An Approaching Storm

“I can’t,” Logan announced, clenching his teeth together. “I can’t be in your house, not without being honest with you.” He paused. “I’ve been in prison. I just got out about a week and a half ago.”

Daniel was stunned. Just out of prison? He looked at Logan. What could he have done? Now they were in the basement of his home; the way they had just come was locked. Daniel hesitated as he thought.

Logan continued. “I’ll go back down toward the cave; I’ll be out of the rain. I’ll be fine.”

“What the hell’s the matter with you. No, you’re not going to wait on the stairs or near the cave. You’ll be wet and cold. It’s supposed to rain into the night.” Daniel’s gut was telling him that he could trust Logan. After all, Logan could have withheld the information. “You can tell me all about it once we’re upstairs.” Daniel moved toward the laundry area. “Once we’ve had a bite to eat.” He turned back to Logan. “The sink is this way.”

The two men stood in the laundry area. Dripping and making a large puddle on the concrete floor, Daniel started to remove his clothing. “There are a couple of towels on the shelf behind you. Would you hand me one?” Daniel realized that although most of his clothing was very wet, his underwear were dry, and his shirt was only slightly damp. He removed everything except the underwear and covered up with a towel just the same. “Drop your clothes here in the sink.”

Logan did the same except that he was soaked through. He ended up naked under the towel, and, although he had tried to hide himself from view, Daniel caught a glimpse of what he would have described as healthy.

“Do you know how to start a fire, Logan?” he asked to keep his mind from lingering.

“Sure, it’s been a while, but I know how.”

“Let’s head up.”

The stairs led up to a door that opened onto a hallway connecting the kitchen to a huge dining room. Daniel pointed toward the kitchen. “The kitchen’s that way. The door is unlocked. I only lock it when I’m inside for the night. There’s a door to the outside. I’ll show you.”

Logan pulled the door open and stepped into a kitchen that had prepared thousands of meals over the years. A huge table in the center was surrounded by long countertops on one side and several stoves and ovens on the other. A large door stood firm against the pounding rain at the end of the counter.

“At one time, there were over sixty nuns living here, as well about eighty to a hundred kids here at any one time. They made a lot of bread and soup in this room during those days. There’s the door. The key is there on the front of the cabinet. I usually leave it locked unless I’ve gone out that way, and it’s one of the doors I check before I turn in.

“You know, this was one of the better orphanages; most of the kids survived the ordeal. Those who didn’t usually died from influenza or some other disease.”

“This is so overwhelming. I never realized all this was up here. From down on the beach, I never saw any of this. To think of nuns and orphans, it’s still just a little bit, I don’t know, maybe creepy?”

Daniel chuckled, and the wind howled against the doors and windows in return. Logan still couldn’t believe the size of the kitchen.

Daniel retrieved bread, meat, and cheese for sandwiches. He put a kettle on to boil some water. Let’s go down the hall to the old dining room. It’s the one with the big fireplace where I keep my bed and other stuff in that room. The two men walked into the large rectangular room. The old dining table still stood near the wall opposite the fireplace. Chairs were still pushed up at their stations. An old sofa sat near one end of the hearth and Daniel’s bed at the other.

“You start the fire. I’ve got some robes, believe it or not, and we can put those on. I’ll pull some blankets into the room in case it doesn’t warm up fast enough. I’ll also bring us some socks.”

Logan’s eyes got misty. “Daniel?”

Daniel turned to look at him.

“Thanks.”

“Sure,” Daniel nodded. Daniel tossed the towel onto the hearth and headed into the alcove he called his closet. He didn’t notice Logan admiring his butt cheeks.

Logan admonished himself for staring. Here was the first decent man he’d met since getting out, and he was objectifying him. He’d been able to fend off all the worthless men who tried to get a piece of him in prison. He wasn’t sure how, but he’d escaped unscathed, only to come here to… He’d been wrong to think of swimming out. He went over to the fireplace to get some warmth into the room.

Daniel came back with a fluffy white robe in his hand and on his person. He remembered when he saw them in the store and bought them. His friendship with Joseph had grown, and he had invited him to stay over. He wanted them to have something to wear after taking a shower. Daniel looked down at the floor. Joseph had called the kiss a mistake, called Daniel a queer, and had never spoken to Daniel after that night. I should never have trusted him, Daniel thought. Every night after that had been a night alone for Daniel.

Maybe he shouldn’t trust Logan either. But then, he saw him leaning into the fireplace, stacking the logs, a trim, fit figure, the back of his leg so perfect in musculature. A perfect specimen of a man; he seemed gentle, thoughtful, considerate.

