Summer of 1980
“Parker, but that down. Are you crazy,” yelled Thomas, his older brother.
Parker stood holding the snake behind its head, the tail wrapping around his little arm. He looked at Hunter and Dallas, the three of them grinning. Cam stood some distance away, afraid of the snake wishing Parker would put it down.
“Parker, don’t you bring that thing to the campsite,” yelled Deborah, Dallas’ older sister.
“Let’s put it in her tent,” whispered Dallas to Parker.
“Yeah, it’ll scare the crap out of them,” said Hunter.
“Mom said I better not get into trouble so maybe I should let it go,” said Parker.
“She won’t know you did it,” said Dallas.
“Parker,” said Cam getting his attention. “Please let it go.”
Parker looked at Cam and saw the fear, and he nodded, then bent down and released the snake. They watched it quickly slither into the woods.
“Hey, there’s a boat going through the lock,” said Hunter.
They ran toward the dock, getting as close as the fence would allow, watching the boat being raised to the upper river level. It was a process too slow for Dallas and Hunter, and they pulled Parker and Cam from the fence and headed back to the campsite.
The four boys, eight years old and friends since their kindergarten year, moved down the paved lane that ran parallel with the Alabama River, passing the campsites that lined it. They had been at Harris Creek Park for two days, camping with Parker and Dallas’ families, taking two sites near the end of the lane.
They were from nearby Monroeville, and they were enjoying a July 4th holiday at the park. The four boys were the youngest in each of their families and as such, the most daring, the ones that got away with things their older siblings never could.
Dallas was the most daring, the one that got them into trouble more often than not, but it was Parker’s curiosity that got them into the worst trouble. Parker would explore abandoned houses or barns outside town, capture animals the other kids wouldn’t touch, and trek through the woods until Cam had to beg him to turn around and head back.
Hunter was the most easy-going, the one who would go along with any plan no matter how crazy or how much trouble they could get in. He never initiated one of their adventures but willingly went along with anything Dallas and Parker suggested.
The conscience of the group, the one who kept them from getting into more trouble, was Cam. He wasn’t the youngest, but he appeared to be, being the smallest of the four, and he was the most sensitive, the one who worried the most about doing wrong. The one who could get Parker to stop before anyone else.
“Let’s go back and play chess,” said Hunter.
“No, let’s play something else, chess is too hard,” said Parker.
“Let’s play cards,” said Cam.
“Cards!” the other three boys yelled.
They laughed then fell into conversation about their plans for the next day, Parker putting an arm around Cam and Dallas and Hunter bumping into each other playfully.
The Families
The relationship between Anna Matthews and Charles Atkins became serious in 1967 after Anna’s senior prom. By August of that year, they married and settled in Monroeville, where Charles had a job at the paper mill north of town. Anna took some classes and a few years later became a teacher at the middle school teaching English. On October 5, 1968, Bruce Harold Atkins was born who became Charles’ shadow. Bruce rode the lawnmower with his dad and sat on the ground handing him the tool he needed when working on his Ford truck. Charles would tell anyone who asked Bruce was his little man. On June 3, 1970, Mary Anne Atkins was born, a birth Anna waited nearly too long before going to the hospital. Charles would joke Mary Anne was coming as Anna was being wheeled to the delivery room. Charles and Anna considered their family complete, believed two children were enough. It wasn’t like it had been with their parents and grandparents where having a large family was considered almost a necessity, despite the struggle to support it. In the summer of 1971, Anna surprised Charles with the news she was pregnant again. On January 3, 1972, Ryan Hunter Atkins was born. Charles believed Hunter would be like Bruce, an obedient child always looking to please him, instead he found himself with a fiercely independent child who kept Anna anxious, and when he was honest, Hunter kept him anxious too. But Anna and Charles struggled to discipline the boy because he was affectionate, hugging their necks telling them he loved them, something Bruce didn’t do and Mary Anne on rare occasion. He made birthday cards with Happy Birthday and I love you a lot in his uneven letters of purple or red or green. Even Charles was touched by how his youngest loved him more than Santa Claus. When Hunter made friends with the other three boys, he saw his boy come alive at a whole new level.
In 1960 Russell Coleman was twenty-two and a truck driver, running a route from Atlanta to Mobile with stops in Montgomery and Pensacola. He had dated a couple of women, but each relationship ended before it got serious. He began to think he would be a confirmed bachelor, someone who may never get married, until he met Ruby Jean McKinley in the diner. She captured his eye and he made a fool of himself to meet her. She had only laughed and agreed to go out with him. What he hadn’t realized, Ruby was only seventeen, a high school senior, and the relationship nearly ended when he found out. But Ruby wouldn’t let him walk away, instead she had him going down the aisle at the Shiloh Baptist Church in the fall of 1961. As Russell did his truck route, Ruby made them a home, after inheriting a great aunt’s house. On November 3, 1962, she delivered their first child, Shelley Jean Coleman, and they became a family. On September 15, 1965, Ruby delivered their second child, Rebecca Ann Coleman, a little girl that had Ruby’s red hair. Two years later, on July 5, 1967, Thomas Ryan Coleman was born, and Ruby believed her family complete. Thomas had Russell’s black hair and her green eyes. Thomas followed his sisters, demanding their attention, and when he got to be five, he switched from his sisters to his father. It amused Russell, making him proud his little boy wanted to be with him. But it was the unexpected addition to their family that arrived a couple of months before that made him wonder what he did to earn such a happy life. Another little boy, Ruby named Parker James Coleman. He had Ruby’s red hair and was a lively baby, smiling and laughing, and making Russell and Ruby feel their family hadn’t been complete before because it was Parker who completed it. Even Shelley and Rebecca played mother for Parker. What they didn’t expect was such an independent little boy, who could play by himself just as contentedly as he could play with other children. He never met a stranger and was the most outgoing of the four children, and he was fearless, climbing and playing so hard it scared Ruby.
Raymond Holland was painfully shy and kept to himself. At twenty-seven his parents had given up on their son finding a nice young girl and settling down. He had gone to college, got a degree in accounting, and taken a job with Mr. Pervis in downtown Monroeville. On a summer day in 1960, a young girl who had just graduated from high school approached him, asking him to go with her to a movie. No girl asked a boy out, not in the south of 1960, but young Sally Henderson was no ordinary girl. In December of that year, she had Raymond waiting for her at the front of the church as she had her father walk with her down the aisle. On December 3, 1961, as she had planned, she delivered their first child, Ralph Emerson Holland. A shy boy, much like his father, and Ralph brought just joy to the Holland home Raymond wondered how he could have been so lucky. On July 21, 1963, Sally delivered Michael David Holland, a little boy who would be more outgoing, daring, much like his mother. Sally wanted one more child and after suffering a miscarriage in 1965 wondered if the two boys would be their family. She got pregnant in 1967 and on October 6th of that year, delivered another boy. Raymond had cried for the two of them, because Sally could only laugh at having three boys, for she had secretly wanted a little girl. She named him Aaron Rayford Holland and declared her family complete. But she was lax with the birth control and got pregnant the next year, joking to Raymond they were just too fertile. Raymond went from being worried to smiling uncontrollably. On March 8, 1969, Lisa Ava Holland was born, the little girl Sally had been hoping for, but maybe not the tomboy Lisa would grow up to be, following her older brothers with a fierceness that aggravated them and scared her parents.
