California Dreaming

Chapter 4

The two guys that caught me and Henry, took off running as soon as we pulled up our trousers, I am sure they were running home to tell their father so he could tell my father at work the next day. I knew I could never go home now.

Henry gave me a concerned look, he asked, “what are you going to do?”

I took a deep breath, “I’m going to the train station and see how much a ticket to California is.”

He said, “how much money do you have?”

I reached into my pocket, pulled out my money and counted, “six, seven, eight, eight dollars and twenty-five cents.”

He shook his head, “I don’t think that is going to be enough.”

I pushed the money back in my pocket, “I don’t care, I’m going to the station, I’ll figure something out.”

I picked up my suitcase and began to walk toward the opening of the clearing, Henry followed closely behind me. He said, “at least let me walk you there.”

I gave him a slight smile, “thank you.”

We walked without talking, Henry knew it wouldn’t do any good to try to talk me out of leaving, and I knew if I tried to talk to him, I would just get more upset.

We got to the station and found our way to the ticket agent.

I asked, “how much for a ticket to Hollywood?”

The agent snorted, “one coach ticket is $18.75.”

I pulled out my money and counted it again, I still had $8.25. I asked, “how far will $8.25 get me?”

He rolled his eyes, “$8.75 will get you to Chicago.”

I looked down at my money, then to Henry. He reached into his pocket and pulled out 4 quarters and handed them to me.

He smiled as I gave him a questioning look, “I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this, it won’t get you to California, but maybe you can find a job in Chicago to buy the ticket for the rest of the way. Besides if you are gone, I won’t have anyone to go to the movies with anyway, so I won’t need it.”

I handed the agent my money and put the extra fifty cents in my pocket. He gave me my ticket and pointed to the gate that the train would be leaving from.

We walked over to the waiting area, we had a little over an hour to wait. We talked about our time together and of course, he tried one last time to convince me to stay. I knew my father would never let me come back home, so he was unsuccessful.

I said, “Henry, this is the best thing for me, I could never work in that stupid shipyard and if I stay here, that is exactly what would happen.”

He sighed, “I know Ivan, I’m going to miss you.”

I felt a tear start to form in my eye, “I’ll miss you too.”

They announced the boarding of my train, Henry walked out with me to the platform.

He gave me a weak smile, “I’ll be watching for you on the big screen soon.”

I smiled back, “thank you.”

I gave him one last hug and turned to get on the train, tears running down my face. I took a seat next to window, he was standing there watching me, tears were also running down his cheeks. The train lurched and slowly started to move down the tracks, I watched as Henry got smaller. He was still waving as the train went around a bend, and I couldn’t see him any longer.

I took a deep breath, I was so scared and so relieved. The further I got away from that damn shipyard, the better, but how was I going to get to California. The rocking of the train, combined with the fact that I didn’t get much sleep last night, I soon found myself dozing off. I didn’t wake up until the train came to a stop just as the sun was rising. It was announced that we would be stopped for an hour before continuing on to Chicago. My stomach rumbled as I realized that I hadn’t eaten since the night before when I stormed out of my parent’s apartment, I stepped into the small station and found a lunch counter. I was able to buy a ham sandwich and drink for ten cents, I took it and ate it in my seat on the train, I didn’t want to risk the train leaving without me.

Right on time the train was once again rumbling down the tracks, I dozed off and on until the train came to a stop in Chicago, the sun was just beginning to set. Once I was in the train station, I found the ticket agent and confirmed that I would need to come up with at least ten dollars to make the rest of my trip. My mind raced, it took me nearly two years to save the eight dollars I had used to get here, how was I going to earn ten dollars? It also just occurred to me that I had no place to stay while I earned the needed money, maybe this wasn’t the best idea after all.

I plopped down on the nearest bench and leaned forward with my hands covering my face. I was trying to figure out what this sixteen-year-old boy with forty cents was going to do next.

I was startled when I heard, “are you alright?”

I slowly looked up to see a tall red head looking down at me. His kind green eyes looked so concerned as a slight smile crossed his lips and sat down next to me.

I stammered, “um, no, I’m fine.”

He put his hand my shoulder, “are you sure?”

I shrugged, “no, I don’t know.”

He furrowed his brows, “are you waiting for a train?”

I shook my head, “no, I just came from New York. I want to get to California, but this is as far as all the money I had got me.”

He asked, “do you have family in California?”

I sighed, “no.”

He tilted his head, “do you have family here in Chicago?”

I hung my head, “no, all my family is in New York.”

He chuckled, “boy, what was your plan once you got here? How are you going to earn the money to finish your trip? Where were you going to stay? What about when you get to California?”

Again, I just shrugged, “I guess I left in such a hurry, I didn’t really think things through.”

He said, “that seems to be an understatement, I’m staying a couple blocks from here at Mrs. Morgan’s boarding house. She should have dinner ready about now and I’m sure she’ll have enough for one more. We can talk about your problem and see if we can’t figure something out. I’m Patrick Mallory by the way.”

I held out my hand as I stood up, “Ivan Romanov, thank you Patrick.”

Ida Morgan was a widow about the same age as my mother, though she looked ten years older. She had six children, the oldest was about my age. Her dark hair was pulled back into a tight bun and was starting to go grey. She was stirring a large pot on the stove when Patrick and I walked in, she wiped her hands on her apron as she greeted us. Patrick explained my situation after he introduced me.

