.

Looking towards Sid, the girl watched as the man, along with Barry and both women from Saratoga quietly conversed with several remaining guests including Roy and Will.

"I have an adjoining room with Uncle Sid Jesse. If he opts to sleep alone tonight, I can monitor him, but I think he's been behaving himself very well." She told the boy.

The smile that now came over Jesse's face told everyone present that the news was welcome.

"We have plenty of room in our Suite. Would you like to stay with us tonight?" Jesse now asked Bobby. The 15 year old Grandson of Dr. Lester now squirmed a bit in his chair as he inched a little closer to his Grandfather.

"Once we return to Green Tree, Bobby and I are going to have very limited Prime Time available to us Jesse. I think Bobby was planning on spending the night with me so we can talk." Dr. Lester said as the boy took his Grandfather's hand.

"They remind me a lot of the four of you with Kenny when you were kids." Roy said to Sid and Barry once the last of the Green Tree boys gave their staff goodnight hugs and kisses.

"As a matter of fact, well after you guys left the Island, the rest of us got back into the habit of kissing our parents goodnight." Will recalled with a smile. Roy chuckled once again.

"My Dad use to ask my Mother what was wrong every now and then when he got a kiss goodnight." He said nostalgically.

"Our kid's are very dependent upon each other. They've also never been told that they're too old to show affection anymore." Sid said.

"That doesn't depress us one little bit either." He concluded.

"So when do you plan on returning?" Abigail asked Sid after a brief pause in the conversation.

"Unless something un-expected comes up, I'll probably be able to get away for a few days after Christmas. Barry will be here I'm sure just about every week-end until the house is completely renovated, but I've got a couple of hundred kid's who expect to see the Great Pumpkin right around Halloween and Santa Claus for Christmas." Sid replied with a chuckle.

"We winter on Captiva from just after Thanksgiving to the end of April, so maybe we can get together back here on the Island next Summer?" Muriel suggested.

"I'm sure David is going to be returning to the Vineyard for a vacation next Summer. If at all possible, I'll see if I can't hitch a ride for at least a week." Sid replied as he looked at Barry.

"Once the essential utilities are put back on-line, the house should be ready for occupancy in about six weeks. After that, the work is going to start slowing down because we have the Conservancy and the Historical Society to deal with. They're going to want to see the place brought back to its original condition, and that means more than a few tussles with things like heating, plumbing and the kitchen configuration. Donald thinks the renovations could take a year or more, depending upon how much we have to fight for." Barry reported.

"They expect us to go back to outhouses and wood burning kitchen stoves?" Sid asked.

"Maybe not outhouses, but that kitchen stove was originally forged in Paul Revere's foundry. The likelihood that its going nowhere is pretty great according to Donald." Barry replied. Will now nodded his head.

"They also know that the furnace in the basement also came from his forge. They'll probably let you put in appliances alongside them, but you'll never get them to approve having them removed or replaced." He said.

"And are they going to come up here in the dead of winter and stoke the fire?" Sid asked.

"It's been designated an Historical Landmark Sid; one more good reason to allow Harvard to deal with all the screaming and shouting." Matthew told him.

"Look on the bright side Sid, that stove made the best damned pizza between Boston and Philadelphia. Every time Kenny's Dad had an election coming up, he'd have a campaign picnic for all his New York cronies out here and that pizza kept him in office for decades." Roy told his friend with a chuckle.

Very close to midnight, the last of the guest's left as the Marina lights dimmed for the evening. Sipping his last beer of the evening, Sid sat with Barry outside their Suite. Barry would remain on the island with Matthew until Sunday afternoon and then both would return to The New Hampshire School. Sid would return to the Vineyard on Stuart's boat and fly home, probably on Sunday morning.

"You've made a firm commitment to return after Christmas?" Barry asked his friend.

"As firm as it can get without knowing what's going to be happening at that time.

You know as well as I do that we don't control what we do or where we have to be; that strictly depends upon what the kids needs are." Sid replied.

"For all I know, I could be back here in a week if the need arises."

Barry nodded his head.

"We're the last of the Mohicans amigo, I don't want to spend the next 20 years constantly saying goodbye to you." He said. Sid now smiled somewhat.

"That won't happen Barry; all we need to figure out is which one of us is going to leave our boys so that we can be together again and become our generations Odd Couple."

Sid said as he gave Barry a goodnight kiss on his forehead.

Saying farewell to his old friends on Block Island took the better part of the morning for Sid as he saw Abigail and Muriel off at the airport after a late morning brunch served up by the caterer under tent. By 11:00 a highly emotional goodbye hug on the dock with Barry had Jeanette's blood pressure rising as she watched Sid very closely. Once passed the Harbor entrance, the bow on the Defiance rose ever higher out of the water as the Viking picked up speed leaving Freddie in his Boston Whaler waving goodbye.

"Here it is noon time and I've not had my first beer yet!" Sid said as he sat down in the Main Salon.

"It's just 11:00 Uncle Sid and you've already had two Bloody Mary's and a screwdriver." Jeanette replied as she sat down watching Kenny play on the floor with Valerie.

"It's 12:00 somewhere and besides; Bloody Mary's and Screwdriver's ain't beer are they?" Sid asked Jeanette as Ronny now went forward for a beer as he shook his head and giggled.

The trip back to the Vineyard took roughly an hour, and to the dismay of the Vineyard children, it came without a stop for a quick dip. None of this bothered Spencer, who had his face buried in radar and GPS screens during the entire trip.

Once arriving back at the house, it took all of two minutes for the children to jump into the pool as the adults lounged around on the porch deck that surrounded the house.

Once Stuart appeared on the porch with his brother Cory, Stuart sat down.

"Your turn Phillip" Stuart told his brother as Phillip arose from his chair.

"I think the only reason Cory agrees to these little family get-together's is so that he can get even for all the grief we gave him as a child and seek his revenge on us." He said as the rest of the family chuckled a bit.

Adjusting a bandage on his arm, Stuart smiled and sat back.

"Whenever we all gather in one place, it's Cory's job to run annual physical's on the entire family. So far he's done a mighty impressive job of keeping us all healthy." Stuart told his guests.

"Prior to Thomas's arrival, we had our Infirmary nurses and girls attend to the children, usually after an accident or illness. Now that Thomas has arrived, he's been very pro-active in keeping tabs on the children's health." Sid said.

"And what about the staff?" Michael asked.

"Our biggest problem has always come from the kitchen. Usually just minor burns or cuts." Sid replied.

"The staff doesn't have annual physicals?" Stuart asked his brother Thomas.

Thomas smiled somewhat.

"We have a population of 600. Roughly 200 of them are babies with a morbid fear of needles. If you attempt to bring a needle within 15 feet [4½ m] of them, they start crying. Most are between the ages of 25 and 50" Thomas said as Jeanette now giggled. All eyes now looked towards Sid.

"The man's a pathological liar! You all know that." Sid said in his defense.

"I remember the time when I was about 15 and I was up at the stable's. Uncle Sid was reaching under a horse to attach the girth when the horse kicked him in the head thinking it was a fly." Jeanette now recalled.

"You never did agree to get a tetanus shot, did you Uncle Sid?" she asked the man.

"No! And I never came down with lockjaw either." Sid replied.

"See?" Thomas asked his brothers.

"Sid, you're 50. Please tell me you've had a full physical every five years since you turned 40." Stuart now said.

"Like every other boy my age, I had my tonsils taken out at age 10, which by the way the medical profession now says wasn't necessary, and other than that, I've been as healthy as a horse ever since. Why go looking for problems?" Sid asked the wrong choir.

For want of a better term, Sid was "Shamed" into getting a physical work-up that afternoon by Cory who also gave Jeanette one at Sid's insistence. Spencer was also examined, and found to be healing very well. He could return home at any time and that news was received extremely well by Anthony, much less by Spencer who remained silent.

"Do we have to go back tomorrow Uncle Sid?" Spencer asked the man as the two walked along the cliff at sunset.

"Unless there's a good reason not to, I'm sure that's what your Uncle Bert would want. I'm sure Aunt Jeanette also wants to return as soon as possible too." Sid replied.

"What does Spencer think about that?" he asked the boy.

"David's staying here with Uncle Thomas isn't he?" Spencer now asked. Sid nodded.

"Yes, the plan all along was for David and Uncle Thomas to spend two weeks here. Why?" Sid asked.

"I was just thinking, if Uncle Thomas is here, Uncle Bert isn't worried about security for David." Spencer replied.

"So?" Sid asked.

It took a few very long seconds for Spencer to put the right words together.

"Maybe since Uncle Thomas is already here anyway, Anthony and me could stay here with David until next week and then we could all go home together." He said. Sid smiled somewhat.

"You mean so you could make sure David was OK." Sid said.

"Yeah!" Spencer said with a dimpled smile.

At 13, Spencer was no toddler, but then again, Sid was half a bear. Picking up Spencer off the ground, Sid wrapped the boy up in his arms and held him tightly.

"One of the very best things I like about Talk Time is that it gives two people a rare opportunity to talk to each other in the plain honest truth." Sid told the boy as he kissed him on the ear.

"You and David are very good friends, but I don't think you feel he needs any more protection here than he already has." Sid asked the boy.

"Unless I'm mistaken, I'm hearing a boy asking to remain here because that's what he wants to do. Am I wrong?" Sid asked.

"No." Spencer replied almost inaudibly. Sid nodded his head and once again gave Spencer a kiss.

"Have you said anything to Anthony about this?" Spencer shook his head.

"I figured if you said I had to stay with David, Anthony would have to accept it. He keeps telling me he wants to go home." Spencer said. OK, if David isn't the main reason you want to stay, what is?" Sid asked.

"When you was a little boy Uncle Sid, did you ever dream you were flying?" Spencer now asked. Sid smiled and chuckled to himself.

"I seem to recall that experience a couple of times." Sid replied omitting the Mescaline and Acid trips at more than a few rock concerts.

"That's what I feel like when I'm steering the boat. If I go back to camp, I don't get to do that again." Spencer said as Sid felt his neck getting a little wet.

Giving the boy a gentle but firm hug, Sid chose his words very carefully.

"Spencer, if you or any other boy in the world didn't get a thrill from the tips of their toes to the topmost piece of hair on their head while running that boat, I'd have to conclude they were brain dead and have them buried as soon as possible. There are literally thousands of experiences out there waiting for you, and you've just begun that journey. If I put you in a race car in Indianapolis, if I strapped you into the space shuttle and sent you into space, if I sent you sky diving, or snowboarding, you'd probably feel the same way you do about that boat. Year's down the road Spencer, it may well be that you choose a career in boating, but I'd be doing you no favor by not allowing you to experience all that's out there first." Sid concluded.

"So you won't let me stay?" Spencer asked.

"First of all Spencer, it's a team decision. Secondly, it's not my house you're requesting to stay at. The Team and Thomas's family just might have something to say about this request." Sid replied.

"You said this was a time to talk honestly Uncle Sid. If you want me to stay here, you know you can make the rest of them do what you want." Spencer replied. Sid shook his head.

"You're forgetting about your Aunt Jeanette. You don't really believe that I can stop her if she wants you back at camp do you?" Sid asked the boy.

"Aunt Jeanette loves me Uncle Sid; she won't make me go home." Spencer replied.

"Who do you know Spencer that doesn't love you?" Sid asked.

"Assuming everyone goes along with this, what's the domino effect look like?" Bert asked that evening with Spencer's entire I.S.P. Team on the line except for Anthony.