Daniel was standing with the robe in his semi-outstretched hand when Logan got the fire started and turned around. Logan’s slightly hairy chest and defined abs stirred something within him. It wasn’t just lust; there was something deeper inside that had been awakened. But there was enough lust that Daniel wished he’d put on some underwear.

Logan took the robe and dropped the towel.

Daniel saw all of him, and the stirrings within him grew further. He needed to change locations. “How about some of that hot tea or coffee? The water should be ready.”

“Something hot sounds great. Tea would be perfect.”

Daniel left to make the tea. “How about making us some sandwiches? Roasted turkey with tomatoes, lettuce, pickles? It’s all right there.”

“I’d love to. Thanks,” Logan called after him. Logan wondered whether dropping the towel in front of Daniel was a mistake. Would it chase him away?

“The tea’s ready,” Daniel announced as he came back into the room. As he poured the tea, outside, lightning began to light up the sky, and the rumble of thunder overrode the sound of the falling rain. Daniel spread a blanket on the raised stone hearth and placed the cups of tea and the pot closer to the fire.

Logan brought a plate of two sandwiches each. “I can make another if you want one.” The two men sat facing one another and began to eat. The sky was a fireworks display of lightning and the rumblings challenged the wind gusts to a loudness competition.

Logan tried to resist the urge to spread his legs slightly, just enough to give Daniel something to look at, possibly entice him, make him reach out. He wanted to be touched, to touch back. He saw Daniel look away. Was he embarrassed or even repelled. I need to tell him what happened, Logan thought.

He spoke up. “It would be easier for me to tell you what happened if you demanded to know.” Logan was looking down at his plate. His voice trembled.

Daniel fought the urge to hold him, to comfort him, to tell him everything would be ok. He had seen glimpses of his manhood, and he wanted Logan. But, he sat silently.

“But I guess I need to ‘man-up’, to grow a pair, to just tell you. So here goes.

“I wish it were an easy story, like, someone’s putting a stolen candy bar in my pocket.” Logan took a deep breath.

“I was on the tennis team in college, and my doubles partner told me that his father needed someone to help part-time at one of their dry cleaning stores. He said it was the store that made the deposits for all the other locations. It was in town, and would only need workers on Fridays and Sundays. He told me that his father would make other arrangements when we were away at tournaments. I said I was interested; it sounded easy, and I needed some extra money.

“Basically, all I did was take cash and count it. I would organize it, you know, put it in bundles, twenty-five dollars in ones, five hundred in twenties, and so on. It was pretty boring work. We deposited the money depending on the store it came from. There were twenty three stores, so we made twenty-three deposits. There was another guy I recognized from a biology lab that would take five of the deposits to the bank. Two other guys who I never saw came and took the others to the bank.

“One day, a bunch of cops came in with these guys in dark suits. They said they had warrants to collect the money. My teammate from tennis pulled a gun, and they shot him. Right next to me, he was shot to death. The next thing I knew, I was arrested. There were a bunch of charges. It turns out they were laundering drug money, and because of the gun, there were extra charges.

“No one believed me. My parents told me how disappointed they were in me. I went to prison for six years. It was horrible.” Tears streamed down Logan’s face. “And I didn’t do anything but a job I was hired for, a legitimate job anywhere else.

“My parents won’t talk to me. They said I was part of something that kills innocent people. My brother said I deserved to burn in Hell. They never came to see me. I wrote them while I was inside, but I got no mail, no cards, nothing. I thought maybe when I got out they might be different, but when my mom answered the door, she slapped me and told me she would call the cops and charge me for trespassing.

“I decided to come here to figure things out. I’m a felon now. No job, no money, no family, no friends.”

“And no tattoo. You should be proud of that.”

“No. No tattoo. I don’t like tattoos.”

“Did you finish your degree?”

“It wasn’t offered. You could get a GED if you didn’t have a high school diploma, and you could do on-line coursework at a university, but you had to pay for it yourself, and I had no money. My parents, obviously, refused to help.” Logan looked up at Daniel. Tears filled his eyes again. “You’re the first person to help me since this nightmare began. Thank you.”

“It’s ok. I don’t like tattoos either.”

The house shuddered against a gust of wind.

“I should put another log on the fire.” Logan stood up and his robe opened up.

Daniel couldn’t resist taking another peek. Logan noticed and walked up to Daniel with his robe still open. He placed his open palm on the side of Daniel’s head.

Daniel stood up and faced him. His robe loosened, and the head of his now hardening penis pushed through the opening.