A Rural Life

Pulling the old Wagoneer off the dirt road into the fire lane, Fen eased through the tall grass and brush till he was out of sight from the road. The door squeaked with familiarity as he swung it open. Climbing down, he was careful about where he stepped always on the lookout for snakes. Before pushing the door closed he looked in considering grabbing his t-shirt to put it back on. He felt the heat of the day even under the canopy of the pine, the air thick, making him sweat profusely, so he closed the door leaving the shirt lying in the passenger seat.

Moving around the tailgate, the window already down, he reached in taking out the two cane poles, a small tacklebox and a pail that held a Styrofoam cup of wigglers, a soda and pack of peanut butter crackers. Everything in hand, he made his way through the rows of trees, following the deer trail that wound its way among the pine till it followed the drop down toward the creek. As the grade grew steeper the rows of pine ended, magnolias, oak and cypress taking their place. He moved around a magnolia that had fallen over then continued to grow, curving back upward reaching for the sky, and came to a spring. Kicking off his old sneakers, he stepped off into the cold water and walked along its sandy bottom following its flow down to the creek. Another fifty yards he came out on the creek, a section near its upper length where it was barely more than a creek, not more than fifteen feet wide and most of it not more than a few feet deep. Following the path along the bank he moved down stream till he came to his spot, a curve in the river with a live oak spreading its long limbs out over the water. The river was deep in the turn where its sweep past a sand bar on the inner side, a spot that was a good fishing hole, the bream and bass plentiful enough to provide many a meal over the last few years.

Fen pulled the cup of wigglers from the pail and sat them on the ground along with the two poles. He flipped the bucket over and after positioning it on a small level area sat down on it. He pulled a stringer from his pocket laying it next him. With one pole unwound, he baited the hook and easily swung it out over the water letting it drop right at the edge of the deep hole. He sat quietly, pole held up enough to keep the line tight. It would take a few minutes for the fish to forget his presence, to come back into the area they bed within. Once Fen got the first nibble at the bait he knew he would make his catch.

The wind blew gently through the trees providing the whispering noise of the woodland. Occasionally there was bird song, the song of desire, mating calls from one to another. Fen sat still, not moving for a long time, his every sense focused on the tight line leading from the end of his pole down to the water.

He wiped his fingers on the leg of his khakis, the legs cut off just above the knee, now a frayed edge that tickled his skin. They fit loose on his narrow waist, slipped down till the waistband of his briefs were exposed. They had been his dad's pants, a pair left behind that Fen took as his own. He felt the heat of the day against his bare torso, over his legs and arms and the back of his neck. Sweat trickled down his chest and from each armpit, till the waistband of his briefs were soaked. Raking fingers down his chest the touch became a fantasy, someone else's fingers, another's touch, soft against his skin. He imaged a masculine hand moving across his chest over one erect nipple as his own rubbed roughly over the hard nub. The craving of another's touch was overwhelming, so vivid in his imagination. Downward he moved his hand, over his chest and over his stomach, raking down the sweat.

Fen felt the stirrings of his desires, fueled by this fantasy. This want of another's touch. Would the guy be dark haired and stocky, muscular, clothes stretched tight over his body, or would he have blonde hair, with a tall, lean body. Maybe he'd have red hair, and a boyish face. Unable to create a specific face, only the masculine hand was made manifest in his imaginings. He tugged on the loose crotch of the khakis and the tight briefs beneath adjusting his cock till it could stretch out comfortably.

A sound, maybe some movement, caught his attention. Just a sense of a presence on the opposite bank, up the steep rise and within the undergrowth of vines and understory trees. Fen scanned the far bank, slowly, searching for something that didn't belong, something not native to this section of woods.

The pole pulled against him, the end bowed down as the line whirred through the water, cutting back and forth, then spinning in a circle. Fen quickly brought his attention back to his pole, easing up on it, knowing this fish had swallowed the hook. Working it toward the bank he pulled upward at the last minute letting it drop by his side.

It took only about an hour to catch what was needed for dinner, it just being two of them now, his mother and himself. The string of fish was set into the pail with enough water to cover them then Fen made his way back to the Wagoneer.

Back on the road he shifted through the gears till up to speed, crossing the bridge and heading home. On the other side of the river, he rose up to the level land where the farms lay on both sides of the road. On his right was the old Stuart farm with its fields grown up in weeds. The house was empty, had been for six months after Mrs. Stuart passed away.

As Fen passed the house he saw a couple of cars sitting behind it. He wondered if it could be some of the grandchildren come back to live in the house or had they rented it. Maybe even sold it for all he knew but there had never been any real estate signs.

Five miles up the road, at the intersection of 174 and 89 sat Simpson's General Store. Fen pulled in next to the two pickups parked in the gravel lot. He wanted a drink, so he made his way into the store where he saw Mr. Gibson and Mr. McCullough standing near the counter talking with Frank, the owner. Moving by them with care, Fen made his way to the reach-in with the drinks listening to the men talk.

"...divided up the place among the two boys and the daughter of Mary" Mr. Gibson was saying as Fen walked by.

"How long has Mary been gone?" asked Frank as he watched Fen browse the reach-in for a drink.

"That had to be ten years ago now. Did you know the girl got the home place and the sixty acres down to the river?"  replied Mr. McCullough.

"Emily (that's her name, I think) has moved here to do some sort of farming."

"Isn't that what she was doing in California?"

"Yeah but the droughts were really hurting her."

"How is she going to farm that place by herself? Her husband is passed away."

Fen grabbed the soda and move up to the counter as he continued to listen.

"That'll be a dollar thirty-nine" said Frank then he turned back to the other two men, "her son moved here with her, so I assume he'll be helping."

"That boy will probably leave as soon as he graduates high school."

"Maybe so, but..."

Fen let the door close behind him as he reconsidered what he had heard, wondering who this boy was and if he would be in their school come Monday morning. He climbed into his Wagoneer, started the motor and headed home.

That night Fen wondered about the new guy at the Stuart Farm. What did he look like, and how old was he? He let his imagination run with different scenarios until he had the boy being the source of the movement he was sure he heard at the river. It was stupid he knew but after the last three years he was beginning to feel the loneliness of this place like never before, and it was made worse by the way he knew he was different.

Sunday morning, he woke early and without really thinking about it, slipped on a pair of shorts and a tank top, and headed out for the creek. Not bothering with fishing gear for he was just going to hang out on its banks. It was his place to be alone, to think. He would sit on the bank for hours, occasionally swimming in the deep pool or sitting in the swallows letting the water swirl around him. This time he had the additional fantasy he might be discovered, found out by this new guy. He knew he was being silly, it nothing but a fantasy, but he still wanted to go and hope beyond hope, have the guy show up, still thinking maybe it had been him in the woods the day before.