The child Sally was looking for would arrive on April 3, 1972, after a complicated pregnancy, the one who would be her shadow, the one that would tell her he loved her and wanted to help when she was sewing or gardening or just cleaning the house. Christopher Camden Holland was the only child not to have her dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, instead little Camden was a towheaded little boy with green eyes, a trait from Raymond’s side of the family, along with the reserved nature and desire to please. He was kind, soft-hearted, and always looked for a leader to guide him, and when he entered kindergarten, he found his leaders, three of them.
John and Elizabeth were high school sweethearts. Despite their poor backgrounds, they lived happily, playfully, and looked forward to life after high school. Elizabeth was two years behind John, and he worked hard for those two years to save up for them to get married when she graduated. He worked at the tire shop making a decent wage, but to save as much as possible, he rented a mobile home behind the Shiloh Baptist Church and drove an eight-year-old Chevrolet Bel Air with three on the tree. Elizabeth was his babydoll, for she was petite with blonde hair and the whitest skin. They married in July of 1965 and over the next two years she planned their lives, making arrangements for their future. The first phase of that plan began on February 3, 1967, with the birth of Deborah Jean Whisenhunt, and two years later, on July 28, 1969, Hannah Sky Whisenhunt. And according to her plan, except for the extra year it took to make it happen, Elizabeth gave birth to Dallas Robert Whisenhunt. Unlike the girls with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, Dallas had light blonde hair and dark brown eyes. He would be loud, constantly getting into something, and daring to the point he got hurt a lot, and Elizabeth and John loved him as dearly as the girls who were quiet and shy. But tragedy would strike the Whisenhunt’s home, and Elizabeth would be taken one rainy afternoon coming from the grocery store. The truck driver said he never saw her when she suddenly pulled out in front of him. Elizabeth had not worn her glasses for how they made her look.
Dallas was only five.
John would sacrifice for his three children, do whatever it took to give them a good home. He bought used cars, lived in the mobile home until the girls were becoming teenagers, then moved them into a small house in town. He was the father figure, providing for his family, and he tried to take Elizabeth’s place and was relieved Deborah, then Hannah would help with Dallas, the two girls loving to mother their little brother, much to his chagrin. And Dallas grew into a playful outgoing child who was protective of his big sisters and affectionate towards his father, hugging him and telling him how much he loved him.
Summer of 1982
John turns into the drive for the trailer park feeling exhausted after a long day at the shop. He drives along the narrow-paved road turning right to head to his home until the end of the month. He wishes Elizabeth was there to see it. He had finally bought a place in town, a small brick house with three bedrooms. The girls would still have to share a bedroom, but no longer with Dallas too. Dallas was ten and too old to share a room with two older girls.
As he drew near, he saw the boys, Dallas and Hunter, standing on the ground facing Cam and Parker who were sitting on the edge of the small porch. He didn’t think much about it at first, because the four boys were always together. Then he realized Parker looked hurt.
As soon as he got parked, he rushed over to the boys.
“Parker, what happened?”
“He fell on his bicycle,” said Dallas.
John bent down in front of Parker, seeing the boy was struggling not to cry. He was holding up each arm revealing both elbows were scratched and cut, blood dripping from the right one. John then looked at the knees, both just as scratched and cut with blood trickling down the legs from each one. The wounds needed cleaning then dressing.
“Let me go get my medical kit and get you fixed up, okay,” said John in a calm soothing voice.
Parker nodded and smiled weakly.
“Does it hurt,” said Cam. The concern was evident and Cam looked as if he were going to cry too.
“Y-y-y-e-esss,” uttered Parker.
“I’ll be right back,” said John, and he jumped up on the porch and rushed across it. As he was entering the mobile home, he looked back to Dallas. “Son, get everyone a coke.”
“Yes, sir,” Dallas replied and followed him inside.
“There, all bandaged up,” said John looking at Parker. “I don’t think you really need all the bandages, but they’ll keep the wound clean for I know you boys and you can’t help but get dirty. Parker smiled. “I’ll call you mother and tell her to remove them and clean the wounds and let them air out tonight.”
“Thanks, Mr. Whisenhunt.”
Cam leaned over and hugged Parker. John stood and turned, not sure how to feel about the boy’s display of affection. He saw Hunter and Dallas staring at them still looking concerned, then he noticed they were holding hands. He had never seen four boys so close.
The next day the boys were on their bikes again, riding slowly down the road heading back into town, Parker in front with Cam next and Hunter and Dallas bringing up the rear riding side by side.
“We’re going to have to go home soon. Mom will have dinner ready by 6:30,” said Cam.
“We’re going to the diner tonight,” said Dallas. “Dad doesn’t feel like cooking and Deborah is a nightmare in the kitchen.”
The boys laughed, then pulled onto the sidewalk in front of the farm supply store, moving under the shade of the roof overhang.
“I’m tired, so I’m going home,” said Parker.
“Okay,” said Cam, but it sounded as if it wasn’t alright.
“Let’s just call it a day,” said Hunter.
“It’s supposed to rain tomorrow,” said Parker.
“Great; we’ll be stuck inside,” said Dallas.
The boys climbed back on their bicycles and rode off. Three of them headed south to their homes nearby and Dallas rode back to the west heading to the mobile home park. He thought of the upcoming move into town and smiled at how he would be closer to his friends.
Summer of 1984
The boys stood at the edge of the dirt lane that led into the woods to an area where older boys rode BMX bicycles or trailbikes over mounds of dirt or down into a gully. The four of them had new bikes. Dallas had a GT Pro Performer in bright yellow, and even the mag wheels were yellow. Hunter had a Murray X20 with a chrome finished frame and traditional wire wheels. Parker had a Huffy Pro Thunder in white with wire wheels. Only Cam had a used bicycle, but it was his older brother’s old bicycle, and no new bicycle could replace it, because he idolized Aaron. It was a Schwinn Phantom with a blue frame and yellow mag wheels.
“Are we going?” said Parker.
“Yes, let’s go,” said Hunter.
