PZA: The New Neighbor Boy 15-18

Mr. Poore is having a party - for Benny. Surprises for the boy, despite what Scott did. Benny's big mystery is solved, but it's not what he thought it would be. Benny hears what real abuse is and gets lectured on how good he has it. This chapter has sex with minors in it, a little.

By the time I got cleaned up and dressed, the caterers were already bringing stuff into the kitchen and living room. I passed Joe in the hall, and he said all the boys were downstairs, out of the way. I could hear some noise from down there, and figured they must have the TV going down there, or a tape or something. I wondered what they were watching when I bumped into a man in the living room that I didn't know.

"You must be Benny!" He greeted me with a hug. Friendly sort, wasn't he? Then again, I figured anyone Mr. Poore had invited 3; that Dad had invited 3; would be just like his friends I already knew.

He stared at me. "You're the boy who called my office some days ago! It was YOU! What were you doing, prank calling with friends? I know you don't need to buy a house!" He laughed.

"Oh, Martin's already told me what a little sleuth you are!" He laughed. "Hot on the trail, were you Sherlock?"

"Yes, sir." I didn't know what to say. How much trouble was I in, if Leon had told Dad that I'd called his office, with the Kim/Tyrone connection? Besides, since the collar was a bug, there was no way he could NOT know. They had to know I was onto them about something. 'I'm in a lotta trouble', I thought.

I'd seen Leon that day outside the record store, but I guessed he didn't get a very good look at me, since he introduced his boy, Kim. Of course I remembered Kim. He hugged me, and he was totally different from when I'd talked to him at the mall. He wasn't nervous. He was wearing the same white clothes as Canyon had been, too – like a church team soccer player or something. Whites that contrasted his not-quite brown skin.

"This is my boy, Kim," Leon introduced us. "I think he's a few years older than you?"

He might have been older, but he had a little boy voice. I assumed he was castrated. I was beginning to think I was the only one who wasn't.

"Kim just turned 16," Leon told me. "And he's starting to hit that gangly stage, I'm afraid. I hope he comes out of it, like Bobbie did."

"Wow, 16?" I told him. "You don't look a day over 12!" I laughed. We both did. OK, well he WAS taller.

I heard Joe's radio going off then, but he was supposed to be off duty. I caught the words "bicycle 3; 24 hours 3; called again 3;"

I figured it had to be Scott's mom. I felt bad for her, since I knew she was flipped about Ronnie King's kidnapping from Leavitstown. I could see her, thinking Scott was in his room, grounded, and then finding him and his bike gone.

"They won't even order us to look for him for 24 hours," Joe told me, with a wink. "Say, Benny, we've got a big surprise for you when the caterer's leave!"

"Is that when everyone gets naked, sir?" I asked, trying to sound like I wasn't worried. But I was. I was starting to suspect some other stuff, and it scared me.

"Well, the shirt makes YOU look like a huge green M&M," Joe told me, then he swatted my butt. "You look a LOT better without it! I think YOU could use some police brutality, little mister!"

"I can't believe how he's toned up in just two weeks," Joe said, making me flex my muscle. I was beginning to get some, and I was proud of that. "I hope you're hanging around, since Jeffie is going to be staying the week?"

"You're not bothered by Martin's lifestyle?" Leon asked me. "And you just met him two weeks ago? Is that right?"

"Yes, sir. He and Canyon never came out or anything for the first two months. I guess Bob said they were busy remodeling?" I said.

"Speak of the devil!" Joe said, as Bob came in with Bobbie. Bobbie was a bit taller than Kim, but every bit just as boyish. I knew he had to be older, and wasn't on shots. He was lanky, too.

"Oh, no!" Bob laughed. "You just wait, you little sneak! Boy am I glad we got this kid!"

'Got me'? I thought. I didn't feel 'got'; well, maybe a little. I felt like I had 'got' something, though. Something I wanted to keep. If I was in trouble, well, I guess I deserved what I got for snooping.

We tried to stay out of everyone's way getting it all set up, and decided to go outside. It was still hot and humid, but clouding up fast. It was gonna storm, I knew it.

I met another man outside, and he introduced himself as Mr. Frederick. He was kinda old, too. He was busy talking to Mr. Po 3; Dad.

"Oh, it' s confirmed, Martin. Neglect, abuse, stealing drugs? Controlled substance fraud? I mean, she's got NOTHING on you! What can she prove? Dr. Kent will bury her." Mr. Frederick was saying, "And these other papers, we've modified the bir 3;"

Dad cleared his throat. Mr. Fred, as I'd called him before, looked up and blushed. He had grey hair, and I figured it was the 'Mr. Fred' dad had met in England 11 years ago. He introduced himself, with a hug like everyone else did. Dad told him what I'd called him. He laughed.

I still wasn't used to the idea that I had a dad, but I liked it. I'd been hugged that night more than I had in the last six months at home.

"Why yes, I am! Say, have you been down to meet Henry yet?" He asked me. I shook my head. "He's about your age, maybe a bit older? Ginger hair, freckles, glasses?"

"I'll look for him, sir!" I told him. Then I turned to Dad. "Sir, this is a LOT of stuff?"

"Don't you worry about it, Benny. It's all in your honor! Think of it as 12 years of missing birthday parties! I have such surprises for you yet!" He told me, taking my hand.

"Sir, I don't think I can stand much more," I smiled. You see, I didn't know if anyone else knew, so I didn't call him 'dad' out loud in front of them. I whispered it in his ear.

"OH, no! That would have ruined it, Benny!" He told me. "You ARE so clever!" He kissed my cheek.

When the caterers were finally set up and gone, that was when I got three more surprises – one of them that just almost floored me.

The first was Henry Fredericks, if that was his name. He was ginger, and of course, he was naked. So were the rest of the boys. Henry was told to introduce himself, and he did it with a hug. "Nice to meet you, Benny!" He said. He was a ginger all right – he had freckles all over him. His red hair was cut like mine and Canyon's, and he was castrated. In fact, he looked a lot like Canyon 'down there.' I figured he was about our age. He had pretty thick glasses, too. Poor kid. He must have been blind without them. They looked expensive, too, not those stupid black Buddy Holly kind of frames. I could see the faint tan lines on his neck, but his collar was a thick gold Herringbone chain.

"Benny, we want you to meet someone else," Kim told me, when he stepped out from behind Jeffie and Canyon. He'd since ditched the white clothes.

Kim wasn't only castrated. He didn't even have a stump. He had 3; NOTHING! His crotch was just smooth skin that matched the rest of him. For a minute, I thought he was a girl! I got hard as a rock right off! Most everyone snickered and tried to hide it.

No kidding, there was nothing there. If he was ever a real boy, whoever cut his stuff off must have really known what they were doing. I wondered if Dr. Kent had done it? Where was he, anyway?

OK, Dad had since got naked, too, but Mr. Fred hadn't. I guess he thought he was too old? Bob was, and so was Joe. Joe was hard too, and his dick with no head, like his boy's, was just 3; unbelievable! I got dizzy for a minute, and Mickey and Bobbie held me up. Both of them didn't have balls, but they both also had gold rings like Dad's in their little dicks. I swear, theirs weren't much bigger than mine, but they were hard.

What the heck? What could be more of a shock? I still wasn't over Kim yet! Did he AGREE to that, or was he born that way? Didn't he know he'd never, EVER be able to jack off, fuck anyone, or even get a blowjob? I mean, he was smooth down there!

"Benny," Dad then spoke up, and he came and held my arm. "There's one more guest for you to meet. This is where it gets complicated."

I looked around and everyone else had taken a seat. It was like I was the star of the show of something. Guess I was?

A black boy stepped out from behind the doorway frame. He was bald, like Jeffie, and he had a woven collar like mine. It was made of almost white material, and the diamonds in his ears sparkled. He wasn't as built as Canyon, and he looked thin. He also wasn't as old.

'Ronnie!' I thought, and my heart almost stopped. Dad caught me, because I did fall over. I might have fainted, I don't remember. The next thing I knew, Dad was patting my face and telling me to snap out of it.

I looked at him closer. His crotch was lighter than the rest of him, kinda pink, and there was a thin line down the middle of it. It almost matched the skin around it, but not quite. He almost looked like a girl.

"Hey, Benny!" Tyrone said. He sounded unsure. He looked like he didn't know what to do with his hands, so he just put them behind his back.

"Kim's been training our new boy, here," Leon told me. "Getting him ready to go home with his new daddy."

It all went through my head again: Ronnie had been kidnapped in April, just about the time that Mr. Poore 3; dad 3; had moved in. There was the anagram, the picture – and I recognized him – and the missing finger. How many kids that age were missing a left pinky finger? It had to be him.

"You had us worried for a while, son," Dad said, snapping me out of it. "I'm amazed that you put the anagram together and connected the dots!"

Joe was laughing. "If my department was as sharp, they'd have found him by now!"

"EVERYONE!" Dad spoke up, "I want you all to know what Benny's been up to!" (Here it comes, I thought!) "Not only did he figure out that our Tyrone here used to be called 'Ronnie', he also saw that Ronnie was reported missing at about the time we moved here! He even put together how we picked a new name for him, and with his sneaking around and spying on my through the fence," (I cringed) "He guessed correctly that we had, ahhh, liberated this boy and had him in our protective custody! Benny had it all figured out – all he needed was to FIND him!"

Everyone clapped, like I was a hero or something. I wondered when I was going to get spanked?

"Genius, son," Mr. P – Dad told me. "I guess I'll have to be more careful from now on with you around?" I didn't know what to say. "I would also like for everyone to know," Dad was still going, "As you already know, Canyon IS my biological son from a fling I had in college!"

More applause. Yeah, Canyon was the only kid there that even looked like his 'dad'. I figured the rest had to be 3; like Ronnie 3; Tyrone – liberated? (Kidnapped?)

"What you DON'T know," Dad then said, "Is that Canyon had a twin brother – Benny!" Everyone got quiet. "It was part of the arrangement, in order to keep her from aborting them, that I would take both boys and pay for it all. However, she decided that she wanted one. And she's not done a very good job with him either!"

Mom wasn't real popular just then, while Dad explained everything about my life up until two weeks before.

"I should arrest HER," Joe was shaking his head. "Or maybe something like I did over in Leavi 3; uh, yes, that!" He stopped.

Was he going to say Leavitstown? What had he done? Had he tracked down Ronnie's folks and 3; done something to them – off the books, as they say?

"It's OK, buddy, go hug Benny. He won't hurt you. No one here will. Daddy won't let them," Kim told him, and I remembered that Tyrone/Ronnie had been staying with Kim and his 'dad'.

Tyrone came over and hugged me. "Hey, I'm Ron 3;, I mean, Tyrone," he said. "Sorry. Not used to my new name yet."

I mean, what the HELL do you say or do to a 9 year old to make him agree to having it ALL cut off? How could anyone want to? It meant that the only way they could ever get off again was with a dildo or 3;

"You freaked out, aint'cha?" he asked. "'s'OK, so was I. But I'm getting' used to it. Not like the doc could save my nuts, anyhow, bad off as I was."

"Tyrone needed a fresh start, son," he told me. "You read the story, remember? He's got it so much better now that he wouldn't go back for anything, would you, boy?"

"Benny, trust me, he's perfectly happy. He agreed to it, and he'll be fine with it. It was what his new daddy wanted, and we had to find a boy that wanted it, too," Dad said. "It's just a pity that he had to be so badly injured in the first place."

"You can talk to Tyrone later, son," Dad said. "He can tell you all about his new life and how happy he is. But for now," he stood up, still holding me. He motioned to Canyon, who came over.

"Everyone, thank you for coming to Benny's party. This is all for him, seeing as how we're not sure how things will go. As you all know, we have a small problem."

"Which we'll deal with later. In the meantime, I want everyone to make yourselves at home. Have some food, chat, get to know Benny, my other REAL son!"

Everyone clapped. I guess they all knew the story now? Me and dad both got hugs and kisses – from everyone. Everyone was congratulating us. I didn't now what to do, so Dad led me to the kitchen and filled a plate for me. There were tiki torches burning outside around the patio, and candles on the tables. Dad led me to a table, poured me a glass of wine, and Canyon came to sit with me. So did Kim and Tyrone.

