Tossed Away Kid - Chapter 14

This is a work of fiction.  Any similarity to anyone in real life is a coincidence.

A special thanks to the Late Ed Wooten for his editorial help.

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Getting caught with Danny is not a new experience for me - we’ve been caught by Danny’s parents before.  Let me set the stage for you.  It was a warm night so we had kicked off the sleeping bag cover.  We were facing each other with our arms around each other.  Our legs were intertwined with our noses almost touching.  Both of us had morning wood with the heads touching each other.  Talk about a Kodak moment!

The words, “What the hell,” woke us from a sound sleep.  Quickly I grabbed the sleeping bag and covered us up.  Then I looked to see the source of the words and saw Bill looking at us with his mouth half-open.  Then he did the one thing I least expected.  He started laughing.  Not just a giggle either.  It was a great big belly laugh.  He was pointing at us and laughed even harder.  He was laughing so hard soon tears were running down his face.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“The…The look on your faces!  It was priceless.  I wish I had a camera.  But seriously, if you guys want to fool around you should at least keep your sleeping bags separate.  There are lots of old folks around and they might get pissed if they catch you naked in each other’s arms, sporting wood.  I know that lots of guys our age fool around and it doesn’t mean you’re faggots or anything like that but you should be more careful.”

“Have you ever fooled around with another guy, Bill?”

“Nope, so don’t ask me to join ya.”  And he laughed again.  “Get up, you guys, we’re going fishing with Mike and Mark.  The early bird gets the worm.  Hurry up and get dressed and you better unzip and separate your sleeping bags before one of the adults finds them together.”

I went from being embarrassed to being pissed off.  First, our privacy was invaded.  Second, plans were being made for me without my consent.  Third, I didn’t plan on getting up at the crack of dawn.  Fourth, he implied that we might want him to join us.  Fifth, he’s telling us what to do as if we have something to hide.  Sixth, he said the Fag word, which I really hate.  Danny could see I was pissed and came to my rescue.

“What makes you think the adults don’t already know we sleep in each other’s arms, Bill?  And NO, it’s not about piddling with each other.  It’s about love.  Who told you to come into our tent and wake us up to go fishing?”

  “Rick.”

“Well, that explains everything.  We’re not going fishing with you until we have talked about it.  Now please do me a favor, Bill.  You can tell anyone you want about what you saw or heard this morning except Rick.  If he asks you any questions about what you saw, tell him just two guys in a tent.  Act like nothing happened.  You can tell him the truth, you don’t have to lie, just don’t tell him all the truth.  Okay?”

“Yeah, sure, you don’t mind if I tell anyone else but Rick?  I don’t get it?”

“We’ll explain it to you later.  Right now I’d appreciate it if you gave us some privacy.  If you guys are ready to go fishing now, go, don’t wait for us.”  With that Bill left us alone.

“That really pissed me off, Danny.  Good thing you spoke up or I might have lost it.”

“Don’t be pissed at Bill, Tommy.  That’s just the way he is.  He speaks whatever is on his mind at the time.  You don’t have to agree with him but he’s just being honest.  The one I’m pissed at is Rick.  He just outted us.  He wanted Bill to find us sleeping together so he can bring the subject up with Bill, I suspect.  We have all weekend to sort this out.  Look at the bright side.  At least he didn’t react badly.”

“That might change when he finds out the truth.  To him we’re not gay, we’re faggots.”

“That bothered me too.  We’ll talk to him later.  Now that we’re up, we might as well get some breakfast.”

Our tent is large enough to stand up in so we stood up and quickly got dressed.  We headed straight for the bathroom.  It felt so good to go.  The whole time Bill was talking to me all I could think about was how uncomfortable I was with my bladder full.  As soon as we left the bathroom we ran into Mike and Mark.

“Hey, guys,” said Mark.  “We’ve been looking for you.  We just got done talking to Bill.  He seemed real confused.  We told him to go talk to his dad.  This morning we asked him and Rick if they wanted to go fishing with us.  Rick asked if you guys could go too.  We told them sure.  We didn’t mean for them to disturb you.  I just told Rick that we changed our mind and want some time alone.  It sounds like you guys have some things to sort out.  We’ll be back around lunch time.”

“Okay, have a good time, guys,” I replied, not really wanting to go fishing anyway - what a bunch of stuff over nothing!  I’m supposed to be having fun, not dealing with all this stress.

As we got back to the campsites, Mrs. Stevens, Mike’s mother, called us over for some breakfast.  Danny’s parents were there along with Jeff and Sally, Mark’s brother and sister, and Mr. Stevens.  The Browns were nowhere to be seen so I guess they were not up yet.  Also absent was Rick.

“You boys are up early?” inquired Mr. Stevens.

“Bill rudely awakened us to go fishing.  It was a bit embarrassing.  Now we have some things we need to take care of and it’s not even 7:00 AM!”  I replied.

“Anything I can do to help?” responded Mr. Stevens.