With helmets strapped on their heads and elbow and knee pads secured, they pushed off and pedaled into the woods.
Two hours later, the four boys rode out of the woods. They were sweaty and filthy, and laughing about the fun they had riding on the trails. The older boys initially tried to get them to clear out, but once they demonstrated some skill and an ability to keep up, they were left alone.
“That was fun!” exclaimed Parker.
“Let’s come tomorrow,” said Hunter.
“What if we go to that trail along the creek,” said Dallas.
“Oh yeah, it is supposed to be fun too,” said Hunter.
“Let’s check it out and if it isn’t fun we’ll come back here,” said Parker. He looked back at Cam. “Are you in?”
“Yes, Parker,” Cam replied.
“Let’s go,” said Hunter.
The four boys rode out into the road and headed back to the town, riding slowly, weaving back and forth and joking with each other. None of them knew this would be the last summer of innocence. Next summer there would be feelings that weren’t understood, that made each one feel different. For a period of time, they would be less friendly with each other, not touching each other as much or not at all.
By the end of next summer, they would begin to figure out what was making them different.
Summer 1986
Cam was sitting on the floor of Hunter’s room. Music was playing from Mary Anne’s room, the only other person in the house. Hunter’s parents were at work, and Bruce was at the beach enjoying his graduation from high school
“When did Parker say he would get here?” said Cam.
“When he got back from the dentist. I wonder what’s keeping Dallas. He should be here already.”
“Did you know Lisa and Mary Anne had a fight?”
“Yes. It was stupid.”
“The diner is closing.”
“We already talked about that yesterday.”
“Oh, yeah.”
Cam was trying to build up the courage to ask about Rachel liking Parker and coming to him for Parker’s number. He wondered what Hunter knew about it, but to ask could cause Hunter to ask why he wanted to know, and he didn’t know how to answer that. They hear someone enter the house, and a few seconds later the bedroom swings open and Dallas comes into the room.
“Where’s Parker?” said Dallas, dropping down on the bed next to Hunter. “Hey, is that the new Dr. Strange comic?”
“Yes,” Hunter replies. “You can read it when I finish. And we assume Parker hasn’t got back from the dentist yet.”
“Before he gets here, I want to ask something,” said Cam, building up his courage.
Hunter and Dallas look down at him waiting for him to continue.
“Did you know Rachel likes him?”
“No,” said Dallas.
“Yes, and she’s wasting her time; Parker isn’t interested in her,” said Hunter.
“How do you know?” said Cam
“He told me.”
A silence settles over the room, Hunter turning his attention back to the comic book and Dallas working his shoes off then socks. Cam looks at his two friends then at the floor, raking his hand over the striped rug.
“Have either of you gone out with a girl?” Cam whispers. He knows the answer, but it is a way to start the conversation.
“No,” said Dallas nonchalantly.
“Neither have I, but you know that. What do you really want to know,” said Hunter.
They hear someone enter the house and look toward the door waiting. The door swings open and Parker comes into the room, stopping when he sees everyone staring at him, and looks back questioningly. He looks down at the front of his shirt then the front of his jeans.
“Have I got something on me?” said Parker.
“No, we were just wondering what took you so long?”
“Mom had to go to the grocery store on the way home, then I had to help her unload and put them away.”
“Oh,” said Hunter.
“What were you guys talking about?” said Parker.
“Rachel liking you,” said Dallas as he laid down next to Hunter and raked a finger along the edge of his hair at the back of the neck, making him slap the hand away.
“I don’t know why she dumped Robby,” said Parker.
“Or Brian or Pete or—” said Dallas, getting interrupted by Hunter.
“Ricardo!”
They laughed at how Hunter exclaimed Ricardo’s name, then Parker sat down next to Cam on the rug.
“I think Julie likes you,” Parker uttered in a low voice to Cam.
“What?! No, no, she doesn’t like me. She likes Troy.”
“Cam’s right; I saw them together the other day,” said Dallas.
Another silence settled over the room and Cam built up his courage to ask what he really wanted to know.
“Have any of you ever kissed someone?”
Parker stares at Cam and Dallas looks from Hunter to Cam. But it is Hunter who replies.
“I think we all know none of us has had the opportunity.”
“Do you think…its hard?” said Cam.
“You just press your lips against their lips; how hard can it be,” said Dallas.
“What about French kissing?” said Hunter, looking over the comic.
“You mean using your tongue and everything?” said Parker.
“Yes.”
“I assume…I mean, how hard could it be?”
“Maybe you should practice,” joked Dallas.
“With who; you?” said Hunter.
“He can practice with Cam. Cam, you’ll do it, right,” said Dallas, sitting up on the bed.
“What?” Cam replied. He was shocked by the direction the conversation had taken but also wondering if he could do it, and more importantly was Parker willing. He wanted to try it with him.
“And who will you practice with?” said Parker looking at Dallas.
“If you and Cam, do it, I’ll do it with Hunter.”
“I’m not kissing you,” said Hunter.
“You don’t like me or something,” joked Dallas making Hunter shake his head.
Parker turned to Cam. “You want to see what it is like?”
Cam stared at Parker, trying to find his voice.
“Come on Cam, it’s just kissing,” said Dallas.
“Close your eyes,” said Hunter.
Cam wanted to protest, felt like he should do so before giving in, but he closed his eyes and waited.
Parker leaned forward, heart racing in his chest, for despite his bravado, he was nervous, because he had thought of it before. He had pictured himself kissing Cam. He brought his lips to Cam’s lips and closed his eyes while pressing them together. He angled his head and found himself opening his mouth, working his tongue against Cam’s lips. They parted and he worked it into the mouth where it dueled with Cam’s tongue.
“Damn,” exclaimed Dallas.
Cam jerked back and Parker looked away wiping his mouth with his forearm.
“Okay, you guys do it,” said Parker when he turned back around.
“I don’t think so,” said Hunter, sounding nervous for the first time.
“Chicken,” Parker taunted.
“Come on Hunter; we did it,” said Cam. He needed them to do it too.
“Fuck it,” Dallas uttered as he turned to Hunter, cupped the back of the neck pulling them into a kiss. It was clumsy and there was no tongue, but Hunter didn’t pull away. When they did part, they looked sheepishly at each other.
The rest of the summer it hovered over them, making them aware of each other when standing close or lying next to each other in someone’s bedroom. And when alone, it was all they could think about. The kiss.
Summer of 1988
“Come on Parker, get in,” yelled Dallas from the driver’s seat.
Parker jogged from the back porch to the baby blue Jeep Cherokee Chief. It was a 1980 model, the last of the big body styles before downsizing, in a two-door configuration. It’s inline six struggled to make 110 horsepower and it consumed gas at an alarming rate, but it gave Dallas the freedom any sixteen-year-old craved.