"If he stays, the rest of us will be coming home. Jeanette is comfortable with the security and emotional support surrounding Spencer." Sid replied.

"Barely!" Jeanette now added.

"Why?" Bert asked after a quick glance towards Adam.

"If he were staying here alone, I think he'd be fine. With Anthony staying with him, it's an unknown. Spencer's trying to fly out of the nest; Anthony's determined to clip his wings." The girl replied.

"But Spencer's dominant." Adam interjected.

"That doesn't mean that Spencer won't have to deal with some shit if Anthony decides to lay a guilt trip on him." She said.

"Sid?" Bert now asked.

"There's no question that Anthony's highly emotionally attached to Spencer right now, but Anthony would never stunt Spencer's growth. Besides, Barry says he can keep Anthony involved in the renovations enough to keep his mind from becoming too idle. Let's keep in mind that Thomas will be right here," Sid said.

With no member of the Team black-balling the idea, the plan was now set into motion.

"Since the unknown is Anthony, let's announce the schedule tomorrow morning, and we'll have the day to figure out if it needs revision. Plan on returning home on Sunday leaving Anthony and Spencer behind unless Anthony goes off and we have to reconfigure." Bert advised the group.

"Does that mean that Anthony comes back home and Spencer stays here?" Jeanette now asked.

"Not necessarily. As far as I'm concerned Jeanette, we're dealing with two students; one of them just happens to be a little older than the other. It may be tough to see a scared little boy in the body of a 20 year old, but that's what we've got and that's what your Uncle Sid and I are trying to steer in the right direction. Forget the man Jeanette and see the boy." Bert told the girl.

On Golden Pond

"It's not that Jeanette doesn't care about and love Anthony, she just takes her responsibility to Spencer a lot more seriously." Gloria finally said in her friend's defense.

"That's known and understood sweetheart, but still, none of us can afford to dismiss one child's needs to the benefit of another's. It's a tired old story, but collectively, we need to have the Wisdom of Solomon to make some of these decisions.

If we counted them all up, the four of us probably have close to 100 Primary students. Do we only make decisions concerning those 100 at the expense of the 500 other students here?

Jeanette; like many of our people, have boundless empathy for a child. She also needs to develop an understanding of human frailty and that sometimes comes from the oldest of us. Anthony is a little boy in a mans body. A kick in the ass and an order for him to stand on his own two feet isn't going to accomplish a fucking thing. They both need to grow up whole, and that's our only goal." Bert told the girl.

Adam's arrival back at Beachview came a little after 11:00 and the only sound on campus came from the water that was flowing over the dam at the end of the lake.

After checking on close to two dozen soundly sleeping bodies of entangled humanity, he sat himself down on the front porch sorely missing his very good friend and companion, Sid. It was at times like these that Adam could count on Sid to come up with some good advice, albeit usually profane laden. Sid had been gone now for a full week, and Adam could use a little respite from the pressures of the responsibility for several hundred human beings.

When Sid was at his side, or at least readily available, he imparted an air of confidence, security and camaraderie that Adam had become accustomed to even without the conscious thought. Now that the man was missing, it seemed to Adam like having to take a shower in the gym for the very first time in 7th Grade. The feeling could only be explained as vulnerable with a capital V. Until now, he never felt that way again, but here it was. Sunday could not come fast enough for Adam.

The bugle blowing reveille sounded at 7:00 with Adam questioning in his mind why it was necessary to awaken at such an ungodly hour when it was the week-end.

"Morning Uncle Adam! Is Poppe comin back to us today?" Benji asked the counselor with his eight year old face less than three inches [7½ cm] away from Adam's. Once Adam's eyes focused, he smiled at the little urchin on top of him and gave the tot a kiss on the nose.

"I spoke to him last night and he will be returning tomorrow with Uncle Sid and Aunt Jeanette. He's also bringing his Grandson Bobby with him." Adam replied.

"For a visit?"

Benji's twin brother Gavin now asked.

"From what I understand, Bobby is being transferred to Green Tree." Adam replied.

"What does that mean?" Benji asked.

Adam smiled at the twin's.

"It means that Bobby will be living here like you are, and you'll probably be seeing a lot more of Poppe than you thought." Adam told both boys.

Galloping off to the showers with whoops of joy, Adam's attention now focused on untangling the three bodies that lay to his right and dragged Sammy still groggy with sleep to his chest. When he had finally crawled into bed after waking up on the porch at two in the morning, he had slipped into a clean dry bed that was completely empty. Now, as near as he could figure out, five of his charges had joined him during the night, and if he was really careful, he could avoid a luke warm, wet spot if he didn't venture too far either right or left.

Almost always, he awoke with Carla and Jeannie to keep Sammy company, and now he had the additional privilege of having Joey and Trevor add to the flood.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember during my visits to the senior boys compound that very few of them awaken to damp sheets." Adam said as he massaged Sammy's back.

"Doe's that mean that I can expect to see the spigots beginning to close within the next two years on you guys?" he asked.

"That's silly Uncle Adam, in two years we're all going to be 13 year's old. Everybody knows we stop peeing the bed at 12." Joey replied. Adam thought about that for a few seconds.

"What about David, Spencer and Jesse? They're all 13." Adam asked.

"They just turned 13. They will make it stop by Christmas time." Trevor announced.

"They will make it stop? By what magic?" Adam now asked as all five children giggled a bit.

"It ain't no magic, we'll just wake ourselves up when we gotta go pee once we're in the senior dorm." Sammy said as he yawned deeply.

"How?" Adam asked.

"Jeez Uncle Adam, you ain't very smart! When you wus a little boy, didn't you know in your dreams you was peeing?" Joey asked his counselor. Adam thought back to his childhood.

"Sometimes, but not all the time." He replied.

"But I stopped wetting the bed when I was five or six years old." He offered.

"How come?" Carla asked.

The truth was because his Mother was angry at having to change his bedding and considered him a lazy and "Dirty" boy for not getting himself up and going to the bathroom. The truth was also that Adam was afraid of the dark as a child, and had no intentions of getting out of his very safe bed. Adam at five and six had to chose between being "A dirty, lazy boy" in his Mother's eyes, or a "Silly Baby" in his Father's eyes.

"Well, because it felt better to wake up in a nice, warm, dry bed." He answered.

"We don't care about that, besides, its fun to pee in your dreams; it feels a lot different when you pee asleep." Trevor said.

"Yeah, just like it feels different when you get tingles when you're asleep." Sammy said giggling. Allowing the reference to nocturnal climaxing slide for the time being, Adam stayed focused on the present subject matter.

"You still haven't explained how you plan to magically turn off the golden showers routine." He said as the entire group now giggled once again.

"Simple Uncle Adam: When we want to stop peeing when we're dreaming, we just wake ourselves up when we start to pee and go to the bathroom." Joey replied.

"Why do you think that will work?" Adam asked.

"Oh we know it works, Uncle Sid taught us how to do it!" Trevor replied with a dimpled smile.

"And just how did he do that?" Adam asked curiously.

"He taught us how to think when we're asleep and to tell ourselves to wake up from a dream and use the toilet when we know we're going to pee." Sammy replied.

"All we gotta do is to think to ourselves "Hey, I gotta go pee, wake up!" and it works." He said.

So you're telling me you consciously allow yourselves to wet the bed?" Adam asked.

"What's that mean?" Carla asked.

"You're asleep, but you know you're wetting the bed?" Adam asked.

"That's silly Uncle Adam, we don't dream about wetting the bed. We dream about pissing off Look-out Point or pissing off Turtle Rock. Sometimes we even dream about pissing in the shower or toilet, but we don't dream about pissing in the bed."

Joey said as four heads nodded.

"You need to have some Talk Time with Uncle Sid, Uncle Adam. You don't know too much about pissing do you?" Sammy asked as he moved himself into position and pulled a sheet up over himself. "No, I guess I'll have to speak to the expert in the pee department." Adam said as four of his guests now slid off the bed and headed for the showers in giggles while Adam made sure Sammy's day began with a very broad smile on his face.

"Has the Institute ever looked into any correlation between Geppetto and enuresis?" Adam asked Bert as the two men walked from the flagpole to breakfast.

"There is no correlation that I'm aware of. Do you see one?" Bert asked.

"We've got almost 100% of the Intermediate boys waking up wet. That's a pretty high statistic for eight to 13 year old boys, wouldn't you say?" Adam asked.

"What's that got to do with enuresis?" Bert asked.

"They're wetting the bed. That's enuresis." Adam replied. Bert shook his head.

"The Camp Kenny children usually stop wetting between the ages of three to five at the latest.

The Senior boys are 100% dry by age 14. Just about every single Camp Kenny child, girl or boy, who's been dry for years reverts back to bed wetting once they get into the Intermediate camp What's that tell you Adam?" Bert asked.

"Enuresis is a medical term for children who accidentally void nocturnally for either emotional or medical related reasons. That term doesn't apply to our children. We don't have bladder or emotional problems; we merely have boys who have found ways to romp even while they're sound asleep." Bert said with a smile.

"Let's not forget the girls. Carla and Jeannie can produce a pretty good wet stain." Adam replied shaking his head.

"These kids believe that Sid can teach them to stop wetting the bed at will. Is that wise for us to encourage?" Adam asked. Bert now smiled as Christopher began climbing up his body.

"I asked the same thing myself when I first came. I've since learned to never, ever, question the boys belief in something Sid has instilled in them. Right around age 13 to 14, they stop wetting and they all swear it's done by using Sid's technique. I don't look gift horses in the mouth, neither should you." The Director advised his Assistant.

"Look on the bright side Adam, the Camp Kenny toddlers have been known to develop a very keen interest in their anal "Gifts". I assure you, cleaning up a wet bed is a lot easier than scrubbing down walls, furniture and a new style of shampoo." Bert said.

"I'll count my blessings." Adam said as they entered the Mess Hall.

On most mornings, Jeanette awoke with Kenny searching for a morning snack. On this Saturday morning, she awoke with Kenny still sound asleep in between her and Valerie.

The early dawn was just breaking on the horizon and a faint orange glow differentiated the horizon from the sky to the East. At the cliff's, a lone figure stood standing whose figure could only be that of Sid's as he looked out to sea towards Bermuda.

"I brought you a nice hot cup of coffee Uncle Sid. If you want some private time alone,

I can finish some paperwork back at the Cottage." The girl said as she handed Sid a mug.

Sid smiled as he took the coffee and gave Jeanette a kiss on the forehead.

"I was just wasting a little quiet time before the brood gets up and starts ripping the day apart. Except for the heat, humidity and lack of no-see-ums biting your ass off, it almost reminds you of the Keys don't it?" Sid asked as Jeanette smiled.

"Do you miss the old School?" She asked. Sid shook his head.

"I guess if we didn't have North Carolina to take its place, I would miss it terribly. But I don't think it's the physical location that matters all that much, it's the people who are there that really count." Sid replied.

"And what of all your friends on Block Island?" the girl asked.

"I'm sure they'll remain my friends until we're all dead and buried, but that's what they are, friends. Except for Barry, we'll all probably get together now and then and have a real nice time of it, but my life revolves around Green Tree and the people who live there. Everybody else in the world takes a back seat." Sid said.

"And Barry?" Jeanette asked. Sid smiled.

"Barry's married to The New Hampshire School and your Uncle Sid is married to Green Tree Academy. Neither one of us plans on getting a divorce, so we'll just have to figure out how to "Cheat" on our spouses now and then and have a little get together on the side." Sid said as Jeanette giggled a little.

"You almost make it sound sexual." She replied. Sid again smiled.

