Westpoint Tales - The Last Time, 4

(Patience? what's that?)

Next morning, it was obvious that no-one would be going kayaking. The weather forecast was right for once and it was belting down out there.

The family were sitting eating breakfast in the warm kitchen of the Adelphi Hotel. Junior was there with them as he, Billy and Jeremy had arrived back late so he stayed the night, sleeping in the spare bed in Jeremy’s room.

Something out the back caught Bob’s eye and he sat looking out of the window.

“Yes, I thought so,” he nodded to himself and he got up and went out of the door into the driving rain.

In a couple of minutes he returned. “Justin, would you come out here for a minute please. There’s something I want to show you.”

Justin got up and followed him out. “Man! It’s wet out here. What’s up, Granddad?”

“He asked me not to tell anyone but you. Go and look in the garage.”

“In the garage? Okay, sure.”

Bob went back inside, to the warmth, Justin ran across the yard to the old garage. (It was more like a car-port really, it had no doors – they’d fallen off years ago and nobody thought it was worth the trouble, or expense, of putting them back on.)

At least there was no rain in the garage, but it was cold as the wind blew in one end and out of the other. There was a boy sitting huddled-up in the corner, on the floor.

“Oh? Who have we got here?” Justin knelt down in front of him.

The head came up and teary eyes looked at him.

“Andy! Andy, what the hell are you doing here Boy? Look at you, you’re sopping wet! You’re drenched to the skin. Come on inside out of this weather.”

“No, Justin, I can’t. I don’t want to see everybody, just you.”

“Just me? What are you talking about? They are just your family, Andy.”

“I can’t! Junior and Jeremy are in there. I don’t want them to see me like this.”

“Well you’re not sitting here freezing to death. Come with me, we’ll go up to my room. You can have a hot shower, I’ll get you some dry clothes and then you can tell me all about it.”

“Well. . “

“No arguments, Andy. Come on.”

Justin lifted him to his feet.

“I don’t know why you bloody kids can’t wear coats. Okay, I know that it’s not ‘cool’, but you’re freezing.”

He took him by the wrist and towed him inside, up the stairs and into his room.

“Strip off and get into the shower.” He turned the water on. “There’s towels on the rail there. Just drop your clothes on the floor, we’ll dry them later.”

Andy nodded and started stripping. Justin quickly pulled out some boxers, a t-shirt, a jersey, sweatpants and socks. He put them all on the seat inside the bathroom door.

“Clothes are on the stool here. I’ll be right back. I’ll just go and get us a hot drink.”

When he returned a few minutes later, with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, Andy was sitting quietly on the bed, dressed in the dry clothes.

“Okay Boy? I’ll bet that feels better.”

“Yes, it does. Thanks Uncle.”

“You’re welcome, my Friend – any time.”

Justin snibbed the lock on the door, and then handed a mug to the boy and sat down next to him.

“Right then. Now no-one comes in here until we let them in. I’m all yours. What’s the matter Andy?”

“I had a fight with Marty.”

“You don’t say? Should we get the paper to hold the presses? Andy, you and Marty always fight, it’s what you do.”

“Yeah, little fights, but this was a big one – really real. He hit me!”

“Okay, that’s going a bit far, but it’s not the first time.”

“He hates me! He said he hates me and he wishes that I was dead.”

“Marty doesn’t hate you.”

“He does. He hates me and I love him. I love him, Justin – really love him.”

“Of course you do. Your brother loves you too. How could he not? He’s your twin, your other half.”

“He hates me! He hates me and he wishes that I was dead.”

“Marty doesn’t hate you, he loves you.”

“Not any more. He told me to get out and don’t come back. He says that I’m a dirty queer and he doesn’t want to know me.”

“A dirty queer, are you? So what is Marty? A clean queer? He said that he’s gay too. What happened? Oh. I think I know already – you’ve been molesting your brother, haven’t you?”

“Well, umm, yes. I tried to, but he didn’t want to . . Oh, this is embarrassing” Andy mumbled and he hung his head.