Parker climbed into the front seat and nodded to Cam and Hunter in the back, then smiled at Dallas. “Let’s go.”
Their bikes had given them a sense of freedom. A way to cover greater distances than their parents were aware. They had explored the town and areas surrounding it, especially the creeks and river and abandoned places, places full of adventure. But to have a vehicle was a whole new level of freedom. The freedom to explore more than just Monroeville and its immediate surroundings. The parks and boat ramps on the Alabama River, towns larger than Monroeville, such as Jackson, Opp, or even all the way to Mobile.
Dallas pulled out and drove away from Parker’s home, windows down, music playing, and the cabin full of the guy’s banter. They were heading south, going down into the Florida panhandle to canoe down the Blackwater River. Hunter had made reservations for two canoes at a place east of Milton. Cam and Dallas had packed two coolers with drinks and sandwiches.
“I can’t believe mom let me go,” said Cam.
“Dad called her,” said Dallas.
“He also called my folks. Mom was okay with us going but dad was dead set against it,” said Hunter.
Parker turned to look at Hunter. “Why was your dad against it?”
“He thought we were going to go down there to drink beer, smoke pot, and hook up with girls.”
“Like your sister did,” said Dallas, referring to a trip to the beach with her friends, that included boyfriends.
“And my brother,” said Hunter, laughing.
As Dallas drove along the two-lane highway, a quiet settled in the cab. Hunter and Cam staring out the side windows at the terrain, Parker holding his hand in the wind, moving it up and down, and Dallas leaning back, left arm on the windowsill, driving along. They became lost in their thoughts, wondering if the other guys were like them.
Since the summer they kissed, a distance grew between that lasted until the past Christmas. They didn’t touch each other playfully, didn’t wrestle around, or brought up kissing again. During the last summer and fall, they began to relax around each other again, finding some of their old need for tactile sensing. A hand touching an arm, knees bumping under a table, or an arm around a neck pulling bodies close.
When Hunter got the Jeep for his birthday, that was after the first of the year, suddenly they were their old adventurer selves, as they had been when they got their BMX bicycles.
Parker sets a cooler in one canoe as Dallas sets the other one in the adjacent canoe.
“It’ll take us a couple of hours to get to the pull-out point?” said Cam to the young guy that had brought them to the drop off point.
“Depending on fast you paddle. You can do it in about an hour if you push it,” said the dirty blonde, blue eyed guy. A seashell necklace lay on the exposed neck and upper chest against the sun-tanned skin and the white tank top exposed the shoulders and arms of a teenager becoming a man. The four boys tried not to look at him, each one making a point to keep their eyes diverted, focusing on getting ready to push off.
They notice the older girls with their boyfriends looking at him, and Parker swears two of the boys with a small church group are too.
The guy walks back to his truck, and the boys look at each other. Dallas and Hunter in tank tops and swimming trucks. Cam in a white T-shirt and swim trunks. Parker sheds his khaki shorts revealing tight square cut swim trunks and with his Hawaiian shirt unbuttoned, he was on full display. Flat chest and stomach and cock lying to the right, visible through the trunks. Cam looks unable to divert his eyes, until Hunter slaps him on the shoulder.
“Let’s go!”
They set off paddling slowly, letting the others in the group of canoers get out in front of them. Once the others have disappeared around a bend, as if on cue, they bring their paddles into the canoe and just drift in the slow-moving waters of the river.
“Hey Parker, does your mother know about those swimming trunks?” said Dallas after a long silence.
“No,” Parker replies and Hunter and Dallas laugh and Cam sits quietly, glad Parker is wearing them. He liked seeing Parker in them, revealing the cock, despite having seen it before when they were younger and skinny dipping in one of the creeks.
They ease down the river, its waters appearing dark like tea or coffee from the release of tannins. The surface is nearly smooth, just small ripples from the breeze and the occasional swirl. Rounding a bend, they come to a sand bar.
“Let’s stop a minute,” said Dallas.
Pulled onto the bank, Dallas tugs his tank top off and Hunter follows suit with Parker slipping out of his shirt.
“Put this suntan lotion on my back,” said Dallas to Hunter.
“Okay, but you have to put it on me too.”
“Cam, can you put some on me?” said Parker holding out the lotion.
“Sure.”
No one says anything about Cam keeping his shirt on, knowing his white skin blisters easily in the sun. Once backs and shoulders are covered, they reapply the lotion to arms and legs.
“Okay, let’s go,” said Parker.
They paddle lazily or not at all. They stop again for lunch and to swim. They lay on the sand and talk about their plans after high school, all four of them planning to go to college. They talk around where but all of them know Cam wants to study architecture and Parker wants to study building construction to become a contractor or maybe a developer. Hunter is looking at computer science and Dallas wants to major in environmental sciences. What none of them can admit is how Cam and Parker are planning on going to Auburn and Hunter and Dallas are looking at Alabama. There’s no discussion of them being parted or how the pairing seems natural. It’s obvious to everyone, including their families and classmates, Cam is drawn to Parker, keeps close to him, letting Parker jostle him around or sit with an arm around his neck. None of the boys can admit how much Cam is drawn to Parker and no one else realizes it. Nor do others realize Hunter and Dallas have a similar bond.
In the past, before the summer of the kiss, Hunter and Dallas would have made some disparaging comments about it, joked about Cam being Parker’s boyfriend. But to mention it now would bring attention to themselves for each felt a longing for the other. They pretended it was just them being friends, while wishing it were more.
The four knew what it meant, each one admitting to themselves what they could not admit to the others; they were gay. They wished the others were too, longed for it to be a fact, and so often, when it was just the four of them, believed it so. But four boys from a small town where boys talked disparagingly about gays and lesbians, joked about it in the changing room in P.E. or bullied Mitchell because he acted a bit feminine, they were scared to give voice to their feelings.
They didn’t understand how being gay gave them a sense of someone else who was gay, made them unconsciously aware of it. How it might have been some factor in what drew them to each other even before they reached puberty. The part of themselves that had them naturally pairing off, Cam and Parker, Hunter and Dallas, with some predestined future laid out before them.
They made their way down the river, stopping to swim, or just rest on a sand bar. When they finally got to the end of their trip, pulling canoes up on the bank, the guy with the canoe rental company, the one who had taken them to the drop off point, strolled up.
“You guys took your time.”
Dallas looked up and smiled. “We did.”
The guy turned his attention to Parker, looking at the tight swim trunks and bare upper body. Cam noticed, then Hunter and Dallas. Hunter stepped between them, breaking the guy’s eye contact.