"I don't think Barry and I have had a romp in the hay since we were 15, maybe 16 years old, but don't you believe for one single minute that it wasn't some of the hottest sex I've encountered in my 50 odd years of searching. If we ended up the last two dudes on the planet, we would not die un-satisfied, that's for damned sure!" Sid said.

Sid had awoken before 3:00 in the morning, and by the time Jeanette joined him on the cliff's edge, he had over three hours to formulate a plan for Spencer and Anthony. Both would remain behind, and the "Official" reason was going to be a medical one which made the decision black-ball proof on Anthony's part. While Spencer would spend the bulk of the week on the Vineyard with David, Anthony would be Sid's representative back on Block Island for the renovation of the house. To be sure, Anthony was less than pleased, but the knowledge that Jeanette was returning to Green Tree and would not have Spencer's ear, kept his opposition to the plan under control. For David, Valerie, Paulie and Spencer himself, the plan was better than a trip to Disneyworld with six credit cards.

By Sunday morning, Sid had produced enough work for Anthony to accomplish to keep him busy for 14 out of the seven days available. Barry would have some more chores, and on Block Island itself, Donald would have another few tasks just in case Anthony got bored.

Immediately after breakfast, the SUV's began loading for the airport where the Gulfstream would be landing and taking back off with it's passengers before the planes arrival created any ripple's for the inhabitants of the Vineyard.

As usual, the most difficult part of any departure from the Estate came from Dora as little Kenny wondered if he was on his way to a life of sorrow and misery, or just back to his good old friend Timmy. Jeanette faired little better as the doors were closed and the vehicles proceeded down the driveway.

"I wonder how much Kleenex they have to buy a week?" Sid asked to no one in particular.

By 10:00 the plane was back in the air and after making a long slow turn over Massachusetts's and Rhode Island, Jesse looked down on the pork chop shape of Block Island from 20,000 feet [6 km] while sitting in the cockpit with the pilot. Below him was the full panorama from the Vineyard to Montauk Point and he correctly identified just about every sizable island that had been his playground for the past week.

"It sounds like you had a very busy and enjoyable week." The Jet's Captain said to Jesse.

"I did! And I'm coming back here!" Jesse said with a very large smile.

Chapter Forty Two

The Homecoming

"If I've been asked once, I've been asked 200 times: Is Uncle Sid still coming home tomorrow?" Bert said as he sat Christopher down in between Joey and Trevor and took a seat next to Adam. Adam smiled as both Joey and Trevor moved a little too slowly to protect the black olives on their plates as Christopher scooped them up. "So, is he?" Adam asked as all ears and eyes at the table now looked to Bert except for Christopher's who was busy shoving as many olives into his mouth as possible.

"The only way Uncle Sid and Aunt Jeanette will not be back here tomorrow is if there is some kind of emergency that pops up. Your Uncle Sid expects to get on that plane and that's what we all believe will happen." Bert told the mafia.

"S'pose he decides to stay there forever?" Carla asked. Bert shook his head as more than a few looks of great concern came across the faces of more than a few of the more insecure boys like Matty and Billy. "If your Uncle Sid makes that decision, I will have a jet fly all of you back to Boston so you can drag him back here to be with you Miss Worrywart." Bert told the girl as the giggling began. "You promise?" Carla asked.

"If your Uncle Sid isn't sitting here tomorrow night stinking up this Mess Hall, you can throw me and your Uncle Adam in the lake on Tuesday morning." Bert replied. Now to very broad smiles to each other, the mafia went back to their Roast Turkey with a vengeance.

"You do realize that you have a staff of almost 200 people to choose from for a Lake Dip, right?" Adam asked Bert on the way out of the Mess Hall. "Naturally. but of those 200, there are a core group of about 10 people whom the children get the most amusement out of seeing being thrown into the Lake, and you, my fine gullible friend just happen to be one of them. Certain people, like John for instance, will rarely get thrown into the lake since he makes our food and you never mess with someone who feed's you. You on the other hand are not only a teacher; you're an administrator which makes seeing you soaking wet so much more fun." Bert replied. "In any case, I wouldn't worry about it; Sid will be on that plane."

"How comfortable is Jeanette with leaving Spencer behind?" Adam now asked.

"If David and Thomas weren't staying behind, it most probably would never have been agreed to. There is also an additional carrot from what I understand, and her name is Valerie, a 12 year old with moon eyes for Spencer." Bert reported as a group of about 2 dozen or so began assembling around the two men who had opted to take a stroll around the lake to walk off dinner.

"What's Anthony's reaction to that?" Gloria asked as she watched Timmy shed some un-necessary garments and run through the water at the lakes edge with half a dozen 4 to 6 year old fellow nudists. "According to Thomas, Anthony isn't threatened by Valerie's presence so far, but then again, there hasn't been an opportunity for Spencer to have to choose between Anthony's bed and Valerie's. If that occurs, we might have a different story." Bert replied as he lifted Caroline onto his shoulders. "Her parent's are liberal enough to allow that?" Adam asked. "The only difference between the Vineyard children and our children is that they are not Geppetto. As a policy, the adults do not interfere in the children's explorational activities so long as it's contained within their inner circle." "So how does Spencer fit into that equation?" Gloria asked. "The Vineyard adults do not regard David, Spencer, or even Jesse as outsiders. Their mere presence as guests on the family estate makes them acceptable to the Vineyard children." Bert replied.

"Do you think Spencer would choose a girl over Anthony?" Adam asked. "A year ago, the answer would have been "No". Today however, it's questionable since Spencer has come to live with and get to know Patty's girls a bit more up front and personal." Bert replied. Gloria shook her head. "And I'm assuming Uncle Sid has no video to back up that bit of gossip?" she asked. Bert smiled and laughed a bit. "Actually, that information came from Patty who received it straight from the horse's mouth." Bert assured Gloria.

The trip around the lake ended at the cove where the bulk of the mafia was swarming over Turtle Rock. It was a typical summer camp scene; rowboats, canoes and sailboats

with children playing in them. Some of the boats were actually empty of water and functioning as normal, but most were sunk or half sunk and being used as diving platforms or bathtubs. The children on Turtle Rock were either diving off from the boards mounted on it, or, were trying to push their fellow campers off. A rope swing hung from a high branch on a weeping willow tree that overhung the water, and with a splash, the child would disappear. All was "Normal", especially if Green Tree were your typical Summer Camp for nudist children.

Once Christopher spotted Bert climbing the steps of Beachview, the boy took a flying leap off the rock with his two monitors close behind trying to keep up with their charge. "Wim? Wim Burd?" Christopher asked as he signed. Bert smiled as the boy climbed up his legs and into his lap all wet and soggy. "I've been swimming with you three times today my little water bug. Tomorrow we go swimming again." Bert said with a broad smile as Christopher straddled the man's lap.

"Show me something you learned today." Bert asked the boy as he received a very wet kiss and hug. "I-ee?" the 12 year old now asked Robin quizzically. Leaning over, the boys monitor whispered into Christopher's ear as a smile came over his face. "Hey!" Christopher chirped. Christopher now put both hands together and made the sign for fishing.

"With who?" Bert asked. The boy now signed the names of both Robin and Clair, two of his senior girl monitors. "Christopher went fishing today with Robin and Claire. Christopher is a very happy boy." Bert said to him as he kissed the boy on the tip of his nose. "Hey!" Christopher chirped again as his dimple's grew deeper in his cheeks. "I'm very proud of you Christopher; you're getting to be a very big and smart boy." Bert told him.

Adam watched as Christopher swelled with both a pride and a love towards Bert that was almost palpable. The staff joked that Christopher was completely capable of loving and cherishing a turnip taken out of the camps vegetable garden, and yet, all knew that the love between Bert and this particular boy ran extremely deep. Bert took all the residents of Green Tree very personally, but in Christopher, this child was very special.

"Rink?" Christopher now asked as he signed for something to drink. "It looks like he's already swallowed half the lake. Where's he going to find the room to fit a few more ounces into that belly?" Adam asked as he looked at a stomach on Christopher that could have held a small baby.

Before Bert got the opportunity to answer, Christopher unceremoniously let his water flow as he looked down at his penis. Fortunately for Bert, Christopher was sitting on top of his penis which was now pinned between the boys groin and Bert's shirt. As the river flowed to the porch floor beneath Bert's chair, Bert looked towards Adam.

"Hey, I never mentioned the "P" word did I?" Adam protested.

After Bert rinsed off under the outdoor shower head, he sat back down on the porch of Beachview as the Lake began to empty of campers. Seeing Sammy, Matty, Chris, Joey and Trevor heading upstairs for a shower before Sunday Evening Vesper's, Christopher now wiggled his way off Bert's lap. "Should we take him back home Uncle Bert?

He's gonna wanna go upstairs and shower with the rest of them if he stays here."

Robin now asked the Director a little apprehensively. "Why? Is that a problem?" Bert asked. "Uncle Bert, you know what these guys do in the shower, it's obnoxious!" Robin replied in exasperation. "There's that word again. Has anybody ever figured out who taught the girls its meaning?" Bert asked Adam who shrugged his shoulders. "Don't look at me boss, I'm the Math teacher remember?" Adam said as Robin rolled her eyes.

"Ya don't gotta come into the bathroom ya know. Jeannie and I can watch him. Besides; nobody's gonna try to fuck him anyway!" Carla now told her ex-roommate

as 14 year old Robin now looked to Bert. "Aunt Helen ain't gonna like it if she keeps talking like that Uncle Bert!" the girl said.

Bert shook his head as Adam now stood up and picked up Carla. "Carla is sorry she used the "F" word, she's merely trying to re-assure you that Christopher will be OK in the shower." Adam said as he put his hand over Carla's mouth just in case.

"Uncle Adam is working on Carla's vocabulary Robin. Christopher will be fine going upstairs. If you wish, you and Claire can shower in the downstairs bathroom." The Director told the girl. "Even if they don't do it with Christopher, he's still sitting there watching them!" Robin protested as a muffled "Fuck you." emanated from Carla.

"Carla says "Thank you", Robin. I'm sure she'll see to it that Christopher is shielded

from any such activity." Adam said as he hastily retreated from the porch with a squirming Carla in his arms.

Adam carried the girl up the winding staircase leading to the bedrooms of the cabin.

Tossing Carla on a bed, Adam quickly shut the door to the bedroom. As Sammy, Billy, Joey, Matty and Trevor all piled on with Carla. "She's just being stupid Uncle Adam, she knows nobody in the Intermediate Camp would ever fuck Christopher." Carla said still somewhat miffed. Adam closed his eyes and shook his head.

"When Carla gets a cold, or an illness and doesn't feel very well, when she falls off a swing or gets a bruise or a cut, who are the first people around her who come to her aid and give her comfort? When you get upset about something, who's arms have I seen wrapped around you? It seems to me, one of the very first person's on that line has always been Robin. Am I wrong?" Adam asked the girl as he sat down on the bed next to her. "That don't mean she ain't stupid! She only pretends not to like the fuck word. I heard her say it lot's of times." Carla protested. "I don't doubt that for a second sweet heart, but you are still forgetting the mixed company rule.

Robin identifies herself as a lady, and she identifies you as a lady. Young ladies just don't go around saying fuck, fuck, fuck, especially around boys. In her way, she's trying to protect your honor." Adam told the girl. "What honor?" Carla asked. Adam had to smile and once more shake his head. "When one of your Aunt's approaches a table in the Mess Hall, your Uncle's all rise. Why?" Adam asked the girl. "To give her a seat in case she wants to sit down." Carla replied. "Not really, they usually never come over to sit down, but they do come over to talk, and by rising, your Uncle's are showing their respect. Maybe not today, because you consider yourself just one of the gang, but the day will come when your Uncle's will rise in honor and respect of you. Robin knows that will be a little tough to do if your reaction is to tell us to "Sit the fuck down!" Adam said as the boys on the bed giggled.