Parked in the fire lane, Fen made his way down the familiar path, kicking his shoes off at the spring and continuing onward barefoot. It felt good, the soft white sandy bottom and the cool waters as he navigated his way to the creek. The morning air was warm with light filtering through the tree canopy. The only sound was birdsong, the sharp tweets and chirps echoing through the woods.

On the bank he stood for a long time watching the swirls and eddies on the surface of the slow-moving waters. Without rain for over a week, the waters ran clear, only the deepest sections concealing the bottom from view. Fen moved over to a fallen tree, most the limbs long since rotted off and the trunk smooth where the bark had broken loose and fallen away. He sat down, legs stretched out in front of him and let his mind wander, his imagination free to imagine what could be, if only. Glancing upward to the higher opposite bank, which was more heavily wooded, he watched for movement and listened for anything out of the ordinary.

‘This is stupid’ he told himself as he lay back and moved his right leg over the trunk, so he was straddling it. He stared up through the tree canopy at he vivid blue of sky. He saw a hawk circling high above then move out of view. He shifted his focus to the leaves as they moved in the gentle breeze. His breathing slowed, he struggled to keep his eyes open then he slipped into unconsciousness, letting sleep overtake him.

Fen jerked awake, sitting up confused at first then remembering he was on the bank of the creek. He looked around making sure he was still alone wondering if something had woken him. He listened intently as he scanned the woods. A snap of a twig and he turned to where he thought it had come, just across the river twenty feet or so up. He looked for any movement, any sign of what was there. A deer maybe, or a stray dog or maybe it was the guy.

Fen shook his head, knowing it was a crazy notion.

He stood up moving to the water’s edge, then stepped out into the swallow water feeling it swirl around his ankles. He thought it would feel a bit too cold, but it didn’t. It felt good. Moving back up on the bank he pulled his tank top off tossing it on the tree trunk. He undid the cargo shorts and stepped out of them. He began to go into the water in his briefs, but then he decided not to get them wet either and slipped them off too. It felt good, his nakedness out in the open, the air seeming to caress his skin. He raked a hand down his stomach and over his cock feeling it stir slightly, free of the confines of clothing.

‘What if someone comes?’ he asked himself then uttered out loud, “so what” as he moved to the water. He waded out to the edge of the deep section and dove. The shock of the cold water against his body was reinvigorating. The moving waters over his bare skin, the freedom of his nakedness made him all too aware of his own body.  He swam languidly upstream, rolled over and floated back down, feeling the waterline around his face, his chest and around his cock, the parts of him fully exposed. ‘If someone is in the woods let them look’ he thought as he coasted along with the flow of the creek looking up at the sky through the narrow break in the trees.

After swimming around in the creek, he moved up to the shallow waters and sat down on the soft sand. Water moved around his feet and hips and when he leaned back on his hands, stretching out his torso he felt the water around his wrists. There were spots of sunlight striking his body. One on his chest, one on the left thigh and one on his cock. The warming light caused his cock to stir, to roll around as the shaft elongated and thickened. He felt his arousal grow, like it did so often, and he rubbed two fingers along his growing length. The skin was smooth, still somewhat loose around the shaft and he raked his fingers over it then across the smooth spongy head. His cock flexed at the touch, grew thicker, harder, till fully erect.

There was no hurry, no sense someone would catch him but if there was someone he dared them too. Fingers wrapped loosely around the shaft he began to masturbate, slowly, feeling its effects through his body. He stroked the shaft and rubbed over the head till his hand grew slick. He worked it along the shaft and stroked faster, his hand slickly moving up and down. He fell back in the swallow waters vaguely aware of it moving around his prone body. He raised his knees up, let them spread wide apart as he stroked his cock. Lifting his head up enough to look down his body he wanted to see his cock sticking up, his hand around the shaft stroking it. He looked beyond his cock for a brief moment and saw the far bank straight across from where he lay.

“Fuck” he uttered as cum surged through his cock, the first ejaculation making him jerk with its release. He felt it spatter on his neck and chest as he came again and again and again. Cum dotted his torso, trickled down his sides as he slowed down, the last remnant pooling in the slit. He stroked slowly feeling cum smear along his cock till he shuddered from the sensation and had to stop.

He sat up and looked down at the cum trickling down his chest wondering what it would be like if it was someone else’s.

He moved back into the deepest part, just stepping off into it submerging into its depths. He rubbed at his stomach and chest then over his cock making sure to remove the cum then slowly swam back and forth in the deep pool till he felt the fatigue of his exertions. Back on the bank he dressed and made his way back to the Wagoneer. There was grass to mow, and clothes to wash. With his mother working long hours at the diner in town he had to take care of the house and the yard.

By midafternoon Fen was sitting at the dining table in their small kitchen making a list. The first section was items he needed from the hardware store; oil and filter for the mower and a new light fixture for the bathroom, some cheap fluorescent fixture he could easily mount to the ceiling replacing the one that had quit working.  The next section was the grocery list. His mother loved to cook so it was flour, sugar, yeast, baking soda, vegetables and fruits they did not have in the garden. Glancing at his watch he saw it was after three. If he hurried he could be back before his mother got home from work.

Fen went by the hardware store first, then drove across town to the grocery store. It was busy, the parking lot over half full, with other customers driving around looking for a space close to the door or trying to leave. He parked away from the building in an open area of the parking lot and made his way through the maze of traffic and women coming out with carts full of bags, many towing one or two children after them. Inside he grabbed a cart and made his way around the grocery store, getting only what was on his list, never having enough to splurge, but doing well enough to purchase what they needed.

Moving down the baking aisle he picked up a bag of flour, a bag of sugar, constantly checking his list as he scanned the shelves. He knew if he didn’t when he got home there would be at least one forgotten item. He eased along the aisle moving past one woman then another seeing the quick looks one of them gave him. Stifling a smile, he moved onward looking up to see a guy turn into the aisle.

To see another guy his age in the grocery store was unusual, especially one shopping alone the same as he. Upon further inspection he realized there was something else about the guy that seemed out of place. The way he wore his jeans, the sandals he wore, and standing out even more the tank top with the life guard symbol on the front. Around his neck a necklace of white shell. When the guy looked up his way Fen diverted his gaze back to the shelves. He had never seen the guy before but also knew there were some guys in town or other surrounding areas he probably had never seen, so it wasn’t unusual. But there was something about this guy that made Fen think he was someone new. He toyed with the image of the guy as he scanned the shelves, unable to focus on what he needed, distracted as he was watching the approaching figure out of the corner of his eye.