“Let’s get dressed and hit the road.”
Christmas, 1989
It was drizzling rain and impossibly cold. The wind blew from the north, dropping temperatures. John was in the kitchen preparing dinner while Deborah was laying gifts under the tree she had brought from Atlanta. Hannah was sitting on the sofa watching her and Dallas was in his room playing video games. It was three days prior to Christmas, one that felt like the end of a chapter for the family. Deborah was in Atlanta, having gone there after graduating college. She had recently begun to date someone and John knew sooner or later she would begin to spend Christmas elsewhere some years. Hannah had finished at the community college and was working in Pensacola and eventually she would meet someone. And next spring, Dallas would graduate from high school and go off to college.
John smiled, knowing they had done well.
A knock on the front door, three timid raps. Deborah looked at Hannah both wondering who could be knocking at their door on a night like this. Hannah jumped up to answer it when the person knocked three more times, this time louder, more persistent.
“Coming,” said Hannah. She opened the door to find Cam standing at it, soaking wet. “Cam! What are you doing out in this rain?”
“Can I come in?” The voice was strained, Cam sounding like he was going to cry.
“Yes, yes, get in here,” said Hannah.
“Dallas!” exclaimed Deborah.
John heard the commotion, knew something was wrong, and he lowered the burner on the range and rushed to the living room. Dallas was already there and standing in the middle of the room, water puddled around his feet stood Cam.
“Jesus, Cam why are you out in this rain?” said John. He knew the boy didn’t have a car which meant he rode his bicycle to their house.
“I just needed to go somewhere and…” The voice trailed off.
“Dallas, take him to your room and get him into dry clothes before he gets pneumonia.”
Dallas led Cam to his room, scared, for he had never seen Cam like this. He closed the door as Cam stood at the foot of his bed visibly shaking.
“I’ll get a towel; get out of those wet clothes.”
Dallas went to the linen closet in the hall and took out a towel. Back in his room, he found Cam getting out of wet boxers. It was the first time in a long time he had seen Cam naked. He had seen Hunter and Parker numerous times, the three of them not self-conscious about it, but since puberty, Cam had become otherwise. To see the lean body come into view showed a vulnerability in Cam he had never seen before.
“Here, dry off and I’ll get something for you to wear.”
John went back into the kitchen where a phone hung on the wall. He dialed the Holland’s residence. Sally, Cam’s mom, answered on the first ring.
“Cam!?” Sally cried into the phone.
“Sally, it’s John.”
“John, is Cam at your place? I’ve been so worried; he just took off. I called Anna to see if he was with Parker knowing they were close, but—”
“Sally. Sally, he’s here.”
“OH, thank god.”
“Is there anything I should know?” John hated prying into anyone’s business, but he knew something was wrong and Cam, being at his home, made it his business. He couldn’t imagine Raymond or Sally doing anything to the boy. They loved their children, doted on them as any parent would, but something was wrong.
“John, I’m not sure how to tell you this. It’s something I’ve suspected for some time but didn’t want to acknowledge.”
John knew where she was going and he leaned against the wall preparing himself for it. If it were true about Cam, then it could be true about Dallas, and possibly the other two boys.
“John…”
The silence went on so long John began to ask Sally to just say it.
“Raymond found something on Cam’s laptop. It was…Cam is gay, John. My little boy is gay.”
“I see,” John replied. He saw what it could mean. “What happened next?”
“Raymond came to me and we discussed it then went to Cam. As soon as we broached the subject…Cam panicked and ran out. Before we could stop him, he was on that bike and gone.”
“Sally…” John hesitated, unsure how to say it. He gathered himself, took a deep breath, then asked, “will Raymond and you have a problem with it?”
“NO; he’s my baby,” Sally exclaimed.
John heard her crying then Raymond in the background taking the phone from her.
“John, is Cam alright?” The voice was soft, an anxious studder in it.
“He showed up wet and upset but he is alright. He’s with Dallas getting out of his wet clothes.”
“I’ll head over and get him.”
“Raymond.”
“Yes, John?”
“You want me to talk to him?”
“If you think it’ll help my boy, please do.” Then the line went dead.
John went to the living room where Hannah and Deborah were on the sofa obviously having listened to his phone conservation with the Holland’s.
“So, it’s true?” said Hannah.
“What?” said John, not expecting this response from Hannah.
“Cam is gay, and we all know Dallas is too.”
“And probably Hunter and Parker,” added Deborah.
John smiled despite how he felt, nodding his head. “It’s true about Cam but I need to hear it from Dallas because I’m not assuming anything.”
“Daddy, you want me to talk to him?” said Hannah.
“No, I’ll do it.”
John went to Dallas’ bedroom, knocking on the door. “Can I come in?”
“Yes,” said Dallas.
John entered the room to find Cam and Dallas sitting on the bed. Cam was wearing cotton sweatpants and a sweatshirt with the name of the store on front from which it came. Cam had been crying and was wiping his eyes. Dallas looked scared, more scared than he had seen him since he was a little boy. He rolled the desk chair to the side of the bed and sat down and tried to sit in a relaxed posture, wanting Cam and Dallas to realize no one was upset with them.
“Cam, I spoke with your parents, and they are really worried about you. They said you ran off before they could talk to you.”
Cam nodded.
“Your dad is on his way but said we could talk if it would help you.”
“Did he tell you why I left?” said Cam, finally looking up to face him.
Dallas turned to look away, and John realized he too was crying.
“Yes. He found something on your laptop. Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really.”
“Don’t you think it will help to get it out in the open?”
“I don’t know.”
Of course, the boy thought that, and John didn’t know whether to press the issue or wait.
“It’s okay, you know,” said John.
“Is it?”
It was Dallas, and he was looking at John with a mix of fear and anger.
John stumbled, felt tears come to his eyes, and he wiped them with the sleeve of his shirt. He leaned toward Dallas, elbows on knees, to close the distance between them.
“Yes.”
Deborah closed the front door behind Raymond and Cam and turned to see Dallas in the armchair and Hannah and their dad on the sofa. She knew the day would come but had not expected it to be on this night, and she smiled, then chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” said Hannah.
“Nothing but I’m glad this night is over; I’ve been dreading it for the last two years.”
“The last two years?” said Dallas.
“Yes, baby brother. It has been obvious to Hannah and I you were gay along with your friends and we knew sooner or later you would have to come out.”
“You girls knew for that long?” said John.
“Yes,” said Deborah.
“And you’re okay with it; with me?” said Dallas.
“I’m not throwing you out, if that is what you mean. You’re my son and…” said John, sounding angry at first, then upset.
“Now that Cam and you are out, what about Hunter and Parker?” said Hannah.