"I can't believe it, Benny! Honestly!" Canyon was telling me, and he was almost crying. "I never believed it when Father told me I had a twin brother, but when I saw you!" Then he did cry. I wanted to, too.

"He's his brother," Kim told him, when me and Canyon got settled back down. Stupid, right? Crying like that? Boys weren't supposed to cry, were they?

I looked around and saw that everyone else wasn't sitting with his dad, uncle, whoever. Joe had Henry, and Mr. Fred had Bobbie. It was all mixed up. Dad had Jeffie, though, and since the four of us were sitting together, that left some of the adults to sit and talk about stuff. I think that was what they wanted. They were really into something, and I saw Dr. Kent for the first time. Boy was he pissed about something!

"I don' think my own mamma ever loved me like dat," Tyrone said. Then he looked down at his feet. "Who's this new daddy comin' to take me, Kim? He ain't like 3; like 3; ma's friends, is he?"

Tyrone bowed his head and picked at his food. "You and Kim, you got it good," he started his story. "All you boys do. You don' know what it's like." I realized that I was hungry, too. Canyon just sipped his wine – white stuff.

"I wish I'd run off a long time ago," Ty shook his head. "If I did, the doc might not have had to cut it all off. With what they done to me, them men, no way would I EVER do that to a kid. Yo' mamma do drugs, Benny?"

"Mine do," Ty sniffled. "An' my old man. An' their friends. When they ain't got money for coke, you know what they do?"

"I even done it jus' to have somethin' to eat," Ty said. "All the money was about drugs. Only time they knew I was around was when they needed a boy to make a drop, pick up, a run, or get used." He got a drink and looked at Kim.

"His parents lent him to men for sexual favors," Kim told me. "In exchange for drugs or money. Sometimes, they 3; they beat him, or hurt him. The last time, some cokehead worked his 3; genitals 3; over pretty bad."

I couldn't move. I couldn't talk. And I thought I'd had it bad? I thought I was happy where I was now? What the HELL kind of life did this poor kid have?

"I was walking down by the big ditch one day, you know the one for floods?" Ty kept talking. "First time I got up in a week, after that sum'bitch had me. An' this man in a white van come drivin' up. He asked if I was OK, or lost. I guess my clothes give me away."

"Wha's he gon' do, rape me? I get dat at home all da'time. Kill me? I think I be better off." He showed me his wrist. There was a scar on it. "I done tried."

I was almost crying again. And I remembered what dad had said – "Not every boy who goes missing ends up dead in a ditch. Some of them end up with much better lives than the ones they had."

"An' that man, I guess yo' daddy? He took me to eat. He took me to a doctor. Had to shave all my hair off, but so what? You ever had lice?"

"Itches," Ty shrugged his shoulders. "An' the doc checked me all out. Told me my stuff was pretty messed up." He stopped and got a drink. "Firs' time in dunno how long, my butt don't hurt no more. Put me in a nice bed, warm house, fixed me all up, give me all the food I want, TV, and no one to bug me. No screamin', no fightin', no guns," he sniffled. "An' no more of not knowin' what was gonna happen at night." He started crying. Kim put his arm around him.

"No one made him get in the van, Benny," Canyon told me. "Before you freak out, would YOU wanna be him, then?"

Ty was still crying. "You promise, Kim? You said he won' hurt me? You say he'll be jus' like Mr. Leon?"

"He will," Kim patted his back. "Mr. Poore?" He called, and dad came over. "We need to calm him down, sir!"

Dad just nodded. He went and got his camera, and made us all bunch up. The red light on the flash came on, and when he took two pictures, Ty stopped crying. I felt better, too.

"'cause I don' want it, and it was all fucked up. He told me he could work on it, but I might end up loosin' it anyhow, and it'd just hurt worse. So I told him to cut it all off." He made a face. "It was bad. I think your doc knowed he was beat. My Ma was all about sex, drugs, sellin' me for drugs. You ever get fucked, Benny?"

"N-no, not yet," I said, and I stopped. Did a dildo count? I started to wonder, and I remembered Kim in the video. I looked at him.

How the hell did I not see it before? That was my last great surprise for the night – Dad and his friends used 3; liked 3; had boys for sex partners? Was that what we were? Was that why they had the boys castrated, or worse?

"Benny, don't tell me you just realized it?" Canyon stared at me. "What did you think Father did for sex? Or Joe? Or Bob? Weren't you listening in class about the Greeks and such? Men have been having sex with boys, or eunuchs, for a long, long time!"

I was shaking, I know. But no one was going to 3; going to fuck me unless I said 'yes', right? Wasn't that what Kim just old Tyrone?

I guess I had known it all along. I just didn't want to think it. All the kissing, touching, even being jacked off? And the plug in my butt? Was that for me, or to make it easier for someone to fuck me?

Was I going to be sent off to some other man, then? SOLD? Dad didn't work – so where did he get the money for things like the house and the Ferrari? The thought of it made me sick. I thought I was gonna throw up.

"FATHER!" Canyon yelled, and then he was there, touching me, telling that no one was going to take me away from him – ever again.

"Benny, I've waited 12 years to have you! How could you think such a silly thing?" Dad asked me. Dad? Mr. Poore? What was he, really? "Benny, I want you to calm down."

"D-do you 3; do y-you 3; you know, DO IT with boys?" I just HAD to ask. "That's 3; that's just 3;"

And I remembered him being surprised the other day when he'd said, "You slept in daddy's bed, ALREADY?"

OK, yeah, I did. But that wasn't 3; it wasn't being fucked up the butt by your own father!

"Son, the act of sex is the single, most greatest show of love that one human can have for another," Dad told me, rubbing my back. I just watched the fires of the torches flickering. I was locked into them, afraid to look at anyone else. I know I was crying. "In Ty's case, that act was corrupted, and THAT is unforgivable. To abuse a child so badly that he wants nothing at all to do with sex? To not even BE a member of any sex? Can you imagine being hurt so badly by a man, that you didn't EVER want to become one, or that you were going to lose your manhood because someone hurt you?"

"N-no sir," I cried, holding onto him. I was holding onto the one man in the world I'd always wanted the most, and now I was finding out that if I agreed, he'd 3; he'd use me 3; like 3; like a sex toy.

Was that why Canyon was castrated? Was that why Canyon seemed to want me castrated, too? So I'd be a better sex toy?

"Benny, no one is going to hurt you. No one is going to do anything to you that you don't want to do. No one is going to castrate you by force, and certainly, NO ONE is going to cut your penis off!"

More than anything, I wanted to forget that. I wanted to forget it like I'd forgot, or never even knew, when the collar or dick-tube was put on me. I just wanted it to go away. "All you have to do is say the word, and no one – but NO ONE – will EVER touch you again."

"My son," He whispered in my ear. "This was all too much at once. I am SO, so very sorry. Do you want Daddy to make it easier for you?"

No one else was talking. I know they were all watching me, and I was humiliated. It was worse than being seen in a diaper.

Kim was holding up his hand like he was in school. "Benny, it's unbelievable, when the man does it right!" He told me. "It's so damn good, you'll WANNA cut your dick off so you HAVE to do it like that for the rest of your life!"

I did have to admit one thing – getting off with a dildo sure was better than just being jacked off. But getting my dick sucked, that was another thing. THAT was better, and Kim would NEVER know about that.

"Benny, we'll take it very slowly," Dad told me. "There are plenty of other boys here, and you can watch them and do whatever you want, WITH whomever you want. No one will force you into anything, but you need to know, there will be sex here."

"Scott was being taken care of, provided for, and given what he needed," Dad told me. "Structure! And he rejected it. He made too many errors. He was defiant, and mean to you both. We can't have that. So now he has to pay for it. Benny, do you like your plug?"

"Son, you still have some choices to make. But for tonight, only one. We're pushing you too much, and I'm sorry. I honestly thought you'd realized this all by now, since you solved the case of the missing Ronnie?"

"I 3; I guess I did, when I saw Kim's movie," I shrugged. I looked at him, and when I thought about going home, I thought I'd throw up. What if mom sent me away? What if I got arrested and sent to Blanken?

"Benny, I want you to go and eat some more," Dad told me. "I want you to take a little tranquilizer, just a tiny one, to calm your nerves. Then you and the boys can watch some movies, or you can watch them having fun. Whatever YOU want to do. This is YOUR night, son."

So I took the pill, and I ate. Dad was taking pictures, and every time he did, I felt better. I didn't know why, but maybe Canyon was right – maybe I was hypnotized again? I didn't know. He'd kinda lied to me before, but now he was upset too. I was ruining the party for him, too.

"You OK, white boy?" Ty asked me, and he was STILL eating! Where did the kid put it all? Down his leg?

"You all fucked over findin' out your brother likes it up the butt?" Ty laughed. I didn't think it was funny. "Well, your ol' man jus' said, so do you like it?"

"So's being raped, and bleedin' all the time," Ty shook his head. "Yo' ol' man ever beat your so bad you was in bed for a week?"

"You know what I like about this funny necklace?" Ty asked me. "You cain't see the scar on my neck where my ol' man held a knife to my throat and said he wuz'gon' kill me, 'less I put out for his buddy what had the coke."

"Gettin' my stuff cut off? Hell no!" Ty laughed. "Doc give me good drugs, real doctor drugs, and I was out of it! I went to sleep a boy, an' when I waked up, I was a 3; a yoo 3; you-somethin'?"

"I'd cut my dick off again myself if'n it meant no one was gonna hurt me no more," Ty said. "You ever been kicked in the balls so hard, they swell up and jus' scream for days? One time, I couldn't walk for a week, an' my nutsack was big as a grapefruit! When the doc cut me open, he said my right nut was just mush." Ty stopped. We had cake, a rare treat, and he got us both a huge piece. "Eat dat! Damn, boy, you an' yo' lil' bro' got it good here! Best thing ever happen to me was when yo' daddy stopped an' picked me up!"

Then Canyon was there behind me, rubbing my shoulders. "Benny, don't be scared," he told me. "Father 3; dad's never lied to me, and I'm sorry I decided to lie to you at first. I got spanked for it, but I had to. I know you don't like being spanked, but sometimes 3; Benny, I waited for you for 12 years, too. Please don't leave me! I wanted a brother for so long!"

So did I. Maybe that's why I hung out with Scott and put up with his shit. I didn't know.

"Le's go watch a tape, since we can't swim yet!" Ty said. "I wonder if my new dad has a pool?"

"He does," a new voice answered him, and I looked up to see another older man, a black man, I didn't know. He was dressed in a nice dark blue suit, and he seemed very formal. He had grey in his hair, so I thought he was older than dad. He kinda looked like a movie star, you know? That kind of face?

"Yes sir?" Ty answered him. And he got up and stood there, hands behind his back, feet apart, like a little army man.

"You are more handsome than those photos of you," he said. "My name is Mr. Thomas, son," he said, and held out his hand. "I understand that you'll be coming to live with me from now on?"

"Yes, sir?" Ty nodded. Then Mr. Thomas kneeled down and held out his arms. Ty went to him, but slow. Mr. Thomas hugged him, and then Ty put his arms around him, slow.

"You know this, son: I will never hit you, I will never neglect you, and I will see to your every need. From now on, you will want for nothing. Your only duty is to be the best boy you can be, do what you're asked to do, study hard, and be my son. If you ever want to be more than that, all you have to do is ask." He then kissed his cheek. "I will never treat you like your parents did. Besides, I'm a bit old for that kind of excitement! If you so much as have a stomachache at night, I'll be there with you. If you have bad dreams, I'll be there to hold you until you go back to sleep. You will never be raped, so long as you are my son. And if you ever want to have sex with me, or another boy, another eunuch, then all you do is ask, OK? But until you ask, it won't happen."

"It's taken Kim since April just to get him to accept a hug," Canyon whispered to me. "He still has a long way to go."

"D-dad knew all this, when he grabbed him?" I had to ask. I had to ask a lot that night, it was all so much.

Canyon nodded. "Father's never taken a boy that wouldn't have been better off." Canyon hung his head. I knew something was wrong. "We've done this before, Benny – you should know. Back in England, he had a line on a boy. The older brothers were into a gang. They wanted the kid in it, too. He always had marks, Benny; black eyes, fat lip. They hit him, you could tell. He was dirty, ragged clothing, worn out shoes. No one would do a thing for him. Tha's why Father took me out of public school after my second year. He even had photos of this kid, Benny. His father was a drunk, out of work, mother was gone, the flat was trashed. And the bloody Bobbies did NOTHING! Said they didn't have the men to follow trash like that around, said there was too much of it."