Blonde hair, cut short on the sides, slightly long on top, sticking up, spiky, obviously gelled in place. The guy was lean, just muscular enough for definition along each upper arm. The tank top hung loose on his frame, the openings for arms and neck cut large and low. Fen couldn’t help but wonder how close to exposing the nipples the tank top was in the way it hung loose over the guy’s chest.

Looking at the list, trying to regain his focus, he saw yeast was the next item and he looked up along the top shelf till his eyes fell upon the display boxes. He reached up and took down three packs tossing them in the cart. At the same time, he saw the guy move up next to him.

“It’s you…I mean could you hand me a couple of those yeast packets?” the guy stammered as he stopped next to Fen.

“Yeah, sure.”

Fen wasn’t sure he heard correctly as he reached up for two more packets. He held them out and watched the hand reach out for them, the fingers long and delicate with a silver ring on one of them.

“Thanks” said the guy as he took them dropping them in his cart. Fen noticed how their carts were similar, staples of cooking, with no processed prepackaged foods, or sodas, or snack foods.

“Your mother likes to cook” Fen stated.

“Yeah, although she isn’t very good at anything too complicated, but…” the guy replied as he looked at Fen, then changed in expression, more serious, “…hey, do you live down in Pineland?”

Pineland, the community where the Stuart farm was located, and he began to feel hope and fear all at the same time, heart racing in his chest.

“Not Pineland; I live over in Woodrow to the west across the river. Are you Mrs. Stuart’s grandson?”

“Great-grandson. Woodrow? I don’t know where that is, but then again, I don’t know where much is around here. I’m Adam” holding out a hand.

“Fenton…Fen” he replied taking the hand in his own, feeling the firm grip.

“Nice to meet someone finally. Are you still in high school?”

“Yeah, my last year.”

“Great, then I’ll know at least one person when I show up tomorrow morning. You show me around?”

Fen thought of how he was treated at school, the white trash from Woodrow, daddy a drunk who ran off and left them. He knew Adam would be the new guy, popular with the others because of it and because he was attractive, boyish in the face, with a nice build, tall and lean, taller than he was by two or three inches at least. Adam, great-grandson of Mrs. Stuart, would be welcomed at Perry High School.

“I don’t think so…you’ll not want to be seen with me. Look, I have to go” Fen exclaimed, everything said in a rush of words almost too fast to comprehend as he pushed past Adam.

“Hey, wait a…” Adam voice came to him, fading as he turned the corner. He rushed through the remaining aisles, hoping to avoid him knowing they had been working in opposite directions through the store.

At register 4, one of only two open, he placed everything on the belt as Rachel, one of his classmates, rang up the woman in front of him. Once Rachel finished with the woman he moved up to the credit card scanner knowing he would not be using it today or any day in the future. He reached into his pocket for his wallet to take out the cash his mother had left for him.

“Fen” said Rachel, the best greeting he could hope for.

“Rachel” he replied in a friendly tone, knowing anything he said was a waste of time. Rachel rang up his items and placed them in a bag, moving at a steady pace till only a few items remained. She slowed, leaned toward Fen, lowering her voice.

“Who was that boy you were talking to?”

“Mrs. Stuart’s great-grandson.”

“Really?” Rachel beamed, “he the one moved into her old place?”

“Yeah and will be at school tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll get the full scoop then.”

“That will be seventy-four, twenty-eight” said Rachel as she bagged the last item which Fen put in the cart with the other bags.

He pulled out three twenties and two tens handing them over. Putting the change in his wallet Fen considered how Rachel had just spoken to him more than she had in the last few years and it angered him, made him mad for the way they looked down on him. He saw her gazing to his left, a ridiculous smile on her face and he looked back and saw Adam putting his items on the belt.

“Hey, Fen, hold up a minute, will ya?”

“I really need to go” Fen replied as he turned and pushed the cart for the doors.

What was he doing? Adam wanted to talk to him, but he just knew it was stupid. No way would someone like that would want anything to do with him, especially after he saw the pecking order in their school, with him near the bottom.

Monday arrived despite all of Fen’s efforts to delay it. Sitting up too late making the night last, for as long as possible, then lying in bed begging whatever might be out there in control to not let the next day begin, to just end time once and for all. His mother called him for the fourth time, or was it the fifth? Rolling over, kicking his legs out over the side of the bed he brought himself up. Looking out the window through the blinds he saw it was a beautiful clear day, not a cloud in the sky.

He arrived right before first bell, parking in his usual spot as far in the corner away from everyone as he could get. Climbing out he saw an old Jeep, a CJ series sitting the parking lot. It had larger wheels and tires and a bikini top and he knew it had to be Adam’s ride, the only vehicle he didn’t recognize. He ambled across the parking lot seeing some of his classmates gathered in their usual places outside the main building. Off to the side he saw Adam leaning against the wall with three girls huddled around him. As he came up to the building the bell rung, and everyone made their way inside, all except Adam and the three girls. Fen didn’t speed up, not caring if he was late, for he wanted to avoid any interaction with the others. When he finally got close he saw Adam looking over the girls toward him. Head down he avoided Adam’s gaze as he moved toward the double doors leading to the corridor.

“Hey, Fen…Fen! Wait up will ya?” Adam called out and Fen glanced back seeing him push past the girls heading his way.

“It’s time to get to class, Adam. We’re late already” Fen responded, now looking straight ahead as he went inside the building. The door didn’t close behind him and suddenly Adam was beside him.

“What the hell, man?”

“Adam, it’s time to get to class, so…”

“Okay, okay, but where is this room?” said Adam as he held out the printout for his class schedule.

“Dammit” Fen uttered under his breath then looked straight down the hall as he responded to Adam, “follow me. It’s my first class too.”

Everyone else was already seated and the teacher was about to close the door when Fen and Adam walked up. Fen stood to the side letting Adam enter first.

“Mrs. Williams, can I ask you a question?”

“Yes, Fenton, what is it?”

“The report we have due in two weeks; if it is hand written how many pages does it need to be?”

“I’d think six to eight, but what matters most is how well you cover the topic you choose to write about.”

“Okay. Thanks” Fen replied hesitating to enter the room.

“Go on, Fenton, get in your seat so we can begin.”

Entering the room, he saw Mary move to the desk next to Adam. ‘The vultures are circling the fresh meat’ Fen thought as he moved to the other side of the room away from Adam and everyone else, taking the last desk in the corner.  Adam watched him as he crossed the room, ignoring whatever it was Mary had been saying. As he went down the aisle Bill tried to trip him, and he heard Chris utter a slur.

“White trash… why do you bother coming to school.”