"Accidents will happen Carla, but when we're in mixed company, we all need to keep the "F' bombs to a minimum. Especially when we know their use is going to upset the people within hearing range." Adam said. "Can we take a fucking shower now?" Carla asked innocently. "Be my fucking guest." Adam replied as the group exploded in giggles.

Sunday evenings at Green Tree are always scheduled as a quiet reflective time. Weather permitting, the entire campus gathers around the lake, either strolling the pathway that encircles it, or on the lake itself in boats. Except for a stray boating mishap or a toddler scampering around the shoreline kicking up a spray of water, swimming is off limits.

If Sid were present, there would probably be a selection of Classical music playing softly as a bon-fire grew in intensity as the sun slowly disappeared towards the western sky, but in his absence, the mellow sound of camp fire songs echoed off the tree's surrounding the lake.

Complete with hand motions and all, the campers now softly sang and performed "This little light of mine." as a patchwork of blankets and coolers littered the lawn in front of the Mess Hall. To Adam, this scene was the kind of peace and serenity being experienced that very few committee's outside of Green Tree could hope to muster.

At 10 month's of age, Sidney Bertram was well on his way to walking unaided, while his 9 month old half-brother Joshua wasn't all that far behind him. Feeling Joshua latch onto his shirt with two little hands and a mouth now tasting his way around his back, Adam turned his head as the baby made his way slowly around to the front. "He likes you Uncle Adam!" Jeannie said as she stood in back of the baby holding him under the armpits. Adam smiled and picked Joshua up and promptly received a very drooly kiss.

"Let me guess; he's been taking kissing lessons from Christopher." Adam said as he wiped his mouth on his shirt sleeve and sat the baby down in front of him. Dressed in a sun suit, the baby sat with his feet towards Adam. "Those are some pretty broad feet aren't they?" Adam asked as he picked up a foot and played with the baby's toes. "Thomas say's he has the same feet as his brother and they're a little wider than an average babies feet usually are. He says that it'll help him to walk faster than a normal child." Beth now said as she handed the boy a piece of pear.

"I'm told I didn't walk until I was almost 14 month's old, so I guess Thomas is right. The both of these guys will be running before Christmas." Adam replied as he tickled the babies foot. Beth smiled as Sidney Bertram now made his way un-aided across the blanket and promptly plopped himself in Adam's lap. "Hey big fella, you looking for some attention too?" Adam asked the boy who was now heading straight for Joshua's piece of fruit.

As quick as Beth was, she couldn't prevent the taking of Joshua's fruit out of his hand and mouth by Sidney Bertram as the baby began to cry. Handing him another piece, Beth winkled her nose a bit. "Somebody's delivered a package." She said as she laid Joshua down and looked in his diaper. "Unsnap his suit Adam; you've got some work to do." Beth said as she picked Joshua back up to a sitting position and laid Sidney Bertram down. As Beth went for her diaper bag, Adam pulled on the snaps of Sidney's sun suit as a small gaggle of interested observers now flocked around. Sammy. Carla, Jeannie and Trevor peered down as Adam expertly took off the safety pins and drove them into the blanket. With more than a few comments concerning the smell and the esthetic quality of Sidney's latest efforts, Adam quite skillfully removed the diaper and rolled it up as Beth handed him a large baggy.

"How come you know so much about changing diapers Uncle Adam? You ever got's a baby?" Trevor asked as Adam applied some Desenex to Sidney's bottom while the boy contentedly gnawed on his piece of pear. "No, before coming here, I never changed a baby's diaper in my life. I guess if you practice long enough you get good at it like learning and practicing good English." Adam replied as he worked. Both Sammy and Carla shook their head's "Jeez Uncle Adam, it's Sunday, this ain't a school day!" Sammy told his counselor. "Oh, sorry. I forgot." Adam replied as Beth and Johanna giggled.

With a thick coating of white now covering the boy from his bottom to almost his navel, Adam placed a fresh diaper on the blanket and adjusted the babies body.

"S'pose you stab Sidney Bertram with that pin? Ain't you afraid you'll stick it to him?" Jeannie asked as Adam now pinned the diaper. "No, that's why my finger is between the diaper and the baby's side. If anything gets stuck, it'll be me." Adam replied. "Ever do it?" Carla asked. "No, but if you lay down, I can practice some." Adam told the girl.

"That's one way to free up a little room on the blanket." Beth said as a small band of intrepid travelers went in search of more interesting subjects. Adam smiled and chuckled somewhat as Christopher came dancing off the hill from Bert's cabin followed by his two shadows for the evening. Seeing both babies with a piece of pear in their possessions, Christopher was now on the hunt as he came crashing down on the blanket after tripping on the fringe. Nine month's earlier, the boys fall would have garnered a reaction from everyone around him, now it was just one more of a hundred trips a day Christopher would take. "Great to see you drop in pal, you comfortable?" Adam asked as Christopher

grunted and picked himself up. "Hey!" the boy said in his usual way of saying yes.

Now spying the baggie full of peeled fruit, Christopher stood in front of Beth with both hands tightly clasped in front of him. "Christopher would like a piece of fruit?" Beth asked the boy. With both feet off the blanket, Christopher jumped into the air "Hey!" he responded with a small drool headed for his tummy. "Swallow, Christopher!" Claire told the boy for the one hundredth time that day as the boy took a piece of fruit from Beth. "Hang que" he said. "You're welcome Christopher." Beth replied as Christopher now spun around and headed for the lake shore. Both Adam and Beth had to smile as Clair left saying "Shit" under her breath.

"I'm a little surprised Bert's not down here pestering us." Adam said. Johanna smiled as she looked up towards Bert's cabin. "In all probability, he's either on the phone to Boston, or sticking close to the phone just in case it rings. If Sid doesn't show tomorrow, there's a lot of adjustments that will need to be made to the schedules to keep these kids

activity level on a much higher plane." The girl told Adam.

"It's certainly a lot quieter around here without Sid." Adam replied. Johanna smiled somewhat. "Like Christmas without Santa Claus, or a nursery without kids. I don't think he'll ever admit it, but I think Sid's absence is hardest of all on Bert. When Sid goes out on a mission, Uncle Bert looks like a lost soul." She said. Adam said nothing, but knew exactly how Bert felt.

"What the fuck do you mean the Gulfstream has to be pulled from Logan? I need Sid and Jeanette back here tomorrow morning!" Bert screamed into the phone. "We have a problem in Arizona Bert. A Border Patrol unit stopped a van with 3 staff and 5 boys in it from the Arizona School and when nobody had I.D.s for the boys, the Border Patrol took them into custody figuring they were illegal aliens. We've got their local cops, the Border Patrol, ICE and the FBI being held off by one local Witness Protection agent and we need to get more people down there on the ground from National Security and the Secret Service to get those kids away from them." Alexandria reported.

"There ain't no fucking phones in Arizona? Nobody in Washington has the juice to tell those assholes to back the fuck up?" Bert replied. "There's Brass from the Border Patrol, ICE and the FBI staring down our man from the Witness Protection Program Bert, It's going to take more Brass to send them packing with their macho intact. We should have the Gulfstream back in Boston by noon tomorrow." Harry said. "If not Harry, you're going to have Sid on a commercial airliner. That's not the smartest move in the world." Bert replied. "Tell me about it!" The Colonel replied.

Bert hung up the phone and laid his head down on his folded arms at his desk. "Can you fucking believe they ride around in that scumbag yahoo cowboy country with Geppetto boys and no fucking I.D.!" Bert said to Helen as the woman put a Gin and Tonic on the desk. "What's going to happen?" she asked. "Nothing. The kid's have been trained to sit there and smile until they're back with a staff member. Naturally, the locals will be enraged, but if they start to hit or threaten the kid's, they'll all start screaming their balls off." Bert replied as he sat back.

"Could that happen here?" Helen asked. "I guess if Dave got stopped by some local Barney Fife and couldn't talk his way out of the situation it could happen, but we've got a Secret Service field office right down the road in Durham that can take Barney's bullet away from him in a heartbeat." Bert said.

"The Secret Service knows about Geppetto?" Helen asked. "No, but they know a contact phone number for the Witness Protection Program when they see one." Bert replied. "Besides. We live on a Federal Military Reservation and whenever we leave, we have an escort of Federal Marshall's to keep the local Gestapo at arms length." "What do they know?" Helen asked. "They know that if any of us gets hassled out on the road, they're on their way to Butte, Montana for a career ending assignment." Bert replied as took a drink. Helen shook her head and giggled a bit.

Bert's night would be a long one which would not end until a phone call at 3:00 A.M. confirmed that the Gulfstream was returning to Boston after delivering a rather small, bookish looking man to Washington where he would be flown on to Yuma with a man in a $1,500 3 piece suit and a pair of sunglasses that gamma-ray's couldn't penetrate.

To look at the man, one would assume he was an accountant, maybe even a librarian. He was neither.

As the people in Arizona would find out in the morning, for "National Security" reasons, he could easily send the Border Patrol agents to the Alusion Islands to make sure no seals crossed the border illegally and send the ICE and ATF agents to Afghanistan to protect and monitor the poppy fields Uncle Sam so dearly loves and cultivates there to be used for clandestine operations across the globe. Neither prospect appealed to any of Arizona's finest.

The boys would be hastily returned to their staff with very good wishes and smiles all around (Until the Border Guard's who made the initial arrests returned to their base)

and the little Librarian would disappear until needed again by his extremely anemic looking boss.

God, don't ya just love america!

Tattoo and Taps couldn't come fast enough for Adam as he snuggled against Sammy.

Rarely did the boy begin his night with Adam in his bed, preferring instead to drift off to sleep playing and romping with the other members of the mafia until sleep finally won out over playtime. On this night however, Adam had made a specific request for Sammy to join him.

For Adam, it had little, if anything to do with romping; he needed the boys close proximity to fill an ever increasing void in his daily life since Sid's departure. It was not a matter of a loss of a sexual partner, neither Adam nor Sid had ever had a sexual relationship in the 2 years now that Adam was at Green Tree. Instead, it was more in-line with a parental loss which Adam was hard pressed to explain. Not even the absence of Adam's own Father in his life had ever affected the man this way. Without realizing it, Sid had somehow taken his Father's place in Adam's life and he was as tied to the man as any resident there, especially the boys.

"Do you think we'll be able to go on a overnight trail ride when Uncle Sid comes home Uncle Adam?" Sammy asked as the boy snuggled as close as he could get into Adam's

form. Adam kissed the side of Sammy's neck as he drew the boy into himself and their two bodies merged as one. Sammy was now a few inches taller and a few pounds heavier than he was when Adam first laid eyes on him, but no less appealing. In fact, if anything, Sammy's body was even more appealing if that was possible. Adam's hand went down the boy's chest from his neck and traveled across the boys ribcage down to his waist. Adam smiled and once more had to chuckle to himself as Sammy lifted his leg over Adam's in anticipation of what was to come. A fully rounded stomach needed to be traversed before Adam's hand drifted downward to the boys groin. A fully erect 3 inch [7½ cm] penis now throbbed in Adam's hand as the boys testicle's pulled upward against the boys groin and pinned themselves into position as Adam placed a finger on the tip of the boys head and slowly circled the rim. "I don't know what the schedule is, didn't you just go out a few days ago?" Adam asked as the boy now adjusted his body to accept Adam.