“I don’t know. I think so, but…”
“Jesus, I thought you guys told each other everything,” said Deborah.
“Not that!” Dallas replied.
“I think it is time you four boys talked to each other,” said John, climbing to his feet. “Let’s get dinner on the table and eat, I’m starving and know the three of you have to be too.”
The Jeep Cherokee was parked at the boat ramp north of Claiborne on the Alabama River. It was quiet and so cold the four boys were wearing their heaviest coats. They had been sitting long enough for the interior to get cold, each exhale a fog. They had not talked much since leaving Monroeville, and the silence was suffocating.
“Okay, I’ll go first,” said Dallas. “I’m gay.”
“Me too,” said Cam.
Hunter and Parker looked at each other then at Dallas and Cam. “Why are suddenly admitting it?” said Parker.
Dallas noticed how it wasn’t what they admitted but that they were doing it, Parker questioned.
“Dad found something on my laptop,” said Cam.
“And Cam came to our place afraid of what his parents would do,” said Dallas.
“Oh shit,” uttered Hunter.
“And?” said Parker.
Cam smiled. “It’s okay; they’re okay with it.”
“What did your dad say?” said Hunter, looking at Dallas.
“It was okay. It seems my sisters figured it out a couple of years ago.”
“Are you okay with it,” said Cam, and he was looking at Parker.
Parker sat back, tilting his head until looking at the headliner. “Jesus, we’re some misfits.”
Hunter laughed. “Fuck it. Yeah, I’m gay, but I think you already knew it. I mean…I knew about the two of you and just couldn’t bring myself to say anything.
“Do I need to say it? I think it is obvious,” said Parker, sitting up and staring at Cam. “And I like you.”
“Tell us something we don’t know!” exclaimed Hunter, making them laugh.
“Okay, asshole, time for you to admit you like Dallas.”
Hunter smiled at Parker, then looked at Dallas. “It’s true. Do you like me?”
“Yeah, for some strange reason I can’t figure out,” said Dallas playfully.
They sat in silence, not sure what to say next. Each exhale became more pronounced as the Jeep got colder. Parker started it then stared out at the Alabama River flowing past them.
“Are we going to tell anyone at school?” said Dallas in a low voice.
“I say we tell the fuckers,” said Hunter.
“No, I say we keep it to ourselves,” said Cam.
“What do you say?” said Dallas looking at Parker.
“I say we lead by example and not bother with saying it.”
“I like that idea,” said Dallas. “Let’s just be…what did you call us,” looking in the rearview mirror at Parker.
“Misfits.”
“Misfits. Let’s just be misfits.”
Dallas put the Jeep into gear and circled around heading back to the main highway.
They were on 84 heading back to Monroeville, Parker driving slowly, unhurried.
“I’m hungry,” said Hunter from the back seat.
“You’re always hungry,” said Cam.
“Let’s grab lunch in town,” said Dallas. “What do we feel like eating? Fast food, the diner, or that new deli?”
“How about bar-be-cue?” said Parker.
“Sounds good to me,” said Hunter.
“I’m good with it,” said Cam.
“Bar-be-cue it is,” said Dallas.
Parker drove into town and turned south for the restaurant sat a block below Hines Street. He parked on the side of the building and shut off the engine. They sat for a few seconds, no one getting out immediately.
“Is this like a double date or something,” said Dallas, and the four of them laughed.
Graduation, 1990
Even though he had the smallest house, he did have the largest yard with shade, a pecan and oak tree keeping most of it protected from the bright sun. He had the grills heating up as everyone began to arrive. The families of the four boys were gathering to celebrate their graduation from high school. It was Dallas and Hannah who pushed the idea of everyone gathering for a cookout. Having seen the four boys get their diploma, walking across the stage with their heads held high, he realized celebrating as a group had been the right thing to do.
Dallas came out of the back door wearing jeans and a blue shirt, neatly buttoned, and John smiled. He heard voices coming around the house and turned to see the Hollands, knowing the family had been extremely proud of Cam, for all his siblings had come for his graduation, even Ralph who lived in Denver, Colorado making the trip via car so his family could be there.
At two of the picnic tables, the Colemans and Atkins were talking amongst themselves. At the swing under the oak, Hunter and Parker were swinging back and forth, laughing about something between them. Dallas came to them and squeezed between them.
John wasn’t naïve, he knew Dallas and Hunter were having sex, had been for some time. The torn foil wrap from a condom, the sheepish looks when getting in at night after being out with Hunter, and Dallas suddenly doing his own laundry. Elizabeth and he had sex when they were teenagers, and to make an issue of it seemed hypocritical, especially when pregnancy wasn’t an issue with the two boys. So, he held his tongue, pretended not to know, unlike Hannah who he had overhead making fun of them.
Raymond and he had been keeping in touch more often since last Christmas, meeting at lunch someplace in town about once a week. They talked about their work, the weather, how their families were doing, and when no one was sitting nearby, they talked about the boys. Sometime in April, maybe the week after his taxes were due, Raymond confessed he knew Cam and Parker were having sex. He had laughed nervously about it, telling John how worried he was the boys would get hurt, that something could befall them, then he had whispered how neither of them could get pregnant, making the two of them laugh.
The boys had become their old playful selves after they came out. They were happy in ways John didn’t know how to describe, making him wonder what it was like to be so afraid of being yourself, you hide it from everyone, including your own family. Even the shy Cam seemed more outgoing, or maybe it was the way Parker pulled him out of his shell. A playful bump of shoulders, or when he thought no one was looking, a quick kiss on the cheek making Cam blush. John had seen it once and had turned away so they couldn’t see him smile.
He looked over at the old Jeep Cherokee, the back of it packed for a trip to the beach. The four boys were going to Panama City Beach for a few days, and no one had any disillusions about what would be going on. John had talked with Dallas the Saturday before. They had gone into town to get a battery for the Jeep and afterward stopped for an ice cream. Son, I know you boys are sexually active. I just ask you don’t do anything to hurt each other. Dallas had smiled, even blushed some. Then he sat down next to him and said he loved Hunter and could never hurt him.
“Hannah, the grills are ready, go get the hamburgers and hot dogs.”
Dallas strolled next to Hunter, Cam and Parker behind them, heading into the hotel lobby where two rooms had been reserved. Raymond had made the reservations, one of the old hotels on the inland side of the Front Beach Road, a place that allowed teenagers to check in. It was seven o’clock in the evening and they were eager to get to their rooms.
Once checked in, keys in hand, Dallas drove them to the back parking lot, pulling them into a space in front of the two rooms they would be staying in.
“They have a pool,” said Hunter.
“Yep, but we’re going to the beach tomorrow,” said Dallas.