"We left England after 3; after that boy was shot in the street," Canyon whispered. "Dad was going to grab him, but the kid was on his way to hold up a market. The clerk shot him first. If Dad had 3; had got him just one day sooner 3;" Canyon left it.

I watched as Mr. Thomas slowly picked up Tyrone and balanced him on his hip. "We need to get all this in while we can, son. It won't be long, you'll be too big to cuddle on a lap."

"I can show you, if that's OK? They're watching some film about some crazy kids chasing pirates. Do you want to go in and practice?"

Then he quickly kissed Mr. Thomas' cheek. "Kim says I don' do it right yet, sir?"

"It's a fine start, son," Mr. Thomas told him. "It's not everyone who'd kiss a lawyer, you know."

"Dude! Can we sue my old man?" Ty laughed, and I had to laugh too. He didn't want revenge – he wanted to sue him!

"I don't think that'll be necessary," Joe spoke up, from his chat with Mr. Fred and Dr. Kent. He winked at me. Somehow, I didn't think Ty's cokehead parents would be hurting anyone else. I nodded back at Joe.

"I think it's a closed deal, Ty," Mr. Thomas kissed him again, "and that you'll be worth every penny!"

Tyrone Thomas was smiling and holding onto him when they went inside to watch the movie. I guessed that the Ronnie T. King I'd been worried about was dead, after all. Even his name was gone.

"You're hard. You wanna go play around? I hear Bobbie gives a smashing blowjob?"

"He's 17, for Pete's sake! It's not like he's old-old, like Father!" Canyon laughed.

"I HEARD THAT!" Dad yelled at him from where he was sitting with a giggling Jeffie on his lap, tickling him, bouncing him on his lap.

"We're in trouble now!" Canyon smiled. "C'mon, I'm just dying for a wank! And tha's saying something, for me!"

Hell, Jeffie sure looked happy. He was squealing and laughing and having a great time.

"'Son, the act of sex is the single, most greatest show of love that one human can have for another,'" Dad had told me.

I got a soda, which was another rare treat, and we went in to the living room. Not everyone was there, but Bobbie was waiting on my nap mat. I figured I'd been set up.

"So, Benny, they tell me you've never been blown by an older boy before?" He grinned. "You know, I got like five years more practice than your little brother?"

I was so hard it hurt, and when Bobbie was sucking my dick, I felt Canyon sliding the dildo into me.

Chapter Sixteen

The party gets REALLY started, and Benny has some fun. Scott's out of the bag when Benny finds him, but what are they going to do with him? Mr. Poore decides that they need to have a talk.

While Bobbie was sucking my hard little 2" [5 cm], Canyon was using a dildo on me. It felt bigger than the last one, too. Shit, it felt great!

"What?" was about all I could tell him. I think my brain was overloaded on everything I'd just found out, and how good it was feeing right then. Hell no, I didn't want him to stop!

"That's enough, son," I heard Dad saying. Mr. Poore. My dad. It was still unbelievable. Here he was, with 3; boys 3; and he used to like girls? He wanted to get married once? To my Mom? I didn't get it.

Bobbie stopped, and Canyon pulled the dildo out of me. I was almost there, too. 'Damn', I thought.

"Come with me, son," Mr. Poore told me (dad told me), "We have to get you cleaned up, and we have some things to talk about."

We went down to the basement, and that was when I found out that all the other boys had already had their clean-out sessions while the caterers were setting up. I'd been upstairs meeting everyone, and getting my fill of surprises, so it was time for my nightly session. I think. I didn't know what time it was, and that was strange.

"I think you need a larger nozzle," Dad told me, "You certainly seem loosened up?"

"Y-yeah," I nodded, still feeling kinda stupid and half pissed off over him making us stop. Bobbie sure knew how to suck a dick!

"You're confused by all this, aren't you?" He asked me, while he was putting the plugging nozzle in and injecting the soapy stuff. It was bigger, and took some working to get it into me.

He laid me back on the bench and kissed me. Then he turned the water on. I was used to it by then, but I wanted to be back upstairs. He knew that, too.

"And you're bothered that your suspicions about me were right? All the clues you put together, things you weren't meant to hear, that led you to believe that I'm a kidnapper who sells little boys as sex slaves?"

I didn't want to answer him. He was rubbing my bloated belly, working the stuff into me to get me clean. His hands were warm.

"B-but he's not a slave?" Was all I could come up with. I wondered how much trouble I was in for snooping.

"No, he can walk out Mr. Thomas' door anytime. But I don't believe he will. And what's he going to tell them if he does? Some wild story about a boy-orgy? We can hide all that, Benny. And as for his having had his penis and testicles removed? All he can tell them is that some man found him stumbling along the road and took him to a doctor. Dr. Kent can't refuse to treat a lost child with life-threatening injuries, even if the parents are not to be found. Besides, the doctor has documentation that they did this to him. Joe has seen to that. THEY would go to jail."

"Hold it in, son," he told me. "You do realize, Benjamin, that YOU may leave as well?"

"Did Joe kill them, sir?" I had to know. I was almost dancing, trying not to leak.

"No, no, he'd never do that. Let's just say some police brutality is in order, off the record, from time to time? Let's just say that not all drug dealers' money and evidence makes it onto the books! In fact, you can thank Ty's parents for paying for the caterers! Call it karma, if you like."

When he started my second one, the rinse, he touched me down there. "Did you know your balls pull up, and you get very small when we're doing this, Benny?"

I looked down, and it looked my balls had pulled back up inside me! I started getting hard again.

I wasn't sure what to say about that. My sac was all shriveled up, and my balls looked like they were gone! I kinda liked it.

When we were done, he just held me, kissing me all over. Even 3; there. I wasn't sure if I liked that, but it felt good.

The bathtub was already full. He'd had it running, with lots of soap. It smelled good, sweet, like flowers. I was always kinda shaky after a wash-out, so helped me in. He got in with me. That was a first time.

"Don't be," he told me. "I'm sure it was a shock. But did it look like Jeffie was being hurt?"

He was soaping me up, touching me. I couldn't see it through the bubbles, but I knew his dick was down there, somewhere. I knew what he wanted to ask me, and I was shaking. Canyon had told me, "Now multiply this by a million times!"

THAT was what they did when Canyon slept in his bed. That was why my brother looked so silly and walked funny the next day – because he'd had a good fucking!

But he told me it was the biggest act of love there was. More than anything, I didn't want him to stop loving me. Telling me he loved me.

He pushed some bubbles away and pulled me over onto his lap. When I looked down, his dick was sticking up between my legs! It looked like I had suddenly grown a huge one!

"You know, if you recover, son, or have to get shots, yours will look like this one day. So will Canyon's," he told me.

He laughed. "Benny, if I'd had any idea that your mother would have raised you like she did, I would NEVER have allowed her to keep one of you. I am so very sorry, son."

I had to wonder what it was like, growing up like Canyon. Like Dad. Like his adopted dad before him? Did they all do this kind of stuff? How far back did it go? Was that why Grandpa, I guess he would be my Grandpa, had a heart attack and died when he found out Dad proposed to a woman? To Mom?

"Close your eyes and think about it, son," he told me, touching me, washing me off. I was shivering, but not from being afraid.

"Canyon is loved and cared for, his every want and need seen to, every minute of every day," Dad told me, kissing my ear. "He's never really alone, you know. Can you say the same, Benny?"

"No one makes fun of him, either, and he's never left out. He has friends come over all the time, you know! Why do you think there were two beds in his room?" Dad asked me. "And Jeffie's here all next week."

I shrugged. He as holding me tighter, but I knew it wasn't going to last. I had to go home Sunday night – home to a house without power, AC running low off a cord to Mr. Poore's place, and Mom.

If he could hide all the evidence, like he'd said, at least that meant Canyon wouldn't be taken away, but what about me? He couldn't stop mom if she sent me away. The papers on me weren't good after she got home.

"Benjamin," (there it was again, serious) "Do you really want to stay here with your father and brother? Even if it means a strict routine? No running off when you feel like it, no TV all day, and no eating garbage from The Shack? You've been here only two weeks, son. You've done very, very well – but think about this. If you stay, you will be here for the next five years. You will have school every day, very few days off, no vacations," he paused, "Well, that's not true. We do take a trip now and again!" He laughed. "But not with your routine travel accommodations! And you will have to go to college, too. There will be more, harder, choices to make as well. In a way, you're going to grow up fast, son. Canyon is already quite the little man, I'm sure you've noticed?"

He was very serious, just sitting there, waiting. His fingers on the tub edge looked kinda prune-ish. We'd been in the water a while.

There wasn't a plug in me, and I'd got used to it. No one was touching me. I didn't know it until right then – it seemed that someone was always touching me. It was either dad, or Canyon, or if someone like Joe was over, then him.

I grabbed him so hard and hugged him that I splashed water on the floor. I know I cried, I know I begged to stay. I knew it was so weird, that other kids didn't live like this, but in two weeks, I got used to it. I liked it.

"Father can't breathe, Benny," he told me, and I guess I had him pinned to the tub with my arms around his neck.

"I'll take that as a yes, son," he smiled at me. Then he kissed me, his hands were back on me, and he was holding me again. The shaking stopped. "We're beginning to shrivel up," he laughed. "Let's get you plugged, dried, and sent back upstairs. You're going to miss all the fun, you know!"

"I'm sure Canyon is entertaining our guests for us, and properly," Dad told me, as he pulled me back onto his lap. He was reaching around for something. "Benny, are you sure you want this? ALL of this?" He asked me again.

I started feeling sick again. I'd rather get spanked raw than just hear him say, "Go home." I couldn't take it.

"Do you want to stay here, and live with – and live like – your brother? Do you want to have everything that HE does?" Dad was asking.

"Then you shall," he told me, and he moved his arm down under me. "So long as you want to?"

"Let's get you properly situated, then, Benny," he told me, and I felt his fingers at my butt. "Relax, like usual. That's it. Now we're going to plug you with something a little bigger, son."

I guess, in my head, I knew what he was going to do. I knew what he wanted to do. I'd just agreed to it. But it didn't click just then.

"It might hurt a little bit at first, son," he warned me. "But it's not on purpose. OK?"

He moved me around a little, and I felt the plug start in. He gave it a little push, and told me I was doing good. It started in, but it was different.

I was so hard it hurt. He'd interrupted us upstairs, and I wanted to get off bad.

It did hurt a little bit, but he was holding me, rubbing my shoulders, telling me to just keep pushing out. It just kept going in me.

He raised me up a little, then, tickling me under the arms. I laughed. Then he moved me back down. I breathed in, hard. The water was sloshing.

I think I cried out, I don't remember it too good. But he just kept moving me. It was tight, and it did hurt a little bit, but it also felt good at the same time. He was touching me inside like the doctor had, but only with his dick!

He kept moving me, and I saw the water was going down. He'd pulled the stopper with his foot, I guess. I wanted to touch my dick, but he said no and held my hands.

I felt that burning inside, like I had to pee – just like it felt when Canyon used the dildo on me.

But dad was a lot bigger. It was happening faster. I thought my head was gonna fly off! I was panting, and by the time the water had almost all ran out, I was crying. I was getting off, and something hot was being shot into me. I could feel it. It hurt some, a little, yeah, but it felt so good, too.

We sat there until I felt his dick getting soft inside me. Then he grabbed me and stood up, pulling me off of him. He didn't say a thing as he patted me dry. He just smiled and touched me, kissed me all over.

"You've done very well, son," he whispered in my ear. "Now run upstairs and go have fun. I'll be along in a moment."

"I love you, too, Benny. Now go and have some fun. You might need something else to eat, too?"

I was hungry again. I didn't know what time it was, but it was a party. I guess it wasn't bedtime?

My legs were rubbery when I went upstairs, and I guess I had that stupid Canyon-grin on my face, because he knew it the minute he saw me.

He was laying on his nap mat with Henry, who looked like he'd went to sleep. Hell, the kid even had freckles on his back! Canyon looked kinda tired, too, but he was grinning. He smiled when I walked in.