"Yeah but we want to go out again." Sammy replied as he flexed his pelvic muscle against the heat of Adam. "What does that mean?" Adam asked the boy as he nibbled at his ear. Sammy giggled as only an "Almost" (Sammy's words) 11 year old can. "It means I went to the bathroom and now it's time for us to play." He said as he aligned himself expectantly. "Playtime is what we do during the day. Tonight my little lovebug, I will not play with you. I will make love to you, because that's exactly what I am. Very, very, deeply in love with a little boy named Sammy." Adam replied as the two joined in a love most people are incapable of ever understanding but that's their loss and of no concern to anyone at Green Tree.

Sammy giggled at Adam's words, but at the same time the boy knew that his teacher and counselor was completely dedicated, not only to him, but to the rest of the boys in Green Tree. "When I grow up, I'm going to be moving into the Senior Boys compound; right Uncle Adam?" Sammy now asked. "I most certainly hope so. You don't want to be

Stuck in The Intermediate Camp when all of your friends are busy riding around in cart's and helping Uncle Dave do you?" Adam asked the boy. Sammy shook his head. "Will you be coming with me?" he now asked. "It's not impossible, but most probably I'll be staying with the Intermediates. Why?" Adam asked. "I was just thinkin. I don't know what it will be like not living with you." The boy now replied. Adam smiled somewhat and wrapped his arms around Sammy's chest and pulled him tight. "We're talking about a time still many years away. When that time comes, your Uncle Sid, and your Uncle Bert are going to make absolutely sure Sammy is moved up only when Sammy is ready to be moved up, and not a second before." Adam told the boy. "Like Jesse?" Sammy asked. "Like Jesse and like every other boy you know at Green Tree. You'll move when Sammy decides he no longer wants these arms wrapped around him like a protective cloak." Adam said as he kissed the side of Sammy's neck. Sammy fell silent for a few long seconds and finally placed his own arms on top of Adam's. The time for talk had ended; it was time for Adam to show him how much he loved him.

Under normal circumstances, the arriving passengers would have been met at the airport by vans and SUVs that would have then taken them back to Camp. Because of the Arizona problem, Alexandria wanted no Geppetto boys on the open road, and to Jesse's pure delight, The Gulfstream jet pulled up along the tarmac to a sparkling

clean blue and white Sikorsky S-92 helicopter exactly like the one at Logan International.

"What's up? We hit the lottery?" Sid asked as he left the Gulfstream with Little Kenny in his arms. Bert smiled as he hugged his friend, Kenny and all. "I'll explain it later, but our friends don't want us running around like tourists for now." Bert said as he now gave Jeanette a welcome home kiss. Waiting for Jesse to appear with Bobby, two very familiar voices broke through the sound of the Gulfstreams engines as both Sid and Jeanette spied

Timmy and Christopher half dragging Gloria along with them. All Christopher saw was the jet sitting there waiting to take him away, and all Timmy saw was Kenny as Sid put the toddler down on the ground as the boy took off for his friend.

Jesse, along with Dr.Lester and Bobby now exited the Gulfstream with Jesse sporting a Captains hat, and both boys sporting a travel bag with the Gulfstreams image embroidered on it. For Bert, this was his first view of Dr. Lester's Grandson, and the boy

pretty much fit the image Bert had of him: Small for his age of 15, well kept, shy and maybe looking a little lost. "Welcome to Green Tree, Bobby. We're very happy you decided to join us." Bert told the boy after introductions were made. "There's two friends of your Grandfather's I think you already know." Bert said as he pointed to the Sikorsky.

Staring out and waving and smiling from the windows, Benji's and Gavin's faces were clearly visible as Bobby now headed for the helicopter. "What did you do, bring the whole camp?" Sid asked as he gave Gloria a kiss and a hug that took the girl off her feet.

"They all wanted to come, but this puppy only holds 12 passengers." Bert replied as he picked up Christopher who was now starting to climb the jets stairway.

With all eight boys noses pressed firmly against the windows, the Sikorsky landed in the FEMA depot that shared the mountain with the camp. A few, but not many of the workers at the depot watched as the huge helicopter landed. Like the Federal soldiers that guarded the perimeter of the 12,000 acre refuge, there was a "Don't ask, don't tell." policy in effect for what went on inside the compound, and the less people saw, heard, or were told, the less they could be held accountable for.

"Nobody loves me?" Sid asked as he exited the helicopter to Dave and 5 carts with senior boys driving them. "We had to beat them away with baseball bats. If we let one of them come, I would have had a stampede on my hands. As it was, I had to send all five of these guys around the back side of the lake." Dave told his old friend as they hugged. "Let me be the first to ask: What did you bring me Uncle Sid?" he said.

Sid smiled once again. "Do you know what kind of looks you get when you ask the clerk for 600 boxes of salt water taffy?" Sid said as he pointed to the cartons now being off-loaded from the helicopter.

The short ride through the woods trail back to the camp found the lower camp all but deserted. "I guess the kid's are still in class, It is a school day." Gloria said as Sid looked around. "No Camp Kenny kid's on the lake?" Sid asked. "They must have all decided to swim in the pool." Bert replied as he winked at Jesse.

On top of the hill, a roar went up that has to have been heard back at the FEMA depot

as Bert's cart crested the hill with Sid in it. A large sign welcomed back Sid, Jeanette, Kenny and Jesse, while a smaller one welcomed Bobby to Green Tree. The boy read the sign as Sid uncharacteristically chocked up a little. A week's absence from these people that he loved so very much had taken its toll on the man. Gee Christopher, is it your Birthday or something? Sid kidded the boy. "Meee?" Christopher chirped in his usual way of ending a word on a much higher note.

Now surrounded in a sea of children, Sid and Jeanette spent the next fifteen minutes hugging and kissing as many children who could make their way through the crowd.

As difficult as it was for Sammy and many of the older children in the Intermediate and senior camps, they deferred their greetings to the youngest children first. Not surprisingly, 7 year old Caleb was the first to ask the number one question on most of the children's mind's; "Did ya bring me something Uncle Sid?" he asked as Sid picked up the robust little boy who two years earlier would have preferred to fall asleep and never wake up. "Since when would your Aunt Jeanette and I go away and not bring you all back something special?" Sid asked the boy as he gave him a bear hug and a kiss that

told the boy he was something very special in this world. Caleb tolerated the kiss for a few brief moments, but had something else in mind as he broke away. "What?" he asked as he took Sid's face in his little hand's. Sid smiled and fought back an emotional reaction that he knew the boy wouldn't understand. "See those big white boxes over there? Your Aunt Jeanette and I brought back one box of very special candy for each one of you." Sid told Caleb and the rest of the children within ear shot.

"Who farted?" Sid asked as a stampede of children now overwhelmed the 5 senior boy's carts with the Taffy as Bert's cart was almost deserted. "15 minutes to lunch, and you load them up with candy!" Sarah scolded the man as she gave him a kiss. "What the hell good am I if I can't spoil them?" Sid quipped back. "Great, you explain that to Chef John when he has to throw out 30 gallons of macaroni and cheese." Bert told his Assistant.

Sid shook his head. "If it was goulash or hot dogs and beans, maybe, but the senior boys have never left more than a pint of macaroni and cheese to throw away, just have him send it up them for a mid day snack." Sid responded as a chuckle went up.

"Just to be on the safe side, Jesse, tell the senior boys to have the little one's leave their taffy in the cabins until after lunch." Sid told the boy. "Very smart move." Bert told Sid as Jesse now led Bobby towards the senior boy's carts.

As patient as the Intermediate boys were in waiting for the Camp Kenny children to get in their greetings first, the staff also patiently held back in their greetings to Sid and Jeanette. With Taffy now the center of the children's attention, Adam now found an opening to greet Sid.

On the outside, Adam was calm and cool and collected. On the inside, he was close to an emotional train wreck. "What's this, ragweed season? You catch a bout of hay fever or something?" Sid asked Adam as the two hugged. "Fuck you asshole, I'm just a little depressed that you're back. It was so nice and peaceful with you gone." Adam replied as he blinked to try and clear his eyes. Sid chuckled a bit as he continued to hold his friend in a bear hug. "You keep behaving like this and people are going to start to talk." Sid told his friend as he kissed Adam on the cheek. Bert shook his head and chuckled, but Adam's unusually quiet demeanor during Sid's absence all made sense to him now.

Lunch went off without a hitch and as predicted by Sid, the last spoonful of mac and cheese disappeared long before bellies were full and leftover's came out for seconds or thirds. Rest hour after lunch was extended until 2:00 so that both Sid and Jeanette could personally visit each and every cabin in camp just in case somebody missed out on their share of hugs and kisses.

In the meantime, Jesse was the camps official greeter and escort for Bobby to show the boy his new home. The greater bulk of the afternoon was spent taking Bobby to every part of Green Tree, and by 4:00, Patty blanketed two horses and Jesse led the way out of the corral and onto the bridle path's. "The Green Trail takes us out to Look Out Point, and then we can follow it to the Meadows." Jesse explained as he showed Bobby a large plywood map of the Bridle System. "What's that?" Bobby asked as he pointed. ""That's our overnight encampment. It's called Indiantown, and it's really neat! Want to see it too?" Jesse asked the boy. Now headed up the trail, Jesse lost all track of time as Bobby explored the deep woods for the first time.

"It's decision time, do we place Bobby in a temporary cabin until he finds his own level of comfort, or do we try to build a safe nest for him now and see what develops?" Bert asked after Lunch at Bobby's first I.S.P. (Individual Service Plan.) meeting. The meeting was now attended by Bobby's Team, which consisted of 4 regular staff members and Bert, Dave, Dr. Lester (His Grandfather), Jeanette, Adam and Charlie. "But first, 2 items;

First, Sid is on Bobby's I.S.P. Team, but can't make it this afternoon. He'll fill himself in after the fact, but he's already given me his written observations and his thoughts on Bobby's eventual Plan. Secondly, you're relatively new here Dr. Lester and this is your very first I.S.P. meeting that you'll be attending at Green Tree.

We need to give you a heads up, so to speak because I'm sure you're very use to attending I.S.P.s at The New Hampshire School, and knowing Matthew as well as I do, I'm sure they're very clinical and proper. We don't play by those same rules; we speak plainly, bluntly, and sometimes, even crudely by some people's standards. Every single one of us here can impress the hell out of you with our multi-syllabic language skills in formulating a Plan and demonstrating our superior academic credentials but we don't have the time or the energy to bullshit around. We speak the King's English and in language the boys can understand when they attend their own meetings." Bert told

the Chief Psychiatrist for the Institute. Dr. Lester smiled somewhat as Jeanette shook her head. "I thought we were all supposed to be on our best behavior." Jeanette said. "That was when he was a visitor. Now we have work to do." Bert replied to chuckles from the team.

"The first order of business is to figure out where to place him. Chronologically, he belongs in the senior boys section. The problem is, he's 15 and hasn't yet reached puberty. All the tests show he has all the right plumbing, so we're simply dealing with a late bloomer." Bert said. "What are the options?" Adam asked. "The chief problem is he's shooting blanks and it's bothering the hell out of him. He has feelings of inadequacy

and extremely low self esteem. All his peers are flowing like fountains and he's still in the baby department as far as he's concerned." Bert replied.