She flashed a crooked smile, “of course there is plenty of stew for one more, you boys go wash up, it will be ready by the time you get back.

Mrs. Morgan had started the boarding house after her husband died, seven years ago. She took the money from the sale of her house and bought the small hotel that had recently closed. She and her children lived on the main floor, and she rented the second-floor rooms out at twenty-five cents a day. She made the meals and cleaned the rooms. Most of the rooms were rented by young men working temporary or part-time jobs. There were eight rooms, all were currently occupied.

We sat down at the table as Mrs. Morgan filled a plate with stew for each of us.

Patrick said, “you can go with me tomorrow to the train station, I know there is another freight train due first thing in the morning. I am sure we can use more help unloading it.”

I asked, “do you think they will hire me to help?”

He nodded as he took a bite of his dinner, “sure, we can always use more help.”

I took a drink of my milk, “what would I have to do?”

He said, “the train brings in freight, produce, fruit, vegetables, that sort of thing. We have to unload the train car and load it on trucks to be hauled to grocery stores. The faster we get it loaded, the more we get paid. The boss gets a certain amount of money to unload the cars, he splits it up between all of us. I can usually make fifty to seventy-five cents a day, sometimes a dollar. They call us luggers.”

I was starting to feel a little better about my situation, “I can do that, thank you so much.”

Patrick smiled, “I’m glad to help, Robert here did the same for me a few months back, Charles, James, and Joe all work down at the station too.”

The others sitting around the table nodded as Patrick introduced them.

Mrs. Morgan smiled with pride, “yes, all my boys work hard and look out for each other, and of course you will be expected to help with chores around here too.”

I smiled back to her, “yes, ma’am, anything you need.”

She stood to start clearing our plates, “well, first thing first, we need to figure out where you will be sleeping tonight, all the rooms are filled.”

I said, “anything is fine Mrs. Morgan, I am happy to sleep on the floor.”

Patrick stood to help clear the table, “he can stay in my room with me Mrs. Morgan.”

She thought for a moment, “well you do have the largest bed, I suppose that will be fine, if Ivan is agreeable. At least until a room opens up, I’ll work out the rent to be fair for all of us.”

I nodded, “yes ma’am, that would be fine.”

We all helped clean up the kitchen and headed to our rooms.

Once Patrick and I were in our room, he showed me where I could put my clothes and told me more of Mrs. Morgan’s rules and what tomorrow would be like at the train station. Mrs. Morgan brought in an extra pillow and blanket and said good night.

Patrick started to undress, he said, “I don’t have pajamas, I hope you don’t mind I sleep in my underwear.”

I said, “no, that is fine, I don’t have any pajamas either.” I stripped down as well.

I watched as Patrick took his shirt off, in all the times that Henry and I fooled around, we had never been completely naked. Patrick’s chest and stomach were smooth and toned, his red hair only highlighted his pale freckled skin. I suddenly became aware that I was staring, I quickly turned away, hoping my cock wouldn’t start to swell. We crawled under the covers, I felt shivers run down my body when our bare legs touched and then when our shoulders rubbed together as we settled in. I tried to lay very still, so as not to touch him. Patrick rolled onto his side, he was now facing me, I was on my back.

He asked, “are you comfortable?”

I swallowed hard, “yes, thank you.”

I rolled onto my side facing away, afraid Patrick might notice that my cock was now stretching my underwear to their limit. I was hugging the edge of the bed, giving him as much room as I could. I’m not sure how long I laid there, sleep wasn’t coming.

Patrick whispered, “Ivan, are you asleep?”

I whispered back, “no.”

I felt him move closer to me, then I felt his chest against my back, I froze, not sure what to do. Patrick moved closer still, I felt his hard cock against my ass, I let out a slight gasp. He reached around and grabbed my hard cock.

He asked, “is it ok that I am doing this?”

I croaked, “yes.”

He pulled me closer as he kissed my neck and began stroking me. He moved his hand under the waist band of my underwear and once again found my cock. My breathing increased and his hand went to work, I let out a sigh as he pushed my underwear down off my hips. I hadn’t noticed that he had taken off his underwear until I felt his bare cock against the crack of my ass. I couldn’t take it any longer, I rolled over on top of him and we started to kiss. I took his cock in my hand, and we stroked each other as we continued to kiss. The body-to-body contact was driving me wild, Henry and I never had a bed to play in, this was so much better than standing in the park or some cold warehouse. I kissed my way down his muscular chest, then his stomach, and finally reaching his cock. As great as Henry’s cock was, Patrick’s was several inches longer and nearly twice as thick. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to put that thing in my mouth, but I was certainly going to try. I slowly worked my way down his shaft, I was able to get about half of it down my throat. He let out a deep moan and he pulled my legs around so that he could suck me at the same time. Every nerve in my body was tingling, I was in pure extasy. I massaged his full balls, and I went just a little further down Patrick’s big cock, he was doing the same to me. Within minutes we were filling each other’s mouths with our hot creamy seed. We both swallowed deep, and I turned back around, and we shared another kiss.

Patrick smiled, “that was nice.”

I said, “yes it was.”

I rolled onto my side away from him, he pulled me close against his chest, his cock nestled in my crack. Within seconds we were both asleep, me wrapped in his warm strong arms.

 

To be continued…