"If it hurt," Canyon asked me, "Then why got that stupid grin on your face, Brother?"

We both laughed at that, and he got up and hugged me, and kissed me on the mouth. Hard. I started getting hard again, but not that it hurt. But it went soft again pretty fast.

"Keep yourself tight, like you're holding it in, or you'll leak," Canyon told me.

"You know all that mess that boys with balls make? All that cum? It's all inside you now!" He laughed.

I wasn't sure what to think about that. I didn't realize it then, but that must have been what I felt – that hot stuff inside me.

"Think of it as having a replacement injection of what your own balls aren't making," Dr. Kent told me. "You know, since it was your first time, I should probably examine you and make sure you're not hurt?"

But he did put his hand on the back of my neck and squeeze. "Are you refusing a suggestion from your doctor, boy?"

I know my face was red. I was still feeling dizzy and weak, too. My butt felt like it was 3; going to fall off or something. It was just 3; I don't know. It was weird. OK, it was all weird. I know, I said that a lot. But there I was. And I could leave.

"Oh, c'mon, Benny!" Canyon was saying, "Get some more to eat, and have another go at it!"

"Who said anything about him?" Canyon grinned. "Why do you think I was laying down when you got up here? I've been busy, and it's hard work!"

"Jeffery? The last time I saw him, he was hog-tied on the patio trying to get loose," Canyon shrugged. I could tell he didn't think that was fun at all when he said "Jeffery."

"What are you on about, writing a novel?" Canyon laughed. "He's in the big family room with Mr. Thomas. I think he went to sleep. Past his bedtime, you know," he jerked a thumb at Henry. "Poor kids just couldn't hold out!"

"So go host, then!" Canyon laughed, and Dr. Kent slapped my butt on the way out.

I found Mr. Thomas in the family room that we never used. It was more of a family/dining room, really, and you could tell a small divider had been taken out. There were a couple loveseats and recliners on the lower level, and Tryone was asleep with his head in Mr. Thomas' lap. He held a finger up to his lips when I came in.

"Benny, could you bring me a club soda?" He asked. I saw he was still dressed. I guessed nothing had happened. I must have shown my confusion, because he smiled.

When I got back with his drink, he motioned for me to sit. I sat on the floor by his leg and turned around to look up at him.

"Your father has offered us use of the guest room for tonight, for which I am grateful," Mr. Thomas told me. "Ty's had a bit of a big night, getting to know everyone, and finally realizing that no one was going to hurt him. He's fed, warm, safe, and he'll sleep all night, I'm sure." He ran his fingers over Ty's bald head. "Isn't he beautiful?" He asked. "How anyone could abuse such a thing of wonder 3;" he sighed.

"You're having a difficult time conceiving of how THIS 3;" he waved his hand around, "Is better for a boy?"

"I don't have many needs, Benny. Tyrone won't have nearly the excitement that some of you and his other playmates will, but he'll have some. When he's ready. Dr. Kent will let me know when. He has to fully heal up first."

"Ty had to have some surgery, inside, Benny. Just removing his damaged genitals wasn't the whole of it. Poor boy. That, and he's had a hard time with the withdrawal symptoms."

Mr. Thomas nodded. "To enhance his performance, I'm sure, or settle him down. Dr. Kent tested his hair, and it was loaded with THC. He's been smoking marijuana for a while, and his sinuses have some damage from cocaine. It's going to be a long road, but as you can see," he patted Ty's tummy, which was bulging some, "He's got an appetite!"

"I know," He patted my head. "Kent told me. Unforgivable," he sighed. "Puberty, castration, with drugs or a knife, should be the boy's decision. It should not be made for him. Ty's going to have to adapt to his being a eunuch, and so far, he seems fine with it. He said at least no one could squeeze his balls to make him do what they wanted him to anymore."

He touched Ty's smooth crotch, where the skin was still pink. Ty stirred, snuggled down some more, and didn't wake up.

"Benny, I know you want to get back to having your own fun, but can you help me get the guest room ready? Help me put him to bed?

I had to ask Canyon where it was! Turned out, it was next to our room. I wondered what that door was, you know. Hell, there were a couple rooms I'd never been in yet.

The room had one big bed, and there were restraints on one side of it only. Mr. Thomas carried Ty upstairs, and he woke up on the stairs. "Wha' 3; ?" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "Bedtime, son," he told him.

"Benny," Mr. Thomas said, as he put Ty on the bed and started to undress. "Do you know how a catheter is used?"

Ty was looking around. "I 3; I might pee the bed, sir," he fretted, touching himself. He looked ashamed.

"Go to the bathroom with Benny," Mr. Thomas told him. He was putting on a robe, and from what I saw, he wasn't fat or anything, but he wasn't that built either. He looked like he might have been at one time, though. "Use your straight-cath, like Kim taught you. Benny will have a diaper for you, just in case."

I read the directions on the package, and got it ready. It wasn't hard. Ty knew how to use it, and after he'd sat down to pee, he ran it up the little hole – that was all he had down there. Not much came out when he did, but some. He threw it away. I didn't look while he put his diaper on. He told me it was to make sure he wasn't 'retaining' any, and to make sure he was empty. That, and it made sure the hole stayed open.

"Thanks," he told me, and I figured I had to put him to bed, since Mr. Thomas was sitting there with a pipe going and a book in his hand.

There were headphones and a blindfold on the table next to the bed. Ty must have been used to it, because he let me strap him in for the night. I saw, that unlike our headphones, Ty's would be connected to a stereo system in the room. There was a cassette in the player marked 'Ty-relaxation.'

"Daddy will be right here," Mr. Thomas told him, "And we're behind two locked doors. No one is going to get in."

Unable to move, and then unable to see once I blindfolded him, Ty just said, "K'-night."

Mr. Thomas kissed him too, patted his tummy, and told him the same. I started the tape.

"Thank you, Benny. I'm sure having another boy do that made him feel better." He kissed me too, then dismissed me with a nod. "You're a good host, son." I closed the door easy.

OK, I don't know who all did what that night, but when I got back upstairs, Henry was still asleep. Bobbie and Mickey were making out on the sofa – as best they could. I mean, both of them were castrated, and neither one of them had much more than 3" [7½ cm] hard. They looked like tall 12 year olds, really, but they were doing all they could and having fun with it.

Kim was in the pool with Mr. Leon, and I figured he was being fucked in the water. Canyon was entertaining Dr. Kent by giving him a blowjob, and I wondered if I'd have to do that. I wasn't sure about having that mess in my mouth though. I thought that was just gross! Jeffie was still hogtied, but he had kneepads on and was giving Joe a blowjob, too. It looked kinda awkward.

Me, I was still feeling really weird. My butt felt like it was just 3; huge, or something, and so 3; empty. I was hard again, too. I didn't know what to think, until Bob came over and patted me on the head. I jumped.

"Oh, he loved it, Bob," Canyon said, and Dr. Kent cleared his throat loudly. Canyon went back to work on him at once.

He didn't make me do the work, either. We went inside, to the family room, and he had me lay on the floor. He propped my legs up, so I could see him doing it, and he just – did it.

That was when I learned about blowjobs, too. I was grossed out by having to put his dick in my mouth, but he told me there was nothing on it but 3; well, let's just say the enema had done its job. That's why it was important to be clean inside and out – the dick that went IN you would probably go in your mouth later too.

I kinda gagged on it, but he was patient and told me what to do. He told me that since he'd already got off like four times that night, there wouldn't be much mess.

I had no idea what to do when he shot that mess into my mouth! And THAT wasn't much?! What the hell? If I hit puberty, was I going to do that, too? I couldn't imagine all that shit shooting out of me, like Scott.

It was salty, thick, and just 3; gross. He made me swallow it, then got me a soda to wash it down. He told me I'd done 'extremely well'. I thought I'd be sick, but the lemon-lime soda settled me down.

Bobbie and Mickey had woke Henry up, too, when we went back out for a swim. Henry looked lost. "Daddy?" He was asking, rubbing his eyes.

"Are you hosting, then?" Bob asked me, and I figured I had to 'take Henry in hand,' he said.

Henry was hungry again, so I got him a plate. Once he'd ate, he asked me what time it was. I didn't know. "I don't get to stay up late much," he told me. "You DO know?" He leaned over and whispered at me. "About 3;? You know, sex?"

"Yeah, three times so far!" I grinned at him. I wasn't sure how I felt just then, but 3; I had to tell myself I liked it. I did. Sort of. It was confusing, OK?

"Oh, Benny," Mickey was asking me, as him and Bobbie were heading out too, "Did you ask little Henry when the last time he had blowjob was?"

"If I can get hard, it takes forever to cum," Henry told me. "Ever since my frenumecto-thingy, it's kinda numb."

"Frenulectomy," Mickey laughed at him. "If you can get him hard, Benny, you'll find he's got the smoothest, most perfect little pecker you've ever seen! Dr. Kent just made him a masterpiece!"

"You still got all your stuff, don't you?" Henry asked me. "I had all kinds of skin cut off my dick last year," he told me. "My circumcision wasn't that good and tight, doctor told me."

"Yeah, but not tight. You got that tab underneath. I don't," Henry said. "And it's really touchy. Here," he said, and he touched it. I got hard again, about half, but he was right – that spot was touchy, and it felt good.

Henry got about half hard, too, when I touched him. Mickey was right, his dick was very smooth under the head. No tab at all.

"No," he answered right off. "It just made it really hard for me to cum, is all. What freaks me out is Tyrone and Kim, though. I don't want my whole dick gone! Do you?"

"No," I told him, and that was that. No way did I wanna it all gone. I liked it too much.

"Let's try it, Benny, since it's a party and I'm allowed! It's not like we're gonna make a mess!" Henry said.

That was something else new – me and Henry giving each other a blowjob at the same time. He called it a '69' thing. Heck, my mouth was getting tired by the time I just got him hard. I didn't get off like when I'd been fucked, but it did feel good. Henry wasn't complaining, either.

I gotta say, his hard little dick did look smoother and better than mine did. I liked how it looked.

"What the HELL is this?" Somebody yelled at us, and we both rolled over and jumped up.

"I should arrest the both of you!" He laughed. He was in uniform, too. I didn't know why. "I have to go talk to someone," he patted our heads. "So, did you two manage to accomplish anything?"

That was when I started really thinking about it. Not a one of the boys there seemed scared or upset. It was like, whatever anyone wanted to do, they were all for it. Every man there had a go at each one of us, I thought, and that was all OK?

Yeah, I wasn't saying 'no' to anyone either, even though I knew I could. I yawned.

"Oh, no!" Joe told me. "When I get back, you better not be asleep, young man!" He warned me. Then he kissed us both and went down to the basement.

Henry was yawning, too, and he laid back down on the mat. I guess he wasn't allowed to stay up very late? He went back to sleep pretty quick.

When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I could see all the lights on. The basement was bigger than I thought it was, and there was flashing light coming from the far end, way past the barber chair. Come to think of it, I'd never seen the basement with all the lights on.

He was laying on one of those little hospital rolling beds, a gurney, I think. He was naked, and strapped down with a big belt across his waist and a padded strap over his forehead. He had an IV in his arm, some kind of rubber gag in his mouth, and he was staring up at two strobing lights – one red, one white. They were flashing so fast it was just – hypnotic. I looked away. He had a tube coming out of his dick, too, connected to a bag, and he wasn't moving. He was just staring up at the lights and not blinking much.

"OK, Jimmie, you tell Uncle Joe all about it, all right? No one's going to hurt you, and you didn't do anything wrong." I guess he took the gag out.

"Benny's having a good time, Jimmie, he's fine. Don't try to move, you're hurt pretty bad. Remember? That car hit you on the road by The Shack, remember?"

"Jimmie, you just watch the pretty lights, OK? I know it hurts, but we'll help. You're going to be in the hospital for a while."

"Myyy nammme 3;" Scott whimpered. Then I guess the drugs hit him. I peeked again, leaned down so I couldn't see the lights head on.

Joe picked up some kind of thing, and Dad rubbed some gel on Scott's head on his temples.

Whatever Joe had looked like a horseshoe with two metal balls on the ends. He put it on Scott's head so the balls were between his eyes and ears, up some. Scott looked limp. They put the rubber gag back in his mouth.