“Rick used Bill to out us this morning.  Bill is talking to his dad right now.  We haven’t seen Rick yet.  We need to talk to Rick and let him know we’re not happy about what happened this morning without ruining anyone’s holiday.  We also need to tell Bill the truth about us and make sure he’s okay with us.  If you like, you could help us talk to Rick.  We really don’t want to involve his parents.  It’s up to him to talk to them.”

“What do you mean when you said Rick used Bill to out you?”  asked Sally.

“That means Rick had Bill embarrass Danny and Tommy, Sally.”  replied Mrs. Stevens.

“It sounds like I can help you guys out with Rick if you’ll let me.”

“That would be great, Mr. Stevens, if you don’t mind.”

“It would be my pleasure to help you out.  That way we can put this behind us as soon as possible and you can enjoy your holiday weekend off.”

With that somewhat resolved I started enjoying my breakfast.  From what Mike has told me about his father I knew that everything would work itself out.  We still needed to decide what we are going to do for fun today.  It’s not even 7:00 AM and it’s already quite warm so going swimming is definitely an option.

After breakfast Danny, Mr. Stevens, and I went looking for Rick.  While we walked we filled in Mr. Stevens all about Rick and how he might be gay and in love with Bill.  We explained that we felt he had sent Bill into our tent to try to bring up the subject of homosexuality with him.  We spotted Rick sitting on a bench down near the beach.  Mr. Stevens told us to let him do the talking.  When Rick spotted us approaching him he had a look as if he knew something was up.  Kind of like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Mind if we join you, Rick?” asked Mr. Stevens.

“Sure,” Rick answered quietly.

“I thought you were going fishing with Mike, Mark, and Bill this morning?”

“I asked if perhaps Danny and Tommy could come too.  I asked Bill to wake them and find out if they wanted to go to.  When he got back he pulled Mark aside and then he went off to talk to his father.  Mark then told me he changed his mind about us going fishing with them.  So I came down here to wait for Bill to finish with his dad.”

“When you asked Bill to wake up Danny and Tommy, did you tell him to just walk into their tent and surprise them?”

“Yes,” Rick said very quietly, looking at the ground.

“Let me tell you a story, Rick.  This is a real story.  My wife’s brother has a son a few years older than you.  He’s Mike’s age, his name is John.  He lives in a town in West Texas of about 80,000 people called San Angelo.  The town itself is not what you would call progressive.  John has a secret - he’s gay.  I guess it kind of runs in the family.  Anyway, he had a boy friend named Brian.  They were very much in love but they had to keep it a secret.  Another boy, Curt, found out about Brian and outted him to the whole school.  Brian got harassed and finally beaten up and was forced to move away.  However, Curt never found out about John.  Now John is a fairly good size teenager and very popular.  He’s very athletic so no one has ever suspected that he’s gay.  Including Curt.  What do you think John did to Curt for all the trouble he created?

“If it was me I would have rearranged his face.”

“That’s not what John did.  Instead he became his best friend.  He got to know Curt real well.  John also started to notice that Curt was falling for him.  It all came to a head last spring when Curt admitted to John that he was in love with him.  Curt was persecuting gay guys because he was insecure about his own sexuality.  Then John slam dunked Curt.  Curt had fallen in love with someone who will never return his love.  First, John was not attracted to Curt.  Second, John is still in love with Brian.  I’m not going to tell the whole story right now but everything did work out for all three boys.  Curt had to go through hell first.  I’m trying to make a point.  You said that if someone did to you what Curt did to Brian you would rearrange his face.  What you did to Danny and Tommy this morning isn’t any better than what Curt did to Brian and John.  And from Bill’s reaction, you’re not going to have any more luck with Bill than Curt did with John.  Bill is totally straight.  However, he’s not a homophobe so at least he’s not going to tell the whole world about what he saw this morning.  And don’t try to tell me you didn’t intend for Bill to catch Danny and Tommy together.  You seem like a good kid to me, Rick.  I think you just made a selfish mistake.  I’m sure if you ask Tommy and Danny to forgive you they will but I don’t think this is over.  I’ve gotten to know Bill’s and your parents well enough in the last two days to figure that your parents are going to hear all about this as soon as they wake up.  It would sure help if you tell them first.”

“I’m sorry, Danny, Tommy, I guess that I didn’t consider what would happen if Bill reacted badly.  I was just trying to bring up the subject.  Will you help me talk to my parents, Mr. Stevens?”

“Yes, I will.  Now you’re going to have to deal with both your parents and Bill.  And it’s going to take some doing to get Danny’s and Tommy’s trust again.  I just hope you have learned your lesson, Rick.  It’s no fun to be embarrassed.  I get the feeling before this day is through you’re going to be embarrassed too.  Now let’s go find your parents.”

Rick and Mr. Stevens left and they no more than left when Bill approached.

“Hey, guys, I just wanted to apologize for disturbing you this morning.  I had no right to disturb your privacy the way I did.  Are we still friends?”

“Do you know about us?”

