California Dreaming

Chapter 5

I woke the next morning still in Patrick’s arms, I remembered the night before and smiled to myself. I felt Patrick stir, he gave me a gentle kiss, “good morning.”

I kissed him back, “good morning.”

He asked, “did you sleep well?”

I smiled, “it was the best night sleep I have ever had.”

He grinned, “good, because I like waking up with you in my arms.”

I gave him another peck on the lips, “and I like waking up in your arms.”

Before we got too carried away, Mrs. Morgan yelled from the first floor, “boys, everybody up, breakfast will be ready in five minutes.”

We quickly got out of bed and dressed and made our way to the kitchen, the smell of ham, potatoes and eggs frying filled the air. Mrs. Morgan had made each of us a ham sandwich, she handed them to us as we all walked out the door. James, Charles, Robert, Joe, Patrick, and I all walked to the train station. Frank, Lloyd, and Walt all headed in the other direction, they all worked at the stock yards.

We were all between the ages of 16 and 19, well, I would be 16 next month, but I didn’t divulge that bit of information. Patrick was 17 and had been raised by his grandmother since his parents were killed in a house fire, his grandmother passed away last year, so he was now on his own. James and Charles were 16 and 18 respectively and were brothers and came from an abusive home. Robert and Joe were both 18 and from large families, they moved out of their homes when the depression started to make things easier for their families. I would have to ask Frank, Lloyd, and Walt their stories some evening.

The train was pulling in as Patrick introduced me to Harlan Crosby.

He said, “yes, we have a big load today, we can use all the help we can get, just do as the rest do.”

The doors on the rail car were thrown open, as several trucks backed up the docks. Mr. Crosby was yelling out how many crates to load on each truck. We all quickly went to work, a short time later I found the rhythm of the others and soon we had the first trucks loaded and on their way. The rail cars contained potatoes, carrots, apples, oranges, and tomatoes. Once we had all the trucks loaded, there were still a few crates left. Mr. Crosby handed us each fifty cents for our day's work and said, “don’t forget to each take a crate, I’m sure Mrs. Morgan will appreciate it.” This was of course after we loaded several crates into his car.

We each took a crate and began our walk back home. Patrick said, “you were good help today, Ivan, Mr. Crosby told me you are welcome back from now on.”

I smiled, “thanks Patrick, I really appreciate you helping me out like this.”

He said, "I'm glad to do it, just like Robert did with me, we all look out for each other around here." He looked around to be sure the others couldn’t hear us and whispered, “you can thank me tonight in our room.”

I grinned, “gladly.”

We helped Mrs. Morgan put the produce we brought home away, the guys that worked at the stock yards, brought some meat from the packing house next door to the yards. It was mostly end cuts, but Mrs. Morgan was a whiz at preparing meat that was a lesser quantity. With all of us pitching in, we were eating better than most everyone else in the community. We did some chores around the hotel while Mrs. Morgan cooked our dinner.

After we ate and cleaned up, Patrick and I went to our room to get ready for bed. We sat on the bed and had a long talk.

I asked, “I have gotten better acquainted with the guys we work with today, but what do you know about Frank, Lloyd and Walt?”

He shrugged, “not too much, they were already here when I moved in, and since they work at the yards, the only time I have spent with them is when we eat in the evenings. They seem like good guys though.”

I nodded, “yes they do, everyone here had been so nice, and I’d just like to know them better.”

He smiled, “what about you? I know you came from New York but tell me more about you.”

I told him about my parents and how father was bound and determined to have me work at the shipyard with him and my brother. I talked about my brothers and sisters, and how I enjoy going to movies.

I said, “I had a big argument with father the night before I took the train here.”

He asked, “about you working at the shipyard?”

I nodded, “yes.” As I looked at the floor.

He lifted my head by the chin, “do you miss your family?”

I gave him a slight smile, “not yet, it’s only been a couple days. I do miss Henry though.”

He asked, “who’s Henry?”

I said, “he’s a friend I went to movies with.”

Patrick raised an eyebrow, “how good of friends are you?”

I turned to him, “very good friends, he was my first.”

He understood what I meant. I added, “and my only, until last night.”

He smiled, “he sounds like a nice guy.”

I nodded as I pushed a lump in throat down, “he is.” I swallowed hard, “so what about you, I just spilled my guts, now it’s your turn.”

He thought for a moment, “William would be my Henry, He was already living here with Mrs. Morgan, and he told me about working at the train station. One night I was having a bad dream about the fire that killed my parents, his room was across the hall. He heard me and came in to comfort me, he held me for a while and one thing led to another, and he stayed the night with me.”

I said, “wow, it was nice that he was there for you, just like Henry was there for me. Where is he now?”

Patrick smiled, “he decided to join the navy when he turned 18, the last time he wrote me, he was in the Pacific at the Naval Station at Pearl Harbor.”

I asked, “do you miss him?”

He nodded, “sometimes, but we knew what people would think about us if they found about what we did together. It was for the best that he joined the navy.”

We sat silently for a few minutes, I said, “what about us, we’re doing the same thing, what will people think about us?”

He ran his hand through his red hair, “I don’t know Ivan, I still don’t know why I like to do things with other men.”

After another minute of silence, “I can’t explain it either, but I know I’m not attracted to girls. Everybody says it’s not natural, but it is to me.”

He chuckled, “me too.”