One option is to put him temporarily in with the Intermediate's. Sid doesn't think much of that idea, because he thinks it will reinforce the "I'm a baby" delusion. The second problem Sid envisions is the very real problems that will arise once the plumbing kicks in. Depending upon how long that takes, he would have developed some pretty serious relationships with the Intermediates, and to rip him away from them would be traumatic for all concerned." Bert said.

Another option is to place him with the senior boys and hope for a quick coming-out party. We could explain to his cabin mates the problem, and I'm sure the boy's would be sensitive to the problem." Bert said. "Like we did with Terry and Jonathan?" Dave now asked. "Precisely." Bert replied. "Whose Terry and Jonathan?" Dr. Lester now asked.

"Two senior boys who are 14 and haven't reached puberty yet. The difference between them and Bobby is that unlike Bobby, the both of them are physically appropriate for their chronological age." Bert explained. "How about their psychological make-up? Are they dealing well with their situation?" Dr. Lester asked. Dave now chuckled. "As far as they're concerned, the fact that they aren't spitting yet is a plus. To them it merely means they don't have to worry about gooey underwear and wiping off the toilet seat cover." He said as more than a few chuckles were suppressed.

"What do you attribute that attitude to?" Dr. Lester asked. "Sid!" Bert, Jeanette and Dave all said simultaneously. "Any boy with puberty issues automatically gets referred to Sid. Sid himself didn't attain puberty until he was 14, well after all his friends, especially

his 3 adoptive brothers were having spitting contest's on the school house wall while Sid stood by and watched. He knows how they tick, and he knows exactly what they're going through. That's why, in these cases, Sid usually prevails as far as any Plan is concerned.

So what's his suggestions?" Adam asked. "Sid feels that Bobby would do best if we make a very comfortable nest just for him. Put him together with Terry and Jonathan in a cabin, preferably on the lake, but he maintains a schedule with the senior boys, not the Intermediates." Bert replied as he read from Sid's notes. "With what staff?" Jeanette asked. "Sid didn't really think that would matter, but suggested Charlie or Greg from Kevin's cabin.

"Greg? How could we put Greg in a different cabin? We can't separate Greg and Bruce right now, can we?" Adam asked. Bert shook his head, "Bruce has come a long way, but

he's not ready for separation from Greg just yet. If we chose Greg, Bruce goes with him." he declared.

"And if we chose Charlie, what about his six boys?" Jeanette asked. "Neither Jerry or Marty would take it too kindly if they were moved out of the senior boy's campus. If I got moved, we'd have to figure out where to place them in the senior boy's camp. I don't see any problems with Jacob, Eddy or Craig; they're on a totally different schedule as the camp Bugler's so it really doesn't matter to them where they live. As for Jesse, he'd return to the Intermediate camp tomorrow if you gave him half a chance." Charlie declared.

"You'd feel comfortable allowing Jerry and Marty to roam unrestricted?" Jeanette asked. "Nobody's seen any signs of either one of them going back to their old tricks.

I don't think they'll ever forget the past, but they know what they can and cannot do and I doubt that we'd see any problems so long as their needs are met in safer ways." Charlie reported.

"Old tricks?" Dr. Lester asked. "These are the two boys that were involved with their old Albemarle staff member in S&M. We sent you the reports." Bert told the Doctor.

Dr. Lester nodded. "I remember that. You feel they're cured?" he asked Charlie.

Charlie smiled and looked at Bert. "Cured? You don't get "Cured" from this stuff Doc.

You might put it in a drawer for safe keeping, but once you get a taste for it, especially Auto Erotic Asphyxia; what the nitwits out there call "The chocking game", it's in your blood. It's not called the "Cadillac" of masturbation for nothing and once you've been introduced, you just don't forget it." Charlie told the Doctor.

"Why do you call them nitwits?" The Dr. now asked. "Because by calling it a "Game" they end up making it more attractive to kids who'll just want to try this new game and how it's played. It ain't a game at all, it's another way to jerk off that is said to be extremely intense. The problem is, when these kids try it all alone, they usually end up dead from accidentally hanging themselves. They weren't suicidal; they wanted to get off plain and simple." Charlie said.

"Do you agree with that conclusion?" Dr. Lester asked Bert. "Charlie's a product of his environment Doc, we raised him. "The Chocking Game" label is nothing more than a nice way to let parents off the hook and avoid any feelings of guilt or responsibility for their children's need to hide their sexual feelings in attics, garages, bedroom closets and wherever Mommy and Daddy won't find them pulling their pudding. It's tough to tell a parent he's got a dead kid because the kid was jerking off in shame and in secret. It's a really stupid reason to die." Bert told the man. "If we pretend they played the game "To get high", all feelings of guilt and shame are wiped out. It's "The pusher's" fault and we need to find and blame him. The problem is; there is no "Pusher" it's usually the kid next door who learned it from the kid next to him." Bert concluded.

"Let's get back to Bobby. Is it feasible to put together a cabin with Charlie and have Bobby join him with Terry and Jonathan?" Jeanette asked. "We could open up Cabin 16

and have Charlie as the Senior Counselor, but we would need a Junior Counselor in there as well. Charlie's dance card is full from dawn to dusk and sometimes long after, He would need back-up staff." Dave replied. "Like who?" Jeanette asked. "What about Greg?" Bert asked looking at Adam. "We would need to find a replacement for Kevin, and, in my view, we would need to send Bruce along with him. Bruce is still too fragile

to be removed from Greg's care." Adam replied.

"Would Bruce fit in with the rest of those boys?" Dr. Lester asked. "He'd be the youngest boy in that cabin right now, but he'd have Jesse and Greg which are both known entity's to him. Size wise, he's comparable to Bobby and we have the added advantage of him being pre-pubescent. I could foresee Bruce, Bobby and Jesse forming an alliance pretty early on." Adam replied. Bert nodded in agreement.

OK, so the proposal is to open Cabin 16, have Charlie and Greg staff it, fill it with Jacob, Edward, Craig, Jesse, Bruce and Bobby. If Jerry and Marty want to split off, they are assimilated into the Senior Campus. If not, they remain with Charlie. Anybody have any questions or want to drop a blackball into the bowl?" Bert asked the Team.

"Are they an Intermediate boys Cabin or a Senior boys Cabin?" Adam asked.

"If they're declared a part of the Senior boys, Bruce is cut off from the Intermediates and he's plunked in the middle of Senior boys overnight rules. If it's an Intermediate Cabin, We've got Intermediate's inter-acting with Senior boys.

Bert sat back in his chair and thought. "Cabin 16 would be neither. It's what we call a "Transitional" Cabin, not Intermediate, and not Senior boy. It will be a "Bridge" if you will between both camps and have a special status." Bert replied.

"You think the Intermediate Boys will buy that?" Jeanette asked. "Executive Privilege." Bert replied to a round of chuckles. "Sorry Dr. Whenever the rules are bent, I always reserve the right of Executive Privilege. I'll still get a ton of "No fair", but they know the argument is lost." Bert told the Doctor.

"So we're in agreement?" Bert asked the group. With no objections, the Plan was now

approved. Green Tree would have a brand new Cabin and it would be called

"Charlie's Bridge".

After arriving at Look-Out Point and showing it to Bobby, Jesse turned the horses towards the trail that led to Indiantown, and then on to the Meadows. By that time, both boys were well past their Scale 3 timetable for engaging. Up to this point in time, Bobby had stayed with his familiar group of friends who were part of the restoration crew on Block Island, and neither boy had been with each other before.

As familiar as both boys were of romping with their peers, there still existed just a touch of shyness when it came to getting it on, more so on Bobby's part than on Jesse's who was in very familiar territory. Now laying in a field of wheat that stood taller than either boy, Bobby commenced the conversation.

"Do they let us do it outside, or are we restricted to the dorms like we are at The New Hampshire School?" Bobby asked Jesse. "You mean fuck?" Jesse asked. Bobby's face felt a little hot to him as he closed his eyes and felt himself getting an erection. "I guess so." Bobby replied weakly. "The rules is that we can fuck anywhere we want to unless it's a public area like the Mess Hall or the Pool. We also can't fuck in the classrooms or in the rec hall, but there's a pretty neat storage area in the attic where we can go to fuck anyway." Jesse said with a giggle. "What about outdoors?" Bobby asked. "We can fuck in the lake, but we gotta make sure that there aren't any girls around first. We can also do it in the woods, but Aunt Jeanette wants us to make sure that none of the Camp Kenny kid's are around when we do it." Jesse said as he chewed on a piece of wheat.

Bobby was silent for several seconds, but finally found some courage. "What about here?" He asked. "Shit! Even if there was girls and Camp Kenny kids just a few feet away from us they couldn't see what we was doin, so it don't matter up here." Jesse replied. "Have you ever done it with anybody up here?" Bobby asked. Jesse laughed and sat up on his elbows. "Except when it was snowin! You wanna do it now?" Jesse asked.

Bobby opened his eyes and sat up. Jesse was just about the same size as he was, but as far as Bobby was concerned Jesse was so very much more than he was. A golden tan adorned Jesse's body while Bobby was fairly thin and as close to Casper the Ghost as you could get. Jesse had a fairly well endowed set, while his package looked more like some toddlers just out of diapers. Jesse was athletic and outgoing, while Bobby was rather retiring and had never swung a bat in his life. Now, Jesse sat before him with a tent in his shorts and a left testicle that was moving towards Jesse's groin that was plainly visible because of the lack of underpants on Jesse. "Do you?" Bobby asked shyly.

Flipping onto his back with his legs straight up in the air. Jesse's short's hit the ground

In a matter of seconds, Jesse was now standing very proud and tall in front of him as he came forward and knelt in front of Bobby. "Lay down, I'll take care of these shorts." Jesse told the boy as Bobby laid back and once again closed his eyes.

At 15 and being a Geppetto boy, Bobby had experienced oral sex being performed on himself more times than he could remember giving it. Nevertheless, Jesse had never performed it before on him and Jesse was never in any great hurry to perform any sexual act regardless of its complexity.

The birds over head may have made sounds, as had the wind blowing through the wheat, but if it did, Bobby never heard any of it. For a good ten minutes, he might just as well have been deaf as Jesse brought him to places he had only dreamed about before in the briefest throes of a seedless climax. When Jesse was finished, he had a very pink penis and a very wet forehead as he lay there almost breathless feeling his heart pound in his chest.

It took several minutes before he fully recovered while Jesse sat Indian style alongside him and massaged his body with both hands from his neck to his knee's. "Let your dick get soft and when you can take a piss, let me know and I'll make you a blood brother." Jesse told the boy. "Blood brother?" Bobby asked. "Yup, we're all blood brothers here.

First I'll become your blood brother, and then you'll become mine." Jesse told the boy.

"With real blood?" Bobby asked somewhat timidly. "Of course not, Uncle Bert don't let us do nothin like that, so we use piss instead." Jesse replied matter of factly. "Piss?" Bobby asked a little bewildered. "I'll show ya." Jesse replied.

Within a few minutes, Bobby realized he could urinate once again. Jesse immediately got between the boys legs and took hold of his penis. "When I put it in my mouth, piss." he said as Bobby's penis disappeared from site. It took some concentrating, but Bobby finally got his mind off the fact that his penis was once again sitting somewhere on Jesse's tongue, and was able to release his bladder. 3 large swallows later, Jesse pinched Bobby's urethra shut and backed off. Once out of the way, he let Bobby's urine flow once more as an arch flowed to Bobby's feet and fell to the ground. Once done. Jesse sat on Bobby's chest and presented his penis to the boy. "Ya don't gotta drink it all unless ya want to. It don't take a lot to become a blood brother." Jesse said smiling. For Bobby, this was a first. He had been pee'd upon before by his friends in the showers at school, but nobody had ever suggested it be swallowed. "Everybody does this?" Bobby asked as he looked at Jesse's penis. "Sure, that's why I drank yours first." Jesse replied grinning.