“Dad talked to me and explained about love and sex.  He said that there is nothing wrong with two guys loving each other as long as they respect each other.  By respect Dad meant that one is not forcing the other to do something they don’t want to do.  He went on to say that although some acts are against the law that they are rarely enforced.  He also said that this is true of straight relationships too.  I’m truly sorry about some of the things I said this morning.  I didn’t mean anything by it.  I guess I just wasn’t thinking about how you two might feel about each other.  Will you forgive me?”

“I forgive you, Bill,” I replied.

“I do too,” replied Danny.

“Do you have any idea why Rick sent you to disturb us this morning, Bill?”

“My dad had some ideas about that.  He told me to be careful with Rick.  Dad thinks he might be falling for me.  I don’t want to hurt him but I’m just not that way.  Just the idea of kissing another boy makes me want to puke.  I know he can’t help how he feels.  Dad says you can’t choose who you fall in love with – it just happens.  Anyway I’m not ready for that kind of relationship.  There will be plenty of girls to chase when I’m in high school.  I’m not mad at Rick, I just wish he’d be up front with me and tell me the truth.  If he’s in love with me he can look all he wants – just as long as he doesn’t touch.  Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about you guys – it’s our secret.”

“I think you will find that Rick’s secret is out.  We just had a talk with him and Mr. Stevens.  He’ll probably be looking to talk to you sometime today.  Anyway, what do you want to do today?”

“Lets have some fun!  This is too much stress this early in the morning.”

We walked back to the campsite and Bill went to talk to Rick, Rick’s parents, Bill’s parents, and the Stevens.  We went skateboarding with the twins and Jeff.  They have this old pool at the campground with no water in it that is perfect for us to practice.  It’s only 5 feet deep and it’s not so easy to get hurt.  A couple of older kids approach, I say about 16 or 17, and inform us that it’s their practice time and we have to leave.”

“I don’t see your name on a signup sheet,” I respond.

“Well, if you don’t leave, then we’ll just have to force you to leave!” one of them replies, sounding just as mean as he can.

“I count 5 of us and only two of you.  I could probably handle you myself if I need to but I don’t want to fight.  Why can’t we just share?  There is more than enough room for all of us.”

“Because I say so, now leave before you end up with a bloody nose!”

“Are you threatening me?”

“I’m promising you, not a threat.”

“Well then, you’re under arrest for assault.  You see those two twins over there?  Their dad is a sheriff.  Another one in our group is a State policeman and two more are City of Chicago Police officers.  I’m sure one of them would be more then happy to assist me in a citizen’s arrest.  Because I’m a nice guy I’ll give you one more chance, back down or there will be trouble.”

Some people never learn.  One of them takes a swing at me and I easily dodge his punch and I kick him in the stomach.  He doubles over and his friend squares off with me.  I could tell by his stance that he’s had some training.  Also he’s got 4 inches and 40 pounds on me.  Danny tries to tackle him and that distracts him just enough for me to take him off his legs.  In the meantime Jeff has gone for reinforcements.  The twins jump in and help us restrain the two bullies.  Rick, Bill, Sheriff Brown, and Bill’s dad arrive.  They told us to get off the two bullies and then we explain what happened.  Bill’s dad handcuffs the bullies and explains to them that either they can tell him where to find their parents or they can go to jail.  They tell him what site their folks are at and soon their parents are there too.  After a long discussion it’s decided to let the bullies off with a warning. 

Sheriff Brown pulled me aside and explained that although I did nothing wrong, sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.  He explained that one of the bullies could have pulled a knife and one of the little kids could have been hurt.  Perhaps it would have been better if we just left.  He also explained that now we’ll have to be looking over our shoulders the rest of the weekend.  He had a good point.  I was acting a little cocky until the one bully showed me he knew how to fight.  Good thing Danny helped me.

We went to lunch with grilled hamburgers.  Rick and Bill seemed to be getting along so I guess they managed to work out their problems.  Mike and Mark returned with 5 large walleye each that they had caught.  Looks like fish for dinner.  We spent the afternoon boating and swimming.  The water was cold but the sun was hot.  The boats were fun to just cruise on.  The wind also helped to cool us off.  We went out quite a ways so we could dive off the boat.  Pontoon boats are very stable and versatile.  We had a great time.  After dinner we all played beach volleyball.  Then it was campfire time.  By now I was really feeling comfortable even with all the people around.  Funny thing is everyone knows about me and none of them seem to care.  It’s a great feeling, holding your boyfriend’s hand, singing around a campfire. 

Sunday morning we went fishing with Mike, Mark, Bill, and Rick. 

Bill said that he and Rick had worked everything out and gotten back to normal.  We all caught fish.  That afternoon we went bike riding through the woods.  A late afternoon thunderstorm cut our trip short.  We ended up going to bed early. 

 Monday the fourth of July we slept in late.  Then we went skate boarding again.  This time no bullies disturbed us.  We also had Mike and Mark with us.  Mark is enough to discourage most adults from causing problems.  They weren’t really into the boarding like we were but just kept us company.  Monday afternoon we went boating.  That evening we all piled on the three boats and went about an hour south until we were off the shore in northern Chicago.  From our vantage point we got to see a great fireworks show with the Chicago skyline in the background.  It was breathtaking.