 As the day progressed, Fen had two more classes with Adam. He avoided him by sitting on the opposite side of each room. All day he heard the usual taunts, lunch time being the worse.  He had lingered for as long as he could, getting in the line after most of his classmates had gone through, with mostly freshman still in line. He saw Adam sitting at a table with three of the girls that had been pursuing him all morning and a couple of guys who were jocks on the baseball team. When Adam looked his way, he turned to face the service line and didn’t look back.

Coming across the dining room, tray in hand, he heard the occasional taunts, the worst always coming from Chris and Wayne. Ignoring them, he made his way to a table near the faculty that the others avoided, offering him some respite from their taunts.

At the ringing of the last bell, everyone rushed out of their last class to the buses or their waiting parents or the parking lot to their own vehicles. Fen lingered at his locker and walked as slowly as he could, making his way to the exit. Outside he saw the buses begin to pull away and his classmates pulling out of the parking lot, most in line in the drive waiting their turn to pull out.

As he crossed the parking lot he saw the Jeep was still there with no one around it. ‘Adam must be meeting the coach about playing baseball’ he thought as he approached his old Wagoneer. He had his keys out ready to unlock the door when Adam stood up from the opposite side.

“Adam?”

“Fen. Can we talk now?”

Fen stood frozen in place then finally nodded his head. He opened his door, tossed his backpack in the back seat and climbed in. Reaching across he unlocked the passenger door. Adam climbed in and for a moment he just looked around the interior of the Wagoneer.

“What year is this?”

“79.”

“No shit. This thing is great. Where did you get it?”

“A farmer over in Jefferson County sold it to me last fall. It had been his son’s and he just wanted rid of it.”

As Adam looked around at the worn and torn seats, the cracked dash, the faded paint and the rough metal of the floorboards where he had removed the carpet, he realized Adam saw past it all to the basic vehicle beneath. He heard the quiet approval of “nice” and “wow” from Adam while twisting around in the passenger seat. “What engine is in it?” Adam asked as he settled in his seat.

“The 401.”

“No shit…nice” replied Adam.

For a long time after neither said anything, as they watched the baseball team take to the field for practice.

“Why are you avoiding me?” Adam eventually asked once again.

“Did you not hear what the others said, how they react toward me?”

“Yes…I did and it’s wrong.”

“You say that now.”

“Fuck them” Adam replied in a lower voice, “what are you doing this afternoon?”

“I’ll do my homework, then some chores around the house.”

“You want to go swimming? There is this creek down by our place we can…”

“I know the creek.”

“Creek?” Adam stated with a scoffing laugh, “It’s not much of a creek but…”

“You’ve been down to it?”

Adam hesitated to answer, and Fen wondered if his suspicions were true.

“Yeah, I checked it out. It seems pretty shallow for most of its length, but I think there is a place or two deep enough to swim.”

Fen suppressed the desire to ask Adam if he had seen him at the creek, then he let his old fears resurface trying to figure out what to say, but he questioned his reaction and wondered why not. Adam was going out of his way to be nice, something no one else had done.

“Yeah sure, why not. I need to go home for some shorts to wear then I can meet you at your place?”

“Just follow me back to my place. I’ve got a drawer full of shorts, so you can wear a pair of mine.”

“Okay, lead the way” Fen replied as he started up the engine.

 The Wagoneer followed the CJ through the parking lot to the main road and to the Stuart farm. The first drive led to the barns and front field access points. The second drive led to the house and the Wagoneer followed the CJ till both sat under an old oak, engines ticking as they began to cool down while their drivers ambled across the dirt drive, up the narrow brick path, through the screen porch and into the old two-story house.

Fen followed Adam through the mudroom into the kitchen where he saw the chaos of renovation underway. Walls opened up to bare studs, light fixtures removed, doors leaning against walls and across the floor the geometric pattern of walls removed.

“Crazy isn’t it, all this mess” said Adam as he led Fen to the stair in the front foyer, a wide room that cut down the middle of the front side of the house. The stairs creaked under their feet as they made their way up.

“Where’s your mom?” Fen asked as they climbed up to the second floor.

“She’s gone to Montgomery to visit an uncle. Something about putting up a fence…I think.”

The second floor was as chaotic as the first floor. There was even an old cast iron tub sitting in the wide hall.

Adam went down the hall to the last room, one that faced the front yard. It was a small room, the queen size bed taking up most of the space. A small table serving as a nightstand sat one side of it and on the opposite wall an old dresser, the edge of its mirror black from its silver lining deteriorating. A narrow door, made of wide planks, cross braced at top, bottom and through the middle for the old black hardware with its glass knobs, was swung open revealing a small closet crammed with clothes. It was more clothes than Fen had ever seen, his own closet holding only a few jeans, a pair of khakis and a precious few shirts.

Adam saw Fen look around the room, over the dresser at his personal effects then into the closet. “Yeah, I’m crammed into this room. There isn’t space for anything. I have my television and computer set up in another room.”

Fen just nodded his head, fearful of admitting he was shocked by what Adam had in this room, much less having more in another room. Adam went over to the dresser sliding out the second drawer where he pulled out gym shorts that he tossed to Fen and a pair of swim trunks, bright yellow with a gray stripe down one side.

Fen was going to ask where the bathroom was located to change there but Adam stood between him and the door already removing his clothes. Fen realized Adam had swim trunks for himself, the white mess liner visible where they lay on the bed and that meant Adam was going to remove his underwear, stripping naked before him. It was silly in a way, his excitement at the prospect, for guys striped in front of each other in P.E. all the time. But this was different. They weren’t in P.E. but in Adam’s room, alone in the house, and he still clung to the fantasy Adam had seen him naked down at the creek.

As he removed his clothes he kept glancing over at Adam. Shirt being unbuttoned, then tossed on the bed, jeans unzipped and pushed down while shoes were being slipped off each foot and finally, those red boxers, casually pushed down with each foot stepping out of them, fully revealing Adam’s body.

Fen knew Adam was tall with a lean muscular upper body, but now he saw it on full display, the torso that tapered to a narrow waist, the slight flare at the hips then down muscular legs covered in soft golden hairs. Adam’s cock hung loose, swinging back and forth with his movements, along with the sac that hung down even longer. A small fan of light brown hair crowned it. Fen stood staring, his jeans in one hand and his worn cracked belt in the other.

Adam stopped moving, trunks held to one side and Fen realized he was staring with Adam was staring back, a smirk on his face. He felt flustered, busted for staring and he turned toward the bed to toss his jeans and belt down. He needed to say something, give excuse to his staring and he ran through a million things to say, none of them right.

“You…did you swim a lot in California? You have the body of a swimmer” Adam stammered as he slipped the gym shorts on tying them at the waist.