“What time do you guys want to meet in the morning,” said Parker. It wasn’t necessary to say they would be going to their rooms and not coming out until morning.
“When we get up, we’ll text you,” said Hunter.
In room 115, Dallas stood in front of Hunter, unbuttoning his shirt. When it fell open down the front, he kissed him while sliding it off the shoulders. He undid the jeans, worked them down the along with the boxers underneath. He stooped down in front of Hunter and got them off, tugging jeans then boxers free of each foot. He leaned forward and kissed the abdomen, nipped playfully at the skin as hands braced on his shoulders. He bent his head to the cock that was flexing with Hunter’s arousal, capturing it in his mouth. He manipulated the cock until it was erect, and he could only take part of it, always the last two inches visible no matter how hard he tried to take all nine inches.
But this time, controlling his breathing, he pushed forward until his nose pressed into the abdomen and the cock entered his throat. Then he moved on it, sucking it, using every technic he had learned over the last few months. The hands went from his shoulders to his head, and he knew Hunter was pushed to the edge. He held still as the hands rubbed over his short hair, then held his head firmly. He reached out and held the thighs as they began to move. Hunter pumped the cock into his mouth, sliding it slickly over his tongue.
Yeah, fuck my mouth, Dallas thought as he let Hunter hold him in place and pump that cock over his tongue.
“Dallas!” Hunter cried out, shoving forward.
Dallas took it, nearly every inch then he swallowed as wad after wad of cum filled his mouth. He relished it, each wad, because it was Hunter. For Hunter he would do anything.
In room 116, right next door to 115, Cam lay on the bed, shirtless, letting Parker tug his jeans off. His cock slipped through the fly, half of its nine inches sticking out.
“Goddamn you hung fucker,” Parker exclaimed as he reached for the boxers. “I have to get these off too,” he uttered as he tugged them down the legs, the hard cock flopping back against the abdomen. He stood at the foot of the bed and playfully sniffed the boxers. “You smell so sweet,” he joked as he tossed them across the room.
“Parker,” Cam admonished, but unable to stop himself from smiling.
Cam watched Parker crawl between his legs, dragging the tongue up one thigh then the other. He clutched the bed, almost shivering with anticipation as Parker bent down and licked his nut sac, then sucked one into his mouth and tugged until it was tight in the sac.
“Jesus; Parker!”
Cam watched as his cock disappeared into the mouth. The sensations of it sent shivers down his spine. He propped himself up on elbows and watched the head with its long black hair move up and down. He felt the hair graze ticklishly on his abdomen. Parker’s pace increased and he watched how the head moved up and down, faster and faster, until he was pushing upward. Hands slipped under his ass and held him in place as the mouth kept manipulating his cock.
“Parker!” Cam exclaimed as he fell back and tilted his head back. He closed his eyes and moaned as the mouth descended on his spurting cock.
Dallas did a strip tease, slinging each garment across the room until he was naked. Hunter laughed and egged him on, and when Dallas turned from showing him his ass to showing him his thick, curved, seven-inch cock, Hunter moved to his knees on the bed to get closer to him. Dallas stroked the cock playfully, turned to the side letting Hunter see it in profile, then he turned to him and stepped closer.
“You want this?”
“Yes,” said Hunter breathlessly as he dropped to his hands and knees and opened his mouth.
Dallas slipped the cock into the mouth and moaned. He pumped his hips slowly, working it through the lips held tightly around it. He held the head and continued to fuck, to pump his hips until he had to speed up, to stroke his cock through the lips and over the tongue.
“Fuck…I’m going to cum,” Dallas exclaimed.
Hunter pushed forward, sinking every inch into his mouth. It triggered Dallas, and he shuddered with his release, pumping cum down Hunter’s throat.
Parker lay on the bed against the fabric headboard, naked, legs spread to make room for Cam, who was sucking him. He watched his seven-inch cock come into view then disappear again, the lips sliding up and down it until his toes curled and he was clutching the bed. Cam was noisy, the sound of slurping and suction seeming to be louder than they were and it aroused him, made him want it, want it in ways he couldn’t express.
When Cam pulled off his cock, held it up he stared at Cam staring at his cock. The flared head, the straight shaft with a vein snaking down its length. Cam smiled at him, then licked his cock from the base to the head.
“Jesus, fuck,” Parker exclaimed.
The tongue moved over the head of his cock, poked at the slit, then licked back down to the base, and Cam kept going, dragging his tongue over his tightening nut sac, shifting the nuts within it around, then Cam did it, what Parker had begged him to do for weeks until finally getting him to relent a month ago. Now Cam couldn’t get enough of it and pushed his legs up and apart and licked from his nut sac down to his opening, the tongue flicking over it until it was wet and he was moaning. The tongue pushed against his tightness and circled it until he didn’t know if he wanted Cam to finish sucking him off or if he wanted him to penetrate his ass and fuck.
“Cam,” Parker uttered breathlessly.
The tongue dragged from his opening to his nut sac and up his cock until swirling around the dripping head. The mouth closed over it and Cam moved on his cock, sliding the mouth up and down until he was banging his head against the headboard and trying to push upward with the hips.
“Cam!” Parker exclaimed.
The mouth descended until the nose pressed into his abdomen, and he came. It shuddered him, made him shove upward as best he could as his cock spurt wad after wad into the suctioning mouth.
Dallas lay on his back, legs over Hunter’s shoulders, the feet sticking straight up, his ass angled upward, taking Hunter’s cock. Taking every inch of it, until hips pressed down against his ass. Hunter slow fucked him, drove deep into his depths until his own cock drooled on his stomach.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck me,” Dallas uttered as Hunter moved inside him. The fullness of each full penetration seemed to push the air out of his lungs and every tug outward left him feeling empty, ready to tell Hunter to push it back into him.
Hunter moved inside him, raked hands down his sides and cupped each ass cheek. As he began to beg him to fuck harder, lips pressed against his own smothering his cries. With his ass held firmly in place, Hunter seemed to know what he wanted and fucked his ass as hard as possible, hips smacking against his ass. He tilted his head back letting the lips move along his jaw and down his neck as Hunter kept fucking his ass. The bed squeaked then began to rock beneath them, the rhythm of it reinforcing the feel of Hunter’s fuck.
Then he sensed it, Hunter’s impending release. He hugged him pulling their bodies close and hung on as hips pumped cock into his ass. Faster and faster until hot exhales were blowing across his neck and sweaty skin rubbed against him.
Hunter bellowed, cried out gutturally, while trying to sink cock deeper into his ass. He felt him shake and shudder and knew Hunter was pumping a load into his depths.