What's fair is fair, and several hours after arriving, Bobby became Jesse's blood brother. He did not become everybody's blood brother at Green Tree, but one out of two would be a very good guess.

"Jesse!" A senior boy called out to both boys as they sat at the water station drinking a cold soda. "Here" Jesse replied as he stood up on the water trough and waved to the boy on the 4 wheeler. "Uncle Bert and Uncle Sid want you back right now. Do you know what time it is?" the boy asked as he parked the 4 wheeler. "5:00? Jesse asked. "More like 6:00, Uncle Bert wants you back right now!" The boy repeated. Getting off the machine, the boy took the reins of the horses. You take my machine back and I'll take the horses. Where are your pants?" He asked both boys. Jesse shrugged as Bobby felt his face getting a little hot once again. "Never mind, Pick up a pair at your cabin and beat feet for the Mess Hall." The boy ordered as he mounted one of the horses.

Sid's afternoon was spent hopping from one cabin to another with Jeanette in the Camp Kenny compound, and then later on with Adam in the various areas that the Intermediate boys could be found. Sid's choice of bringing back Taffy went over like a lead balloon with staff in Camp Kenny who were now busy getting the Taffy out of hair and off the rugs in the cabins. Things went better with the Intermediates except for those boys counselor's who had braces and retainers to deal with. By 5:00 the Beachview boys

along with the rest of the mafia were back in the cove and Adam and Sid had their first real opportunity to sit back and talk with a cold beer and for Adam, the feeling that Green Tree was whole once again.

"So why the long face when I came back? Has Bert been dumping all my work on your shoulders, or did you assume you were the new Assistant Director permanently and sorry to see my ass back here?" Sid joked in his usual way as the cove reverberated with the sounds of screaming kids in the lake and on Turtle Rock.

Adam smiled and chuckled a bit, but his mood was not in joking. As close to the boys and girls in his cabin and in the rest of the camp as he had become, his closeness to Sid was never tested until the man was gone for a full week. To be sure, he felt a little lost and alone, like a child lost in a Mall searching for his Father. Somehow and someway, Sid had become indispensable to Adam, and it was a feeling he had never experience in his life before, not even for his own Father.

"When you were a child with your Uncle Kenny, did he ever leave you and your brothers for an extended period of time?" Adam asked not taking the bait to joke.

Sid was very quiet for a very long time as he nodded his head and rocked slowly in the chair he was sitting in. As Adam had seen thousands of times in the past two years, Sid could change from the campus clown to the Georgetown Graduate in Early Childhood Education and Psychology Major on a dime. He had now changed.

"I can answer that question, but first, let me ask you one; When you were a little boy and home safe and sound surrounded by your family and friends, did you ever get the feeling you were homesick, and yet you were home all that time?" Sid asked.

Adam thought back and did not have to think too deeply. It had only happened a very few times, maybe twice or three times when he was 8 to 10 years old, but it did happen and it confused the hell out of him. Who, or where in the world could he possibly be so homesick for? "Yes, does that make me some kind of a nut job, or was I simply sub-consciously missing my former life?" Adam asked.

Sid smiled a little. "I asked my Uncle Kenny the same exact thing. His answer was that I was neither nuts, nor that I was missing my horse in my former life as a Pony Express Rider. He told me that every now and then a person's brain comes across a missing link or an unconnected neuron that needs explaining. That feeling of homesickness comes when something is missing, but you sometimes don't know exactly what it is. It's a pretty scary feeling when you know you're standing on solid ground and yet you feel like you're standing on thin ice and ready to fall in." Sid said.

"Good analogy, but it doesn't explain the cause or the cure." Adam replied. "The cause is because you're human; the cure is to not care about anyone or anything, or, replace what's missing.

Uncle Kenny explained my homesickness as a sub conscious desire on my part to be "Whole." It took me a few years to sort out exactly what being "Whole" meant, but it came to me eventually.

Bert and I can throw your ass on the couch if you want, but I think your sub conscious was merely trying to fill a temporary void that you felt, but the cure was made by a Gulfstream jet flying at 500 miles an hour [800 km/h]." Sid said smiling. Adam smiled back, but despite his very best efforts, his cheeks burned as his eyes filled and spilled over.

Adam put down his beer and wiped his face dry. "Too many fucking beers, I need to cut back." He said. "I love you too my friend." Sid responded as Carla and Jeannie came charging up from the lake.

"We were ready to send out the dogs to look for you. Were you planning on eating at second sitting?" Bert asked as Jesse and Bobby came running into the Mess Hall. "Sorry Uncle Bert, we went up on the Meadow and lost track of time." Jesse said as he and Bobby sat down in a pair of shorts and nothing else. "We don't dress for dinner anymore?" Sid asked as he looked at both boys. "We were in a hurry to get here so we just put on some shorts." Jesse exclaimed as he filled his plate with Lasagna. "So the Meadow became your laundry bin?" Sid asked. Jesse smiled somewhat as he poured a coating of cheese on his food. "Me and Bobby are blood brothers now." Jesse replied as Bobby sunk down a little in his chair as the rest of the boys around the table straightened their backs for a glance. "Oh really? So I guess that means Uncle John can save a little on the milk bill tonight?" Sid now asked. Jesse giggled while Bobby busied himself eating and avoided eye contact. "Blood brothers?" Dr, Lester asked as he looked for any signs of cuttings on either boy. "The boys can explain it later Doc, but there's no real blood involved." Sid said as several boys now giggled.

"Tomorrow during school, we will be putting together a new cabin on campus for Uncle Charlie and Uncle Greg. They'll be moving to Cabin 16 with Uncle Charlie's boys and Bobby. For tonight, Bobby can opt to sleep in Uncle Thomas's cabin with his Grandfather, or in Uncle Charlie's cabin in the senior boys compound." Bert told the assembled. All eyes at the table now shifted to Bobby.

"If he stays in Uncle Thomas's cabin, does Jesse get to stay with him?" Sammy now asked. "If he wants to and if he's invited, I guess so." Bert replied. "So that means Jesse and Bobby ain't sleepin in the senior boys camp and they can have overnight visitors?" Sammy quickly asked as all food consumption now halted at the tables.

Bert shook his head as he looked at Sid and Adam. "Tonight is the first night for Bobby at Green Tree. Can we give him a little breathing room before we all descend on him like a pack of vultures?" Bert asked the table. "He's already Jesse's blood brother and he's a Geppetto boy Uncle Bert. What's the big deal?" Trevor asked. Bert smiled somewhat. "When you first came Trevor, did you want to get to know people slowly, or did you want your Uncle Sid and I to throw you to the lions and get devoured on the first night?" Bert asked the boy as the giggling increased.

"We won't eat him Uncle Bert, we promise!" Matty now said with a dimpled smile. Bert had to chuckle along with Dr. Lester, Adam and Sid. "Your Uncle Sid is now Bobby's Primary Uncle. Any decisions like that will have to be discussed with him." Bert now declared. "In other words Dr. Lester, He's passing the buck and making me the bad guy." Sid told the Chief Psychiatrist as all eyes now trained on him.

"If I'm lucky, Bobby and I have spent less than 6 hours with each other and during all that time, we've said about ten sentences to each other, none of which were about how we are feeling, and what we would like to do, or not to do. I need some Talk Time to speak with him and make sure he's comfortable with us. You guys are going to give me that time, right?" Sid asked the boys. "Sure Uncle Sid, you gots three hours before Tattoo!" Sammy replied. "Right! That should give me all the time in the world to solve the Earth's problems." Sid said as he shook his head and resumed eating.

The normal routine after dinner was to have quiet play, usually centered around the lake. That evening, all the Intermediate camps attention was directed towards Cabin 16 which was one of the larger cabins that sat on pilings right off the lake's shoreline in a cul-de- sac all its own. While most of the cabins that surround the lake are constructed in Log Cabin Style, Cabin 16 was built in French Chalet Style, one of 4 who are. At night, it lights up the lake like a great huge carved Halloween pumpkin, and even empty of campers and being used as a storage area, it was a favorite spot of the campers because it held a diving board off it's porch with direct access into the lake. For all intent and purposes, it was a diving platform. Now, the Intermediate boys literally surrounded the cabin on all four sides as they watched the senior boys load up crate after crate of bedding and new clothing that supplied the camps needs.

"Gee Uncle Dave; does this mean we can't go diving off the porch anymore?" An Intermediate boy asked the camps Chief Engineer. "That's a decision that will have to be left to Uncle Charlie and Uncle Greg. This is their new home now and the cabin will be under their rules." Dave replied. "Sheesh! We live in Blair House and we don't got no diving boards of our own. How are we gonna be able to swim?" the boy asked as a small rooting section echoed his sentiments. "Brandon, the last time I counted, there were at least 15 diving boards that are available for General Swim in open area's. Can't we find one that you can dive off?" Dave asked the boy. "Gee Uncle Dave, just about every other cabin in camp has their own private boards. How come we can't have ours?" Another boy asked from the same cabin. Dave shook his bowed head. "You're asking for something I can't authorize. You may have a very valid request and the proper forum to make it is at the General Meeting on Friday night." Dave replied. "If we ask Uncle Bert, will you tell him it's a good idea?" Brandon asked. "If you ask Uncle Bert, I will tell him I will build it, but you will need to figure out where I can find the time in a 12 hour day." Dave replied. "We'll help you!" Several boys said at once. Dave nodded his head figuring that would add at least a day to the build.

By 8:00 or so, the emptying of Cabin 16 had lost a great deal of its allure, and the Intermediate boys drifted away in small groups to take a sail or watch a baseball game up on the hill. In the meantime, Dave and his crew began to put the cabin back into service as a living unit. Like a well oiled machine, the girls from Camp Kenny were replacing curtains, kitchenware, and bedding without the need for direction or comment.

"Jerry and Marty have decided to move with us tomorrow, but they've reserved the right to change their minds and find a better place to hang their hats just in case they decide they don't like the new digs." Charlie said as he stopped his cart in front of his new cabin.

"So how many beds are we talking about?" Gloria asked. "I3 bodies. Two Queen size,

five King size." Charlie replied as the girl took notes.

"When do we exchange cabins?" Charlie now asked Dave. "We can have the cabin ready for occupancy by tomorrow afternoon, but you may be finding some items missing. Keep a list, and we'll bring the place up to speed for you and the boys by Thursday or Friday." Dave replied. "You also want to know that this place has been a diving platform for the past few months, and the Intermediates were really bummed about loosing it."

"The only time I've ever seen boys here is during General Swim. They have access to the back porch without going through the house, right?" Charlie asked. "I guess so; this place has always been locked up." Dave reported. "During General Swim, I'm usually still out working on campus somewhere so it really won't effect me. On the other hand, Greg will be here to monitor our guys, so he'll be dealing with any company. How many kid's are we talking about?" Charlie asked. "Probably a dozen, maybe two." Dave replied. Charlie shrugged his shoulders. "Greg's use to watching the mafia in the cove, they're closer to 3 to 4 dozen." Charlie said with a smile as he looked at Greg. "But in the cove I always had Etienne and Anthony to help me watch them." Greg reported. Dave nodded. "I'll bring this up with Dan. Maybe he can assign a Senior Life Guard on a jet ski for back-up." Dave replied as Greg nodded in anxious agreement.