“Some but not competitively” Adam replied as he stooped over to put his feet through the trunks.

Fen hesitating in taking off his t-shirt, hands holding the hem ready to pull it off.

“Go ahead and ditch the t-shirt. No need to wear it down to the creek” Adam stated as if he had read Fen’s mind.

“Yeah, it’d probably just get wet and messed up” Fen replied in a low self-conscious voice. Slipped over his head, the shirt was tossed on top of his jeans.

“Come on, I’ll grab us some towels on the way down.”

Back out in the rear yard Fen followed Adam toward the CJ, each carrying a towel, and Adam carrying a small cooler with sodas packed on ice. Adam set the cooler in back and tossed his towel over it. Fen watched how easily Adam climbed into the CJ, one foot in, hand on the steering wheel and suddenly he as behind the seat. At the passenger side he tried to mimic the move, only he had a grab bar on the dash to hold. He tried to swing up smoothly, but his ass caught on the body then the seat making him stumble. He fell into the seat awkwardly and Adam smiled at him shaking his head.

“No one not use to getting in a CJ can do it smoothly” Adam jokingly stated as he slipped the key into the ignition and started the motor. It rumbled to life, the deep burbling of the exhaust right below where they sat. Fen hadn’t noticed it earlier, his Wagoneer not the quietest vehicle with its old exhaust system that needed replacing.

“The guy I bought this from put a Chevy 350 in it” said Adam leaning over toward Fen as he revved the engine.

Adam slipped the CJ into gear and began to move across he rear yard, swinging the front around and headed toward a lane that cut past the barns. The narrow lane cut between fields and to the woods at the back of the property where the creek lay. In second gear they eased over the rough lane, rocking back and forth with every undulation in its surface with the sound of the tall grass scrapping the underside.

Fen was self-conscious of his body, too skinny he thought, especially compared to Adam. He cut his eyes over looking at the smooth tanned torso and the muscular arms sawing at the wheel to keep the old CJ straight. Looking down he saw his own torso, flat, no definition from chest to the waistband of the gym shorts. ‘Skinny’ was all he could think as he looked to his right, out across the old property with its uncultivated field, weeds and grass chest high. He stared off in the distance but didn’t focus on anything, instead he was thinking of Adam. It was like he could feel the heat of Adam’s body the way it made him feel feverish with his heart racing far too fast.

The CJ bounced roughly, and Fen grabbed the handle mounted on the dash. Looking back, he saw the lane was washed out, a cut over a foot-deep slicing through the lane and down the sloping grade toward the woods.

“Jesus Christ, this is rough” Adam exclaimed as he slowed, shifting down into first to ease across an even rougher place with the lane washed out. “I cut across the field last time, but mom saw me and said not to cut across it.”

Adam pulled up to the edge of the woods under the canopy of a huge old oak. Slipping down Fen fell in behind him, following him through the trees. He was surprised to find it was only thirty yards or so to the bank of the creek where he found himself standing next to Adam on a high bank at least twenty feet above the water.

“Where do we get down?”

“Come on, I’ll show you.”

They walked upstream and around a bend in the creek and Fen saw the familiar section come into view. The dark pools he fished or swam and on the opposite bank the fallen tree he had lain on while masturbating. The woods were thick on the high side and they had to cut away from the creek for about a hundred feet but when they came back to its bank Fen saw they were much lower, only a few feet above the water. At the water’s edge he saw the bottom was visible all the way across.

“We can cut across here and make our way back downstream to those deeper sections.”

“Okay.”

Adam dove into the deep pool of water with Fen close behind. The water felt shockingly cold at first, the difference between the air and the water forty degrees. They rose on the opposite side of the pool moving forward till they could stand on the bottom. They swam leisurely, back and forth in the deep pool, all the time maintaining a discreet distance from each other.

Fen watched the long lean body rise then dive down till only kicking feet were visible. Adam would surface on the other end of the pool, tossing his head back while wiping the water from his face. Turning away from Adam, Fen kicked off, floating on his back while he slowly paddled his way across. Above him the bright blue sky was visible between the canopy of the trees that lined both banks, but he wasn’t thinking about his surroundings. Instead he kept picturing Adam, the way he looked naked and how he looked now, moving through the water. Every curve of his body, the long arms and legs moving smoothly, gracefully, through the water. Even the way the sun reflected off Adam’s wet hair, streaks of pure blonde showing through.

“Hey where ya going?” Adam called out, laughing.

Fen realized he had gone beyond the pool, his back suddenly craping the sandy bottom. Sitting down on the bottom, he sat up and looked back at Adam, embarrassed, afraid it was obvious in some manner what he had been thinking.

Adam waded out of the deeper water and sat down next to him. Out of the corner of his eye he watched the water cascade down Adam’s leg. Looking further upward were Adam’s arms crossed over his knees, and further up he saw Adam’s face in profile, hair dripping water, eyes looking forward down the creek.

“It’s really nice here. Quiet” Adam whispered, as if afraid to disturb the silence.

“Yeah, I love this place.”

Adam leaned back resting on his elbows, his torso stretched out. Fen cut his eyes over admiring the long lean torso with its wet skin, how it glistened in the filtered sunlight. Adam adjusted the crotch of his trunks then absentmindedly wiped water down his chest. Fen watched intently only to realize Adam might know he was staring so he forced himself to look downstream.

Pushing against Fen’s arm Adam broke the silence, “What are you thinking?”

“Nothing…nothing really” Fen replied turning to Adam smiling, knowing he could never admit to the truth.

Adam shifted position, right leg bent at the knee and lying closer to Fen, so close he only had to reach down to touch it. He wondered if it was some sort of test, a trick even? Was Adam messing with him? Or was it an opportunity he found himself unable to accept? He flexed his fingers as he imagined reaching down and touching the leg, then letting them slide upward raking over the thigh till he could touch him, fingers working the front of those wet trunks.

Adam stood up, stepped to the edge of the deep water and dove in. Fen watched the perfect form, hands together, breaking through the surface followed by the torso then legs with only the smallest of splashes. The surface calmed with Adam out of sight beneath its surface.  On the far side of the deep pool Adam surfaced and turned back to him.

“Come on; dive back in.”

Fen rose, adjusted the shorts for they kept slipping down, not nearly as tight as swim trunks. At the edge of the pool he dove, his lean body slicing through the surface and into the darker waters. As he surfaced he realized the shorts and his boxers were slipping down, already down to his thighs.  As he broke through the surface he was struggling to pull them up.

“What’s the matter?” Adam asked when Fen awkwardly surfaced.

“My shorts…they’ve slipped down.”

Adam laughed then moved closer to Fen.