"Give him a hard one," Joe suggested. Dad adjusted something on a box on the table by Scott's gurney. Why were they calling him 'Jimmie' though? I know his middle name was James, but he hated it.

"It's OK, Jimmie," Dad told him, patting his stomach. "Just watch the lights and go to sleep."

Then Joe did something, and Scott's eyes got wide. He was yelling into his gag, and his body arched some, pulling on his straps. The lights went dim.

"Joe, when we're done, he'll think his name is Jimmie and that he lives in Outer Mongolia, if we want him to," Dad smiled. "No, he won't be a problem. All we have to do then, once his memory is wiped out, is find a good loving home for him."

'Of course they would', I thought, 'if he called Mom already, they can't just send him home and bribe him off! They tried that, and it didn't work.'

"We're going to have to start looking for him tomorrow, 24 hours, Martin," Joe told Dad. "I can't hide all that."

"Not a problem. The boys took some blood and made a mess where they left their bikes. Bobbie brought Benny's back here. It'll be the perfect abduction scene, Joe, just like the disappearance of Ronnie King."

What the heck was a 'buyer' for? Were they going to sell Scott? Then again, Mr. Thomas had said that Tyrone was 'worth every penny.'

"Yes, but since he's well into puberty and had some development, I'm not so sure we can get 250," Dad said. He sighed and leaned on the wall. "His voice hasn't broken, though, and there's no beard growth yet."

"Joe, we've never had to do this before, but what choice is there? We were so sure, since what we heard from Benny's collar bug, that the dirty-minded little brat would go right along with Benny?"

"Guess he didn't like it," Joe shrugged. "But it's not like we can just kill him and throw him in the river. I won't do that."

"They've got another boy, Joe," Dad shook his head. "And maybe if this one goes, the little one – Evan? – will have a better life now? Benny said that he was making him miserable? Kid followed him around like a puppy, and Jimmie here just ignored him."

"He's not a nice kid, Martin," Joe agreed with Dad. "I've seen it before. He'll be in 'jew-vee' by the time he's 14, you know. I've already busted him three times at the mall for shit, got him barred, and I'll bet money he was in on the cars what got broke into."

What was 'jew-vee'? And Scott was in that kind of trouble? I knew he was banned from the mall until fall, but 3; ?

"Juvenile Hall or Blanken isn't the way to do it," Dad said. "At least this way, he can finish growing up in a good home and make something of himself. Once he's had a little reprogramming that is. I want him to sleep for at least a week. We'll give him a few more jolts while he's unconscious, and have Kent keep a close eye on him." Dad put some headphones on him, and I saw the tape player. One of those new 'auto reverse' ones that would play forever.

Then I thought about all the times Scott made fun of me, or got me in trouble. Me, Fred, Denny, you name it. Scott always saved his own ass first. Hell, even Evan caught hell for his shit at home.

So what if Scott got sent off to somewhere? And wasn't Dad going to find him a new home at 250-somewhere? Maybe he already had a guy to take him? Maybe he HAD sold him? I didn't think there was much chance of him ending up in Abu Dhabi, though.

But why did I already know that? It was like I knew what to do with Scott, too. I knew what I wanted to do with him 3;

I leaned around, and he grabbed me. "Dad, I was so busy! Everyone's having a good time, but Henry's like, passed out? I just totally forgot! Dad, you DID let Scott out of that plastic bag, right?"

"Looking for you! I missed you, Dad." And it wasn't a lie. "What should I do with Henry?"

Dad smiled at me. "Let him sleep, son. And Scottie's just fine. He's resting in there," he pointed to the little side room. "Until we can figure out how to convince him not to tell on us!"

"I think we should airmail him to Spain or somewhere," I shrugged. "He's a little asshole, you know."

"But Dad, he's a dickhead! Even Fred and Denny said so!" And that wasn't a lie either. I mean, we only hung out with Scott because we thought he was cool and he wasn't afraid of anything. That, and he had a porn channel at his house.

Hell, none of that meant 'jack' to me now. I'd just come off having sex all evening with other guys, boys, eunuchs. What the hell did Scott have?

"Son, what do you suggest we do with him?" Dad asked, putting his arm around me. "He is a bit of a problem, what?"

"Well, we can't kill him, so I guess we have to keep him," I shrugged. "Maybe ask the guys if they know anyone who wants him, sir?"

"You know: Joe, Dr. Kent, Bob? They gotta know somebody that'll want him." I paused. "I dunno WHO, though."

"You'll probably have to have Dr. Kent castrate him, too. He makes a big mess, and he loves to jack off." I said it like I didn't really care. And that wasn't lying, either. I'd love to see Scott get his nuts cut! Shoot on me, would he?

Dad rolled his eyes and sighed. "Benny, we need to have a chat, son," he told me.

"Son, he has to agree to it," Dad told me. "You can't just 3; dispose of him, or start doing surgery on him!" Dad looked shocked, but you know, I wasn't the one trying to fry Scott's brain. I know he didn't agree to THAT.

Dad still looked surprised. "What if I told you that I was ordering the doctor to castrate YOU? How would YOU feel about that, if you had your balls cut off and didn't want to?"

I don't know why I said it, but the lights were on again in Scott's little room.

I shrugged. "Who said I didn't want to? If I was castrated, I wouldn't make a mess when I get off, and I sure wouldn't turn out like HIM!" I pointed. "Then I could be just like Canyon! 'sides, everyone else is: Jeffie is, Henry is, Bobbie is 3;"

"We'll talk about that later, son," he told me, and we started for the stairs. "For now, let's go host, shall we?"

Chapter Seventeen

Benny gets the biggest shock of his life after the party is over and it's time to go home Sunday night.

When we got upstairs, most of the party had moved outside. I guess Dr. Kent had decided that Henry needed to get wet, and must have throwed him in? Everybody was in the mood to swim, I guess, but I just wanted to float around the pool and think. No such luck. There was some other guy there, too, that I didn't know. He hadn't been there before, and he had kinda darker skin, but he wasn't a black man like Mr. Thomas. He kinda sounded like Canyon, with that accent, when he got excited.

"You've GOT to be kidding!" I said. Dad swatted my butt. "Sir!" I added. Mr. Anwar smiled at me and patted my head.

OK, to get to it – he was a friend of Dad's. I guess Dad had connections all over the place? But from the Middle East? What the hell? Is that what they called a 'stereo-type'? Then again, he'd met Mr. Frederick, an American, who was on a trip to London and then Dad and Canyon moved here. I guess it was possible? Anyway, Mr. Anwar was nice-looking, like a magazine person in the Sunday clothes ads. Except he wasn't wearing any clothes just then. He told us he was educated in Britain, and Dad liked that.

"Are you sure I can't have this one, Martin?" He kept asking Dad, who made me stand there and turn around and around for him like I was a model. "Ali's getting older now, and he'll have more responsibilities with all the new children. Besides, he's gotten so tall!"

I guess I rolled my eyes or something, because Dad smacked my 'arse', hard and pointed his finger at my nose. "That's as common a name there as 'Jack' is here," he told me. I apologized. Still, I wondered what Ali did with children? If Mr. Anwar was anything like the rest of Dad's friends, it was a safe bet that Ali wasn't having kids of his own!

"I do not!" Mr. Anwar laughed. "I only have eight, and besides, eunuchs are so different from women!"

OK, so he had sex with eunuchs, too? Ali must be a eunuch then, and one that was getting older. I looked over and saw Bobbie and Mickey talking about something, waiting in line for Jeffie to jump off the diving board. He was untied, and I wondered if he'd got loose or been let loose.

Dad was still laughing. "I wanted ONE once," he said to Mr. Anwar, "And so help me, I can't imagine why!"

"You seem to have gotten the best deal, my friend?" Mr. Anwar told him, "Twin boys? And without the commitment?"

"And that cost me twelve years," Dad told him. "A mistake that's going to be rectified soon enough."

'Rectified'? That was a new word. It sounded like 'rectum', and I knew what that was! Boy, did I know what THAT was tonight! I didn't have a plug back in me, yet, and after three fuckings, I was feeling kinda 3; empty.

I thought so. Now if I could just stay – at least come over every day – that would be great, too. Dad next door wouldn't be so bad. Hell, Denny only got to see his dad every other weekend.

"You can borrow him, but you can't buy him," Dad gave Mr. Anwar a little shove on the arm.

"We're going to have a talk about that," Dad told him. "Benny's got this idea in his head tonight that he wants to look just like his brother."

"Come here and let me see you better, boy," Mr. Anwar told me. I looked at Dad. He nodded.

"Very good!" Mr. Anwar told Dad. "And you've only had him for two weeks?" Dad nodded. Mr. Anwar touched my dick. I started getting hard. He laughed. Then he shook his head and made a 'tsk tsk' sound.

"Americans and the circumcisions they do to babies," Mr. Anwar sighed. "Loose, too much frenulum, not a good cut at all."

"Yes, Dr. Kent did study the style, and you know that Canyon's is suitable," Dad said.

"If a boy is to be cut, he should be cut properly," Mr. Anwar said. "The circumcision is a sacred thing, not to be trifled with. This is like partial nuclear disarming. What is THAT?"

So I guess he thought I wasn't circumcised right? Well, he was right, all the other boys there who had dicks had ones that looked different from mine. No tab under the pee-hole, and the place where the color changes way back on the shaft, no close to the front like mine.

"That, or made smooth and beautiful like your friend Kim," Mr. Anwar added. "A very proper eunuch, fit for any service!" He smiled. "As a true eunuch should be!"

"No, Martin, I won't borrow this one. He is male, and it is wrong for a male to have sexual relations with another male."

I guess I'd just missed a chance at getting fucked again? He didn't want me, because I still had balls? Then again, he'd just said a boy should be cut 'properly'? As in – have his dick cut off, too?

Mr. Anwar was still looking me over. I checked him out, too. He had a big dick, as big as Dad's, and he was circumcised like Canyon and Henry were – he called it 'tight with no frenulum.'

"Ali was older, and he did not like it at first, either," Mr. Anwar was saying, "But he adapted."

Dad gave me a look. "Benny, you run along and play with the other kids, son," he told me.

On my way to the pool, I heard something about " 3; puberty 3; 500-thousand, drugs and shipping." I had no clue.

I was wore out by the time the party started breaking up. I guess when you're as old as Dad, you can only fuck so much in one night. Even the men were yawning when they started gathering up the boys to head home. Henry never even woke up. He just got wrapped up in a beach towel and carried out to his dad's van. Jeffie, remember, was spending the week, so I wondered who was going to sleep in Dad's bed with him.

"Are you sure we can't put you up somewhere, old friend?" Dad was asking Mr. Anwar.

I guess I went to sleep sitting there listening to them, because the next thing I remember was waking up in bed, blindfolded, with music playing. It was one of my new records, but I swore someone was talking to me, too. I was strapped in, too, but there was something different – there wasn't a plug in me.

I figured someone would smack my butt to get me up, but it didn't happen. I must have went back to sleep, because when I DID get woke up – with a smack – I was hungry. Real hungry. It must have been later.

"Special weekend, Benny. We don't do this very often, so I let you sleep in. Besides, I had to see Mr. Thomas and Tyrone off. He said thanks for all your help, too." Dad hugged me, but didn't turn me around all the way. My butt still felt funny. Then he laughed. "You leaked a bit, son," he told me, and made me go get a quick shower before he got Canyon up. I guess Jeffie had slept in his bed, but I didn't see him just yet.

He was right, there was 'mess' down there. I guess I couldn't hold it all in, and some had leaked back out? Canyon laughed too, but told me not to worry about it. We didn't have to worry about it, since Dad plugged us both as soon as we were out of the shower.

"So how did you like the party, Benny?" Canyon asked me when we went down to get lunch. Lunch for breakfast. And there was Jeffie, getting it set out. He hugged and kissed us both 'good morning'.

"Uh, it was 3; great!" I said. OK, I still wasn't sure about it, I felt really funny, but having my plug back in was taking my mind off it. At least I didn't feel so empty anymore.

"You should 'stay fucked', as Father calls it, for the rest of the day or even two," Canyon laughed. So did Jeffie.