We turned to each other, slowly moved closer until our lips met. We continued to kiss as we pulled each other’s clothes off. We lay back down on the bed, our naked bodies rubbing together, kissing, and caressing each other. We moved around and were soon taking each other’s manhood into our mouths. I loved getting my cock sucked as much as I loved a cock in my mouth, but when both happened at the same time, I was in heaven. I reached up and began to massage Patrick’s full nuts, as he did the same to me. I was shocked when his fingers went further, and he ran one along the crack of my ass and pushed on until it grazed my hole. An involuntary moan escaped my lips, it really did feel incredible. I did the same to him and he responded by spreading his legs, and letting out an even loader moan than I did. I moved my finger around bringing another positive response. Patrick let my cock fall from his mouth and gasped, “please Ivan, I need you inside me.”

I paused, trying to understand what he meant, I released his cock and looked up at him. He rolled onto his stomach and pushed his ass in the air as he spread his cheeks apart. He looked over his shoulder, lick my hole to get it wet, then stick your big cock in me.” My mind was racing, but I did as Patrick said and licked his hole, leaving my spit. Once he was good and wet and groaning, I crawled on top of him and aimed my cock at his hole. I slowly pushed in, he spread his cheeks as wide as he could, my hips were soon tight against his ass. His hole was so tight and warm, this felt so much better than a wet mouth. Patrick moaned, “that’s it Ivan, fuck me.”

I started to piston in and out, again eliciting sounds of approval from Patrick. The pleasure I was feeling, was like nothing else I had never experienced before. He was thrusting his hips back each time I pushed forward, adding to our mutual stimulation. It wasn’t long before I felt the familiar churning in my nuts, from the sounds Patrick was making, he was also close. I pushed in as far as I could and filled his hole with my seed, he grunted as he released his onto the bed below us. I lay on top of him as we caught our breath, my deflating cock finally fell from his hole. He rolled over and we shared a long wet kiss.

Patrick asked, “did you like that?”

I nodded, “yes, very much. That the first time I have done anything like that, did you learn that with William?”

He smiled, “yes, I tried to fuck him, but he was too tight, so he fucked me. I really liked it and I still like it.”

I chuckled, “I can understand that, your cock is very big.”

He blushed, “thank you, but you felt really good inside me.”

We snuggled together and fell asleep in each other’s arms. This became our routine over the next months, while we didn’t have sex every night, we always snuggled together.

I was getting better acquainted with each of the others and finding things I liked about each of them. I learned that Lloyd and Walt were cousins, they left the family farm in a rural area about 50 miles from Chicago when the depression started. They were working to save enough money to go back and help on the farm, they were sending money each week. Both were strong typical farm boys, broad chests, and warm smiles. Both talked about girlfriends back home, that they would marry as soon as they moved back.

Frank was more reserved, he had gotten in trouble with law and was kicked out of his home by his father at 17. He appeared to be getting his life back on track but had no intention of returning to his family. He had dark curly hair and dark skin. He was trying to get on full-time at the packing plant.

Robert was very athletic with blonde hair and blue eyes, with a broad smile. I never tired of watching him lug those crates or the way his eyes sparked when he smiled. Joe was shorter than Robert and had a stocky build. He just eluded confidence, not too cocky, but just the right amount, and he could back it up with both his intelligence and strength.

The Harrison brothers, James and Charles were very similar in build and looks, you could definitely see the family resemblance. They had light brown hair and green eyes, neither were muscular nor were they skinny. They both had a cute, infectious smile. As I got to know them better though, it seemed that James showed his smile much less than Charles, I also saw a big difference in their eyes. I knew that they had had a rough life, with alcoholic and abusive parents, they had run away from their home about six months ago. Even though they were now taking care of themselves, James still seemed to always be looking over his shoulder and was very nervous. Charles was always speaking for him and telling him what to do and what to say. Whenever James was asked a question, he would always look to his brother before he answered. I just chalked it up to a typical older brother, younger brother relationship, after all, it was similar to my relationship with Michail. I just couldn't help but be concerned about the sadness I saw in James’s eyes.

Fall was coming quickly, and I had hoped to be on my way to California before winter, but I was still short of my goal of twenty dollars. I knew I needed 10 to 12 dollars for the train, and I wanted a little extra so I could live if I didn’t find a job right away once I got to California. If I didn’t leave soon, I would need to buy a winter coat which wound delay my trip even further.

We were finishing our work for the day as I noticed James talking to another boy that was working on another crew on the dock. Charles yelled over to him to get back with our crew, he quickly rejoined us. It wasn’t until we were about halfway back to Mrs. Morgan’s place when Charles looked around.

He asked, “where is James?”

We all looked around and shrugged, none of us had seen him leave the group.

I asked, “should we go look for him?”

Charles looked irritated as he shook his head, “no, I’m sure he is just talking to that kid that was working next us on the docks today.”

We arrived back home and after we did our chores for Mrs. Morgan, dinner was ready, and James was still not home. Charles told us to go ahead and eat, he would go find him after we had finished. We were all in our rooms when I heard them come home, they went straight to their rooms. I heard them talking in the hall and was relieved James was home safe.

The next morning as we all sat down for breakfast, James was the last to join us. He had his head down as he sat at the table. When he looked up, we all noticed the black eye and cuts and bruises on his face.

Mrs. Morgan gasped, “James, what in tarnation happened to you?”

James again put his head down, “it’s nothing Mrs. Morgan.”

She stood and walked to him and pulled his head up, “yes, it is something, now tell me what happened.”

James took a deep breath, “some guys jumped me on the way home last night and took my money.”

Charles said, “I told him he needs to stay with us from now on Mrs. Morgan.”

She shook her head, “I have told you all, you need to look out for one another, this is why.”

 

To be continued…