“Probably should just go without” Adam stated mischievously.

“Yeah? Right after you lose your trunks.”

“No one’s around and we’ve seen naked before…so fuck it” Adam replied, smiling at Fen as his arms worked below the surface. He held up his trunks over his head giving Fen a daring look then tossed them on the bank.

“What if someone comes down here?”

“Who is going to come here? This place is not exactly accessible to the public.”

‘An opportunity’ Fen thought, knowing Adam seemed to be leading the way toward something he didn’t have the courage to do. He stopped pulling up on his shorts and pushed everything down working one foot then the other free. Immediately he felt it, his nakedness, the way the water caressed his ass and cock. It felt sensual, making him grow aroused. He held up the gym shorts and boxers for Adam to see then tossed them on the bank near the swim trunks.

Adam moved up in the swallow water, fully exposed, then dove right next to Fen, splashing him in the face. For the short time Adam stood up in the open Fen had seen it, Adam’s cock elongated and thicker. Adam had not cared he had seen his aroused state, rather he seemed to want him to see it. Dared him to look. He submerged, kicked off the bottom and swam in the direction of Adam.

First there was the faint outline, but as he drew closer Adam’s legs and torso came into focus. A few feet away he could see Adam’s cock moving in the swirling water and the pubic hair that fanned out above it. As he began to ascend to the surface Adam took it in hand tugging on it. He broke through the surface and blinked his eyes till the water was out of his face and he could open them. In front of him, much closer than he realized stood Adam with a serious expression on his face.

“You know why we moved back here?” Adam asked.

“To farm?”

“No. That was the excuse. The reason we moved was…” Adam hesitated, looked off toward one bank then back at Fen. “I was being bullied at school, because…”

“What?” Fen interjected then fell silent realizing Adam was trying to tell him something.

“…because some boys caught me and Sam…we were…doing things behind the school in Sam’s car and they spread it around school. These jocks, assholes each one of them, began to taunt me, then they got physical with the bullying.”

“I’m sorry” said Fen when Adam fell silent.

Looking Fen in the eye, suddenly a boldness in his expression, Adam continued, “it got pretty bad. They broke my arm and the school didn’t do shit…just expelled them for a few days. That was last Spring right before the summer. We moved here as soon as the paperwork was settled.”

“Sam and you were…”

“Yeah, but it was over after that.”

“So…you’re…” Fen stammered.

“Gay? Yes. And I don’t think I’m alone here either…am I?”

Fen nodded his head admitting for the first time he was gay.

“Your mom; she okay with it?”

“Yeah; she’s great.”

“Is this okay? You’re not going to run off, are you?”

Fen stood in the waters up to his neck but never felt so exposed. But he knew this was it; now or never. He nodded his head, “No, I’m not going to run off.”

Adam smiled, moved closer and Fen felt fingers graze his stomach, rake downward over his skin till they grasped his cock. He fought the urge to moan as he felt the hand move on his cock.

“Is this okay?” Adam asked moving closer till Fen felt something touch him just above his cock. He reached for it knowing it was Adam’s cock. It filled his hand, thick, hard as bone. He stroked it slowly, the same rhythm Adam stroked his own. Adam leaned toward him and he closed his eyes as their lips pressed together.

Adam led him to the swallow waters slowly moving over the sandy bottom. They eased down side by side, hands moving over the other as they resumed kissing. Lips pressed together, then open mouthed, tongues dueling. Adam moved down Fen’s jaw, over to the left ear tonguing its curvature then nipping the lobe tugging on it lightly. Fen moaned and felt his cock flex in Adam’s grasp.

Fen stroked Adam, let his hand move the full length of the shaft till he was rubbing over the head and down till he felt pubic hair against his hand. After a few strokes his hand grew slick with precum. Adam was rocking his hips trying to push through his grasp and his own cock ached it was so hard. Every time Adam rubbed the head he gasped and shuddered from the stimulation.

“Fuck me…fuck me Fen” Adam whispered into his ear.

Adam moved down on all fours, water swirling around his legs and hands. He looked back at Fen with a hungry expression.

“Come on Fen…please…do me. I want to feel you inside me.”

Fen eased up on his knees and between Adams legs. He stroked his cock keeping it hard feeling his nakedness in a new way. Not exposed but open, open to his surroundings, his sexuality, and ready for this connection with another. He moved up close and rubbed his cock up and down between the cheeks of Adam’s ass. Adam shuddered when he raked over the opening and he began to focus his attention on it, rubbed the head of his cock over it till it was wet with precum.

“Stick me…don’t make me beg” Adam uttered, his voice pleading.

Fen put his cock to the opening and pushed. He felt the resistance, the tightness resisting this penetration. Adam pushed back as he pushed forward, and he breached the tight opening. He felt his cock squeeze into Adam, every inch milked as he eased through the tight ring of the opening.

Adam dropped his head down and Fen saw the muscles in his back shivering. He started to stop thinking he was going too fast, but Adam pushed back taking more of him. He felt the heat of Adam’s body, the soft enveloping of his cock as it sank into Adam’s hole. Adam reared up and shoved back till Fen was all the way inside of his hole.

“Oh fuck…that feels sooo good” Adam uttered as they held still, Fen buried all the way inside his body. The cool waters did nothing to cool them down, both feeling the heat of their arousal. Fen held Adam by the waist with both hands and pulled back, slowly, watching inch after inch slip into view till only the head was grasped by Adam’s opening. He pushed inward, watching each inch sink back out of view. Over and over, Fen worked his cock inside of Adam, slowly, gently, till Adam was moving with him, driving him to move faster.

“Fuck me…fuck me harder” Adam whispered as he began to shove back, their bodies smacking together. It echoed up and down the creek, the sound of their fuck, Fen’s hips slamming into Adam’s ass as he tried to shove inward even deeper.

It was happening too fast, so Fen slowed, fought the sense of urgency till he found a new rhythm, one that made them both feel good. His cock moved easily through Adam’s opening as he sawed in and out, pumping his hips in a smooth easy pace, one he felt like he could maintain all day.

Leaning forward till he rested on Adam’s back he felt the heat of their bodies realizing they both were sweating, their skin slick against each other. He moved over Adam, his lower body undulating with their fuck as he reached around Adam’s waist and took him in hand. The slick cock filled his grasp and he began to stroke in rhythm with their fuck till Adam was rocking back and forth beneath him.

Fen felt it, that build up for release. His muscles tightening, the need for the stimulation on his cock to be rougher, more physical and he began to fuck harder, to grind his cock into Adam’s depths as he stroked him roughly with a furious pace.