I shook my head. I thought it was like being raped or something, but I hadn't said 'no'. And knew I liked it. two weeks ago, I'd have called the cops if a stranger had even looked at me!

"Dad and his friends would never do that to a boy they didn't love," Canyon told me. "That would ruin it."

"No, Benny," Dad told me, as he joined us. I wondered who had cleaned up? The party trash was all gone, and we were having leftovers. It was still good. "Is that what you thought? Just a bunch of guys who like little boys?"

"At 3; at first," I confessed. "B-but no one hurt me, well, a little at first, but I 3; I liked it," I said, and I knew my face was red as the cherry drink I was drinking.

"It doesn't work that way, Benny," Dad said. "Like your brother said, that would ruin it. A man has no business with a boy, if there's no love involved."

"And my daddy loves me!" Jeffie smiled, wolfing his food. I guess living in a dumpster would do that to you?

"Mr. Thomas must love Tyrone too," I said, and I don't know why I said it. "I thought he was gonna cry last night."

"Tyrone will have a better life now," Dad told me. "Just like Jeffie does. Just like you will, son."

"Is no longer part of the decision," Dad told me, and in that serious voice of his. "Benjamin, the fact is – you WANT to stay here with us. You LIKE it here with us, and she would never understand it all if you were to let something slip. In fact, it is imperative that you STAY with us. Besides, you'll be fat and dead of a heart attack by the time you're 18, the rate she's going!" Dad laughed.

That made me feel kinda better. But how was he gonna make Mom let me stay? Was there something in that contract we signed that I didn't know about?

We cleaned up lunch, then went outside. We got sunblock put on, and Dad said it was a 'day off'. Canyon was excited.

"Oh, we've not had a day off in so long!" He just grinned. "Whatever shall we do?"

"Benny decided last night that he'd like to be like you, Canyon. JUST like you," Dad told my brother.

"Really?" He said. "Father, surely you're not going to just allow him? You made me take a year to think about it!"

"Even though it's harder to get off, and you can't get an erection sometimes?" Dad asked him.

"That makes it all the more fun!" Canyon laughed, and he pointed at me. "See? Benny's hard again, already! He certainly gets hard a lot for not being in puberty, Father?"

"That's not his fault, it's Lois's," Dad sounded mad again. "And even little boys get erections quite a bit," he added. "IF they have all their bits?"

"Yeah, once I got castrated, I don't get hard so much," Jeffie said, nodding and grinning. He was always grinning, happy little shit.

"My daddy told me all about it, and I wanted to do it – for him, to make him happy," Jeffie told me. "'sides, I'll get shots when I'm 16 or 17 and grow up and be just like Daddy!" He explained it, like he had it all planned out. "And my little stub will grow like his, and then I can do what he does!"

So, I was wondering, did that mean finding a boy in a dumpster, talking him into getting castrated, and then tying him up for fun to fuck him? I didn't say it though. Heck, for all I knew, it would hurt Jeffie's feelings, and I didn't want that.

"What was that Mr. Anwar said about being circumcised?" I had to ask, so I could change the subject. "Did I make him mad, Dad?"

"No, son," Dad told me. "It's just that routine circumcision of baby boys in this country isn't what his culture does. They wait until the boy is older – a rite of passage. And they do it differently."

Dad nodded, and showed me his erection. It looked like Mr. Anwar's. Like everyone else's 3; well, except Joe, and he didn't have a head on his dick. Neither did his boy, but it made them both happy.

"A cut like this removes thousands of nerves, son," Dad told me, "And reduces sensation. It takes longer to achieve climax, but it's better that way. Or so we're told. Remember, I didn't have an orgasm with my penis until I was in college, and I was circumcised when I was younger than you. My father saw to that."

"How, sir?" I had to know. I mean, HOW did you keep a boy who wasn't a eunuch from jacking off? I know I would have, if I could whenever I wanted to. I wanted to, but half the time, I couldn't. Maybe that why I'd liked getting fucked so much?

"A very snug, escape-proof chastity device," Dad told me, "Much like the tube you had for one night." He laughed again. I blushed again.

"Father, won't Benny have to wear one of those, if he's not castrated?" Canyon asked.

"Well 3; yes," Dad kinda fudged, and my mouth dropped open. "We're a bit ahead in the talk, though."

"Castration is a very serious thing, Benjamin," Dad told me. "Like I told you last night. If you want to become a man, you will have to take shots. You will stay more boyish, like Bobbie and Mickey, for longer. You have to work out hard, to keep from getting soft and fat, like Canyon does. But you do that now, so that's not a problem. But you can never have children, Benjamin. Once your balls have been cut off, they are gone forever. You cannot sew them back on later. What you are doing, in having yourself castrated, is submitting to another person's will for at least the next five or six years. You will not experience puberty, as if you'd stayed on the drugs that your mother," he sorta spit out that word, "was giving you. Drugs wear off. Surgery is forever."

"I know, sir, but I get hard all the time, and it's kinda embarrassing? Like last night, in front of Mr. Anwar?" I said.

"He didn't like me," I said, and I didn't know why, but I wanted him to like me. I was used to not being liked, or paid attention to, but all of Dad's friends weren't like that – except him.

"He just thinks you need a trim!" Jeffie laughed, and Dad smacked his butt, hard. SLAP! Jeffie squealed. Knowing him, he liked it. Canyon rolled his eyes.

"Jeffery, if you do not mind yourself, I will have to punish you, day off or not!" Dad warned him.

"Why don't you all run around in the sunshine, kick a ball or something?" Dad suggested. "I have some things to do." He got up and went in, but he came back out and tossed me my old baseball.

"Dad, WHEN are you gonna put a battery in that thing?" I said, but the more I looked at it, the less irritated I got. It was a kinda pretty red light.

"Benny, I want you to really THINK hard about being cut," he was telling me, hugging me, touching me, before giving me a long, hard kiss and sending me back out to play with a swat to my butt.

We kicked a red ball around until 4, and I wondered if either Jeffie or Canyon had ever played on a team. I didn't think so. I did, I wasn't so good, but I did it to have something to do and least have a coach yell at me. It was attention, even though I got laughed at a lot.

We had our shakes at 4, and I was tired again. Jeffie curled up with me on my mat, and we slept until 6.

I woke up first, and I watched them both sleeping for a little bit. Hell, even asleep, Canyon looked good and in shape. I still looked soft, I thought, and Jeffie was just skinny – even though he ate like a bear. Maybe Joe had to work a lot to be able to pay to feed him? I was thinking about he would look like Kim if he didn't have that little stub when Dad came in to get us up. When he came in, I got to thinking about what Jeffie had said.

"Dad?" I asked, before he woke them up. "If you don't want me getting cut like Canyon, that's OK. But can I at least get 3; a trim, so I look like you, sir?"

It scared me to ask, OK? I mean, I was asking if I could have my dick cut on – have part of it cut off. It was scary as hell, but I felt 3; left out, somehow. I thought it would make Dad happy.

"Oh, Benny!" He hugged me, "That's a good idea, son, and I'm proud of you! As for the rest, you can think about it, all right? Once you see how much it's going to hurt having a little surgery, then you can decide on the big one." He kissed me again, hard. I gave it back, too.

He got Canyon and Jeffie up, and we were playing with Jeffie's Atari game he'd brought over when Dad came back in. (OK, Xbox didn't exist then, right? Neither did Nintendo.)

"Benny, I have a surprise for you," Dad told me. "How would you like to know how it feels to not have male genitals?"

"I know you don't like needles, son, so close your eyes – if you want to do this? I can numb it for you, sort of a trial run?" Dad asked me.

"Nerve block," he told me, and I felt a shot. I flinched, but Canyon and Jeffie held me.

A few shots later, and I started to tingle. It wasn't long into the game again and the numbing set in. I stopped playing. It felt like I had nothing down there! I could see it, but when I touched it, I couldn't feel it. It was like touching someone else!

He did, too. The numbness was spreading all through my crotch. I was afraid I might pee on the mat!

"I'm sure it's a lot like it," Dad nodded. "Now, are leftovers OK for dinner? I think the caterers overdid it."

Still, I was running out of time, and I knew it. I sat there eating with my numb 'bits' as Canyon called them, and just wondered. Mom was going to freak over the earrings, I knew. She'd really freak if she knew I'd been fucked up the butt, too. Much less that I liked it, or had given a man a blowjob.

If being straight meant having a girlfriend or wife like her, why WOULD I want to be?

Dad was pissed. "I'll send him over when you get in, Lois. Just use a cigarette lighter, then! Don't blame me, you're the one who had the lights shut off! Be grateful I had Bob wire your AC into my outlet, so at least the house is cool by now! It's over 90F [32°C] out, if you didn't know! What? Fine! When I see the lamp in the window, I'll send him. No, he's fine, thanks for asking! You COULD have called sooner. What? And you're stupid enough to believe Scott Simonson? The kid who framed Benny over the window incident? Haven't you learned by now that that kid is a lying mooch? Fine, but he's used to bedtime at 9. I'll have him get a bath, then. What? Hell NO, I don't expect you to return the favor. Canyon isn't spending a MINUTE under YOUR roof!"

Canyon and Jeffie just started clearing up the dishes. We went downstairs. I knew Scott was asleep in the little side room, but I didn't think about him. Asshole. Maybe Mr. Anwar would buy him? Good riddance.

So I guessed this was it – no more baths with my brother, no more enemas, no more butt plug, and probably no more sex. I was thinking about a little gray room at Blanken with a hard mattress behind a locked door.

When Dad gave me the soap and salt mix part, I started crying before he even hooked up the water hose.

"No," I cried. "Daddy, please don't make me go back there! I 3; I wanna stay here!"

He rubbed my belly and just let the water run. I was filling up. I looked pregnant. It was beginning to hurt some, and I said so. He stopped it – just shy of 1.7. He said he was proud of me.

When I was clean, the bath was ready. More of that nice-smelling bubble bath. He carried me to the tub, and got in with me. When he lowered me down, I felt his dick behind me.

Then he just sat there and held me, kissing my neck, telling me how much he loved me. He moved me just a little bit, but it made me burn inside like I had to pee. I couldn't feel my own bits, and it was wild! I started moving, since it did NO good to touch myself. I couldn't feel a thing – except for his dick in me.

I don't know when Jeffie and Canyon showed up, but Canyon gave Jeffie his and then did his own. Dad was still rocking me on his dick when they got in. Dad was washing me off all over, and then putting shampoo that smelled funny in my hair.

OK, I still didn't wanna be smooth like Kim or Tyrone, but damn, it felt wild! All I cared about was getting off, and I knew only Dad could get me there. When he did, I thought I'd died. I guess I yelled, feeling nothing in front, and hot stuff shooting up inside me. He let me sit there until he got soft and slid out.

Canyon and Jeffie laughed at me, but it was different. It was a good laugh. Then Canyon was crying, wanting to know if I could come over when Mom was at work.

"You boys have to learn to trust your father," Dad said, and when we were dry, I was surprised he put my plug back in me. "No one else needs to know that's there," he told me.

Once we were dried off, I asked if I could tuck Canyon in. He was still crying, and now Jeffie was too. Dad told us to wait a minute, went upstairs, then came back with the repaired phone handset. He also was wearing shorts, and threw us each a pair.

"Yes, Lois. Light that oil lamp, wave it in the window, and I'll send him over through the back yard. Oh, and Lois?" He paused, "Turn it up so I can see it?"

"Any minute now, son," he said, and then there was a very, very, loud noise. The whole house shook, and things fell off the shelves. A little bench on rollers came rolling out of the shadows. It was creepy.

We all stumbled, and something broke upstairs. The lights all went out, then came back up when a generator or something, a battery, kicked in. It hurt my ears it was so loud, and I thought it might be a tornado from a sudden night storm!

All the pictures had fell off the east wall, and the glass was broke out of all of them. The patio doors were blown out, glass everywhere, and all the downstairs windows were either busted or cracked. Then I saw the light.

"Canyon, get boots and shorts on. Benny, you too. Jeffie, call the fire department! Canyon, north hose, bring it! Benny, you and me, patio hose! NOW, BOYS!"

"Benny, hose – go to the Smith's, start soaking their wall with their hosetap!"

The heat was unbelievable, so I ran around the front door and out, down the road, and got the Smiths' hose going. I had to spray myself to keep cool. Dad and Canyon were soaking the side of their house, too.