Cam sat against the headboard watching Parker move over his lap. Hard dripping cock raked across his stomach, then with Parker holding his cock up, ass rubbed over it, back and forth until the contact was slick with his precum.
“Fuck, I want you inside me,” said Parker as he lowered his ass on Cam’s cock. He shuddered as he took nearly every all of the nine-inch cock moaning with the feel of the penetration. He eased downward until most of the cock was inside him and he leaned forward and kissed Cam.
Parker sat up and moved, upward, then down, working his ass on Cam’s cock. He moved steadily until in a fuck. He held onto Cam’s shoulders, the two of them staring at each other.
“No one knows me like you,” uttered Parker as he moved, fucking his ass on Cam’s cock. His own cock rubbed Cam’s stomach leaving slick trails and stirring his arousal, making him want it even more. He wanted Cam inside him, wanted to feel that cock bore deeply into his ass, and he moved faster on it.
Cam watched him, watched the grey eyes stare back, then black hair fall into the face partially concealing them. He heard the grunts and moans and soft utterances. …I want you inside me. He held the narrow waist just to feel the warm skin. His arousal increased because…oh how that ass felt on his cock. The way it stroked him, pushing him toward release. He was going to cum in Parker’s ass.
“Parker,” Cam uttered.
Parker leaned forward and kissed him, then moved to the right ear. “Do it. Pump it in me.”
Cam slammed his head back against the headboard and pulled Parker down on his cock as it erupted. He tried to shove upward with each ejaculation as Parker moved on it, the ass stroking him until spent and begging Parker to stop.
Hunter was on his knees, with arms braced on the wall over the headboard. His cock swung freely between his thighs as Dallas fucked his ass. Dallas had fucked him slowly, letting him sense every inch but now Dallas fucked with wild abandon, hips smacking against his ass. He tilted his head back and cried out.
“Fuck me. Fuck me…don’t stop.”
Dallas held his waist and hammered his ass until the bed began to tap the wall. Then it was banging into it as Dallas fucked even harder.
“Hunter; I can’t get enough,” uttered Dallas breathlessly.
Dallas reached around and took Hunter’s cock, roughly stroking it as he fucked. He didn’t slow, just kept up a brutal pace until covered in sweat and the bed was banging the wall. Then they heard it, the same rhythmic tapping, then the hard banging into the wall from the other side. It spurred them on, kept them going.
Dallas pulled free of Hunter’s ass and pulled him from the wall, spinning him around and to his back. He moved over him and as he lined his cock with the loosened opening, legs wrapped around his waist. They kissed and touched and Dallas fucked Hunter until both were sweaty and gasping for breath. Then Dallas slow fucked his spurting cock in Hunter’s depths until spent.
Parker sat against the headboard with Cam laying back against him working ass on his cock. He felt what he was seeing, the body undulating in such a seductive erotic manner it increased his arousal until he wanted to cum in it. The hot sweat slicked body moved against him and he rubbed the chest and toyed with the half hard cock.
Cam was shy, introverted, until they were alone having sex. Then he came alive and it pleased Parker in ways he couldn’t describe because it meant Cam trusted him, not just loved him. There was no shyness when they got naked or in how Cam touched him, did those things that brought the two of them pleasure.
He raked his fingers through the sparse dark brown pubic hair. He kissed the side of the head and felt how the hair tickled his nose, getting curly as it got wet with sweat. He ran his hand up the stomach to the chest and rubbed the hard nipples, then twisted and pinched the right one making Cam cry out and slam ass down on his cock. He twisted and pinched the left one causing the ass to slam down on his cock again.
He licked the salty skin of the neck, tongued the ear making Cam move in a way that was too much. “I’m going to cum.”
As his cock erupted Cam moved on it, seductively, milking out every drop of cum.
Then he was on his hands and knees with Cam fucking him again, driving into his depths with such physicality the bed tapped the wall, then banged into it. The sound seemed to create an echo for the same sound came from next door. It pushed Cam to fuck harder. To fuck until a sweaty mess and gasping for breath, then Cam was on his back shuddering with release.
Showers ran warm as naked bodies moved under them. There were playful jostling, intimate touches, and kisses…lots of kisses. And sweet utterances of love and desire, not meant for others to hear.
Each day at the beach would end the same.
Labor Day Weekend 2000
A Toyota 4Runner pulled into the parking of the seafood restaurant followed by a Ford F-250. They pulled to the far end of the parking lot before finding a place to park. Parker and Cam climbed out the Toyota and Dallas and Hunter from the Ford. They looked at each other nervously, still wondering if they were making a mistake.
“Let’s go,” said Parker, putting a hand on Cam’s back guiding him toward the front with Dallas and Hunter coming up beside them. They were outside Mobile on the old causeway across the bay to have dinner with high school classmates. They had not seen any of them since graduation ten years before. It was their first reunion and depending on how the night unfolded, it could very well be their last.
The restaurant was on piers fifteen feet above the grade, and the four of them made their way up the long ramps.
“I still can’t believe they invited us. You know they never seemed accepting of us the last half of the school year,” said Dallas.
“But they did tolerate us and tried to understand,” said Hunter.
“Understand…what was there to understand?”
“They went to the trouble to get our addresses and reach out to us with invitations,” said Cam.
“Yes, they did do that,” said Dallas.
Parker got to the entry doors first and held them open as he saw Emily Hutchinson, or that was her name in school, coming up the ramp with a man that had to be her husband.
“Come on guys, let’s get inside.”
Hunter and Dallas entered, followed by Cam, and Parker was about to enter behind him when he realized Emily and her husband were drawing near, so he stood holding the door.
“Hey Parker, you made it, and I saw Cam is with you.”
“Yes.”
“This is my husband, Steve. Steve this is Parker.”
“Hey Parker,” said Steve in a friendly manner, holding out a hand to shake.
Parker shook his hand then motioned for them to enter.
“Where do Cam and you live? I heard you graduated Auburn but after that I haven’t heard,” said Emily.
“We’re in Charlotte, North Carolina.”
“We’re in Montgomery. Never too far from home,” Emily joked. “Where are Hunter and Dallas living?”
“Norfolk, Virginia. Dallas got a job with NOAA last year, so they moved back east.”
“Where were they?”
“San Deigo.”
“Norfolk will be a big change. Oh, there they are,” said Emily pointing across a dining room to a side room set up for their reunion dinner.
Parker followed them, looking through the door wondering how it was going with Cam. He saw a few guys from his class, all so different from when they were in high school, then he saw Cam at the bar talking to Ryan and Shelley, the class sweethearts who married right after graduation. They were laughing at something then Shelley reached out and touched Cam on the arm. A friendly gesture hardly worth noticing, and Parker exhaled, relaxing for the first time since arriving.
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