Adam undulated beneath him, pushing against his hips and thrusting through his hand. He kissed the back of Adam’s neck then nipped at the skin. Adam shuddered, hips moving in a jerky motion, and he felt the cock in his hand flex, swell larger then flex even harder. Adam came, hard and with every ejaculation he felt the cock in his hand flex. He kept stroking it till he felt his hand become slick with cum. He could smell it as Adam continued to shudder beneath him. He piston his cock harder, rose up grabbing Adam by the waist and thrust inward till his release surged through him. He pushed inward all the way and came.

 Fen sat at the edge of the deep pool, leaned back on his hands and his legs lying over in it. Adam lay between them, head resting on his chest, dozing, half-asleep, and Fen ran his fingers over the sleeping form. He traced the line of hair up along the abdomen and around the navel. He circled his fingers over the smooth skin upward till he circled the right nipple, ever so tempted to mess with it, to stroke the hard nub, maybe even pinch it.

“Don’t you dare” Adam uttered without opening his eyes.

 There was a shift in the way things were. A subtle tilting of the world’s axis, or so it seemed to Fen the last few weeks. At school he saw the way the others seemed to be repelled away as if by some force field, some invisible barrier. Those that had tormented him, called him white trash, and worse, avoided him, looked the other way when in passing. He had worried things would be worse, much worse, when it was obvious there was some special friendship between Adam and him. But nothing; no comments, no nasty notes stuck in his locker or written on its door.

It had started simply enough, the next Monday at school with Adam pulling in right next to him in the parking lot and the two of them walking in together. They sat next to each other in shared classes and at lunch. Even the teachers noticed it. A couple of weeks later, Fen’s Wagoneer began to make a grinding noise and they knew a spindle needed replacing, which Fen couldn’t afford.

“I’ll pick you up for school till you can get it fixed” Adam had said after following him home to make sure he made it.

The Wagoneer sat for three weeks, while Fen worked weekends for Adam’s mother on the farm to make enough to repair it. He hadn’t been around Ms. Johnson often till then, but he worked side by side with her in the garden plots while Adam tilled up new ones. He learned her story, how her mother took her west after a failed marriage where she went through school and started college. In college she met her future husband, Adam’s father. Six years later, she thought life was perfect, with their farm and growing family but her husband wasn’t as happy, and he left when the farm had a bad year. Ten years later she thought life was back on track. But Adam went into high school and the bullying began. She wanted a change, more so for Adam than herself and when her great-grandmother left her a portion of the old place, she sold out and moved back the southeast.

Fen had listened intently, wondering if his own mother could ever be so open, so honest about the bad as well as the good, and if she would ever accept him like Mrs. Johnson if she knew the truth.

The next weekend found the Wagoneer in the Johnson’s barn, the front end jacked up, wheel removed exposing the spindle. Adam and Fen sat on crates, hands and arms dirty as they worked together to remove the worn part. It was mid-afternoon and so hot the horizon blurred with the rising heat. The barn was cooler but not by much and they wiped sweat from their brows constantly as they worked.

Mrs. Johnson came into the barn carrying a small cooler, placing it on the floor.

“Here are some sodas and water.”

“Thanks mom.”

“Thanks Mrs. Johnson.”

“You’re welcome. How is it coming?”

“It’s coming” Adam uttered as Fen pulled the old spindle off. “We should be done by dinner.”

“Good. I’m making dinner, and Fen?”

“Yes, mam?”

“I called your mother and invited her to dinner.”

“My mother…is coming over?”

“Relax, I’ll make sure Adam is on his best behavior” Mrs. Johnson replied, and Adam looked up at her then over to Fen, smiling mischievously.

Fen watch her walk back toward the house and once she was inside he turned to Adam who was unpacking the new spindle.

“Do you think our mothers talk about us?”

“Yep.”

“Really?”

“Relax, not about that. Mom agreed you had to tell your mom in your own time, in your own way.”

“I think she suspects” Fen whispered as he moved aside and let Adam position the new spindle.

“I’d be surprised if she didn’t, but mom would have told me if she had said something.”

“I’ve tried, numerous times, but the words just don’t come out.”

“I’ll tell her” Adam replied, smiling over at Fen.

“Thanks, but no.”

The afternoon wore on, the shadows cast by the trees in the rear yard growing longer and longer. Around five Fen saw Mrs. Johnson on the screen porch cleaning off the table, then putting a table cloth over it. At five-thirty, as Adam lowered the jack, the wheel back on the Wagoneer, Fen’s mother drove up. She hesitated, standing by her old car, as Adam and Fen came out of the barn wiping off the grease and grim.

“Hey boys, get it fixed?”

“Yes, it is ready to go” Fen replied as he came up next to her. “What’s that?”

“A cobbler. I couldn’t come empty handed” and Fen heard the nervousness in her voice. He realized it had been a very long time since she had been anywhere. Adam stepped next to her on the other side.

“A cobbler? Great; here I’ll take it in. Come on in, mom’s been preparing all afternoon and is probably wondering why we are standing around out here.”

Night had settled over them by the time they finished eating, the only light two burned down candles on the table and that coming from the kitchen shining through a small window. Adam and Fen cleared the dishes and took up position at the kitchen sink, Fen washing and Adam rinsing and drying. Their mothers sat at the table, sipping the last of the wine, while they talked. Fen watched them through the window wondering what they were discussing. He saw his mother lean toward Mrs. Johnson, a worried look on her face.

“What are you doing?” Adam asked.

“I’m raising the window a little, so I can hear what they are talking about…now keep your voice down” Fen replied in a whisper as he eased the window up a couple of inches.

“Fen is a good worker and seems happy.”

“Yes, he is a hard worker, had to be with how things were, and he seems happier than I have ever seen him. His relationship with Adam…”

They sat silent for a minute and Fen strained to listen, afraid they were whispering too low for him to hear.

“That is what it is, isn’t it?”

“What Cheryl?”

“This friendship between Fen and Adam. It’s more than that, isn’t it?”

“Cheryl, I’m not sure I’m the one you should be asking. This is something Fen and…”

“I’ve tried, but I’m scared I won’t do it right, afraid I’ll mess things up. I don’t understand but…”

“But?”

“He’s happy, and I can’t take that away from him, no matter how much I don’t understand.”

The screen door squeaked open and Fen stepped out coming to the end of the table with Adam right behind him.

“Mom” Fen whispered, and Mrs. Johnson and his mother looked up at him. “It's true, I'm...gay" he stated in a nervous voice, then reaching back taking Adam by the hand he added "and I like Adam.”

His mother leaned back and looked up at him, a smile slowly forming. “I know, son.”