Following the I.S.P. for Bobby, Dr. Lester followed the twins around during their afternoon activities. As the newest members of the 3 cabin group known as the mafia, both boys, Gavin and Benji were on a very fast learning curve regarding the available activities, and were still being shown the rules and regulations that were expected of them. Dr. Lester watched from a small distance, as the mafia filled in the unknown.

"If it's raining or too cold out, we can sign up for Arts and Crafts if Uncle Peter still has room." Sammy explained as the boys all walked into the Rec. Hall together.

"Did you guys get lost, or has it started to snow?" Peter asked the boys who immediately giggled. Picking up one of his favorite boys, the Priest gave Billy a welcoming kiss as the boy wrapped an arm around the man's neck having no immediate intentions of being put back down on the floor. "Benji and Gavin ain't got no lanyard's for their whistle's Uncle Peter. Can we make some for them?" Trevor now asked the man. "No problem, what would the rest of you guys like to do while they make their lanyard's?" Peter asked. "How about making models?" Sammy immediately asked.

Peter nodded as he opened a tall storage closet that contained literally hundreds of boxes of every type of model boat, plane and car known to the toy industry.

As the rest of the mafia now selected a model to build and moved to a work table, Peter took out lanyard material and started two lanyards while the twins and Billy sat watching. "Once I get it going, I'll show you the diamond stitch, and you'll make it three feet [90 cm] long." Peter instructed the boys as Dr. Lester watched.

"This is your very first visit to the Arts and Crafts area. How do you boys like camp life so far?" Peter asked. "It's kinda swell, we gets to do lots of stuff, and we even became blood brothers already!" Benji reported as he watched the counselor work on the lanyard. "I've heard that term before, how do you become blood brothers?" Dr. Lester now asked curiously. "That's easy Poppe! Everybody in camp is blood brothers here. All ya gotta do is let the other kid drink your pee pee and then you drink his. Then you're blood brothers for life!" Gavin chirped. Dr. Lester was caught by surprise. "Drink pee?" he asked.

"The ritual was developed about 30 years ago when the boys back then watched a movie that showed a scene in it about a group of boys who became blood brothers the old fashioned way. After a small group of boys duplicated the scene on themselves, Green Tree's original Director wanted to nip the practice in the bud and developed a less invasive form of the ritual. "Drinking each others urine?" the Dr. asked.

"It beats a rusty pen knife." Peter replied with a smile. "You didn't mind?" Dr Lester asked the twins. "Heck no Poppe, it was fun. We do it all the time!" Benji said with a smile. Dr. Lester looked at Billy who was sitting on the table Indian style. The boy said nothing but merely smiled back and nodded his head in agreement.

Once the twins were shown how to make a diamond stitch and the rest of the boys were knee deep in model glue and applying the decals to their models, the lone participant with no project now reattached himself to Peter. As Dr. Lester watched, Billy whispered into the counselor's ear so as not to be heard, and Peter gave the boy a hug and excused himself from the group. "He'll be right back Uncle Poppe, Billy wants to play with Uncle Peter and he sure does know how to play!" Trevor told the Dr. as the rest of the boys all giggled amongst themselves.

"Billy thinks he's cool because he's one of Uncle Peter's pet's." Andrew said as once again, the rest of the group giggled. "And what do you think about that?" Dr. Lester asked. "It don't matter, Uncle Peter loves us all, but he likes Billy a lot more just like Uncle Adam loves Sammy a lot more than he loves the rest of us. Uncle Sid says it's just the way Outside Uncle's are; they gotta attach themselves to some people more than others because they ain't Geppetto boys and they can't keep fucking all the time like we can." Matty said as Sammy looked up from his work. "We ain't attached, we just love each other." Sammy replied.

"Don't you think the other boys love Uncle Adam too?" Dr. Lester asked. "Sure they do, and Uncle Adam loves them back. He just gotta love one person more than the rest because that's the way he was raised when he wus a little boy. It ain't his fault, he wus just raised wrong. We don't gotta do that, we can love hundred's of people." Sammy replied with a dimpled smile.

"So why do you think Uncle Adam chose you?" the Dr. asked. Sammy smiled and he also blushed a little for probably the first time in years. "I asked Uncle Adam the same thing. He say's there is no specific reason, it's like asking Uncle Bert why he chose to live with Aunt Helen, or why Uncle Sid chose to live with Aunt Patty. There's a hundred girls in camp, why did they pick just those two and not just fuck all of them? Uncle Adam said if we knew the answer to that question, we could get very rich." Sammy said.

"So why do you think Billy loves Uncle Peter so much, and why do you love Uncle Adam so much?" he asked the boy. Most of the boys who did not have their noses deeply buried in their work now giggled once again as Sammy turned ever so lightly pink once again. "Did ya ever fuck with an Outside Uncle, Uncle Poppe?" he asked. Dr. Lester was slightly taken aback, but as a Psychiatrist, he had heard just about everything in his 40 some years of Practice. "No, I can't say that I have." He answered. "Well if ya did, you would know." Sammy replied. "So the reason you love Uncle Adam so much is strictly because he knows how to please you sexually?" The Dr. asked. "Heck no! Everybody in Green Tree knows how to fuck, that's just silly. I love Uncle Adam because he makes me feel really special inside like nobody else does. Don't you got somebody like that?" Sammy asked the man.

"Poppe ain't a Uncle, he's just a grandpa. Grandpa's don't fuck." Benji now said. A slight look of confusion now appeared on Sammy's face and more than a few others. "Oh." Sammy said as he went back to his plane model. Dr. Lester shook his head, but decided to leave the issue for another time.

Peter's return to the group had Billy attached to the counselor like a baby Rhesus monkey to its Mother. Making models was a favorite of the boy, but for the time being he was unwilling to lose physical contact with the man. A few boys looked up from their work briefly, but quickly went back to their chore without comment or reaction.

Billy was in a place all of them had been in the not so distant past, and would be in again if the chance presented itself. "How are we doing?" Peter asked as Dr. Lester looked into the eyes of a child that seemed like he was off somewhere in a dream state.

"How's this Uncle Peter?" Gavin asked as he held up his lanyard. "Not bad, but we still need about 16 inches [40 cm] more before we have enough to start making the box stitch." Peter answered as he looked at Gavin's work in progress and tightened it up a bit.

"Are they keeping you busy?" Peter now asked the Doctor. Dr. Lester smiled. "Yes, we were discussing my love life." He answered with a chuckle. "He don't got one Uncle Peter, he ain't a Uncle, he's just a Grandpa." Sammy said as he continued his work. The look on Peter's face demanded a response from the Doctor. "I'll explain later." He told the counselor as he smiled.

The debate concerning Bobby's first night at Green Tree was settled more or less by Sid who decided that Dr. Lester and Bobby would stay in Thomas's cabin since he was still up in New England with Anthony, Spencer and David. "As far as any overnight visitors are concerned, That choice is yours Doc, but be careful because these boys usually don't act alone. Where one goes, you'll generally have half a dozen or more that will follow.

So if you give one of them permission, make sure you understand who's in back of him." Sid counseled the Psychiatrist as he showed him Thomas's cabin.

As Tattoo blew, both Jesse and the twins had already received permission to stay overnight, and with showers behind them, all 4 boys sat on the front deck of the cabin as darkness overtook the camp and lake. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed by Taps?" Dr. Lester asked the boys. "No, Poppe, we don't gotta be in bed, we just gotta be in the cabin and quiet so we don't wake up anybody who wants to sleep." Benji replied. "Are we in the cabin?" Dr. Lester asked. "Yes, the porches on all the cabins are part of the cabin, and Uncle Bert don't care if we're out here as long as we're quiet and don't shine flashlights on the other cabins." Jesse now said as the twins nodded agreement. "Uncle Bert says this is a great time to discuss the day and maybe even have Talk Time if we want." Gavin now said. "OK, let's discuss your day. Did you two have a good day and is Max working out for you?" He asked. "We had a cool time today Poppe. We never been in a helicopter before!" Benji replied. "And what about Max.?" The Dr. asked. "We only wear it in the morning after breakfast until lunch time. After that, we just play like we always did, but now we got a lot of friends to play with. This place is really cool!" Benji said as Gavin nodded in agreement. "What about your school work? Do you have trouble concentrating when Max turns on?" The Dr. asked. "No, when Max turns on we just sit down and cross our legs. It don't take very long, and then we go back to what we were doing. All our teachers know what's happening, and they just wait until we're finished and Max turns off." Gavin replied. Dr. Lester now nodded. "How about the other children? What do they say?" He asked. "They think it's OK. They all got lots of toys to play with if they want to, but usually, they only like to play without them. They say it's better that way because we're all having fun together." Benji replied. Dr. Lester smiled somewhat and put Benji on his lap. "I think you have very wise friends. The only reason that we're making Max available to you is to give you the opportunity to concentrate on your school work. When there is no school, there is no need to use Max." He said to both boys. "That's what Uncle Bert and Uncle Adam and Uncle Kevin said too. Even Aunt Stephanie said we didn't have to use it if we didn't want to, but it's OK Poppe, it don't hurt us." Benji said. Doctor Lester rarely became emotionally involved with any of his patients, but with the twins, the man found that to be impossible as he wrapped the boy up in his arms and hugged him. "Nobody here will ever hurt you boys. That's a promise I make to you and to Bobby." He told both boys.

What about you Jesse? How was your day?" He asked. "Me and Bobby had a really great time on the trails, I showed him Look-Out Point, Indiantown and the Meadows this afternoon." Jesse said. "And you and Bobby became blood brothers!" Gavin said.

Dr. Lester nodded. "So I understand. What do you think Bobby? Are you going to like it here?" He asked the boy who was just a small shade of pink. "I think so Poppe. Everybody here is very nice, and they have a whole lot of fun things to do. Have you been out on the horses?" The boy asked his Grandfather. "Oh yes! And maybe tomorrow you and I can take a trip up to the Meadow. It is a very beautiful place." The Doctor replied. Bobby nodded his head as he rocked in his chair and smiled.

"Poppe, when are you going to have to go back home?" Bobby now asked. "I have a great deal of work to do back in Boston, but making sure that you, Benji and Gavin are

being taken care of properly is my top priority. I believe that Green Tree is the best possible place for you to be in, or I would not have approved of your being here. I'll be here until this Sunday just to make sure all is well." Dr. Lester replied. "And when will you come back?" Gavin asked. Dr. Lester now had to smile. The tone of insecurity in the little boys voice reminded him of the time he brought the twins to the New Hampshire School and dropped them off. "We've known each other now for about 9 month's. During that time, have I always been just a phone call away from you?" He asked both boys. "Yes Poppe". They both said. "Well I still am and there's a great big jet sitting at the airport to take me back here if the need arises." He told them. "And a helicopter!" Gavin quickly added.

Both boys curled up alongside the man on the porch swing as his Grandson Bobby and Jesse watched from their rocking chairs. Within minutes, the twins breathing told all that they had fallen asleep as the only sounds heard were from an owl somewhere in a tall pine tree alongside the cabin.

The future for all four boys was unknown, but for now, the peaceful, tranquil setting was ideal for all concerned as the cabin lights surrounding the lake disappeared one by one as the bugler blowing Taps reverberated off the lake and through the tree's to a blanket of twinkling stars above. Doctor Lester looked down upon the twins as they slept and saw in their faces what had to be two Angels resting for the night, but ready to take the world on once again at the first light of Dawn.

NEXT PART