The roof of my house was somewhere in the back yard, near the lilac hedge. The walls had fell over and burnt through already, and it was a good thing Dad had a big lot! If we'd been as close as the houses on the next street over, all three houses would be on fire!

"Benny!" Joe hugged me, picking me up and running for the car with me, "Benny, was Lois in there?"

All I remember was Joe holding me in the front seat of his car – red and blue lights – AC running. I was so hot. It felt good. Old Mrs. Smith, bringing coffee and cake, and cold milk for me.

"God bless Bob, and all the plans he made for remodeling that house," Joe said, but I don't remember it. I should have known, since the Smiths' house had its whole wall facing mine blown in.

Mr. Smith brought Kitty, who hid between my feet in the floorboard. The Smiths were in an ambulance, with Mrs. Smith bitching the whole time!

Bob had been fiddling with the AC – and the gas main that one day I met Bobbie.

It was awful, but when I finally stopped crying and clinging to Joe, the fire department had it under control. Canyon's house was fine. So was the Smith's, minus one wall and all the windows. The rest of the neighbors had lost windows, too.

"Joe, Mr. Poore says he knows you? And what the hell kinda water pump has that guy got?!"

I just stared at the other cop car's lights – red and blue, flashing, so pretty 3; round and round 3; strobing emergency taillights, red and white 3;

"There," she said, "Told you!" She looked happy, though? "I finally got to meet the new neighbor boy!"

God love Mrs. Smith, she had cookies and milk, her house was shot on one end, and she was bringing us treats!

"Now you see why I use total electric," Dad was telling the fire chief. "Gas explodes!"

Bobbie raising up from behind the AC – scrawny, gangly Bobbie – with a piece of thin plastic tubing in his hand.

"Sir, I hate to ask," the chief of police was asking, and he nodded at Joe, who had put his coat over me and was still holding me around the shoulders while he munched a donut, turning my back to the sight. The Chief was talking to Dad.

"Were there arrangements on what to do with the Pence boy?" The Chief asked, "That you know of? Joe said he was staying with you and your boy, and that his boy is spending the night?"

In the dim light, the Chief was mumbling: "Oh, God, no! First the Simonson boy, and now this? Mr. Poore, tell me the Pence boy wasn't 3; in there?" He whispered, pointing at the ruins.

Dad nodded, hugging me tight in Joe's big coat, and putting a hand over my mouth.

"I'd 3; I'd just sent him home not five minutes before. He had a bath, and it was bedtime at 9, you see 3;" Dad was crying. I didn't get it.

He'd just lied to the chief of police, and I knew why: He'd called me Canyon, and I'd ran to him.

OK, she was my MOM, all right? It doesn't matter how bad it is, little boys love their moms. That's just a rule of life, or something. I was mad at her, hated what she did, hated how she treated me, but – I loved her.

Joe walked us in. The firemen were checking out the house for damage to see if we'd have to go to a hotel.

"What the hell is this wall made of?" One asked, and the other guy was carefully picking up all our pictures. Pictures of Canyon – pictures of me.

I was laughing again. They were staring at me. I guess I was all dirty again and smelled like smoke? I could smell something.

"Canyon, isn't it?" A fireman asked me. "Boy, what you did with that hose was 3; amazing! You probably saved the Smiths' house! Say, he's a little scorched?"

"Yes, brave boy, I'll put some gel on it. No worse than a sunburn, ehhh, Canyon?" He kissed my cheek.

Dad took me down to get another bath. He put gel on me. It was cool, and numbed me some. Joe was taking statements, writing, making it up as he went, he said!

"Benjamin Daniel Pence died tonight," Dad then told Joe, who just nodded and made more notes. "You have the dental records and the evidence in place?"

He carried me to my room, and Canyon and Jeffie were all over me. Canyon held me for a long time, before Dad said we had to go to bed.

Chapter Eighteen

Cleanup of the mess begins. Mrs. Smith visits again. Mr. Simonson comes over to help build a fence. Landen makes some suggestions on what to do with Scott, and surprises even his father.

I wasn't strapped in when I woke up, that much I remember. I know I thought Dad's room was kinda small, but there was a door on one side. I figured it was his bathroom. I wanted to look around, since I'd never seen his room before. He was there by the time I got to the door. There wasn't anything in it but a big bed, a closet door, the other door, and a lamp.

"Oh, no," I groaned. I was wearing a very wet diaper, and some of slip-on white canvas shoes. 'Old man shoes,' we called them.

"Take this, Landen," he told me, and he gave me a little orange pill, and a white one, with a glass of water. He had to hold my arm going downstairs so I could clean up, I was wobbly like I'd had a hard workout. I tried to tell him, but all I got out was something that made him laugh. I guess my mouth wasn't working.

"You're stoned!" He laughed at me. "Don't try much of anything today, son. You're going to stay tranquilized. You've had an awful shock, and it's going to take some time to get over it."

I did figure out the shoes, though. The window was blown out in the bathroom. He put the shoes on all of us so we wouldn't cut our feet. I should have been pretty freaked out again, I mean, my house just blew up, but I really didn't care.

Dad was holding me up in the shower downstairs, and when he got me patted dry, he fixed my hair and put my shoes back on. Then some more gel for my scorched front, face, and all. He put the ring-stopper thing back on my dick so I couldn't pee. I still couldn't feel anything down there either. But the dick-plug was better than a diaper, when gave me the choice. I guess if my mouth and legs didn't wanna work, my bladder wouldn't either. I tried to ask him, but he just laughed at me. I guess he figured it out.

"The fire's all put out, Landen," Dad told me, and Canyon steadied me. My legs still didn't want to work too good, and I leaned on the sink and looked in the mirror.

I tried to say my name was Ben. Benny. Canyon said I sounded like Elmer Fudd got drunk. I knew I should be upset. I mean, my house had blown up, burned down, and my mom was 3; gone.

I made it to the table, and was really hungry. Dad gave me iced tea instead of water. I was eating something when I heard a man talking: "How is he?"

I just nodded. I guess I kept nodding until Jeffie stopped me by grabbing my head.

"'Ow cuhhhm yooo cawd me Wan-duhn?" I said. I tried to say "How come you called me Landen?" – but it wouldn't come out right.

Bob hugged me. "Don't you worry, boy. We put this house together real good when your daddy moved in! That wall took the blast and just singed the bricks some. Oh, Martin?" Bob was saying, "Still no sign of the guttering, but they found your fence, most of it, over in the Wilsons' yard. You wanna put it back up?"

"I think we'll move it over, since the lot will be empty now," Dad said. That much I remembered. "We'll have a nice, big yard for the boys to play in now. That'll be nice, won't it, Landen?"

"Landen, that bush burned down," Dad told me, and that got me to laughing again. Geeez, I hated that bush!

"All burned up," I slurred it out. One of my shoes fell off. Bob put it back on.

"Father," Canyon was saying, and I looked out the patio door. The glass was broke, but the screen was still there. "The pool's full of trash and debris!"

"Well, why don't you and Jeffie go and clean it out?" Dad said, "Instead of the usual workout?"

"Father! They'll see us! The fence is history!" Canyon said, standing there naked and making a face.

"Right," Dad told him. "I guess you'll have to wear something. It's a bit cloudy, so maybe you won't get a white butt if you wear a Speedo for one day?"

"Keep your shoes on and get to it," Dad told them. "Landen, you finish eating and just sit there, all right? Bob and I don't want you hurting yourself while we clean up."

Dad and Bob started cleaning up the mess. They had a vacuum that could have sucked up an elephant, I think. I just sat there at the table looking at the stack of pictures of me and Canyon from the ruined frames, and listening to the broken glass being sucked up. Before, we'd looked kinda the same, but different. But now we looked so much alike that poor old Mrs. Smith thought I was my brother!

I read that paper again later on, when I wasn't so doped up. I kept it for my scrapbook, too. (Dad liked pictures, you know.) Here's what it said:

THAT was why they were calling me 'Landen' – Dad had said to Joe that 'Ben Pence died tonight."

"Landen, are you tired?" Dad asked me, nodding. I nodded back. He helped me into the living room, put me in his recliner with him, and turned the TV on. He put a tape in, but I don't remember what it was. We cuddled up to watch it while Bob went on inspecting the house and making notes. It was some action movie with a lot of car chases. I must have went to sleep, because when I woke up, Canyon and Jeffie were coming in to wash up and take a nap. Dad was still holding me in the recliner, and he gave me another little white pill. That I remember better, since the tranquilizer was wearing off.

"You need to move around some, Landen," Dad told me, after the boys got done telling me how bad it was outside. "Do you – want to see it?" Dad asked.

Dad had me put Canyon's black Speedo on, and I saw that Dad had got dressed to go out somewhere. Sure, the fence was gone. We didn't want Mrs. Smith to have a stroke!

The water in the pool was still dirty, but the filters would clean it up eventually. The fence was gone, I mean really gone, and the grass was all burned black up to where the fence had been. The hedge at the back end was all crispy and half dead, too. The Smiths' house had black plastic covering that side of it, and my house?

All there was, was a black pile of rubble with yellow tape all around it. There were some people digging around in it, too. One of them looked up, saw me, and waved. He came over to talk to Dad. It was a fireman. "You're a hero, Canyon!" He told me. I just smiled at him and nodded while he shook my hand. It was still funny, and Dad's hand was really tight on my shoulder. Then he told dad, "I don't think we're going to find anything. Faulty shut off valve, that'd be my guess. Everything's just melted and burned up 3; GONE!" He waved his hands around. "The thing had to have been leaking gas into the house for days. Good thing the power was off. A light coming on would have made her blow! I can't believe your place held up so well?"

"Well," Dad told him, "You see, it IS brick, and there are no windows on that side, save for a few upstairs. They've all blown in, of course, the roof may have taken a bit of damage there," He pointed, "But I'm sure it's nothing that Bob can't find someone to fix?"

"Oh, I don't think he'd have survived the blast and flashfire when it went, if he'd been outside," the fireman shook his head. "It wasn't your fault, sir. Just bad timing on when he was supposed to come home." Then he patted my head. "We just might give YOU a medal, son! You must be doing something right in raising him, sir!"

Dad smiled. I was laughing again when Mrs. Smith came bustling over with a tray of cupcakes. "Martin," she was saying, "I want that Bob fellow to come over and look at my house when he's done with yours! We can't live in a plastic bag all summer long, you know, and the hotel won't let Kitty in! Can you imagine the nerve?"

Dad winked at me, so I ate a cupcake while they talked. I almost choked when Mrs. Smith asked why she'd never seen me 3; rather, Canyon 3; outside before.

"Oh, Canyon has some disabilities," Dad tapped his own forehead. "Meeting new people upsets him. The move here was so jarring for him, that he took to his bed for the first month in melancholy. Leaving all his old friends behind, you see, his old school, everything he knew, and coming to a new country."

I shook my head. My mouth was full – how was I supposed to talk? Senile old lady 3;

"Now I don't want to see any skinny dipping going on, while the fence is down!" Mrs. Smith was rambling. "You know, I recall this one time back in 1919, it was just after the big war, and the big flu, you see." She blushed some, "I used to be quite a dish, you know, and 3;"

"MARTIN! PHONE!" Bob yelled out the patio door, something like six months later.

"I saw you were trapped," Bob laughed, when we'd escaped her. I had a chill. But I didn't feel trapped. Not anymore.

"That fence is going back up as soon as Leon gets me the deed," Dad said. "In fact, why wait? Boys, we're building a fence tomorrow, so you can all pay for eating that plate of cupcakes!"

"Father," Canyon yawned, "Why are getting up early? It's not free time yet?" He blinked. "Oh, cupcakes! May we?"

Dad looked at the clock and nodded. "So much for today's schedule." He shrugged. "But tomorrow, you're going to work this off!"

"Dad, I gotta pee!" I said. Or I tried to. He got the idea when I started dancing on the spot.

So we didn't do much the rest of the evening. We watched TV. We had some dinner, and finished the cupcakes. There wasn't any messing around, and I was still numb down there. Bob stayed for dinner, then headed over to the Smiths'.