It was after midnight when his mother finally left, and Mrs. Johnson told them goodnight, retiring to her room. Adam and he ambled back out to the barn, the only light that of the moon. They moved silently, past the Wagoneer and up the ladder to the old hayloft, empty of hay for over thirty years. Fumbling around the door that opened out to bring hay up and in, Adam finally got it unlatched and pushed it open. The moon light spilled into the loft as they sat on floor, legs dangling over the threshold.

“You alright?” Adam asked as he leaned forward, hands grasping the edge of the floor.

“Yes…yes, I am, actually” Fen replied smiling at Adam who was looing over his right shoulder at him.

“Good. I think tonight went well; everything out in the open. And your mother more concerned about hurting you than any unacceptance.”

“She’s great.”

They fell silent, both looking up at the star filled sky, the moon near the horizon, just about the treetops. The chirp of crickets seemed to grow louder and the slivery light of the moon brighter. Adam sat up, turned toward Fen and leaned toward him. Fen met him half way, their lips touching gently, then their kiss becoming more passionate. Fen eased up and held a hand out to Adam.

They pulled down a blanket they kept hidden in the loft and spread it near the opening in the trapezoidal moonlight on the floor. Standing face to face, they kissed then helped each other undress. They moved as if they had all the time in the world, one garment at a time till they stood naked, hands moving over the other. They felt each other’s body, the familiar contours, the curves of an arm, the narrowing waists and down between them, feeling the other grow hard.

Fen guided Adam to the floor and moved over him. He straddled Adam’s waist, reaching back to hold his cock up, fingers working the slick head till Adam fought to stay still. Fen eased down till he felt Adam touch his opening and he pressed down, gently, till Adam stretched him open penetrating his body. He eased down slowly, adjusting to the stretching of his opening, as it tightly gripped the shaft of Adam’s cock.

He felt Adam’s hands on his thighs as he moved up and down, over and over and over, till he was fucking himself. He moved rhythmically, all the way down then back up. Adam’s cock filled him, sank into his depths. Connected them. His own cock bounced between his legs making him even more aroused.

Adam took him in hand, stroking him as he continued to move up and down. His heart hammered away in his chest and he began to breathe heavily. He grew hot, like a fever was burning him up, and he tried to sink Adam deeper into his hole then thrust harder through the fist that stroked him. He rocked roughly on top of Adam till he was focused only on the two of them, just the two of them, Adam with his cock buried in his hole and his own cock manipulated in the tight fist.

“Fuck…fuck…Fen ride me” Adam uttered as he stroked faster, the sound of his fist on Fen’s cock as loud as the smack of Fen’s ass on his hips.

“OH shit…Adam…I’m going to…” Fen uttered, his cock spewing its load before he could finish, wads of cum spattering Adam in the face, chest and stomach. He kept fucking his ass on Adam’s cock as he came, his movements jerky, rough. Adam sat up, bear hugged his body and rolled him onto his back. Arms hooked behind his legs, Adam folded him in half, rolled his ass up so he could sink his cock back into him. He thrust inward, all the way, burying his cock into Fen’s depths.

Adam fucked at a furious pace, his hips smacking against Fen’s ass then grinding cock deep inside of him.

“Fuck me…fuck me” Fen uttered between grunts.

It spurred Adam on, pushed him to the breaking point and he hammered his cock in Fen’s hole till the surge of release flooded through him and exploded deep inside of Fen. He kept pumping his hips with every ejaculation till he was spent and his cock piston through his slick load.

Adam let Fen ease his legs down and they lay side by side, kissing, touching, bodies brushing against each other.

“We should go in; it has to be really late” Adam whispered then tongued Fen’s ear making him squirm and moan.

“Okay…just stop” Fen replied snickering.

The Following Spring

The garden plots were full of vegetables and fruit. The spring rains had them growing rapidly, some already needing staking. Fen hoed down the rows of beans, raking the surface of the ground cutting the weeds off that had sprouted. He looked over to the pasture where a few goats moved slowly along the fence, picking out their favorites foods first only to come back later for whatever they left behind. Adam was moving the portable electric fence to shift them over to a fresh section of pasture. His face was in shadow with a ballcap pulled down low and his sleeveless shirt revealed his muscular arms; arms that had grown substantially over the last year.

Turning, Fen looked to the adjacent plot where Mrs. Johnson and his mother were putting cages around the tomato plants. It was only eight o’clock in the morning and they had already been out for nearly two hours. It was hard work, with long hours, but it was satisfying work. Honest work. Mrs. Johnson had built up the farm till it was too much for Adam and her to handle, even with him coming on full time after graduating from school. By the end of summer Mrs. Johnson asked his mother to come work full time too.

Spring arrived, and Mrs. Johnson hired another part-time worker to help them get the planting done. Mrs. Johnson and his mother took whatever was coming in to the farmer’s market to sell while Adam and he worked the plots, picking the next crop or weeding the new ones.

Over the first few months Fen stayed with Adam most nights, no one having any pretense about their relationship, and his mother drove over early each morning. They had dinner together most evenings and some nights his mother stayed over too, taking the guest room down the hall from Adam’s room. The arrangement was not ideal. Adam and more so, Fen, didn’t like the idea their mothers might be able to hear them. As fall approached plans were made to let them have privacy.

At first the plan was for Fen and his mother to set up a house on the property, a prefabricated model they could quickly get set up. But Adam came up with other ideas, crazy far fetched ideas that took some time to convince first Fen, then their mothers. That fall and through the winter they built a treehouse at the back of the property on the high bank overlooking the creek, their creek, at least for that section. And Fen’s mother moved into the house with Mrs. Johnson, with plans to renovate the upper floor into two suites.

The treehouse wasn’t large, a small sitting room, kitchen with a built-in booth that cantilevered out the side of the main structure with large windows letting them look back across the pastures and fields toward the barn and house. The deck overlooked the creek, large enough for four chairs and the two thick limbs that protruded through it. A bathroom and dressing area sat in the back behind the kitchen, its glass shower overlooking the creek and in the loft over the kitchen and bathroom their bed, a king size mattress that took up most of the floor space and in the ceiling over it two large skylights, so they can look up at the sky.

They had sex in the shower, on the deck, against the kitchen counter, but most of the time they had sex in bed, one or the other able to look at the sky, blue during the day and star filled at night as they exhausted themselves with their exertions.

The community gossiped, gave them funny looks, but at the farmer’s market they bought their produce, avoiding eye contact as they handed over their money. For Fen and his mother, it was normal, this ostracizing. For Adam and his mother, it was an odd thing but something they came to ignore. And at night, the four of them sitting around the dining table or at the table on the screen porch, they joked about the narrow mindedness of it all. In the end, all that mattered was they were happy, content in their own little part of the countryside, working the land.