“Hey!” Justin put his drink down and he wrapped his arms around the boy, hugging him tight. “Don’t be embarrassed. There’s no-one here but you and I and, I love you. You know that don’t you? I love you, Andy. I love you very much.”

“Oh Justin! Thank you. I love you too, I really do. You’re the greatest uncle ever.”

“Just for now, forget that I’m your uncle. I just want to be your friend, okay?”

“Yeah, okay. I need a friend.”

“We all do. Now, what happened?”

“Umm. You won’t tell this to anybody, will you?”

“No, of course I wouldn’t.”

“Not even to Billy?”

“Not even to Billy. I promise you; whatever you say here will stay here.”

”Thank you, Justin.”

“Thank you for coming to me. Now, say it for goodness sake!”

“Umm, yeah. Well, I woke up this morning and Marty was still sleeping. He was uncovered. Well, it gets hot in our room, we’re up on the top floor.”

“Yes, I know you are.”

“Of course you do. Well, he was lying there, on his back, in nothing but his boxers, and he had, umm, a boner. I don’t know what made me do it, but, well, he just looked so good and I wanted to know what it was like. So, I, ah, I peeled his boxers down to his knees. I wrapped my fingers around his dick and held it, I lifted it up and, well, I kissed it.”

Andy stopped and looked shyly at Justin. Seeing no signs of disapproval, he continued.

“I kissed his dick, I licked it and then I started sucking him. I didn’t think he’d mind it that much. I wouldn’t. If I woke up and he was doing that to me, I wouldn’t be complaining. Anyway, he was still sleeping, but he was getting into it. He was jerking around and thrusting back. And then . .”

“He woke up?”

“Oh, yes! He woke up roaring. He jumped up off the bed and stood there screaming at me. He called me every filthy name that I’ve ever heard of and more.

He was so mad. I’ve never seen him so angry and he made me feel like a lump of dirt. He pulled me up, punched me in the guts and he told me to get the fuck out of his room and out of his life. He hates me and he never wants to see me again.”

Andy broke down in tears. Justin sat holding him, rubbing his back and rocking him while he cried along with him. “Oh, Andy. Oh, my Sweet Boy. I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry.”

“Thanks Justin.” He pulled himself together a bit. “I knew I could come to you. You wouldn’t throw me out, would you?”

“Of course I wouldn’t. I love you, Andy, and there is nothing that you could do that would ever stop me loving you. What you did was wrong, but it wasn’t that wrong. It was just a mistake. You read the signals wrong and went a bit too far.”

“Just a bit!” He shrugged with a wry grin. “Can I stay here with you? Please. I can’t go back there.”

“You can stay here as long as you like – as long as you have to.”

“Thank you! I can’t go back. He said that, if I ever do, he’s going to tell dad what I did and get me thrown out of the family, like Billy’s Uncle Jeremy was, and I can go and whore on the streets for a living.”

“That won’t be happening. Anyway, Jonathan would never do that. He’s no old bigot like Harvey Carver was, and he loves you.”

“Well, maybe. I hope so. But he wouldn’t understand like you do. I’d rather be here with you.”

“And you will be, for as long as you have to. Don’t worry, we’ll sort it out, but until we do, you stay here with us.”

“You think that Billy won’t mind?”

“Of course Billy won’t mind. He’ll be with us all the way.”

“”I hope so. Jeremy won’t like it though.”

“Jeremy will be fine, and, if he isn’t, well – tough! Jeremy’s not the boss around here, he just thinks he is.”

“He does!” Andy grinned again – a genuine smile this time. “But, what about Gran and Granddad? This is their hotel.”

“What about them? They’re your grandparents – your great-grandparents, and they love you just as much as I do.”

“You think?”

“I know.”

“I think nobody loves me as much as you do. Thank you, Justin. I love you too.”

“I should bloody-well hope so. Otherwise I’ve wasted an awful lot of loving over the years. Now, come on.” He handed him a box of tissues. “Clean yourself up and we’ll go down and get some food into that bottomless pit of yours. You’ll feel better then.”

“I do feel better. Thanks, Uncle.”

“You’re very welcome, my Lovely Boy. Now come on.”