Dr. Kent came by around bathtime with Mr. Anwar, and I guess my drugs were wearing off again, because I remember them checking me out. Dr. Kent laughed about the nerve block shots, and then he got all serious on me after looking at my numb dick up close. He even ran a pointy little wheel thing over it, and I couldn't feel it.

"I tend to agree that tightening up your circumcision is probably the best bet for starters. How about this?" He told me, "We wait, and I'll keep a close eye on you for signs of puberty. If it starts to look like you're over those shots you were on, we can either put you back on them, or by then, if it's long enough, you can spend that time thinking about having surgery like your brother? Then maybe we can do it? I just don't run around castrating little boys who think it'll look cool, you know?"

"Keep some burn gel on him, Martin. Any other signs of trauma? How's he holding up so far?" Dr. Kent asked Dad.

"The tranquilizers are keeping him calm. In fact, he's laughed a lot today. I think he cried the worst of it out last night," Dad said.

"I'd like him to have at least one more day of rest," Dr. Kent said. Dad didn't look thrilled at that idea. "At the very least, go easy on him! You can't just toss him back into the routine after such an ordeal!"

"Perhaps you're right," Dad gave in. "Less exercise, and he can resume his studies."

"Keep him hydrated, of course, and wean him off the drugs SLOWLY, after the dosage tonight," Dr. Kent added. "In the meantime, how's our other patient?"

"Resting in the usual place, watching TV when he's coherent, which isn't often. I think he'll be fine in a few more days, after a few more treatments."

I tried to remember what they were doing with Scott, but I was yawning again. I guess my pill was going to work. Dad carried me down to the basement, and I went to sleep in the tub after my enema. I woke up for a minute when Dad put me to bed with him, and that was it until Tuesday morning.

Dad got me up around 10, I had a quick breakfast, and my head was clear enough for study time. I got another couple pills, but they didn't hit me so hard. We were still studying Spain, and it looked like Jeffie had had some of Dad's classes before. I wondered what I'd missed with the morning workout, but I did remember that Jeffie was supposed to be learning how to protect himself. He had a couple of bruises, I mean, not big ones like he'd been beat up, but I guessed he'd had his first lesson.

I didn't like the idea of him and Canyon fighting. I hoped I didn't have to learn.

After lunch, Dad told us that Bob would be coming to help start putting the new fence up. Mrs. Smith came over to make sure they got the line right. I wondered how bad it would mess her up to see the two of us at once, in different places? We all had a laugh about that, but Dad told me to make sure that DIDN'T happen!

Since I wasn't so stoned with the lower dose pills, I got to help unload the truck when Bob and Bobbie showed up. I guess Bobbie knew how to drive? There was a LOT of wood, too. Me and Canyon took turns hiding, and that black Speedo was annoying as hell. He was right – it pinched me. I had to wear my work boots, too, since there was still bits and pieces of my old house in the yard.

Joe showed up to help later, and he smoothed things over with the guys still picking through the rubble. Since we didn't have any relatives, Mr. Fred had already told them that there weren't going to be any lawsuits. The gas company guy heard that from Joe, and he was GONE. When Mr. Leon showed up with papers about the property, Dad took a break and signed them. I thought it all happened awfully fast when the other guys digging in the rubble left, too. Joe just laughed and patted my butt.

"It pays to have connections, Landen, and your daddy is VERY well connected! So how do you like your new name?"

"I like it, sir," I told him. I mean, everybody was calling me that, so what if I didn't like it? There probably wasn't anything I could do about it.

Bob and Bobbie were pretty quick with their diggers, and by 4, we had a row of posts put in. We worked right through naptime, too, and I didn't even notice it. I figure they were trying to keep my mind off what had happened, but like I told Dad, it didn't bother me all that much. He told me he was proud of me, and that made me feel good.

OK, sure I missed Mom. But I'd just got everything I'd been begging for on Sunday night handed to me. I had a dad, a little brother, and I was going to stay with them. Canyon's schedule wasn't that bad, and I was going to get in shape. I was thinking about how my brother looked again when Bob had us start sorting out boards. With the posts all in place, it didn't take long to put them up. The men held them, while me and Jeffie, or Canyon and Jeffie, put the screws in with power drills. That was fun!

Dad just towered over him, Mr. Simonson was so short. OK, he was probably 5-5 [1.65 m], if he was lucky. But I guess the sound of power tools from down the road was too much for him to resist. Since the patio door was open, I could hear them if I listened hard.

" 3; first thing he asked, kinda worries me, was if he could have his brother's room if you don't find him," he was telling Joe.

Hell, I KNEW Evan wouldn't miss Scott. That was one thing that bugged me about him – Scott treated Evan like crap. Evan was probably thinking 'good riddance.'

"Shame about Ben," Mr. S. was saying. "You know, Martin, YOUR boy looks SO much like him it's uncanny."

"Well, they say everyone has a twin," Dad told him, when Mrs. Smith interrupted them again. There she was, with a platter full of cookies. Dad groaned, but he was nice to her.

"Now you cut that plank at the bottom so Kitty won't have to climb over," she was telling them.

She wanted a kitty-door in our fence? OK 3; well, it made sense, since Kitty went out 'catting around' all night. I figured I'd better tell him that Kitty had a habit of pooping in the flower bed.

Canyon came in and we traded places. I took a shake for Jeffie out. Mr. S. didn't recognize me. Then again, with my hair colored and cut like my brother's, and the fake freckles on my face, why would he? We even had matching earrings, and our collars were similar. I figured it was a good thing Dad had took the padlocks off! That might have made them look twice. And since I didn't have Canyon's slight accent, I stayed quiet.

We had the fence done by dinnertime, and Bob and Bobbie stayed. Mr. Anwar came by, too. Dad wrote Bob a check, and the sum almost made me faint! I guess wood wasn't cheap? I was glad to get out of that Speedo, though. I hated that thing! We all had a good laugh about me and Canyon fooling them all, but the dinner conversation was pretty serious.

"I'm sure it helped take his mind off of it, having something to build," Bob was saying.

"Yes, I hate to do it to him," Dad said, but by then, my next pill was hitting me. I was tired again, even though I hadn't done all that much but rip packaging and drive screws. "But Scottie knows too much."

"He's still catatonic, Dr. Kent has seen to that. He's not in any pain, that's for certain," Dad said.

"You said he was almost 13?" Mr. Anwar asked. "He seems to have begun developing some muscle tone, as well as other things?"

"Kent's got him shot full of stuff to counter that," Dad said. He sighed. "I've never had to do this before, gentlemen. Always before, the boy WANTED to come. Always before, he was better off."

"Everyone makes mistakes, Martin," Mr. Anwar said, "But with his build, and his short stature – you saw his father? I'm sure we can make something of him. He should work out just fine."

Canyon nudged me in the ribs and shook his head at me. He held a finger up to his lips. I got it.

"That depends on what he remembers – or THINKS he remembers – when we bring him out of conditioning," Dad said.

I thought about those flashing lights. And didn't Canyon tell me once they'd used them on me, 'to settle me down'? What did it matter, though? Scott was a jerk, and when I finally started getting everything I wanted, he tried to ruin it for me by calling Mom. I snorted. As far as I was concerned, he could STAY in that little room forever. I hated it that his parents were so upset, but they had another kid – and Evan would be better off, too. I figured that Dad would sort it out so Scott would be, too. I mean, heck, he already had a record and Joe had kicked him out of the mall. Scott would probably end up in baby-jail before it was over, anyway. So what was the harm? It wasn't like Dad was down there whipping him to death?

"You made a noise," Dad told me. "And he was your friend. I think it's time you told Daddy what you really think about Scott."

"W-well, sir, he blew it once already. I thought 3; I thought he'd like it, you know, but he didn't." The more I thought about it, the madder I got. "We can't send him home, but like, we can't dump him in the river either."

Dad grinned. "He's a sneaky one, all right. I think he's got plans for Scottie?"

"Find him a new home, since we can't keep him," I shrugged. "Dad, you said there's always somebody?"

They looked at me, and I don't know where it came from. Maybe it was because I was thinking about what I wanted – thinking about how Canyon looked – how we looked so much alike that we could fool people.

"Landen!" Canyon looked at me like I'd just murdered Kitty or something. Then he looked at Dad. "Sorry! Took me by surprise, sir!"

"No harm done," Dad smiled at him. "I have to admit, I am a bit taken myself. Landen, we can't do that!"

"Why not, sir?" I asked, "Mr. Anwar is sitting right there, you said he couldn't have me, and if he wants a boy, there's one down there!" I pointed at the floor. "Dope him up and get him to agree to it!"

"I seem to be nursing a viper in Rome's bosom," Dad said. "Landen, do you know what you're suggesting?"

"Evan gets his room, and WE don't go to jail," I shrugged again. "Sir! I didn't think he'd tell, and I was wrong. It's my fault you guys had to do all this stuff, but unless you just 3; fry his whole brain or something 3; he'll tell again!" I was getting upset by then. Dad got up. "Mr. Anwar's right here, sir, and he wants a boy, doesn't he? Since Ali's too old and has too much work to do?"

"He IS a sharp one, Martin," Mr. Anwar smiled. "Pity you wouldn't let me have HIM!"

"Tyrone sure looked happy," I said, "And I know I am, Dad!" I was almost crying by then. "And if something happens, what happens to ME? To Canyon?" I was shaking by then. I wanted to just go down there and punch Scott. "I don't have anywhere else to go! They'll put me in Blanken!"

"Landen," he told me, "LANDEN! If anything happens to me, you'll have a home, son. I have that taken care of. I've always had it taken care of. Mr. Frederick has all the legal documents for you boys now. Listen to me!" He gave me a little shake, "Look at me!" I did that. "Do you think all of Daddy's friends would just let them take you away? Do you think Joe or Bob or Dr. Kent is that stupid? If someone took you away, and you talked, what would happen to them and all of your little playmates? Kim, Henry, Tyrone, Jeffie? It's all taken care of, son. Trust Daddy, all right?"

"Son, Daddy loves you," He told me. He held me out and wiped my face. "I won't let anyone hurt you, EVER again, that's a promise! And have pity on the fool who tries!"

I didn't ask, though. I couldn't ask. I was so afraid of ruining it all, like I'd almost done by having Scott come over. I looked at everybody at the table, just watching me. I felt stupid.

"Well, now that's settled," Dad said, and he put me back down. "We have three very dirty, smelly little boys here who need baths!"

Now that I was over my little attack, I asked Dad about Scott. I knew where he was, but I wanted to see him. I wanted to hit him, really.

Bob and Bobbie had to leave, because they had a lot of work to do in the morning. Mr. Anwar came down to the basement with us.

Scott was still in the warm little side room. He looked asleep, and he was still strapped down tight to his little bed in a sit-up position. He had headphones on, a red ball gag thing in his mouth with a tube coming out of it, and an IV in his arm. I guessed it was so he could get a drink if he sucked on the gag. He had a catheter in his dick, and he was blindfolded.

"Instructions," Dad told me. "Telling him things. He's very open to suggestion right now. He's conscious, but he can't see or move, and all he can hear is what we want him to hear."

OK, I'm not stupid. I figured they'd done that to me at night, too. Why else the blindfold and headphones? But I was happy, wasn't I? Yeah, I was – and Scott just wanted to ruin it for me.

"Tell him he'll like being castrated, sir," I shrugged, and it was suddenly funny.

"You know, I think he'll work out perfectly," Mr. Anwar said, looking Scott over like he was a piece of meat. "He's not all that far along, and he is short-stature. Blond, pretty eyes, you told me?"

"You could always take him and breed him, then, sir," I shrugged. "That might work. He can have girls to do it with, and make you all the boys you want."

"Martin, this boy is a genius, I tell you!" Mr. Anwar said. "Do you realize how much I can make from 3;"

OK, I don't know why I was risking getting in trouble or spanked again. But I was mad. I was mad at Scott, and if I'd had a knife, I'd have cut his balls off myself. I'd have got a ruler and measured HIS dick, and cut it back to 2" [5 cm] so I could make fun of HIM!

Mr. Anwar's brain was working, though. It was like a cartoon character with a light bulb over his head. He smiled at me.

I didn't hear him say it, but Canyon told me a LONG time later what Dad said to Mr. Anwar:

TNNB

The New Neighbor Boy

Chapters 15-18

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen